In early February, 57 people arrived at a Nebraska military base, among the first Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak. U.S. health officials knew very little then about the mysterious new virus, and the quarantined group offered an early opportunity to size up the threat.

The federal government sought help from a team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, including Dr. James Lawler, an experienced infectious disease specialist. Lawler told Reuters he immediately asked the world-renowned U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for permission to test the quarantined group, deeming it crucial to know whether people without symptoms were infected and could spread the deadly pathogen.

Agency officials worried that detained people couldn't give proper consent because they might feel coerced into testing. "CDC does not approve this study," an official at the quarantine site wrote to Lawler in a Feb. 8 email obtained by Reuters. "Please discontinue all contact with the travelers for research purposes."

A socialist group has been left furious after its official account was banned on Facebook and dozens of activists were removed without giving "a reason".

Facebook Messenger: Users across UK report issues with app

The social media giant recently announced it was cracking down on accounts that violated its policies against posting content relating to conspiracy theories and militarised social movements. Between August 2020 and January 12, 2021, Facebook has removed more than 78,000 profiles on both Facebook and Instagram. Former US President Donald Trump was also indefinitely suspended on Facebook and Instagram a day after the Capitol riots that left five dead and resulted in his second impeachment earlier this month.

The new rules have meant Facebook has also disabled the accounts of more than 45 left-wing activists and 15 Facebook pages in Britain.

As many people are aware, CNN recently aired a wonderful interview by former Moonie-turned-cult-deprogrammer Steve Hassan giving advice to Americans wishing to deprogram their MAGA-hat wearing loved ones, now that the age of Trump is coming to an end.

I was fortunate enough to have read Hassan's book and had the loving scrub-brush of truth wash my brain of all of its formerly pro-Trump sympathies and can honestly say that I am most certainly better off for having left those old delusions in the past.


For one thing, I used to enjoy my right to free speech... but thanks to the terrible events of January 6, 2021 that left 3 people dead, horned Q supporters doing photo ops for media, pro-Trump rioters let into the capitol building by guards, and busloads of conspicuous violent figures whom some say were "provocateurs" (whatever that means), I have come to realize that I was all wrong.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has received his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine after putting millions into development and distribution, but most used the moment to bring up numerous conspiracy theories that center on the man.

"I feel great," Gates announced to the world on Friday, adding a picture of himself getting a Covid-19 vaccine. "Thank you to all of the scientists, trial participants, regulators, and frontline healthcare workers who got us to this point," he added.

At 65, Gates is eligible to receive the vaccine under Washington state's tier one distribution plan.

President Joe Biden has asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a "comprehensive threat assessment" of domestic extremism following the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by a violent mob that left five people dead.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced on Friday that Biden decided to ask for the review, which will be coordinated with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, because "clearly more needs to be done" to address the rising threat posed by violent extremists across the country.

"The January 6th assault on the capitol and the tragic deaths and destruction that occurred underscored what we have long known: The rise of domestic violent extremism is a serious and growing national security threat," Psaki said. "The Biden administration will confront this threat with the necessary resources and resolve."

The pro-Trump rioters who breached the Capitol earlier this month included members of the far-right, self-described "Western chauvinist" Proud Boys and far-right militia groups Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. All three groups have increasingly provided security or worked alongside neo-Nazi and white supremacist factions, according to national security experts.

The Russian government's official fears that some members of the Trump-inspired "Make America Great Again" movement might become "political prisoners" in Biden's America presents a spectacular soft power chance for the Kremlin to appeal to a broad swath of conservatives if it facilitates their future emigration to Russia and subsequently provides the necessary support to aid their assimilation and integration into society.

Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin dropped a bombshell last week when he declared during the opening of the lower house of parliament's spring session that some members of the Trump-inspired "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement might become "political prisoners" in Biden's America. His exact words were as follows:

"Those who participated in unauthorized political actions everywhere were anointed by Washington as fighters for freedom and democracy. When the same thing happened in the United States itself, they labelled these people as domestic terrorists who face 15-20 years in prison. These will be real political prisoners. Let's call a spade a spade."

While there's no doubt that those who stormed the US Capitol deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law, the fact of the matter is that the double standards vis-a-vis Washington's stance towards analogous groups that it backs abroad and even towards the arguably just as seditious Antifa and "Black Lives Matter" prove that those MAGA members are indeed "political prisoners".

President Biden's "wartime effort" goal to vaccinate 100 million people against COVID-19 in 100 days relies on a daily average that was repeatedly bested under former President Donald Trump.

Biden's first full day in office on Thursday saw 1.3 million Americans inoculated against the deadly coronavirus, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. But the same figures show that 1.3 million shots were administered on Jan. 11 and that 1.1 million were given both Jan. 14 and 16.

Vaccinations also hit a record-high, 1.6 million on Wednesday, when Biden was sworn into office, according to the data.

Since his inauguration Wednesday, the new commander in chief and his top spokesperson have repeatedly been pressed by reporters on whether he's setting his immunization target too low.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said during an interview on Thursday night that part of the reason that she did not attend President Joe Biden's inauguration was because she does not feel safe around Republicans.

"You knew that people would ask why you weren't there," CNN host Chris Cuomo said. "This was a good cause, from your perspective, of dealing with your constituency. But this was supposed to be a show of force, and unity, and you weren't there. Explain it."

"How many are 'We?'" Cuomo pressed.

"I think a very considerable amount," Ocasio-Cortez answered. "A lot of members do not feel safe. In fact, just today-"

"You really think that colleagues of yours in Congress, may do you dirty?" Cuomo asked.

Digital rights advocates reacted with alarm to a report published Friday detailing how Defense Intelligence Agency analysts in recent years bought databases of U.S. smartphone location data without first obtaining warrants.

"I think we've really reached the point where you have so much data floating around that governments can essentially buy their way around the Fourth Amendment." — Sen. Ron Wyden

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is part of the Department of Defense and is tasked with informing military and civilian policymakers about the activities and intentions of foreign governments and nonstate actors.

The new revelation, first reported by the New York Times, initially came in the form of DIA responses to questions from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) regarding the agency's warrantless purchase of commercial location data generated by phones both inside and outside of the United States.

Wyden asked the DIA to clarify its interpretation of Carpenter v. United States, a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision barring law enforcement agencies from requesting personal location information from a cellphone company without first obtaining a search warrant from a judge.

"DIA does not construe the Carpenter decision to require a judicial warrant endorsing purchase or use of commercially-available data for intelligence purposes," the agency replied, implicitly acknowledging its exploitation of an apparent loophole in the case that DIA believes permits its warrantless acquisition of location data from third-party brokers.

The Lone Star State is not afraid of standing alone against federal government overreach. Texas is showing once again it is not the state to be pushed around.

Amidst a flurry of 17 executive orders and actions on newly sworn-in President Biden's first day in office, was one that directed federal agencies not to enforce certain provisions of U.S. immigration law.

Texas put the Biden administration on blast. The state's Attorney General released a statement that made its position clear:

Yesterday you ordered a blanket halt on nearly all deportations of illegal aliens. This complete abdication of the Department of Homeland Security's ("DHS") obligation to enforce federal immigration law is unlawful and will seriously and irreparably harm the State of Texas and its citizens.

The statement makes it clear that Biden's refusal to enforce the law as required will result in injury to Texas:

Border states like Texas pay a particularly high price when the federal government fails to faithfully execute our country's immigration laws. Your attempted halt on almost all deportations would increase the cost to Texas caused by illegal immigration. DHS itself has previously acknowledged that such a "pause on . . . removals" will cause "concrete injuries to Texas." See Agreement between Department of Homeland Security and the State of Texas ("Agreement") § 2.

As a result of that particularized interest in the effective operation of our immigration system, Texas has agreed to cooperate with the federal government in its execution of immigration enforcement. See Agreement. Your attempt to halt deportations violates our Agreement in multiple ways.