Patrick's Notebook

By Barbara Starr

Finally, it is now an appropriate time for me to speak out on the Trump administration’s months long efforts to secretly gain access to tens of thousands of my 2017 work and personal emails and my work and personal phone records.

On Monday, senior personnel from CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post are scheduled to meet with Attorney General Merrick Garland to seek a full explanation for why a total of eight reporters from the three news organizations were the subject of secret efforts to gain their records.

Speaking for myself, I don’t know what the government was looking for when it snuck into my life. I am not the subject of an investigation and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing. But as a CNN journalist, myself and my newsroom clearly were being used as a tool by the Trump Justice Department. All of CNN is in this together. We have each other’s back, always. » Read the rest of this entry «

by Glenn Greenwald

One of the most significant events of the last two decades has been largely memory-holed: the October, 2001 anthrax attacks in the U.S. Beginning just one week after 9/11 and extending for another three weeks, a highly weaponized and sophisticated strain of anthrax had been sent around the country through the U.S. Postal Service addressed to some of the country’s most prominent political and media figures. As Americans were still reeling from the devastation of 9/11, the anthrax killed five Americans and sickened another seventeen.

As part of the extensive reporting I did on the subsequent FBI investigation to find the perpetrator(s), I documented how significant these attacks were in the public consciousness. ABC News, led by investigative reporter Brian Ross, spent a full week claiming that unnamed government sources told them that government tests demonstrated a high likelihood that the anthrax came from Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons program. The Washington Post, in November, 2001, also raised “the possibility that [this weaponized strain of anthrax] may have slipped through an informal network of scientists to Iraq.” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on The David Letterman Show on October 18, 2001, and said: “There is some indication, and I don’t have the conclusions, but some of this anthrax may — and I emphasize may — have come from Iraq.” Three days later, McCain appeared on Meet the Press with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and said of the anthrax perpetrators: “perhaps this is an international organization and not one within the United States of America,” while Lieberman said the anthrax was so finely weaponized that “there’s either a significant amount of money behind this, or this is state-sponsored, or this is stuff that was stolen from the former Soviet program” (Lieberman added: “Dr. Fauci can tell you more detail on that”). » Read the rest of this entry «

by Steve Watson

ANYBODY but this guy would be more suitable

Revered scientific journal The Lancet has created a ‘task force’ to investigate the origins of the coronavirus that caused a global pandemic, yet it has decided to employ as its leader the very guy who funded the dangerous gain of function research at the Wuhan lab and subsequently allegedly ‘bullied’ other scientists into avoiding looking into the lab as a potential source of the outbreak.

In the wake of renewed scrutiny of the lab leak hypothesis, the Lancet’s task force will reportedly “focus on analyzing data on all of the theories put forward on the origins of COVID, on the reasons why SARS-CoV-2 was able to break out of Wuhan and spread globally, and on the most plausible strategies to prevent future pandemics.”

It also states that “The Task Force will review thoroughly and objectively all publicly available evidence, particularly the peer-reviewed literature, and conduct interviews with key leaders in science, medicine, policy and civil society.” » Read the rest of this entry «

Fauci: pandemic progenitor and profiteer”Book will allegedly offer “universal advice to live by”

By Daniel Payne

White House coronavirus adviser and long-time U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci’s upcoming book has been scrubbed from and altered on online listings, amid criticism that he is profiting from the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

The book, “Expect the Unexpected,” was earlier pegged for a November release, according to its Amazon listing. As of Wednesday morning, the book’s listing had been entirely scrubbed from Amazon. However, a cached version of the listing, still displayed the book’s promotional description and preorder status.

A cached website also shows the book’s listing on Barnes & Noble’s website, though by Wednesday morning that listing was no longer live anymore.

The book appeared to still be available for preorder on some lesser known vendors such as Booktopia. » Read the rest of this entry «

by Jesse Jackson

A mob storms the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Senate Republicans have used the filibuster to block an official investigation of that day

Just say no. That seems to sum up the position of Republicans in the Congress these days. For all the talk about bipartisan compromise or about the two parties working together, at the end of the day, the Republican position is simply to say no.

The scope of what they won’t do is breathtaking.

They say no to expanding support for day care, vital in an economy where both parents must work. They say no to investing in renewable energy and electric cars. They say no to renovating America’s decrepit and outmoded infrastructure, including clean and safe drinking water. They say no to democracy reforms and ending secret money in politics. They just say no.

It doesn’t matter how popular the issue is. Most Americans want sensible gun control laws. According to the Pew Research Center, 70% of Republicans support background checks for all sales of guns, including those at gun shows. When it comes to passing the reforms, Republicans in both Houses just say no. » Read the rest of this entry «

By Mark Glennon

How? If we could ask those we honor this Memorial Day how best to do it, what would they say? This year, I submit that they would answer differently than they might have in most years past.

I suspect many would say to forget their names and their deeds for now. They would ask us, instead, to see what they would no doubt see with clarity: that America, particularly Illinois, is allowing the slow undoing of the what they died for. They would ask us to honor them by committing ourselves to reversing course. They would ask us to consider the consequences that will come if we don’t.

Stated most simply, they died to protect a democratic republic, essential elements of which are likewise simple – democratic rule bounded by certain unalienable rights. » Read the rest of this entry «

by Xinhuanet.com

The Long March-7 Y3 rocket, carrying the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province, May 29, 2021

China launched the cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-2 on Saturday, which is scheduled to dock with the space station core module Tianhe to deliver supplies, equipment and propellant.

The Long March-7 Y3 rocket, carrying Tianzhou-2, blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan at 8:55 p.m. (Beijing Time), according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

After 604 seconds, Tianzhou-2 separated from the rocket and entered its designated orbit. At 9:17 p.m., the solar panels of Tianzhou-2 unfolded and began working properly. » Read the rest of this entry «