Russian FM Sergey Lavrov (acting) conducts the annual news conference evaluating Russian foreign policy.

https://thesaker.is/russian-fm-sergey-lavrov-conducts-the-annual-news-conference-evaluating-russian-foreign-policy/

Tucker Slams Oxycontin-Dealing Sackler Family: 'Nobody Is Ever Punished' For 'Real Crimes'

Tucker Carlson blasted the Oxycontin-manufacturing Sackler family for escaping prison despite making $13 billion selling billions of doses of opioids which were linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

From Washington Examiner:

"America, as you know, has been drowning in a tsunami of opioid pills," Carlson said on Wednesday's program of Tucker Carlson Tonight. "According to data from the DEA, from 2006 through 2014, a total of 100 billion doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone were shipped to pharmacies across the country, and from there into households."

Carlson lamented the "770,000" opioid deaths, which he said was more than all American wars combined, and the fact that almost none of the people responsible for providing the American public with the drugs have been held accountable for their actions.

"Nobody, almost nobody has been punished for it. The Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, made $13 billion selling painkillers. They are still rich. None of them have gone to prison. Nor have many other who executives who profited off of the destruction of American communities."

[…] "Nobody is ever punished for the real crimes, the ones that really hurt people," Carlson said. "The invasion of Iraq. The sub-prime mortgage disaster. The plundering of this nation by the Chinese government. In Washington, all of those are minor. They're forgivable if you know and pay off the right people, which they invariably do. If only the Sackler family had fibbed about some emails that didn't matter, or had a phone call with a Russian ambassador, maybe Washington would finally care."

The Sackler family boasted in 1990s that an Oxycontin "prescription blizzard" would be "deep, dense and white" and appear to have targeted rural America.

https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=61120

IT BEGINS: Virginia Judge Rules No Guns Allowed At Pro-Gun Rally — In OPEN-CARRY STATE

Democrats took over both chambers of the Virginia legislature in November, and as expected, they’re pushing anti-gun laws through as quickly as they can.

On Thursday, lawmakers in the state Senate passed an the first pair of bills in a wave of gun-control legislation that is set to come up for votes. One bill would restore the state’s previous one-handgun-a-month rule, while the second would allow local governments to ban guns in public buildings, parks and at permitted events — including political protests. The vote was straight party line, 21-19.

Democrats have also proposed an assault weapons ban, red flag laws and universal background checks.

Gov. Ralph “Blackface” Northam immediately banned all guns ahead of Monday’s pro-gun rally, citing “credible and serious threats.” Virginia is an “open-carry” state, meaning residents don’t even need a concealed-carry permit but can rather just wear a gun openly.

“We have no intention of calling out the National Guard,” Northam said. “We’re not going to cut off people’s electricity. We’re not going to go door to door and confiscate people’s weapons. We’re going to pass common sense legislation that will keep guns out of dangerous hands and keep Virginia safer.”

A Virginia judge on Thursday ruled that a firearms ban can remain in place during the pro-gun rally on the Capitol grounds in Richmond. Thousands are expected to attend. Gun rights advocates appealed the ruling.

“Without relief from this court, petitioners and thousands of other rally participants will be irreparably denied their right to bear arms,” the groups’ attorneys argue in their appeal.

But Viginia Attorney General Mark Herring on Friday urged the state Supreme Court to reject the appeal.

“Determined to prevent another tragedy, the Governor issued a carefully limited Executive Order. The Order does not prevent anyone from speaking, assembling, or petitioning the government. Instead, it temporarily precludes private possession of firearms in a sensitive public place during a specified time to protect public safety and safeguard the rights of all citizens to peacefully speak, assemble, and petition their government,” Herring said in a legal brief.

“The plaintiffs argued the firearms ban violates the First and Second Amendments and that Northam didn’t have the authority to impose it. According to The Associated Press, Judge Joi Taylor said in her ruling the governor has the authority under state law to take action related to the “safety and welfare” of the state. Taylor also cited rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court that the right to bear arms can be subject to limits,” CBS News reported.

With Democrats in control of both legislative chambers, Republicans can do little but complain. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is probably the first assault on the Second Amendment. And we’re going to see many after that,” said Republican Sen. Bill Stanley. He argued that the bill giving localities control over guns in public spaces would create “little pockets here and there where guns are good and guns are bad.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/it-begins-virginia-judge-rules-no-guns-allowed-at-pro-gun-rally-in-open-carry-state/

FEMA Buys Assault Rifles from China

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has signed a purchase agreement with Beijing-based weapon manufacturer Norinco that will deliver into the agency’s rapacious hands 5,000 CQ-A rifles, a clone of the M4A1 carbine used by U.S. military and various law enforcement agencies.

https://www.twistedtruth.net/featured/fema-buys-assault-rifles-from-china/

Fugitive wanted for child pornography apprehended in Reno; ICE HSI investigation led to conviction

LAS VEGAS – Today U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Washoe County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) assisted by the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Fugitive Task Force arrested Joseph George Terrone, Jr. in Reno. On December 12, 2019, the United States District Court, District of Nevada, issued a federal arrest warrant for Terrone for the charges of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The charges were a result of HSI and ICAC serving a search warrant on Terrone’s computer.

“Through the collaborative efforts of local and federal law enforcement agencies, we were successfully able to track down this deviant, child exploitation predator and bring him to justice,” said Francisco Burrola, special agent in charge, Las Vegas, HSI. “This multi-agency effort epitomizes our ongoing mission here in Nevada and is a testament to the men and women who work these cases.”

Capturing the individual was a result of the Nevada USMS Fugitive Task Force which brings together the resources and expertise of state, local, and federal agencies in a coordinated effort to arrest dangerous and violent fugitives. The USMS Fugitive Task Force is comprised of Deputy U.S. Marshals, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO), Washoe County District Attorney’s Office, Division of Investigations, Nevada Division of Parole and Probation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Nevada Department of Corrections, Office of the Inspector General (NDOC IG), Nevada DMV Compliance and Enforcement Division, Nevada Gaming and Control Board, Storey County Sheriff’s Office and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

When HSI and ICAC agents attempted to arrest Terrone at his residence it was discovered Terrone fled to evade capture. District of Nevada U.S. Marshal Gary Schofield stated, “This is a great example of local and federal agencies combining each other’s expertise and resources in bringing justice for victims.”

Targeting predators is a top priority for HSI. Nationally, in fiscal year (FY) 2019, HSI initiated 4,224 child exploitation cases resulting in 3,771 criminal arrests and identified or rescued 1,066 victims – an increase of nearly 18 percent over FY 2018.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/fugitive-wanted-child-pornography-apprehended-reno-ice-hsi-investigation-led

Marsha Blackburn: Senate can only review, not expand Impeachment

“It is not our job to expand the impeachment,” Senate Judiciary Committee Member Sen. Marsha Blackburn said on “Fox & Friends”. “It is our job to review what they have sent forward, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to do it in an expedient matter. We’re going to be fair to the president, and to the process, and we’re going to get this behind us.”

Appearing on “Fox & Friends” with hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade, Blackburn said that her constituents in Tennessee and voters across the nation are “sick and tired” of impeachment.

“We will pass a resolution of how we’re going to proceed,” Blackburn stated. “The impeaching process took place in the House. If they wanted to call these witnesses they could have called them.”

“They have taken one of the most serious processes in the Constitution and they are politicizing it, and they have had this as a partisan political impeachment from day one,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn concluded.

https://saraacarter.com/marsha-blackburn-senate-can-only-review-not-expand-impeachment/

Syrian, Russian Warplanes Wipe Out TIP Positions In Southwest Aleppo (Videos)

On January 17 morning, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) and the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) launched wide-scale strikes on the opposition-held part of the southwestern Aleppo countryside.

According to local sources, Syrian and Russian warplanes have conducted more than 17 airstrikes on the region, so far. Most of the airstrikes targeted the area of ICARDA.

Al-Mayadeen TV said that the airstrikes targeted positions of al-Qaeda-affiliated Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP). The Chinese Uyghurs terrorist group is a close ally of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which dominates Greater Idlib.

A few minutes before the airstrikes, a rocket attack targeted the district of al-Zahra in the northwestern part of Aleppo city. The attack killed a civilian and injured at least two others.

A similar attack, carried out with Turkish-made rockets, claimed the lives of seven civilians and injured eighteen others, including children, a day earlier.

The situation around Aleppo could escalate further soon. Pro-government activists are reporting that the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is preparing to launch a ground operation in the region to secure Aleppo’s city center.

https://youtu.be/_JMPQcPUXXg

https://southfront.org/syrian-russian-warplanes-wipe-out-tip-positions-in-southwest-aleppo-videos/

Low Doses of Radiation from Medical Imaging Lead to Mutations in Cell Cultures

Common medical imaging procedures use low doses of radiation that are believed to be safe. A new study, however, finds that in human cell cultures, these doses create breaks that allow extra bits of DNA to integrate into the chromosome. Roland Kanaar and Alex Zelensky of Erasmus University Medical Center and Oncode Institute and colleagues report these new findings in a study published 16th January in PLOS Genetics.

Scientists have long known that exposing cells to high doses of ionizing radiation generates mutations by creating double-strand breaks that let in external segments of DNA. These extraneous fragments of DNA can occur in the nucleus, left over from natural processes, such as genomic DNA repair and viral infections. In the new study, researchers investigated whether low doses of ionizing radiation have damaging side effects by irradiating human and mouse cells grown in the lab. When they counted the cells that had taken up foreign DNA, they found that low doses of radiation, in the upper range of common diagnostic procedures, create mutations through inserted DNA even more efficiently than the much larger doses studied previously.

While the new results in cell cultures are potentially concerning, the study’s authors stress that translating radiation’s effects on lab-grown cell cultures to effects in the body is premature. Future experiments using animal models will be necessary to determine the full effects of low-dose radiation, and whether its use in medical imaging has an impact on patient health. If the same phenomenon does occur inside the body, then doctors may need to take into account levels of extraneous DNA, such those resulting from a long-term viral infection, when assessing a patient’s risk from a procedure that requires radiation.

“Most molecular radiobiological research is focused on high doses of ionizing radiation relevant to cancer treatment, while effects of physiologically relevant doses of radiation on the cell are notoriously difficult to study at the molecular level,” said author Roland Kanaar. “Our discovery that mutagenic insertion of foreign DNA into cell’s genome is remarkably responsive to doses encountered during diagnostic, rather than therapeutic, procedures provides a new simple and sensitive tool to study their consequences and revealed surprising molecular genetic details of how cells cope with natural amounts of DNA damage.”

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2020/01/low-doses-of-radiation-from-medical-imaging-lead-to-mutations-in-cell-cultures.html

Democrat Impeachment Manager Lost Gun As Police Chief – Is Russian Conspiracist

Orlando Congresswoman Val Demings has become on of the central figures in Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment proceedings against President Donald J. Trump. If you have followed her tweets or watched her performances on the House Judiciary or Select Committee on Intelligence, you understand that she is your run-of-the-mill deranged Democrat obsessed with removing Trump from office, despite the fact that he has committed no crimes or impeachable offenses.

Val Demings has been trying to impeach the President since the day she took office.

Demings has previously called for impeachment over the Mueller reportand building the wall.

Demings claimedthat the Mueller report – which found no wrongdoing by the President – possessed more than “enough to begin impeachment proceedings.”

Demings has repeatedly calledthe President a liar and criminal, claiming his actions would have “landed anyone else in jail.”

She has furtheredthe Russia collusion conspiracy theory, calling contending “Russia considers him a dream come true.”

For those that don’t know the Demings history… here are some of her “greatest hits”.

As the appointed Chief of Police for the City of Orlando, a job her well-connected husband secured for her, Demings left her department issued firearm in an unlocked police SUV where it was stolen and never to be found again. She is virulently anti-2nd amendment and a big believer in gun control, yet she couldn’t even control and secure her own pistol. Worse yet, according to the Orlando Sentinel, a duffel bag with ammunition, handcuffs and a baton were also swiped from Demings unlocked SUV. As a result, she was censured by the Orlando Police Department’s internal affairs division.

In the spring of 2017, when Demings was just settling in as a new member of congress, someone responded to a photo of her with anti-gun groups on Facebook with a question about her stolen gun. Here’s how Deming’s responded.

“My First Amendment right is different from yours.”

Now, as a member of congress, Demings refused to condemn or denounce the violent riots led by Antifa and other alt-left domestic terrorist groups in 2017.

“I thought it was a beautiful sight — as we encourage people to get involved, what direction and instructions and how can we have a more organized effort so that they can be a major tool in moving our agenda forward? Anyone who feels that they can answer this question? Thank you.”

In the wake of the Parkland shooting, President Trump took decisive action on many levels, including allocating funding from the anti-terrorism budget to allow for armed teachers to protect our students from mass shooters.

Following the firebombing of a government facility in Tacoma, Washington by a high-ranking member of Antifa, Demings ignored multiple requests for comment asking her to denounce the attack and label Antifa a domestic terrorist group.

From my reporting in the Central Florida Post. CNN’s Manu Raju confirmed her outburst in a tweet shortly after it happened.

According to our sources, Demings “shrieked”, visibly upset that the criminal coup led by her and Adam Schiff was being derailed. How embarrassing!

This is one of the Impeachment Chieftains ladies and gentleman! If you needed any more of a reason to stand up to the deranged Democrats, this should make you extremely upset and motivated to take meaningful action.

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2020/01/democrat-impeachment-manager-lost-gun.html

Seven Times the GAO Found the Obama Administration Violated Federal Law

Democrats and journalists were excited Thursday when the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a legal opinion that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had violated the Impoundment Control Act by withholding congressionally appropriated aid to Ukraine last summer.

(…)

Nevertheless, if a mere GAO finding is sufficient to justify impeachment, then President Barack Obama ought to have been impeached at least seven times over for each of the following cases in which the GAO found that the Obama administration had violated federal law.

1. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and United States Secret Service (USSS) were found to have violated section 503 of the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, and the Antideficiency Act, in 2009 after the Secret Service reported that it had overspent on candidate protection in 2008 by $5,100,000, and used money from another program to cover the shortfall. DHS failed to notify Congress 15 days in advance of the “reprogramming.”

1. The Department of the Treasury was found to have violated the Antideficiency Act in 2014 when it used the voluntary services of four individuals. “Treasury did not appoint any of the individuals to federal employment, nor did any individual qualify as a student who may, under certain circumstances, perform voluntary service,” the GAO found, adding that there was no emergency that might have justified using the individuals to perform several months of work without receiving pay.

1. The Department of Defense was found to have violated the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2014 and the Antideficiency Act in the infamous Bowe Bergdahl swap, when President Barack Obama traded five high-level Taliban detainees for a U.S. Army deserter. The administration transferred the five Taliban from Guantanamo Bay without notifying relevant congressional committees 30 days in advance, as required by law. Republicans complained; Democrats were silent.

1. The Department of Housing and Urban Development was found to have violated the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, and the Antideficiency Act in 2014 when the deputy secretary of the department sent an email to “friends and colleagues” asking them to lobby the Senate in favor of a bill appropriating money to the department, and against amendments offered by Republican Senators.

1. The Environmental Protection Agency was found to have violated “publicity or propaganda and anti-lobbying provisions” in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act and the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act in 2015 by using some of the department’s social media accounts in rule-making for the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) regulations (which have since been repealed under the Trump administration).

1. Two officials in the Department of Housing and Urban Development were found in 2016 to have violated Section 713 of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act by attempting to prevent a regional director within the agency from being interviewed by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. (Notably, the GAO reversed its earlier decision that the department’s general counsel had not violated the law once it was presented with more evidence.)

1. The Federal Maritime Commission was found to have violated Section 711 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, as well as the Antideficiency Act, in 2016 when it failed to notify the relevant Senate and House committees that it had spent more than $5,000 to furnish and redecorate the office of its former director in 2010. (The total amount spent was $12,084 over three years, as noted by the GAO in a footnote reference to an inspector general’s report on the excessive expenditures.)

https://truepundit.com/seven-times-the-gao-found-the-obama-administration-violated-federal-law/