“We’re gonna find out when we get that report. You know, there’s a stigma on Capitol Hill. I mean, some of my colleagues are very interested in this topic and some kinda, you know, giggle when you bring it up. But I don’t think we can allow the stigma to keep us from having an answer to a very fundamental question… I want us to take it seriously and have a process to take it seriously. I want us to have a process to analyze the data every time it comes in. That there be a place where this is cataloged and constantly analyzed, until we get some answers. Maybe it has a very simple answer. Maybe it doesn’t” – Senator Marco Rubio in an interview with 60 Minutes on the upcoming Department of Defense UFO report.

Axios: “U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday he had not seen evidence that Hamas was operating in a building that housed offices for Al Jazeera, the AP and other media in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli government has claimed, AP reports. Israel has said the presence of a Hamas military intelligence office justified an airstrike that destroyed the 12-story building on Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS News’ ‘Face the Nation’ Sunday that Israeli intelligence had shared proof with the U.S.”

“‘Shortly after the strike we did request additional details regarding the justification for it,’ Blinken said at a press conference in Denmark Monday, later adding he has ‘not seen any information provided.” Blinken said he ‘will leave it to others to characterize if any information has been shared and our assessment of that information.’ The AP and Al Jazeera have also said they were not provided evidence that Hamas occupied the building.”

“When social media network Parler came back to life on Apple’s App Store Monday, it was designed to be a less offensive version than what users are able to see elsewhere. Posts that are labeled ‘hate’ by Parler’s new artificial intelligence moderation system won’t be visible on iPhones. There’s a different standard for people who look at Parler on other smartphones or on the Web: They will be able to see posts marked as ‘hate,’ which includes racial slurs, by clicking through to see them.”

“Parler has resisted placing limits on what appears on its social network, and its leaders have equated blocking hate speech to totalitarian censorship, according to Amy Peikoff, chief policy officer. But Peikoff, who leads Parler’s content moderation, says she recognizes the importance of the Apple relationship to Parler’s future and seeks to find common ground between them. ‘At Parler we embrace the entire First Amendment meaning freedom of expression and conscience are protected,’ Peikoff said. ‘We permit a maximum amount of legally protected speech.’ Apple declined to comment” – Washington Post.

Daily Beast: “In the weeks since the feds raided Rudy Giuliani’s apartment and office in late April, close allies have tried to ferry a slew of emergency requests to former President Donald Trump and his advisers. But according to three people familiar with the matter, Trump, as well as several of his legal advisers and longtime confidants, have been hesitant about swooping in to help the embattled Giuliani, who for years worked as Trump’s personal lawyer, a political adviser, and attack dog. Giuliani also served as a major player in the Trump-Ukraine scandal and as a key driver in the former president’s efforts to nullify Joe Biden’s clear victory in the 2020 election.”

“Team Trump’s reluctance to intervene comes at a time when federal investigators have ramped up their probe into whether Giuliani’s Ukraine-related work during the Trump era amounted to an unregistered and illegal lobbying operation on behalf of foreign figures. So far, no charges have been brought against the former New York City mayor as a result of this investigation, which began in 2019. Trump’s silence has led to simmering frustrations among members of Giuliani’s inner orbit, who privately allege that the ex-president’s team is working to convince him to hang Giuliani out to dry in his hour of need. ‘It’s a question now of whether or not [the former president and his team] want to leave Rudy to fend for himself or if they’re going to take a stand against this,’ one person close to Giuliani said last week. ‘Right now, we don’t know.'”

“Trump and the allies already have all the evidence. Now the American public is seeing it. Media blackout coming soon…. It’s going to be a hot summer”

– The current top comment on The Gateway Pundit article “Michigan Voter Fraud Atty. Matt DePerno’s Office Broken Into – Then VFW Hall Cancels After Threats!“, posted Sunday night.

“Breaking News! New polling by CBS News on the state of the Republican Party (which is very strong!). ‘President Trump has a strong hold on the GOP.’ 80% of Republicans agree with the removal of Liz Cheney from GOP Leadership and only 20% disagree. The poll also showed that 67% of Republicans said that they do not consider Sleepy Joe Biden to be the legitimate winner of the 2020 Presidential Election. I agree with them 100%, just look at the facts and the data – there is no way he won the 2020 Presidential Election!” – Statement from the Fat Orange Bastard.

This comes a day after Trump screeched about “suppression polls” from 2020 in a Saturday statement, of which CBS/YouGov consistently put Biden ahead bth nationally and in swing states.

ACASignups.net blogger Charles Gaba created an interesting infographic using data from the GitHub data repositories of Johns Hopkins University and the New York Times. His chart shows a very clear inverse relationship between state vaccination rates, and the percentage of people in that state who voted for Donald Trump.

At least two people are reported dead and scores injured after bleachers collapsed during an Orthodox Jewish ceremony at a synagogue in the West Bank, CNN reports.

Officials say at least 100 worshipers were injured in the event.  This accident follows a fatal incident two weeks ago where 45 people were killed during a religious festival in Israel’s Mount Meron.

Reverand Franklin Graham reported to Axios that he’s very concerned about Donald Trump’s health, specifically the President’s child-like eating habits, which run towards fast food, hot-dogs and overdone steaks heaped with Ketchup.

“Graham told “Axios on HBO” that a Trump comeback would be difficult because of his advancing age and eating habits. “I think for him, everything will depend on his health at that time. If he still has energy and strength like he does. I don’t…You know the guy does not eat well, you know, and it’s amazing the energy that he has…He’s lost weight, fifteen pounds, Maybe. So he might be in good health and in good shape. I don’t know.” Trump would be 78 in 2024, the same age as Joe Biden in 2020.” Unlike Biden however, Trump does not have normal sleeping habits, nor does he engage in regular physical exercise like hiking or mountain biking, both of which the Biden’s reported doing regularly prior to the 2020 election.

Fearing a federal gun seizure that has been touted in scare tactics by the NRA over the last three decades, conservative local government leaders have declared their jurisdictions “Second Amendment sanctuaries,” areas where federal and state laws would not be enforced.

An upcoming court case in Oregon, however, will challenge the legality of localities choosing to not enforce things like waiting periods and background checks, as the Associated Press reports.  Columbia County, a jurisdiction with 52,000 residents in northwest, passed a measure that would impose thousands of dollars in fines for businesses, individuals and law enforcement agencies who try to enforce or adhere to laws based on state and local levels.

The measure is being brought to the courts through a unique quick in Oregon law that lets municipalities have a court rule on the legality of a measure before it is put into effect.  At least four residents of the county have filed the legal suit to fight the implementation of the Second Amendment sanctuary measure.

I have HAD IT with this place (MacDonald’s) —after earlier Menu Screw ups (no seafood in February) now they DON’T HAVE GRILLED CHICKEN OR ANY MCSALADS. Today Was DAY 1 for “my diet” —Forced to go all the way to Roy Rogers in Newark NJ where a Man can still get a salad! pic.twitter.com/MOy7TUEUk9

— Greg Kelly (@gregkellyusa) May 16, 2021

On Tuesday, May 11th, a Federal judge dismissed a Bankruptcy case by the National Rifle Association. The bankruptcy filing was made after New York State Attorney general Letitia James sued to dissolve the NRA after the group was found to have used accounting practices and handled funds in a manner that violated New York State non-profit laws.  After declaring bankruptcy, the NRA announced that they would relocate to Texas, no doubt hoping to benefit from corrupt Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s reputation for being a rabidly partisan AG who regularly abuses his office for his own financial gain and ignores criminal actions by political allies. The judge in the case declared that the case appeared to have been brought in bad faith, and was an attempt to subvert regulatory enforcement through the use of a bankruptcy proceeding. This series of events creates a very difficult scenario for the Republican Party.

“On at least a few occasions, Mr. Gates pursued women who worked for him at Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to people with direct knowledge of his overtures” reports the New York Times in an article that will be sure to have some interesting reactions from the MAGA kids. It won’t be called “fake news” like the Times’s 2019 report on acts of obstruction of justice committed by Trump was. Or “treason” like when they published an op-ed by “Anonymous” (later revealed to be Miles Taylor). Or that it was “illegal” to report like they screeched when the Times published details of Trump’s tax returns in September 2020. The Trump fans will most likely decide take it as factual reporting from reliable sources this time.

Bill Gates is a mini-Soros to them. The accusations of evil sorcery are more vague than what you see about Mr. Soros, but the “globalist” label is there due to the Gates Foundation’s philanthropic efforts, which always has to be ascribed to some sinister agenda instead of simply providing healthcare and access to clean water for impoverished denizens of the third world – which is what it does – and the “slush fund” bullshit they tried with the Clinton Foundation doesn’t really stick since Gates was already the wealthiest man in the world when he started his charity. So they distrust him even though they can’t quite come up with a reason why. Melinda Gates had her issues with Bill’s connections with Jeffrey Epstein, which sure enough is fair game for internet peeps of all stripes, but a little less fair for the asshole who doesn’t find it suspicious that Epstein killed himself while in custody of the federal government with Trump at the helm at the time. So all this ought to be a real hoot when it spreads far and wide.

“House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson just told us he wants to see Trump talk to the Jan. 6 commission” reports Jim Acosta.

Screencap of Wood’s post on Parler or maybe Gab, grabbed by PatriotTakes.

“Mandatory evacuation orders remain in effect Sunday for residents in the Topanga area as firefighters continue to battle a 835-acre brush fire near Pacific Palisades, and authorities search for a person suspected of setting the blaze. The blaze, dubbed the Palisades Fire, was 0% contained as of Sunday morning – but a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson said updated figures were expected later in the day. The weather remained cool and moist overnight, which created favorable conditions for fire crews. However, conditions were expected to change as the vegetation in the area is very dry and has not burned in more than 50 years, according to the LAFD PIO David Ortiz. ‘We are expecting the rain to stop around noon time and fire activity to begin again,’ Ortiz said. ‘We’re trying to keep it up out of the old growth, which is 50-60 years that hasn’t burned. So there’s a lot of dense, thick material there – oily plants that have died out because of the drought. So that’s our objective today is to try to keep it out of that and protect the communities and neighborhoods to the west of this fire because that’s what’s closest to it.'”

“Crews responded to a remote area off Michael Lane and Palisades Court around 10 p.m. Friday as the fire grew to approximately 15 acres, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The fight continued overnight, but by 4 p.m. Saturday, firefighters were dealing with a significant flare-up that quickly got out of hand, creating a large plume of smoke visible across Los Angeles County. An official cause has not been determined, but the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it was actively looking for an arson suspect” – KABC.

“Following the most recent set of violent military strikes by the Israel Defense Forces that have leveled entire buildings in Gaza and left over 180 Palestinians dead, IGN yesterday posted an article linking to a variety of Palestinian charities and even gave a Palestinian flag prominence in its masthead. Sometime earlier today, all of that content, along with a tweet promoting the post was removed with no indication as to why or if it will be republished at a later date” Kotaku reports.

“Shortly after IGN US’s posts went live yesterday, IGN Israel shared a statement on social media accounts owned by IGN Israel that it condemned the article and tweet sharing Palestinian charities. At this time it’s unknown if IGN’s parent company Ziff Davis demanded this content be removed or if the content was removed for another reason. As of this writing, the post and tweet remain deleted. Another outlet that showed support for Palestine and its people was Game Informer. However, its article promoting charities was also removed today. Like IGN, there has been no public indication for why this post was removed or if it will return.”

Washington Post: “The lesson today, class, is how to turn bipartisan legislation encouraging teaching of civics into an ideological food fight. The legislation in question seemed noncontroversial at first, even boring. It would authorize $1 billion a year in grants to pay for more civics education. The goal was to better balance a test-driven K-12 education system that focuses heavily on math and reading with a subject – civics – that has gotten less attention and far less money in recent years. Civics is critical, backers say, to maintaining a functioning democracy. But in recent days this bipartisan measure has run into a force more powerful than a schoolhouse rock. Conservative media and activists are pelting the Republicans who support the bill to abandon it. They call the grant program a ‘Trojan horse’ that would allow the Biden administration to push a liberal agenda. In a country where millions of Americans including the former president insist that a fair election was stolen, it’s not clear that anything related to civics can be noncontroversial. The bill is trying, partly by making clear that the federal government will not make curriculum decisions.”

“Nonetheless, it has become wrapped up in a fierce broader debate over how to talk about race and racism in education. A growing number of educators are putting increased emphasis on racial equity and addressing systemic racism in their policies and lessons. They say it is critical that marginalized communities are represented in school policy and curriculums. A backlash has ensued, in which critics allege schools are trying to indoctrinate children with what they call damaging lessons about critical race theory, a decades-old academic framework that examines how policies and the law perpetuate systemic racism. They say the civics grants could be used to advance that cause. An open letter to the pair from a conservative advocacy group called the National Association of Scholars argues Republicans cannot trust the Biden administration to implement the civics grants impartially. The administration, it asserts, ‘will instead direct the funds it authorizes to subsidize ideologically partisan political activism.'”

“Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican mired in controversy, told a crowd of Republican activists Saturday that sexual misconduct allegations involving him are as benign as legislative earmarks. ‘I’m being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors,’ Gaetz said at the Ohio Political Summit, a gathering sponsored by the Strongsville GOP in suburban Cleveland. ‘Yet, Congress has reinstituted a process that legalizes the corrupt act of exchanging money for favors, through earmarks, and everybody knows that that’s the corruption.’ Gaetz’s keynote speech came a day after Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax official and associate of the congressman, pleaded guilty to six charges and is cooperating in a federal sex trafficking investigation.”

“Federal officials are looking into whether Gaetz and Greenberg used the internet to find women they could pay for sex and whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a minor he paid to travel with him, the New York Times reported. Documents filed in connection the Greenberg’s plea agreement do not mention Gaetz. He has not been charged with a crime and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. An audience of at least 400 in person and others online turned out for the event, billed as a major forum ahead of the 2022 midterm election. A dozen or so guests trickled out after hearing from conservative commentator Candace Owens, who spoke before Gaetz, who delivered the final speech of the afternoon. But Gaetz received a standing ovation from those who stayed, and a dozen or so others lingered afterward for autographs and selfies. Several Republican candidates for governor and U.S. House and Senate, had planned to address the crowd but backed out in recent days. Representatives from their campaigns declined to say why on the record, but all of them had committed before Gaetz was added to the program. Another scheduled keynote speaker, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., didn’t show” – NBC News.