NYC Health Commissioner Tells Police Chief: ‘I Don’t Give Two Rats’ Asses About Your Cops’

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‘Dr. Barbot should be forced to look in the eye of every police family who lost a hero to this virus…’

NYC Health Commissioner To Police Official: 'I Don't Give Two Rats' Asses About Your Cops'
Oxiris Barbot / IMAGE: CBS New York via YouTube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot was under heavy fire after word broke of her derision toward the city’s law-enforcement during the coronavirus pandemic.

Barbot rejected a request from the New York Police Department for surgical masks in late March, when the health crisis was climbing toward its peak in New York City.

“I don’t give two rats’ asses about your cops,” she told NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan, according to the New York Post.

The NYPD had asked the city to supply each of its officers with protective face masks so they could continue to serve the city’s residents safely. But Barbot refused, arguing that she would give the NYPD no more than 50,000 masks.

“I need them for others,” she reportedly said.

The city’s police department includes an estimated 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees—totaling around 55,000. It is unclear whether the requested masks were reusable.

At the time, an increasing number of NYPD officers were calling in sick after reporting COVID-19 symptoms. Since then, there have been at least 5,490 cases of COVID-10 among the NYPD’s officers and administrative staff members. As of April 19, at least 29 NYPD employees had died from the coronavirus.

Shortly after Barbot’s remarks, NYPD officials learned that the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had been stashing masks, ventilators and others medical supplies in a New Jersey warehouse. The city claimed it was reserving those supplies for heath-care workers, but Monahan insisted to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio that his officers were in just as much need, the Post reported.

De Blasio agreed with Monahan, according to a source who witnessed the exchange, and told Barbot to “fix this” and supply the NYPD with surgical masks. She has since been absent from the city’s press briefings, the Post noted.

Barbot has not commented on the exchange, but the Department of Health did release a statement clarifying that what had transpired between Barbot and Monahan did not reflect the city’s views.

“During the height of COVID, while our hospitals were battling to keep patients alive, there was a heated exchange between the two where things were said out of frustration but no harm was wished on anyone,” Department of Health press secretary Patrick Gallahue said in a statement, noting that Barbot had apologized for her “contribution to the exchange.”

Barbot’s comments, however, are “despicable and unforgivable,” said Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, a prominent New York City police union.

“Dr. Barbot should be forced to look in the eye of every police family who lost a hero to this virus. Look them in the eye and tell them they aren’t worth a rat’s ass,” he said.

‘Ill-Founded and Selfish’: Federal Judge Strikes Down Churches’ Request to Gather

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‘The record clearly reveals how virulent and dangerous COVID-19 is…’

'Ill-Founded and Selfish': Federal Judge Strikes Down Churches' Request to Gather
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker: Wikimedia Commons

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) A federal judge rejected two Illinois churches’ requests for a temporary hold on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order — which prevents churches from holding gatherings of more than 10 people until at least May 30 — calling the request “ill-founded and selfish.”

Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and Logos Baptist Ministries had called for a temporary restraining order against Pritzker’s order so that they could hold services again.

The two churches said that their services would follow health officials’ social distancing guidelines, with reduced seating, designated exits and entrances, and hand sanitizer for all attendees.

But U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman denied their request, arguing that churches are not as “essential” as grocery stores and other businesses that are still open.

“The harm to plaintiffs if the Order is enforced pales in comparison to the dangers to society if it is not,” Gettleman wrote in his opinion, according to ABC-7. “The record clearly reveals how virulent and dangerous COVID-19 is, and how many people have died and continue to die from it.”

Even with the additional health and safety precautions, the churches would be risking “the lives of … congregants, as well as the lives of their family members, friends, co-workers, and other members of their community with whom they come into contact,” Gettleman wrote.

Both churches plan to appeal the decision.

Gettleman’s ruling is the second judicial decision in the past two weeks upholding Pritzker’s order.

The first ruling, issued two weeks ago by District Judge John Lee, similarly struck down a church’s request to gather.

Lee admitted that churchgoers’ “desire to come together for prayer and fellowship, particularly in these trying times” is understandable, but added that it must wait.

“Even the foundational rights secured by the First Amendment are not without limits; they are subject to restriction if necessary to further compelling government interests — and, certainly, the prevention of mass infections and deaths qualifies,” Lee wrote in his opinion, according to the Chicago Tribune.

WHITMER: ‘Vast Majority’ of Sexual Assault Allegations Are True … But Not Tara Reade’s

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‘I’m very comfortable that Joe Biden is who he says he is…’

Michigan Residents Stand Up to Whitmer's Extreme Coronavirus Restrictions
Gretchen Whitmer/Photo by University of Michigan’s Ford School (CC)

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on Wednesday that she believes presidential candidate Joe Biden is innocent, even though the “vast majority” of sexual assault allegations brought forward by women are true.

Whitmer claimed that the allegation made against Biden by one of his former congressional staffers, Tara Reade, does not align with “the Joe Biden that I know.”

She also claimed Reade’s story is full of “inconsistencies,” despite the fact that it has been corroborated by at least four independent sources, and by a court document uncovered last week.

“I think that the inconsistencies that I’ve seen give me the judgment that I believe Joe, and I think that it’s important to note that the vast majority of women who come forward, statistics show that they are telling the story that is true,” she told ABC news. “In this instance, I do believe Joe Biden, and everyone needs to make that judgment, weigh the facts, and make the determination for themselves.”

Whitmer, however, did not once question Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, despite the fact that it, too, was full of inconsistencies.

Whitmer has defended her past position on Blasey Ford with her present position by arguing that not “every claim is equal.”

“I have read a lot about this current allegation. I know Joe Biden, and I have watched his defense. And there’s not a pattern that goes into this. And I think that, for these reasons, I’m very comfortable that Joe Biden is who he says he is,” she told CNN last week.

World’s Largest Financial-Asset Manager SHAMED Over China Investments

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‘If you do not divest from China because it will cost you too much money, your insincerity about “purpose” will be obvious…’

World's Largest Asset Manager SHAMED Over China Investments
Larry Fink / IMAGE: CNBC Television via YouTube

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) The investment behemoth BlackRock has no problem discriminating against American gun manufacturers and fossil-fuel companies, but the global financial services company looks the other way when it comes to doing business with communist China.

Citing appalling human-rights abuses and the Wuhan virus pandemic, a nonprofit ethics watchdog is now pressing Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and CEO, to put his professed principles over politics.

But that may be too rich even for the New York City-based firm with $7.4 trillion in managed assets.

“Because BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager and you have championed the principle of divestment as a moral necessity, we ask that you divest your managed funds from the 137 Chinese companies listed on the three American exchanges,” Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, wrote in a letter to Fink on Wednesday.

“All are under the influence and ultimate control of the Communist Party of China,” he said. “At least 11 have 30% or more Chinese government ownership”

BlackRock is among the leading Democrat-aligned financial institutions that have actively discriminated against political targets in recent years.

A group of congressional Republicans from oil-producing states is currently asking President Donald Trump to stop the firm from denying services to coal, oil and gas companies, especially since it’s a Federal Reserve fiduciary involved in the distribution of the $2 trillion CARES Act.

BlackRock also offers investment strategies and exchange-traded funds that exclude American firearms producers and retailers.

But profiting from China exposes the company’s shameless moral relativism, according to Flaherty.

“As you have written, ‘a company cannot achieve long-term profits without embracing purpose and considering the needs of a broad range of stakeholders,’” he wrote.

“If you do not divest from China because it will cost you too much money, your insincerity about ‘purpose’ will be obvious,” Flaherty continued.

China brutally suppressed Hong Kong human rights protests last year and has imprisoned more than one million Muslim Uyghurs in re-education detention camps.

The Chinese government also imposes a totalitarian surveillance state on its 1.4 billion citizen population, along with Orwellian internet censorship and social-credit scoring.

China further unleashed the spread of the deadly Wuhan virus through a campaign of lies, secrets and propaganda. Trillions of dollars in economic losses have ensued, and hundreds of thousands have needlessly died.

Even more disturbing is the Chinese Communist Party’s policy of extrajudicial killings to supply its extensive human organ-harvesting program.

But all of that pales in comparison to domestic law-abiding gun and fossil fuel industries, apparently.

“Would not your customers—and our nation—be better served by investing in non-Chinese companies in regulated and transparent markets?” Flaherty asked.

Washington State Now Requires Restaurants to Keep Customer Logs

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‘restaurant owners will be required to affirm that they…will comply with the state’s new restrictions…’

Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee Sees Climate Change as His Path to the White House 1
Jay Inslee / IMAGE: WWE

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) Washington state will soon allow restaurants to reopen as long as they abide by a long list of new Wuhan virus safety regulations.

But whether restaurants can afford to abide them is another question.

Under Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase plan to reopen the state, restaurants will have to comply with 13 strict requirements for dine-in services, including a maximum of 50 percent capacity and no more than five patrons per table.

They must also agree to help state officials track visiting diners by “creat[ing] a daily log of customers and maintain that daily log for 30 days, including telephone/email contact information, and time in.”

The mandate is necessary to tract COVID cases, according to Gov. Inslee. But the extraordinary measure raises serious civil liberties concerns.

Andrew Schpak, an employment litigation lawyer in neighboring Portland, said the customer information collection program is bad enough, but it would actually provide the government with a list of all places each person has visited.

“It’s similar to ideas of gun background checks: Why does the government have the right to know who I am or where I was?” said Schpak.

Other provisions include mandatory hand sanitizer for employees and customers, placing restaurant tables far enough apart for all guests to maintain 6-feet of social distance, and single-use menus and condiments.

Buffets, salad bars and bar seating are strictly prohibited, and it’s “strongly suggested” that customers and employees cover their faces with masks or other cloth coverings — which will prove awkward when eating.

In addition, restaurants are required to screen employees for Wuhan virus symptoms at the beginning of every shift.

Employers must also designate a coronavirus supervisor to monitor employees, report symptoms to health regulators and enforce Inslee’s restaurant guidelines.

The requirements further stipulate that all restaurant owners will be required to affirm that they can and will comply with the state’s new restrictions before they will be granted permission to resume business.

NADLER: House Judiciary May Subpoena Barr to Testify about Flynn

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‘We cannot have a situation where the attorney general just thumbs his nose and the administration holds Congress in contempt…’

Incoming House Judiciary Chairman: Trump Might Have Committed 'Impeachable Offenses'
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler/IMAGE: CNN via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said on Wednesday that House Democrats are considering issuing a subpoena to force Attorney General Bill Barr to explain the Justice Department’s decision to drop its criminal case against Michael Flynn.

“Now that the District of Columbia has extended the stay-at-home order until June 8, we expect to see Barr in front of our committee on June 9, the very next day,” Nadler told MSNBC.

Barr has not yet agreed to testify before the committee, but Nadler said he is prepared “to do whatever we have to do,” including issuing a subpoena.

“We cannot have a situation where the attorney general just thumbs his nose and the administration holds Congress in contempt,” he said.

The DOJ announced last week that it would drop its criminal charges against Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, after new evidence revealed that Flynn had been led into a perjury trap by FBI officials.

Nadler claimed that this decision is an attempt to “subvert” justice, and he accused Barr of becoming “a personal agent of the president.”

Barr, however, has defended the DOJ’s decision, telling CBS News that he was “not at all” influenced by Trump.

“I made clear during my confirmation hearing that I was gonna look into what happened in 2016 and 2017. I made that crystal clear,” Barr said last week.

“I was very concerned about what happened,” he continued. “I was gonna get to the bottom of it. And that included the treatment of General Flynn.”

What happened to Flynn was a miscarriage of justice, Barr added, so dropping Flynn’s charges was necessary.

“I’m doing the law’s bidding,” he said. “I’m doing my duty under the law, as I see it.”

RINO Group Pressures Tillis, McConnell to Back Dems’ Vote-Theft Ruse

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‘Americans across the country need expanded voting options during the pandemic…’

Establishment Republicans Cheer Roy Moore’s Loss in Alabama
Bill Kristol/Photo by Gage Skidmore

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) A well-funded advocacy group with ties to notorious NeverTrumper Bill Kristol is blanketing the airwaves with political ads aimed at pressuring battleground Republicans to support Democrat-friendly voting measures that are primed for abuse.

The ads conflate Wuhan virus public health concerns with fair elections, calling for mass vote-by-mail initiatives that conveniently align with proposals contained in the new $3 trillion omnibus spending package proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Ironically, the ads are funded by a group called Republicans for the Rule of Law, and they target Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Both Tillis and McConnell are up for reelection in November and will eventually vote on Pelosi’s so-called Heroes Act once it’s passed by the Democratic-controlled House.

Republicans for the Rule of Law is a subsidiary of Kristol’s Defending Democracy Together, a supposedly conservative organization that opposes President Donald Trump.

However, Kristol, himself, openly declared he was a Democrat in February.

RRL was founded to protect special counsel Robert Mueller, whose partisan investigative team committed myriad prosecutorial abuses while ultimately determining that there was no evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

After the debunked collusion endeavor, RRL moved to pressure congressional Republicans into supporting Democrat impeachment and removal efforts.

When that failed, the group redoubled its efforts to supporting laughable GOP primary challengers in the hopes of splitting President Trump’s voting base.

The group’s new ads show that it’s willing to attack key GOP senators who stand in the way of defeating Trump later this year.

“Americans across the country need expanded voting options during the pandemic,” the first ad says. “Tell Sen. Tillis to give states what they need now to protect our health and to protect the safety and security of the election in November.”

The ad will air on Fox News across North Carolina every day for the next three weeks.

The ad targeting Sen. McConnell contains the exact same content but calls out McConnell by name. It will appear nationally through early June on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and Sinclair TV stations around the country.

Both ads will also be promoted online and on social media.

“When we hold a general election during the worst pandemic in a century, it’s simply a fact that tens of millions more Americans are going to use mail-in ballots and absentee ballots than in the past,” said RRL spokeswoman Sarah Longwell in a statement on Wednesday.

“With Dr. Fauci and other experts warning of a second wave of COVID in the fall, Sen. Tillis must urge Mitch McConnell not to try to stop a tidal wave,” she said.

The term “tidal wave” is a reference to Democratic and NeverTrump confidence in a “blue wave” general election victory that will crush President Trump’s reelection and reclaim control of the senate.

Pelosi’s proposed multi-trillion coronavirus stimulus package includes $3.6 billion for nationwide mail-in voting initiatives that critics say will introduce unprecedented voter fraud and election integrity concerns.

“At the end of the day, this is a Democrat grab bag special-interest giveaway to their base supporters. Not a single Republican had any input at all into this massive spending deal,” said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind.

All Hands on Deck

With recent polling that suggests Trump currently leads Democratic contender Joe Biden in key battleground states, the effort to disrupt the voting process in vulnerable red-leaning elections has united some of the radical Left’s most powerful forces.

In addition to the pressure campaign on Tillis, an activist lawsuit in North Carolina that would use the courts to force mail-only voting is being bankrolled by figures like George Soros and Eric Holder. Democrats have even dispatched their top election-stealing lawyer, Marc Elias, to lead the effort.

Meanwhile, despite recent issues with more than 800 duplicate ballots being sent in a special election, California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom has already announced that state officials will be sending every registered voter in the state a mail-in ballot in November.

President Donald Trump took to Twitter last week to warn about election fraud.

Despite the concerns, at press time it appeared Republican candidate Mike Garcia defeated his Democratic opponent by a stunning 12-point margin.

But California was continuing to accept and count all ballots it received through Friday, provided they were postmarked no later than Tuesday.

A similar situation occurred during the 2018 race, where Democrats used legal ballot-harvesting to flip seven Republican-held seats, including the 25th district, despite apparent GOP victories on election night.

Newly elected congresswoman Katie Hill, the seat’s first Democrat since the early 1990s, was forced to resign as the result of a sex scandal.

‘I Don’t Ever Want To Be A Small Business Owner Again After This…’

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‘But in this environment, it’s not sustainable to keep the business open…’

'I Don't Ever Want To Be A Small Business Owner Again After This...' 1
Photo: Pixabay

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) The owner of a small music store in Hastings, Michigan has been forced to permanently close his shop due to the state’s continued economic shutdown.

Steve Walker opened Walker Music & Textile Company 11 years ago with his family. But over the last few months, he’s watched the business he created and the dreams he had for it slowly die.

“This is my dream. Shutting it down. Closing out this phase of my life,” Walker said during an interview with WXMI-TV. “It won’t be a retail shop anymore and it won’t be an inviting environment for kids to come and be loved and to learn music.”

Millions of other small businesses around the country are in the same position. More than 7.5 million entrepreneurs told Main Street America that they’re running the risk of permanent closure over the next five months if the states drag out the reopening process. And although many of these small businesses qualify for aid from the federal government, it often isn’t enough.

Walker said he applied for unemployment and several grants through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, but each time he was either ignored or denied.

“There was only $32,800 grants for Barry County in total,” he said. “Of that $32,800, five businesses were the recipient of that money.”

Even if he had received additional aid, Walker said it wouldn’t have helped his financial situation much, since the shutdowns have continued and the bills are still piling up.

“I don’t want a stupid handout from the government,” he said. “I want my hands untied so I can work.”

Stephanie Luther, the owner of a small business in Wilmington, North Carolina, said she wasn’t eligible for certain aid, either, because her store only employs two people.

Luther didn’t “want to go further into debt” given the uncertainty this shutdown has created. And that left her with one other option: She could shut down her business, The Bump & Beyond, just five years after it opened.

“I don’t ever want to be a small business owner again after this,” Luther told WWAY-3. “Having to close a business that you have put your entire heart and soul into for the last five years is just insane.”

North Carolina officials have asked Gov. Roy Cooper to consider reopening the state as soon as possible to help struggling small businesses, but Luther is skeptical that Cooper will be willing to budge.

“I don’t see how this is going to get solved any time soon,” Luther said. “There’s no simple answer here. There’s none.”

Restaurants have been hit hard by this shutdown, too, despite the fact that most have been allowed to continue operating on a to-go basis.

Take-out, however, simply does not create enough revenue, according to the owner of Caveman Burgers, a Phoenix restaurant that permanently closed its doors late last month.

“I’m angry. I’m sad. I’m disappointed. I’m especially sad for the employees that work for me who are going to be losing their jobs as well. It’s been really special to create jobs for people and employ them, see their lives change and grow,” the owner said in a video announcing the business’s closure. “But in this environment, it’s not sustainable to keep the business open.”

Walker said state governments should have treated all businesses the same instead of separating them into vague “nonessential” or “essential” categories.

“I’ve been sitting here for 60 days watching my neighbors do business day in and day out,” Walker said. “They aren’t thriving but they are surviving. There’s no reason in hell I couldn’t have done the same thing. None. And that’s what makes me angry.”

CNN Features Greta Thunberg on Panel of COVID ‘Experts’

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‘Cuz a teenager best known for skipping school is who CNN considers an expert virologist…’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) CNN is featuring teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg on a coronavirus panel this week, despite the fact that she has no medical or health-related expertise.

The town hall, called “Coronavirus—Facts and Fears,” will also feature Richard Besser, former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Obama era “swine flu” pandemic; and Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s Health and Human Services secretary.

One glance at that line-up reveals that Thunberg doesn’t belong, as critics were quick to point out.

Thunberg was one of many environmentalist activists who credited the worldwide lockdowns with a recent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, arguing that this habit of mindfulness should become the ‘new normal’ in a post-COVID world.

“Whether we like it or not the world has changed, it looks completely different from how it did a few months ago and it will probably not look the same again and we are going to have to choose a new way forward,” Thunberg said last month.

House Dems’ Phony COVID ‘Whistleblower’ Exposed for Sick-Leave Fraud

Ben Sellers
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‘As the director of BARDA, I feel like you’re in quite a stressful position when you’re trying to manage, um—a pandemic?’

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Rick Bright, former Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, was exposed during his House testimony for playing hooky—sort of—while continuing to draw a federal government paycheck of $285,000.

After Bright came forward last month claiming to be a “whistleblower” who was persecuted for his dissenting opinion on the Trump-endorsed use of hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment, left-wing media deceptively heralded him for his heroism.

It was quickly revealed, though, that Bright’s removal from his job as BARDA director had been a year in the making, largely due to past issues of insubordination, and that he had, in fact, advocated for the ordering and distribution of the anti-malaria drug before he turned against it.

During four minutes of questioning on Thursday with Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., Bright further confessed that he had spent the last three weeks on sick leave for high blood pressure since being removed from his former position.

“I had a conversation with my physician about my hypertension and how we’ve been managing it over the last three weeks, because this has been very stressful to be removed suddenly without explanation from my role or position,” Bright testified.

“It’s a life change for me, and my physician has been working very closely with me to manage my hypertension and, and stress,” he said.

However, unlike many Americans suffering financially during the coronavirus shutdown—which Bright and his Democratic allies hope to extend indefinitely, pending a scientifically approved vaccine—he never actually lost his job.

Bright was instead transferred to the National Institutes of Health for a yet unspecified position—which does involve a pay cut—although he conceded he had yet to actually report and had only begun the process of routine pre-employment screenings.

“I’ve checked in with the NIH director’s office and we’ve discussed the onboarding process—the fingerprinting process,” he said, “and we have called, just last evening, to discuss the framework of my responsibilities that they have envisioned.”

He admitted that he didn’t even know, exactly, where his last paycheck came from.

“It is not completely clear to me, but I believe it’s out of NIH,” he said.

Mullin noted that he found it odd that Bright, who claimed to be a leading medical expert and played a major role in the early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, could not even effectively manage his own health under the circumstances.

“I get it—people handle pressure quite different,” he said. “But as the director of BARDA, I feel like you’re in quite a stressful position when you’re trying to manage, um—a pandemic?”

To top it off, even though Bright claimed to be facing unprecedented stress from his job “loss,” he seemed perfectly fine with introducing the added pressure of public congressional testimony and a high-profile political attack on the White House into his routine.

“You can’t manage your own hypertension when it comes because you got removed from the office,” Mullin observed, “but yet, you can still receive pay from NIH—but you can’t show up for work, and then all of a sudden you can prepare for this, but you can’t do that. I just have a hard time understanding it.”

Mullin seemed to suggest that the same character issues which led to Bright’s performance-related job removal and his decision to step forward as a partisan “whistleblower” might also have informed his recent bout of hypochondria.

“I know you’re a bright individual and very smart,” he said, “but you are an employee of the federal government, and I just want to make sure you’re not doing something to deceive the American people.”

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