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Rep. Harriet Hageman Introducing Bill to Stop Climate Change Groups From Filing ‘Shakedown’ Lawsuits

Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming is introducing a new bill called the ‘Stop Climate Shakedowns Act’ which is intended to stop climate change groups from filing frivolous lawsuits blaming corporations for the effects of climate change.

Hageman suggests that these groups do this almost as a form of tax that they would never be able to get passed the proper way, through Congress.

She mentions that she partnered with Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz on this.

Townhall has more details:

Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming is sounding the alarm that these activists are also trying to sue their way into taxing Americans in the name of “fighting climate change.” She’s introduced a Stop Climate Shakedowns Act to prevent this activist grift.

“It is the Stop the Climate Shakedowns Act, and what this has to do with is there are many communities and states around the country that have … filed lawsuits against our energy companies claiming that they are responsible for climate change and the impacts of climate change, and this is an effort to try, really, it’s another way of taxation, is really what these communities are doing,” Hageman said.

“So they’ve either adopted superfund laws claiming that producing energy has caused climate change and so those energy producers should be responsible for paying billions upon billions upon billions of dollars in fines,” she continued, “and then on the other hand, they’re just flat-out suing.”

“The city of Boulder, Colorado, has a lawsuit pending in front of the United States Supreme Court right now against Suncorp. So the purpose of my legislation, and I filed this in conjunction with Senator Ted Cruz, is to stop these lawsuits in their tracks,” Hageman said.

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North Carolina Police Officer Arrested For Alleged Illegal Use Of Flock Cameras

A North Carolina officer was arrested by state authorities July 29 after allegedly accessing license plate registration information from Flock Safety cameras and other technology, authorities announced.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Seth Elliot, 25, is facing a misdemeanor charge of illegally accessing a government computer, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

Elliot, who started working at the department in 2024, allegedly accessed the Flock system and CJ Leads, a criminal justice database used by law enforcement in North Carolina, one time for non-law enforcement purposes, according to the police department.

The officer was placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said.

A previous unrelated investigation had initially found the evidence that on June 16, Elliot had allegedly improperly accessed the license plate reader systems.

He was then placed on administrative assignment on June 22, and his equipment and access to systems with criminal intelligence information was revoked pending the outcome of the internal investigation.

Police Chief Estella Patterson said the department doesn’t operate any of the Flock cameras or devices but has an agreement with the company to allow officers access to them.

Misuse of the access is not tolerated, Patterson said.

“The public expects and deserves the highest level of integrity from every officer who wears the CMPD badge,” Patterson said in a statement. “Misusing law enforcement technology or accessing confidential information for non-law enforcement purposes is a betrayal of the public’s trust and a violation of everything this profession stands for.”

The Epoch Times was not able to reach Elliott for comment, and it’s unclear if he has an attorney.

The North Carolina case is the latest law enforcement-related allegation of Flock camera misuse.

Earlier this month, Sgt. Kabiru Salawu of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office was arrested after an internal investigation found he allegedly misused the agency’s Flock system. Salawu was fired by the department and charged with a felony violation of oath of office and misdemeanor misuse of license plate data, according to a sheriff’s office statement.

Investigations in Georgia and several other states have also led to arrests over Flock camera access.

People have also destroyed the cameras in some cities, with some incidents occurring this week.

In Upstate New York, police arrested a 25-year-old man July 29 after he allegedly used a saw to cut down a Flock camera.

In Central California, a 40-year-old Pismo Beach man was arrested July 28 for allegedly intentionally tearing down and running over at least three Flock license plate readers, causing thousands of dollars in damage, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Flock Safety, based in Georgia, estimates more than 6,000 communities in 49 states have partnered with the company to install the surveillance systems.

The cameras are powered by artificial intelligence and capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles, recording the location, date, and time. The cameras also capture the car’s make, model, color, and other features, such as dents and bumper stickers, to use as data points, according to DeFlock, a community-driven, open-source project that maps the license plate readers.

DeFlock estimates Flock has installed nearly 123,400 cameras throughout the United States.

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Mainstream Media Bias in Fauci Hearings: Republicans Were Mean To Him

Anthony Fauci’s July 29 congressional testimony generated extensive media coverage, but the reporting revealed a sharp divide in how the hearing was portrayed. The coverage underscores the left-leaning agenda of the mainstream media. Right-leaning media have concentrated on the facts of the case, the questions asked, and the evidence they argue shows that Fauci knew social distancing and lockdowns were ineffective and that the vaccines may have been harmful.

Left-leaning mainstream media outlets, by contrast, defended Fauci’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment while overlooking what his silence left unanswered. They framed the questioning itself, not Fauci’s refusal to answer, as the story and characterized the hearing as partisan theater, with little attention to the substance of the gain-of-function, lockdown, and vaccine-safety questions being asked.

Evidence for the inquiry derives from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic’s report, *After Action Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward*, a 520-page final report released in December 2024 after a two-year, bipartisan-membership investigation that included more than 100 investigative letters, 38 interviews or depositions, 25 hearings, and review of over a million pages of documents.

The report concluded that SARS-CoV-2 likely leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan rather than emerging naturally, based on the virus’s biological characteristics and illnesses among researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the fall of 2019. It found that the NIH funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and that EcoHealth Alliance, which subawarded those NIH grants, failed to properly oversee the experiments, facilitated the gain-of-function work, and misled the NIH about its research.

The report also concluded that Chinese and U.S. government agencies, along with some members of the international scientific community, sought to cover up facts about the pandemic’s origins.

On mitigation measures, the subcommittee found that masking and social distancing mandates were not based on hard science. It also concluded that the 6-foot social distancing guidance was not supported by science, despite being forcefully implemented by state and local governments. Finally, the report found that prolonged lockdowns caused severe harm to the American economy and to Americans’ mental and physical health, with a particularly negative effect on the young.

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Is Anybody Ever Going To Say, “I’m Sorry”?

This week, Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared before Congress and, on the advice of his attorney, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment rather than answering many of the senators’ questions.

Everyone is talking about what he did or didn’t know, whether he misled Congress, whether he should have answered the questions, and whether he should be held accountable.

But that wasn’t the moment from this week that I can’t stop thinking about.

My husband called me as he was driving home from picking up grain for the hogs. He had stopped at Restaurant Depot to grab pizza boxes and a few supplies for the ranch. Rarely does he pay attention to American politics. Rarely is he interested in the stories that consume me.

He simply asked, “What’s going on with Fauci?”

I explained that he had spent much of the hearing invoking the Fifth Amendment rather than answering senators’ questions.

There was a long pause.

Then he asked me something that caught me completely off guard.

“Is anybody ever going to say, ‘I’m sorry. I was wrong. It cost you and your family everything?”

I had to choke back tears because no—nobody has ever said that to us.

My husband and I worked hard. We built businesses. We lived what most people would call the American dream. We weren’t looking for a bailout. We weren’t failing. In fact, when COVID-19 hit, we were just weeks away from selling our restaurant company under a $31 million contract.

Then came “two weeks to slow the spread.”

Two weeks became months. Months became years.

Government policies, not the virus itself, destroyed everything we had spent decades building.

This hearing didn’t make me feel any better. If anything, it ripped open wounds that had finally started to scar over.

Americans are still carrying losses that will never appear on a government balance sheet. They exist instead as tears in the fabric of lives that once felt secure. Businesses built over decades disappeared. Retirement accounts were drained. Marriages came under tremendous financial pressure. Ours was one of them. Homes were lost. Careers ended. Dreams were abandoned. Six years later, many of those wounds have not healed.

It would be easy to make this article about Fauci, but the truth is he is just one bureaucrat.

He may be the most recognizable face of the pandemic response and one of its highest-paid officials, but he was never acting alone. Governors issued orders. County health departments enforced them. School boards complied. Corporate executives complied. Church leaders complied. Republicans complied. Democrats complied.

And so did we, the people.

That may be the hardest part for me to admit. Yes, I am angry at Fauci, but, to be honest, I am just as angry at us.

When I say “us,” I don’t mean that I personally embraced those policies. I questioned them from the beginning.

I have never been vaccinated. That wasn’t a decision I made because of COVID-19. It was how I had lived my entire life. My mother raised me to question pharmaceuticals and to be cautious about trusting the government. That foundation shaped how I viewed the pandemic from the very beginning.

I don’t think that made me special. I think it made me less susceptible to what I believe was the greatest psychological operation of my lifetime.

But we, the people, largely complied.

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Dr. Birx Does Damage Control, Throws Fauci Under the Bus After Disastrous Hearing

Former White House COVID Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx threw Fauci under the bus after the former NIAID director refused to answer questions during last week’s senate hearing.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former NIAID director and face of America’s disastrous COVID response, finally appeared under subpoena last Wednesday morning before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

After enjoying his celebrity status and appearing on all of the networks during the Covid pandemic, all of a sudden Fauci shut his mouth and refused to explain his actions.

Fauci (unlawfully) pleaded the Fifth Amendment 111 times.

Dr. Fauci’s former ‘partner-in-crime’ – Dr. Birx, AKA, ‘scarf lady,’ threw him under the bus after the hearing.

During an appearance on Newsmax, Dr. Birx claimed that the blue states “overclosed” and said it was all political.

“There were solutions, but it became very political, and we all have to be aware, because it was a presidential election year,” Birx said.

She continued, “It was really important for blue states to show that they were taking this very seriously, and they overclosed. And we just have to be honest that that happened!”

This is the same lady who told people to wear goggles and put on multiple masks.

Never forget that Birx was also caught flying to visit her family during Thanksgiving while telling everyone else not to visit theirs.

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Abigail Spanberger Restores Voting Rights to 66,000 Virginians ‘with Past Felony Convictions’

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) announced that her administration has restored voting rights to more than 66,000 Virginians who have “past felony convictions.”

In a press release on Friday, Spanberger expressed that “the right to vote is foundational to who we are as Americans.” Spanberger added that as a gubernatorial candidate and since taking office she has “heard from many Virginians who have shared their personal stories of redemption with me.”

Per the press release, the civil rights restored by Spanberger also include “the right to vote, serve on a jury,” and to “run for public office”:

Virginia is one of three states with a constitution that permanently disenfranchises citizens with past felony convictions — leaving restoration of rights entirely to the Governor’s discretion. The civil rights restored by Governor Spanberger include the right to vote, serve on a jury, run for public office, and become a notary public.

“I’m proud that — after contending with my predecessor’s efforts to deny Virginians their fundamental rights — we have restored the rights of more than 66,000 Virginians who have served their time,” Spanberger said. “These Virginians deserve the right to use their vote, make their voices heard, and be recognized as contributing citizens to our Commonwealth and country.”

The press release comes as Virginia residents in the fall will be able to “vote in a referendum on a constitutional amendment that would allow” felons in Virginia to have their voting rights restored “upon their release from incarceration.”

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CCP Bans Sale Of Retired Military Equipment, Citing Security Risks

The Chinese regime’s military and public security authorities have jointly issued an order banning the sale, assembly, and marketing of retired military equipment, citing “security risks to military secrets.”

The Notice on Prohibiting Sales Activities Involving Retired or Scrapped Military Equipment was issued on July 28 by the Chinese regime’s six central governmental departments, including the top defense command and decision-making body of the Chinese military – Central Military Commission’s Logistics Support Department, Equipment Development Department, and Political and Legal Affairs Commission, along with the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

The notice acknowledges that, in recent years, some vendors have openly sold – both online and offline – retired or scrapped military equipment containing sensitive information, resulting in “adverse effects” and creating “security risks.” It also said one of the purposes of the ban is “to uphold the positive image of the people’s military.”

The notice stipulates that no entity or individual may sell retired or scrapped military equipment. Such equipment – as defined by the military – encompasses various types of hardware, ammunition, devices, related components, and materials that have been officially retired from service and designated for disposal as scrap.

The notice also prohibits any unit or individual from using dismantled parts of decommissioned equipment to produce, modify, and re-assemble them, and then sell them as imitations of military equipment that the public might believe was real. Commercial marketing and promotion of decommissioned and scrapped equipment and related imitations are also prohibited.

The official notice did not disclose the types, quantities, or sources of decommissioned equipment currently on the market, nor did it state whether any military information had been leaked.

Li Yuansong, a Chinese military equipment and memorabilia collector, told The Epoch Times that Chinese military-issued gear has long been collected by enthusiasts.

“Much of the Chinese weaponry is derived from technology dating back to the former Soviet era [1922-91]. While a small number of firearms produced after the ‘Reform and Opening-up’ incorporated Western technology, the majority remain updated versions of Soviet-based hardware,” he said. “The craftsmanship is crude and hardly advanced. If Western weapons experts were to dismantle and analyze them, they would likely laugh about them.

“The real fear isn’t so much about leaking secrets, but rather that foreigners might discover just how backward China’s conventional weaponry actually is,” Li said of the new ban.

Li Xiangyang, a Chinese military scholar who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that in recent years, individuals have been reselling military equipment online.

“Some components bear serial numbers, model designations, and signs of use. In the eyes of the authorities, these could reveal information regarding production batches, maintenance standards, and quality,” Li said.

“Regulations dictate that many decommissioned items must be destroyed, with metal materials collected and melted down. This notice is primarily aimed at enforcing the Anti-Espionage Law, as the authorities do not want foreign entities to gain insight into the Chinese regime’s military-industrial technology.”

Su Pei, a China-based military scholar who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that the mention of upholding “the positive image of the people’s military” in the ban notice shows that the Chinese regime is concerned about more than just so-called secret leaks, but also about hiding the backwardness of the Chinese weaponry.

“It also worries that individuals within the military might sell used military equipment through underground channels – goods that could ultimately be resold to foreign adversaries. Such incidents have already occurred in coastal regions,” he said.

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Senator Roger Marshall Blasts Dr. Fauci, ‘He Was Drunk with Power, He Was Drunk with Pride, He Was Drunk with His Own Celebrity’

Senator Roger Marshall was on “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo this weekend. He blasted Dr. Fauci for what happened during the COVID lockdowns. They also discussed Fauci’s hearing before Congress last week.

Marshall explained that Fauci was prideful and was very focused on his own celebrity.

“You were sitting right behind him. What can you tell us about that hearing?” Bartiromo asked.

“First of all, Fauci was literally shaking as he read his opening statement,” Marshall said.

“If Americans take the time to read his diary, they are gonna see that this was a guy that was full of pride. He was drunk with power, he was drunk with pride, he was drunk with his own celebrity,” Marshall said.

“This is the Anthony Fauci that I saw through those five years. Never any remorse. Never any concern for the people dying, let alone the ones he was locking out of churches, out of schools, out of their jobs,” Marshall continued.

“He was not only reading his own press clippings, but he was also, you know, he was putting it in his own diary as well,” Marshall said.

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Entitled Migrants Complain About Hospitality And Prices After Invading Spanish Territory

One of the most egregious fantasies promoted by liberals over the past several decades is the worshipful image of the desperate and grateful third world asylum seeker.  We see it constantly in movies television and popular media; the narrative of the “huddled masses, yearning to breathe free…”  This narrative has become so ingrained in western culture that it is absolutely world shattering when people find out how entitled and arrogant most migrants really are.

The flood of over 60,000 Muslim migrants from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has dashed a lot of progressive delusions in the past week, with migrants fresh from the beaches already looting businesses, raiding homes, attacking locals and setting fires.  European officials are reluctantly admitting that the invasion is a problem that must be corrected.   

The video evidence on social media is a crushing blow to the multicultural agenda, so much so that Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, complained about the optics of the images coming out of Ceuta on social media. 

Spanish officials have attacked the negative response of some European leaders as “selfish” and “prejudiced”, stating that the European Union would be harmed by the “polarizing” rhetoric.  

But isn’t this migrant horde exactly what European elites have been enabling for the past decade?  Yes, it is, but the Cueta incident is happening too quickly and gaining far too much public attention.  They usually prefer a “frog in a boiling pot” strategy over blatant barbarian pillaging plastered all over international news. 

But it gets much worse for the multicultural cabal, because interviews with these migrants are hitting the mainstream.  What these people have to say about their stay in Ceuta so far is mind blowing.  The entitlement is unprecedented.  Third worlders thought they were marching into a free buffet with easy access to amenities, jobs and westerners bowing at their feet. 

Instead, the illegals were met with closed businesses (for safety), prices they could not afford, no jobs and hostility from other migrants who came to Ceuta legally.  

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Democrat Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur Hospitalized After Hit-and-Run Car Crash

Democrat Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur was hospitalized on Sunday after a hit-and-run car crash in Toledo, Ohio.

The 80-year-old Ohio lawmaker was on her way to church when a vehicle crashed into her car.

Rep. Kaptur, who was a passenger in the car at the time of the crash, is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Full statement from Rep. Kaptur’s office:

This morning Congresswoman Kaptur was a passenger in a vehicle on her way to a church service when the car she was traveling in was struck.

She is active, alert, and being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

We look forward to additional information from Toledo Police as they investigate the accident.

Congresswoman Kaptur is thankful for the quick actions of first responders from Toledo Police and Fire Departments who arrived promptly on scene, and the medical professionals helping to take care of those involved in the crash.

She expressed her deep gratitude to the hundreds of constituents who have reached out and looks forward to returning to a full schedule soon.

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