President-elect Joe Biden announced that he will ask Americans to mask up for 100 days after he is inaugurated. Meanwhile, former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton said that they will join Barack Obama in being vaccinated for the Wuhan Coronavirus on live TV.
In other news, the Chief Medical Officer in Ontario said that Canadians who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 will have their freedom of movement curtailed.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to JD, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Stocks hit record levels on Friday as traders shook off a disappointing print on job creation in November.
Each of the three major indices reached closing record highs, with the S&P 500’s gains led by energy and financials stocks as a cyclical rotation remained intact. A day earlier, the blue-chip index was pressured after the Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer (PFE) was contending with supply-chain issues that would impact this year’s deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine. The drug-maker, along with its German partner BioNTech (BNTX), plans to ship 50 million vaccines by year-end, as opposed to the 100 million it previously expected. It still anticipates handing over more than 1 billion doses in 2021, however, and Bloomberg reported on Friday that the company was closing in on hitting its vaccine target for this year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The 245,000 New Jobs Added Last Month is Smallest Since U.S. Recovery Began in May
The numbers: The U.S. regained 245,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate declined again, but hiring fell to a seven-month low in a clear sign the record rise in coronavirus cases is damaging the economy and making it harder for people to return to work.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Constitutional Roadmap for Conquering Election Fraud
Election fraud strikes at the heart of our Constitutional Republic. Therefore, Congress, the federal courts and the Executive Branch [i.e., the “United States”] have the duty, imposed by Article IV, §4, to negate the fraud in order to preserve our republican form of government.
As shown below, the States also have authority to remedy the election fraud committed in their State.
2— The Constitutional framework governing federal elections
These are the clauses in the US Constitution everyone should study:
I, §4 is the “times, places, and manner” clause: It means what it says! Federal and State judges, and federal and State executive agencies, have no authority to tinker with election laws made by the State Legislatures or Congress. When they tinker with the laws, their acts are usurpations and must be treated as such [link]. II, §1, clause 2: The President & Vice President are to be elected by Electors appointed, in such manner as the State Legislatures shall direct… II, §1, clause 4: Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors and the Day on which they Vote. The 12th Amendment sets forth the procedures for how the Electors are to cast their votes for President &then for Vice President. To our detriment, we have ignored those procedures for a long time. The 20th Amendment, §1, says the terms of President & Vice President end January 20; and the terms of Senators & Representatives end January 3. And §2 of the 20th Amendment says Congress shall meet on January 3, unless they make a law setting a different date. Congress did make a law which changed that date to January 6.
3— The Statutory framework
At Title 3, US Code, §§ 1-21 [link], Congress implemented the constitutional provisions.
Congress understood there would be fights in the States over the selection of the Electors. So they provided for the fights:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Arkansas Shelter Fills With Victims as Rate of Domestic Violence Crimes Rises
WYNNE, Ark. — WREG has been reporting for months how domestic violence and sexual abuse cases are on the rise as a result of COVID-19. It’s gotten so bad some shelters are out of space.
Phoebe Curtis manages the Second Chance Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Shelter in Wynne, Arkansas.
Right now, the shelter is full.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden on if he Disagrees With Kamala: “I’ll Develop Some Disease and Say I Have to Resign”
During a CNN interview, Joe Biden ‘joked’ that, “I’ll develop some disease and say I have to resign” if he disagrees with Kamala Harris.
Biden made the comment during a discussion with host Jake Tapper, who asked Biden how he would work with Harris.
“And like I told Barack, if I read something where there’s a fundamental disagreement we have based on a moral principle, I’ll develop some disease and say I have to resign,” Biden told Tapper.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden to Launch ‘Mask Up for 100 Days’ Campaign
Joe Biden declared Thursday that he will ask Americans to mask up for 100 days, and wants Anthony Fauci to become chief medical adviser to the president.
Biden made the comments in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Thursday saying “Just 100 days to mask, not forever. One hundred days. And I think we’ll see a significant reduction.”
Speaking about Fauci, Biden said “I asked him to stay on the exact same role he’s had for the past several presidents, and I asked him to be a chief medical adviser for me as well, and be part of the Covid team.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden COVID Chief Jeff Zients Gets Wikipedia Page Scrubbed and Rewritten
Wikipedia, an encyclopedia that anyone can edit and update, sounds useful in theory. But, then when you realize that it’s far from impartial, blacklisting any sources that go against official narratives, the cracks start to show.
And while it’s hard for someone to correct wrong or biased information against them, if you know how and have the power, it’s relatively easy to get your history scrubbed and rewritten in your favor.
That’s what’s happened with Jeff Zients, a top aide in the Biden camp set to become the person to head a potential Biden administration’s COVID-19 response.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bill to Decriminalize Marijuana at the Federal Level Passes the House
A bill to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level has passed the House of Representatives, marking the first time either legislative chamber has passed such a bill.
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act aims to “address the devastating injustices caused by the War on Drugs.” The lower chamber voted 228-164 to pass the bill with five Republicans voting in support of the legislation and six Democrats voting against it.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bush and Clinton Vow to Join Obama for Televised COVID Vaccination
After Barack Obama promised to take a COVID jab on live TV to help convince Americans it is safe, former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have also reportedly said they will do the same.
Speaking to CNN Bush’s chief of staff Freddy Ford announced that “A few weeks ago President Bush asked me to let Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx know that, when the time is right, he wants to do what he can to help encourage his fellow citizens to get vaccinated.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe says that China is the #1 threat to US national security, democracy, and freedom since World War II, and warns that America faces a “once-in-a-generation challenge” to resist Beijing’s effort to reshape the world “in its own image.”
“The intelligence is clear,” writes Ratcliffe in an Wall Street Journal op-ed. “Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically. Many of China’s major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.”
China employs what Ratcliffe calls a “rob, replicate and replace” strategy of economic espionage, by which Beijing robs US companies of their intellectual property, copies it, and then replaces the US firm they stole from in the global marketplace.
Ratcliffe points to the case of Chinese wind-turbine manufacturer Sinovel — which in 2018 a federal jury found guilty of stealing trade secrets from American Superconductor — costing the US firm over 700 jobs and $1 billion in shareholder value. Sinovel now sells wind turbines worldwide “as if it built a legitimate business through ingenuity and hard work rather than theft.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
City Leaders React to Local ‘Epidemic of Violence’
Mayor-elect Victor Gordo hosted a virtual community meeting Thursday night with Pasadena Police Chief John Perez and City Manager Steve Mermell to update the community on what is known about an increase in recent violence in the city.
The meeting was streamed from outside the Villa Parke Community Center because the latest incident occurred there just a few days ago, Gordo said.
Perez said Pasadena is caught up in the “national epidemic of violence” which has arisen during the worldwide pandemic.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
East Baton Rouge Homicides Tie Previous Record Set in 2017 as Violence Continues Unabated
After unprecedented violence over the past several months, homicides in East Baton Rouge Parish have tied the previous record set in 2017 as 2020 promises to become the parish’s most murderous year in recorded history.
Two fatal shootings on Wednesday preceded the news Friday afternoon that another man, who was shot Tuesday night on Scotland Avenue, had died in the hospital. Those killings pushed the parishwide murder count to a historic high — 106 lives lost to violence so far this year, according to unofficial records maintained by The Advocate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A federal appeals court in Georgia has approved an expedited review of pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell’s request for a forensic review of voting machines in three counties.
Powell filed a lawsuit last week alleging that Dominion Election Systems voting machines used in the 2020 election in Georgia are insecure and allow foreign agents to meddle in the U.S. election. U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten Sr.issued an order on Sunday restricting officials in Georgia’s Cherokee, Cobb, and Gwinnett counties from resetting Dominion Election Systems voting machines because of the lawsuit.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Man Friday: Kentucky Mayor One-UPS Florida Man, Joins Harold and Kumar at White Castle
Thanksgiving setup and cleanup and recovery (mostly recovery) prevented me from doing Florida Man Friday last week, so we have a ton of stories to cover this week.
Without any further ado then, join me on a belated edition of…
Florida Man Friday!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Georgia Gov. Kemp Calls for Signature Audit Following CCTV Footage of Late-Night Ballot Malarkey
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) has called for a signature audit of the 2020 election after CCTV footage from election night appears to show several Atlanta poll workers engaged in late-night ballot fraud.
“I called early on for a signature audit,” Kemp said in an interview with Fox News‘s “Ingraham Angle,” adding “I think it should be done… I think, especially with what we saw today — it raises more questions.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
GOP Raises 400% More Than Democrats for Georgia Runoff
Despite calls by Trump supporters for Republicans to withhold votes for Georgia GOP candidates in January’s runoff election, GOP donors have been showing up big for the candidates, despite their refusal to back the president’s claims of widespread election fraud.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Walking is no longer considered an essential activity unless you are engaging in the type of walking His Majesty Eric Garcetti in his infinite wisdom deems worthy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Newly-released emails from public records requests by the Portland Business Journal reveal that the Oregon governor’s former chief of staff who recently joined the Biden transition team showed support for violent Portland rioters.
“We all want the violence to end, but honestly, their point that violence against them has been going on for a very long period of time rings very true, and real actions to change that needs to happen,” wrote Gov. Kate Brown’s then-chief of staff Nik Blosser in an email exchange with Portland real estate businessman Jim Mark on Sept. 2.
Mark contacted the governor’s office to ask that they unequivocally condemn the violent riots and to take action to revive Portland’s dying businesses. In response, Blosser wrote: “I’d like to see your support for real change for people be as public as your concern about the property damage.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Proud Boys Join Protest at Defiant Staten Island Bar Closed Over COVID-19 Violations
Hundreds of people on Wednesday night — including members of the right-wing group Proud Boys — protested the closure of a Staten Island barthat ignored COVID-19 restrictions.
“Proud Boys in the house,” a handful of people chanted outside Mac’s Public House — the defiant pub that was shut down by authorities Tuesday night after operating without a license and in violation of health orders.
One speaker led the crowd through the Proud Boys credo — “I am a proud Western Chauvinist” — before segueing into Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rittenhouse Lawyer Quits Criminal Case After Prosecutors Imply Fundraising Grift
A criminal defense attorney for 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse has stepped back from the case after prosecutors raised questions over his links to an “unregulated slush fund” for the teen, according to the Chicago Tribune.
On Thursday, hours after prosecutors sought to block Los Angeles civil lawyer John M. Pierce from representing Rittenhouse against a murder charge and other counts stemming from an August 25 shooting incident in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Racine lawyer Mark Richards told the Tribune in an email that “I will be counsel for Kyle in the criminal matters,” while Pierce (and his colleague, Andrew Calderon) “won’t be.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Romney: Trump’s Election Fraud Claims ‘Damaging’ America — Biden Will be President January 20
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), on Thursday during CNN’s “Situation Room,” said that President Donald Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud are “damaging the cause of freedom and putting people’s lives at risk.”
Host Wolf Blitzer said, “How much damage is President Trump doing to our country, to our standing around the world, by refusing to concede and alleging widespread fraud going on all over the country?”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists May Have Found Cause of Mysterious Mass Deaths of Coho Salmon
Scientists believe they have figured out why coho salmon are mysteriously dying in large numbers after heavy rain events.
The key factor that contributes to the deaths is a chemical antioxidant known as 6PPD, which is used in tires to make them last longer; however, according to scientists, the 6PPD in the bits of tires left on the roads react with ozone to become a byproduct called 6PPD-quinone.
“We believe that 6PPD-quinone is the primary causal toxicant for these observations of coho salmon mortality in the field,” said the lead investigator for the study, Ed Kolodziej. “It’s exciting to start to understand what is happening because that starts to allow us to manage these problems more effectively.”
Coho salmon return from the Pacific Ocean each fall to spawn in streams and rivers and can be found from Alaska all the way down into California.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Up to 40 States Preparing to File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Facebook Next Week
At least 40 states are preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook after months of investigating the possibility. The lawsuit, led by the state of New York, could be filed as early as next week.
The lawsuit, like the Justice Department’s suit against Google in October, will focus on Facebook’s alleged abuse of its disproportionate power in the social media marketplace. Facebook has defended itself by pointing to the vibrancy of the social media world.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Violence Increasing Across the Nation
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — According to the Charlottesville Police Department’s crime map, the city has had a total of 44 incidents of shots being fired since July of this year.
Twenty of those incidents were from July, seven were from October, and nine were from November.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Voting Machine USB Drives Had Totals Altered Overnight, Witness in Nevada Election Contest Alleges
Authored by Ivan Pentchoukov via The Epoch Times
A witness brought forward by the Trump campaign in its election contest in Nevada alleged that the memory disks used to store vote totals from election machines during the early vote period had the vote tallies inexplicably changed overnight, according to a presentation at an evidentiary hearing in Carson City on Dec. 3.
According to Jesse Binnall, who presented the evidence on behalf of the Trump campaign, the witness, whose name is shielded by a protective order, said that the vote tallies were collected from the machine at the end of every voting day and stored on Universal Serial Bus (USB) drives overnight.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
White House Fires Pentagon Advisory Board Members Via Generic Email in Final Purge
Politico reports on Friday what appears to be the Trump admin’s final house cleaning of Pentagon top civilian ranks.
Multiple members of the Defense Business Board, the members of which are appointed annually by the Secretary of Defense to help streamline interaction with the defense private sector, were notified by White House email that they have been unexpectedly terminated.
Two former board members described it as Trump’s final “clean out” of Pentagon leadership during the remaining few weeks of his term.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chief Medical Officer Says Canadians Who Refuse Vaccine Won’t Have “Freedom to Move Around”
Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer says that those who refuse to take the COVID vaccine won’t have “freedom to move around” and will have to continue to wear masks.
Dr. David Williams was asked if he “would make some sort of mandatory vaccination recommendation.”
Williams acknowledged that “we can’t force someone to take a vaccine,” but when on to explain how people who didn’t take it would have their freedom of mobility severely restricted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British YouTuber Arrested by Police on “Terrorism” Charges for Filming Cops
A British YouTuber has been insulted, manhandled, and arrested for “terrorism” by local police in a town northwest of London because he was filming a video outside a police station.
The man, Kolee Berks, who identifies as an independent citizen journalist, says he was there to “audit” the comings and goings in front of the High Wycombe police station, i.e., in a public space.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarian MEP Was Probably Targeted by Secret Services, Former Spymaster Says
József Szajer, the Hungarian MEP who resigned his mandate after being caught at a Brussels house party, was very likely the target of secret services, Laszló Földi, former director of the Hungarian Information Office (the Hungarian equivalent of the CIA) told conservative daily Magyar Nemzet in an interview.
“It is probable that the Hungarian politician fell victim to an intelligence operation, who, as a target, obviously contributed to getting himself in such a situation. This was a fatal mistake on the part of József Szajer,” Földi said, adding that the coronavirus epidemic provided a good opportunity and appropriate conditions for the operation.
“After the curfew was ordered, the plan was put in motion. From then on, all they had to do was persuade Szajer to attend the gathering,” he said. “All the intelligence services quite obviously knew his sexual orientation and what company he kept. Presumably, an acquaintance moving in similar circles — fulfilling an assignment — simply invited him to the party. They exceeded the permitted number at the gathering, so the violation of the law took place immediately. As Szajer tried to escape and was on the street, he had already violated the curfew.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It Will Never be Enough: France Suggests Even if Brexit Deal is Agreed, They Would Veto it
A top figure in the French government accused British negotiators of being duplicitous in talks and suggested the nation could use its veto to kill any deal they didn’t deem in their interest, seriously knocking expectations in London and Brussels that an agreement was on the verge of being signed.
Reports and speculation in European media in recent days suggested a Brexit deal could have been agreed late this week, although without clear indication of who would have surrendered to who and on what issues in order to make such an unlikely breakthrough possible. Yet claims emerging on Friday now suggest that talks were not actually going so well, and could be torpedoed at the last minute by the French government in a bid to protect their own interests.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PM Orban to Manfred Weber: Rule-of-Law Mechanism is All About Harming Hungary and Poland
The European Union’s plans to tie the rule-of-law mechanism to cuts in EU funding are directly targeting Hungary and Poland despite claims to the contrary from European People’s Party group leader Manfred Weber, writes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Orban was responding to Weber’s online press conference on Dec. 3 where Weber claimed that the EU’s rule-of-law mechanism, which would enable Brussels to influence policies in nation states across the bloc, was not focused on Hungary and Poland.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis: 2020 Looked Bad Even Before the Coronavirus Outbreak
ROME — The year 2020 was already looking like a tough year even before the coronavirus outbreak, Pope Francis told a group of new ambassadors to the Holy See Friday.
“You are beginning your mission at a time of great challenge facing the entire human family,” the pontiff told ambassadors from Jordan, Kazakhstan, Zambia, Mauritania, Uzbekistan, Madagascar, Estonia, Rwanda, Denmark, and India.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Shops Disappearing From French No-Go Areas Over Security Issues
A survey released by the French Court of Auditors has warned of the increasing disappearance of local shops from vulnerable, impoverished no-go areas across the country due to security issues.
The survey described a “phenomena of withdrawal” of businesses from some of the estimated 1,500 disadvantaged neighbourhoods where the poverty rate is three times higher than the average for metropolitan France.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Police Using Number Plate Cameras to Track Down People Visiting Pubs in Neighboring Areas
Police in North Yorkshire are using number plate recognition cameras to track down people violating lockdown rules by leaving their area to visit a pub in a neighboring area with less severe restrictions.
Under the UK’s current lockdown rules, all pubs and restaurants located in tier 3 regions are closed, but pubs in tier 2 areas can remain open if they serve “substantial meals.”
This has prompted some people who live in tier 3 areas to drive to tier 2 areas nearby so they can enjoy a pint.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Protect the NHS’: Doctors Applying DNRs Without Consent May Have Caused Avoidable Deaths
The UK’s care watchdog has heard evidence that NHS doctors enforced ‘do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ (DNACPR) orders on care home patients during the coronavirus wave, admitting the decisions could have caused avoidable deaths.
The Care and Quality Commission (CQC) initiated an investigation in October after concerns were raised that doctors and GP surgeries were ordering blanket DNACPRs on elderly people in care homes and the disabled in case they caught the Chinese coronavirus.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Birmingham Woman Accused of Sending Islamic State Video to Cop Appears in Court
A Birmingham woman accused of sending Islamic State terrorist videos to an undercover officer on encrypted messaging app Telegram has appeared in court.
British Muslim convert Aaminah Amatullah, who was formerly known as Alison Claire Beech, of Livingstone Road, Handsworth, faces two charges of disseminating terrorist publications in September last year.
The 38-year-old is accused of sharing extreme Islamist material with an online contact, who she did not know was an undercover officer.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: One Rule for Me: ‘High Value’ Executives, Athletes, Media Freed From Two Weeks’ COVID Quarantine
Elites from the world of business, entertainment, and the media will be able to enjoy bypassing the strict coronavirus two-week quarantine that ordinary passengers have to abide by if they are travelling from ‘high risk’ coronavirus countries.
Anyone entering the UK from the some 130 high-risk countries, including the United States and most of Europe, have to self-isolate on arrival for two weeks or face a £10,000 fine. There are necessary exemptions in place for hauliers, airline pilots and staff, diplomats, coach drivers, emergency service workers, and around 50 other groups.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Patrolling Pubs, Throwing Out Customers for Eating Scotch Eggs
Police in the UK are patrolling pubs and throwing out customers who they deem to not be eating a “substantial meal” under COVID-19 rules.
The confusion stems from rules that dictate pubs located in ‘tier 2’ regions can only stay open if they also operate as restaurants.
This means they can only serve alcohol if they also serve a “substantial meal.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan: My Wish is for France to Get Rid of Macron as Soon as Possible
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a new offensive against his French counterpart Emanuel Macron in a speech where he wished France would get rid of him soon.
Erdogan even expressed the view that Macron is a problem for France.
“My wish for France is to get rid of Macron as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will have to deal with the ‘Yellow Vest’ protesters for a longer period of time, or the ‘Red Vests’ may also appear,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Woos Funder of Islamic Terrorism
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (ChurchMilitant.com) — The Vatican is stepping up its alliance with a pan-Islamic organization alleged to have provided “material support” to al-Qaeda’s 9/11 terrorist operation as well as to have funded terrorism and the global propagation of hardline Wahhabi Islam.
As part of recent efforts at re-branding its image through “religious diplomacy,” the Saudi-sponsored Muslim World League (MWL) hosted the Vatican’s envoy to the United Nations (U.N.) Sunday for a book presentation on interreligious dialogue.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Chinese Woman Criticized the Chinese Communist Party on Twitter. Now She’s Disappeared.
The plight of a Chinese woman who recently briefly found her voice on Twitter only to be silenced again at once shows the extent of control the country’s authorities exert over their population, and the harm that constant surveillance can inflict on an individual.
Dong Yaoqiong’s troubles started in July 2018, when she protested against China’s Communist Party (CCP) by pouring ink on a poster depicting President Xi Jinping and live streamed the whole thing on Twitter. She was working as a real estate agent in Shanghai at the time.
Since then, until this December, she has reportedly been detained on three different occasions, twice in psychiatric hospitals where she was forced to take medication for alleged mental issues.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Asymptomatic People Do Not Spread COVID-19
Story at-a-glance:
A vast majority of those testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic. They simply aren’t sick. The PCR test is merely picking up inactive (noninfectious) viral particles
In one study, which looked at pregnant women admitted for delivery, 87.5% of the women who tested positive for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 had no symptoms
A study looking at PCR test data from nearly 10 million residents in Wuhan city found that not a single one of those who had been in close contact with an asymptomatic individual tested positive
Of the 34,424 residents with a history of COVID-19, 107 individuals tested positive a second time, but none were symptomatic and none were infectious
When asymptomatic patients were tested for antibodies, they discovered that 190 of the 300, or 63.3%, had actually had a “hot” or productive infection resulting in the production of antibodies. Still, none of their contacts had been infected
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Australian PM Scott Morrison Uses WeChat to Point Out China’s Propaganda, Gets Deleted
A row over a disturbing image of an Australian soldier shared by a Chinese official online, which was doctored and represented an outrageous slur, has escalated to Chinese social media censoring a message by Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry posted the photo on November 29, allegedly an “art” depiction showing an Australian soldier holding a knife to a child’s throat, apparently trying to capitalize on a negative public sentiment amid an investigation in Australia into allegations that its forces had committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China Aims to Create Artificial Precipitation for Half of Country by 2025
China’s government announced this week that it is expanding its weather-modification program fivefold, allowing it to create artificial rain and snow across half the nation to assist with droughts and fires.
The project uses a technology known as “cloud seeding,” a method of spraying liquid nitrogen or silver iodide into clouds, which causes water droplets to condense and fall. A chemist at General Electric in the U.S. was the first to discover the method in 1946.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter Likes to Censor Government Officials in the US — But Not Those From China
Twitter is known for its overzealous flagging and censorship of elected officials in the US — most notably President Trump and other members of the Republican party. It’s also known for censoring opinions that go against the official narrative on election issues and coronavirus.
But, there’s always been one group that Twitter is known for letting off the hook. Twitter is accused of continuing to ignore misleading information from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — which is ironic as Twitter is completely banned in Mainland China.
Why is the social media platform that has made itself the arbiter of truth not keen on censoring false information spread by Chinese leaders when it censors other leaders?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Uighur Leader: ‘We’re Actually Quite Worried’ About What Biden Might Let China Get Away With
His Fraudulency the President-select should be required to disclose all pertinent information about his ties with the Chinese leadership, and assure the American people that he will not be a puppet of the People’s Republic. But for that we would need some actual journalists.
The Chinese repression of the Uighurs involves monstrous human rights abuses, perpetrated under the guise of fighting against jihad terrorism. In reality, resistance to jihad terrorism should be pursued in defense of humane values; if the counterterror measures are worse than the terror, then the counterterror activity is pointless except as an endeavor to exalt one gang of thugs over another.
There is no indication that either President Biden or President Harris will exert any pressure upon China to end this, or to do anything at all that it does not wish to do.
“Uighur Leader: We’re ‘Quite Worried’ About What a Biden Administration Would Let China Get Away With,” by Erin Coates, Western Journal, December 2, 2020.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Marise Payne gave a speech to public servants in Canberra on Friday after tensions with the communist superpower escalated dramatically this week.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Prosecution Requests One-Year Prison Sentence for Migrant Who Beat His Toddler on the Street
The public prosecutor’s office is demanding a one-year prison sentence for a refugee in Belgium who repeatedly punched his 2-year-old son. The child suffered fractures and may have permanent growth problems. The refugee’s lawyer asks that extenuating circumstances be taken into account and that only a suspended sentence be imposed, Belgian news portal Sceptr reports.
On August 19, Abdul S. went for a walk in Leuven with his sister-in-law and 2-year-old son. Abdul S. was drunk and suddenly started hitting the toddler with clenched fists. Shocked bystanders immediately called the police and began filming the incident. The man was arrested; the boy suffered injuries on his mouth and forehead.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Afghan Migrant Appears in Court for Attempted Murder of 79-Year-Old Female Neighbor
An Afghan migrant on trial for the attempted murder of his 79-year-old female neighbor appeared before the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Assize Court earlier this week. Among other charges, the migrant stands accused of having repeatedly stabbed the victim on Oct. 13, 2017.
Prior to the life-threatening attack, the female victim had been living in an apartment in the commune of Oloron-Saint-Marie, in the region of Béarn in southwestern France for 25 years without incident. The attacker, Ansar Akhondi, a 26-year-old Afghan male who is said to have crossed several countries before arriving in France, had lived in the same building as the victim for eight months prior to the attack, Ouest France reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The problem is that Western authorities are almost universally in denial about the provenance of the jihad threat. Nor do they generally know much of anything about the Islamic supremacist world view. Accordingly, they could hail Karam A. as a model refugee without knowing the first thing about what he thought about Islam, jihad, homosexuals, and more. This incident will not change that, and the willful ignorance will continue, which means there will be many more attacks like this one.
“Pensioner suffocated with dentures,” translated from “Rentner mit Zahnprothese erstickt,” by Jörg Völkerling, Bild, November 30, 2020 (thanks to Medforth).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German police are investigating a Syrian refugee YouTuber on suspicion of glorifying violence after he released a video showing him and others “shooting” a man dressed as a police officer.
YouTuber Fayez Kanfash is well-known for releasing provocative videos, including one in which he led a man wearing a mask depicting French President Emmanuel Macron on a leash in Berlin.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Organized People Smuggling Switches to German Drivers After Numerous Romanians Apprehended
On Thursday alone, Hungarian police had to intervene in 307 illegal border-crossing attempts in the country’s southeastern Csongrad County, conservative daily Magyar Nemzet reports. As a large number of Romanian drivers have been caught in the past few months, people smugglers are now recruiting drivers from other countries, mostly Germany.
Among the seven people smugglers apprehended in recent days, the Hungarian police have not prosecuted any suspects holding Romanian citizenship, but Bulgarian, Hungarian, Serbian and three German men have been charged, Magyar Nemzet writes.
In the first three days of December, smugglers attempted to take 72 illegal immigrants from Hungary to Austria. According to Magyar Nemzet, after the successive failures of Romanian drivers and the confiscation of vans registered in Romania, organized crime gangs operating in Serbia have started using new smugglers of alternate nationalities.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Romanian lorry driver has been charged with attempting to smuggle migrants out of the UK including one man suspected of child sex offences.
Sebastian Gabriel Podar, 48, was arrested at Dover Port on December 2 as he waited to board a cross channel ferry to France.
Officers from the National Crime Agency searched the truck and discovered nine people hidden in the back, including a 39-year-old Bangladeshi man who was under investigation for child sex offences by Nottinghamshire Police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Muslim Migrants at Hotel Go on Hunger Strike, One Demands a Room With a Sea View
This is no surprise. Non-Muslims paying for the upkeep of Muslims is a Qur’anic dictate:
“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (Qur’an 9:29).
The caliph Umar said the jizya payments from the dhimmis were the source of the Muslims’ livelihood:
“Narrated Juwairiya bin Qudama at-Tamimi: We said to ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab, ‘O Chief of the believers! Advise us.’ He said, ‘I advise you to fulfill Allah’s Convention (made with the Dhimmis) as it is the convention of your Prophet and the source of the livelihood of your dependents (i.e. the taxes from the Dhimmis.)’“ (Bukhari 4.53.388)
UK jihad preacher Anjem Choudary said in February 2013:
“We are on Jihad Seekers Allowance, We take the Jizya (protection money paid to Muslims by non-Muslims) which is ours anyway. The normal situation is to take money from the Kafir (non-Muslim), isn’t it? So this is normal situation. They give us the money. You work, give us the money. Allah Akbar, we take the money. Hopefully there is no one from the DSS (Department of Social Security) listening. Ah, but you see people will say you are not working. But the normal situation is for you to take money from the Kuffar (non-Muslim) So we take Jihad Seeker’s Allowance.”
“Illegal immigrants at the s’Arenal hotel on hunger strike,” translated from “Inmigrantes ilegales del hotel de s’Arenal, en huelga de hambre,” by J.Jiménez and V.Malagón, Ultima Hora, November 20, 2020 (thanks to Mason).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Priti Patel today vowed to deport a group of Jamaican criminals ‘as soon as possible’ after she was prevented from kicking them out of Britain by a group of LabourMPs and left-leaning celebrities whose legal challenges are costing the taxpayer millions each year, MailOnline can reveal today.
The Home Secretary has also accused ‘do-gooding’ politicians and stars of insulting Windrush victims by comparing the scandal to Britain’s policy of deporting rapists, murderers and thugs after their release from jail.
It came as Home Office accounts revealed that last-minute legal challenges that see criminals pulled from planes about to leave the UK is going up each year, reaching £2.2million in the past 12 months. This is up from £2.04million in 2018/19.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The sustainable ideal will ask you to “need less” and accept living in a cardboard box. We will be moved to highly concentrated areas designated for “humans”, mostly on the coasts, equating to about 10% of the current US landmass, all for the supposed sake of protecting the Earth. Government will decide whether you can own a car, whether you can grow your own food and the materials and limited specifications your home can have. All this Trump could have warned US about.
Under Agenda 21, sustainable social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people “to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment.” In order to redistribute wealth, private property is mandated to be a social injustice since not everyone can build wealth from it. National sovereignty is a social injustice. Universal health care is a social justice. These are all part of Agenda21 policy.
“Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class — involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work air conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable.” —Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UN’s Earth Summit, 1992.
Agenda 21 seeks to remove our ability to have ambition and improve ourselves. “We must make this place an insecure and inhospitable place for Capitalists and their projects — we must reclaim the roads and plowed lands,halt dam construction, tear down existing dams, free shackled rivers and return to wilderness millions of tens of millions of acres or presently settled land.” —Dave Foreman, Earth First.
Almost all things that make our current life livable are hurting the earth and must be abolished. According to the UN, what is anti-environment, i.e. what is not sustainable? Ski runs, grazing of livestock, plowing of soil, building fences, industry, single family homes, paved and tarred roads, logging activities, dams and reservoirs, power line construction, and economic systems that fail to set proper value on the environment.” —UN’s Biodiversity Assessment Report.
In short order, the American public will come to realize what all people living under a Communist yoke come to realize; that there are two sets of people, the regular citizens and the plutocracy. The plutocracy are privileged. They get what they want or need. Regular citizens however, learn that, one must go, hat in hand, to their Communist bosses,to get anything; food, shelter, a better job, etc. And, just like children telling Santa that they were good little boys or girls, deserving of a gift, Americans will be lining up to beg for some token — instead of demanding and, if needed, to fight for what is our natural born right — the ability to make our own decisions and to live with the results — under a set of rules, i.e. the Constitution, which guarantees that our government defends an individual’s liberty.
For a more comprehensive understanding of UN Agenda 21 see Tom DeWeese’s book: Agenda 21-The Wrenching Transformation of America
So that this plan can be instituted, much of which is in the “Green New Deal,” Biden and his cohorts have stolen an election and perverted the US election system. The only positive I can hope for is that regular citizens and conservatively oriented citizens will now believe that we are under attack by home based terrorists who want total control of our lives and who will stop at nothing to achieve their collectivist Machiavellian desires.
Unless we wake up and are active in opposing this active US terror campaign, we will find ourselves being piled into box cars to be hauled off to the already prepared concentration camps, just like Jews were during World War II. With the benefit of hindsight, we wonder why Jews did not fight back. Future Americans will wonder, why people could not see the subversion that was happening right under their noses. Future Americans will wonder, what ever happened to the American spirit of “Live Free or Die?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Etsy Bans “Stop the Steal” Beanies for “Harmful Misinformation”
In the wake of the 2020 US presidential election, many Big Tech platforms cracked down on users who were using the “Stop the Steal” slogan to highlight vote-counting irregularities.
Now ecommerce platform Etsy has started to remove products containing this phrase and has banned a listing for Stop the Steal beanie hats that were being sold by the Etsy seller Deplorable Knitter.
Columnist and author Michelle Malkin shared a photo of the hats that had been banned and the email that Etsy sent to Deplorable Knitter after her listing was removed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube channel RationalityRule announced on December 2 that YouTube had taken down one of the videos from their channel that’s dedicated to debunking conspiracy theories.
Even though the channel did not receive a strike, its owner, clearly upset by this turn of events, said they were quitting “debunking” conspiracy theories over on YouTube — at least for the time being.
In a message explaining the decision, while addressing “Rationality Rules,” Google’s video giant said the reason was a violation of their medical misinformation policy. As YouTube remarked, the company bans content that explicitly disputes the efficacy of the rules imposed by local health authorities and the WHO.
Things got a little confusing when it emerged that the removed video was called, “The COVID-5G Conspiracy — Debunked.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube, owned by data behemoth Google, is planning to ask users to share their ethnicity, sexual preferences, and gender so that it has more data with which to develop algorithms and manipulate the way content is shown across the platform.
YouTube says this will help it in removing “unintentional bias” from its moderation systems to help it tackle “hate speech.”
Embracing intersectional ideology, YouTube wants new ways to manipulate its algorithms to change content promotion on the platform depending on the personal identity of the creator.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
WHO Mandates Digital Vaccine Passports
Earlier in the year, online speculation about digital “immunity passports” were treated as conspiracy theories, but now the World Health Organization (WHO) is mandating digital immunity passports to allow people who receive the coronavirus vaccine to travel internationally.
However, there are concerns that the so-called immunity passports could result in societal inequality and could normalize digital “good citizen” passes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Azerbaijani Diocese of the ROC holds a memorial service for the dead Azerbaijani soldiers (they are called martyrs)
https://haqqin.az/news/195336
The memory of the martyrs of the Patriotic War was honored in the Cathedral of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women in Baku.
In the service with the participation of Bishop Alexander Ishein and the main priest of the temple Leonid Miltikh, prayers for the repose of the souls of martyrs were read, wishes for healing the wounded were expressed.
The Cathedral of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women is considered the main temple of the Baku and Caspian Diocese.
Joe Biden is not “president-elect.” Joe Biden is one of two candidates in a yet-to-be completed and seriously disputed election.
Evidently you were unable to detect the irony in my exposition. I should have included an irony mark (؟).
I was disgusted by your making that statement, Ned. Actually, it shocked me that you said it. OUR reelected President had a great rally tonight in Valdosta, GA. IT was as usual a riveting speech. I really don’t see how he keeps such a good attitude after all the persecution he has been put through by Democrat satan worshipers.
Well, I guess you don’t get irony, either.
Beijing Biden is not my president and never will be. The bitter Bindi the Kamal will push lovable ol’ Uncle Groper down the stairs if need be.
Maybe the clueless drooling dullards will fall for that let’s unify around the Covid-1984 vaccine but anyone with two brain cells and a synapse will fart in their general direction.
Unity? Bwahaha! This isn’t Fakebook and I am not your comrade.
Kamala Harris has blown on the vaccine. When she was having her pre election debate with the Vice President she said twice she wasn’t going to have the vaccine while Trump was President.