Category: Government Controlling

News Max: Sen. Ron Johnson Expects Little From Fauci Testimony.

Sen. Ron Johnson said he expects little cooperation from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, when he testifies before the Senate this week, as Republicans prepare to question the longtime public health official about the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hill reported Sunday.

The Wisconsin Republican told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that “I don’t expect to get much out of him” during Fauci’s testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Johnson added, “I think [Fauci would] be very forgetful, completely unrepentant, arrogant — I mean, arrogant to the extreme.”

The senator said he intends to use Wednesday’s hearing to highlight what he views as failure in the government’s handling of the pandemic, stressing that “I’m going to try and lay out all the things that he did that were such a miserably failed response to COVID.”

The hearing comes after committee Chairman Rand Paul subpoenaed Fauci to testify as part of the panel’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and the government’s involvement in research conducted in China.

The Kentucky Republican has alleged that federal officials concealed information about U.S.-funded viral research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where he and other Republicans argue the virus that caused the pandemic may have originated.

U.S. intelligence agencies remain divided over COVID-19’s origins, and no definitive conclusion has been reached about whether the virus emerged from a laboratory incident or through natural animal-to-human transmission.

Paul has repeatedly accused Fauci of misleading Congress regarding research funding and has argued the former NIAID director should face criminal charges.

During a 2021 Senate hearing, Fauci denied that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded gain-of-function research involving the virus that causes COVID-19 at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

In previous interviews, Paul has said he expects Fauci to be untruthful during his upcoming testimony.

“I don’t expect him to be honest; he hasn’t been honest in the last six years,” Paul said recently.

Paul also said negotiations with Fauci over documents and testimony had dragged on for months before the committee issued a subpoena.

“We’ve been negotiating with him for material and for testimony,” Paul told CNBC last month. “This has gone on for some time. He slow-walked us and slow-walked us. Finally agreed to come in voluntarily … then last week he says he’s not coming in. With this subpoena power, we will bring him in, unless he fights this in court.”

Fauci, who retired from government service in 2022 after advising seven presidents dating back to the Reagan administration, received a preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden before Biden left office amid concerns that the Trump administration could pursue legal action against him.

Wednesday’s hearing is expected to renew congressional scrutiny of the government’s pandemic response, including funding decisions, public health guidance, and investigations into the origins of COVID-19.

Prophecy News Watch: Iran Could Attack The Gulf’s Lifelines

Tehran has warned Gulf governments that American attacks on Iran’s electrical grid would produce “unlimited retaliation” against countries hosting American military forces.

Those threats cannot be dismissed as empty rhetoric. Earlier in the conflict, Iranian missiles and drones damaged Qatar’s enormous Ras Laffan energy complex, targeted Saudi facilities, set fires at Kuwaiti refineries and forced the United Arab Emirates to shut gas installations.

Iran could attempt to strike American bases in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It could simultaneously target electrical plants, oil terminals, refineries, pipelines and water-desalination facilities belonging to those countries.

Desalination plants are particularly consequential because several Gulf nations depend heavily on them for drinking water. Even limited disruption could create panic, force emergency rationing and place enormous pressure on governments that want no part in the war.

Israel would almost certainly prepare for renewed ballistic-missile attacks. Municipalities including Ramat Gan, Eilat and Karmiel have opened public shelters after local assessments concluded that the danger of Iranian missile fire over the weekend was no longer negligible. Israeli officials reportedly believe that an American attack against strategic Iranian infrastructure or senior regime figures could cause Tehran to bring Israel directly back into the conflict.

The shelter openings are therefore meaningful. But they are precautionary indicators–not proof that Israel has received the exact time of an impending American attack.

Prophecy News Watch: What About Sleeper Cells?

The possibility of Iranian-directed attacks inside the United States and Europe must be discussed carefully.

Iran has spent years developing what counterterrorism officials have described as a “homeland option.” Researchers at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point identified at least 17 Iranian-linked plots disrupted in the United States during a five-year period. The potential pathways include Iranian intelligence operatives, Hezbollah members, criminal organizations hired as proxies and individuals inspired to act independently.

The FBI says Iran’s global threat includes attempted terrorist attacks, kidnappings, assassination schemes, espionage, cyberattacks and operations against dissidents and current or former American officials.

Britain has faced a similar threat. British intelligence has reportedly tracked more than 20 Iranian-linked plots, often involving criminal networks hired to conduct surveillance or attacks against dissidents and Jewish or Israeli interests.

If Tehran wanted retaliation without leaving obvious Iranian fingerprints, using criminal intermediaries, proxy organizations or inspired lone actors would offer plausible deniability. The immediate danger would not necessarily resemble a centrally commanded military operation. It could instead appear as attempted assassinations, sabotage, attacks against diplomatic or religious institutions, or opportunistic violence encouraged by Iranian propaganda.

Cyberattacks may be even more likely. American authorities have repeatedly warned that Iranian actors target government networks, businesses and critical infrastructure. A recently listed federal advisory concerns Iranian-affiliated actors exploiting programmable industrial-control equipment used in American infrastructure.
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USA TODAY: ‘Almost an insult’: Republican senator slams CDC over autism, vaccines website.

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Portrait of Jay StahlJay Stahl
USA TODAY

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, who has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump’s administration over health issues, slammed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over a website related to autism and vaccines.

The gastroenterologist during a July 26 interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” called out the health authority for saying online that it’s “not an evidence-based claim” that vaccines don’t cause autism.

“That is what gives some parents hesitancy regarding having their children vaccinated,” Cassidy told host Dana Bash, who asked if the site was a “good faith attempt to stop spreading what you call ‘misinformation about vaccines.'”

The health hawk told Bash the claims will make parents hesitant to do “the right thing, which is to have their child vaccinated.” Cassidy continued, telling Bash that “it’s been firmly established vaccines do not cause autism.”

Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, is an outspoken advocate for vaccines. When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was being considered as the nation’s health secretary last year, Cassidy asked him to “come out unequivocally” and say vaccines are safe and they do not cause autism.

Prophecy News Watch: The Next Few Days Could Be Decisive

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No credible source can guarantee that a massive attack will occur this weekend.

Diplomatic communications are reportedly continuing through Qatar, Oman and other intermediaries. Some of the military buildup and public threats may be intended to frighten Tehran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz and accepting American nuclear demands without another enormous battle.

But the warning lights are flashing.

The president says he is close to a decision. B-1 bombers have entered the renewed campaign. Additional refueling aircraft have been positioned. Iranian air defenses and coastal systems are being systematically reduced. Pickaxe Mountain has been publicly identified as a coming target. Iran is reinforcing the Houthis, threatening Gulf infrastructure and warning Britain that an airbase used by American bombers is now a legitimate target.

Taken individually, any one of these developments might be dismissed as signaling or psychological warfare.

Taken together, they describe a region preparing for the possibility that the current war is about to enter its most dangerous phase yet.

A Famine Of God’s Word

 

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12)

A Famine Of God’s Word

One of the greatest killers of mankind is the severe shortage of food resulting in widespread hunger or famine. Thirty million people died in China when famine struck in the late 50’s and early ’60s. Millions die from malnutrition and starvation each year, especially in the sub-Saharan African countries. From the beginning of time there have been various causes of famine brought on by natural disasters, infestations of insects, wars and failed policies of governments. Untold millions have died a slow and horrible death of famishment. The Bible reveals famines during the days of Abraham, and Isaac, and the great famine in the world during the days of Joseph when he rescued Egypt from destruction. During the period of the Judges and reign of David, there were famines. There was a severe famine in Samaria during the days of Ahab and Jezebel when Elijah and Elisha prophesied. The people of God were punished with the sword, judgment, pestilence, and famine seeking to bring them back to the Lord. God used the scarcity of food to impress upon His own people a day would come when there would not be a famine of food but an absence of the divine word. Knowing a famine was coming would strike terror and cause the heart to faint at the inability to find food. People would become frantic seeking ways to endure the blight of famine. During the days of Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, the prophet Amos brought the reality of God’s judgment upon the people who had become secure in their prosperity of the golden age of the northern kingdom. There was a great social and economic revival in the land with the people enjoying a prosperous time of ease and wealth. Amos would talk about those who lay on beds of ivory stretching themselves on couches and eating lambs from the flocks and calves from the stalls. There was music that filled the land and wine flowing freely in the bowls not knowing a famine was coming. This famine was not in the absence of food but the famine of the word of God. No greater famine has plagued man than when the word of God is scarce. Like the famine of food, spiritual famine will bring certain death.

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DOJ Unilaterally Reviewing Documents

But Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan noted that the DOJ, which is looking for evidence of criminal wrongdoing, is unilaterally reviewing the documents to decide what is or isn’t privileged.

“[The DOJ] has filed an extraordinary document with this Court, suggesting that the DOJ, and the DOJ alone, should be entrusted with the responsibility of evaluating its unjustified pursuit of criminalizing a former President’s possession of personal and Presidential records in a secure setting,” Halligan wrote.

“Now, the Government twists the framework of responding to a motion for a Special Master into an all-encompassing challenge to any judicial consideration, presently or in the future, of any aspect of its unprecedented behavior in this investigation.”

Trump’s lawyer said the DOJ’s response underscored the need for the court to appoint a special master. She also noted an apparent contradiction in the DOJ’s response that it had both already completed a review of the documents and continued to review the documents.

“Never has an argument against ‘interference’ better underscored the need for judicial involvement. All of this in the context of a unilateral filter team operation that to-date has never made any contact with counsel for [Trump], another historic first for DOJ,” Halligan wrote.

“Left unchecked, the DOJ will impugn, leak, and publicize selective aspects of their investigation with no recourse for [Trump] but to somehow trust the self-restraint of currently unchecked investigators.”

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon last week signaled in a court filing that she will likely sign off on appointing a special master to review documents that were taken from Mar-a-Lago.

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India accidentally fired missile into Pakistan

India said on Friday it had accidentally fired a missile into Pakistan this week because of a “technical malfunction” during routine maintenance, giving its version of events after Pakistan summoned India’s envoy to protest.

Military experts have in the past warned of the risk of accidents or miscalculations by the nuclear-armed neighbors, which have fought in numerous armed clashes, usually over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Tensions have eased in recent months, and the incident, which may have been the first of its kind, immediately raised questions about safety mechanisms.

“On 9 March 2022, in the course of routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile,” the Indian Ministry of Defence said in a three-paragraph statement.

“It is learned that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan. While the incident is deeply regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident.”

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