News you may not have heard

Trump was trumped again: “Former president Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign commissioned an outside research firm in a bid to prove electoral-fraud claims but never released the findings because the firm disputed many of his theories and could not offer any proof that he was the rightful winner of the election,” according to Washington Post, Feb. 11.

Fox News outfoxed? “Fox News lost an attempt Tuesday to shut down a multi-billion-dollar ($2.7 billion) defamation lawsuit that accuses the network of spreading lies that a voting-technology company (Smartmatic) helped ‘steal’ the 2020 election from then-U.S. President Donald Trump,” according to HuffPost, Feb. 15.

Fallout from GOP anti-abortion crusade: In Mississippi, “the number of babies who have been treated for the sexually transmitted disease has increased by more than 900% over five years.” “Medical professionals attribute the rising cases of congenital syphilis to inadequate prenatal health care, which includes syphilis testing, as well as an understaffed workforce,” according to The Guardian, Feb. 12.

Sins of the Fathers?: “San Diego Catholic Diocese faces bankruptcy over ‘staggering’ abuse lawsuit costs,” according to Los Angeles Times, Feb. 11.

Not just a sin, either: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm have been fined $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of its $32 billion portfolio, which was under church control, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission” reported CBS News, Feb. 21.

U.S. customer base affected?: “The largest synthetic fentanyl lab in history was seized in Mexico, according to the government there; the facility is said to have had enough drugs to make over 130 million doses,” according to Vice, Feb. 16.

No illegals whipped: “Though no horse reins were used, agents were found to have used force or the threat of force to drive migrants back into the Rio Grande toward the border, investigators found. But one agent admitted to ‘twirling these split reins as a distancing tactic’ despite no mention of such tactics in the patrol’s training documents. But there is no justification for the actions of some of our personnel, including unprofessional and deeply offensive conduct,” according to Politico July 8, 2022.

John H. Terrell