BARR: Michael Flynn’s Legal Tormentors Should Be Prosecuted

Much has been reported in recent days about the manner in which the FBI “trapped” President Trump’s former National Security Adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, into lying in an early 2017 interview. Under federal law, it is strikingly easy for unethical federal officials to successfully play a game of legal “gotcha” with individuals they decide to target. This is precisely why we must insist on maintaining the highest ethical standards for federal investigators and prosecutors, which tragically did not happen in Flynn’s case.

What the FBI — then under the leadership of the since-discredited James Comey – did to Gen. Flynn constitutes a blatant violation of the most basic ethical principles which federal investigators and prosecutors are sworn to uphold. The fundamental ethical foundation according to which these men and women, including Comey and former Special Counsel Robert Mueller — whose office prosecuted Flynn — is best captured in a speech delivered by then-Attorney General Robert Jackson in early 1940.

Jackson’s remarks, delivered at the Justice Department to the assembled United States Attorneys, concluded with this eloquent statement supposed to undergird the duties of these powerful officials:

“The qualities of a good prosecutor are as elusive and as impossible to define as those which mark a gentleman. And those who need to be told would not understand it anyway. A sensitiveness to fair play and sportsmanship is perhaps the best protection against the abuse of power, and the citizen’s safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.”

https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/04/barr-michael-flynns-legal-tormentors-should-be-prosecuted/

Hey Barr that is your job get on with it

Syrian Air Defenses Repel Alleged Israeli Strike on Aleppo Research Center - State Media

An aerial missile attack over the northern Syrian city of Aleppo was reportedly prevented by the Syrian Arab Army's air defenses, according to state media on Monday.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the attempted attack was launched by Israeli forces targeting a research center located in the al-Safira Defense complex near Aleppo.

A map published by Aurora Intel shows the reported "area of interest" following the reporting of three significant explosions heard in Aleppo.

Current information obtained by Aurora Intel appears to show that seven missiles were launched from Iraq.

This thwarted attack comes a day after the Syrian Foreign Ministry expressed the country's "strong condemnation and rejection" of the Israeli government's intent to annex additional Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

Additionally, Syrian media outlets have attributed a number of airstrikes targeting the country between March 31 and April 27 to the Israeli Air Force. Private intelligence firm ImageSat has since released image sets showing the destruction from those strikes, which Tel Aviv has not taken responsibility for at this time.

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202005041079195763-syria-deploys-air-defense-systems-thwarts-missile-strike—state-media/

Muscle'd Out: Gold's Gym Files For Chapter 11 Due To Government Lockdowns

Gold's Gym International Inc. filed for Chapter 11 on Monday (May 4) as a way to "facilitate the financial restructuring of the company" after nationwide lockdowns resulted in its inability to service debt payments, read a company press release.

The gym operator filed for bankruptcy in Dallas, Texas, and noted in the filing that it has $100 million in assets and liabilities. The company will continue to operate during the restructuring process:

"We want to be 100 percent clear that Gold's Gym is not going out of business," President and CEO Adam Zeitsiff said in a press release. "The brand is strong, and we'll continue to innovate and grow our digital business, our licensing program and our global footprint as we focus on serving our millions of members across the world."

The gym operator said its financial difficulties stem directly from coronavirus lockdowns and said it believes it will remerge from bankruptcy proceedings by the start of August.

"This has been a complete and total disruption of every one of our business norms, so we needed to take quick, decisive actions to enable us to get back on track," the company said.

The restructuring will only impact company-owned locations, which represent roughly 10% of the 700 locations around the world.

Last month, the company closed 30 locations across the US. This included gyms in Alabama, Colorado, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and South Carolina. At the time, it blamed virus-related shutdowns for its rapid financial deterioration.

Not too long ago, 24 Hour Fitness said it was preparing to restructure. As Americans are confined to their homes in the lockdown, with an increasing number of them canceling gym memberships and opting for a Peloton bike. We noted a little more than a week ago that one Peloton spin class had a record number of riders for a live class, drawing in more than 23,000 riders.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/golds-gym-files-chapter-11-restructuring-due-covid-lockdowns

AWFUL! Chicago Tribune Labels All of the “Open Illinois” Protesters “Nazis” in First Line of News Report after Friday Rally

As we reported on Sunday protesters gathered in Chicago for an “Open Illinois” protest on Friday.

At the same time the communists came out for the annual May Day protests nearby.

On Sunday the Chicago Tribune wrote about the rally in the food section(?) — THE TRIB LABELED ALL OF THE FREEDOM PROTESTERS “NAZIS” IN THE OPENING LINE!

In the first sentence!

If you oppose the over-bearing governor you are a “Nazi!”

The Chicago Tribune ONLY corrected their article after the’Open Illinois” Chicago rally organizer confronted them about the disgusting insult!

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/awful-chicago-tribune-labels-open-illinois-protesters-chicago-nazis-first-line-news-report/

Democrat Operatives Launch ‘Committee to Draft Michelle Obama’ for VP

A newly-launched committee called “Draft Michelle Obama” is pushing for Joe Biden, the apparent Democrat presidential nominee, to select the former first lady as his running mate.

“Joe Biden has said he would choose Michelle Obama as his running mate ‘in a heartbeat.’ The aim of this campaign is to build on the substantial grassroots support for a potential Michelle Obama candidacy and help garner media attention for a vice-presidential nominee who has the power to beat Donald Trump,” the group said in a statement released Monday.

The statement adds: “The Committee to Draft Michelle Obama firmly believes that Ms. Obama will not only benefit the Democratic ticket this November but also help lead this country to be more just and caring. However strongly we support Ms. Obama as Vice President Biden’s running mate, we will transfer our resolve to whoever joins the ticket to defeat the most dangerous incumbent in the history of our nation.”

The group, which filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in late April, is supported by Democratic fundraisers Nadine Hack and Mack Wilbourn, spokesperson Drew Zuckerman told The Hill.

Biden has said he would undoubtedly pick Obama to be his running mate, affirming in an April interview that he would “take her in a heartbeat.”

“She’s brilliant. She knows the way around. She is a really fine woman. The Obamas are great friends,” the former vice president told CBS Pittsburgh.

Days later, former second lady Jill Biden echoed her husband’s praise of Obama, stating that she would make a “wonderful” vice president.

Though Democrats think Obama would boost lagging enthusiasm plaguing Biden’s candidacy, members of the former first lady’s circle say the move will never happen. Former White House official Valerie Jarrett recently poured cold water on the idea, saying there is “no chance” she would agree to run.

“The reason why I’m being so unequivocal is that there just simply has never been a time when she’s expressed an interest in running for office,” Jarrett told The Hill. “She’s not demurring here. She’s not being hard to get. She doesn’t want the job.”

The Biden campaign is currently vetting several women as potential running mates, including failed White House candidates Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Also under consideration are Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and progressive activist Stacy Abrams (D). A recently released CBS News/YouGov poll found a majority of Democrats want Biden to consider Warren as his vice presidential pick.

https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/05/04/democrat-operatives-launch-committee-to-draft-michelle-obama-for-vp/

Former FDA Chief: Social Distancing ‘Didn’t Work As Well As We Expected’

Social distancing isn’t working.

The idea that people standing six feet apart will fix a pandemic is — and always has been — silly.

And Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb agrees.

On CBS’s “Face the Nation on Sunday,” Gottlieb said social distancing — as well as other mitigation measures imposed by governors — don’t appear to be working nearly as well as public health experts had projected.

“When you look across the country, it’s really a mixed bag,” Gottlieb said.

“[W]hen you back out what’s happening in New York … around the nation, hospitalizations and new cases continue to rise. There are about 20 states where we see a rising number of new cases. Illinois, Texas, Maryland, Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, have a lot of new cases on a daily basis,” Gottlieb said.

The commissioner said mitigation efforts make sense, but so far, the results are falling well short of what experts were hoping to see.

“While mitigation didn’t fail, I think it’s fair to say it didn’t work as well as we expected. We expected we’d start seeing more significant declines in new case and deaths around the nation at this point, and we’re just not seeing that,” Gottlieb said.

The former FDA commissioner also had some dark predictions.

“I think when you look out to the end of June, it’s probably the case that we’re going to get above 100,000 deaths nationally. … We may be facing the prospect that 20,000, 30,000 new cases a day diagnosed becomes a new normal. And 1,000 or more deaths becomes the new normal as well. Right now we’re seeing for about 30 days now, about 30,000 cases a day and 2,000 deaths a day. And if you factor in that we’re probably diagnosing only 1 in 10 infections, those 30,000 cases are really 300,000 cases,” Gottlieb said.

To date there have been more than 1.1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S., with 66,000 deaths, which means the death rate is 6%.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/former-fda-chief-social-distancing-didnt-work-expected/

Man Caught With Pipe Bombs Was Planning Armed Protest Against COVID-19 Restrictions

DENVER – U.S. Attorney Jason R. Dunn announced that Bradley Bunn, age 53, from Northern Colorado, was arrested this weekend after being charged by criminal complaint with possession of illegal destructive devices, namely pipe bombs, which were found after a search warrant was executed at Bunn’s residence. Bunn is scheduled to have his initial appearance via video conference tomorrow before a U.S. Magistrate Judge, where he will be advised of his rights and the charges pending against him. The FBI and the ATF joined in this announcement.

According to the facts contained in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, on May 1, 2020, FBI special agents, along with other law enforcement officers and agents, executed two search warrants in Northern Colorado. Both search warrants were for the residence of Bradley Bunn.

During the search of Bunn’s residence, FBI agents discovered four pipe bombs. Separately, the technicians found two one-pound containers of .308 caliber cartridge reloading gunpowder in Bunn’s vehicle, which is a potential pipe bomb component. Bomb technicians transported the destructive devices to a range where they were successfully rendered safe.

Bunn has been charged with the possession of destructive devices. If convicted he faces not more than 10 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine. A criminal complaint is a probable cause charging document. Anyone accused of committing a federal crime has a Constitutional right to be indicted by a grand jury.

https://breaking911.com/breaking-man-caught-with-pipe-bombs-was-planning-armed-protest-against-covid-19-restrictions/