Investigative Roundup

We know COVID-19 causes some brain damage…..

SUN SENTINEL: Nearly one-in-three children tested for the new coronavirus in Florida has been positive, and a South Florida health official is concerned the disease could cause lifelong damage even for children with mild illness.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-pbc-health-director-covid-children-20200714-xcdall2tsrd4riim2nwokvmsxm-story.html

ALSO:

BLOOMBERG: Covid-19 Infections on the Rise in Kids and Teens With School Approaching

…As the school year draws near, children and teens represent a ballooning percentage of Covid-19 cases in the U.S. as the youngest Americans increasingly venture outside their homes and are able to get tested.

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long maintained on its website that those younger than 18 make up only 2% of cases, state data paints a much less rosy picture.

California and Mississippi, for instance, are recording rates nearing 10% of overall cases. Florida has found that about a third of all children tested there are infected.

In response to questions from Bloomberg, the CDC cited a chart, updated today, with data from the states showing children make up 6.4% of those infected, though information isn’t included on almost 1 million cases.

The numbers are rising, epidemiologists say, as testing has become more available to those with mild or no symptoms, encompassing many of the pediatric cases, and as those under 18 are increasingly involved in social activities….

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-16/childhood-covid-19-infections-mount-with-schools-eyeing-openings

Former Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke: Trump suggested that maybe the United States could consider selling Puerto Rico. That happened shortly after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in the late summer of 2017.

It makes one wonder: If Puerto Rico were for sale would Putin be the buyer?

Sadly, It’s not about the people, it’s about the money.

Such a perfect summation of Trump.

Will it benefit my bank account?

Will it benefit my brand?

Will it reduce the effort I have to exert?

Trump liked to kick Puerto Ricans out of his projects.

Now he’ll kick them out of the country.

Puerto Rico is a loser property in Trump’s mentality.

Just cut the losses and get out of there.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/trump-selling-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-elaine-duke.html

The mother of a Marine killed last year in Afghanistan wants an investigation of reports that her son and two other Marines may have been the targets of Taliban-linked fighters who collected a bounty on U.S. soldiers offered by a Russian military intelligence unit.

Also upset by the news reports was Shawn Gregoire, a Chicago woman whose son, Army Spc. Michael Isaiah Nance, was fatally shot July 29, 2019.

Not just mothers are speaking out.

Father of Slain Marine Finds Heartbreak Anew in Possible Russian Bounty

Erik Hendriks has largely avoided news reports since his son, Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, was killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan in April 2019.

But the news that several American officials believe that a Russian military intelligence unit paid bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American and coalition troops in Afghanistan has been impossible to ignore, especially as he has learned that the attack in which his son and two other Marines died may have been related to that effort.

“If it does come out as true, obviously the heartache would be terrible,” Mr. Hendriks said.

“I am a Republican and I am a Trump supporter,” he said. “But there would be no way he didn’t know about it if Russians were paying off these cowards like mafia pay off hit men. I would expect the government to have 1,000 percent support behind these warriors.”

ANALYSIS:

Trump’s presidency is hemorrhaging from the proverbial “thousand cuts” that even many in his core constituencies can no longer countenance.

It’s bad enough that Trump insists on remaining supine whenever confronted with anything regarding Putin, but ignoring the safety and security of volunteer American troops in a war zone certainly is a bridge too far.

Even days later Trump has not personally said a single word or given any indication of concern over the leaked information nor has he even reassured the US Armed Forces that as Commander-In-Chief he always prioritizes their safety and well-being.

He just trots out Lie Candy to claim vindication that no one verbally TOLD him the details, and why should anyone be upset that he didn’t bother to READ about it when the intelligence was placed right before his lazy eyes?

OPINION:

Trump has been a traitor even before the election.

His son explained to us that the Russians supply all the money the Trump family needs.

They bought him long before he cheated his way into the Presidency.

They own him.

They own the entire family.

Expecting different results now is just foolishness.

Police in Columbus, Ohio were caught on video throwing a protester into an unmarked van and driving away.

Multiple videos posted to social media on show unmarked vans stopping near a group of protesters.

Men in jeans and SWAT vests jump out of the vans holding assault-style rifles.

“Stay back!” one officer orders protesters as they search for an apparent suspect.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/columbus-paramilitary-police-with-assault-weapons-jump-out-of-unmarked-vans-to-abduct-protester/

The Department of Justice confirmed the existence of a legal memorandum penned by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) outlining the department’s rationale for declining to charge President Donald Trump with obstruction of justice based on the Mueller Report.

However, the DOJ is refusing to provide the legal justification OLC relied upon in reaching the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge Trump, only releasing a heavily redacted version of the memo after protracted litigation.

“Internal DOJ emails suggest that Barr’s team may have been preparing to absolve the president regardless of what the Mueller report said. In an April 7 email, Engel makes reference to an action memo,’ another undisclosed document that may have been the group’s playbook for clearing the president or obfuscating the damning evidence of obstruction compiled by the Special Counsel,” the report stated.

“The centrality of Engel and OLC’s involvement in the effort to exonerate the president is yet another example of the office, under current political leadership, serving as an extension of the White House Counsel’s office rather than an independent office.”

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/doj-refusing-to-release-secret-memo-detailing-rationale-for-not-charging-trump-with-obstruction-in-mueller-probe/

Alternate links: Google News | Twitter

FIRST AMENDMENT WIN: The judge reviewing the case found defamation claim to be a load of bull.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) cannot sue Twitter for defamation over the contents of tweets posted by a fake account posing as Nunes’ cow, a Virginia judge ruled Wednesday.

Nunes in 2019 filed a $250 million lawsuit against three Twitter accounts as well as the service itself alleging defamation, negligence, and conspiracy.

One of the three accounts belongs to an identifiable person, Republican political strategist Liz Mair.

The other two are unnamed fake accounts: One, @DevinCow, posing as Devin Nunes’ cow, and the other, @DevinNunesMom, posing as Nunes’ mother.

https://twitter.com/DevinCow/status/1275914013751140352

The so-called cyanide bomb was not the work of some rogue actor or terrorist cell. It had been installed by a federal employee on official business.

The biggest surprise from the article:

In May 2019, DeFazio and Republican congressman Matt Gaetz re-introduced a bill, dubbed “Canyon’s Law”, that seeks to ban cyanide bombs nationwide.

Jeff Merkley of Oregon has introduced a companion bill in the Senate.

“I do not like the idea that if I am wandering on public land or my children are wandering on it or my wife, that we can stumble across and be poisoned by an exploding cyanide device or that our dog might be killed,” said Merkley.

M-44s are “something that impinges on the ability of all of us who are co-owners of public lands to safely enjoy them”.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/26/cyanide-bombs-wildfire-services-idaho

Vice President Mike Pence tried to paint a reassuring picture of the U.S. battle against Covid-19 citing “truly remarkable progress” during a briefing Friday while Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded for Americans to take the virus more seriously.

Pence insisted all 50 states “are opening safely and responsibly”

I guess VP Pence is not aware that both Florida and Texas are re-closing in some areas because they did not reopen safely and responsibly enough.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-26/pence-sees-remarkable-progress-against-virus-as-cases-spike

The US coronavirus death toll has edged toward the 125,000 mark and cases have risen by nearly 40,000 in the largest single-day increase seen since the pandemic began.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8462285/U-S-coronavirus-death-toll-edges-125-000-cases-rise-40-000-largest-daily-increase.html

Gov DeSantis played politics with this virus, and the people of Florida lost. And are losing….

Florida Smirked at New York’s Virus Crisis; Now It Has Its Own

In late April, as new coronavirus cases in Florida were steadily decreasing, Gov. Ron DeSantis began crowing how his state had tamed the pandemic. He credited his decision to impose a state-specific quarantine on New York, then the epicenter of the nation’s outbreak.

The move earned him praise in the White House and the ire of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York.

Months later, Cuomo has clearly not forgotten.

“You played politics with this virus and you lost,” Cuomo said on Thursday when asked in an interview about DeSantis’s earlier boasts.

Remember when he refused to close the beaches during Spring Break? Pure political calculation when realistic scientific evidence was there that he ignored.

Florida is where nearly 1/4 retirees who spend most of the day indoors with the AC on?

Don’t be surprised to see the state lose 1/8 of its population.

Protests against the use of deadly force by police swept across the country in 2015.

Demonstrators marched in Chicago, turned chaotic in Baltimore, and occupied the area outside a Minneapolis police station for weeks. Protesters repeatedly took to the streets of Ferguson, Mo., where a white police officer had killed a black teenager the previous year and fueled anew a national debate about the use of force and how police treat minorities.

That year, The Washington Post began tallying how many people were shot and killed by police. By the end of 2015, officers had fatally shot nearly 1,000 people, twice as many as ever documented in one year by the federal government.

With the issue flaring in city after city, some officials vowed to reform how police use force.

The next year, however, police nationwide again shot and killed nearly 1,000 people. Then they fatally shot about the same number in 2017 — and have done so for every year after that, according to The Post’s ongoing count. Since 2015, police have shot and killed 5,400 people.

Even amid the coronavirus pandemic and orders that kept millions at home for weeks, police shot and killed 463 people through the first week of June — 49 more than the same period in 2019. In May, police shot and killed 110 people, the most in any one month since The Post began tracking it.

The year over year consistency has confounded those who have spent decades studying the issue.

Most of these shootings draw little or no attention beyond a news story.

Since The Post began tracking the shootings, black people have been shot and killed by police at disproportionate rates — both in terms of overall shootings and the shootings of unarmed Americans.

The number of black and unarmed people fatally shot by police has declined since 2015, but whether armed or not, black people are still shot and killed at a disproportionately higher rate than white people.

Some of the most incendiary moments in recent years involving police and race occurred without a gunshot.