Thank you Baker!
US Health Spending Grew 7.5% to Nearly $4.8 Trillion in 2023
National health-care spending grew an estimated 7.5% to nearly $4.8 trillion in 2023 and is projected to outpace growth in the gross domestic product over the next decade, according to national projections released Wednesday.
Increased use of health services, fueled by a record-high 93% of Americans with health coverage, drove last year’s rise in spending, according to the annual report on long-term health-care costs and coverage from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Office of the Actuary.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/us-health-spending-grew-7-5-to-nearly-4-8-trillion-in-2023
ROOKE: GOP House Defunds Ukrainian NGO Putting Americans On ‘Watch Lists’
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee voted to defund Texty.org.ua, a Ukrainian NGO linked to the U.S. State Department, after the group put American citizens on “watch lists.”
Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks led the movement to prohibit funding to the organization after it comprised a list of individuals and groups it claims are “in the U.S. impeding aid to Ukraine.” Conservative activists like Robby Starbuck, Benny Johnson, Charlie Kirk, and Rogan O’Handley (also known as DC_Draino) received a letter from Banks notifying them of the NGO’s actions.
Their crime was urging their representatives to stop sending Ukraine billions of dollars in aid. Like millions of Americans, they believe that money is better spent inside the U.S. as the country faces unchecked illegal immigration and runaway inflation caused by President Joe Biden’s policies.
For that, an organization funded by American taxpayers and started by the State Department put them on a “watch list” that included personal information.
https://dailycaller.com/2024/06/12/rooke-gop-house-defunds-ukrainian-ngo-putting-americans-on-watch-lists/
Arizona has a projected $1.4 billion budget deficit. Here's where lawmakers are considering cuts
Arizona lawmakers are considering across-the-board spending cuts to address a projected $1.4 billion state budget deficit.
According to leaked draft budget documents, the state faces an estimated $729 million shortfall this year and $690 million in the new fiscal year that begins on July 1.
The documents show the budget shrinking from $17.2 billion in 2024 to $16.1 billion in 2025, due to proposed cuts of various projects and scaling back funding for most state agencies.
The budget proposal cuts around $500 million in one-time spending, or money dedicated to individual projects. That includes many transportation projects, including $108 million set aside to widen Interstate 10, a project that would now be postponed to 2028.
Many of the individual projects facing cuts were those championed by individual lawmakers in last year’s spending plan, past during a projected budget surplus.
“There are individuals who are mourning certain items and that’s just to be expected, but the math has to work, so we have to cut somewhere and no one is going to love this at the end of the day, because it’s painful to cut,” House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) said.
But, Toma said, “the math has to add up. We have to have a structurally balanced budget.”
The budget documents also show around $300 million in ongoing budget cuts, or funding reductions to ongoing costs like salaries at state agencies. The budget plan includes a reduction in funding for nearly all state agencies by around 3.5% percent.
The Department of Agriculture faces the steepest proposed cut at 4.3%
https://kjzz.org/content/1882666/arizona-has-projected-14-billion-budget-deficit-heres-where-lawmakers-are
Fort Wainwright breaks ground on new fieldhouse
FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska – Fort Wainwright celebrated the onset of construction of a 72,500 sq. ft. fieldhouse with a groundbreaking ceremony June 11.
“The new fieldhouse expands the functionality of the Fryar Fitness Complex and will address critical needs by providing a state-of-the-art, purpose-built space designed to support year-round fitness and recreational activities,” said Col. Jason Cole, garrison commander for U.S. Army Garrison Alaska.
“Currently, our existing fitness facilities are insufficient to meet the needs of our growing community, which totals approximately 15,000 individuals,” added Cole.
The project will have an elevated, four-lane, 200-meter running track overlooking a 21,000 sq. ft. turf field that can accommodate soccer, group training, and other large events. Functional fitness, circuit training, stretching areas, and locker rooms will be included. Additionally, the fieldhouse will have locker rooms, a control desk, administrative areas, a lobby, laundry facilities, and ample storage.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District Commander Col. Jeff Palazzini said, “It will provide ample room for more than 300 soldiers at a time.
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/473786/fort-wainwright-breaks-ground-new-fieldhouse
House Committee Alleges ‘Credible Evidence of Corruption’ at U.S. Agency for Global Media
A House GOP chairman claims that the office improperly protected a Voice of America manager accused of misusing taxpayer funds.
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul said he found credible evidence that the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) improperly shielded a Voice of America employee accused of lying about her educational background and improperly spending taxpayer funds.
On Wednesday, McCaul (R., Texas) published the findings of a three-year investigation into Setareh Sieg, who was suspended, and on track to be fired, from her position as director of Voice of America’s Persian-language service in January 2021 at the end of the Trump administration but was reinstated immediately after President Biden’s inauguration. Sieg’s lawyer, in a written statement, pushed back strongly …
https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/house-committee-alleges-credible-evidence-of-corruption-at-u-s-agency-for-global-media/
Pentagon press briefing: 6/12/24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whRu97vgrLU
Hide and seek: Despite sharper eyes on the heavens, sneaky sats can still find shadows
WASHINGTON — China’s experimental spaceplane Shenlong, launched to low Earth orbit (LEO) on its third mission in December, appears to have released a companion craft while in orbit — but despite close scrutiny by US Space Command and independent space watchers, it remains unclear exactly when that happened.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell first noticed the event following the object’s listing May 25 by SPACECOM in its public database. The problem, as space watcher Bob Christy pointed out in his May 26 Orbital Focus column on X (formerly Twitter), is that if the companion had been keeping close enough to Shenlong for a few days, terrestrial radar and telescopes used to monitor the heavens would struggle to discriminate between the two. The smaller, dimmer companion simply would have been washed out by the electromagnetic signature of the larger spaceplane.
Put another way: a Chinese space vehicle released a smaller space vehicle, and no one, at least publicly, knows when or where, nor what the smaller vehicle may have done between when it was launched and when it was found. And if you are in charge of defending America’s systems in orbit, that is a terrifying proposition — and one that is of increasing concern, as space-faring nations try to game out how to hide their systems from each other.
US and allied governments, as well as commercial firms, have been racing to improve their ability to spot potential threats (both natural and deliberate) among the ever-growing satellite population: building more sensors in more locations, looking to put new ones in space, and turning to artificial intelligence and machine learning to wade through the rising tide of data. Many experts believe that this technology push is leading to a not too distant future where it will be nearly impossible for satellites to avoid prying eyes.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/06/hide-and-seek-despite-sharper-eyes-on-the-heavens-sneaky-sats-can-still-find-shadows/
DEVCOM CBC Cuts Ribbon on Expanded Biomanufacturing Facility
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD – Pentagon senior leaders and Harford County Executive Robert Cassilly joined U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC) leaders in cutting the ribbon on the Center's newly renovated and expanded Biomanufacturing Pilot Facility at Aberdeen Proving Ground in a ceremony on June 12.
The 25,000-square-foot Biomanufacturing Pilot Facility fills a vital niche in the effort to free the nation from foreign suppliers and pioneer the creation of entirely new materials essential for national defense. Academic and other Department of Defense (DoD) research laboratories are synthesizing microbes that can produce chemicals and materials with extraordinary properties, but only at a gram-sized scale, said Michael Bailey, DEVCOM CBC director.
This facility increases production capability for these materials from the gram-size level to up to 1,000 kilograms so that industry can further scale production to the commercial level for real-world applications. DEVCOM scientists also optimize the microbes they receive to make them more suitable for scale-up.
Bailey hosted Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology Michael Holthe of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and Harford County Executive Robert Cassilly. Each spoke about the newly renovated and expanded facility's value to the DoD Chemical Biological Defense Program, national defense and the Harford County regional economy.
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/473789/devcom-cbc-cuts-ribbon-expanded-biomanufacturing-facility
Moscow Exchange Pauses Dollar and Euro Trading Following Latest US Sanctions
Moscow Exchange (MOEX) has halted trading in dollars and euros due to the latest round of sanctions imposed by the US, as Washington attempts to control financial flows supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The US Treasury has announced sanctions against Moscow Exchange Group and its clearing agent, the National Clearing Centre (NCC), Reuters reported.
US Targets Russia's Key Financial Operations
This latest move will effectively suspend all exchange trading and settlement of deliverable instruments in US dollars and euros. The central bank's statement, issued on a public holiday, clarified that these measures are intended to disrupt the financial mechanisms facilitating Russia's military supply chain.
https://www.financemagnates.com/institutional-forex/moscow-exchange-pauses-dollar-and-euro-trading-following-latest-us-sanctions/
US Treasury posts $347 billion deficit for May
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government recorded a $347 billion May budget deficit, up sharply from the $240 billion deficit a year earlier due to the pre-payment of some June benefits and higher outlays for interest, Social Security and defense, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.
The Treasury said outlays for May rose to $671 billion, a record for the month and a 22% increase from May 2023, but this was due in part to the payment of $93 billion in June federal benefit payments during May, as June 1 fell on a Saturday.
May receipts totaled $324 billion, a 5% increase from May 2023. The total included the correction of an April anomaly that had previously classified $20.5 billion of corporate taxes as withheld Medicare taxes, a U.S. Treasury official said.
For the first eight months of the 2024 fiscal year, the government's deficit was $1.202 trillion, up 3% from the $1.165 trillion recorded in the year-ago period.
Year-to-date receipts totaled $3.288 trillion, up 10% from a year earlier, while outlays totaled $4.49 trillion, up 8% from the prior year period, Treasury said.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-treasury-posts-347-billion-180825366.html
Anomalous Satellites? DARPA Deploys New System for Detecting Unusual Objects in Orbit
Dubbed Agatha, the new system is designed to offer the U.S. military unrivaled space domain awareness, enabling the detection of anomalous behaviors that “no human, or team of humans, could possibly execute,” according to Dr. Dylan Kesler, Director of Data Science and AI at Slingshot Aerospace.
Hunting Anomalous Satellites
Kesler said in a statement that detecting a range of irregularities in the operations of objects in orbit is becoming increasingly challenging amid the growing number of satellites currently entering orbit. As of early 2023, the International Telecommunication Union had received filings for more than one million new satellites comprising more than 300 constellations.
However, not all anomalies represent potential espionage or attacks. Kesler also says that satellites sometimes deviate from their intended course resulting from malfunctions or other issues they encounter. Given such possibilities, Kesler says Agatha has “proven its ability to deliver high-quality insights that provide ‘explainability’ or context for why specific objects were flagged.”
https://thedebrief.org/anomalous-satellites-darpa-deploys-new-system-for-detecting-unusual-objects-in-orbit/
Washington Post Writers Admit There’s Nothing To Alito Flag Story But Partisan Journalism
(I know we all know this but heres a fucking genius from the WApost)
A former Washington Post reporter revealed that he passed on writing a story about the upside-down U.S. flag hanging outside of Justice Samuel Alito’s home in 2021 and said he had never heard that the symbol was associated with the so-called “Stop the Steal” movement.
Speaking to Post columnist Erik Wemple, retired WaPo Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes said he got an anonymous tip about the flag, saw the flag flying at the Alitos’ home on Jan. 6, 2021, and spoke with the Alitos about why it was upside down. He explained why he ultimately chose not to report on it.
“We determined that it wasn’t the justice that flew the flag upside down and we determined it wasn’t a protest about the election or something else on the part of Mrs. Alito,” Barnes told Wemple. Barnes said he made the determination based on Martha-Ann Alito’s “actions when I saw her and what others in the neighborhood had told me.”
“I was not aware that an upside-down flag was a symbol of ‘Stop the Steal,'” Barnes also told Wemple. “It never came up in our conversations that this was a symbol of ‘Stop the Steal.'”
Three years after Barnes was given the tip about the upside-down flag at the Alitos’ Virginia residence, the New York Times decided this the story was front-page news, publishing several hit pieces against the family and Justice Alito’s integrity.
https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/12/washington-post-writers-admit-theres-nothing-to-alito-flag-story-but-partisan-journalism/
Obama portrait artist vehemently denies sexual assault allegations from BLM cofounder, fellow artists
An American artist best known for painting the official White House portrait for former President Barack Obama has vehemently defended himself against accusations of sexual assault from several men, including two fellow artists and a BLM cofounder.
In the past few weeks, Joseph Awuah-Darko, a Ghanan-British artist and curator, and Derrick "Dwreck" Ingram, a BLM cofounder, have both accused Kehinde Wiley of assaulting them sometime in 2021. British artist and filmmaker Nathaniel Lloyd Richards likewise accused Wiley of touching him inappropriately on a date sometime in 2019, but when Richards came forward with the allegations is unclear.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/obama-portrait-artist-vehemently-denies-sexual-assault-allegations-from-blm-cofounder-fellow-artists
Apple Faces Immense Pressure As Four Additional States Join Hands In An Antitrust Lawsuit Against The Company
Apple recently hosted its WWDC event to announce a plethora of updates for its products and bring its custom Apple Intelligence to the market. While the company is growing and has seen an upward trajectory in its stock prices, the US Department of Justice has growing concerns about Apple's stronghold in the market. The company was already in hot waters, and now, four additional states have joined hands against Apple's monopolistic position in the industry.
Four additional states jumped against Apple and its antitrust practices with monopolistic behavior in the market
It has been discovered that four additional states, including Nevada, Washington, Indiana, and Massachusetts, have been added to the list against Apple (via AppleInsider). The new amendment does not highlight additional details on the complaint filed on June 11, but as per past reports, the company will adhere to the same violations. In a statement by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division:
https://wccftech.com/apple-antitrust-lawsuit-app-store/
Biden's new spectrum deal may irritate 5G operators
According to a variety of reports, a contentious battle over spectrum between the US Commerce Department and the US Department of Defense (DoD) may have finally come to an end. But the US wireless industry might not be pleased at the outcome.
However, the contours of that new agreement among agencies within the Biden administration are not clear.
It's also unclear whether Congress will be able to pass any legislation built on the deal.
Nonetheless, according to one Washington insider who declined to be named, a spectrum pact among various factions within the Biden administration is a "huge deal" because "they usually fight like dogs."
https://www.lightreading.com/regulatory-politics/biden-s-new-spectrum-deal-may-irritate-5g-operators
A California lawyer is accused of planning to hire Israeli hackers to access the personal email and phone accounts of a judge who later ordered him to disgorge $1.65 million in attorney fees.
A recent big question in the YSL RICO case is how Brian Steel became aware of a private conversation that the judge had in his chambers. While that ex parte definitely shouldn’t have happened, it is reasonable to ask how Steel was privy of it. The hope is that he didn’t take the same intel route as Michael Jacob Libman. The ABA Journal has coverage:
A California lawyer is accused of planning to hire Israeli hackers to access the personal email and phone accounts of a judge who later ordered him to disgorge $1.65 million in attorney fees.
According to a June 6 notice of disciplinary charges, attorney Michael Jacob Libman of Tarzana, California, sought the help of New York lawyer Paul Paradis, who turned out to be a confidential FBI informant directed to record his phone calls and meetings with Libman…In April 2020, according to the charges, Libman contacted an Israeli hacker identified as “Ben,” who was said to be affiliated with an Israeli company called “Black Cube.” The company is largely run by former officers of Mossad and other Israeli intelligence agencies, according to a prior report.
There isn’t anything inherently wrong with wanting to know the content of someone’s phone calls or emails, but things get weird once you start reaching out to foreign governments to do your snooping. Even if the plan went through as Libman wanted, did he not think far enough to consider how he’d go about introducing the stolen information as evidence? Pointed reminder that if you need to steal or self-incriminate to prove a point, the point probably isn’t worth proving.
https://abovethelaw.com/2024/06/nosy-lawyer-busted-for-trying-to-hack-into-judges-emails/
Kushner's $2B Saudi deal slammed as 'egregious' and an 'apparent payoff' as probe launched
A former head ethics counsel for the Treasury Department said it's "long overdue" for an investigation into Jared Kushner, former senior advisor to President Donald Trump known for his significant influence in the Trump administration and his work in the Middle East.
News broke Wednesday that the Senate Finance Committee launched an investigation into Kushner's overseas business activities. Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) asked Kushner's firm Affinity Partners for details about a $2 billion investment from the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund in 2021 and funding from other foreign investors.
“The Saudi PIF’s decision to invest $2 billion in Affinity so soon after Kushner’s departure from the Trump White House raises concerns that the investment was a reward for official actions Kushner took to benefit the Saudi government," Wyden wrote, "including preventing accountability for the Saudi government ordering the brutal murder of journalist and American citizen Jamal Khashoggi."
https://www.rawstory.com/jared-kushner-2668512159/
CHAD ENNIS: Kansas Supreme Court Delivers Blow To The Left’s Election-Industrial Complex
In overturning a lower court ruling, the Kansas Supreme Court dealt a deserved blow to Democratic elections lawyer Marc Elias and his merry band of partisan activists by rejecting Elias’ broad attacks on mail voting safeguards in the state.
In the Left’s endless quest to find friendly venues for their lawfare, Elias and the “nonpartisan” League of Women Voters, avoided Federal court and filed suit in Kansas state court. The case was an all-out assault on the integrity of Kansas elections. (RELATED: DAVID BLACKMON: Supreme Court Has A Chance To Torch One Of The Left’s Favorite Legal Tactics)
Elias’s goal was to strike down all limitations on ballot trafficking and the entire system of signature verification. In the left’s ideal world, partisan operatives should be able to collect unlimited mail ballots and the state should have no ability to verify the validity of those ballots.
Most states allow someone other than the voter to return the voter’s mail ballot. This can allow the pernicious activity known as ballot trafficking — where a person collects mail ballots from multiple voters and returns them to election officials. Typically, close family members are allowed to return ballots, but any reasonable person can spot the problems with strangers handling other people’s ballots. Alabama bans this practice entirely, but Kansas sought only to limit it.
Kansas’ restrictions are mild, to say the least. In Kansas, a voter can return up to ten ballots. So that means a quarterback could return his ballot and the ballots of the rest of the starting offense. Or that means you could return the ballots of your spouse, parents, in-laws, and grandparents, and still have a spot left over.
https://dailycaller.com/2024/06/12/opinion-kansas-supreme-court-delivers-blow-to-the-lefts-election-industrial-complex-chad-ennis/
Wisconsin Supreme Court Lifts New Restrictions on Early Voting Sites Ahead of 2024 Elections
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority yesterday froze part of a lower court’s decision that stood to significantly limit the number of early voting locations municipalities may designate for the state’s 2024 elections.
The now-paused portion of the lower court’s ruling — issued in January 2024 — held that the city of Racine’s geographical distribution of early voting sites during the 2022 primary election unlawfully afforded an advantage to Democratic voters.
Although the decision applied specifically to Racine, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) expressed concerns that the ruling would likely have statewide effects — potentially putting “many thousands of voters in larger municipalities [at] risk [of] having their access to voting unconstitutionally limited.”
The ruling at issue stemmed from a right-wing lawsuit that prevailed in restricting early voting sites based on purported “partisan advantage” and precluded the future use of a mobile van for in-person absentee voting utilized by Racine in 2022.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty — a conservative legal group that has previously challenged election rules in the Badger State — is behind the case.
Following the trial court’s judgment from earlier this year, multiple parties involved in the suit — including Wisconsin election officials, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) — asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to review the case, which it agreed to do in a May 3 order.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/wisconsin-supreme-court-lifts-new-restrictions-on-early-voting-sites-ahead-of-2024-elections/
BREAKING: Biden’s AG Merrick Garland Held in Contempt of Congress, Argues ‘Executive Privilege.’
On Wednesday afternoon, the House of Representatives voted 216 to 207 along party lines to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress over his refusal to provide the audio from President Joe Biden‘s interview with special counsel Robert Hur. The interview was part of the investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Earlier on Wednesday, a vote to adopt a rule for the consideration of the contempt motion passed narrowly by 208-207 along party lines. Garland has previously stated that he would not release the audio from Biden’s interview, arguing that doing so would hinder future cooperation with the Department of Justice.
https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/06/12/breaking-bidens-ag-merrick-garland-held-in-contempt-of-congress-argues-executive-privilege/
House Appropriators Block State Department Money to Organization Calling Americans ‘Opponents of Ukraine’
The House Appropriations Committee moved to block State Department funding for an international nonprofit that accuses Americans and U.S. organizations of being “opponents of Ukraine.”
The move comes one day after Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., sent a letter to top House appropriators asking to end U.S. support for the Ukrainian reporting nonprofit called the DATA Journalism Agency, also known as TEXTY.
The TEXTY list includes 77 organizations and 388 individuals, including former President Donald Trump and 115 Republican House members, it labels enemies of Ukraine. This includes The Heritage Foundation and its president, Kevin Roberts.
“I was just designated an ‘opponent of Ukraine,’ after being sanctioned by the Russian regime,” Banks said in a public statement.
The Russian government sanctioned Banks in April 2022.
Two State Department agencies partnered with the DATA Journalism Agency: the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/06/12/house-appropriators-block-state-department-money-organization-calling-americans-opponents-of-ukraine/
Military Officials Call Russian Naval Presence in the Caribbean ‘Routine’
Russian military ships are operating in the Atlantic and Caribbean, but they pose no direct threat to the U.S. The vessels are in Cuba, less than 250 miles from Miami, for planned military exercises. No clashes or standoffs are occurring.
https://thedispatch.com/article/military-officials-call-russian-naval-presence-in-the-caribbean-routine/
'Like a pair of glasses': Trump spokeswoman uses analogy to describe boss
A spokesperson for Donald Trump compared the former president to "a pair of glasses for the American people."
During a Wednesday appearance on Real America's Voice, Trump Deputy Communications Director Caroline Sunshine was asked about the House holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
"Well, let's go one step further, right?" Sunshine said. "Let's not just hold Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. Let's get him out of office."
ALSO READ: ‘Journalistic dystopian nightmare’: Inside a Tennessee college media meltdown
Sunshine went on to describe Trump as a pair of glasses.
"Sunlight is the best disinfectant," she insisted. "I think that's something unique about President Trump."
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"I say this often, but President Trump is like a pair of glasses for the American people," she added. "It's always through him that they can see the truth."
https://www.rawstory.com/carolina-sunshine-trump/
Fiji’s New Patrol Boat Evacuated After Grounding on First Patrol
The Government of Fiji and the Fiji Navy are working to manage a major embarrassment after the country’s new patrol boat, a gift from Australia, grounded halfway through its maiden deployment. The sailors were safely evacuated while a crisis management team is working to save the vessel which is reported to be on a reef and flooding.
RFNS Puamau built by Australian shipbuilder Austal was delivered in March 2024 as part of an ongoing program of goodwill and mutual security between Australia and the neighboring island nations. The vessel, valued at approximately US$10.6 million, had just completed days of safety and survival at sea training. It had embarked on a two-week maiden patrol.
The Fiji Navy confirmed that the vessel grounded on Monday in the southeastern reaches of the island nation. Reports indicate it is in the remote Lau group of islands, with ABC News Australia calling it a “treacherous area” with difficult sea passages.
There were reports of strong winds in the area, but the Navy will only say that the cause of the cause of the incident will be investigated. Learning of the grounding, the Navy dispatched another Austal-built patrol boat, RFNS Savenaca to the scene. They report without specifying a number that the crew was safely evacuated and surveys do not show any pollution coming from the patrol boat
https://maritime-executive.com/article/fiji-s-new-patrol-boat-evacuated-after-grounding-on-first-patrol.
House Committee Report Alleges Fauci and NIAID Concealed Plans to Engineer Enhanced Monkeypox Virus
A new interim report released Tuesday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee alleges that Anthony Fauci and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) approved plans to engineer an enhanced version of the MPXV virus (formerly termed “monkeypox”) and lied to Congress about its plans.
The committee began its investigation into this process after Science published an article in September 2022 that included an interview with NIAID virologist Bernard Moss. Moss stated during the interview that he and other scientists at the agency, after successfully swapping genes from the highly transmissible but less lethal clade II MPXV with those from the far more dangerous clade I MPXV, planned to do the opposite, transferring genes from the lethal but less transmissible version into the less dangerous but more transmissible one.
The report states that the proposal “alarmed some scientists who believed a more potent version of the mpox outbreak strain could spark an epidemic that would be substantially more lethal.”
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However, the committee alleged that NIAID stonewalled efforts to uncover information about the viral engineering project. NIAID representatives have consistently claimed the experiment never happened but have not provided any evidence to bolster that claim. Ultimately, the report states, individuals at the Department of Health and Human Services admitted that Moss and his team had been granted permission to insert genes from the lethal virus clade into the more transmissible version.
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/could-spark-an-epidemic-house-committee-report-alleges-fauci-and-niaid-concealed-plans-to-engineer-enhanced-monkeypox-virus/
Osprey fleet won’t return to full flight operations until 2025
The U.S. military doesn’t expect its fleet of more than 400 V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft to fully resume normal flight operations until at least the middle of 2025, a Navy admiral in charge of the joint program told a House Oversight subcommittee Wednesday.
Naval Air Systems Command boss Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, whose office oversees Ospreys in use across the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, said a review that is probing whether the enterprise has adequate manning, training and equipment, will last another six to nine months.
RELATED
Congress still waiting on Osprey crash, safety documents from Pentagon
Lawmakers haven't received more details on Osprey proprotor gearboxes, a component that was a factor in the 2023 crash off Japan that killed eight airmen.
By Tara Copp, AP
“As we have findings from the comprehensive review, I will take the necessary actions to ensure continued safe flight operations,” Chebi told the panel of lawmakers.
The command allowed the Osprey to begin returning to the air — with flight restrictions in place — in early March, three months after the fleet was grounded in early December following an Air Force CV-22 crash off the coast of Japan that killed all eight airmen on board.
Ospreys can be flown like an airplane and take off and land like a helicopter, making them useful for aircraft carrier landings as well as for special operators entering austere environments.
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2024/06/12/osprey-fleet-wont-return-to-full-flight-operations-until-2025/
DEI hotline already receiving bogus complaints before law is enacted
(KEKS)
Within 24 hours of releasing a hotline form to report alleged violations to the state’s new diversity, equity and inclusion restrictions that take effect July 1, Utah’s Office of the State Auditor received at least 18 bogus complaints.
The goal of posting the form three weeks ahead of the law’s implementation, State Auditor John Dougall said, was to receive feedback from the public. He expects DEI complaints to be fewer compared to the flood of hoax complaints his office received through its hotline to report violations of HB257, which restricts transgender people from publicly-owned bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with.
The bathroom hotline quickly received more than 12,000 tips, but only five seemed to be made “in good faith.” At least four of them were unsubstantiated.
The state auditor’s role in HB261, which restricts DEI initiatives in public entities, is narrower, as it won’t deal with public education institutions — those tips should be directed to Utah State Board of Education or the Utah Board of Higher Education.
The Board of Higher Education passed a policy last Thursday that allows individuals to submit reports of alleged violations through an EthicsPoint system — a confidential incident reporting software — or by contacting the board’s secretary to discuss other reporting options, said board secretary Alison Adams.
A link to the reporting tool will become available before July 1, according to a board public information officer. Other institutions with EthicsPoint systems can forward the board any complaints that may be submitted to them as well.
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/dei-hotline-already-receiving-bogus-complaints-law-enacted
EXC: Leftist Report on Voter ID Laws Actually Suggests They Impact Very Few Americans.
A new survey pushed by the Brennan Center for Justice—a Democrat-aligned dark-money lawfare group—claims that nearly one in 10 Americans cannot quickly access proof of citizenship. The National Pulse analyzed the data—intended to undermine voter I.D. requirements and other measures to prevent noncitizens from voting—and found that it is far less startling when the population sample used for the survey is examined.
The Brennan Center for Justice—along with VoteRiders, Public Wise, and the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE) at the University of Maryland—partnered with the survey firm SSRS to determine what segment of the U.S. population lacks access to government-issued I.D.
https://thenationalpulse.com/2024/06/12/exc-leftist-report-on-voter-id-laws-actually-suggests-they-impact-very-few-americans/
'Privacy nightmare': 19 states fight SEC's investor tracker
(They're scared of us knowing how much congress is sucking out of the nation and benefiting themselves while they detestableize the nation.)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/privacy-nightmare-19-states-fight-secs-investor-tracker