Lawmakers seek federal grand jury investigation for COVID-19 statistical manipulation

"Public health policy must be based upon accurate and independently verifiable data," and CDC and FDA aren't providing it, Oregon state senators tell U.S. attorney.

The CDC adopted a "double-standard exclusively for COVID-19 data collection" that inflated cases and deaths starting early in the pandemic, violating multiple federal laws and distorting mitigation policies, Oregon lawmakers told the feds' top lawyer in the state.

Advised by "a large team of world-renowned doctors, epidemiologists, virologists, and attorneys," state Senators Kim Thatcher and Dennis Linthicum petitioned U.S. Attorney Scott Asphaug to approve a grand jury investigation into how the pandemic is being measured.

"Public health policy must be based upon accurate and independently verifiable data to optimize outcomes and strengthen the public's trust in the people leading them through this crisis," the Republican lawmakers, whose state has imposed some of the harshest and longest COVID restrictions, wrote in a letter with several attached exhibits.

One is a synopsis of allegations, findings, relevant law and implicated agencies intended to "assist grand jury members in orienting themselves to the scope of alleged crimes committed."

Their letter is dated Aug. 16, but the materials were not released for a month to "protect those involved," Stand for Health Freedom (SHF), the holistic medicine and legal nonprofit behind the petition effort, said in last month's announcement.

File

Thatcher-Linthicum-Grand-Jury-Petition-AUSA.pdf

"I'm not sure there has ever been an allegation of government wrongdoing on this scale," so the group wanted to assess "accuracy and safety" before going public, relationship manager Bailey Kuykendoll told Just the News.

Asphaug's office said Thursday it referred the petition to the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Affairs. That office didn't respond on whether or how it had answered the Oregon lawmakers' request.

The lawmakers did interviews with SHF before the effort went public.

Thatcher said she was troubled that even as the infection's high survivability rate became clear, arbitrary restrictions that worsened child abuse, suicide and mental health remained in place.

"I began to really question whether the cure was worse than the disease," said Thatcher, who is better known in Oregon for her legislative effort to compensate people wrongfully convicted.

Linthicum said the "incessant case counts" for COVID jumped out at him early, explaining that his service on the legislative health committee led him to recognize "confusion, or inaccuracies, or kind of manipulation" of statistics on influenza-like illnesses versus COVID.

"It didn't take long to actually see that the data was being scrubbed or sculpted to fit a narrative," he said.

https://youtu.be/Dwi64_cgrfc

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/lawmakers-seek-federal-grand-jury-investigation-covid-19-statistical

Lawmakers seek federal grand jury investigation for COVID-19 statistical manipulation

"Public health policy must be based upon accurate and independently verifiable data," and CDC and FDA aren't providing it, Oregon state senators tell U.S. attorney.

The CDC adopted a "double-standard exclusively for COVID-19 data collection" that inflated cases and deaths starting early in the pandemic, violating multiple federal laws and distorting mitigation policies, Oregon lawmakers told the feds' top lawyer in the state.

Advised by "a large team of world-renowned doctors, epidemiologists, virologists, and attorneys," state Senators Kim Thatcher and Dennis Linthicum petitioned U.S. Attorney Scott Asphaug to approve a grand jury investigation into how the pandemic is being measured.

"Public health policy must be based upon accurate and independently verifiable data to optimize outcomes and strengthen the public's trust in the people leading them through this crisis," the Republican lawmakers, whose state has imposed some of the harshest and longest COVID restrictions, wrote in a letter with several attached exhibits.

One is a synopsis of allegations, findings, relevant law and implicated agencies intended to "assist grand jury members in orienting themselves to the scope of alleged crimes committed."

Their letter is dated Aug. 16, but the materials were not released for a month to "protect those involved," Stand for Health Freedom (SHF), the holistic medicine and legal nonprofit behind the petition effort, said in last month's announcement.

File

Thatcher-Linthicum-Grand-Jury-Petition-AUSA.pdf

"I'm not sure there has ever been an allegation of government wrongdoing on this scale," so the group wanted to assess "accuracy and safety" before going public, relationship manager Bailey Kuykendoll told Just the News.

Asphaug's office said Thursday it referred the petition to the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Affairs. That office didn't respond on whether or how it had answered the Oregon lawmakers' request.

The lawmakers did interviews with SHF before the effort went public.

Thatcher said she was troubled that even as the infection's high survivability rate became clear, arbitrary restrictions that worsened child abuse, suicide and mental health remained in place.

"I began to really question whether the cure was worse than the disease," said Thatcher, who is better known in Oregon for her legislative effort to compensate people wrongfully convicted.

Linthicum said the "incessant case counts" for COVID jumped out at him early, explaining that his service on the legislative health committee led him to recognize "confusion, or inaccuracies, or kind of manipulation" of statistics on influenza-like illnesses versus COVID.

"It didn't take long to actually see that the data was being scrubbed or sculpted to fit a narrative," he said.

https://youtu.be/Dwi64_cgrfc

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/lawmakers-seek-federal-grand-jury-investigation-covid-19-statistical

>>14763566

Federal sexcapades: FEMA failed to properly investigate half of its sexual misconduct cases

A third of the disaster agency workers report they had experienced sexual harassment and misconduct, but most didn't report it because they believed it would go unaddressed, IG says.

The U.S. government's disaster recovery agency received more than 300 allegations of workplace sexual misconduct and harassment from 2012 to 2018 and failed to properly investigate more than half of them, according to an internal watchdog report that exposes the limits the #MeToo movement has met inside the federal bureaucracy.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's problems extend beyond proper handling of complaints, as a survey of its workforce exposed a potentially pervasive hostile work environment, according to a report issued this month by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general.

"One-third (255 of 765) of the employees who responded to our questionnaire indicated they had experienced sexual harassment or sexual misconduct, but they did not report it because they did not believe the allegations would be investigated," the inspector general reported.

"Unaddressed sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in the workplace can have negative effects on employees, including decreased performance, low morale, and increased turnover," the report added.

The investigation documented that between 2012 and 2018 FEMA received 305 allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct in the workplace, including "sexual assault, unwelcome sexual advances, and inappropriate sexual comments," the report noted.

"The agency mustered a poor response to the flood of allegations," investigators said.

"We were unable to determine whether FEMA properly handled 153 of these allegations, because it could not provide complete investigative and disciplinary files," the report said. "For allegations that had complete files available, at times we were unable to determine whether FEMA conducted an investigation. Finally, we found FEMA did not document whether it reviewed some sexual harassment-related Equal Employment Opportunity complaints to determine whether potential employee misconduct occurred."

You can read the full report here:

File

FEMASexHarassment10-2021.pdf

The report offered numerous examples of half-hearted or ineffective efforts to investigate sexual misconduct.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/watchdogs/federal-sexcapades-fema-failed-properly-investigate-half-its-sexual

The Star Casino accused of laundering millions

After revelations on 60 Minutes in 2019 that in its haste to woo China's gambling whales, Crown had partnered with Asian gangsters and facilitated massive money laundering in its casinos, multiple inquiries into Crown, and its humiliated major shareholder James Packer, began.

On 60 Minutes, in a major investigation with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, we can reveal how the Star Casino became a magnet for alleged organised criminals and money laundering.

https://9now.nine.com.au/60-minutes/60-minutes-major-investigation-the-star-casino-accused-of-laundering-millions/14759c12-fa7e-4b32-8d4e-5a957a22202a

Labor Minister Luke Donnellan quits ministry

A Labor Minister has quit after a bombshell start to a corruption probe that has heard allegations of branch stacking in the Labor Party.

Luke Donnellan has resigned from the Victorian cabinet following allegations during anti-corruption hearings.

Mr Donnellan has stood down from his portfolio of aged care and disability but will remain on the backbench.

It comes hours after federal Holt MP Anthony Byrne told the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) that Mr Donnellan had paid for party memberships when being quizzed about branch stacking.

He is the fourth MP forced out of cabinet as part of the secret tapes scandal centred around powerbroker Adem Somyurek.

Mr Donnellan was elected in 2002 as the MP for Narre Warren North and has been the Minister Child Protection and the Minister Disability, Ageing and Carers since December, 2018.

In a statement Mr Donnellan revealed he had told Premier Daniel Andrews he would be stepping down as minister.

“I accept that I have previously breached party rules while a minister,” he said.

“But let me be very clear: I never misused public funds or resources in any way.

“And this has absolutely nothing to do with my staff.”

But Mr Donnellan said he didn’t believe it was possible to maintain his ministerial responsibilities after revelations about paying for memberships had come to light.

“The work to support vulnerable Victorians is too important, especially during the pandemic,” he said.

Mr Andrews said Mr Donnellan advised him of his immediate resignation on Monday afternoon.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/ibac-first-witness-in-corruption-hearing-says-the-labor-party-was-completely-out-of-control/news-story/7cc14174dd84c26e51880fb3c0e5f856