UK crushes far-right dissent with draconian sentences to at least 100 protesters, nearly 1000 still being processed

 

I have to wonder how many of these people have any kind of record with the police, and how many are first-time protesters. Was that taken into account when sentencing? Certainly, some violent protesters deserve what they got, or will get, and maybe that will calm the violence. But the police do seem to be handling the anti-Muslim protesters a lot more aggressively than the antisemitic, pro-Hamas protesters.

First adult charged with rioting in U.K.

unrest after stabbings appears in court

By Paul Godfrey

A 32-year-old man became first adult to face rioting charges when appeared in court Friday following a week of unrest across England and Northern Ireland ignited by a July 29 knife attack in which three young girls were killed. File photo by Adam Vaughan/EPA-EFE

Aug. 16 (UPI) -- The first adult to face rioting charges following a week of unrest across England and Northern Ireland, ignited by a July 29 knife attack in which three young girls were killed, appeared in court Friday.

Kieran Usher, 32, did not enter a plea as he appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court on Friday morning.

His next apprearance is scheduled for Aug. 23 at Newcastle Crown Court.

Usher, of Sunderland, was arrested Thursday by Northumbria Police and was charged with rioting in relation to alleged disorder that took place in Sunderland on Aug. 2.

The Crown Prosecution Service said he was "one of a number of individuals" it expected would face the more serious charge -- which carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence -- after a 15-year-old boy became the first Thursday.

That compares with the maximum five years in prison for violent disorder offenses with which the majority of people accused of taking part in the unrest have been charged until now.

In Northern Ireland, three men and a boy were charged with riot over the weekend.

Usher's case is likely to be referred to a crown court as the maximum prison sentence a magistrate can impose is 12 months.

On the other side of the country at Preston Crown Court, 20 miles from the scene of the dance school killings in Southport, 41-year-old Roger Haywood of Blackpool was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.

Judge Robert Altham said a drunken Haywood fronted an "angry" mob that ran amok through the tourist town of Blackpool pelting police officers with missiles and injuring a security guard at a shopping mall.

The judge told the court that Haywood incited a group of people to break through a police cordon near the town's war memorial, attempting to use a megaphone to urge them on but was "too intoxicated," before going on to attack two police officers.

Another 460 suspects are currently going through criminal proceedings after Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, vowed speedy justice for people involved in "far-right thuggery" in cities and towns in England and Northern Ireland in which dozens of police were injured and minorities and hotels housing asylum seekers were attacked.

Of those, about 185 have pleaded guilty and are being sent to the crown courts to be sentenced, Justice Department figures show, and 153 have been committed for trial after pleading not guilty.

At least 99 people have been sentenced so far with the fact many received the maximum three years in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder being credited with deterring further outbreaks of unrest.

About 30 cases are in Northern Ireland with most charges related to anti-migrant demonstrations or race-hate attacks but justice is proceeding considerably more slowly due to different processes than in England where sentencing has been expedited.

Many suspects have been denied bail, regardless of their plea, meaning they remain in prison on remand until they are sentenced or go to trial.

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Approaching Sodom > Christianity rapidly diminishing in England and Wales

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When the pre-incarnate Christ visited Abraham before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham argued for the Lord to abandon the idea of destroying Sodom if there were as few as 10 good people in the city. There weren't. God's angels rescued Lot, his daughters, and briefly, his wife for a total of four.

The numbers of Christians in the western world are dropping precipitously while many professing Christians are being led so far astray they are in danger of Jesus declaring, "depart from Me you wicked evildoers; I never knew you!"

Less than half of England, Wales is Christian for first time in census history

By Joe Fisher

The prevalence of Christianity is declining in England and Wales, according to the latest census data

from the U.K. Office for National Statistics. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 29 (UPI) -- The prevalence of Christianity is declining in England and Wales, according to the latest census data from Britain's Office for National Statistics.

Religious identification is an optional part of the survey that about 94% of respondents answered in the 2021 survey, up from about 93% in 2011. Among those, about 46% or 27.5 million people described themselves as Christians. It is the first time a census has reflected less than half of the populations of England and Wales being Christian.

No single religion surpassed Christianity in the survey. The second most common response to the question was "no religion," which accounted for about 37% of answers or 22.2 million people. This represents an increase of 12% over 2011 figures, when about 14 million people said they subscribed to no religion.

Linda Woodhead, a professor from King's College London, said selecting "no religion" does not mean a person does not have a belief system.

"Some will be atheist, a lot will be agnostic -- they just say, 'I don't really know' -- and some will be spiritual and be doing spiritual things," she said to BBC.

Which, if they are not in line with the Bible, would not be a good thing.

The changes in Christianity and "no religion" responses were greatest in Wales, where "Christian" was chosen at a 14% lower rate and "no religion" was chosen at a 14.5% higher rate.

London has the most diverse religious makeup, according to the census. More than 25% of respondents described their religion as one other than Christian.

"One of the most striking things about these census results is how at odds the population is from the state itself," Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists U.K., told the Guardian.

"No state in Europe has such a religious setup as we do in terms of law and public policy, while at the same time having such a non-religious population."

Religion was introduced as a voluntary part of the census in 2001. There was an option to write in another religion not listed on the census. The most common write-in answer was "Pagan" with about 74,000 responses. Alevism, an Islamic tradition most common in Turkey, has 26,000 responses and the Indian religion Jainism had 25,000.

"Shamanism" saw the greatest increase in answers among other religions, climbing from 650 to 8,000 in the last decade.

Non-religious write-ins were led by "Agnostic" with 32,000 and "Atheist" with 14,000.

Is this the point of the invasion of Muslims into Europe, to reduce, or even completely annihilate Christianity? Is this left-wing ideology?

How long before God's Judgement falls?

Approaching Sodom > UMC Splintering; Street preacher arrested for reading Bible near obscene LGBTQ event

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Oklahoma megachurch leaves UMC over ‘irreconcilable’

theological differences; changes name

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Asbury Church Senior Pastor Tom Harrison preaches during the traditional service in Tulsa,

Oklahoma, on March 27, 2022. | Asbury Church

A megachurch in Oklahoma has dropped “United Methodist” from its name and started fully disaffiliating from America’s second-largest Protestant denomination due to what it describes as the United Methodist Church's “slow and steady drift” from its historic Christian mission.

Asbury United Methodist Church in south Tulsa is now officially called Asbury Church, the megachurch says in a statement on its website, adding they “have begun the process of disaffiliating from the denomination.”

“We do not know where or when we will affiliate with a new denomination,” the church continues. “Currently, our main focus is protecting the assets and interests of Asbury and fully disaffiliating from the UMC.”

Asbury Church’s announcement comes weeks after the UMC delayed its General Conference meeting for a third time earlier this month, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Postponed to 2024, the General Conference is expected to be contentious as delegates negotiate a denominational split over theological differences, including the full inclusion of LGBT members into the denomination and the ordination of ministers in same-sex relationships.

On Jan. 30, Frazer United Methodist Church, a congregation of about 4,000 members in Montgomery, Alabama, disaffiliated from the mainline Protestant denomination, saying in a statement to The Christian Post that the congregation intends to join the Free Methodist Church: “[W]e believe that the Free Methodist Church is a better fit for our present identity and future fruitfulness.”

The Rev. Tom Harrison, Asbury Church's senior pastor, said the split had been inevitable for some time, according to Tulsa World.

“There isn’t one issue driving this separation; rather, after years of operating under vastly different approaches to theology, ministry and Christology, it was determined by the leadership of the Church, in conjunction with the pastoral staff, that these approaches are irreconcilable and no longer sustainable,” Harrison explained. “As Asbury Church, we will continue to pursue our mission of helping others follow Jesus.”

The UMC has been engaged in a long battle over the church’s teachings on sexuality, prompting more conservative churches to leave the denomination. The UMC’s official stance, as outlined in the Book of Discipline, labels homosexuality a sin, bars the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals and prohibits the blessing of same-sex marriages.

However, progressive United Methodists have, on several occasions, defied the rules by ordaining openly gay clergy or officiating same-sex marriages.

The Asbury megachurch says it might consider joining the Global Methodist Church, a more conservative Methodist denomination, which has announced it will officially launch in May.

“This future denomination will be made up of former United Methodists from North America, Africa, Europe and elsewhere who uphold the authority of Scripture,” Asbury says in its statement. “The formation of this new denomination has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The creators of the GMC previously said they would hold off on launching until after the General Conference.

The denomination’s website says thousands of Methodist clergy and laity from around the world have worked together for “over three years to lay the groundwork for a new, theologically conservative Methodist denomination steeped in the great ecumenical and evangelical confessions of the Christian faith.” 

“It is anticipated that some theologically conservative local churches will find annual conferences willing to negotiate fair and just exit provisions, while others will, unfortunately, face obstacles placed in their paths,” the denomination said in a statement.

“The Transitional Leadership Council decided it was time to launch the Global Methodist Church, so those who can leave early will have a place to land, to begin building and growing, and making room for others to join later.”

The Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the Transitional Leadership Council that has been overseeing the creation of the GMC, has said theologically conservative churches and annual conferences “want to be free of divisive and destructive debates, and to have the freedom to move forward together.”

Seattle police arrest street preacher for reading the Bible:

‘Risk to public safety’

By Anugrah Kumar,

Christian Post Contributor

Street preacher Matthew Meinecke | Twitter/Journalist Jonathan Choe

Seattle police arrested a street preacher on charges of being a risk to public safety for reading his Bible aloud at a public park near an LGBT pride event.

Matthew Meinecke, who identifies himself as The Seattle Preacher on Twitter, was surrounded by Seattle police officers as he was reading his Bible and was subsequently arrested and fingerprinted at a police station before being released.

“SPD has enough resources to send 10 police officers to arrest a preacher reading his Bible in a public park. Because it's such a horrible crime now!” Meinecke wrote on Twitter, posting a video showing his arrest.

Certainly, the abundance of police was to discourage rioting as LGBTQs are not known for tolerance.

“So at this point, we can no longer stand by. The risk that you pose for public safety by remaining here can be mitigated if you leave. It’s your last chance,” a police officer can be heard saying.

The preacher told the officers, “I don’t want to leave because I’m not in danger.”

“I was at the Seattle Center, reading the Bible, not aggressively preaching, not stirring people up, not anything. People throwing things. People vandalizing our property. I think about 10 police officers showed up," the pastor told journalist Jonathan Choe with the Discovery Institute.

“Your job is not to silence me and move me. Why are they so offended by words? I just believe in using the word of God.”

The preacher also posted a video showing a protester seizing his Bibles and ripping pages while shouting, “Get the f--- out of here! Get your holy water off my ovaries, b----! Get the f--- out!”

Another person shouted at him, saying, “Forget about your imaginary fairy in the f---ing sky.”

Meinecke said he saw “a bunch of naked people walking around over here, not even 200 feet away. … Naked grown men around little children.”

And were they arrested? Not very likely!

Last weekend, Meinecke was also arrested during a Roe v. Wade protest, Choe added on Twitter. “Far-left extremists ripped up his Bible and assaulted him. But they got away.”

In a video Meinecke shared online, he added: “We’ve got a city full of crime. We’ve got needles all over the place. Lawless homeless camps everywhere. We’ve got assaults. We’ve got broken glass. We’ve got Antifa running the place. But they’ve got time to send in 10 police officers to arrest a street preacher reading his Bible in a park.”

Bits and Bites from around the World > God's Name written 3000 years ago; Ram get 3 years in prison for killing old woman

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3,000-Year-Old Tablet with God's Name Affirms Biblical Timeline,

Archaeologist Says

Michael Foust | 

ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | 

Friday, March 25, 2022

inscribed tablet, archaeologists find inscribed tablet

ChristianHeadlines.com

A new discovery from Israel involving an ancient tablet could be one of the most significant archaeological finds in modern history, not only affirming the biblical text but supporting a traditional, conservative understanding of the Old Testament timeline.

The discovery, announced Thursday by Scott Stripling of the Archaeological Studies Institute at The Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas, involves a folded lead tablet about two centimeters by (2?) centimeters in size with 40 letters of Hebrew inscription that apparently references events mentioned in Deuteronomy 27:15-26 and Joshua 8:30 at Mt. Ebel. There, the Israelites learn they will be cursed if they disobey God.

The tablet – which mentions God's name twice – was discovered at the site of Mt. Ebel. More significantly, though, the lead tablet's text is "centuries older than any known Hebrew inscription from ancient Israel," Stripling's organization says.

A lab in Prague scanned the tablet. The text reads, "Cursed, cursed, cursed – cursed by the God YHW. You will die cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW – cursed, cursed, cursed."

Stripling said at a press conference of the discovery, "On a scale of one to 10, this is a 10. It doesn't get any bigger than this. … If the [biblical] text were true, this is what you would anticipate finding. And indeed, it is what we found."

Stripling said the tablet dates to the late Bronze period, which ran from 3300 B.C. to 1200 B.C. That means it would be roughly 3,000 years old.

Secular critics of a traditional dating of the Old Testament often have placed the time of the Exodus from Egypt and the conquest of Canaan at a much later date – and thus calling into question the truthfulness of Scripture.

These critics argue that the Pentateuch could not have been written by Moses – as claimed by the Bible – because the Hebrew alphabet did not exist when he was alive. The tablet's text, though, would seem to support a Moses authorship.

The discovery, Stripling said, affirms the biblical text.

"One can no longer argue with a straight face that the biblical text was not written" until the Persian period (559 B.C.. to 331 B.C.) or the Hellenistic period (323 B.C to 30 B.C. "as many higher critics have done when here we do clearly have the ability to write the entire text at a much, much earlier date. This tips the scale in favor of an earlier date and does not help the arguments of those who favor a later date."

A peer-reviewed paper on the tablet will be released in the coming months, Stripling said.

Gershon Galil of Haifa University said the discovery's significance could not be overstated. "This is a text you find only every 1,000 years," Galil told The Times of Israel.

The newspaper said it "may be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever."

"It would be the first attested use of the name of God in the Land of Israel and would set the clock back on proven Israelite literacy by several centuries – showing that the Israelites were literate when they entered the Holy Land, and therefore could have written the Bible as some of the events it documents took place," the newspaper said.

Photo courtesy: ©Associates for Biblical Research/Michael Luddeni, used with permission.

Sheep sentenced to three years in jail for killing old woman in South Sudan

The ram attacked the woman, butted her on the chest several times before she died

Published:  May 21, 2022 14:23

Tawfiq Nasrallah, Senior News Editor, Gulf News

 

The 'guilty' ram that killed an old woman in South Sudan.

Image Credit: Social media

Dubai: A ram has been sentenced to three years in jail for allegedly attacking and head-butting an old woman to death in South Sudan, local media reported.

The ram owner also has been asked to give five cows for the family of the victim towards compensation, a local court in Rumbek city, South Sudan, has ruled.

According to Sudan Today newspaper, Rumbek police in the Lakes state of South Sudan took custody of the ram after it killed the woman last weekend. The ram has reportedly attacked the woman and butted her on the chest several times, before she died.

Under the customary laws of the Lakes State, any pet that kills a person is awarded as compensation to the family of the deceased.

Bits and Bites from Around the World > MLK's Daughter Rips Pr William; Smollett gets 5 months in jail; 22-yr Trip Around the World

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Prince William Slammed by Martin Luther King's Daughter

for 'Horrific' Ukraine Comment

BY JACK ROYSTON, Newsweek

ON 3/10/22 AT 4:15 AM EST

Prince William was accused of "horrific comments" by Martin Luther King's daughter in the aftermath of a Ukrainian community event where he was partially misquoted.

Bernice King linked the Duke of Cambridge's remarks to colonialism after William and Kate Middleton visited the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London to support the relief effort on March 9.

Footage from the event showed Prince William said: "Everyone is horrified by what they are seeing. The news every day, it's almost unfathomable to actually witness it, to see it. For our generation, it's very alien to see this in Europe. We're all right behind you."

The Press Association originally reported William also suggested Britons were more used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia—though footage released by ITV of the royal's full comments suggested he, in fact, made no explicit reference to the two continents.

However, some maintained their criticism of the Duke based on the reference to war in Europe feeling "very alien."

King, the chief executive of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, condemned the prince having seen the original, misleading account.

She wrote on Twitter: "Horrific comment. European people ran roughshod over the continent of Africa, pillaging communities, raping women, enslaving human beings, colonizing for profit and power, stealing resources, causing generational devastation. And European nations continue to harm Africa."

After the new footage emerged, King wrote: "I believe that we have a great deal of work to do globally to eradicate what my father called the Triple Evils of Militarism, Racism and Poverty.

"I believe that language matters in that work. And that it is harmful for a global figure to express war as 'alien to Europe.'"

European people ran roughshod over not just the continent of Africa, but on every continent but Antarctica. The list of grievances is unfortunately both accurate and incomplete. America is guilty of the same horrors in Central and South America and the Caribbean. The effects of which are now resulting in the massive migration from Latin America to the USA. In Europe, the migration comes from Africa and Asia, and it comes for the same reason - Colonialists stole all their natural resources and now the people are following the trail of those thefts.

Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a prominent commentator on race in Britain, told Newsweek the remarks about war in Europe feeling alien were offensive on their own.

She said: "William says it's alien in Europe. This is on the back of two weeks of western media also saying it's alien in Europe, also saying Western countries are civilized. I'm sorry, if it's alien in Europe, where is he referring to it as being normal?"

The outcry heaps new pressure on the royals just days after the one-year anniversary of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Oprah Winfrey interview, during which they accused an unnamed royal of racism.

And it comes little more than a week before William and Kate are due to tour the Caribbean from March 19 to March 26.

Prince William and Kate Middleton visit the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, in London, on March 9, 2022.

During the meeting, the Duke of Cambridge suggested it felt alien to see conflict in Europe.

IAN VOGLER-WPA POOL/GETTY IMAGES

After the original misquote, human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid wrote on Twitter: "Prince William says conflict is 'very alien' to Europe, unlike Asia & Africa.

"How do you have a 1,000 year history of colonialism, a literal 100 year war, launch 2 World Wars, allow multiple genocides, & bomb a dozen nations since 9/11 alone—yet make this type of a statement."

1000 year history of colonialism? I think it's half that.

Also before the footage emerged, royal biographer Omid Scobie, author of Finding Freedom, wrote on Twitter: "Unsurprised to see backlash against Prince William's ignorant remark (reported by@PA).

"Europe has seen some of the bloodiest conflict in the past two centuries—Balkans, Yugoslavia, Germany and Kosovo to name a few. But sure, let's normalise war and death in Africa and Asia."

It is not the first time Prince William has been accused of colonial comments, after he linked the pressure on wildlife in Africa to the human population in a November speech.

The duke said: "The increasing pressure on Africa's wildlife and wild spaces as a result of human population presents a huge challenge for conservationists, as it does the world over."

I'm hard-pressed to see anything wrong with this statement. If you do, please let me know what I am missing.

And a photo of Prince William being carried on a throne went viral in the aftermath of the Oprah interview in 2021.

In the famous interview, Meghan told CBS how an unnamed royal family member had made disparaging comments about how dark their child's skin might be before Archie was born.

She said: "So we have in tandem the conversation of 'He won't be given security, he's not going to be given a title' and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born."

The queen released a statement saying the royals took the comments seriously but acknowledging "some recollections may vary."

William was the first to comment in person, telling journalists days after broadcast: "We are very much not a racist family."

Britain's empire covered a quarter of the world at its height, including India and most of South Asia as well as much of Africa and the Caribbean.

The new backlash comes as William and Kate prepare for a tour of the Caribbean as part of celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.

Among the countries on their schedule is Jamaica, where there have been recent debates about removing the monarch as head of state, with one party in the 2020 elections pledging to hold a referendum on the subject.

The latest episode of Newsweek's The Royal Report podcast discussed the possibility of a backlash against the Cambridges during their tour.

A recent editorial in Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner read: "First, this newspaper is deeply uncomfortable, which we believe is the disposition of the majority of Jamaicans, of having the monarch of Great Britain, which, at this time is Queen Elizabeth II, as our country's head of state.

"Who holds this position is no meaningless symbolism. It ought to be an important reference point of who we are, and the aspirations we hold as a sovereign nation and people.

"The patriarch of a dysfunctional family in the United Kingdom that defined Jamaica's long colonial experience is not, therefore, an appropriate symbol."

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Jussie Smollett starts 150-day jail term in protected status

This booking photo provided by the Cook County Sheriff's Office shows Jussie Smollett. A judge sentenced Jussie Smollett to 150 days in jail Thursday, March 10, 2022, branding the Black and gay actor a charlatan for staging a hate crime against himself while the nation struggled with wrenching issues of racial injustice. (Cook County Sheriff's Office via AP)

  

Don Babwin And Kathleen Foody, The Associated Press

Published Friday, March 11, 2022 7:45PM EST

CHICAGO (AP) - Jussie Smollett began a 150-day jail sentence for staging a hate crime against himself in protective custody, separated from other detainees and watched by security cameras and an officer, jail authorities said Friday.

Sheriff's deputies immediately took Smollett to the Cook County Jail on Thursday night after Judge James Linn sentenced the Black and gay actor to 30 months of felony probation - starting with a five-month term in jail - for lying to police that he had been the target of a racist and homophobic attack.

Smollett loudly maintained his innocence and suggested he could be killed in jail.

“Your honor, I respect you and I respect the jury, but I did not do this,” Smollett said Thursday. “And I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself.”

Smollett's sentence may put an end - pending appeals - to more than three years of legal drama following the actor's report to police that two men wearing ski masks beat him, and hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him on a dark Chicago street and ran off.

Smollett's attorneys filed an emergency injunction Friday seeking Smollett's release pending his appeal. An appellate court judge ruled prosecutors have five days to respond to the emergency motion, WMAQ-TV reported.

His attorneys also filed a notice of appeal in Cook County Criminal Court. They had said Thursday night that they plan to appeal both the jury's guilty verdict and the judge's sentence.

One day earlier, a judge sentenced Smollett to 150 days in Cook County Jail following his conviction for lying to police about being the victim of a hoax hate crime in 2019. Smollett was also sentenced to 30 months of felony probation, ordered to pay more than $120,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago and was fined $25,000.

He began his sentence immediately after learning his fate Thursday.

In a statement on Friday, the Cook County Sheriff's Office said Smollett is being held in protective custody - typical for people “who may potentially be at risk of harm due to the nature of their charges, their professions, or their noteworthy status.”

Oh, good. Like Jeffrey Epstein!

Smollett has his own cell, monitored by security cameras and an officer stationed at the door and wearing a body camera, the sheriff's office said. Smollett is able to have “substantial time” in common areas to use the phone, watch TV and interact with staff but other detainees won't be in common areas with him.

Smollett faced up to three years in prison for each of the five felony counts of disorderly conduct - the charge filed for lying to police - of which he was convicted. He was acquitted on a sixth count.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised the sentence, saying it sends a message that “false claims and allegations” would not be tolerated.

“The city feels vindicated in today's ruling that he is being held accountable and that we will appropriately receive restitution for his actions,” she said in a statement.

Smollett's sentence includes a payment of $120,106 in restitution to the city and a $25,000 fine.

Smollett was convicted in a December jury trial, where witnesses included two brothers who told jurors Smollett paid them to carry out the attack and gave specific directions on what to do and say.

Smollett, who knew the men from his work on the television show “Empire” that filmed in Chicago, testified that he did not recognize them and did not know they were the men attacking him.

Argentine family comes home after 22-year drive around the world

Issued on: 12/03/2022 - 19:32

France24

Members of the Zapp family of Argentina open up a canvas that acts as a tent atop their 1928 Graham-Paige car near Gualeguaychu, Argentina, on March 10 JUAN MABROMATA AFP

Gualeguaychu (Argentina) (AFP) – An Argentine family is about to finish the trip of a lifetime: they have covered five continents in a 1928 jalopy on an adventure that began in 2000, while bringing into the world and raising four kids who are now adolescents.

The Zapp family -- Herman and Candelaria and those children -- have driven a total of 362,000 kilometers (225,000 miles) and have now stopped off in this town on the border with Uruguay before their scheduled arrival Sunday back where they started on January 25, 2000 at the Obelisk, a monument in downtown Buenos Aires.

"I have very mixed feelings. We are ending a dream, or fulfilling a dream," Herman told AFP. "What will come now? Thousands of changes, thousands of options," said the 53-year-old, who is already thinking of sailing around the world.

Candelaria, who was 29 when the trip began and is now 51, said her biggest and best discovery was the people encountered along the way.

"People are wonderful. Humanity is incredible," said Candelaria.

She said the family visited no fewer than 102 countries, although sometimes they had to take detours because of wars or other kinds of conflict.

'Good in cities'

The couple had been married six years, had good jobs and had just built a house, with plans to have kids, too, when wanderlust hit. Their round-the-world journey began with a backpacking trip in Alaska.

And somebody offered them a car, a 1928 model of an American make called Graham-Paige. The engine was bad and the paint looked terrible. "It would not even start," said Candelaria Zapp.

"The seats are not great, nor is the muffler. It does not have air conditioning, either. It is a car that you have to keep your eye on. It does not look comfortable, but it was marvelous," said Herman.

"It was good in cities, in mud and on sand," he added.

They went through only eight sets of tires in 22 years and only twice needed to do major engine work.

Herman shows off the roadster by opening up a canvas on the top that forms a sort of tent for the kids to sleep under when it was time to camp out.

"It is nicer now than when it first came out," he said of the modified uber-vintage vehicle.

While out on the road, and with the first two kids born -- Pampa, now 19, came into this world in the US and Tehue, 16, during a visit back to Argentina -- they enlarged the car by actually cutting it in half and adding 40 cm (16 inches) of length and another seat.

That made room for the arrival of Paloma, now 14 and born in Canada, and Wallaby, 12, down under in Australia.

The last additions to the family were a dog named Timon and a cat called Hakuna during a stay in Brazil, where the Zapps were stranded for a while in 2020 because of Covid-19.

More on that car, which looks like something out of a gangster movie: the trunk acts like a kitchen storage area, and the heat of the engine is used to cook or heat water. Clothes and tools are stored under the seats. And for all these years, it was home sweet home.

"It is a small house but with a huge backyard, with beaches, mountains and lakes. If you do not like the view, you can change it," Herman quipped.

On the side of the car is a sign that reads "A family traveling around the world."

The Zapps usually stayed as guests at people's houses -- they estimate around 2,000 altogether.

"Humanity is incredible," Candelaria said of people's hospitality. "Many helped just to be part of a dream."

But it was not all easy going. Herman once caught malaria, the family drove across Asia during the bird flu outbreak, and had to deal with Ebola in Africa and dengue fever in Central America.

- 'A lot of friends'-

Here on the streets of Gualeguaychu, people honk their horns when they see the Zapps' old Graham-Paige. Vintage car buffs have their picture taken with it.

And some buy a copy of the book the Zapps have written about their adventure, entitled "Catching a Dream." They have sold about 100,000 copies and say this is their main source of revenue for all this traveling.

For the record, they did the Americas, Africa, Oceania, Asia and Europe.

They touched Mount Everest, ate duck eggs in Asia, danced with native people in Namibia, entered the tomb of King Tut in Egypt and sailed across many a sea.

For the kids, it was an unforgettable experience. They did their studies remotely and with home learning with Candelaria.

The Zapp family is now almost back home after traveling on five continents for 22 years JUAN MABROMATA AFP

Now, in-person classes await them in Argentina.

"What I most want to do is make a lot of friends," said Paloma, the 14-year-old.

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Corruption is Everywhere > An Obama advisor; Clinton's 2016 Campaign; 47 Steel Execs jailed in China

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Obama adviser pleads guilty to stealing $200,000+

A former White House official was accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars

to secure a loan on a multi-million-dollar apartment

White House © Getty Images / E4C

Seth Andrew, a former adviser to 44th President Barack Obama, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges after stealing $218,000 from a charter school he founded.

The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that Andrew had pleaded guilty to transferring the money from the school to his own private bank accounts, which were being used to acquire a mortgage for a multi-million-dollar New York apartment.

Andrew could face up to 20 years in prison for the crime and is set to be sentenced on April 14. The former White House education adviser has agreed “to pay restitution to the Charter School Network from which he stole,” according to the DOJ.

“Seth Andrew, a former White House adviser, admitted today to devising a scheme to steal from the very same schools he helped create,” said US Attorney Damian Williams in a statement. “Andrew now faces time in federal prison for abusing his position and robbing those he promised to help.”

Andrew – who served as an education adviser to the Obama White House between 2014 and 2016 – was arrested in April 2021 and charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements.

At the time, FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. accused Andrew of stealing the school’s money to get “the lowest interest rate” while applying for the Manhattan apartment loan.

“When you don’t have the necessary funds to put down, and you steal the money from your former employer to make up the difference, saving money in interest is likely to be the least of your concerns,” said Sweeney, who added, “We allege today that Andrew did just that, and since the employer he stole from was a charter school organization, the money he took belonged to an institution serving school-aged children.”

Disgraced lobbyist reportedly pleads guilty

in 2016 election meddling case

George Nader funneled millions of UAE money to “Our Sister” Hillary Clinton

FILE PHOTO. George Nader speaking at a Middle East Insight event in Washington, DC

on March 18, 1999. ©Ron Sachs / CNP / AdMedia via Global Look Press

An adviser to the government of the United Arab Emirates has admitted guilt in illegal donations of millions of dollars to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, The Intercept has learned.

Several months ago, George Nader agreed to plead guilty on one count of defrauding the US government through concealing the foreign origins of political contributions, the outlet reported, citing a sentencing memo penned by prosecutors. The document was unsealed in December 2021, but was not previously reported, the outlet said.

According to the allegations, Nader and his co-conspirator, Ahmad Khawaja, a California businessman, obfuscated the source of nearly $5 million. Transfers from Nader’s UAE-based firm to Khawaja’s US-based payment-processing company were presented to be regular payments.

Of that amount, more than $3.5 million came from the UAE government and were donated to Democratic PACs supporting Clinton’s candidacy, the allegations said. It remains unclear what happened to the rest of the money. However, the memo states that the two defendants sought inroads to “key figures” in the Donald Trump campaign, and that Khawaja donated $1 million to the Republican candidate’s inaugural committee.

Eight people have been indicted in the case, with five of them, including Nader, pleading guilty, The Intercept said. Khawaja fled the US after being indicted and is reportedly being held in custody in Lithuania. Both primary defendants are American citizens of Lebanese origin.

The accusations were previously detailed by the New York Times. Clinton was referred to as “Our Sister” or “the Big Lady” in communications between Nader and his UAE client, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. The businessman was a trusted emissary of the UAE royalty and provided regular updates on his progress in establishing connections with the Democratic candidate’s staff. The UAE government refrained from commenting on the allegations to either publication.

Nader was previously investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller for his effort targeting the Trump campaign and presidency. Mueller’s team questioned him about a meeting he helped organize between Erik Prince, an American private security entrepreneur and founder of the infamous company Blackwater, and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

The January 2017 Seychelles encounter was hyped by US media as evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, but Mueller’s final report described it as pretty much inconsequential and of little interest to the people in Trump’s orbit.

Nader was arrested by US federal agents in June 2019, after he got off a flight from the UAE, for possession of child pornography and images of bestiality, which were reportedly discovered by the Mueller team. It was the latest of several charges of the same nature he faced in the US.

The businessman was later indicted, with more counts of possession of child pornography and the sex trafficking of a 14-year-old boy from the Czech Republic, which happened in 2000. He pleaded guilty to both felonies and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Nader spent a year in a Czech prison for having sex with the same minor, who he flew to the US.

Prosecutors in the campaign finance violation case are asking for a five-year sentence for the businessman, who is now 62 years old, to be served after his current prison term.

It seems like Mueller found a lot more dirt on Clinton than he ever did on Trump!

Are there charges pending against the Democratic PAC for receiving money from UAE?

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Nearly 50 steel execs jailed over emissions

Beijing has punished nearly 50 executives of steel-producing companies

for faking pollution data

FILE PHOTO. A steel worker walks past steel rods at a plant in Tangshan, Hebei province, China.

©  Kevin Frayer

Authorities in China have punished supervisors from four companies located in the top steelmaking city of Tangshan, the local government announced on Thursday, citing court documents.

Some 47 senior officials working for the companies have been given prison sentences ranging from six to 18 months after they were found guilty of tampering with monitoring devices controlling emissions.

The interference allowed the companies to release large quantities of pollutants back in March 2021, according to the Tangshan municipal government’s statement. Two of the companies caught circumventing the emissions restrictions, Tangshan Songting and Hebei Xinda, were also fined four million yuan to seven million yuan ($628,000 to $1.1 million).

The sentences and heavy fines come amid Beijing’s campaign to make its economy more eco-friendly and achieve carbon goals outlined by the central government. Steel producers appear to be among the prime offenders, repeatedly caught flouting the emissions caps.

Last year, four Tangshan steel making companies were caught failing to comply with production cuts introduced to limit heavy pollution. One of the offending companies, Tangshan Jinma Steel Group, was also involved in the latest scandal.

Approaching Sodom > PC Madness in Universities; Virology Labs - Crimes Against Humanity? Politicizing the FBI - Cruz Rips Garland

..

Head of UC Berkeley climate research hub resigns in protest after

invitation to host Chicago professor blocked amid woke row

19 Oct, 2021 09:48

©REUTERS/Mike Hutchings / ©Octavio Jones / GETTY via AFP

A UC Berkeley climate researcher has resigned after his request to host a fellow scientist from the University of Chicago was denied. The Chicago professor was targeted by ‘woke’ students due to his views on diversity admissions.

The threat of climate change is less acute than the threat of woke academics hearing a speech by a professor whose views on diversity admissions to US campuses they despise. This seems to be the conclusion from the unfolding controversy surrounding Dorian Abbot, a geophysicist who holds tenure at the University of Chicago.

Actually, I believe that woke, PCMad people are so self-righteous that they believe anyone who disagrees with them in one area must also be completely wrong in all areas, and therefore not worth listening to, and should be barred from having any kind of voice at all.

Abbot was scheduled to deliver a lecture on climate change and exoplanets at MIT, but it was cancelled earlier this month due to pressure from students, who disagree with his political views. The professor is a vocal critic of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) effort in US academia, which he sees as detrimental to scientific pursuit. Abbot’s opponents have been organizing public pressure campaigns to ostracize him, and have succeeded in stopping him from speaking at the Massachusetts university.

Abbot has his supporters in academia, and one of them is David M. Romps, head of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center (BASC) at UC Berkeley. In a Twitter thread on Monday, he explained how his intention to have the Chicago researcher deliver his prepared MIT speech at the California university resulted in him submitting his resignation.

By having Abbot talk about “Climate and the Potential for Life on Other Planets,” as his lecture at the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science was titled, UC Berkeley would “reaffirm that BASC is a purely scientific organization, not a political one,” Romps said.

The prestigious annual John Carlson Lecture at MIT, for which Abbot was booked, is meant for the general public rather than professional scientists. BASC hosted Abbot as speaker in 2014, before he came forward with his views on DEI. Romps’ proposal was apparently not viewed favorably by his faculty.

“In the ensuing discussion among the BASC faculty, it became unclear to me whether we could invite that scientist ever again, let alone now,” he said. Romps believes that excluding people from climate research based on their political views is detrimental to the stated mission of BASC.

“I hold BASC and its faculty -- my friends and colleagues -- in the highest regard, and so it has been a great honor to serve as BASC's director these past five years. But it was never my intention to lead an organization that is political or even ambiguously so,” he said, explaining his decision to step down.

Abbot became a target for what he calls an “outrage mob” last year, after he released a series of YouTube videos arguing his opposition to DEI. At the time, people unhappy with his views said they “threaten the safety and belonging of all underrepresented groups” at his department. Critics demanded that the university take several measures against Abbot, which boiled down to allowing students and postdocs to boycott him without repercussions.

The professor eventually took down the videos but has not changed his position, which he outlined in an August opinion piece published in Newsweek. He believes DEI stifles colleges’ ability to enroll students based on their merits and unfairly punishes individuals for belonging to groups that are supposedly overrepresented at campuses, like white people or males.

The result is both detrimental to the primary goal of universities – which is to seek truth and generate knowledge – and inherently unjust to people, who are being discriminated against. Ultimately, graduates who are supposed to benefit from DEI suffer too, since their degrees lose value in the eyes of the public, he wrote.

A better approach, Abbot believes, would be getting rid of legacy and athletic admission advantages, making the evaluation of applicants more robust and unbiased, and spending university resources on talent support programs in underprivileged communities.

“American universities are diverse not because of DEI, but because they have been extremely competitive at attracting talent from all over the world,” he concluded his piece. “Ninety years ago Germany had the best universities in the world. Then an ideological regime obsessed with race came to power and drove many of the best scholars out, gutting the faculties and leading to sustained decay that German universities never fully recovered from.”

He said the Nazi example was a warning to American academia. Though the article seemingly didn’t give his detractors on US campuses much pause for thought, not everyone has been discouraged by their continued pressure. His canceled MIT lecture is now scheduled to be shown on a Zoom call hosted by the James Madison Program at Princeton University.

Newly Released Documents Show NIH Funded Gain-of-Function

Research in China: Experts

This aerial view shows the P4 laboratory (C) on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on May 27, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

BY ZACHARY STIEBER 

October 22, 2021

Epoch Times

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research in China that created a more potent form of a bat coronavirus, according to newly disclosed documents.

An experiment conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, situated near where the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, compared mice infected with the original bat coronavirus to mice infected with a modified strain created by researchers, according to the documents.

The mice infected with the modified version “became sicker than those infected” with the original version, Lawrence Tabak, the principal deputy director at the NIH, told lawmakers in letters (pdf) on Oct. 20.

The “limited experiment” was aimed at seeing if “spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model,” Tabak wrote, adding that the “unexpected result” was not “something that the researchers set out to do.”

Whether intended or not, the research fits the definition of gain-of-function, some experts say.

“The genetic manipulation of both MERS and the SARS conducted in Wuhan clearly constituted gain-of-function experiments,” Jonathan Latham, executive director of The Bioscience Research Project, told The Epoch Times in an email. “Further, it is absurd of NIH to describe the enhanced viral pathogenicity that was observed in the experiments they funded as ‘unexpected’ when clearly these experiments were expressly designed to detect increased pathogenicity.”

The NIH “corrects untruthful assertions by NIH Director Collins and NIAID Director Fauci that NIH had not funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan,” Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist with Rutgers University, wrote on Twitter.

The newly released documents primarily consist of the fifth and final progress report (pdf) for the series of grants. The report was submitted on Aug. 3, over two years after the research concluded.

Which would mean that the research was likely concluded in 2019, right about when the coronavirus made its public debut down the street.

EcoHealth’s final report also contained a description of experimenting on clones of MERS-CoV, a virus that caused an outbreak in the Middle East in 2012 and has a mortality rate of approximately 35 percent, according to the World Health Organization.

The scientists said they used a “similar reverse genetics strategy” that they utilized in studies of the bat coronaviruses and, after constructing a “full-length infectious clone of MERS-CoV,” they replaced the receptor binding domain of the virus with domains from various strains of coronaviruses identified in bats from southern China.

Jack Nunberg, a virologist and director of the Montana Biotechnology Center at the University of Montana, told The Epoch Times in an email that both viruses use the same receptor protein.

“By keeping to the same receptor protein, I’d label the experiment overly risky (due to the pathogenic backbone and their previous findings of increased virulence in some chimeras) but not blatantly” gain-of-function, he said.

Both Dr. Francis Collins, the outgoing director of the NIH, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the agency’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), have denied the agency has funded gain-of-function research in China.

“Neither NIH nor NIAID have ever approved any grant that would have supported ‘gain-of-function’ research on coronaviruses that would have increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans,” Collins said in a May statement.

The term generally refers to any research that increases the pathogenicity or transmissibility of a biological agent like a virus.

The research in question was funded through millions of dollars of grants from the NIH to EcoHealth Alliance, which then funneled money to the lab in Wuhan.

That's called money laundering by the Mafia.

The NIH has repeatedly declined to make documents concerning the research public, only disclosing many after being sued or pressured by members of Congress.

“Thanks to the hard work of the Oversight Committee Republicans, we now know that American taxpayer dollars funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab,” House Oversight Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) told The Epoch Times in an email.

The documents were sent to the Comer and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The NIH says a review of EcoHealth’s research plan before it allocated the funding determined it did not fit the definition of research involving “enhanced pathogens of pandemic potential” because the bat coronaviruses “had not been shown to infect humans.” However, “out of an abundance of caution,” language in the terms and conditions of the grant award stated that a secondary review would be triggered by multiple scenarios, including EcoHealth reporting one log, or 10-time increase, in growth.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, appears before a Senate hearing to discuss vaccines, in Washington, on Sept. 9, 2020. (Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images)

“This means EcoHealth should have reported if any of the viruses being tested turned out to grow 10 times faster or more than the control virus would without their new spike proteins,” an NIH spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

EcoHealth failed to abide by conditions of the grant, Tabak said, and was notified that it has five days from Oct. 20 to submit to NIH all unpublished data from the experiments and work conducted under the award.

Presented with the accusation by some that the new documents show Fauci and Collins lied to Congress, the NIH spokesperson said that the allegation is incorrect.

The challenge appears to revolve around different definitions of gain-of-function research. The NIH has defined it as research that is “reasonably anticipated to confer attributes to … viruses such that the resulting virus has enhanced pathogenicity and/or transmissibility (via the respiratory route) in mammals.” Its parent office, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), defines “enhanced potential pandemic pathogens” in a framework (pdf) as a highly transmissible and highly virulent pathogen that is enhanced through research.

“While the findings of this limited experiment in mice were somewhat unexpected, NIAID reviewed the progress report and has determined that the research described in the progress report would not have triggered a review under the HHS P3CO Framework because the bat coronaviruses used in this research have not been shown to infect humans and the experiments were not reasonably expected to increase transmissibility or virulence in humans,” the spokesperson said.

The grant is suspended while the NIH conducts a review that includes working with EcoHealth to get more information about its noncompliance.

EcoHealth has not responded to requests for comment, including questions sent last month after another set of documents, detailing other work the nonprofit funded with U.S. taxpayer money, were made public.

The fresh disclosures add to the concern about government transparency, Gary Ruskin, executive director of U.S. Right to Know, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“It has been obvious for decades that our federal government is not transparent enough, that there is not nearly enough congressional oversight and that the Freedom of Information Act badly needs strengthening. We citizens need better transparency tools to uncover all sorts of corruption, mismanagement, waste, fraud, abuse of power, and impending disasters,” he said, adding that NIH in particular has an “abysmal” track record of being transparent.

“Even if the research EcoHealth conducted under the National Institutes of Health grant does not precisely fit the definition of gain-of-function, which is for scientists and not policy analysts to decide, government transparency certainly required the NIH to reveal this information at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this point, it is obvious that the NIH and other government health agencies require reform and far more intensive oversight by Congress, and in some cases outright abolition,” added S.T. Karnick, publications director at The Heartland Institute.

The very idea of gain-of-function research is bizarre. They chose to work with a bat virus because it wouldn't infect humans, and they 'improved' its pathogenicity until it could and did infect humans. These are crimes against humanity and should never be allowed in any country. It's madness!

‘Resign in disgrace!’: Republicans eviscerate AG Garland as they

accuse him of sending FBI after parents protesting school boards

27 Oct, 2021 21:29 

©  Tom Brenner/Pool via REUTERS

Republican lawmakers have savaged Attorney General Merrick Garland for doubling down on a memo pitting the federal government against parents criticizing school boards. The GOP accused Garland of waging “political retribution”.

Garland testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, and Republicans on the committee were out for blood. The hearing took place several weeks after Garland authored a memo seemingly directing the Justice Department to sic the FBI and other federal agencies on parents protesting school boards over mask mandates, transgender policies, and the inclusion of ‘Critical Race Theory’ in curricula – according to the conservatives and the parents in question. 

Garland has denied targeting parents, claiming that the effort is directed at the threats to school board members, not the First Amendment rights of the parents.

While Garland’s memo doesn’t implicitly mention “parents,” it was issued after the National Association of School Boards (NASB) claimed in a letter to President Joe Biden that the protests of angry parents “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” and should be handled like “domestic terrorism,” using the Patriot Act. 

PC Madness!

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) accused Garland of “politicizing” the Justice Department and using it as “a tool of political retribution” against the angered parents. No violent incidents were cited in Garland’s memo, and Cruz forced the Attorney General to admit that he knew of no such incidents, and that speaking out to school boards is protected by the First Amendment.

Documents retrieved by parents under the Freedom of Information Act show that NASB President Viola Garcia and CEO Chip Slaven planned their letter over several weeks with the White House, and sent it without the approval of the association’s board of directors, who considered its language “extreme.” The letter has since been disavowed by the NASB, but Garland’s memo has not been rescinded.

Under questioning from Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska), Garland maintained on Wednesday that he acted based on the recommendation of the NASB, but Sasse cut off the AG mid-sentence.

“No, you didn't receive an anonymous letter,” Sasse interjected. “White House political staff co-wrote it with this organization, which is why the organization has rejected it. You know these facts now to be true, yet you still won’t disavow your memo.”

Garland insisted that his memo toned down some of the language contained in the NASB’s letter, and told the hearing that “True threats of violence are not protected by the First Amendment...those are the only things we are worried about here. We are not investigating peaceful protests or parent involvement in school board meetings.”

One of the cases cited in the letter was that of Scott Smith, who was arrested at a Loudoun County School Board meeting in Virginia earlier this year. Smith physically threatened someone and resisted arrest, and was taken to the ground by officers. However, Smith’s daughter had been raped in the school’s bathroom by a boy in a skirt. A member of the board told Smith that she didn’t believe him, and it later emerged that the rape did happen, and was covered up by the school, apparently to protect its transgender bathroom policy.

“Do you apologize to Scott Smith?” Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (R) asked Garland on Wednesday. Garland didn’t directly apologize, but did admit that Smith was within his rights to cause a scene at the board meeting. “Thank God you’re not on the Supreme Court,” Cotton shot back. “You should resign in disgrace, Judge.”

The Smith case has further inflamed tensions in the affluent Virginia county, where students staged a walkout on Tuesday to protest the cover-up. The case, as well as disputes over mask mandates and the teaching of critical race theory, has become a key issue in Virginia’s gubernatorial election, set to take place next week.

Democratic Candidate Terry McAuliffe has alternated between insisting that critical race theory is not taught in public schools, and claiming that such theory “is as important” as math and English. He has accused his rival, Glenn Youngkin, of trying to “silence the voices of black authors” by suggesting that parents should be made aware that their children are being shown books like ‘Genderqueer’ and ‘Lawn Boy,’ the latter of which contains descriptions of gay sex between children.

Youngkin is a supporter of parents having some say in what their children are taught, while McAuliffe stated at a debate this month that “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” More than six in 10 Virginians say school curricula will be a “major factor” in how they vote next week.