Florida man arrested for threatening mass shooting at Publix because 'not enough people' wearing masks

A Florida man found himself in handcuffs for threatening to shoot up a Publix grocery store over the lack of people wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic. Robert Kovner, 62, of Sebring was arrested Tuesday night and booked for making a written threat of a mass shooting, which is a second-degree felony, according to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office. “Earlier today, we were made aware of a Facebook post that threatened a mass shooting at Publix. The writer was upset that not enough people, in his opinion, are wearing masks when they are out and about,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.

Authorities said that all threats will be taken seriously during the pandemic despite tensions that have come with the state’s stay-at-home order. “We realize these are stressful times, but there is no excuse for making threats like this. It’s not a joke. It’s not just a bad day. It’s a crime. We will ALWAYS take them seriously and you will go to jail,” the sheriff’s office said. Kovner's bond was set at $30,000.

Florida is one of the hardest-hit states and has more than 21,000 confirmed cases of the virus, with at least 570 deaths. The state was one of the last major states to implement a statewide stay-at-home order, with Gov. Ron DeSantis initially leaving coronavirus restrictions up to municipalities.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/florida-man-arrested-for-threatening-mass-shooting-at-publix-because-not-enough-people-wearing-masks

Devin Nunes doubles pace of fundraising to $4M in first quarter

Rep. Devin Nunes raised nearly $4 million during the first quarter of this year, pushing his campaign war chest to roughly $8.8 million, double the amount he raised in the final quarter of 2019. The California Republican, a prominent supporter of President Trump during the Russia investigation and throughout impeachment proceedings, has continued to raise money at a robust clip despite the chill on the economy caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In the previous fundraising quarter, Nunes raised $2.1 million and reported $7.2 million in the bank. Nunes has become a top GOP fundraiser with the sort of small, grassroots donors who back Trump, although he might not need to spend much of his campaign cash this November.

With dozens of incumbents to defend to protect their House majority, Democrats have not yet committed to spending the significant resources it would take to weaken Nunes in his Republican-leaning Central Valley district, let alone oust him. Larry Sabato, a political prognosticator at the University of Virginia, recently shifted his “Crystal Ball” rating of Nunes’s race from “likely” to “safe Republican.” The congressman is facing Democrat Phil Arballo in the fall. His first-quarter fundraising results, due to be filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, were confirmed by a Republican source close to his campaign.

Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, was an early GOP voice calling for an investigation into the FBI’s use of special, secretive search warrants authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. That investigation, conducted by U.S. Attorney John Durham at the behest of Attorney General William Barr, has already turned up some malfeasance by the FBI regarding its use of FISA warrants. Nunes’s outspokenness on this and other controversies related to Trump has made the congressman a darling of conservative media and turned him into one of the most prolific GOP fundraisers of the past few years. He is investing in robust field and data programs proprietary to his campaign — in case Democrats decide to target him. Nunes, 46, spent a majority of his nine terms in Congress as an obscure member focused on issues pertaining to his agricultural, Republican-leaning district in California’s Central Valley. But his role in defending Trump against allegations that his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 campaign, and his questioning of the FBI's investigation methods and use of FISA warrants, catapulted him into the national spotlight.

>>8803803

Sauce

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/devin-nunes-doubles-pace-of-fundraising-to-4m-in-first-quarter

US concerned China may be secretly conducting nuclear tests

China may be secretly carrying out nuclear tests with low explosive power despite Beijing’s claims that it is adhering to an international accord banning all nuclear tests. The accusation was made in a new arms-control report to be made public by the State Department, according to the Wall Street Journal. The report does not contain proof that China is in violation of the agreement, but it says China’s activities have raised “concerns” that the country might not be adhering to the “zero-yield” nuclear weapons testing ban.

The concerns have been fueled by activity at China’s Lop Nur test site, including excavations and the apparent use of special chambers to contain explosives. There’s also been an interruption in data transmissions from monitoring stations that are supposed to detect radioactive emissions and seismic tremors. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty allows some activity to assure the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons so long as the experiments don’t produce a nuclear-explosive yield. The United States and China have both said they are abiding by the treaty’s terms, even though it isn’t legally enforced because not enough nations have ratified it, including the U.S. and China. A spokeswoman for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, which oversees the agreement, denied there has been any interruption in China’s data transmissions since September 2019.

The spokeswoman said there were interruptions when the monitoring stations in China were being put into operation. “Data transmission from all certified stations was interrupted in 2018 after the testing and evaluation and certification process was completed,” she told the Wall Street Journal. “In August 2019, ongoing negotiations on post-certification activity contracts with Chinese station operators were concluded and data transmission resumed for all five certified stations.”

However, the Trump administration’s report claims China has been “blocking the flow of data from the monitoring stations.” China is estimated to have about 300 nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists. Last year, Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley Jr., the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said he expects China will double the size of its nuclear stockpile in the next decade. The Trump administration said late last year it formally invited China to open a "strategic security dialogue" on arms control.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/us-concerned-china-may-be-secretly-conducting-nuclear-tests

>>8804159

Interesting how they don't make mention of this company being China owned.

>>8804078

Reading the article, first thought was they should verify before printing..then realizing, this is probably another attempt at a ff. You have just confirmed such.