NIH Director Collins: We Have ‘More Important Things’ Than Rand’s ‘Posturing’ on Gain of Function

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins stated that the clash between Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci “could be readily resolved in terms of understanding the meaning of the term ‘gain of function.’ But instead, this has turned into political theatrics” when “We have so many more important things to spend our time on right now.”

Collins said, “Well, it’s very unfortunate to have something that I think could be readily resolved in terms of understanding the meaning of the term ‘gain of function.’ But instead, this has turned into political theatrics. It’s really unfortunate. We have so many more important things to spend our time on right now. But it’s a diagnosis of just how polarized everything has become. So, that even in the face of this terrible pandemic that has taken more than 600,000 lives in this country, this kind of time is being wasted on this kind of posturing.”

He added, “I absolutely support Tony Fauci in every way. I have never known him to be anything other than completely truthful. He is a public servant that people should all be thankful to. And to see him attacked and demonized this way on political grounds is really hard to watch.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/07/21/nih-director-collins-we-have-more-important-things-than-rands-posturing-on-gain-of-function/

American Beauty star Mena Suvari reveals she was raped at 12

Actress Mena Suvari, best known for American Pie and American Beauty, has written a book detailing the sexual abuse she suffered as a teen

American Beauty star Mena Suvari has revealed that she was raped when she was 12.

The actress, now 42, details the incident in her new memoir, The Great Peace: A Memoir.

Suvari writes that she was raped by one of her older brother’s friends at his home.

“Part of me died that day,” Suvari writes in the book, according to People magazine. “He used me, had fun with me and then disposed of me. He called me a wh*re. I never got to have a healthy expression of [sex]. My choice was lost. And that, compiled with already not feeling seen and heard, established a concept that I would have of myself. That that was my value.”

Suvari moved to Los Angeles when she was 15 to break into the acting industry. Her manager at the time, whom she considered a friend, pushed her for a sexual relationship and Suvari writes that she didn’t feel like she had a choice to say no.

“By this time my family had pretty much fallen apart,” Suvari writes. “My mother had moved out and wanted to find herself and my father [who was much older] was in decline mentally and physically. I didn’t feel like I had any other options or was worthy of a life that was any different.”

Suvari turned to drugs in an attempt to block out what was going on in her private life.

“I turned to any form of self-medicating I could find, just to get by,” she writes. “I was just trying to survive.”

In 1999, when Suvari was 19 years old, her acting career took off with roles in American Pie and American Beauty, the latter earning her a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

A year later she married Robert Brinkmann who was 17 years older than her. They divorced in 2005.

In 2010 she married concert promoter Simone Sestito but the pair split just over a year later and finalised their divorce in 2012.

Suvari married her third husband, Mike Hope, in 2018 and the couple welcomed their first child in April.

The actress, who will next be seen on the big screen in an upcoming biographical historical drama about former US president Ronald Reagan, says she decided to open up about her painful past in the book in the hope it can help others.

“This is my truth. This is my voice,” she writes. “I was so tired of fighting and hiding my whole life. I hope I can help someone else see their value. If I can lessen the pain for someone else, then I want to do it, because I didn’t have that person.”

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/books-magazines/books/american-beauty-star-mena-suvari-reveals-she-was-raped-at-12/news-story/84910bbe02b53bced3dd031bf3543731.

CCP Hackers Targeted US Pipelines: FBI

The FBI on Wednesday said hackers working for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) accessed the IT systems of at least 13 American pipeline operators between 2011 and 2013. The agency says the hackers’ ultimate goal was to physically damage the pipelines or disrupt their operation. NTD spoke with experts about the news.

https://www.ntd.com/ccp-hackers-targeted-us-pipelines-fbi_646932.html

Kek FBI said!

John Kerry Says ‘Climate Crisis’ May Be Worse Than COVID Fallout, Begs China To Cut Emissions

United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry asked China to cut its carbon emissions.

Kerry — who previously served as Secretary of State under the Obama administration — declared during a Tuesday speech delivered in London that the hardships from COVID-19 would be “magnified many times over in a world that does not grapple with, and ultimately halt, the climate crisis.”“The climate crisis, my friends, is the test of our times,” said Kerry as recorded by CNBC. “And while some may still believe it is unfolding in slow motion, no, this test is now as acute and as existential as any previous one.”

“As a large country, an economic leader and now the largest driver of climate change, China absolutely can help lead the world to success by peaking and starting to reduce emissions early during this critical decade of 2020 to 2030,” he added. “The truth is there’s no alternative, because without sufficient reduction by China, together with the rest of us, the goal of 1.5 degrees is essentially impossible.”

Kerry — who is set to attend a G20 meeting in Italy focused on environmental policy — previously signed a statement with China Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua on climate change: The United States and China are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands… Both countries recall their historic contribution to the development, adoption, signature, and entry into force of the Paris Agreement through their leadership and collaboration.

Months later, however, Chinese policymakers shirked climate change goals to promote economic expansion. As The Wall Street Journal reported:

China’s top economic planners have put the brakes on attempts by environmental officials to reduce carbon emissions as driving growth takes priority over meeting climate targets for now, according to people familiar with the matter.

Officials at China’s main economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, have limited the initial scope of a national carbon-trading system, which is set to go into full operation later this month after pilot projects in eight Chinese cities.

The economic planning office has also gained the upper hand in negotiations over drafting a detailed road map to fulfill leader Xi Jinping’s pledges to achieve a peak in carbon-dioxide emission before 2030 and net zero emissions by 2060, the people said.

China alone produces 28% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Between 2008 and 2018, its carbon dioxide emissions significantly expanded. Over the same period, the United States’ emissions trended slightly downward.

http://www.tathasta.com/2021/07/john-kerry-says-climate-crisis-may-be.html

>>14171383

seems that way

Joint Chiefs Chair Dodges Questions on Trump, Coup Concerns and Nazis

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley on Wednesday refused to address a book alleging he was concerned that former President Donald Trump might instigate a coup to stay in office and implicitly comparing Trump to Hitler.

The newly released book "I Alone Can Fix It" by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker contains multiple anecdotes of Milley using language referring to Nazi Germany when discussing Trump's efforts to stay in office and dispute the 2020 election.

In a press briefing at the Pentagon, Milley repeatedly declined to confirm or deny the alleged comments.

"I've always, personally, provided the best military and professional advice I could to President Trump previously, to President Biden, or any other," he said. "I, and the other members of the Joint Chiefs, all of us in uniform, we take an oath. An oath to a document, an oath to the Constitution of the United States. And not one time did we violate that."

Milley said the Joint Chiefs maintained, and continue to maintain, the tradition of civilian control of the military and an apolitical military "without fail."

The book quotes Milley as saying Trump's false statements that the election was stolen were "a Reichstag moment" and "the gospel of the Fuhrer" and compared his supporters to Nazi-era Brownshirts.

The book also reported that a friend warned Milley that Trump and his allies planned to "overturn the government." It quotes Milley as saying, "They may try, but they're not going to f—ing succeed. You can't do this without the military. You can't do this without the CIA and FBI. We're the guys with guns."

Criticism of Milley increased among some conservatives after the book's accounts emerged. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who served as former Vice President Mike Pence's national security adviser, said Tuesday on a show on the conservative website Newsmax that, if the comments are accurate as reported, Milley had "crossed the line" of respecting civilian control of the military and should resign.

After Milley's initial comments Wednesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed his full confidence in Milley and said he "doesn't have a political bone in his body."

When a reporter pointed out Milley had not denied any of the reported statements and asked whether he had been too political in the past, Milley again reiterated the military's apolitical nature and support of the Constitution, not to any individuals.

"The military did not, and will not, and should not ever get involved in domestic politics," he said. "We don't arbitrate elections. That's the job of the Judiciary, and the Legislature, and the American people. It is not the job of the U.S. military. We stay out of politics."

Milley came under intense criticism last summer for walking with Trump through Lafayette Square to the nearby St. John's Church, after protesters were violently cleared from the square. He soon expressed regret for the appearance, and his apology caused him to fall out of favor with Trump.

Other reports of Milley's conflicts have emerged in recent months. Another book, "Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost," alleged that Milley and Trump's disagreement over whether and how the military should respond to racial justice protests once turned into a profanity-filled shouting match in the White House.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/07/21/joint-chiefs-chair-dodges-questions-trump-coup-concerns-and-nazis.html

Pentagon Reevaluating Security Around ‘Nuclear Football’ After Capitol Rioters Almost Grabbed It

After it was revealed that rioters inside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, were within moments of potentially laying their hands on the United States’ nuclear launch codes, the Pentagon ordered a review of its policies concerning the device, commonly known as the “nuclear football.”

Its formal name is the Presidential Emergency Satchel - the 45-pound briefcase the US President or Vice President would use to order the use of nuclear weapons, should the unfortunate situation come to pass. If necessary, a nuclear weapon or weapons could be launched in as little as two minutes’ time. It’s carried by an aide-de-camp whenever one of the executives is away from a permanent command post, such as when former US Vice President Mike Pence went to the US Capitol on January 6 to fulfill his duties as President of the Senate in the certification of Electoral College voting results from the November 2020 election.

Then-US President Donald Trump’s supporters, intent on forestalling certification of a victory by Joe Biden that they - and Trump - had deemed to be illegitimate, fell upon Capitol Police in the thousands, breaching the building and temporarily scattering Congress. Lawmakers scrambled to safety as police officers struggled with pro-rioter sympathy in the ranks. Security camera footage from the event shows that at one point, the insurrectionists were within just 100 feet of Pence and his entourage and chanting “Hang Mike Pence.” Outside, a gallows was being erected.

According to CNN, US Strategic Command, which is responsible for operating the nuclear weapons arsenal, only became fully aware of the danger weeks later, when security camera footage shown during Trump’s impeachment trial for allegedly egging on the attack was aired.

Kingston Reif, an expert on nuclear weapons policy at the nonpartisan Arms Control Association, told CNN in early February that "The risk associated with the insurrectionists getting their hands on Pence's football wasn't that they could have initiated an unauthorized launch. But had they stolen the football and acquired its contents, which include pre-planned nuclear strike options, they could have shared the contents with the world.”

Since Trump was commander-in-chief, only he could actually order a nuclear strike, unless he was compromised and Pence rose to fill his office. Pence was also accompanied by several armed Secret Service bodyguards, who would undoubtedly have given their lives to defend the VP and the nuclear football, but even they wouldn’t have been able to hold back a determined assault by the rioters.

"Such an outcome would have been a security breach of almost incomprehensible proportions," Reif added, “and it ought to raise further questions about the rationale for the anachronism that is the football."

It would seem the Department of Defense Inspector General agrees: a Monday memo to the director of the Joint Staff and director of the White House Military Office notes the IG will begin an evaluation of the Pentagon’s notification procedures for the nuclear football before the month is out.

“The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent that DoD processes and procedures are in place and adequate to alert DoD officials in the event that the Presidential Emergency Satchel is lost, stolen, or compromised,” the memo states. “This evaluation will also determine the adequacy of the procedures the DoD has developed to respond to such an event.”

Five people died during the assault on the Capitol, but the rioters ultimately failed to capture the Electoral College ballots or any lawmakers or other officials, and were soon driven from the building. Thousands of US troops, whose absence from the Capitol grounds was itself a scandal suggesting sympathy for the insurrection inside the Pentagon, were soon positioned across downtown Washington, DC, and remained on station for several months amid ongoing claimed threats.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202107211083434702-pentagon-reevaluating-security-around-nuclear-football-after-capitol-rioters-almost-grabbed-it/

WOW such insane gaslighting BS

Mike Pompeo: Biden Admin Has ‘Literally Done Nothing’ to Pressure China, Wuhan Lab ‘Still Open’

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alex Marlow on Monday that the Biden administration has “literally done nothing” to pressure China, adding that the Wuhan lab is “still open.”

Pompeo spoke with Marlow on Monday at Turning Point USA’s annual Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida, where the two discussed communist China, “narco-trafficking terror regime” Cuba, Critical Race Theory, and the Deep State.

When it comes to China, Pompeo agreed with Marlow that the communist regime will continue to advance if the United States does not put pressure on it, adding that the Biden administration has done nothing to counter China.

“Don’t forget, that [Wuhan] lab is still open,” Pompeo said. “That lab is still conducting viral research. It won’t surprise me at all if the military is still inside that lab.”

“And this administration has literally done nothing to say, ‘No, you have to, at the very least, shut down the place that it is likely this virus came from,'” the former Secretary of State added.

“There was so much more to do,” Pompeo continued. “We made a good start, we made good headway, we built out coalitions around the world — everyone understands the communist tyranny in China foisted this virus upon the world.”

“Sadly, I think this administration’s going to go talk to the Chinese about climate change, instead about changing the nature of what the regime is doing to its own people, and then transmitting all across the world,” he added.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/07/21/exclusive-mike-pompeo-biden-admin-has-literally-done-nothing-to-pressure-china-wuhan-lab-still-open/

NSW restrictions to stay until ‘majority vaccinated’

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says beating Delta is almost impossible and the only way NSW opens up fully again is when the “majority are vaccinated”.

NSW Premier Gladys says beating Delta is almost impossible and the only way NSW opens up fully again is when the “majority are vaccinated”.

NSW recorded 124 new locally-acquired cases of coronavirus on Thursday. Of those, only 37 were isolating for the entire period while they were infectious.

Speaking with reporters, Ms Berejiklian said nowhere in the world had successfully defeated the Delta variant and NSW was no different.

“There’s no doubt that Delta has beaten every single jurisdiction in the world but that’s why we’ve always said in NSW that we want to get close to zero in terms of the numbers of people infectious in the community,” she said.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/nsw-restrictions-to-stay-until-majority-vaccinated/news-story/dd97635abf26c7de8be6d269358c189f

Translate: If we don't kill you all it's just a matter of time before we get busted for our crimes!