Conservative Musings

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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Over-reach Or Attempted Coup?

Nancy Pelosi in serious legal peril (coup attempt?)

MARCH 10, 2021

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing potentially serious legal peril over her actions after the January 6th Capitol riot.

Critics say Pelosi quietly attempted a coup against former President Donald Trump two days after the riot — and conservative legal watchdog Judicial Watch has taken action.

In the aftermath of the riot, Pelosi privately reached out to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, about “precautions” to prevent Trump from using his authority as commander in chief to initiate military action in the last days of his presidency. In a letter to the public, Pelosi said Milley gave unspecified assurances that there were safeguards in place.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board called it a quiet coup attempt that potentially violated the U.S. Constitution. Congressional leadership has no authority to intervene in the military chain of command, they claimed in a scathing op-ed.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton wants answers. His legal group filed a Freedom of Information Act request on January 11th, which the Department of Defense has not responded to.

So now they’re suing to get access to the transcripts of Pelosi’s phone call.

“If Speaker Pelosi’s description of her conversation with General Milley is true, it sets a dangerous precedent that could undermine the president’s role as commander in chief and the separation of powers,” Fitton said in a statement. “Our new lawsuit aims to uncover the truth about the call.”

In their lawsuit, Judicial Watch demanded the Department of Defense release:

Any and all records regarding, concerning, or related to the telephone call between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and General Mark Milley on or about January 8, 2021. This request includes, but is not limited to, any and all transcripts, recordings, and/or summaries of the call, as well as any other records produced in preparation for, during, and/or pursuant to the call.
Any and all additional records of communication between Gen. Milley and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi between November 1, 2020 and the present

At the time, a spokesman for Milley, Col. Dave Butler, confirmed the phone call but didn’t give details on what was discussed.

“He answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority,” Butler told The Associated Press.

If Pelosi did violate her authority — or even pressured Milley to take illegal actions — she could be in serious legal trouble.

The Horn editorial team

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

If This Doesn't Tell You How Stupid Congress Is, Nothing Will

Congress Is Using Personal Protective Equipment...from China

Katie Pavlich

@KatiePavlich

Posted: Mar 09, 2021 1:45 PM

Congress Is Using Personal Protective Equipment...from China

Source: Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP

U.S. lawmakers are using personal protective equipment that comes from China. Republican Congressman Michael Waltz tweeted about it Tuesday and argued for manufacturing in the U.S.

Taxpayer funding going to China for PPE is one problem. The other is that China's track record on producing effective PPE is abysmal. From last year:

A number of European governments have rejected Chinese-made equipment designed to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
Thousands of testing kits and medical masks are below standard or defective, according to authorities in Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands.
On Saturday, the Dutch health ministry announced it had recalled 600,000 face masks. The equipment had arrived from a Chinese manufacturer on 21 March, and had already been distributed to front-line medical teams.
Dutch officials said that the masks did not fit and that their filters did not work as intended, even though they had a quality certificate.

Further, at the beginning of the pandemic, China hoarded PPE from the rest of the world and then used it as leverage.

U.S. officials believe China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak — and how contagious the disease is — to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it, intelligence documents show.
Chinese leaders “intentionally concealed the severity” of the pandemic from the world in early January, according to a four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report dated May 1 and obtained by The Associated Press. The revelation comes as the Trump administration has intensified its criticism of China, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying Sunday that that country was responsible for the spread of disease and must be held accountable.
Not classified but marked “for official use only,” the DHS analysis states that, while downplaying the severity of the coronavirus, China increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies. It attempted to cover up doing so by “denying there were export restrictions and obfuscating and delaying provision of its trade data,” the analysis states.

Will Whitmer Get "Cuomo-ed"

Michigan Prosecutor Says Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Could Face Criminal Charges

By Jack Davis
Published March 9, 2021 at 8:14am

A county prosecutor in Michigan says charges against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer could be in the making related to the deaths of nursing home residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said that as of now, he has suspicions, but he needs evidence, according to WXYZ-TV in Detroit.

Lucido is urging Michigan residents who lost family members who were in nursing homes at the time of their death to make a wrongful death complaint with a local police agency because privacy laws otherwise block him from acting on specific cases.

“If we find there’s been willful neglect of office, if we find there’s been reckless endangerment of a person’s life by bringing them in, then we would move forward with charges against the governor. Of course, we would. Nobody’s above the law in this state,” he told WXYZ.

Lucido said he will meet with police in Macomb County to instruct them on how to process and verify the information and bring it to the prosecutor’s office.

As a Republican state senator last year, Lucido sponsored a bill that would have banned putting COVID-19 patients into nursing homes. Whitmer vetoed the bill.

“I am very disappointed and saddened that the governor vetoed this extremely important and commonsense legislation. Politics should not prevail over the health and safety of our seniors and health care workers,” Lucido said in a statement at the time.

The statement said 35 percent of all Michigan deaths from COVID-19 at that point had come from nursing home residents.

Lucido said questions need to be answered.

“Why did my mom or why did my dad, brother, sister, or aunt die? Was it because of the policy by bringing in COVID-infected patients that spread to my mom that killed my mother?” he told WXYZ.

Republicans have since called for an investigation into Whitmer’s policies that put COVID-19 patients in nursing homes, according to WJBK-TV in Detroit.

“We could have circumvented the death of nursing home patients and for their loved ones,” Lucido told the outlet.

According to Fox News, Republican state Sen. Jim Runestad said that Whitmer’s “regional hub policy placed patients with and without COVID-19 in the same facilities and may have exacerbated the death toll in those facilities.”

Lucido, who has also called for investigations at the state and federal levels, said that regardless of politics, the truth must come out.

“This is not political, everyone. This is about people who passed away at the behest of a policy that was created by the governor,” he told WXYZ.

Did Michigan nursing home residents die needlessly of COVID-19?

But Whitmer’s office claimed Lucido’s comments were nothing but politics.

“Our top priority from the start has been protecting Michiganders, especially seniors and our most vulnerable,” the governor’s office said in a statement to WXYZ. “The administration’s policies carefully tracked [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance on nursing homes, and we prioritized testing of nursing home residents and staff to save lives.

“Early in the pandemic, the state acted swiftly to create a network of regional hubs with isolation units and adequate PPE to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within a facility. In addition, we have offered 100 percent of nursing home resident priority access to the vaccine.”

“Mr. Lucido’s comments are shameful political attacks based in neither fact nor reality,” the statement said.

“Michiganders are tired of these petty partisan games, and we won’t be distracted by them either.”

The Answer Is Yes!

Sen. Rand Paul Has a Very Good Question About the US After Venezuela’s Currency Update

Leah Barkoukis

@LeahBarkoukis

Posted: Mar 08, 2021 7:00 AM

Sen. Rand Paul Has a Very Good Question About the US After Venezuela’s Currency Update

Source: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

One day after the Senate passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, Sen. Rand Paul wondered if the U.S. is following in Venezuela’s footsteps.

"New 1,000,000 bolivar note in Venezuela worth 53 cents," Paul tweeted, linking to a report on how Caracas has been forced to print massive new bills—200,000, 500,000 and 1,000,000—due to hyperinflation. "Will US be the next Venezuela with Congress borrowing over $6 trillion in one year?"

While the dollar has gained ground, Venezuelans continue to rely on bolivar bills for public transportation and to purchase subsidized fuel. The Caracas subway recently issued an electronic payment system after it routinely stopped charging passengers due to cash shortages.
President Nicolas Maduro has said he plans to move to a fully digital economy this year, following three years of hyperinflation that have prompted the nation’s mint to issue higher-denomination notes that are quickly rendered all but useless. Inflation soared 3,000% in the last 12 months, according to Bloomberg News’s Cafe con Leche Index. (Bloomberg)

The COVID-19 relief bill was blasted by Republicans, who argued only 9 percent of actually had anything to do with real COVID relief. The rest was filled with “bailouts for Democratic constituencies, expansions of progressive programs, pork, and unrelated policy changes,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

“I voted against this bill today because it could further wreck the economy and ignite inflation. This legislation includes a host of non-COVID-related left-wing policies,” Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) said in a statement.

Sen. Ted Cruz was also critical of the legislation.

“Instead of working in a bipartisan manner to open our schools, bring back small businesses, and help struggling Americans get back on their feet, Democrats chose to pander to their radical liberal base with partisan handouts,” Cruz said in a statement.

“This bill is stuffed with pork, with only nine percent of the almost $2 trillion going toward actual and urgent COVID relief,” he continued, noting that the legislation “shockingly provides COVID relief checks to illegal aliens and criminals behind bars.”