Glenn Beck Makes Key Point: We Should All be Glad We’re Not Insane Like The Left
On the Wednesday show Alex Jones gave commentary on a clip of talkshow host Glen Beck discussing how conservatives should be glad they’re not mental ill liberals.
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‘Key to Revolving Door’: FDA Tells Staff Who Leave for Pharma Jobs They Can Work ‘Behind the Scenes’ to Influence Agency
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) informs departing workers that they can still influence the agency’s decision-making after leaving their position to work for the pharmaceutical industry, a new investigation by The BMJ revealed.
According to an internal email obtained by The BMJ, the FDA told departing staffer Doran Fink, M.D., Ph.D. — who had reviewed COVID-19 vaccines while working at the FDA and who had accepted a job at Moderna — that although U.S. law prohibits some forms of lobbying contact between former FDA workers who leave to join the private sector, they “do not prohibit the former employee from other activities, including working ‘behind the scenes.’”
Peter Doshi, Ph.D., who wrote The BMJ’s July 1 report, told The Defender he was surprised to see “just how proactive FDA is at informing departing employees of their ability to work behind the scenes post-FDA.”
Doshi is a senior editor at The BMJ and associate professor of pharmaceutical health services research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
He said the FDA’s ethics program staff emailed the information to Fink as he was completing his FDA exit requirements.
“I was even more surprised,” Doshi said, “to learn that the phrase ‘behind-the-scenes assistance’ actually appears in U.S. regulations.”
U.S. law forbids direct lobbying contact between former regulatory staff and federal agencies — but it allows indirect contact. “I’ve yet to hear an argument for how this serves the public interest,” Doshi said.
The fact that the legal ability to work “behind the scenes” is woven into federal regulations highlights a “critical, critical loophole” in U.S. revolving door policy, according to Craig Holman, Ph.D., a government affairs lobbyist for the consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen who was interviewed for The BMJ’s report.
“So, people will leave government service and can immediately start doing influence peddling and lobbying,” Holman said. “They can even run a lobbying campaign, as long as they don’t actually pick up the telephone and make the contact with their former officials — and that’s exactly the advice that’s being given here.”
Holman told The Defender the legally sanctioned revolving door between U.S. regulators and the industries they regulate is “the most pernicious influence-peddling scheme available to wealthy special interests.”
“The prospects of lucrative private employment after public service can influence official actions by regulators,” he explained. “And the inside connections within the regulatory agency by the revolver [the person leaving federal service to work for industry] gives the business community a strong advantage over influencing upcoming regulatory actions.”
FDA repeatedly advises departing staff on ‘behind the scenes’ work
In its report, The BMJ revealed that the FDA’s advice to departing staff on “behind the scenes” work wasn’t limited to one email but appeared repeatedly in emails to Fink and emails to Dr. Jaya Goswami.
Goswami in June 2022 joined Moderna as its director of clinical development in infectious diseases after serving from March 2020 to June 2022 as a medical officer in the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. She was responsible for evaluating whether the clinical data for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine met regulatory standards for approval.
“The FDA’s guidance seems to be part of the standard boilerplate advice sent to employees by FDA staff responsible for ethical compliance,” Doshi wrote.
It’s also on the FDA’s website on post-employment restrictions.
‘This is the key to the revolving door’
Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D., president of the nonprofit National Center for Health Research and a regulatory policy analyst with decades of experience, told The BMJ she was surprised by the FDA’s advice on behind-the-scenes work.
“I had this vision that they actually had meaningful restrictions on what people could do for at least a year” after serving at a federal agency, she said.
Zuckerman voiced concern about how proactive the FDA was in providing behind-the-scenes work information to workers as they leave federal service. “I just think that this is the key to the revolving door.”
“It’s one thing to know it happens,” she said “and it’s another thing to know that the [FDA] ethics folks are saying, ‘Don’t worry, you can do this.’”
Zuckerman told The Defender it’s an “outrageous situation for the FDA’s so-called ethics office to be telling employees they can do behind-the-scenes work and, to some extent, encouraging it.”
Behind-the-scenes lobbying can be just as powerful as direct lobbying, she said. The FDA’s practice of proactively telling employees they can do behind-the-scenes work “undermines the integrity of the FDA and is unfair to patients,” Zuckerman added.
The FDA told The BMJ it wasn’t concerned that proactively informing employees about their ability to work behind the scenes could be interpreted as encouraging former FDA staff indirectly to lobby the agency.
“Working behind the scenes does not necessarily equate to direct or indirect lobbying activities,” the FDA spokesperson said. “Lobbying activities are governed by the Lobbying Disclosure Act. Former employees would need to adhere to these requirements, just like any other individual or organization.”
Legislators need to close the loophole
Meanwhile, some are pushing to close the legal loophole that allows those who leave federal agencies like the FDA to influence the agency after they take industry jobs.
Federal lawmakers on May 1 introduced legislation to amend the law regulating restrictions on departing employees. “It seems it’s time for this loophole to be fixed,” Doshi said.
Dubbed the Fixing Administrations Unethical Corrupt Influence (FAUCI) Act, the bill would prohibit “former employees of covered health agencies” from serving on the boards of manufacturers of drugs, biological products, or devices after public service.
Versions of the FAUCI Act were introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In June 2023, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation to curtail behind-the-scenes lobbying activity.
So far, none of the bills have passed.
Additionally, Holman in 2021 helped draft legislation that would have prohibited anyone in the FDA responsible for issuing a contract to a company from taking a job with that company for two years.
The legislation was “largely ignored” and did not receive a hearing, Holman told The Defender. “It may take future scandals to get Congress to address the problem.”
The Defender reached out to the FDA for comment on The BMJ’s report but did not receive a response by deadline.
We Are All Beowulf
On the Wednesday show Alex Jones discussed the parallels between the tale of Beowulf and our current political climate.
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Israel Has Bombed Lebanon Over 6,000 Times Since October
The Israeli army has conducted 6,142 attacks on Lebanese soil, resulting in at least 543 deaths between October 7 last year and June 21 this year, according to an analysis by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).
Aita al-Shaab, a Shia-majority village near the Israeli border that saw 85 homes destroyed during the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah war, has been targeted in 300 of these attacks.
(Related: Israel OKs plans for ALL-OUT WAR in Lebanon to wipe out Hezbollah.)
Other frequently targeted towns include Ras al-Naqoura (246 attacks), which houses the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters; Hula (219 attacks), where dozens of unarmed men were killed by the Israeli army in 1948; Kfarchouba (218 attacks), the second largest village in southern Lebanon; and Kfar Kila (209 attacks).
While most attacks have been concentrated in southern villages, Israeli drones and jets have also targeted the cities of Tyre and Saida, as well as various locations in the Bekaa Valley in northern Lebanon.
Western media reports indicate that the near-daily airstrikes, artillery shelling and the use of incendiary chemical white phosphorus by the Israeli army have rendered much of the five-kilometer (3.1-mile) zone north of the border “uninhabitable,” displacing over 95,000 people in southern Lebanon.
Residents have faced significant destruction of infrastructure, including homes, schools and hospitals, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
Hezbollah, other armed groups fight back
ACLED reports that Hezbollah and other armed groups near the border are responsible for 1,258 attacks on Israeli soil.
However, figures released by the resistance on June 13 indicate a total of 2,125 attacks since October 8. Many of these attacks have targeted Kiryat Shmona (132 attacks), Margaliyot (91 attacks) and Metula (72 attacks).
Other targets include military bases, barracks and airfields. According to Tel Aviv, these attacks have resulted in the deaths of at least 21 Israelis.
Hezbollah reported that its military actions have displaced over 200,000 Israelis, forcing the evacuation of over 40 settlements and striking up to 35 kilometers into the occupied territories.
In recent weeks, Israel has escalated threats to expand the war against Lebanon to regain control of its northern settlements, causing significant concern among international observers and humanitarian organizations.
The conflict has strained Israel’s relationship with its U.S. backers, who are advocating for a diplomatic resolution.
“We’re urgently seeking a diplomatic agreement that restores lasting calm to Israel’s northern border and enables civilians to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Israel–Lebanon border,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated on June 25 following a meeting with his Israeli counterpart in Washington.
The U.S. has also been working with other international actors to broker a ceasefire and provide humanitarian aid to affected areas in both countries.
Less than two weeks ago, Israel said it was prepared for an “all-out war” in Lebanon with approved plans to target Hezbollah, officials announced following the release of threatening drone footage by Hezbollah.
The footage showed civilian and military areas of Haifa, prompting a strong response from Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who warned that Hezbollah would be destroyed and Lebanon severely hit in a war.
The Israeli military confirmed that plans for a ground assault across the northern border have been approved by Ori Gordin, head of the Northern Command. This comes amid ongoing border skirmishes since the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, which has killed at least 37,000 Palestinians.
The conflict has resulted in over 400 deaths and 90,000 displacements in Lebanon, with 25 deaths and 60,000 displacements in Israel. The U.S. is working to prevent further escalation, with White House envoy Amos Hochstein emphasizing President Joe Biden’s aim to avoid a greater war.
Head over to WWIII.news for similar stories.
Watch this video of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah warning Israel of a war “without limits and consequences” if it attacks Lebanon.
Le Pen’s ID Group Prepares to Merge With Orbán’s Patriots Next Monday
The national leaders of the Identity and Democracy (ID) group are planning to have their constitutive meeting on Monday, July 8th, right after the second round of the French elections has concluded. Sources suggest their plan is to rebrand under the umbrella of Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán’s new outfit, the ‘Patriots for Europe.’
As we reported, the new right-wing sovereigntist political alliance between Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, the Czech ANO, and the Austrian FPÖ was launched last Sunday in Vienna. The Hungarian prime minister promised that it would “very quickly” grow into the third largest group in the European Parliament (EP), prompting a flurry of speculation about prospective additional allies.
Any alliance that wishes to register as a parliamentary group in Brussels (to benefit from the numerous advantages it comes with) needs to have at least 23 MEPs representing at least seven countries. The three founding members of the Patriots already had 24 seats between them—26 if you count Portugal’s Chega, the first to join the group earlier this week—so the only criterion left to meet was the required number of national delegations.
The founders’ confidence that they would not only reach the required threshold, but become the third largest group in the Parliament by overtaking Giorgia Meloni’s ECR with its 84 seats, suggests that negotiations with new members were nearing conclusion already. Earlier, disclosures from Matteo Salvini’s Lega party—a founding member of ID—indicated that the plan was to expand and rebrand ID under the Patriots’ banner all along.
Now, sources close to the negotiations confirmed these rumors to Bloomberg, saying that the ID leaders are planning to meet with the Patriots and hold a joint constitutive meeting on Monday, July 8th, right after the French elections have concluded. The initial deadline for parliamentary reshuffles was July 4th, but several delegations as well as the ID group itself requested an extension given the circumstances in France.
At the same time, it also became clear that the merger would be a necessary step for ID to survive. With the Austrian FPÖ and Portugal’s Chega switching to the Patriots, as well as the independent Estonian MEP, Madison Jaak, joining the ECR on Wednesday, ID no longer meets the seven-delegations criterion alone.
The current six ID members (in decreasing order based on their number of MEPs) are Marine Le Pen’s French National Rally (RN), the Italian Lega, the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), the Flemish Vlaams Belang, the Czech SPD, and the Danish People’s Party.
Together, these six parties now hold 49 seats, with 30 of those belonging to RN alone. Together with the four Patriots, that number would only grow to 75, however, ten fewer than what’s needed to overtake the ECR and become the third-largest group in Brussels.
The Polish Law and Justice (PiS) with its 21 MEPs was also considering jumping ship due to minor ideological differences but then decided on Wednesday to remain in ECR in exchange for influential positions in the group.
The German AfD could have also solved the problem by adding its 15 seats to the Patriots. However, “that is not an option for the AfD at the moment,” the party’s co-president Alice Weidel said on Tuesday evening, citing technical misalignment with the founding members of the Patriots, all three of whom are either in government or looking to form one in the near future.
“If the prospective head of government in Austria decides to go with the head of government in Hungary, it is an alliance of government parties,” Weidel said. As a result, they are subject to “political as well as foreign policy and foreign trade constraints, which we currently have to take into account.”
As our sources have also suggested before, large German companies (often tied to mainstream parties such as CDU and SPD) are among the most important trading partners of many Central European countries, including Hungary, whose government wouldn’t want to compromise its trade relations by teaming up with AfD.
This leaves AfD to go with its back-up plan of trying to create its own group with smaller parties that are deemed too extreme (or nationally incompatible) to join ECR and ID under the name ‘The Sovereignists.’ With a few prospective partners barred from entering due to antisemitism allegations, however, it’s unclear whether they’d succeed in reaching the required threshold.
As for the Patriots, they would still need to find a few new allies by Monday if they want to achieve their goal of becoming the third largest. These might include Slovakia’s ruling Smer with five seats—although it said it wouldn’t join—or the Spanish Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF) with three seats. Nonetheless, we will only know the final composition once the French election is over.
Gender-Confused Ex-Mcdonald’s Worker Awarded 7,000 Euros After Bosses Called Him by Legal Name
(LifeSiteNews) — On June 24, a French court in Angers awarded 22-year-old “Syntia” Dersoir €7,000 after ruling that the gender-confused man was discriminated against by his former employer for being referred to by his legal birth name and told not to wear an abundance of makeup during work hours.
Dersoir had lodged a complaint against a McDonald’s franchise in Segré-en-Anjou Bleu where he had worked from September 2022 after management allegedly called him by his legal, male name, and requested that he remove the makeup he began donning during work hours.
In 2022, Dersoir was hired under his birth name and was legally registered as a male. In early 2023, he started donning makeup and prosthetic breasts while at work.
Dersoir claimed he was told by his supervisor that his new appearance was inappropriate in the work environment.
“She told me she couldn’t accept me in the field, that I had to take off some lipstick,” Dersoir said, alluding to his supervisor. “It still didn’t fit. She told me that if I wanted, I could go to the Super U to buy some make-up remover and come back, or else I could go home. I went home.”
The next day, Dersoir claimed another of his superiors told him:
You impose your choices on us, you only think about yourself, you get us into trouble.
— Article continues below Petition —Tell school to apologize for suspending Canadian student who wore gender-critical sweater.
Following Dersoir’s complaint to the French Labour Inspectorate, the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) provided him a lawyer. Deerosir then lodged a criminal complaint against the management at the McDonald’s where he had been employed.
Reacting to Dersoir’s accusations, the lawyer representing McDonald’s, Maître Pascal Landais, maintained that management had merely requested that Dersoir abide by the McDonald’s workplace makeup policy that all staff had to follow.
“We asked him to tone down his make-up, not to remove it,” Landais asserted. The McDonald’s policy stipulated that all employees should don “light and discreet makeup” only for both uniform and hygiene purposes.
Predictably, leftist French establishment media outlets have sought to paint Dersoir as a victim of “gender discrimination.” Ouest-France insinuated that Dersoir’s employers were “guilty of moral harassment and discrimination.”
Dersoir is the second man claiming to be a woman in Europe to take legal action against a local McDonald’s for “gender discrimination”.
In Germany, Kylie Divon, 27, a gender-confused male known as Keil Li, is demandingfinancial compensation for alleged “discrimination” by McDonald’s after purporting he was refused entry to his employer’s changing room meant for female employees. Li lodged his complaint after a Muslim woman and colleague asked him to leave the women’s changing room, as per an interview with Siegessaeule. Divon alleged that the co-worker who told him to leave the women’s changing room was a Muslim woman who accurately told him that he was “biologically seen as a man” – a statement that he claimed was discriminatory, Reduxx reported.