Judicial Watch Seeks Evidence in Court on Secret 1/6 Videos

[INSIDE JW]

TEACHERS UNIONS GAVE GUIDANCE TO CDC DIRECTOR ON SCHOOL COVID
RESTRICTIONS

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The all too powerful teacher unions
have been throwing wrenches
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into efforts to reopen schools amid the pandemic, making all manner of
demands with little regard for the students or parents.

Now we know how they have exerted their influence on public officials,
particularly in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

We received 12 pages
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of
records showing the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National
Education Association (NEA) influencing the director of the CDC and
the White House with their own “embargoed vaccine research,” as
well as school reopening policy.

Additionally, the CDC Director states that she used the unions’
language in the CDC’s school reopening policy. (Some of these emails
have been previously disclosed.)

We obtained the documents through a FOIA request to the CDC asking
for:

* All emails exchanged between CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky and
email accounts ending in aft.org
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and/or nea.org
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* All emails exchanged between CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne
Schuchat and email accounts ending in aft.org
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and/or nea.org
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* All emails exchanged between CDC Acting Associate Director for
Communications Abbigail Tumpey and email accounts ending in aft.org
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and/or nea.org
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* All emails exchanged between CDC Associate Director for Policy and
Strategy Robin M. Ikeda and email accounts ending in aft.org
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and/or nea.org
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The records, some of which had been previously released, reveal:

* On February. 8, 2021, Rebecca Pringle
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president of the
National Education Association (NEA), emailed
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Director
of the CDC, Rochelle Walensky
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requesting an
advance copy of the CDC school-related COVID-19 guidance:

I am writing to request an advance copy of CDC school-related COVID-19
guidance that I understand are to be released this week. We will, of
course, keep them confidential until they are public. I want to be
prepared for any media or internal questions that come after they are
released.
Any other information you can offer about the timing of their release
is appreciated….
P.S. Our team will be briefing the CDC and White House staff today on
our embargoed vaccine research. I will be sure you receive the
research memo with our findings after they meet today.

* In an email exchange
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on
February 1, 2021, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Senior
Director of Health Issues, Kelly Trautner
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to CDC
officials, White House officials, and AFT colleagues, Trautner thanks
everyone for the “rich discussion about forthcoming CDC guidance:”

Thank you again for Friday’s rich discussion about forthcoming CDC
guidance and for your openness to the suggestions made by our
president, Randi Weingarten, and the AFT. We are hopeful that lines of
communications will remain open, and that we can serve as a true
thought partner as you continue the important work toward safe
reopening of schools.
***
We crafted the language below using a NIOSH (National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health) document, as well as language in some
of our agreements with school employers. Thank you for considering it

White House official Carole Johnson forwards Trautner’ s email to
Walensky writing, “AFT followed up w suggested lang[uage] on
accommodations per your exchange with Randi.”

On February 3, 2021, Walensky replied to CDC, HHS, White House, and
AFT officials:

I just wanted to circle back and extend my gratitude for the language
you have provided below. Regrets for my delay in reply but I wanted to
be certain you knew it is being worked into (with just a few small
tweaks) the school reopening guidance. We have also included the
executive summary you suggested.
Please know that we are listening and working hard to ensure your
confidence and partnership in this endeavor.
Within the “language” provided by Trautner to the White House
officials, she suggested adding,

Employers should provide reassignment, remote work, or other options
for staff who have documented high-risk conditions or who are at
increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 to limit the risk of
workplace exposure. Options for reassignment include telework, virtual
teaching opportunities, modified job responsibilities, environmental
modifications, scheduling flexibility, or temporary reassignment to
different job responsibilities.
Trautner replied to Walensky:

Thank you so much for your responsiveness to the suggestions made by
Randi and our team. We are immensely grateful for your genuine desire
to earn our confidence and your commitment to partnership. We will
pass this message along to Randi. She will certainly be most grateful.

On February 11, 2021, Trautner continued the exchange, emailing
Walensky:

Thank you for your continued openness to our suggestions and input. We
would like to share some thoughts regarding the paragraph below which
was apparently leaked from the imminent guidance on reopening schools:

“At any level of community transmission, all schools can provide
in-person instruction (either full or hybrid), through strict
adherence to mitigation strategies. Recommended learning modes vary to
minimize risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in school by emphasizing
layered mitigation, including school policies requiring universal and
correct mask use. The recommended learning modes (in-person, hybrid)
depend on the level of community transmission and strict adherence to
mitigation.”
It would be great to see the insertion some variation of the
following: “In the event high-community transmission results from a
new variant of SARS-CoV-2, a new update of these guidelines may be
necessary.”
We are deeply concerned about likely implications this language will
have in schools where strict adherence to mitigation strategies is
lacking or is impossible to implement, particularly those schools in
high-density, crumbling infrastructure areas, and particularly when
community transmission is high. We don't believe that any current
research has demonstrated that all schools in those areas can safely
reopen.

* On March 17, 2021, Trautner emailed
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Walensky
about a call from Weingarten, saying: “Randi is hoping to schedule a
call with your folks about reopening issue, including maintaining
mitigation protections and what might be needed in the context of
higher vaccination numbers.”

* On March 23, 2021, AFT President Randi Weingarten emailed
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Secretary of
Education Miguel Cardona
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and Walensky,
saying that she had noted the “shift” in CDC’s guidance
regarding physical distancing in schools with “keen interest.”
* On March 20, 2021, the CDC issued new “guidance
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reducing suggested physical distancing from 6 feet to 3 feet for
students.

Weingarten stated:

[A]lthough I was very worried about the implications of the shift, I
reserved judgment until we could review the new studies that were
presented….
***
[W]e are not convinced that the evidence supports changing physical
distancing requirements at this time. Our concern is that the cited
studies do not identify the baseline mitigation strategies needed to
support 3 feet of physical distancing.
***
[W]e conclude that any shift from 6 feet to 3 feet must be accompanied
by, at a minimum, universal and correct masking; effective
ventilation; thorough cleaning of buildings; regular COVID-19 testing
of teachers, staff and students; effective contact tracing and
quarantine/isolation protocols; and the availability of vaccines to
all people in schools who are eligible.
Weakening one layer of layered mitigation demands that the other
layers must be strengthened. We strongly urge you, in any discussion
of this shift, to forcefully insist on strict and strengthened
adherence to the other mitigation strategies….
After months of mixed messaging and misinformation, consistency from
our public health officials is a welcome change. But as educators with
the expertise on how physical distancing works in schools, we have
immediate logistical questions….
Weingarten added a list of questions regarding how school personnel
can move about, whether simulcasting lessons was still necessary, and
what the government’s mitigation strategies timeline was.

* On April 9, 2021, Weingarten emailed
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Walensky
about “Requesting Meeting about Variants,” stating: “On behalf
of the AFT we would request a meeting with the CDC on the impact of
the Covid variants, particularly what we are seeing in schools and
communities.”

Walensky replied, “Dear Randi, Many thanks for reaching out. I’ll
connect with my team and work to make this happen.”
What qualifies partisan teachers unions, other than generous
contributions to allied politicians
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to provide the CDC with public health guidance on reopening schools?
The CDC is corrupted by politics and is dishonest when it suggests it
is merely “following the science.”

JUDICIAL WATCH SEEKS EVIDENCE IN LAWSUIT AGAINST U.S. CAPITOL POLICE
FOR JANUARY 6 VIDEOS

Nancy Pelosi and her U.S. Capitol Police must have something to hide
about January 6. Why else would they be hiding evidence from the
American people?

Undeterred by their stonewalling, we filed a motion for discovery
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in
our lawsuit against the United States Capitol Police (USCP) for videos
and emails and videos concerning the disturbance at the U.S. Capitol
on January 6 (_Judicial Watch v. United States Capitol Police_
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(No.
1:21-cv-00401)).

Congress exempts itself from the Freedom of Information Act, we
brought this case under the common law right of access to public
records. The US Capitol Police declined to produce any records about
the disturbance, however, arguing
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that
the requested videos and other records are not “public records”
and the public interest doesn’t warrant their release.

We asked the court to grant us the ability to gather evidence about
the preservation and use of the infamous January 6 videos:

This case concerns whether the public has a right of access to records
about what Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi
has describe as “one of the darkest days in our nation’s
history,” “an attack on our very democracy [,]” and “an attack
on the peaceful transfer of power.” Speaker Pelosi also has stated,
“It is imperative that we find the truth of that day and ensure that
such an assault on our Capitol and Democracy cannot ever again
happen.”
To find out the truth about what took place at the U.S. Capitol on
January 6, 2021 and to understand how Defendant United States Capitol
Police and other government entities responded on that day, Plaintiff
Judicial Watch requested access to certain communications and video
recordings.
***
(Judicial Watch) therefore moves for limited discovery to seek
evidence to prove that the requested records are public records
subject to the common law right of access and that the public’s
interest in disclosure outweighs the government’s interest in
keeping the records secret.
We filed
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the
lawsuit for:

* Email communications between the U.S. Capitol Police Executive
Team and the Capitol Police Board concerning the security of the
Capitol on January 6, 2021. The timeframe of this request is from
January 1, 2021 through January 10, 2021.
* Email communications of the Capitol Police Board with the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security concerning the security of the Capitol
on January 6, 2021. The timeframe of this request is from January 1,
2021through January 10, 2021.
* All video footage from within the Capitol between 12 pm and 9 pm
on January 6, 2021

As the Pelosi House seeks the confidential phone and social media
records of countless Americans concerning January 6, its U.S. Capitol
Police is covering up 14,000 hours of video about what really happened
that day. The U.S. Capitol Police should be required to explain under
oath its reasons for refusing to turn over even one second of January
6 video to the American people.


U.S. INVESTS MILLIONS TO BRING RACIAL, ETHNIC ‘EQUITY’ TO STEM
EDUCATION

You will be forgiven if you think operating a computer has nothing to
do with race. And you would be wrong, at least according to the
leftist-controlled National Science Foundation, which is pushing
extremist and racist Critical Race Theory. Our _Corruption Chronicles_
blog has the story
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Weeks after giving a private college hundreds of thousands of dollars
to “identify any existence of systemic inequities” in science,
technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM), the U.S. government
is doling out nearly $2 million to address racial and gender
disparities in high school computer education. The money will come
from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which was created by
Congress seven decades ago to promote the progress of science, advance
national health and prosperity and secure the national defense. With
an annual budget of $8.5 billion
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the NSF funds more than a
quarter of research conducted at American colleges and universities,
where theft of intellectual property
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by
Communist China is pervasive.

While the NSF is one of the government agencies that has long
permitted Chinese Communist scientists to steal billions in
taxpayer-funded research, it is also keeping up with the current
climate of political correctness. A few days ago, the agency awarded
two public universities a total of $1.9 million to “address the
historical and current racial and gender disparities in participation
in high school computer science education.” The project is part of a
broader program called Researching Equity and Antiracist Learning in
Computer Science (REAL-CS) that focuses on expanding participation for
black, indigenous, “Latinx” (the new, politically correct
gender-neutral term for Latino or Latina) and Pacific Islander
students by addressing systemic barriers in high school computer
science education. REAL-CS is designed to sustain another
publicly-funded, “equity-focused” initiative called Exploring
Computer Science
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(ECS)
dedicated to “democratizing” the field by increasing opportunities
for “traditionally underrepresented” high school students after a
study identified disparities along “race and socioeconomic lines.”


The recent NSF allocations will go to the University of California Los
Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Oregon. UCLA, which has its
own CS Equity Project
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is getting $1,026,000
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from
the NSF to help prepare teachers nationwide to reach thousands of
minority high school students to take “an equity-focused CS
course,” according to the grant announcement. The University of
Oregon will receive $873,999
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to
do the same. “Overall, the key goal of REAL-CS is to create the
necessary conditions and capacity in high schools that lead to
equitable participation of students of color in high-quality computer
science classes,” according to the NSF. The agency assures the
costly program will create systemic change by increasing the use of
racially and culturally inclusive practices, refreshing existing
curriculum and supplementary curricular materials with antiracist
design tenets, and conducting deep qualitative research nationwide
that investigates equity-oriented teacher beliefs and practices.

Weeks before awarding the UCLA and Oregon grants, the NSF gave a
private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania more than a
quarter of a million dollars to uncover “any existence of systemic
inequities and advancement barriers related to gender, race, and
ethnicity in STEM faculty.” The $271,594 grant
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will
fund a project at Bucknell University, which has an enrollment of
3,724
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that uses
quantitative and qualitative data to develop and implement a plan to
remove such barriers. “This project will bring significant insights
into issues facing women and underrepresented minority faculty that
are unique to STEM disciplines and in a primarily undergraduate
institution that strives to enhance diversity in students, faculty and
staff,” the NSF writes in the grant announcement. The project is
part of a larger initiative called Self-Assessment of Gender, Racial,
and Ethnic Equity (AGREE) in STEM Faculty that aims to uncover
systemic inequities centered around recruitment, retention, and
promotion processes facing women and faculty members underrepresented
in STEM disciplines.

The NSF has been embroiled in its fair share of scandals over the
years. Most recently, the agency was outed along with several others,
including the National Institutes of Health and the Department of
Energy’s national laboratories, for long permitting Communists
working in the U.S. to steal scientific research. This was the subject
of a scathing U.S. Senate report that determined billions of dollars
in scientific research funded by American taxpayers have been stolen
by China and the U.S. government has no viable plan to stop the
ongoing theft of the highly valued intellectual property, which
congressional investigators assure “has contributed to China’s
global rise over the last 20 years.” The NSF was also embroiled in a
porn scandal years ago in which employees spent significant portions
of their workdays watching, downloading and emailing pornography
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on
government computers without ever getting caught.
Until next week …







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