Judge dismisses lawsuit claiming Virginia absentee ballots were accepted improperly

Lawsuit alleged county approved absentee ballot applications in which the voter didn't provide the last four of their Social Security number, which is required by Virginia state law.

A Fairfax County judge threw out a lawsuit Friday that accused the Fairfax County Office of Elections of improperly accepting absentee ballots during the 2020 election.

According to the lawsuit obtained by Just the News, the Virginia Institute of Public Policy alleged the county approved absentee ballot applications in which the voter didn't provide the last four of their Social Security number, which is required by Virginia state law.

The lawsuit also included a signed affidavit by Christine Bern, who says the county registrar "instituted a procedure to approve absentee ballot applications on which the applicant has not provided the last four digits of his or her social security number."

Berm also alleged that she personally approved over 300 applications that didn't have any numbers on their applications.

According to WTOP, Judge Michael Devine threw out the lawsuit, saying the plaintiffs lack standing. Devine went on to say that Virginia law requires the lawsuit to be brought by an "aggrieved voter, a candidate, or candidate's party," and that the Virginia Institute of Public Policy didn't fall under any of those categories.

The county did admit that county registrar Scott Konopasek "accepted and approved some applications for absentee and ‘vote by mail’ ballots that were submitted by mail (or other remote means) that did not include the last four digits of the applicants’ Social Security numbers."

It is not yet clear whether VIPP will re-file their lawsuit, or seek another legal remedy.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/fairfax-judge-dismisses-lawsuit-claiming-absentee-ballots-were-accepted

Sen. John Kennedy Accuses Someone At The White House of “Smoking The Devil’s Lettuce”

When asked about President Biden’s claim that his massive “Build Back Better” social spending plan will add $0 to the deficit because it will be paid for by tax increases (allegedly) Sen. John Kennedy responded with a mocking remark during an appearance on FOX News with Harris Faulkner on Thursday,

According to Kennedy, “I think a majority of Americans are saying Republicans aren’t perfect but the Democrats are now crazy. They think they can tax, spend and regulate us into prosperity and they think America can only be great through its federal government.”

“The federal government didn’t make America great. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things did,” he explained. ” You don’t make tax policy on the basis of class warfare and you don’t make tax policy solely on revenue. This is an extraordinarily complex economy. The greatest economy in all of human history. You sit down and make thoughtful changes. You also look for offsets if you are going to raise taxes here, you want to look for a way to cut taxes over here. They haven’t done any of that.”

Harris Faulkner, a FOX News anchor, stated, “President Biden says it costs zero.”

“Oh well, I don’t — somebody at the White House has been smoking the devil’s lettuce, okay? I mean, I’m just telling you. They think this is zero. Either that or they think the American people are morons and there believe anything,” he explained.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/10/watch-sen-john-kennedy-accuses-someone-white-house-smoking-devils-lettuce-video/

D.C. Judge Blocks Military Members And Employees From Being Fired Over Vaccine Mandate After Lawsuit

Several unvaccinated government employees, including active-duty military members, who were named in the lawsuit challenging the president’s vaccination mandate as illegal were granted a temporary restraining order on Thursday by a federal judge in Washington.

The plaintiffs are requesting a religious exemption from the Biden vaccination requirement for federal employees, which was originally disclosed officially on September 9.

As reported by Fox News, District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that none of the civilian employee plaintiffs would be subject to discipline while their request for a religious exemption was ongoing.

Additionally, according to Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s judgment, Kotelly’s active-duty military plaintiffs whose religious exemption petitions have been refused will not be penalized or separated while their appeals are pending.

Jenna Ellis, a political journalist, and lawyer shared the decision on Twitter on Thursday: “This is an amazing development from the DC District Court in the stand for OUR RIGHTS against the unconstitutional vaccine mandates,” she said.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/10/d-c-judge-blocks-military-members-employees-fired-vaccine-mandate-lawsuit/

LEAKED VIDEO: NYPD Commissioner Warns Cops In Leaked Memo: “Vaccinate Or No Pay”

In a video leaked by a whistleblower within the New York City Police Department, NYPD Commissioner Dermont Shea urges police officers to take the $500 bonus and comply with the mayor’s vaccine mandate by Friday’s deadline or else be placed on unpaid leave on Monday when the city’s verification of vaccine status ramps up.

“We’re at the end of the wire here. It is now Wednesday morning. By Friday you’re supposed to be vaccinated,” the top cop warns in an internal video memo circulated among NYPD staff on Wednesday.

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio initially attempted to bribe the public into getting the jab by offering freebies — teaming up with fast-food chains like Shake Shack to offer free burgers to the public in exchange of getting vaccinated.

In September, the Democrat Mayor coaxed city workers coaxed into getting the first vaccine with an offer $100 bonus. Unable to coerce one hundred percent of the workers into compliance, many opted to take a Covid test weekly instead of getting the jab, prompting the mayor to up the vaccine reward money to $500 ahead of the Nov 1. deadline.

Police officers who have yet to comply with the vaccine mandate are still eligible for a $500 bonus incentive if they follow the mayor’s before Friday, Shea assured.

“What does it mean if you haven’t been vaccinated? Well, what it means is starting on Monday you will be put in a no-pay status. I know there’s a lot of questions about this. I wish I had all the answers. I don’t at this point in time. Some of this is still being worked out with City Hall and collective bargaining and unions and things of that nature,” he said. “You have to be vaccinated by Friday. In fact, they’re still doing this $500 if you get vaccinated between Oct. 20 and Oct. 29 and that’s Friday’s date.”

Those who refuse to get the vaccine by Monday can kiss their jobs goodbye, the commissioner continued.

“On Monday when this thing really starts being enforced, we’re going to check your vaccination status and if you’re not vaccinated, no pay, and you’re gonna be not able to work,” he said.

The prospect of no pay will force workers to comply, boasted De Blasio boasted on Thursday.

“We expected that a lot of the vaccinations would happen toward the end of the deadline,” the Democrat mayor said. “We also know a lot of people make the decision once they really realize that they’re not going to get paid. That’s just the human reality.”

On Tuesday, approximately 73 percent of the department’s workforce, which includes nearly 35,000 uniformed officers and just under 18,000 civilian employees, had been vaccinated, the New York Post reports.

While hundreds more lined up to get the jab before Friday, the vaccine mandate is resulting in a slew of NYPD retirements. The dwindling police force will further hinder the department’s ability to keep the Big Apple safe.

Liberal pushes to “defund the police” have led to soaring crime rates in the city. In July, De Blasio backed a city council vote to slash the police budget by $1 billion, prompting crime to spike, lagging police response times and more than 5,300 uniformed officers to retire — a 75 percent spike from the year before.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/10/leaked-video-nypd-commissioner-warns-cops-leaked-memo-vaccinate-no-pay/

FBI Asks US Businesses to Work Closely With the Agency to Counter China

Christopher Wray claims China is trying to steal intellectual property to 'become the world’s only superpower'

FBI Director Christopher Wray urged private companies Thursday to work with the agency to counter China and prevent the Asian country from becoming “the world’s only superpower.”

Wray claims China could become the world’s dominant power by amassing intellectual property. The accusation that Beijing steals intellectual property was the primary basis for the Trump administration’s trade war with China, which is continuing under President Biden.

Wray accused China of trying to access information through cyberattacks. “Too often when we see a cyberthreat and start digging, we find that the same adversary is also working with an unwitting company insider to target … sensitive and proprietary information,” he said.

The FBI chief also claimed China was using “non-traditional collectors” to gain information in the US, including “businessmen, different kinds of researchers and graduate students, scientists, ostensibly private companies.”

He said these private individuals are “effectively under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party, all geared towards a common aim of trying to steal our information to put the Chinese government in a way to become the world’s only superpower.”

The idea that the FBI suspects anyone from China of being a spy for Beijing has grave implications for the civil liberties of Chinese Americans and Chinese residents living in the US. The FBI’s campaign has already led to the agency falsely accusing Chinese professors in the US of spying for Beijing.

It’s now common for US officials to claim China is the top “threat” facing the US, but Wray, a holdover from the Trump administration, has been making that claim for years. In 2018, he told Congress that China represents “the broadest, most complicated, most long-term counter-intelligence threat we face.”

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/10/28/fbi-asks-us-businesses-to-work-closely-with-the-agency-to-counter-china/

Joe Biden 'needs a nursing home and a bowl of soup'