President Trump: ‘I Happen to be Taking’ Hydroxychloroquine

President Donald Trump casually let slip Monday afternoon that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug he’s touted as a promising treatment for Covid-19 patients that has become a lightning rod for controversy.

“A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it,” Trump told reporters during a roundtable at the White House with restaurant executives and industry leaders.

“I was just waiting to see your eyes light up when I said this,” Trump added.

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Al Qaeda Linked To Deadly Shooting At US Military Base In Florida, Investigators Say

The Saudi national who shot three Americans at a military base in Pensacola, Fl., in December had been in contact with Al Qaeda before the attack, according to law enforcement officials.

Cell phone evidence links Second Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a Saudi Air Force cadet who trained at the Naval Air Station Pensacola alongside American military officials, to the terrorist organization, according to government officials who spoke with the New York Times. The FBI discovered cell phone communication between Alshamrani and an Al Qaeda operative from before the December 2019 shooting spree.

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Senator Lindsey Graham Sets Vote to Subpoena Comey, Brennan and Dozens More in Oversight of Crossfire Hurricane

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on June 4 whether to authorize subpoenas for documents and testimony from more than 50 current or former government officials, including James Comey and John Brennan, as part of the panel’s investigation into abuse of the surveillance process during Crossfire Hurricane.

The committee will debate and vote June 4 on whether to issue the subpoenas, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Judiciary panel.

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About 400 Complaints Lodged Against Nashville Businesses During COVID-19 Reopening, City Official Says

Nashville officials have received 400 complaints about businesses since the city entered Phase One of its planned reopening after COVID-19, Metro Public Health Director Michael Caldwell said at a press conference Monday.

“Most of these complaints are about employees not wearing facial coverings properly. We are following up with each one of these businesses. What we are finding out is that a lot of these businesses just didn’t really understand the rules. We will continue our education and observations this week, if we find that, after we have already communicated with a business, that they continue to not be in compliance then we will start fining,” Caldwell said.

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Commentary: John Brennan and the Plot to Subvert an American Election

Let’s talk about John Brennan a bit. You remember John Brennan. He was Barack Obama’s director of the CIA. Once upon a time, he was an enthusiast for Gus Hall, the Communist candidate for president, for whom he voted in 1976. I can’t think of any better background for the head of the country’s premier intelligence service under Obama. In 2014, having put childish things behind him as St. Paul advised, Brennan spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He denied it indignantly. “Nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldn’t do that. That’s just beyond the scope of reason in terms of what we’d do.”

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Ohio Health Czar Acton Extends Dining Provisions Until July 1, Gov. DeWine Assembles Restaurant Police Force to Threaten Removal of Liquor Licenses

Between Health Director Dr. Amy Acton sneaking in an extension of her dining orders until July 1 and Governor Mike DeWine assembling a restaurant police force, one may wonder if Ohio is really reopening.

Late last Thursday, following the final press conference of the week, Acton issued the “Director’s Dine Safe Ohio Order,” which is available here. The order allowed outside restaurant dining as of last Friday. 

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Commentary: When It Came Time for Joe Biden to Pick Black America or China, Joe Biden Chose China

There is a rich irony in Joe Biden running as the “black savior” candidate.

Perhaps because establishment Black Democrats played such a prominent role in saving the Party from nominating the hopeless socialist, Bernie Sanders, Biden’s campaign and a credulous media class have convinced themselves that black turnout will sweep the former vice president and the Democrats back to victory in Michigan and other closely-contested states.

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Minnesota’s Legislative Deadline Passes with No Agreement on Infrastructure Proposal

The Minnesota legislature failed to reach agreements on a major construction bill, tax relief, or state employee contracts before the midnight Sunday deadline for this session.

The lawmakers could still find a middle ground in a special June session.

Minnesota House Republicans Saturday blocked Democrat’s $2 billion bonding bill. Bonding bills must originate in the House and require a three-fifths majority, or 81 votes, to pass. The final tally fell six votes short.

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Northern Michigan, Upper Peninsula Allowed To Reopen, Gov. Whitmer Says

Two regions in Michigan will be allowed to reopen retail businesses, office work and restaurants with limited seating, according to an executive order signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday.

The partial reopening, which will take effect on May 22, will allow retail businesses and office work that cannot be done remotely to reopen, as well as restaurants and bars with limited seating. Restaurants and bars will be required to limit capacity to 50 percent of normal seating, keep groups at least six feet from one other and require serves to wear face coverings.

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Keith Ellison Sues Minnesota Restaurant Owner Who Planned to Open Early, Threatens $150,000 in Fines

Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Sunday night that his office has sued a Minnesota restaurant owner who planned to reopen for business Monday.

Kris Schiffler, owner of Shady’s Bar and Grill, planned on reopening his six locations for dine-in business Monday, two weeks earlier than the June 1 reopening date set by the state. He told one local outlet that he received a call from Ellison’s office Friday threatening $25,000 in fines per location, which would amount to $150,000 in total.

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Ohio House Democrats Call for Statewide Mail-In Voting, Eliminating Application for Absentee Ballot

Ohio House Democrats want to mail a ballot to every voter in the state and skip the “confusing application step,” according to an election proposal put forward Friday.

“Our members have worked intensely over the last several months pushing for improvements in the primary election and now proposing needed fixes to ensure a fall election that goes much more smoothly than the primary,” House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron) (pictured above) said in a statement.

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EXCLUSIVE: The Treasury Department Spied on Flynn, Manafort, and the Trump Family, Says Whistleblower

President Barack Obama’s Treasury Department regularly surveilled retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn’s financial records and transactions beginning in December 2015 and well into 2017, before, during and after when he served at the White House as President Donald Trump’s National Security Director, a former senior Treasury Department official, and veteran of the intelligence community, told the Star Newspapers.

“I started seeing things that were not correct, so I did my own little investigation, because I wanted to make sure what I was seeing was correct” she said. “You never want to draw attention to something if there is not anything there.”

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Commentary: The Great, Steaming Heart of ‘The Swamp’ Beats in the U.S. Senate

by Rachel Bovard   Donald Trump was elected in 2016 on a platform that, broadly, called for draining “the swamp.” The definition of swamp, for the most part, was left to the listener, but generally, it was assumed to represent the established interests that dictated federal policy toward the ends of a few, and away from the benefit of the country. This week, the depth, breadth, and scope of the swamp made itself clear. It started with the unraveling of the case against former national security advisor Michael Flynn. The FBI initially had accused Flynn of violating the Logan Act – an 18th-century statute that has never successfully been used to prosecute anyone, not in the least because of its dubious constitutionality. Ultimately, Flynn was charged with lying to federal agents – a process crime but hardly treason. This week, it was revealed that members of the Obama Administration, many of whom had no real role in counterintelligence operations, repeatedly unmasked (that is, requested their identities and activities from intelligence gathering sources) Trump’s incoming staff – including Flynn. This is damning for at least two reasons. First, the very day former Vice President Joe Biden, and others, received this classified intelligence,…

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Commentary: COVID-19 Proves America Needs Economic Nationalism

by Spencer P. Morrison   Reports of a deadly new virus began trickling out of China in December. The infection spread rapidly. By March 12, the World Health Organization deemed COVID-19 a global pandemic. The next day President Trump declared COVID-19 a “national emergency” that would require the “full power of the federal government” to handle. Many assumed this meant building temporary hospitals to care for COVID-19 patients. Others thought the government would provide local authorities with emergency medical supplies. Some imagined we would develop a vaccine. Instead, the government shut down the economy and forced Americans to “social distance” – destroying more than 36 million jobs and at least $2 trillion in economic output – while it scrambled to buy basic medical equipment from China, of all places. At the behest of academics, bankers, and “conservative” pundits like Ben Shapiro and Bill Kristol, America has offshored the bulk of its manufacturing industry to countries like China, Japan, and Mexico – countries that do not put America first. This has made America vulnerable to the biological, political, and economic contagions emanating from less developed parts of the world. The American people will not be safe until we embrace the wisdom of tariffs…

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Scientists, Economists Urge Trump to Bring on Statistician to Avoid Getting Duped by Bad Health Models

Dozens of scientists, economists and medical experts are urging President Donald Trump to add a professional statistician to his coronavirus task team because they worry the models his administration are relying upon could potentially lead his administration astray.

A slate of academics provided the Trump administration with a letter Tuesday listing several ideas the president could use to help boost his team’s pandemic response. They believe adding an expert statistician to the COVID-19 task team could help Trump avoid relying on poor models that don’t reflect the real world.

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State Department Inspector General Is Fired, Was Investigated for Mishandling Sensitive Information

President Donald Trump fired Steve Linick, the State Department’s inspector general, on Friday night, sources told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Trump notified House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he was removing Linick from office, effective in 30 days. He said in the letter that “it is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as Inspectors General.”

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John Brennan Says He Is Willing To Meet With Prosecutor Investigating Origins Of Russia Probe

Former CIA Director John Brennan said Friday that he has yet to be interviewed by the federal prosecutor investigating the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, but that he is willing to do so and has “nothing to hide.”

“I feel very good that my tenure at CIA and my time at the White House during the Obama administration was not — that was not engaged in any type of wrongdoing or activities that caused me to worry about what this investigation may uncover,” Brennan said in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

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Republican Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Cut Waste from Coronavirus Bill

U.S. Representatives Ted Budd (R-NC-13) and Ken Buck (R-CO-04) introduced the Getting Americans Back to Work Act to amend a portion of the CARES Act, which resulted in some unemployed filers receiving higher wages through unemployment compensation than through their previous jobs.

The bill caps the amount an individual can receive from unemployment insurance at 100 percent of their previous wages.

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Ohio Professor Qing Wang the Latest to be Arrested over China Ties

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine professor and former Cleveland Clinic employee was arrested Wednesday over his alleged ties to China.

The Justice Department announced that Qing Wang was arrested at his Shaker Heights, Ohio home as part of a joint operation conducted by the FBI and the  Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Inspector-General. Wang was charged with wire fraud related to more than $3.6 million in grant funding that Wang and his research team at the Cleveland Clinic had received from the National Institutes of Health.

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Ohio Voters Could Decide Constitutional Amendment to Help Cover the Cost of Unemployment Benefits

Ohio voters could decide a constitutional amendment to cover the cost of unemployment payouts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senate Joint Resolution 4, if passed, would allow voters to decide whether to issue the bonds “to repay any federal borrowing in support of Ohio’s unemployment compensation program,” Ohio Senate President Pro Tempore Bob Peterson, R-Washington Court House, said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

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State Ban on Camping Threatens Michigan’s Bottom Line and Local Economies

The belated arrival of spring is finally due to arrive this weekend. Those inclined to pack their tents or hitch their campers and trailers, however, are being told overnight visitors in the state’s campgrounds aren’t welcome.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order to suspend overnight camping during the coronavirus pandemic could impact Michigan’s state and local economies.

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#FreeTN Rally Draws Attendees from Across Tennessee and Speakers on the Subject of Freedom

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee – A third #FreeTN rally held Sunday included attendees from across Tennessee and out-of-state visitors as well as subject matter experts on the topic of freedom. The event was held across the street from the Tennessee Department of Health in Nashville, which also happens to be the lawn that sits below the state capitol with a few hundred in attendance. Counties as far away from Nashville as Carroll, Knox, Maury and Putnam were represented as were neighboring counties of Sumner, Robertson, Rutherford and Williamson. Residents of other states, such as Wyoming and Washington also took time to attend. Even the highly esteemed Dr. Alan Keyes – a champion of returning the United States to a God-honoring nation who served in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and more recently founding IamTV – made the drive from Sevier County. He told The Tennessee Star that, as he has conducted interviews about the impact of the coronavirus, he wanted to see what the #FreeTN movement was all about. While Kim Edwards spearheaded the non-partisan, grassroots #FreeTN movement to push for the reopening of Tennessee’s economy by pointing out that everyone is essential, it has evolved into protecting constitutional liberties…

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Tennessee Economist and Others Urge Donald Trump and Congress Not to Impose Price Controls to Fix Surprise Medical Billing Problem

Members of the Washington, D.C.-based Taxpayers Protection Alliance have released a letter ripping politicians’ proposals to set price controls for health care coverage.

Several academics from around the country attached their names to the letter, including the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga economics professor Bruce Hutchinson. These economists compose a group called the Coalition Against Rate Setting.

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Biden Must Agree to ‘Independent And Nonpartisan Investigation’ Now That He Wants Voters to Assess Tara Reade’s Accusation, Reade’s Attorney Says

2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden must agree to an “independent and nonpartisan investigation” now that he wants voters to assess Tara Reade’s allegations against him, her attorney told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday.

Attorney Douglas Wigdor renewed calls for an investigation the morning after Biden said that voters should choose between voting for him and believing Reade, who accused him of sexually assaulting her when she worked for him as a Senate staffer in 1993. Biden has repeatedly denied this allegation.

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Commentary: The Indispensable American Family

In August 1884, Washington Gladden, possibly the most famous Christian preacher in the America of his day, wrote an article in The Century Magazine on “Three Dangers” besetting the welfare of the nation he loved. Of the first and third dangers he named, intemperance and gambling, I have little to say here. I will note that Dr. Gladden concedes that alcohol may be used well, even for conviviality, though he himself did not drink.

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Nationwide, Feds Find Cozy Connections Between China and University Professors

The Chinese Virus began infiltrating the United States in early 2020, but the communist country already had a foot in the door well before then.

In the last year, Campus Reform has covered multiple instances of U.S. law enforcement officials charging professors and students with lying about their ties to China while conducting U.S.-funded research and even attempting to smuggle U.S.-funded researched to China.

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Letter to the Editor: Results Are All That Matter

Once when I was a health care worker in a small, rural hospital in the desert Southwest, we respiratory therapists and nurses were in the cafeteria, discussing at lunch the relative merits of various doctors with whom we worked, in ER and on the clinical floors. Who was better?

It was unanimous that a guy who was a jovial, folksy dude with a decent bedside manner was our LAST choice — because he was incompetent.

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Commentary: Rigid Lockdowns vs. Relative Freedom

In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper has adopted the policy premise that anything done in the name of safety from the coronavirus trumps all other interests, including economic, religious, or other health considerations. Despite comparatively low numbers in the Tar Heel state, the ninth most populous state in the United States, and with no evidence of the healthcare system being overwhelmed, North Carolina has been in full lockdown for over a month.

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Music Spotlight: Brian Callihan

Born and raised on a small farm in South Georgia, Brian Callihan was your typical country boy as he hunted and played baseball and football. However, he found his true passion when he started listening to Keith Whitley.

Callihan said when he was around 10 or 11 years old he got a “Keith Whitley’s Greatest Hits for Christmas,” which was his dad’s favorite singer.

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Loeffler Turns Over Documents to SEC, DOJ Over Stock-Trading

Republican Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler has turned over documents related to controversy over her stock-trading to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and the Senate Ethics Committee, according to Politico.

The documents she submitted show that both she and her husband Jeffry Sprecher “acted entirely appropriately and observed both the letter and the spirit of the law,” a spokeswoman for Loeffler said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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ICE Program Collects DNA Samples of Illegal Aliens

A division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun collecting DNA samples of illegal aliens in its custody and storing the information in a national database.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations launched a pilot program earlier in May in Dallas, Texas, that collects the DNA samples of individuals arrested and placed into its custody, the agency confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday. The launch of the pilot program followed backlash from critics who chastised the agency for not implementing it sooner.

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‘She’s Lost Her Mind’: Former ICE Chief Reacts to Pelosi’s Plan to Give Illegal Aliens Stimulus Funds

A former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claims House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s coronavirus relief package exploits the pandemic to push a progressive agenda.

“Nancy Pelosi and her party, they are taking advantage of this crisis to push a radical agenda. Look, she wants to use our taxpayer’s money to reward illegal behavior,” said Tom Homan on Fox News Thursday. Homan led ICE early on in the Trump administration.

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Pakistani Doctor Indicted on Charges of Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS

A man in Minnesota has been indicted by a federal grand jury on an attempt to provide a terrorist organization with material support, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

Muhammad Masood has been charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Initially, the 28-year-old Pakistani national was charged in a criminal complaint in March, 2020.

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Gov. DeWine Tells Kentucky Democratic Senate Candidate Amy McGrath to Stop Using His Image in Ads Against Sen. Mitch McConnell

Gov. Mike DeWine released a statement asking that Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Amy McGrath not use his image in an “attack ad” against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“Ohioans are focused exclusively on getting through COVID-19 and getting our people back to work, and I’m proud to work with partners at the local and federal level to get it done. It’s for that reason that I’m particularly disappointed with an attack ad by Amy McGrath that uses my image against my friend, Mitch McConnell,” DeWine said in a statement Saturday.

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#FreeTN Rally Sunday Expands Message to Protecting Constitutional Liberties from Government Overreach

The #FreeTN movement is expanding its messaging for a rally scheduled for Sunday from a focus on reopening the economy to protecting constitutional liberties against government overreach. This rally will be held at the Tennessee State Health Department building on 710 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

To start this movement, Nashville resident Kim Edwards organized rallies while the state was on a shut down to “flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 spread.

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Commentary: The Intolerant, Ingrate Left Wants Christians to Stop Helping COVID-19 Victims

Just as soon as the Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse came to the aid of overwhelmed New York City officials and sick residents struggling to combat the effects of COVID-19, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson decided the diverse, “tolerant,” progressive city had enough of its assistance, due to its Christian foundation, and effectively kicked the charity out.

While it’s usually Christians who are scolded for their so-called intolerant beliefs that are rooted in centuries-old religious traditions, here it seems like it’s progressives who aren’t so tolerant of other people embracing views that are different than theirs—even if those very views inform their acts of charity and medical care.

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Poll: 40 percent of Americans More Likely to Home-School, Enroll Children in Virtual Schools After Lockdown

A new RealClear Opinion Research poll of 2,122 registered voters found that a strong majority surveyed support school choice and 40 percent are more likely to pursue homeschooling opportunities after COVID-19 restrictions end.

Slightly more than 40 percent polled said they are more likely to home school or virtual school after lockdowns. Before the coronavirus shutdown, roughly 4 percent of K-12 students were in home education settings.

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