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Wednesday, June 1, 2022

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Jury Finds Michael Sussmann Not Guilty

Wall Street Journal: A lawyer for the 2016 Clinton campaign, Michael Sussmann, was acquitted on a charge of lying to the FBI in September that year about his motives for bringing the bureau research allegedly linking Donald Trump to Russia, in the first test at trial of special counsel John Durham’s probe. After deliberating for about six hours, jurors found Mr. Sussmann not guilty Tuesday, in a rebuke to Mr. Durham’s three-year examination of how the U.S. government handled allegations of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia during the tumultuous presidential election. This month’s two-week trial laid bare lingering disagreements over what happened during that campaign, with prosecutors accusing Mr. Sussmann of attempting to inject the FBI into a partisan plot and Mr. Sussmann’s legal team accusing prosecutors of manufacturing a conspiracy out of limited evidence (Wall Street Journal). Fox News: The FBI, after receiving the data from Sussmann, went on to investigate whether there was a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank and found that there was “nothing there.” Several current and former FBI officials and agents testified that the FBI was “unable to substantiate any of the allegations in the white paper” (Fox News).

Uvalde Law Enforcement Will No Longer Cooperate With State Investigation Into School Shooting

ABC: The Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force are no longer cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the massacre at Robb Elementary School and the state’s review of the law enforcement response… According to sources, the decision to stop cooperating occurred soon after the director of DPS, Col. Steven McCraw, held a news conference Friday during which he said the delayed police entry into the classroom was “the wrong decision” and contrary to protocol (ABC). Mediaite: The gunman was in the school for about 90 minutes, and for most of that time he appears to have locked himself inside a classroom after shooting at police. Police took cover in a hallway in response, where up to 19 officers reportedly waited outside even as children in the classroom dialed 9-1-1. Ultimately, a Border Patrol tactical unit stormed the classroom and killed the gunman after being told to stand down by Uvalde police (Mediaite).

Biden Unhappy With His Poll Numbers, Irritated With Staff Constantly Correcting His Ad Libs

NBC: Biden is rattled by his sinking approval ratings and is looking to regain voters’ confidence that he can provide the sure-handed leadership he promised during the campaign, people close to the president say. Crises have piled up in ways that have at times made the Biden White House look flat-footed: record inflation, high gas prices, a rise in Covid case numbers — and now a Texas school massacre that is one more horrific reminder that he has been unable to get Congress to pass legislation to curb gun violence. Democratic leaders are at a loss about how he can revive his prospects by November, when midterm elections may cost his party control of Congress… Beyond policy, Biden is unhappy about a pattern that has developed inside the West Wing. He makes a clear and succinct statement — only to have aides rush to explain that he actually meant something else. The so-called clean-up campaign, he has told advisers, undermines him and smothers the authenticity that fueled his rise. Worse, it feeds a Republican talking point that he’s not fully in command (NBC). HotAir: The president sees a Republican landslide coming, he’s exasperated by his inability to stop it, so he’s begun to pass the buck. To his staff, to fickle voters, even to fate. “He’s now lower than Trump, and he’s really twisted about it,” said one person close to the White House about Biden’s bafflement at his low approval rating (HotAir).

LA Mayoral Candidate Promises To Eliminate LAPD

Fox News: Gina Viola, an activist, self-described “abolitionist” and a member of “White People 4 Black Lives,” registered at the last minute to run among a crowded pool of mayoral candidates in the June 7 primary, vying to replace Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti, who cannot seek re-election due to term limits. Unlike the so-far front-runners on the ballot, Rick Caruso and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., who have both advocated to add more police officers to the force to address rising crime in Los Angeles, the left-leaning Viola, with support from several Black Lives Matter leaders, is pledging to eliminate the Los Angeles Police Department over time and redirect the funding toward more social services (Fox News). Los Angeles Times: In reality, her defund plan is more of a “phase-out,” she said. She wants to forgo hiring new officers and anticipates shrinking the force through retirements — a process that could take decades. She admits that she has to “get in there and see what I am able to do. I have to work with the city attorney.” Viola also acknowledged that some neighborhoods don’t want fewer police officers. She has also proposed adding violence prevention workers and creating academies to hire high school graduates as community leaders. She wants to support domestic violence workers and fund youth development. “Healthy-resourced communities are safe communities,” Viola said. A representative for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing police officers, declined to comment on Viola’s campaign. The union is supporting developer Rick Caruso, who wants to hire 1,500 additional cops (Los Angeles Times).

US Consumer Confidence Falls as Cost of Living Skyrockets

Associated Press: U.S. consumer confidence edged lower in May as Americans’ view of their present and future prospects dimmed in the midst of persistent inflation. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index dipped to 106.4 in May — still a strong reading — from 108.6 in April. The business research group’s present situation index, which measures consumers’ assessment of current business and labor conditions, also fell in May to 149.6 from 152.9 in April. The expectations index, based on consumers’ six-month outlook for income, business and labor market conditions, also declined in May, to 77.5 from 79 in April. It was above 80 in February and remains a weak spot in the survey (Associated Press). RNC Research: CNN reports that the “high cost of living continues to cast a shadow over this economy” “Gas, food, and housing… all three continue to get more expensive” under Biden (Twitter). Reuters: With prices still high and borrowing costs rising, consumers are reassessing their spending plans. The share of consumers planning to buy a motor vehicle over the next six months dipped. Fewer consumers intended to buy major household appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, dryers and television sets (Reuters).

San Francisco Proposes Spending Millions to End Transgender Homelessness

Daily Wire: San Francisco Democratic Mayor London Breed announced a plan Tuesday to “end transgender homelessness” in the city by 2027. The plan would direct $6.5 million in the proposed budget to combat homelessness, specifically for people who identify as transgender… A 2021 survey estimated there are roughly 320 transgender homeless people in San Francisco, compared to 2,800 homeless women and nearly 8,000 total homeless people in the city (Daily Wire). London Breed: Today I announced my 5-year plan to end transgender homelessness in San Francisco, which includes investing in programs that support and create real long-term change in the lives of transgender people (Twitter). Ebar: The proposal makes San Francisco the first city in the U.S. to commit to ending homelessness for TGNC people, the mayor’s office stated. The Board of Supervisors amends and approves the mayor’s budget proposal before approving the city’s two-year budget July 1. The mayor’s proposed two-year budget includes the following to begin implementation of the plan to end trans homelessness: at least 150 long-term housing subsidies through the city’s Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool program and acquisition and operations for a new permanent supportive housing site for TGNC and LGBQ+ youth, with a focus on transition age youth (Ebar).

President Biden Applauds New Zealand’s Gun Control

Associated Press: President Joe Biden praised New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday for her success in curbing domestic extremism and guns as he tries to persuade a reluctant Congress to tighten gun laws in the aftermath of horrific mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York. The long-planned talks between Biden and Ardern centered on trade, climate and security in the Indo-Pacific, but the two leaders’ starkly different experiences in pushing for gun control loomed large in the conversation. Ardern successfully won passage of gun control measures in her country after a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in 2019. Less than a month later, all but one of the country’s 120 lawmakers voted in favor of banning military-style semiautomatic weapons (Associated Press). Breitbart: Ardern has become a darling of the left after she pushed forward strict gun control laws in New Zealand, banning most semi-automatic rifles after the horrific Christchurch shooting in 2019. She also has repeatedly called for more tech censorship of online extremism, blaming the internet for radicalizing the shooter. Biden appeared impressed. “I want to work with you on that effort and I want to talk with you about what those conversations are like if you’re willing,” he said. Biden expressed sadness that mass shootings continued happening in the United States, renewing calls for change. “There’s an expression by an Irish poet that says too long a suffering makes a stone of the heart,” he said, claiming he had been to more “mass shooting aftermaths” than any president in American history (Breitbart).

Biden Against Hardening Schools

National Review: President Biden does not “believe in” proposals to harden schools against potential gunmen, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday. “I know there’s been conversation about hardening schools,” she said. “That is not something that he believes in. He believes that we should be able to give teachers the resources to be able to do the job that they’re meant to do at schools.” Jean-Pierre made the comments while speaking about the possibility of bipartisan legislation to address gun violence, in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last week. A gunman killed 19 students and two adults in the shooting at Robb Elementary School (National Review). Curtis Houck: White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says proposals that deal with “hardening schools…is not something that” President Biden “believes in” b/c “the problem is with guns” in America (Twitter). Daily Wire: The man who shot up the school in Uvalde “walked in unobstructed,” Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Regional Director Victor Escalon said. “So from the grandmother’s house, to the (ditch), to the school, into the school, he was not confronted by anybody.” Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said that the school resource officer was not inside the school when the attack happened (Daily Wire).

Study Shows “No Significant Relationship” Between School Masking and Covid Rates

Lancet: We examine the relationship between mask mandates and per-capita pediatric cases, using multiple regression to control for differences across school districts. Findings: Replicating the CDC study shows similar results; however, incorporating a larger sample and longer period showed no significant relationship between mask mandates and case rates. These results persisted when using regression methods to control for differences across districts (Lancet). Dr. Marty Makary: This study demonstrates how the CDC was cherry-picking data to support their school mask dogma. The article states that CDC’s MMWR journal rejected publishing this re-analysis. Most likely because it exposed the CDCs salami-slicing of data & use of science as political propaganda (Twitter).

10.

Race-Based Grading Policy Is Upon Us

West Cook News: Oak Park and River Forest High School administrators will require teachers next school year to adjust their classroom grading scales to account for the skin color or ethnicity of its students. In an effort to equalize test scores among racial groups, OPRF will order its teachers to exclude from their grading assessments variables it says disproportionally hurt the grades of black students. They can no longer be docked for missing class, misbehaving in school or failing to turn in their assignments, according to the plan. “Traditional grading practices perpetuate inequities and intensify the opportunity gap,” reads a slide in the PowerPoint deck outlining its rationale and goals (West Cook News). National Review: I can’t think of a more effective way to hurt students of color and impede their success as adults than to relieve them of the responsibility to comply with the requirements and efficiencies basic to receiving a good education. Talk about the bigotry of low expectations. If black students are accepted into colleges because they have benefited from unwarranted grade inflation — but are not prepared to succeed because they never developed the discipline and life skills needed for diligent scholarship — they are being set up for failure. How does that help them either in school or in life (National Review).

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