US Supreme Court rejects ex-cop Chauvin's appeal in George Floyd murder

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of his conviction for the murder of George Floyd during a 2020 arrest, which sparked widespread protests against police brutality and racism.

The justices turned away Chauvin's appeal that he filed after a Minnesota appellate court upheld his 2021 murder conviction and rejected his request for a new trial. Chauvin had argued that jury bias and certain rulings by the presiding judge deprived him of his right to a fair trial under the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment.

Chauvin, who is white, is serving a 22-1/2 year prison sentence for murdering Floyd, who was Black, by kneeling on a handcuffed Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest.

[OCS: Flloyd died of a drug overdose, naturally poor health, and a struggle while resisting arrest. He did not die of asphyxia and the jury railroaded Chauvin as riots raged outside the courthouse. Like Black Lives Matter, this is a progressive communist democrat ploy to demoralize and destroy law enforcement.]

Floyd's murder triggered protests in many cities in the United States and in other countries and focused attention on the issue of racial justice.

Chauvin, now 47, was found guilty by a 12-member jury in April 2021 of three charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter following a three-week trial that included testimony from 45 witnesses, including bystanders, police officials and medical experts.

The guilty verdict marked a milestone in the fraught racial history of the United States and a rebuke of law enforcement's treatment of Black Americans. <Source>

[OCS: We can no longer trust the United States Supreme Court as the last chance protection of perverted American justice.]

Big Pharma funds watchdog of news reports on COVID; disgraced outlets denied recourse

NewsGuard, which ranks news sites to counter what it deems misinformation, including stories that question COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy, received significant funding from a firm that represents some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies.

[OCS: As we have seen, one of the most significant sources of misinformation and disinformation comes from the pharmaceutical industry, protecting its multi-billion dollar revenue stream. They openly collude with government regulatory agencies afflicted by regulatory capture by the industry they have sworn to regulate and revolving-door employment practices. The government, in turn, colluded with both legacy and social media to censor that did not uphold the narrative of the day or cancel dissidents, many of whom were well-educated, well-credentialed, and well-experienced in the subject matter under discussion.]

NewsGuard’s leaders denied any conflict of interest. They said the group’s investors have never contacted them and have no influence over the company’s rating system.

[OCS: Of course, they would deny any conflict! Like most loosely coupled conspiracies, most participants have an intrinsic understanding of what is expected for the organization’s continued success and funding. A large-scale case of following the leader.] 

That rating system has steered advertisers from websites such as the British-based Daily Sceptic, which emerged early in the pandemic to challenge lockdowns, mandates, and vaccine safety and efficacy. It also has targeted natural health site Mercola and the conservative-leaning Federalist, which raised questions about mask mandates.

Journalists whose sites have been downgraded say the for-profit NewsGuard is working to censor news outlets that produce content its paying clients oppose.

“I think it’s a really sinister organization, and it’s the enemy of good journalism everywhere,” Toby Young, editor-in-chief of The Daily Sceptic, told The Washington Times.

One of NewsGuard’s investors is Publicis Groupe, which represents some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and health care companies, including COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer. Publicis was among a group of investors that provided $6 million to launch NewsGuard in 2018.

“NewsGuard will be able to publish and license’ white lists’ of news sites our clients can use to support legitimate publishers while still protecting their brand reputations,” Publicis Groupe Chair Maurice Levy said when NewsGuard launched in March 2018.

NewsGuard has worked to steer advertisers away from news sites that publish articles related to the COVID-19 pandemic that it deems false or misleading, in particular articles listing potential side effects from vaccinations or whether they work at all to inhibit the spread of the coronavirus.

[OCS: Again, as we have seen, what we were told was naïve, wishful thinking, or ignorance package wrapped in professional certitude. Millions have risked their health following specious advice, having never been exposed to the other side of the story – counterclaims that have proven valid.]

When installed on internet browsers, NewsGuard warns readers and advertisers to “proceed with maximum caution” because the website, according to them, is not reliable and violates basic journalism standards.

[OCS: The most disgusting part is that those who were slandered have no recourse. There is no compensation for reputational damage by an organization pretending to know an unknowable truth. That so-called journalists would rely on unverified clap-trap is to demonstrate the incompetence, laziness, unprofessionalism, or politicization of news reporters who tell narratives over news.

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Janet Yellen Says Nat'l Security at Risk Unless US Funds Ukraine Schools & Teachers

"We can't allow Ukraine to lose a battle on the home front because it lacks enough money to keep schoolteachers in the classroom and first responders on the job, when it's fighting valiantly on the battlefield, so Ukraine is utterly dependent on this aid," Yellen told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

House Intelligence chair says no charges against Biden for classified docs would be ‘devastating’

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner said Sunday that reports that special counsel Robert Hur will not charge President Biden for possessing classified documents as a private citizen would be “devastating” for the national security community.

“This will certainly [continue] to be devastating for the Department of Justice into the Biden administration with their two-tier system of justice,” the Ohio Republican said on the CBS Sunday talk show “Face the Nation.” “Biden has been found to be a serial classified-document hoarder.”

Former President Donald Trump has been charged with violating the Espionage Act for his refusal to return all classified documents after leaving office and storing them at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida.

[OCS: From the SWAT-style raid on Mar-a-Lago to the espionage charges, it’s all a political ploy to keep Trump from running for office.]

Mr. Biden was found to be in possession of classified materials from his time as a senator and vice president but has cooperated with authorities.

[OCS: Unlike Trump, Biden had no authority to declassify documents or any rationale for possessing them after he left office. Trump’s documents were secured and protected by the Secret Service, whereas Biden’s papers were stored haphazardly in multiple locations, handled by numerous people without security clearances. Biden’s people lied to the government, and Biden was acting as an unregistered Foreign Agent under the FARA Act.] 

Mr. Turner accused the Justice Department of deliberately not pursuing charges against Democrats.

“You can’t hoard documents in your home for a decade-long period, concealing them, taking them home as a senator, a vice president, and then suddenly say, ‘hey, two weeks while I was president, I cooperated and therefore it doesn’t count that I spent 10 years as a serial classified-documents hoarder,’” Mr. Turner said. <Source>

Biden administration uses wartime authority to bolster energy efficient manufacturing

The Biden administration said Friday that it used wartime authority to bolster manufacturing of energy efficient heating and cooling technology.

It said it was utilizing the Defense Production Act to mobilize the production of heat pumps — technology used to heat or cool someone’s home that is more efficient than traditional heating and air conditioning systems.

The Defense Production Act gives the president the authority to mobilize a certain industry to advance national security, which the administration argues applies to producing more climate-friendly energy.

[OCS: Screw the House of Representatives, who legally control the purse strings. This is an abuse of power.]

Giulia Siccardo, director of the Energy Department’s Office of manufacturing and energy supply chains, told The Hill in an interview that the $169 million in funding the department announced Friday would allow companies to construct factories to build heat pumps.

The funds come from the Inflation Reduction Act — the Democrats’ climate, tax and health care law.

[OCS: Like everything with the progressive communist democrats, it’s either projection or topsy-turvyism where the opposite is true. No inflation reduction – only more spending.]

She said that going through the Defense Production Act allows the administration “to quickly deploy funding to be able to add or convert manufacturing capacity.”

The department’s actions are expected to produce pumps “to meet the needs of over 300,000 homes,” she said. <Source> 

Biden Uses Cold War Law to Nuke Your Gas Furnace

Democrats went very quickly from “Nobody is going to take away your gas appliances” to “Biden invokes wartime powers to fund electric heaters as he cracks down on gas appliances.”

“Wartime powers?” “Electric heaters?” One of these things is not like the other unless there are millions of dollars to throw around to your cronies while putting their competitors out of business. And sure enough, Biden will dole out $169 million of your tax dollars to boost the production of electric heat pumps.

What gives Biden the authority to throw money around like a drunken Congress to further an environmental agenda that the House rejected back in June? A 1950 law called the Defense Production Act (DPA) was meant to protect and promote the production of war materials. Biden is using it to make heat pumps.

You might think that Biden might use the DPA to ramp up production of actual defense materials like much-needed artillery shells and missiles — if you hadn’t been paying attention these last three years to his twisted priorities.

This isn’t the first time Biden has abused the DPA to promote his radical green agenda, either. Last year, he invoked the DPA to suspend Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese solar panels. The White House called it “bold executive action.” Uyghur forced labor in western China, where the dirty work of producing solar panels goes on, called it “more unpaid overtime.”

Biden’s action to promote heat pumps was “necessary” because Biden’s new regulations on gas furnaces will make them unaffordable where they aren’t unavailable. When the new regs go into effect in 2028, Biden’s rules mandate that all new gas furnaces operate at 95% efficiency, up from today’s 80%. The non-condensing furnaces used in most homes almost certainly won’t make the cut.

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