May 2019 Archives

The last abortion clinic in Missouri is set to lose its license at the end of May, which will make Missouri the first state in America without an abortion clinic. Planned Parenthood and its abortion providers are refusing to cooperate with state regulators.

On May 20, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services notified Planned Parenthood of three issues that could impact license renewal, according to documents reviewed by CBS News and provided by Planned Parenthood.

On May 22, Planned Parenthood said it would address two of them: adjusting who at the clinic provided the state-mandated counseling and adding an additional pelvic exam for abortion patients.

But it said a third request was out of its control. According to Planned Parenthood, the health department said it was investigating "deficient practices," and needed to interview seven physicians who provide care at the clinic. Planned Parenthood said it could offer interviews only with two who are its employees. The other five physicians working at the facility are residents in training and not employed by Planned Parenthood, a spokesperson for the clinic said via email on Tuesday. The state has indicated that the result of those interviews could be "board review" in addition to "criminal proceedings," the spokesperson said. The medical residents declined to be interviewed for the state's investigation.

In its letter, the Department of Health wrote that it could not "complete our investigation until it interviews the physicians involved in the care provided in the potential deficient practices," and that "the investigation needs to be completed and any deficiencies resolved before the expiration of [the clinic's] license on May 31, 2019."

This amazing picture was taken by Nirmal Purja's Project Possible on 22 May 2019 near the summit of Mount Everest.

Hundreds of climbers line up to reach the summit.

Nirmal Purja, a former Gurkha and Royal Marine, posted the picture of the route to the 8848m (29,029ft) summit on Twitter on Thursday as he warned that the mountain can kill.

Mr Purja, who is making a world-record attempt to climb all 14 peaks of the Himalayas in seven months, estimated that there were 320 climbers in the queue.

Despite the clear blue sky, it was minus 25C as climbers, some described by experts as dangerously unprepared, waited for hours in the "death zone".

Deaths linked to overcrowding

The deaths of two adventurers the day before were linked to overcrowding. Donald Lynn Cash, 55, an American, collapsed on Wednesday while taking photographs at the summit. Anjali Kulkarni, an Indian climber who was also 55, died during the descent.

The Democrats are passing laws specifically aimed at forcing disclosure of Donald Trump's finances and tax returns from when he was a private citizen. This is garbage politics. Whether you like Trump or not, there's absolutely no reason for a House committee to be digging through his personal finances.

A federal judge in New York City on Wednesday said Deutsche Bank and Capitol One can turn over financial documents related to President Donald Trump and his businesses in response to subpoenas from House Democrats.

Judge Edgardo Ramos's ruling came after a hearing at which lawyers for Trump, his three older children, and the Trump Organization argued that the subpoenas to the two banks should be quashed. ...

And Ramos's ruling came hours after the New York State legislature passed two bills aimed at Trump, which would allow Trump's state tax returns to be turned over to Congress if they are requested. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he supports that idea, but has yet to say whether he will sign the bills.

This behavior is disgraceful. Just imagine the outrage if Trump started rooting through the finances of Democrat politicians!

Everyone gets it: Democrats hate Trump. Fine. There's an election coming up, so just beat him. Quit with all the embarrassing garbage.

So the Season 8 of "Game of Thrones" was pretty bad -- but why? It didn't have to be. Why was it both slow and rushed? These paragraphs sum up my questions.

I don't pretend to understand the pressures of TV production -- logic suggests that with the episodes getting ever more technically complicated, they would take longer to shoot, which results in fewer of them per season.

But didn't the show already take as much time as it needed, with months and months between some seasons? Why not go ahead and take as much as it takes to get to 10 episodes for those last two? For that matter, why not break up some of these supersize installments from this season into two separate ones that let moments land and things develop less frantically?

It doesn't take a genius to write a good script, but it does take time. And it takes screen time to give complex plots and characters a chance to resolve in a satisfying manner. I don't get it.

United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut John Durham is investigating improper surveillance of the Trump Campaign.

Durham, known as a "hard-charging, bulldog" prosecutor, according to a source, will focus on the period before Nov. 7, 2016--including the use and assignments of FBI informants, as well as alleged improper issuance of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants. Durham was asked to help Barr to "ensure that intelligence collection activities by the U.S. Government related to the Trump 2016 Presidential Campaign were lawful and appropriate."

A source also told Fox News that Barr is working "collaboratively" on the investigation with FBI Director Chris Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and that Durham is also working directly with Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who is currently reviewing allegations of misconduct in issuance of FISA warrants, and the role of FBI informants during the early stages of the investigation.

Durham was appointed to the job of U.S. Attorney by Trump, but he has a long history of appointments by both Republicans and Democrats, from as far back as 1999.

Amid allegations that FBI informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi had corrupted their handlers, US Attorney General Janet Reno named Durham special prosecutor in 1999. He oversaw a task force of FBI agents brought in from other offices to investigate the Boston office's handling of informants.

It would be good for our country to have a full and honest accounting of what went on behind closed doors in the Obama administration. I sincerely hope that no wrong-doing occurred.

State Representative Brian Sims appears to be insane -- he's offering cash rewards to identify teenage girls who are praying outside an abortion clinic.

Sims posted the second video on his Facebook page three weeks ago. He began by introducing himself and calling for support of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America. Then, he turned the camera to four pro-life women who were peacefully sidewalk counseling outside the facility.

"What we've got here is a bunch of ... pseudo Christian protesters who've been out here shaming young girls for being here. So, here's the deal, I've got $100 to anybody who will identify these three, and I will donate to Planned Parenthood," Sims said.

One of the young women responded that she is not white. Another said they simply are praying for women, and they believe women deserve better than abortion. Then, they walked away.

The linked article calls the people praying "four pro-life women", but three of them were very young teenagers!

The mother of two teenage girls who were harassed by Democratic Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Sims for protesting outside a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood a few weeks ago told Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tuesday night that it was a "shocking experience," but they had prayed for him following the incident.

Ashley Garecht had taken her 13- and 15-year-old daughters and their 15-year-old friend to Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, which is in Sims' district, on Holy Thursday of the Easter Triduum to peacefully pray before they went to Mass.

During the disturbing encounter -- which Sims live-streamed on Periscope -- the unhinged Democrat offered $100 to anyone who could identify the young girls.

Garecht said the altercation that was caught on video was not the first interaction they'd had with Sims.

"He approached us about 20 minutes before that," she explained. "He came in yelling at us and really was yelling very directly at the girls -- very specifically at the girls. So I moved myself in between him and said 'please talk to me, let's have a conversation, the two of us as two adults,' but he continued to yell at the girls and then eventually he left and about ten minutes later is when he came back videotaping us," she continued.

How in the world does Sims think his behavior towards these children is acceptable? What do other Pennsylvania Democrats think?

Andrew C. McCarthy explains what should be obvious: Mueller's complaints about "context" are pointless now that his report is public.

Mueller was annoyed because Barr's report showed Mueller didn't do the job he was retained to do, and omitted all the narrative-writing that Mueller preferred to do.

Before Attorney General Barr issued his letter outlining the special counsel's conclusions, Mueller was invited to review it for accuracy. Mueller declined. After Barr explained that Mueller had not decided the obstruction question, the press reported on this dereliction. Mueller is miffed about the press coverage ... but he can't say Barr misrepresented his findings.

Like the Mueller investigation, this episode is designed to fuel a political narrative. But we don't need a narrative - we don't even need anyone to explain the report plainly. That's because we now have the report. We can read it for ourselves. The rest is noise.

If you don't like Barr's summary then ignore it and go read Mueller's report for yourself.