WASHINGTON '' Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took additional action against seven individuals and four entities that are part of a Russia-linked foreign influence network associated with Andrii Derkach. Russian agent Derkach was designated on September 10, 2020, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13848, for his attempt to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
''Russian disinformation campaigns targeting American citizens are a threat to our democracy,'' said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. ''The United States will continue to aggressively defend the integrity of our election systems and processes.''
Treasury Targets Derkach's Inner CircleSince at least 2019, Derkach and his associates have leveraged U.S. media, U.S.-based social media platforms, and influential U.S. persons to spread misleading and unsubstantiated allegations that current and former U.S. officials engaged in corruption, money laundering, and unlawful political influence in Ukraine. Former Ukrainian Government officials Konstantin Kulyk, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, Andriy Telizhenko, and current Ukraine Member of Parliament Oleksandr Dubinsky have publicly appeared or affiliated themselves with Derkach through the coordinated dissemination and promotion of fraudulent and unsubstantiated allegations involving a U.S. political candidate. They have made repeated public statements to advance disinformation narratives that U.S. government officials have engaged in corrupt dealings in Ukraine. These efforts are consistent with and in support of Derkach's efforts, acting as an agent of the Russian intelligence services, to influence the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. Kulyk, a former prosecutor for the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, formed an alliance with Derkach to spread false accusations of international corruption. Onyshchenko, a fugitive from Ukrainian justice due to charges of corruption, provided edited audio tape copies of purported audio recordings of conversations between former Ukrainian and U.S. officials, which Derkach released between May and July 2020 to discredit U.S. officials and influence the U.S. elections. Telizhenko, a former low-level Ukrainian diplomat, orchestrated meetings between Derkach and U.S. persons to help propagate false claims concerning corruption in Ukraine. Dubinsky, who serves alongside Derkach in Ukraine's parliament, joined Derkach in press conferences designed to perpetuate these and other false narratives and denigrate U.S. presidential candidates and their families.
Kulyk, Onyshchenko, Telizhenko, and Dubinsky are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13848 for having directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign influence in a United States election.
Treasury Targets Disinformation Apparatus Supporting DerkachNabuLeaks and Era-Media TOV are media front companies in Ukraine that push false narratives at Derkach's behest. Derkach has been the de facto owner of Era-Media-related companies since the 1990s. More recently, Derkach created the NabuLeaks platform to disparage the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). NABU was created in 2015 as one of three specialized anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine. Derkach and Dubinsky have lobbied against NABU in an effort to replace NABU leadership, discredit NABU as an organization, and deny their own corrupt practices.
NabuLeaks and Era-Media TOV are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13848 for being owned or controlled by Derkach. Derkach has also used a network of media professionals and assistants to operate these entities, supporting his influence campaign centered on cultivating false or unsubstantiated narratives and spurring corruption investigations in both Ukraine and the United States.
Petro Zhuravel is a key member of Derkach's media team. He acts as Derkach's media manager, and serves as website administrator for NabuLeaks, a cornerstone of Derkach's election influence platform. Zhuravel provides technological support that underpins Derkach's online activities. Zhuravel owns Only News and Skeptik TOV, which are media front companies in Ukraine that spread disinformation. These entities host websites that are part of a network of news sites that are controlled by Derkach's media team and that help spread Derkach's disinformation.
Dmytro Kovalchuk is a long-time supporter of Derkach. Most recently, he served in the ranks of Derkach's media team, where he provided profiles on U.S. political figures. Anton Simonenko served as Derkach's assistant for nearly a decade and helped Derkach hide financial assets. Simonenko continues to be one of Derkach's closest associates.
Zhuravel, Kovalchuk, and Simonenko are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13848 for having materially assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Derkach. Only News and Skeptik TOV are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13848 for being owned or controlled by Zhuravel. The Treasury Department encourages the American people to confirm information received via social media intelligently by going to multiple trusted sources for news and information, particularly when the source or suspected source of the information is from outside the United States. More information specific to the U.S. 2020 election and disinformation campaigns can be found here: https://www.cisa.gov/rumorcontrol.
As a result of today's designations, all property and interests in property of these targets that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Additionally, any entities 50 percent or more owned by one or more designated persons are also blocked.
View identifying information on the individuals and entities sanctioned today.
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Text of a Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate | The White House
Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order taking further steps to deal with the threat posed by the People's Republic of China's (PRC) increasing exploitation of United States capital to resource and to enable the development and modernization of its military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses which continue to allow the PRC to directly threaten the United States homeland and United States forces overseas, including by developing and deploying weapons of mass destruction, advanced conventional weapons, and malicious cyber-enabled actions against the United States and its people.
Through the national strategy of Military-Civil Fusion, the PRC increases the size of the country's military-industrial complex by compelling civilian Chinese companies to support its military and intelligence activities. Those companies, though remaining ostensibly private and civilian, directly support the PRC's military, intelligence, and security apparatuses and aid in their development and modernization. At the same time, they raise capital by selling securities to United States investors that trade on public exchanges both here and abroad, lobbying United States index providers and funds to include these securities in market offerings, and engaging in other acts to ensure access to United States capital. In that way, the PRC exploits United States investors to finance the development and modernization of its military.
To deal with that threat, I signed Executive Order 13959 on November 12, 2020. Executive Order 13959 prohibits certain purchases involving publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities, of any Communist Chinese military company. Those companies are ones the Department of Defense has listed, or will list, pursuant to section 1237 of Public Law 105-261, as amended, or are identified as Communist Chinese military companies or their subsidiaries by the Secretary of the Treasury using similar criteria.
Today, I signed an Executive Order amending Executive Order 13959. The amendments prohibit certain sales as well as purchases of publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities, of any Communist Chinese military company. They also prohibit possession of such securities by United States persons 1 year after a company is determined to be a Communist Chinese military company. And, finally, they allow the Secretary of Defense publicly to list whether a company is a Communist Chinese military company using the criteria in section 1237(b)(4)(B) of Public Law 105-261, as amended by section 1233 of Public Law 106-398 and section 1222 of Public Law 108'375, regardless of whether the Secretary must report that determination under section 1237(b)(2).
I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued.
Sincerely,
DONALD J. TRUMP
"Incitement" Timeline Debunked as Ex-Capitol Police Chief Says Pelosi, McConnell's Sergeants-at-Arms Refused Security Measures - The National Pulse
The Washington Post has reported that the outgoing Capitol Police Chief, Steve Sund, believes his efforts to secure the premises were undermined by a lack of concern from House and Senate security officials who answer directly to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate leader Mitch McConnell. The National Pulse can also report the Washington Post's timeline proves it was impossible for Trump speech attendees to have made it to the Capitol in time for the breach.In addition to the fact that Trump openly called for the ''cheering on'' of Congressman, and ''peaceful'' protests, the timeline as established from numerous, establishment media reports simply doesn't stack up.
The admission that House and Senate security leaders failed to provide Capitol Police with resources on the day will raise questions over their role in the day's events.
WaPo reported late Sunday night:
Two days before Congress was set to formalize President-elect Joe Biden's victory, Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund was growing increasingly worried about the size of the pro-Trump crowds expected to stream into Washington in protest.
To be on the safe side, Sund asked House and Senate security officials for permission to request that the D.C. National Guard be placed on standby in case he needed quick backup.
But, Sund said Sunday, they turned him down.
In his first interview since pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol last week, Sund, who has since resigned his post, said his supervisors were reluctant to take formal steps to put the Guard on call even as police intelligence suggested that the crowd President Trump had invited to Washington to protest his defeat probably would be much larger than earlier demonstrations.
House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving said he wasn't comfortable with the ''optics'' of formally declaring an emergency ahead of the demonstration, Sund said. Meanwhile, Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger suggested that Sund should informally seek out his Guard contacts, asking them to ''lean forward'' and be on alert in case Capitol Police needed their help.
Irving could not be reached for comment. A cellphone number listed in his name has not accepted messages since Wednesday. Messages left at a residence he owns in Nevada were not immediately returned, and there was no answer Sunday evening at a Watergate apartment listed in his name. A neighbor said he had recently moved out.
Sund recalled a conference call with Pentagon officials and officials from the D.C. government. He said on the call: ''I am making an urgent, urgent immediate request for National Guard assistance'... I have got to get boots on the ground.''
But the request was apparently denied over optics.
''I don't like the visual of the National Guard standing a police line with the Capitol in the background,'' an Army official replied.
John Falcicchio, chief of staff for D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser admitted: ''Literally, this guy is on the phone, I mean, crying out for help. It's burned in my memories.''
The Dodgy Timeline. And while the Washington Post clumsily attempts to blame President Trump for the violence '' despite the President calling for ''peaceful'' protests and the ''cheering on'' of Congressmen '' their own article admits the ''first wave of protesters arrived at the Capitol about 12:40pm.''
President Trump's speech didn't conclude until 1:11pm, and with at least a 45-minute walk between the two locations with crowd-related delays, that would put the first people from Trump's speech at Capitol Hill no earlier than 1:56pm '' a full hour and sixteen minutes after troublemakers arrived.
In fact, rioters who breached the perimeter would have had to leave before Trump's speech even began (at 12pm precisely) to make it in time for the events as they are detailed by authorities.
The Washington Post also states: ''Sund's outer perimeter on the Capitol's west side was breached within 15 minutes,'' meaning the Capitol was breached over an hour before Trump speech attendees could have even begun to arrive.
This correlates with Sund's interview, where he admits: ''I realized at 1pm, things aren't going well'... I'm watching my people getting slammed.''
Again, 1pm would have been a full 56-minutes before any Trump speech-attendees could have begun arriving, let alone breaching the perimeter and clashing with police. Downtown Washington, D.C. roads were closed. There was no way of arriving faster, let alone before the President had finished speaking.
At 1:09pm, still before the President had finished speaking, Sund called the Sergeants-at-arms of the House and Senate. He told them it was time to call in the National Guard. He even said he wanted an emergency declaration. Both, however, said they would ''run it up the chain'' and get back to him.
At 1:50pm the Capitol itself was breached. Still before most Trump speech attendees could have arrived.
What happened after this point was a back and forth over hours between D.C. officials, Army officials, and Capitol police.
Eventually '' at past 5pm '' the National Guard arrived.
And while Sund is quoted in the Washington Post as blaming President Trump's speech for the violence that ensued '' the timeline means that makes no sense.
The President's fans are not known for leaving his speeches 5 or 10 minutes in. And by the time the Capitol was breached, those who had stayed to listen to even the first 15 minutes would not have even made it there in time.
SUPPORT THE NATIONAL PULSE
Idaho internet company blocks Facebook, Twitter over 'censorship' | krem.com
The actions of Your T1 WIFI, which provides internet services to North Idaho and the Spokane area, could violate Washington state's Net Neutrality law.
SPOKANE, Wash. '-- A North Idaho internet provider, Your T1 WIFI, confirmed it is blocking Facebook and Twitter from its WIFI service for some customers due to censorship claims.
Your T1 WIFI provides internet services to North Idaho and the Spokane area.
The move comes after Twitter and Facebook banned President Trump from their platforms due to incitement of violence and undermining the transition of power to President elect Joe Biden.
The social media sites banned the President due to violations of their terms of service. Because Twitter and Facebook are private companies, their bans on the President do not violate the First Amendment, which protects speech from being limited by the government.
Your T1 WIFI's actions, however, could violate Washington state's Net Neutrality law.
Your T1 WIFI said it decided to block Twitter and Facebook after the company received several calls from customers about both websites.
"It has come to our attention that Twitter and Facebook are engaged in censorship of our customers and information," an email to customers reads.
The service provider said the change would go into effect on Wednesday, Jan. 13.
In an email posted to Twitter by a customer, Krista Yep, the company says it was fielding calls from customers asking that the service not display the sites on the internet, and that they didn't want their children to be able to access them.
"Our company does not believe a website or social networking site has the authority to censor what you see and post and hide information from you, stop you from seeing what your friends and family are posting," the email reads. "This is why with the amount of concerns, we have made this decision to block these two websites from being accessed from our network."
The company did not specify what complaints customers had made.
Yep said she found the company's email to customers alarming.
"I was pretty shocked that they were just coming out and saying that," Yep said. "If it's not illegal, it's highly unethical."
Initially, the company said too many customers had requested the sites be blocked, so it would block them for all customers except for those who called the company and requested access. However, the company backtracked on Monday and said those who didn't request the sites be blocked would still have access.
"Just because you don't like what Twitter and Facebook have done, then you decide to block it for everyone else, so in your opposition to censorship, you're going with censorship," Yep said.
Yep said she plans to cancel her service, regardless of the company's backtracking.
"Their original email was pretty alarming and I don't trust them anymore," she said.
Yep forwarded additional emails from the company to KREM. In them, the company states that two-thirds of customers asked for Twitter and Facebook to be blocked.
In the emails, the company also wrote that their contract and acceptable use policy allows them to block websites if they deem the content "break any rules (sic) or illegal or harmful to our customers and more."
In a phone call with KREM, the owner of the company, Brett Fink, again said the websites would only be blocked for customers who asked.
"We've had customers asked to be blocked by it. That is what the email was about, so no we are not blocking anybody, only the ones that have asked for it," Fink said.
While Your T1 WIFI says they acted in response to censorship, the company's actions could also be considered censorship. In addition, they may violate Washington state's Net Neutrality law, which states that internet providers may not manipulate access to content.
The law contains the following language:
A person engaged in the provision of broadband internet access service in Washington state, insofar as the person is so engaged, may not:(a) Block lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful devices, subject to reasonable network management;(b) Impair or degrade lawful internet traffic on the basis of internet content, application, or service, or use of a nonharmful device, subject to reasonable network management; or(c) Engage in paid prioritization
A spokesperson for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's office said the attorney general's Consumer Protection Division was "taking a look at the matter." Brionna Aho, a spokesperson for Attorney General Bob Ferguson, said he takes enforcement of the net neutrality law "very seriously."
Idaho does not have the same net neutrality law. A representative for the Idaho Attorney General said their office lacks the original jurisdiction to be the enforcement authority in this matter.
KREM has also reached out to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for comment.
Ex-Capitol Police Chief Says Requests For National Guard Denied 6 Times In Riots : Insurrection At The Capitol: Live Updates : NPR
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund resigned after thousands of supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday. Sund says his requests to superiors to get the National Guard to respond to the riot at the Capitol were rebuffed. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
toggle caption Spencer Platt/Getty Images Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund resigned after thousands of supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday. Sund says his requests to superiors to get the National Guard to respond to the riot at the Capitol were rebuffed.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images The former chief of U.S. Capitol Police says security officials at the House and Senate rebuffed his early requests to call in the National Guard ahead of a demonstration in support of President Trump that turned into a deadly attack on Congress.
Former chief Steven Sund -- who resigned his post last week after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for him to step down -- made the assertions in an interview with The Washington Post published Sunday.
Sund contradicts claims made by officials after Wednesday's assault on Capitol Hill. Sund's superiors said previously that the National Guard and other additional security support could have been provided, but no one at the Capitol requested it.
Sund told the Post that House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving was concerned with the "optics" of declaring an emergency ahead of the protests and rejected a National Guard presence. He says Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger recommended that he informally request the Guard to be ready in case it was needed to maintain security.
Like Sund, Irving and Stenger have also since resigned their posts.
Sund says he requested assistance six times ahead of and during the attack on the Capitol. Each of those requests was denied or delayed, he says.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser also wanted a light police presence at the Capitol. She reportedly wanted to avoid a similar scenario as last summer, when federal forces responded to demonstrators opposed to police abuses who assembled near the White House.
During Wednesday's violence, Bowser requested, and received, a limited force of 340 from the D.C. National Guard. Those troops were unarmed and their job was to help with traffic flow '-- not law enforcement, which was meant to be handled by D.C. police.
When the mob reached the Capitol complex at about 12:40 p.m. ET on Wednesday, it took about 15 minutes for the west side perimeter of the building to be breached, he says. The Capitol Police contingent, which numbered around 1,400 that day, was quickly overrun by the estimated 8,000 rioters.
"If we would have had the National Guard we could have held them at bay longer, until more officers from our partner agencies could arrive," he says.
Sund says during a conference call with several law enforcement officials at about 2:26 p.m., he asked the Pentagon to provide backup.
Senior Army official Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, director of the Army Staff, said on the call he couldn't recommend that Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy authorize deployment, Sund and others on the call told the Post. Piatt reportedly said, "I don't like the visual of the National Guard standing a police line with the Capitol in the background," the Post reported.
It would be more than three hours before any National Guard troops arrived, well after the damage at the Capitol had been done.
In the interview, Sund also issued a warning to federal officials, saying "if they don't get their act together with physical security, it's going to happen again."
Pentagon held table-top contingency response exercise on morning of Capitol breach | Just The News
The Facts Inside Our Reporter's NotebookPentagon officials held a table-top planning exercise the morning of Jan. 6 to rehearse how the Defense Department might respond to events that day in Washington, D.C., defense officials confirmed. The exercise was held some two hours before Capitol Police ordered the evacuation of the besieged U.S. Capitol complex.
"The table-top was requested by the highest levels inside the Department of Defense," one official said. "The two top guys '-- Miller and Milley '-- were part of this." The comment references acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.
Table-top exercises are widely used within the U.S. military and other organizations to simulate emergency situations, and to assign roles and look for gaps in plans and procedures.
The Jan. 6 exercise was held after Miller and Milley examined the Defense Department's plan to support local law enforcement agencies, according to a Pentagon memo.
Miller and Milley requested the exercise at 8:30 a.m., according to a memorandum from Miller's executive secretary, Navy Capt. David Soldow. Three hours later, the exercise commenced.
"1130: [Miller] participates in table-top exercise regarding DoD contingency response options," Soldow wrote in the memo bearing a date with the typographical error of Jan. 00.
Neither the Pentagon official nor Soldow revealed specific details about the exercise. But, the official noted: "You don't need a table-top to see that things went downhill fast."
In the wake of the Capitol siege that resulted in death, injury, arrests, and destruction of property, blame has been cast at various agencies and officials for failing to prevent and repel the violent assault. Steven Sund, who resigned as chief of the Capitol Police shortly after the Capitol breach, has said that his pleas for backup were rebuffed by House and Senate security officials and a Pentagon commander.
"If we would have had the National Guard, we could have held them at bay longer, until more officers from our partner agencies could arrive," Sund told the Washington Post.
But in the days leading up to Jan. 6, Soldow wrote, Sund's agency twice said it did not need help from the National Guard.
On Jan. 3, "DoD confirms with U.S. Capitol Police that there is no request for support," Soldow wrote. On Jan. 4, he added, Capitol Police "confirms there is no requirement for DoD support in a phone call with [Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy]."
The situation at the Capitol had turned dire by 1:26 p.m. on Wednesday, when Sund's agency ordered the evacuation of the building complex. The desperate call for help came at 1:59 p.m., according to the Pentagon memo. "Chief Sund communicates request for immediate assistance," Soldow wrote.
"At that point, bureaucracy kicked into gear," the defense official told Just the News.
The sequence of events that eventually brought the National Guard to help the embattled Capitol Police will be the subject of intense official scrutiny.
Miller has declared support for how his people addressed the Jan. 6 mayhem.
"In the midst of this tragedy, I was proud of the professionalism of our Department of Defense personnel," Miller said in a statement. "I want to specifically recognize the service of the District of Columbia National Guard. They performed with honor, integrity and alacrity to protect people and property from unlawful acts."
President Donald Trump on Monday declared an emergency in Washington, D.C., and ordered federal assistance in advance of the Jan. 20 inauguration of Joe Biden. Additionally, 15,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen have been authorized to stand duty in various capacities inside the District, according to the National Guard Bureau.
The plans include more table-top exercises regarding contingency response options, the defense official said.
NYC Scanner on Twitter: "BREAKING: Aaron Mostofsky, the son of a NY Supreme Court judge was arrested in Midwood Brooklyn on Tuesday morning for his alleged involvement in the Capitol riot. https://t.co/MweFpdvLkX" / Twitter
NYC Scanner : BREAKING: Aaron Mostofsky, the son of a NY Supreme Court judge was arrested in Midwood Brooklyn on Tuesday morning'... https://t.co/nnQpPxCXEf
The CIA has declassified a trove of more than 700 documents about UFO sightings and research dating back to the 1970s.
The remarkable dossier filled with what the CIA claims is every single one of its files on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) - the government's official term for what are commonly called UFOs - was published on The Black Vault website on Thursday.
Black Vault's founder John Greenewald Jr has spent the past two decades suing the CIA to release the records and then scanning the pages one by one.
The dossier was released ahead of a June deadline for US intelligence agencies to reveal everything they know about UFOs to Congress under a clause slipped into the $2.3trillion coronavirus relief bill signed into law by President Donald Trump in December.
A DailyMail.com review of about one-tenth of the files in the Black Vault database - which could take weeks to comb through in its entirety - revealed a few perplexing examples of UAP sightings.
More than 700 declassified CIA reports about UFOs dating back to the 1970s were published on The Black Vault website on Thursday (file photo)
Urgent UFO information is hand-delivered to the CIA's top scientist for review in 1976
Asked about which documents had piqued his interest, Greenewald highlighted a report about seemingly urgent UFO information being hand-delivered to an Assistant Deputy Director for Science & Technology at the CIA in April 1976.
Most details about the information were redacted in the document, but Greenewald said he is determine to uncover more through further FOIA requests.
The name of the deputy director was also redacted but records indicate that Carl Duckett served in that position at the time.
The document states: 'We contacted A/DDS&T (Dr [redacted]) to see if he knew of any UFO program and also to answer the questions posed by [redacted].
'Dr [redacted] exhibited interest in [redacted] which was handcarried to his office. After a short examination of its contents Dr [redacted] advised us that he would personally look into the matter and get back to us.'
A second document from June of 1976 appears to request an update on the review, but there is no record of the ordeal after that.
The heavily redacted report above describes seemingly urgent UFO information being hand-delivered to an Assistant Deputy Director for Science & Technology in April 1976
CIA officials discuss the possibility that UFOs were behind a 'mysterious blast' in the small Russian town of Sasovo in 1991
In another report, CIA officials discuss the possibility that UFOs were behind a 'mysterious blast' in the small Russian town of Sasovo - about 400 kilometers southwest of Moscow - in 1991.
Residents reported seeing a 'fiery sphere' descend from the sky before a shockwave tore through the town, leveling an entire block.
The report said investigators had failed to come to a conclusion about the cause of the explosion, leaving open the possibility of UFOs.
It states: 'Some people are talking about munitions left buried since the last war, while others claim that a powerful bomb fell. A third group blame it on a meteorite, and a fourth group blame UFOs... There are people who supposedly saw a moving "fiery sphere".'
Among the more than 700 files in the Black Vault database is this report, where CIA officials discuss the possibility that UFOs were behind a 'mysterious blast' in a small Russian town
UFO enthusiast hounds the CIA for information about a sighting at Ohio Air Force Base
Several of the files appeared to reference the same incident, in which a possible UFO was sighted at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio in 1978.
The reports refer to someone named Dr Leon Davidson who made multiple requests for information about the matter and did not appear to be getting any response.
He is believed to be the same Dr Leon Davidson who studied UFOs for decades beginning in 1949, according to Columbia University, which was gifted a collection of the engineer's research on the subject after his death in 2007.
One report states: '[Redacted] received a letter from Davidson [redacted] in which Davidson asked if the [redacted] tape had been analyzed at Wright Field.
'[Redacted] replied that the tape was forwarded to proper authorities for evaluation and no information was available concerning results.
'[Redacted] then received a second letter dated 19 March from Davidson in which he said since [redacted] was not in a position to make enquires he would like the address of proper parties to make them to.
'[Redacted] replied that he understood the proper address for forwarding information on "flying saucers" is Air Technical Intelligence Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
'Subsequently, [redacted] learned that Davidson made enquiries there. Apparently they stalled him.'
In May of that year another report asks: 'What progress has been made? This correspondence is more than a month old. I am afraid the longer we procrastinate the more fuel we add to the fire. Also, the people at Wright Field are holding their breaths awaiting advice.'
A third report, for which the date is illegible, says: 'Davidson is on our backs again. He wants a verbatim translation of the "space" message and the identification of the transmitter from which it came.'
In a fourth report - which indicates that the case is 'closed' - the author states that Davidson was writing an article about the incident entitled: 'The Air Force and the Saucers, Part Three: The Central Intelligence Agency becomes involved with Saucers.'
It indicates that the CIA did provide Davidson with some information, but does not disclose what that information was.
In the final report on the matter, the author indicates that the CIA will no longer be responding to Davidson's correspondence.
Wright-Patterson AFB has long been linked to conspiracy theories about alien life, after serving as the headquarters of an Air Force program- dubbed 'Project Blue Book', which studied UFOs from 1947 to 1969.
Over the course of those two decades the project garnered more than 12,600 reports of UFO sightings - 701 of which were never 'identified', according to the Dayton Daily News.
Several of the files appeared to reference the same incident, in which a possible UFO was sighted at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio in 1978. The reports refer to someone named Dr Leon Davidson who made multiple requests for information about the matter and did not appear to be getting any response
In May of that year another report asks: 'What progress has been made?'
A third report, for which the date is illegible, says: 'Davidson is on our backs again. He wants a verbatim translation of the "space" message and the identification of the transmitter from which it came'
In a fourth report - which indicates that the case is 'closed' - the author states that Davidson was writing an article about the incident entitled: 'The Air Force and the Saucers, Part Three: The Central Intelligence Agency becomes involved with Saucers'
In the final report on the matter, the author indicates that the CIA will no longer be responding to Davidson's correspondence
UFO sighted in Morocco in 1976
One of the most heavily-redacted documents reviewed by DailyMail.com is dated September 23, 1976, and features the words: 'To immediate director - with personal request to investigate UFO sighted in Morocco.'
The full-page report is covered in 25 black lines that appeared to have been made directly with a pen.
The report was first approved for release in February of 2010, a footnote indicates.
One of the most heavily-redacted documents reviewed by DailyMail.com is dated September 23, 1976, and features the words: 'To immediate director - with personal request to investigate UFO sighted in Morocco'
Many of the files are similarly redacted to remove nearly every little detail beyond the word UFO.
Some in the mix merely mention the keywords 'UFO', 'UAP' or 'extraterrestrial' in the context of unrelated topics, offering little to no insight about the CIA's overall knowledge about those keywords.
For example, one document entitled 'Hypervelocity Test Techniques Discussed' describes a French study of a force which could be used to deflect UFOs - defined in the document as 'undesired flying objects' - not unidentified ones.
Another document joined the pile because it features a newspaper column about a Bosnian fugitive, in which the author mocks the Pentagon's failure to find the man despite 'communicating regularly with extraterrestrial beings'.
One document entitled 'Hypervelocity Test Techniques Discussed' describes a French study of a force which could be used to deflect UFOs - defined in the document as 'undesired flying objects' - not unidentified ones
Another document joined the pile because it features a newspaper column about a Bosnian fugitive, in which the author mocks the Pentagon's failure to find the man despite 'communicating regularly with extraterrestrial beings'
'It was like pulling teeth': Greenewald recounts the 20 years he's spent fighting for access to CIA records on UFOs
Black Vault's founder John Greenewald Jr (pictured) has spent the past two decades suing the CIA to release the records and then scanning the pages one by one
Greenewald began investigating the US government's research on UFOs when he was just 15 years old in 1996.
He described his painstaking efforts to Motherboard on Monday, saying he filed countless Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to unseal the records.
'Around 20 years ago, I had fought for years to get additional UFO records released from the CIA,' Greenewald said.
'It was like pulling teeth. I went around and around with them to try and do so, finally achieving it.
'I received a large box, of a couple thousand pages, and I had to scan them in one page at a time.'
The dossier contains both the records that Greenewald requested and others that the CIA had already released publicly and compiled into a CD, which Black Vault purchased last year.
In a blog post Greenewald noted that while the CIA claims it has released all of its UAP documents, there is no way to verify whether some documents may have been withheld.
In a Twitter thread on Tuesday he explained how the records available on the CIA's website are incomplete, despite the agency 'giving the illusion' that everything is there.
He posted screengrabs of a CIA site search which produced 415 results for UFO-related FOIA requests - compared to the 713 files on the Black Vault.
In a Twitter thread on Tuesday Greenewald explained how the records available on the CIA's website are incomplete, despite the agency 'giving the illusion' that everything is there
Greenewald also emphasized how the CIA releases its records in a format that is far from user-friendly.
'The CIA has made it incredibly difficult to use their records in a reasonable manner,' Greenewald told Motherboard.
'They offer a format that is very outdated (multi page .tif) and offer text file outputs, largely unusable, that I think they intend to have people use as a "search" tool.
'In my opinion, this outdated format makes it very difficult for people to see the documents, and use them, for any research purpose.
'Researchers and curious minds alike prefer simplicity and accessibility when they look at data dumps such as these.'
Despite the inconvenience, Greenewald said thousands of people had already downloaded the archive on the first day it was posted on the Black Vault.
He's offering the archive for free but set up a Patreon account for anyone who wants to donate money to support his past and future efforts to uncover CIA records.
'Plain and simple, the public has a right to know,' Greenewald said.
'When I began researching nearly 25 years ago at the age of 15, I knew there was something to this topic. Not because of viral internet hoaxes. Not because of back door meetings wherein I can't tell you who, but I promise it was mind-blowing information. No, none of that.
'It was simply because of the evidence that I got straight from the CIA. And the NSA. And the Air Force. And the DIA. I feel I am achieving what I set out to do. Easy access, to important material, for people to make up their own minds on what is going on.'
Greenewald (pictured) began investigating the US government's research on UFOs when he was just 15 years old in 1996. His Black Vault database is the result of countless different Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
US intelligence faces six-month deadline to submit unclassified UFO report to Congress
UFO detectives like Greenewald may soon have even more intel to sift through, with the upcoming deadline for US intelligence agencies to submit an unclassified report about 'unidentified aerial phenomena' to congressional intelligence and armed services committees.
The director of National Intelligence and the secretary of defense have just under six months to do so, after a stipulation in the 'committee comment' section of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 was included in the huge bill, according to CNN.
The Senate intelligence committee's directive said that the report should be unclassified, but it can contain a classified annex. Therefore, it is unlikely to reveal the discovery of extra-terrestrial life reaching earth.
It does, however, state that the report must contain detailed analysis of UFO data and intelligence collected by the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force and the FBI.
Detail of 'an interagency process for ensuring timely data collection and centralized analysis of all unidentified aerial phenomena reporting for the Federal Government' must be included, and it should designate an official responsible for that process.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed the requirement for the report to the fact-checking website Snopes.
Navy pilots believe they spotted a UFO just off the coast in Jacksonville in 2015 (pictured)
In April last year, the Pentagon released three short videos - one from 2004 and two from 2015 - that showed 'unidentified aerial phenomena', which had earlier been confirmed to be real by the US Navy.
The videos, recorded by infrared cameras, showed what appeared to be unidentified flying objects quickly moving across the sky.
In the background of two of the videos, service members can be heard reacting as they watch the objects, with one speculating it could be a drone.
In August, the Pentagon announced that it was setting up a task force to investigate the objects, but it is still unclear what the objects are or where they came from.
Both Pentagon officials and members of Congress have been concerned about the appearance of unidentified objects flying over US military bases, with some suggesting the objects in the video could be drones collecting intelligence.
In June last year, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to have the Pentagon and intelligence community provide public analysis of such encounters.
This is not the first time the Pentagon has investigated aerial encounters with UFOs, having previously studied recordings of such incidents as part of a classified program launched by former Senator Harry Reid, that has since been shut down.
That program was launched in 2007 and closed in 2012, the Pentagon says, after it decided there were higher priority areas that required funding.
FBI reportedly warned that an assault on the Capitol was planned - Los Angeles Times
According to a report in the Washington Post, the FBI had warned that extremists were preparing to come to Washington, attack Congress and engage in ''war.''
The report said the warning was issued internally by the FBI's field office in Norfolk, Va., a day before the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The warning directly contradicted statements from the Justice Department and FBI officials that they had no intelligence to suggest a storming of the Capitol.
The Post said the memo described how people had been sharing maps of the Capitol's tunnels and discussing rallying points to meet up to travel to Washington. The newspaper reported that the document detailed posts calling for violence, including that ''Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Antifa slave soldiers being spilled.''
It also said to ''go there ready for war.''
The Associated Press has not obtained the document. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
White House executive order promotes development of space and defense nuclear power systems - SpaceNews
by Jeff Foust '-- January 12, 2021 One section of the executive order directs NASA and other agencies to work together to identify technologies that can be used in both space nuclear power systems like Kilopower (above) with small, modular terrestrial nuclear reactors. Credit: NASAWASHINGTON '-- Less than a month after issuing a policy directive on space nuclear power, the White House released an executive order Jan. 12 seeking to promote the development of small nuclear reactors for space and defense applications.
The executive order, ''Promoting Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration,'' includes separate directions for NASA and the Defense Department to pursue small nuclear reactors for their uses, while cooperating on common technologies for those systems.
For space exploration, the executive order directs the NASA administrator to prepare a report within 180 days defining ''requirements for NASA utilization of nuclear energy systems for human and robotic exploration missions through 2040 and analyze the costs and benefits of such requirements.'' Those requirements include details such as power levels, reactor size and mass, and specific issues associated with operating such reactors in the space environment.
The executive order comes less than a month after the Dec. 16 publication of Space Policy Directive (SPD) 6, which outlined a roadmap for both space nuclear reactors and nuclear propulsion systems. It also prioritized development of surface nuclear power systems over nuclear thermal propulsion.
''One of the things that this executive order does it take it a little further,'' said an administration official, speaking on background about the executive order. ''It takes the goals we have from SPD-6 and develops a more detailed roadmap that integrates those space development programs together with terrestrial advances and developments.''
''SPD-6 is a really good start that takes us to a really good place,'' the official added. ''The executive order continues that advancement more broadly.''
Another section of the executive order directs the Department of Energy to complete a three-year effort to develop technology for the production of high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU). NASA and the Energy Department previously identified HALEU as a potential fuel for space nuclear power systems, providing higher performance than low enriched uranium but without the nonproliferation issues of highly enriched uranium.
The order also directs the Energy Department to transition the HALEU technology to the commercial sector for larger-scale production. There is currently no commercial source of HALEU in the United States, administration officials said.
Other sections of the order focus on defense applications of small modular nuclear reactors, including a demonstration of a ''micro-reactor'' licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at domestic military installation as a test to see if such systems could meet Defense Department needs elsewhere. It also calls on the Defense Department to work with other agencies, including NASA, to identify national security applications of space nuclear power systems.
The executive order directs NASA and the Defense Department, along with the Energy Department and other agencies, to collaborate on a common technology roadmap ''that coordinates, to the extent practicable, terrestrial-based advanced nuclear reactor and space-based nuclear power and propulsion efforts'' through 2030.
Administration officials acknowledge there may be limits to technology cooperation between terrestrial micro-reactors developed for Defense Department applications, capable of producing megawatts of power, versus systems designed for the space environment that may produce only a few tens of kilowatts, like the ongoing Kilopower effort at NASA and the Energy Department.
''There's sometimes a risk of forcing too much commonality,'' an official said. ''What this executive order does is ensure that there is a deliberate look at what those opportunities may be.''
The executive order comes with just eight days left in President Donald Trump's term and amid one of the most chaotic, contested presidential transitions in American history, including riots at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 that killed several people and interrupted the formal certification of Joe Biden's victory in the November general election.
Administration officials said there was no ''race to the finish line'' to publish the executive order before the end of President Trump's term. The timing, they said, was driven by the interagency review process, stressing that the policy was in development for an extended period. ''It's the culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people at a lot of different agencies,'' one official said.
Randy Fine on Twitter: "This morning I asked the Governor and Cabinet to divest the state from Amazon, Twitter, Apple, Google, and Facebook. They may get to decide who they do business with. So do we. @Fla_Pol https://t.co/QfoUhghgnP" / Twitter
Randy Fine : This morning I asked the Governor and Cabinet to divest the state from Amazon, Twitter, Apple, Google, and Facebook'... https://t.co/OWAzGMAjEN
Tue Jan 12 13:44:43 +0000 2021
PatriotMWoodhall : @VoteRandyFine @Fla_Pol Someone some since of integrity.. finally!!
Wed Jan 13 16:21:00 +0000 2021
Tricia Gilbert : @VoteRandyFine @Fla_Pol Awesome!!!! Fight for ALL voices!!!
Wed Jan 13 16:17:25 +0000 2021
Sojulida ðºð¸ðªð¸ ð : @VoteRandyFine @Fla_Pol Only an id..t can do that
Wed Jan 13 16:14:35 +0000 2021
Lulu : @VoteRandyFine @DonaldJTrumpJr @Fla_Pol If you're doing this on behalf of Trump who tried to destroy our democracy,'... https://t.co/FHQt75506o
Wed Jan 13 16:14:19 +0000 2021
Se±or Covfefe : @VoteRandyFine @Fla_Pol Not only should you stop giving them your money, you should stop giving them the 'ore' they'... https://t.co/Jj4faANaCc
Wed Jan 13 16:13:49 +0000 2021
Merry Mudcakes : @VoteRandyFine @Fla_Pol So you're a proponent of state controlled media. "Got it"
Wed Jan 13 16:03:13 +0000 2021
Scott Farhat : @VoteRandyFine @Fla_Pol Tit for tat isn't quite so effective when YOU are demonstrably on the ethically and morally repugnant side. WEAK!
Wed Jan 13 15:59:49 +0000 2021
@amuse on Twitter: "BREAKING: Biden election official has been arrested for widespread election fraud in Texas. Felony charges include election fraud, illegal voting, illegal vote-by-mail, possession of official ballots. Election fraud is investigated and
@amuse : BREAKING: Biden election official has been arrested for widespread election fraud in Texas. Felony charges include'... https://t.co/mNPQ6W3Mvi
Wed Jan 13 18:54:30 +0000 2021
Shirley Zohar- Holistic Evolution Medicine : @amuse Why the media is not going crazy for this
Thu Jan 14 01:16:25 +0000 2021
Robert Bouchard : @amuse @famillecg C'est la provocation des r(C)seaux sociaux qui coupent le droit de parole 75 millions d'am(C)ricain'... https://t.co/kz4aEW3q7S
Thu Jan 14 01:16:20 +0000 2021
Panic buttons were inexplicably torn out ahead of Capitol riots, says Ayanna Pressley chief of staff | The Independent
The Independent employs over 100 journalists around the world to bring you news you can trust. To support truly independent journalism, please consider making a contribution or taking a subscription.
Panic buttons installed in Ayanna Pressley's congressional office were torn out before rioters stormed the Capitol last week, her staff have said.
Sarah Groh, who serves as Ms Pressley's chief of staff, was with the congresswoman when president Donald Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol building last Wednesday.
She told the Boston Globe that she had reached for the panic buttons installed in Ms Pressley's office as they tried to barricade themselves in.
But, when they went to press panic buttons, Ms Pressley's staff saw that they weren't there, and appeared to have been ripped out.
''Every panic button in my office had been torn out - the whole unit,'' Ms Groh told the paper.
She added that she could not believe why the panic buttons were removed, and that Ms Pressley's staff had used the panic buttons in the past, including during drills.
Nor had Ms Pressley and her staff moved offices, said Ms Groh.
She went on to say that the panic buttons were installed because Ms Pressley, a member of the progressive group of House Democrats dubbed the ''Squad'', had been on the receiving end of racist attacks by the US president and his supporters.
Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, asked Capitol Police to heighten the security surrounding Ms Pressley and other Democratic congresswoman in 2019, after the president wrote a series of racist tweets attacking members of the ''Squad''.
Mr Trump, who was rebuked for the remarks, told the congresswomen to ''go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.''
Ms Pressley had warned in response that the president's ''cruel efforts to rile up his base have serious consequences on our collective safety and well-being."
Ms Groh added that she was ''deeply concerned'' about arriving at the Capitol Building last Wednesday, aware that Mr Trump was addressing his supporters, who were told to march on Congress with ''strength''.
She added: ''It felt like the heat was being turned up in terms of the rhetoric and Trump's aims to incite violence''.
Social media users have since expressed outrage at reports the panic buttons were removed from Ms Pressley's office, with a senior adviser to incoming US Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg saying ''what happened and is happening - but it's very bad. The Democratic women, especially women of colour, are in my head and heart today.''
Authorities announced on Tuesday that around 70 arrests had been made in relation to last week's attack, and that ''hundreds'' were being investigated.
Among those arrested were rioters who carried plastic restraints and ammunition into the Capitol, and one person who was said to have wanted to shoot House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The attack led to the resignations of the head of the US Capitol police, amid criticism at the agency's planning and response to the rioters.
According to CNN, two US Capitol Police officers have since been suspended and at least 10 more are under investigation for playing potential roles in the riot.
Live Updates: Biden accepts use of the president's guest house for the night before inauguration | Fox News
Blair House, the president's guest house, sits across from the White House on Pennsylvania Ave.The White House has offered President-elect Joe Biden use of Blair House for the night before the inauguration and he has accepted, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News.
Blair House, the president's guest house, sits across from the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. Presidents-elect have for decades spent the night there on the eve of Inauguration Day. It is larger than the White House and closed to the public.
The State Department oversees use of Blair House, a complex of four buildings comprising primarily used to house guests of the state. Still, the invitation to use the home typically comes from the president.
FAST FACTSTrump said last week he would not be attending Biden's inaugurationBiden's inauguration is expected to take place on the steps of the Capitol, though this year with a much smaller audience"As is customary, the White House offered use of the Blair House for Jan 19th and it was accepted," the spokesperson said.
Follow below for more updates on the Biden transition. Mobile users click here.
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Stunning Images Show National Guardsmen Sleeping on Capitol Floors as Lawmakers Stroll Past
National Guardsmen working a 24-hour rotation to protect lawmakers against further threats of violence have been forced to sleep in the hallways of the Capitol.
Pictures of the guardsmen sleeping in any spot they could find with their weapons nearby as lawmakers walked past circulated online Wednesday morning.
I try to stay clear of politics. However I am enraged to see photos of our National Guard people who give their lives to defend us sleeping on the floor to protect our elected officials that whine and complain about going through metal detectors. Seriously! pic.twitter.com/DnlE98H9tr
'-- Laura Larson-Greiert (@SuzLGreiert) January 13, 2021
TRENDING: Blue Lives Matter Organization Calls Out Democrats Over Their Sudden Change of Heart
The troops were reportedly taking their breaks and trying to nap during a 24-hour rotation of troops stationed along Pennsylvania Avenue, ABC News reported.
They are stationed in Washington, D.C., to prevent a repeat of the incursion of the Capitol that happened last week. However, many online were not pleased that the guardsmen were not provided more comfortable sleeping arrangements.
''As a former Guardsmen who got called up for the L.A. riots, I have to say, floors like that are as hard as they look,'' Scott Shuey tweeted.
''If you see these guys when this is over, buy 'em a beer '' at least.''
As a former Guardsmen who got called up for the L.A. riots, I have to say, floors like that are as hard as they look. If you see these guys when this is over, buy 'em a beer '' at least.
'-- Scott Shuey (@ScottShuey) January 13, 2021
Another commenter asked, ''How about some beds or cots for these protectors????!!!!'' according to the New York Post.
An additional 5,000 members of the National Guard are expected to arrive to support security measures taken in the lead-up to Inauguration Day, The Washington Post reported.
''I think you can expect to see somewhere upwards beyond 20,000 members of the National Guard that will be here in the footprint of the District of Columbia,'' Acting D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said at a news conference.
Do you think these troops should be provided sleeping arrangements?
94% (542 Votes)
6% (32 Votes)
RELATED: Trump Releases Video Message to Supporters: 'You Have To Go Home Now'
Defense officials are still discussing a plan to provide security support, but have said 10,000 forces will be in place by the weekend.
''Right now [Jan. 11], we have approximately 6,200 National Guard soldiers and airmen from six states and the District of Columbia on the ground in the NCR supporting civilian authorities,'' Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said in a news release.
''We have received support requests from the Secret Service, Capitol Police, and Park Police, and have been authorized to provide up to 15,000 Guard members to meet current and future inauguration support requirements.''
The Washington Post reported the National Guardsmen who were deployed to the capital last week were drawn from emergency mobilization units, according to defense officials.
Troops have been pulled from Virginia and Maryland, but defense officials have expressed concern about balancing the security support needs with the needs of individual states.
''We're not going to pull too much out of their states and put them at risk, so a very delicate risk management process is underway,'' Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The Washington Post on Tuesday.
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
ISP Blocks Twitter and Facebook to Protest Anti-Trump 'Censorship'
A small Idaho Internet Service Provider (ISP) has decided to protest censorship...by blocking its users from accessing Twitter and Facebook.
"It has come to our attention that Twitter and Facebook are engaged in censorship of our customers and information," Priest River, Idaho ISP Your T1 WIFI told its subscribers in an email.
The ISP says all users will have Facebook and Twitter blocked by default, and those that want access will need to be whitelisted. The company claims it was responding to calls from customers demanding their families and children be prevented from accessing both websites."Our company does not believe a website or social networking site has the authority to censor what you see and post and hide information from you, stop you from seeing what your friends and family are posting," the email states. "This is why with the amount of concerns, we have made this decision to block these two websites from being accessed from our network."
The provider did not respond to a request for comment, and it's unclear what specific mechanisms it intends to use to filter access to both platforms. ISPs normally only filter access to websites that are clearly illegal, usually via an IP address blacklist on the domain name server (DNS) level.
During the Trump era, Trump allies have repeatedly claimed that social media giants are unfairly ''censoring Conservatives'' despite no evidence to support those claims. In fact, Facebook has been repeatedly caught letting many prominent rightwing pundits violate their terms of service to boost revenue and attention, often with no meaningful repercussion.Those who are removed from the platforms, like Trump's expulsion from Twitter for inciting a fatal riot at the Capitol'--or conspiracy theorists being ejected for spreading false claims of electoral fraud'--are usually just violating site terms of service. As such it's not so much ''censorship,'' as it is a natural consequence of behaving like an asshole on the internet.
ISP owner Brett Fink confirmed the email's authenticity to a local CBS affiliate, but contradicted his company's own email to subscribers saying all users would have Facebook and Twitter blocked by default.
"We've had customers asked to be blocked by it,'' Fink said. ''That is what the email was about, so no we are not blocking anybody, only the ones that have asked for it.''
Often when ISPs do engage in website filtering, it causes more problems that it solves. Research has repeatedly shown such efforts are expensive to implement, easy to bypass, and frequently result in legal websites being inadvertently caught in the censorship web.As such it's a slippery and costly slope most internet service providers tend to avoid. Still, Blake Reid, Associate Clinical Professor at Colorado Law, told Motherboard that in the wake of the Trump administration repeal of net neutrality rules the ISP isn't breaking federal guidelines'--because they no longer exist.
''Federally speaking, in the absence of FCC net neutrality rules, ISPs certainly can do this,'' Reid said. ''Even under a restoration of the Obama-era net neutrality rules, this particular ISP might or might not be covered depending on what happens with the small business exemption'' originally tacked onto the rules to avoid saddling small ISPs with extra costs, he added.The ISP could still run afoul of state and local regulations, Reid said.
''If it is ultimately covered under the rules, it will no doubt inflame debates about the intersection of net neutrality and the First Amendment,'' Reid said. ''The notion of ISPs seeking to provide 'curated' Internet access has always lurked on the fringes of the debate, but an ISP blocking popular application platforms on political grounds is a very new fact pattern, especially if a lot of other ISPs followed suit.''Providers like AT&T have been known to block access to copyrighted or illegal content, but have generally avoided heavy-handed political censorship. With current FCC boss and industry ally Ajit Pai headed for the exit and the Biden administration looking to police net neutrality violations, it's unlikely that any major ISP would be willing to test its luck in the same way.
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Cancel Nazi's
I predicted Nazis
Only one thing more deadly that covid - ORAAANGE!
Victor Davis Hanson disarming their opponents for their law changes
Parler CEO Says Service Dropped By ''Every Vendor'' Could End Business '' Deadline
Parler CEO John Matze said today that his social media company has been dropped by virtually all of its business alliances after Amazon, Apple and Google ended their agreements with the social media service.
''Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day,'' Matze said today on Fox News.
Matze conceded that the bans could put the company out of business while raising free speech issues, calling it ''an assault on everybody.''
''They all work together to make sure at the same time we would lose access to not only our apps, but they're actually shutting all of our servers off tonight, off the internet,'' Matze said. ''They made an attempt to not only kill the app, but to actually destroy the entire company. And it's not just these three companies. Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day.''
The remarks come a day after Amazon dropped Parler from its servers, joining Apple and Google. They all cited the potential of spreading violent content on the site, which is favored by conservatives as an alternative to Twitter and Facebook.
Matze said that the services are unfairly targeting Parler. ''They're trying to falsely claim that we're somehow responsible for the events that occurred on the 6th,'' he said, the date of the Capitol building takeover by protesters.
''It would put anybody out of business,'' he said of the tech bans. ''This thing could destroy anybody.''
He added: ''We're going to try our best to get back online as quickly as possible. But we're having a lot of trouble because every vendor we talk to says they won't work with us. Because if Apple doesn't approve and Google doesn't approve, they won't.''
Stripe Stops Processing Payments for Trump Campaign Website - WSJ
Financial-technology company's move follows last week's riot at the Capitol
Updated Jan. 10, 2021 5:53 pm ETStripe Inc. will no longer process payments for President Trump's campaign website following last week's riot at the Capitol, according to people familiar with the matter.
The financial-technology company handles card payments for millions of online businesses and e-commerce platforms, including Mr. Trump's campaign website and online fundraising apparatus. Stripe is cutting off the president's campaign account for violating its policies against encouraging violence, the people said.
Spokespeople...
Stripe Inc. will no longer process payments for President Trump's campaign website following last week's riot at the Capitol, according to people familiar with the matter.
The financial-technology company handles card payments for millions of online businesses and e-commerce platforms, including Mr. Trump's campaign website and online fundraising apparatus. Stripe is cutting off the president's campaign account for violating its policies against encouraging violence, the people said.
Spokespeople for the Trump campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stripe asks users to agree that they won't accept payments for ''high risk'' activities, including for any business or organization that ''engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property,'' according to its website.
The company has previously disabled accounts in the wake of violent acts. After a gunman killed 11 people in an attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, Stripe cut off Gab.com'--the right-wing social-media platform where the alleged shooter posted anti-Semitic messages.
A number of companies have cut ties with Mr. Trump's since Wednesday's attack, which left five people dead. Twitter Inc. on Friday banned Mr. Trump's personal account from its platform, citing a risk of further incitement of violence, while Canadian e-commerce company Shopify Inc. took stores run by Mr. Trump's business and campaign offline. Some political-action committees are also halting donations to Republican lawmakers who objected to President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College win after supporters of Mr. Trump stormed the Capitol.
After the election, Mr. Trump's campaign launched a fundraising blitz to raise money for legal battles challenging Mr. Biden's victory in several states. The effort brought in hundreds of millions of dollars for Mr. Trump's political committees and the Republican party.
Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com, Peter Rudegeair at Peter.Rudegeair@wsj.com and Emily Glazer at emily.glazer@wsj.com
A Big Move to Ban Realtor 'Hate Speech.' At Work. Anywhere. 24/7. | RealClearInvestigations
The National Association or Realtors' new ban on "hate speech" extends beyond work activities into its 1.4 million members' private lives.By John Murawski, RealClearInvestigationsJanuary 8, 2021In what some consider one of the most far-reaching social policy moves in the corporate world, the National Association of Realtors, called the nation's largest trade organization, has revised its professional ethics code to ban ''hate speech and harassing speech'' by its 1.4 million members.
Under the new policy, real estate agents who insult, threaten or harass people based on race, sex, or other legally protected characteristics can be investigated, fined or expelled. Its
online training sessions offer a glimpse at how difficult the rules can be to enforce.The sweeping prohibition applies to association members 24/7, covering all communication, private and professional, written and spoken, online and off. Punishment could top out at a maximum fine of $15,000 and expulsion from the organization.
Mary Wagner, a Buffalo real estate agent who is white and lesbian, says the move, announced in November, fits her vision for creating a fairer society. She predicts thousands of complaints this year, given the realtor association's enormous size and the overheated climate of social media.
''I was thrilled to hear it,'' Wagner said in a phone interview. ''I think it's long overdue.''
NAR's decision, allowing any member of the public to file a complaint, has alarmed other real estate agents, and also some legal and ethics experts, who say the hate speech ban's vagueness is an invitation to censor controversial political opinions, especially on race and gender. While that's not the association's stated intention, the skeptics say their fears are justified by the hyperactive ''cancel culture'' online that has jettisoned hapless workers for posting ''all lives matter'' and objecting to gay marriage.
''The dam has broken and other organizations will look at this,'' predicted Robert F¶ehl, a professor of business ethics and business law at Ohio University.
''If this is good for real estate agents, why not attorneys, why not doctors?'' F¶ehl said. ''They're going to be pressured to do what NAR has done. And that pressure is going to be very real, because what organization wants to argue they should allow hate speech by their members?''
Charlie Oppler, NAR president:
Apologizes for NAR's historic role in housing discrimination and redlining.A week after the association approved the ban, its president, Charlie Oppler, profusely apologized for NAR's historic role in housing discrimination and redlining, the former practice of denying loans to buyers in certain neighborhoods based on their race, during an online fair-housing summit. NAR is still a predominantly white organization, where African Americans account for just 6% of members.
NAR's hate speech policy is noteworthy because it sweeps up 1.4 million people under an ethics standard that explicitly places limits on private speech, to be adjudicated through formal procedures. The organization's new policy provides an avenue for the NAR to investigate, fine '' and potentially expel '' real estate agents who insult, threaten or harass people or social groups based on race, sex, gender or other legally protected characteristics.
''It is taking something that's been happening on a kind-of informal and occasional basis '' indeed, people do sometimes end up losing jobs because of their political expression '' and shifting it to something that's institutionalized, that's bureaucratized, and that's being enforced through quasi-legal tribunals,'' said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who specializes in the First Amendment.
Volokh said such policies pose significant risks for abuse, and should be assessed not for their good intentions but for their potential to misfire.
Eugene Volokh, UCLA School of Law: ''What we're talking about is a new blacklist.'' He says the NAR is "trying to deploy the organized economic power of this group in order to suppress dissenting political views among members.''
''What we're talking about is a new blacklist,'' Volokh said. ''One of the things that's troubling about the National Association of Realtors' position is that it is trying to deploy the organized economic power of this group in order to suppress dissenting political views among members.''
In the current climate of cancel culture and vigilante justice on Twitter, where a single misdeed can become amplified into the defining act of one's life, some real estate agents fear the new speech code will be used to censor agents who express disapproval of affirmative action, gay marriage, transgender pronouns, Black Lives Matter, undocumented immigrants or other politicized issues. Such concerns were validated last month by a federal judge who struck down an anti-discrimination speech code imposed on Pennsylvania lawyers, saying that the ban's vagueness amounted to open season on politically unpopular opinions.
NAR's speech code has sowed such confusion and anxiety among the rank-and-file that NAR plans to issue ''case interpretations'' this year to reassure its members and offer guidance on what is and isn't allowed.
Among those caught up in the uncertainty are real estate agents who are Christian preachers or Sunday school teachers, or anyone who expresses traditional religious views on gender and sexuality that are out of vogue in some circles today.
''We're getting a lot of people asking about whether or not they can say that they are against gay marriage,'' NAR staffer Diane Mosley said during an online training session on Nov. 30. ''Specifically, if they can back it up with Scriptures, or say it in a sermon.''
The association's speech code is still being hashed out, and in a very public way, thanks to Zoom. While the initial debate and votes by its Professional Standards Committee and board of directors were conducted in secret, NAR's subsequent monthly online training sessions offer a glimpse at how such rules come into being, how difficult they can be to interpret and to enforce '' and what other corporations and organizations can expect if they follow NAR's example.
Matt Defanis, point man on the new speech code: ''Colleagues, remember: We quite literally drew the color lines."
''Are we worried about losing members? We may, but I'm certainly not losing sleep over that,'' said Matt Difanis, the Champaign, Ill., broker who chairs NAR's Professional Standards Committee, in a Dec. 16 training session.
''We want being a Realtor to mean something,'' Difanis stated, ''and if somebody says, 'I feel so strongly about continuing to have access to hate speech on demand that I don't want to be a Realtor anymore' '' okay.''
NAR did not make Difanis, who is white and serves as its point man on the new speech code, available for an interview; all his comments in this article were taken from two hour-long training sessions and one eight-minute explanatory video available online.
In these recordings, Difanis makes an impassioned plea to the nation's Realtors, citing the moral debt he says the real estate industry has incurred as a leading participant in the perpetuation of racism in the 20th century.
''Colleagues, remember: We quite literally drew the color lines. Our fingerprints as Realtors are all over the redlining maps, which decades '' 52 years '' after Fair Housing became the law of the land, those Fair Housing maps still scar our landscape by continuing to define color lines in our residential housing patterns,'' Difanis said.
A Wider National Remorse on Race
His collective mea culpa echoes the remorse and anguish other organizations, most notably universities, have expressed for their historical role in profiting from slavery and segregation. It also evokes the personal penitence expressed in recent months by corporate chief executives for their own white privilege and cluelessness about how systemic racism has benefited them personally.
''I view it as a moral imperative,'' Difanis said. ''I won't live long enough to see us undo the economic damage that we inflicted in the years that predate Fair Housing.''
NAR membership offers access to training, education and networking, as well as the privilege of referring to oneself as a ''Realtor,'' NAR's pedigreed title for its members that the organization has trademarked.
NAR membership is required to gain access to the Multiple Listing Service. ''If I were to lose access to that it would potentially devastate my ability to perform my career duties,'' a Realtor commented.
Perenic/Columbus Dispatch/AP
NAR does not issue real estate licenses '' that function is the domain of state licensing boards '' so expulsion is not an automatic banishment from the profession. But in many parts of the country, NAR membership is required to gain access to the Multiple Listing Service, a searchable online database that sorts available real estate properties by parameters such as square footage, acreage, architectural style and much more. ''If I were to lose access to that it would potentially devastate my ability to perform my career duties,'' a Realtor commented on NAR's Facebook page.
The complaints and cases, which are to be adjudicated like mini-trials with evidence and lawyers, will be assigned to some 1,100 local NAR associations across the country, but many of the locals delegate the ethics reviews to state associations. The legalistic procedures set NAR's internal process apart from employers who impulsively jettison employees as liabilities to appease the Twitter mob.
However, the local and state chapters don't have to report total complaints, dismissals and resolutions to the national office, so it won't be known how the new policy is playing out and if local chapters are issuing wildly inconsistent decisions or dismissing legitimate complaints. NAR can't say how many complaints have been filed since the hate speech ban was adopted Nov. 13.
All hate speech complaints and decisions against Realtors would be confidential so there would be no public knowledge of a case against someone, unless the Realtor or another person disclosed it. But as part of the new speech code, NAR now requires its local and state associations to notify the state licensing authority that a Realtor violated the ''public trust'' if an ethics complaint led to a finding that the Realtor was guilty of hate speech in the course of a real estate transaction. Additionally, it is possible that state laws and brokerage policies in some parts of the country may also require a Realtor to disclose the accusation or the adjudication to the brokerage for whom they work.
F¶ehl noted that private employers have a legal incentive to make sure employees' social media activity isn't contributing to a discriminatory or hostile work environment, but it's virtually unheard of for a membership organization to adopt such a restrictive policy with respect to its members.
''It feels unprecedented,'' F¶ehl said. ''The stretch and reach into the personal lives of the association members is a very intrusive move.''
Private employers and membership organizations are not bound by the First Amendment. And private employers are protected by the ''at will'' employment doctrine that allows them to fire workers for arbitrary reasons (as long as they are not discriminating based on race, sex, religion or other protected classes). About two dozen states have laws limiting the ability of a private employer from firing a worker for political speech or other personal conduct the boss might not personally like.
'Sword of Damocles' Over Pennsylvania Lawyers
Nevertheless, there are signs that the expansion of such policies may be bumping up against other rights. Last month, a federal court struck down a professional conduct rule for Pennsylvania lawyers; the rule stated that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to express or engage in bias, prejudice, harassment or discrimination. The rule was limited to ''the practice of law'' but it expanded that concept, adding continuing education, seminars, conferences and bar association activities where education credits are offered.
The rule was challenged by Zach Greenberg, a staff attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), who said it would expose him to endless ethics complaints because his work often involves describing and citing examples of speech many people find hateful and offensive, including the N-word or expressions such as ''God hates fags.''
The judge agreed, saying the Pennsylvania ban was too vague and would ''hang over Pennsylvania attorneys like the sword of Damocles.''
''The big issue with these rules is that they create unbridled discretion for organizations to enforce the rules however they like,'' Greenberg said by phone. ''That's a really dangerous game they're playing because the question of what is offensive is really in the eye of the beholder.''
The NAR prohibition states: ''Realtors must not use harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.'' NAR plans to assess context as much as content when evaluating speech that is subject of a complaint. NAR's intention is to target what Difanis calls ''weaponized hate speech, the sort of stuff that gets turned on like a blowtorch and aimed against other people.''
Difanis said the speech code is not intended to penalize expressions of religious belief or public policy, or comments that someone happens to find politically disagreeable, personally upsetting or generically offensive '' for example: inadvertently misgendering someone.
While the ban applies to all hate speech '' written and spoken '' it will require ''clear and convincing'' evidence to prove in a hearing, he said. And it equally protects people who are white, male and Christian from a Realtor's hate speech, he noted.
Cory Kammerdiener, Christian minister and realty brokerage owner in Texas, on discussing beliefs about homosexuality: ''There's people that are believers that may say, 'Hey, I can't talk about these things?' No, that's not what it's saying.''
Those protections give peace of mind to Cory Kammerdiener, a nondenominational Christian minister in Spring, Tex., who owns Newhomeprogram.com and employs about a dozen Realtors and contractors.
Kammerdiener, who is biracial, believes that the Scriptures teach that homosexuality is an unnatural sexual act, similar to premarital sex, adultery and pornography. But he says that a real estate license obligates agents to treat all people equally regardless of sexual preference or gender identity.
''There's people that are believers that may say, 'Hey, I can't talk about these things?''' Kammerdiener said. ''No, that's not what it's saying.''
His understanding is that an opinion becomes hate speech only ''if you're weaponizing it '' which is a term you're going to see they use over and over '' which results in hurting or alienating another person, like, 'Hey, you're going go to hell.'''
A white Realtor, Tracy Watson of Fuquay-Varina, N.C., suggested that the new speech code should trouble no one except those who are prone to get in trouble.
''Before I got into real estate I worked in the corporate field and I was held to the same standards,'' Watson said by email. ''I think those that need to worry about the change may need to take a look as to why.''
NAR's speech code was prompted by a spike in reports this year of Realtors posting racist and homophobic comments on social media, causing a huge embarrassment to the organization and frustration that the group was powerless to discipline its members.
The examples Difanis cited offer some clues as to what could be considered hate speech. That includes one Realtor's post: ''I think black people bring out the worst in us.'' And another post: ''We always knew black people were violent '' they are not Christian.''
Realtors also used the N-word and other epithets, which Difanis repeated in the video. In one case, a Realtor waved an assault rifle on camera saying he was eager to shoot looters and protesters.
Difanis, whose Illinois brokerage firm employs about 60 Realtors, said he has fired two agents this year, one for making ''racially insensitive comments on social media'' and the other for making ''an outright racist slur in a comment thread on a public figure page.'' Both agents had no trouble finding work with other brokers.
''There's nothing that prevents them from being picked right back up, reaffiliating and staying in the marketplace with no actual sanctions,'' Difanis said.
Difanis described the process of evaluating ethics complaints as ''making judgment calls within procedural guardrails,'' to be undertaken by hundreds of local panels, usually comprising three or five Realtors.
''We can't give you the 'Here's the words you can't say or use, and if it's one of these words they're in violation, and if it's not it's not,''' Difanis said. ''It doesn't work that way.''
And this uncertainty is that causes angst in the profession and beyond.
"We live in an era where there's a lot of witch hunts going on," said Rebecca D'Angelo, a white Realtor in Richmond who doesn't oppose NAR's new policy. "There's a lot to keep up with these days on who you're offending."
Email: jmurawski@realclearinvestigations.com
Twitter: @johnmurawski
ABC News Calls For "Cleansing" Of Trump Supporters | ZeroHedge
As part of the Democratic Party, establishment media and Washington swamp campaign to tear down the legacy of President Donald Trump this week, the political director for ABC News called for a ''cleansing'' of Trump's movement.
Rick Klein, who is the rudder on the corrupt ABC News political coverage ship, must have been feeling awfully emboldened Thursday after Democrat Joe Biden was officially certified as the country's next president. Perhaps a little too emboldened, as is evident by what he said on Twitter.
''Trump will be an ex-president in 13 days. The fact is that getting rid of Trump is the easy part. Cleansing the movement he commands is going to be something else,'' Klein said in a tweet, which he later deleted.
Thank the good lord for screen shots.
Political Director for @ABC News based in Washington DC appears to have deleted his tweet about the 75 million Americans who voted for Trump that talked about the challenge of "cleansing the movement." pic.twitter.com/HS1Rwrn94S
'-- Omri Ceren (@omriceren) January 7, 2021But this was no mere slip-up of a lone network employee on social media. ABC News published a piece in which Klein echoed his message. His views are apparently shared by others at the legacy media outlet.
Thursday on the website's political analysis page ''The Note,'' Klein and Mary Alice Parks, ABC News deputy political director, co-wrote a piece that called for a similar ''cleansing'' of the Trump movement before it was later stealthily edited to change that vague and dark language, Fox News reported.
Pointing to Wednesday's Capitol incursion as a reason to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office or impeach him, Klein and Parks wrote, ''Even aside from impeachment and 25th Amendment talk, Trump will be an ex-president in 13 days. The fact is that getting rid of Trump is the easy part.''
''Cleaning up the movement he commands, or getting rid of what he represents to so many Americans, is going to be something else.''
That last section originally read, ''Cleansing the movement he commands, or getting rid of what he represents to so many Americans, is going to be something else.''
ABC News and Klein cleaned up their creepy genocidal language, but the veil is off, and we know who they are. We know that these people want.
The majority of the establishment media wants a one-party state where every man, woman and child knows his or her place. Trump's awakening of the GOP base and others is a threat to that, and it became even more threatening after he began successfully courting Democratic voters last year.
Leftists have used words such as ''reconciliation'' and ''re-education'' with regard to how to deal with us since the election. Now ABC News has called for a ''cleansing'' of the political movement the president created.
While for most of us that movement equates to a robust economy, individual liberty, national sovereignty and a strong military, the hateful establishment media always viewed it as a threat to the status quo.
The actions of a relatively small number of Trump supporters at the Capitol on Wednesday have given these people what they view as a valid reason to delegitimize every one of the tens of millions of Americans who voted against the corrupt Washington and media establishment.
Rogue conservatives roaming the halls of Congress is exactly what the corporate media wanted. Remember, this is the same establishment media that joined Democrats in inciting or excusing violence for a great deal of last year, and even before that.
SUERCUT!Media: Yes, violence is the answer pic.twitter.com/1juSdYtKvD
'-- Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 7, 2021Oops, wouldn't want this highlight reel of Democrat leaders calling for uprisings to go viral pic.twitter.com/onBBfhMA3f
'-- Rogan O'Handley ðºð¸ (@DC_Draino) January 8, 2021Save for the late Peter Jennings, ABC News has always been awful. The network never attempted to hide its bias during the election or during the four years when Trump was called ''illegitimate'' and a Russian plant. Klein was silent as fake news stories led the coverage for four years, and he never denounced Biden for going around talking about punching people '-- but now the mask is off.
Klein and his colleagues want to put us all in a corner and shame us over the D.C. spectacle, which 99.9 percent of us were not a party to. We can't ask valid questions about election integrity if we're all too afraid to show our faces, and maybe that's the point. The Klein message highlights the depths of the establishment media's desperation to make us go away and fall in line. No thanks.
It was the corporate media and its sponsors, Democrats, and those who threw bricks and molotov cocktails for months on end who brought shame to our republic, not Trump or the movement he has led. That's an inconvenient fact that is being written over in a mad dash to turn the president's legacy into ash by attempting to portray him as a man who simply spent four years inciting a riot.
It's a lie, just like all the others. Let the dust settle and don't be shamed.
Twitter, Facebook and Others Silenced Trump. Now They Learn What's Next. - WSJ
Silicon Valley's moves to eject President Trump from social media represent a display of power the companies have avoided making for nearly four years. Now Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and others must reckon with what comes next.
In a span of a couple of days, Twitter and Facebook'--Mr. Trump's main social-media megaphones'--took action to silence the president's personal accounts or online communities devoted to him, citing rules prohibiting content that incites violence. They were joined by companies such as Snap Inc. and Reddit Inc.
Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google also took steps to boot Parler, a social-media app and website that has grown in popularity among conservatives'--and which some rioters had used to promote Wednesday's attack at the U.S. Capitol, according to screenshots viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The actions against Mr. Trump and Parler illustrate more starkly than ever the companies' influence over conversation online'--and the political nature of their decisions. While lauded by many, ejecting the president and some of his supporters also infuriated others who said it amounts to censorship, and the moves risked driving off some users in a way that, especially for Twitter, could reshape their businesses. It also illustrates the political nature of how they determine what content to remove, what content to allow and what to amplify.
''Right or wrong, they made a political decision,'' said Jonathon Hauenschild, director of the communications and technology task force for the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative nonprofit group, regarding the companies' moves. Attention on the tech giants ''was there to begin with. Now the spotlight is fully on,'' he said.
The tech companies acted in response to Wednesday's attack by Trump supporters in Washington, in which five people died. That mob was mobilized largely on social media, and Mr. Trump's posts before and during the episode were criticized by Democrats and Republicans for inflaming and supporting the crowd. Many people outraged by the event'--including employees working for those companies'--demanded that Twitter, Facebook and others take more aggressive action than they had in previous controversies involving Mr. Trump. The companies said removing Mr. Trump and Parler from their platforms was necessary to prevent online posts that could lead to further violence.
''It's a seismic change,'' said Chris Nolan, chief executive of San Francisco-based ad-buying firm Spot-On, of companies' actions to ban the president. ''It's a step on the part of the platforms to recognize that what happens on their platforms has consequences in real life.''
The decisions added fuel to an already raging debate over whether the platforms do too much to police content on their platforms or not enough.
Many conservatives, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and others, said the impact of the platforms' decisions suggests the tech industry's sway over public conversation is too great.
''We are now living in a country where four or five companies, unelected, unaccountable, have the monopoly power to decide, we're gonna wipe people out, we're going to erase them, from any digital platform, whether it's selling things and the like,'' he told Fox News on Sunday.
Some allies of Mr. Trump have said they would shift their activity on Twitter to other platforms'--including Parler and Gab'--deemed more tolerant of speech. Twitter on Friday also suspended some other accounts related to Mr. Trump and his backers, including those of his campaign and one of its senior officials, as well as several associated with the far-right conspiracy group QAnon that Twitter said violated its policy on coordinated harmful activity.
For Twitter, in particular, it is unclear how the decision will affect the company's business. The president's personal Twitter account had more than 88 million followers, which equated to nearly half of Twitter's total number of average daily users. And while Mr. Trump wasn't Twitter's most widely followed member, his tweets stirred conversation and engagement for Twitter users across the political spectrum. Having the president embrace Twitter as his platform of choice reinforced the company's pitch to the broader public that it serves as the go-to place to know what is happening.
At the same time, Mr. Trump's frequently contentious tweets also created headaches for the company, as it tried to enforce its rules and ensure the platform is hospitable for big-name advertisers.
''From a business standpoint, I don't see this as a problem for the social-media companies,'' said Eric Ross, chief strategist at Cascend Securities, who covers publicly traded technology companies. ''It seems like they were already moving in the direction of limiting people's political commentary and discourse, and advertisers seemed to be following them.''
A spokesman for Twitter declined to comment.
Facebook and other companies might feel less impact to their businesses from moderating the accounts of Mr. Trump and his followers. Yet their actions showed how companies have evolved during the Trump era.
Before Mr. Trump took office, most major platform operators preferred to moderate as little content as possible, employing fairly small teams of content moderators. Some Twitter executives called their company ''the free-speech wing of the free-speech party.''
Now, companies such as Facebook employ thousands of moderators and use artificial intelligence and other technology to keep tabs on what their users post. At Twitter, acrimony on the platform began to pose a liability to business, a former executive said.
''It got to a point where there became an expectation that Twitter needed to police it more, or people wouldn't use the platform for fear of being subjected to abuse,'' the former executive said.
Companies' actions will likely come under even more scrutiny as regulators pursue antitrust cases against several tech giants, and as Congress and the incoming Biden administration look to revamp 25-year-old legislation known as Section 230 that has long provided a liability shield for the platforms' decisions over content regulation.
In recent months, Parler had become a refuge for some conservatives upset about what they saw as overreach and bias by the mainstream platforms. On Friday, Parler had been downloaded 182,000 times across Apple and Google's app stores, a 14-fold increase in its number of downloads from the previous Friday, according to app-analytics firm Sensor Tower Inc.
Yet Parler has also faced criticism for its hands-off approach to moderation, including speech from neo-Nazis and other groups that call for violence.
Parler's future is unclear. Amazon said it would stop providing cloud-computing services to Parler as of late Sunday Pacific time, potentially grounding the platform's operations. Google and Apple removed it from their app stores, meaning even if it can restart, its app would be unavailable to many smartphone users.
Apple and Google require apps in their stores to moderate content. Google pointed to examples of content it found on Parler that threatened elected officials and called for plans to organize a militia march. One user posted: ''How we take back our country? It's simple'...we hunt them down!'' Google also flagged images of fliers shared on Parler that called on armed militias to march on Washington, D.C., the day of the inauguration.
Parler executives told the Journal the company has doubled its team of volunteer moderators and instructed them to search ''hot'' hashtags to gauge whether users are inciting violence. Parler Chief Executive John Matze said the company has been removing users who violate its terms.
Mr. Matze said keeping his business running will be difficult because companies it has relied on to operate have suddenly stopped working with it. ''Our vendors dropped us all at once,'' he told the Journal. With Amazon planning to cut off Parler's data storage and processing contract at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time Sunday, he expects Parler to become temporarily unavailable. ''In the best-case scenario, it'll be 12 hours. In the worst, worse-case scenario, weeks,'' he said.
Though Parler and other smaller platforms might grow, longtime observers of social media say the significant scale of Twitter and Facebook make those platforms unlikely to lose their influence.
Smaller venues full of like-minded users don't give users the chance to reach new audiences, leaving participants competing with each other for attention, said Joan Donovan, director of research at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. ''Once someone's been removed from the mainstream networks,'' she said, ''they tend to become very marginal.''
'--Keach Hagey and Jeff Horwitz contributed to this article.
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com and Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com
Marriott, Blue Cross, Commerce Bank to halt campaign donations to lawmakers who voted against certifying election - The Washington Post
Marriott is among a growing list of companies suspending donations to campaigns of lawmakers who voted against certifying Joe Biden's election as president. (Danny Johnston/AP)
Marriott, the world's largest hotel chain, said last week's chaos at the Capitol caused the company to halt campaign donations to lawmakers who voted against certifying the electoral college results of President-elect Joe Biden's win '-- a fresh sign of corporate America's uneasiness with the violent attacks inspired by President Trump's words.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said it would do the same. The provider of health insurance to more than 100 million people said in a statement that its political action committee was suspending contributions ''to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy.''
Commerce Bank also said in a statement that its PAC has ''suspended all support for officials who have impeded the peaceful transfer of power.'' It has bank branches in five states, mostly in the Midwest.
The violence at the Capitol appears to have companies scrambling to figure out how to react, as they increasingly realize that this is not an ordinary political dispute and the option of sitting on the sidelines grows increasingly unsatisfying.
As Trump leaves office, Republicans wonder if his political wounds are fatal
''These corporations are doing something very new, and something that could potentially alienate an important base for them,'' said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, a money-in-politics group. ''I've never heard of this happening before.''
Watch more!
Capitol Police were unable to stop a breach of the Capitol. Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig and a former Senate Sergeant at Arms describe the events. (The Washington Post)The decisions by Marriott, the insurance company and bank were first reported by the online newsletter Popular Information.
Shortly after a mob breached the Capitol, companies and trade groups rushed to register their outrage, with statements ranging from condemnations to direct calls for Trump's removal from office.
Marriott, based in Bethesda, Md., said its decision was motivated by ''the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election.''
Marriott's PAC '-- which is funded by employee donations '-- gave more than $410,000 in the last election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data.
The hotel chain also has a direct business relationship with Trump. It books travel to Trump Turnberry through the Marriott Luxury Collection program.
Companies backed Trump for years. Now they're facing a reckoning after the attack on the Capitol.
Marriott's decision '-- along with ones such as from Blue Cross Blue Shield '-- would hurt the fundraising efforts of the 139 Republican representatives and eight Republican senators who voted last week against certifying the presidential election results.
More pressure on companies is coming. The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, in the coming days will launch a multimillion-dollar ad campaign targeting companies that bankroll Republicans who voted against certifying the results of the election, pushing those firms to cease donations to these and other Republicans.
The project will launch both broadcast and cable advertising aimed at these companies and their senior leaders. The Lincoln Project will also target advertising for these corporation's workers, hoping to ''destabilize the companies' operations by fomenting employee rebellions,'' said Steve Schmidt, co-founder of the Lincoln Project.
Schmidt declined to comment on the companies the Lincoln Project plans to campaign against but pointed out that AT&T, BlackRock and Charles Schwab are among the corporate entities that donate to Republican lawmakers.
How members of Congress voted on counting the electoral college vote
''Eighty-$90 million was spent by corporate America on political committees '... on extremist groups that have destabilized American democracy,'' Schmidt said. ''After this point, nothing goes back to normal.''
Jena McGregor and David A. Fahrenthold contributed to this report.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she believes President Donald Trump should be impeached because "every minute" he stays in office "represents a clear and present danger" to Congress and the Country.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would could move to impeach Trump this week if Vice President Mike Pence does not answer the chamber's calls to invoke the 25th amendment."It is an act of insurrection. It is an act of hostility," Ocasio-Cortez said. "And we must have accountability because without it, it will happen again."Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she believes President Donald Trump should be impeached in light of the Capitol siege because "every minute" he is in office "represents a clear and present danger."
Ocasio-Cortez appeared on a Sunday segment of "This Week" with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, where she said she believes impeachment should be scheduled for the president.
"Our main priority is to ensure the removal of Donald Trump as president of the United States," Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday. "Every minute and every hour that he is in office represents a clear and present danger, not just to the United States Congress but frankly to the country."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter obtained by CNN that impeachment proceedings could be set into motion as early as this week if Vice President Mike Pence does not respond to calls to invoke the 25th Amendment, which would allow the vice president and some of Trump's cabinet to depose the president.
In addition to removing the president, Ocasio-Cortez said the House is also considering the "complete barring" of Trump from "running for office ever again" and to prevent him from "pardoning himself from those charges that he was impeached for," she said during the interview.
'--This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 10, 2021Some GOP lawmakers wrote a letter to President-elect Joe Biden, asking him to formally request that Pelosi and the House stop their pursuit of Trump's impeachment for a second time "in the spirit of healing and fidelity to our Constitution."
The New York congresswoman said the "process of healing" doesn't require dropping a potential impeachment, but "accountability."
"We have to understand that what happened on Wednesday was insurrection against the United States," Ocasio-Cortez said. "That is what Donald J. Trump engaged in, and that is what those people in the Capitol engaged in. So when we talk about healing, the process of healing is separate, and in fact, requires accountability."
"So if we allow insurrection against the United States with impunity '-- with no accountability'-- we are inviting it to happen again. That is how serious it is," she said. "Perhaps my colleagues weren't in that room, perhaps my colleagues were not fully present for the events on Wednesday, but we came close to half of the House nearly dying on Wednesday."
Ocasio-Cortez said if another head of state had "ordered an attack" on Congress," then lawmakers would not allow it to go unanswered, and therefore, Wednesday's siege on the Capitol should not be treated that way.
"It is an act of insurrection. It is an act of hostility," she said. "And we must have accountability because without it, it will happen again."
'--This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 10, 2021 Loading Something is loading.
World governments condemn tech-induced censorship of President Trump, plan to regulate
Michael McCormack, the acting Australian Prime Minister, accused Twitter of censorship for suspending Trump's account permanently. He also compared the January 6 riots to the George Floyd riots that swept the world last year.
In an interview on Monday, McCormack, who is standing in for PM Scott Morrison, who is on leave, suggested that Twitter should not have permanently suspended Trump's account.
''There's been a lot of people who have said and done a lot of things on Twitter previously that haven't received that sort of condemnation or indeed censorship. But I'm not one who believes in that sort of censorship,'' McCormack said, speaking to ABC Radio National on Monday.
At a press briefing later, McCormack doubled down on his criticism of Twitter.
''I say to the owners of Twitter that if you are going to take down the comments of [the person] who is still the American president, you need to think also about the photo, the doctored photo, the doctored image,'' McCormack told reporters, referring to the faked photo posted by a Chinese government official of an Australian soldier holding a knife to an Afghani kid's throat.
The Deputy PM also described the events that took place on Wednesday last week in the US Capitol as ''unfortunate.''
''It is unfortunate that we have seen the events at Capitol Hill, that we've seen in recent days '' similar to those race riots that we saw around the country last year,'' McCormack said.
Australia isn't the only country to call out Twitter and Facebook for their banning of the US President '' France and Germany have also weighed in.
Germany and France both attacked Big Tech platforms that banned President Trump, continuing their war against Big Tech.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel objected to the bans.
''The chancellor sees the complete closing down of the account of an elected president as problematic,'' Steffen Seibert, her chief spokesman, said in a news conference, adding that rights such as the freedom of speech ''can be interfered with, but by law and within the framework defined by the legislature, not according to a corporate decision.''
Merkel's stance was also echoed by the French government. The Junior Minister for European Union Affairs Clement Beaune expressed that he was ''shocked'' to see Big Tech's actions over the last week.
''This should be decided by citizens, not by a CEO,'' he said on Bloomberg TV. ''There needs to be public regulation of big online platforms.''
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called Big Tech giants, ''the digital oligarchy,'' and called Big Tech ''one of the threats'' to democracy.
Amazon Says it Will Remove QAnon Products From its Store. - The New York Times
A woman wore a QAnon hat at a Trump rally in September. Amazon said it would remove QAnon merchandise from its website. Credit... Al Drago for The New York Times Amazon said on Monday that it was removing products promoting QAnon, a baseless conspiracy, from its website, after QAnon supporters were prominent in the riot at the Capitol last week.
The move followed Amazon's decision to boot Parler, a right-wing social network, from its web servers and cloud services.
About 60 percent of the products sold on Amazon are offered by third-party merchants, who list items on the site and often use the company's advertising and delivery services. Flags, shirts, hats and other merchandise, as well as self-published books promoting QAnon, still showed up on a search on Monday afternoon, many with favorable customer reviews and indications that they were shipped to customers from Amazon's warehouses. Amazon said removing items could take several days.
Amazon's policies prohibit products that ''promote, incite, or glorify hate or violence toward any person or group,'' though it has faced criticism for not swiftly enforcing its own rules. If sellers try to evade detection systems, they could risk losing the ability to sell on the site entirely.
Amazon slams Parler in court reply and invokes Big Tech's liability shield - CNN
(CNN Business) Amazon Web Services filed its response to Parler's lawsuit on Tuesday, blaming the social media platform favored by the far-right for filing a "meritless claim" against the cloud computing giant and citing a liability shield often maligned by President Donald Trump: Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934.
AWS's legal brief argues that it is Parler, not Amazon ( AMZN ) , that breached the terms of its contract and that Parler's removal from AWS's hosting platform was a "last resort."
"This case is about Parler's demonstrated unwillingness and inability to remove from the servers of Amazon Web Services ('AWS') content that threatens the public safety," Amazon wrote, "such as by inciting and planning the rape, torture, and assassination of named public officials and private citizens."
The response highlights more than a dozen examples that Amazon said it reported to Parler, including calls for a civil war and the deaths of Democratic lawmakers; tech company CEOs including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey; members of professional sports leagues; former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao; and US Capitol Police, among others.
Parler didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Amazon denied that it interfered in Parler's relationship with its users, and claimed that Parler's antitrust allegations do not meet the basic threshold required for a Sherman Act claim. Parler had alleged Amazon was engaged in a conspiracy to eliminate a competitor from the marketplace; Amazon said Parler's suit fails to define a relevant market or specify how competition was harmed.
Amazon also leans on Section 230, the law that has been heavily criticized by President Donald Trump and that grants tech platforms immunity for their content moderation efforts.
"That is precisely what AWS did here: removed access to content it considered 'excessively violent' and 'harassing,'" the brief said.
The litigation could thus become a high-profile test of the law that has come under scrutiny by both Democrats and Republicans.
Conservative Commentator Says AIG Canceled His Insurance Over His Social Media Posts '' Summit News
Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesFalling into line with the ongoing purge, YouTube has suspended President Trump, claiming he uploaded a video that violates its polices.
Trump will be banned from the platform for a week, effectively until the end of his presidency, with comments on all other videos on his channel also disabled indefinitely due to 'safety concerns'.
YouTube also stated that the suspension was enacted due to the 'ongoing potential for violence':
2/ Given the ongoing concerns about violence, we will also be indefinitely disabling comments on President Trump's channel, as we've done to other channels where there are safety concerns found in the comments section. https://t.co/1aBENHGU5z
'-- YouTubeInsider (@YouTubeInsider) January 13, 2021The Google owned company said the suspension may be extended beyond a week, stating ''in accordance with our long-standing strikes system, the channel is now prevented from uploading new videos or livestreams for a minimum of seven days '' which may be extended.''
In the videos that Trump uploaded to YouTube, prompting the ban, Trump said that big tech is making ''a catastrophic mistake'' in its actions to silence him, and that it is intent on ''dividing people''.
The Trump team uploaded several videos to YouTube Tuesday night and it is not clear which one 'violated' YouTube's policies. However, the videos appear to have been clips from his speech in Texas, which TV networks also refused to carry.
The full speech can be viewed below:
President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the southern border where he reiterated the law and order movement of peace to empower the American people.
Commenting on the ongoing effort to erase Trump from the face of the planet, Brexit architect, and Trump's friend, Nigel Farage warned Democrats that it could lead to ''very sinister'' consequences.
Farage said that Democrats are ''so certain of their moral superiority, so filled with hatred and contempt, not just for Trump, but for the values of tens of millions of Americans, that they're going down a course where this guy could be martyred or silenced.''
''That is the biggest mistake anybody could make at this moment in time. Donald Trump didn't radicalise tens of millions of Americans. Tens of millions of Americans had already become upset about the mainstream media, increasingly distrustful of social media, had a loathing for Washington and the way that it operates,'' Farage added.
''If you take Trump out of the picture then what follows Trump, what follows Trump could be very sinister indeed,'' Farage urged, adding ''So I would urge everybody'... they won't listen, I know, but I would urge the Democrats not to be vindictive, and I would urge social media platforms to think again. Otherwise, I think America could be heading into a very, very bad place.''
Listen:
censorship 25 million new users joined in the last 72 hours.
SOPA Images via Getty Images25 million new users joined social media platform Telegram in the last 72 hours alone as its founder slammed people ''being held hostage by tech monopolies.''
The messaging app surpassed 500 million monthly active users in the first week of January and is now adding millions more in the wake of Big Tech's latest censorship purge.
''People no longer want to exchange their privacy for free services,'' said founder Pavel Durov. ''They no longer want to be held hostage by tech monopolies that seem to think they can get away with anything as long as their apps have a critical mass of users.''
The surge was partly driven by Twitter's unprecedented banning of President Trump, a move condemned by even the governments of France and Germany.
However, the main reason for the surge in new downloads was undoubtedly a WhatsApp privacy update which led to concerns that the app would hand over user data to Facebook.
Durov also noted that Apple and Google were far more dangerous than Twitter because of the monopoly they enjoy via app stores.
Telegram is preparing to offer ''a feature-rich web app which will run in Safari almost as smoothly as the native app,'' in case the app gets banned by Google and Apple.
Meanwhile, Parler, which was banned by both Google and Apple and subsequently had its servers pulled by Amazon, could be set to return after it was revealed that the company had registered its domain with Epik, a company known for hosting right-wing content.
Gab, another free speech platform, has also enjoyed record user growth in the past few days.
censorship Corporate and tech elite want Trump erased from history
Published
1 day ago
on
12 January, 2021
Steve Watson
Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesIn an unprecedented move, two major banks have announced they will refuse to do business with President Trump, and will shut down accounts he holds with them.
Bloomberg News reports that the German based Deutsche Bank, and the New York based Signature Bank are both refusing to do further business with Trump following the events of last week at the Capitol.
Signature issued a statement noting that they believe Trump should resign from office.
''We believe the appropriate action would be the resignation of the president of the United States, which is in the best interests of our nation and the American people,'' the statement from Signature Bank declared.
Trump holds two accounts with the bank, according to reports, with over 5 million dollars invested in them.
The bank says it will now close those accounts, and will also refuse to do business with any elected representative who voted to disregard the electoral college vote count.
''We have never before commented on any political matter and hope to never do so again,'' the bank also stated.
Deutsche Bank, with which Trump has loans of around $340 million outstanding, has decided to sever ties with the President, after almost 20 years of doing business with him.
Last month, two private bankers at Deutsche who had worked most closely with Trump resigned their positions.
While there has been no formal statement concerning Trump, Deutsche's head of U.S. operations Christiana Riley spoke out against the Capitol unrest last week, stating on LinkedIn that the bank stands only with Americans who support a 'peaceful transition of power.'
''Violence has no place in our society and the scenes that we witnessed are a shame on the whole nation,''Riley wrote, adding ''We are proud of our Constitution and stand by those who seek to uphold it to ensure that the will of the people is upheld and a peaceful transition of power takes place.''
The relationship between Trump and Deutsche has been strained for some time, with ongoing investigations by the Manhattan District Attorney's office and New York Attorney General seeing subpoenas issued to the bank.
Court filings have revealed that investigators are looking for any evidence that the Trump Organization misled or defrauded the lender by inflating the value of some of its assets.
The actions of the two banks against Trump are part of a larger ongoing purge by the corporate and tech elite.
The Trump campaign's funding and e-commerce operations have also been cut off by Stripe and Shopify, while a raft of other companies have suspended relations with the President.
As Tensions Rise, Airbnb Cancels ALL Reservations In DC For Inauguration
In anticipation of more violence in Washington, D.C., next week ahead of or during President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, Airbnb has announced it canceled all reservations for the event.
"We have canceled all Airbnb reservations in DC for Inauguration week. Guests will be issued a full refund and hosts will still be paid in full for these canceled bookings," co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky wrote on Twitter.
sponsor''We are announcing that Airbnb will cancel reservations in the Washington, D.C. metro area during the Inauguration week,'' said a statement from the company. "Additionally, we will prevent any new reservations in the Washington, D.C. area from being booked during that time by blocking such reservations.''
It's not clear whether the company is canceling similar reservations in state capitals, but according to private source intelligence, some groups -- left and right -- may be planning protests in various capitals, some of which could involve armed elements (which would be really stupid).
The Daily Caller has more:
This decision was made following a joint request by Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, and Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. The request asked Americans to not travel to the nation's capital, but rather to watch the inauguration virtually, according to Airbnb's statement.
Airbnb's announcement is a pivot from its original plan for increased safety and security measures, according to CNBC. The platform stated it would remove people associated with the Jan. 6 Capitol riots from its mobile app.
The company's decision comes after the announcement that the National Guard will deploy ''at least'' 10,000 troops by Saturday in preparation of Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration, according to the AP Press.
In addition, the travel and reservation platform said that it has identified several people who "are either associated with known hate groups or otherwise involved in the criminal activity at the Capitol Building," add that those individuals have been banned from using Airbnb.
Seriously, anyone who dares to bring weapons to the nation's capital or any state capital is either not playing with a full deck or out of their minds.
The Biggest Gun Forum Just Kicked Off The Internet Without Explanation
AR15.com, the biggest gun forum in the world, was deplatformed on Monday by web hosting company GoDaddy.
''ARFCOM IS DOWN. We've been booted from GoDaddy and are looking for an alternative solution,'' the site announced Monday afternoon on Twitter.
ARFCOM Is Down. We've been booted from GoDaddy and are looking for an alternative solution.
The site will return athttps://www.ar15-backup.com
Standby for more information
'-- AR15.COM (@AR15COM) January 11, 2021
The swift termination by internet host GoDaddy forced AR15.com's leadership to think on their feet and quickly create a temporary URL so ''freedom lovers and firearm enthusiasts'' could continue to access the information and resources on the site.
Instead of offering specifics about kicking the gun site off the internet, GoDaddy merely claimed that AR15.com violated its terms of service, which resulted in instant termination.
''On Monday, January 11, 2021, I received notice from our site registrar that AR15.com had violated their terms of service and that AR15.com would be shut down immediately,'' President and Co-Founder of the gun site Juan Avila told The Federalist in a statement. ''The registrar's decision to de-platform AR15.com was final and no method to appeal was offered.''
''It remains unclear specifically what content allegedly violated the registrar's terms of service,'' he added.
When asked by The Federalist about the decision to remove AR15.com, GoDaddy claimed that the site ''both promotes and encourages violence,'' but did not offer any specific examples. Instead, they offered AR15.com 24 hours to relocate its business.
The decision from GoDaddy follows of series of bans and contract terminations by big tech companies such as Amazon, Google, Apple, Twitter, and Facebook targeting conservatives and supporters of President Donald Trump. In addition to using their acquired power to ban and distance themselves from the president and his supporters, many have also engaged in what some have labeled anti-competitive behavior, encouraging and pushing each other to nuke alternative sites such as Parler.
Despite the abrupt change in AR15.com's site domain and traffic, Avila said that AR15.com already found ''a new, First Amendment-friendly site registrar'' that will accommodate the forum during its transition, which may take a few days.
Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.
Brexit
A Week Into Full Brexit, the Pain for U.K. Businesses Has Arrived - The New York Times
As Britain adjusts to life outside of the European Union, businesses are contending with delays, service cancellations and piles of paperwork.
The House of Parliament in London. Many British businesses, simply trying to stay afloat in the pandemic, had set aside planning for Brexit. Credit... Andrew Testa for The New York Times LONDON '-- Britain started 2021 in a new relationship with its biggest trade partner, and it has immediately brought a litany of headaches and lost business.
Within a week, implications of the Brexit trade deal with the European Union are being felt by businesses up and down the country as food deliveries are delayed for not having the right customs paperwork, logistics companies halt the shipment of goods, and retailers discover their supply chains might be obsolete.
After decades inside the European Union's customs union and single market, Britain's businesses have unearthed new challenges and changes every day.
Here's a sampling from the first week:
MONDAY The first day of financial trading under the new agreement meant the stock of European companies could no longer be traded on the London-based platforms they have historically been exchanged on. The trades have migrated to trading platforms in cities including Amsterdam and Paris.
TUESDAY The British retailer Marks & Spencer had trouble getting its fresh salads and other prepared foods across the English Channel to its stores in France, leaving some shelves bare in Paris. ''Due to new UK/EU import legislation, we're sorry some of your favorites might be missing,'' a sign said.
WEDNESDAY The governor of the Bank of England, Britain's central bank, told a parliamentary committee that the Brexit deal would cost the British economy about 2 percent of gross domestic product over the next few years. Part of that expense, said Andrew Bailey, the governor, would be caused by additional paperwork for customs declarations and other expenses of trade '-- what he called ''the grit in the mechanism.''
THURSDAY Scottish salmon farmers, who take pride in getting their fillets from sea to French markets within 24 hours, reported delays in their sleek process under the new Brexit terms. The deal's ''new, complex'' trading rules had caused holdups as seafood companies struggled with the paperwork, the trade group Scotland Food and Drink said. ''We have warned for months about the lack of preparation time for everyone involved and these problems sadly come as little surprise,'' said the head of the group.
FRIDAY The large European delivery company DPD, which moved more than one billion parcels around the world in 2019, said it would stop sending packages from Britain to the European Union until at least the middle of next week as it tried to figure out new cross-border systems.
Image Debenhams, a large but now bankrupt chain of department stores, had to shut down its Irish website. Credit... Andy Rain/EPA, via Shutterstock For many businesses, this is what Brexit has quickly become: a logistical, regulatory and administrative burden for which they were unprepared. It will only add to the malaise in Britain, where the coronavirus pandemic is raging '-- last week one in 50 people in England had the virus, and the country is under its third national lockdown. And analysts say the economy is heading for a double-dip recession.
Some businesses had put aside efforts to plan for Brexit last year in favor of trying to keep their companies afloat during the pandemic. But even those that tried to prepare faced a fundamental obstacle: an agreement on the trade deal with the European Union wasn't reached until Dec. 24, and the text of the 1,246-page pact wasn't circulated until Dec. 26.
Other documents, providing full details of how Britain's border would work, with illustrative examples and flow charts, weren't published until Dec. 31, the day before the new rules took effect.
''No wonder people are struggling,'' said Sally Jones, who leads the trade strategy and Brexit team at EY, the consulting and accounting firm. For the first time since 1993, British businesses need to deal with customs checks, additional food safety forms, and myriad other paperwork to trade with the European Union.
Image Trucks waited to board ferries bound for France in Dover. One company said numerous trucks had been turned away, lacking the correct paperwork. Credit... Andrew Testa for The New York Times ''People forget just how difficult things were in the past,'' Ms. Jones said.
On Friday, DFDS, a large Danish logistics company that runs ferries from the English port of Dover to France, said a ''high volume'' of trucks were being refused or delayed for not having the correct paperwork.
DPD, the parcel delivery company, said it paused service to the European Union after up to 20 percent of parcels it handled had incorrect or incomplete data, and so would need to be returned to the sender.
''The things which are proving problematic are the things that we expected to be problematic,'' Ms. Jones said. ''So for goods, it's all about the speed and accuracy with which people are preparing the right paperwork.''
Many U.K. businesses '-- at least 150,000, according to data from Britain's tax agency '-- have never traded beyond the European Union, and so have no experience dealing with the customs systems.
The situation in Northern Ireland is an added wrinkle. Northern Ireland will remain partially in the European Union's single market, an exception that avoids a border with the Republic of Ireland but creates a border in the Irish Sea. Logistics experts say the Trader Support Service, a free government service to help companies complete customs forms to send goods from England, Wales and Scotland to Northern Ireland, has been overwhelmed.
Some businesses anticipated cross-border problems with Europe, and filled warehouses with stockpiled goods '-- auto parts and pharmaceuticals, for example '-- before the end of the Brexit transition period. That has kept cross-border shipments at a fraction of their normal level so far. Over the next few weeks, as those stockpiles run down, business activity will pick up, exacerbating delays.
Another new problem faced by large retailers with international locations: ''Rules-of-origin requirements,'' which determine whether a product leaving Britain is ''British enough'' to qualify for tariff-free trade with the European Union. International retailers who use sites in Britain as distribution centers are now finding that they can't automatically re-export their products to their stores in the European Union without facing tariffs '-- even if the product came from the bloc.
For example, a company could not import jeans from Bangladesh or cheese from France into a hub in England and then send it on to a store in Ireland without facing export tariffs. The British Retail Consortium said at least 50 of its members face such tariffs. Debenhams, a large but now bankrupt chain of department stores, shut down its Irish website because of confusion over trade rules.
As companies scramble to catch up to the rule changes, the question is: What does Britain do with the sovereignty and freedom it has secured from leaving the European Union? The government has to decide how much it wants to diverge from Europe's rules, where it might want to deregulate, and if it wants to pay the price for that.
''Modern trade and modern regulation does require a level of integration,'' especially if a country is not as large as the European Union or the United States, said David Henig, director of the U.K. Trade Policy Project at the European Center for International Political Economy. Smaller countries may find they have to ''follow other people's rules, and that can be uncomfortable.''
''The U.K. is experimenting to try and find if it can maintain our position while not having to do that,'' he said.
So far, there are few immediate tangible benefits of Brexit for businesses '-- beyond the fact that ending years of stormy debate and uncertainty may be counted as a benefit. (For many supporters, Brexit was always about sovereignty, not business, and it has allowed Britain to revise its immigration laws.)
The Treasury has taken one step in the last week that it could not have done under E.U. law: On Jan. 1 it scrapped the collection of V.A.T., a type of sales tax, on tampons and other sanitary products, pleasing campaigners who called it a sexist tax.
But it will be hard to realize any substantial short-term gains from Britain's new trading arrangement with the European Union, especially since the pandemic continues to take a toll on the economy. Last year, the British economy experienced its deepest recession in more than 300 years, and the lockdowns continue as vaccines are slowly rolled out.
''A lot of the disruption that Brexit brings is going to be hidden by the pandemic,'' said Anand Menon, a professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King's College London.
BLM SJW
Biden prioritizing black business first
Vogue's Kamala Harris cover sparks social media frenzy: 'What a mess up' | Fox News
The cover was not the one Harris' team expected to be used, one writer claimedThe cover of February's upcoming issue of Vogue, which features Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, has been widely criticized on social media.
Some fans of the future VP are claiming Harris looks washed out in the photo while others say the cover's style doesn't give her the respect she deserves.
And some say it's just plain bad.
"What a mess up. [Editor-in-Chief] Anna Wintour must really not have Black friends and colleagues," author Wajahat Ali wrote.
"Kamala Harris is about as light skinned as women of color come and Vogue still f---ed up her lighting. WTF is this washed out mess of a cover?" Twitter user E. Vaughan said.
HARRIS EMPHASIZES COVID-19 VACCINE IS 'PAINLESS' AND 'SAFE'
She added, "Vogue knows Kamala Harris loves her sorority, suits, comfortable pants and chuck taylors. So they just jumbled it all together for the cover. Except they couldn't decide whether she is going to a luxe French salon, the Senate floor, or taking a jog."
BIDEN, HARRIS ACCUSED OF 'GASLIGHTING' FOR SUGGESTING CAPITOL HILL RIOTERS, 'PEACEFUL' BLM DOUBLE STANDARD
User MVP Harris said the cover proves it's time for 71-year-old Wintour to step down as Vogue's editor.
"If the only time her team can properly style a black women is when she's covered in couture then her tenure has ran it course. Look at how Kamala Harris' Elle cover straight up bodied Vogue. Electric chair!"
"Folks who don't get why the Vogue cover of VP-elect Kamala Harris is bad are missing the point," activist Charlotte Clymer tweeted. "The pic itself isn't terrible as a pic. It's just far, far below the standards of Vogue. They didn't put thought into it. Like homework finished the morning it's due. Disrespectful."
"Vogue has Kamala Harris in some f---ing Converse. Someone needs to throw a cinderblock at Anna Wintour fr," user miss mullet said.
However, it wasn't hated by everyone.
One Twitter user said it spoke to her generation. "I had a pair of @Converse in middle school! #1984 now this is the #BRAND #GENZ WANTS!" She added it sets an example for realistic fashion.
The cover was not the one Harris' team expected to be used, according to a source familiar with the publication, New York magazine contributor Yashar Ali tweeted.
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"In the cover that they expected, Vice President-elect Harris was wearing a powder blue suit. That was the cover that the Vice President-elect's team and the Vogue team, including Anna Wintour, mutually agreed upon...which is standard for fashion magazines," Ali added.
He said it meant someone changed the cover without informing Harris' team.
Harris has not commented on the cover.
Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on the Road Ahead | Vogue
A FEW MONTHS AGO, the United States of America was in free fall. No one knew which way the election was headed, record numbers of people were losing their jobs, homelessness was worsening, COVID cases were spiking, and winter lockdowns loomed. Then, at the end of their steady, dutiful campaign, California Senator Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joe Biden swept a series of likely and unlikely states, thanks to unprecedented voter turnout and a tide of mail-in ballots that carried Pennsylvania and Georgia. Biden earned over 80 million votes'--more than any other presidential candidate in history. Despite those victories, Harris, Biden, and the rest of us had to wait for nearly a week for news outlets to declare them the winners, and another two weeks for the federal government to approve the transition. All the while, President Donald J. Trump refused to concede, telling his followers that he had won the election, spreading conspiracy theories about fraud, and demanding recounts in as many states as he could. In January, a mob of Trump's supporters followed his lead: they rioted at the Capitol, violently raging through the halls and offices of Congress as lawmakers hid; they looted and fought police officers, leaving five people dead.
Mrs. AmericaVice President''elect Kamala Harris in a Michael Kors Collection suit. Hair, Bre Jaggers; makeup, Marquia James. Set design, Julia Wagner. Sittings Editor: Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. Photographed by Tyler Mitchell, Vogue, February 2021 Cover LookAgainst colors inspired by those of her Howard university sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Vice President''elect Kamala Harris wears a Donald Deal jacket. Converse sneakers. Photographed by Tyler Mitchell, Vogue, February 2021This is the second time Harris, 56, has been through a dragged-out contest; when she ran for attorney general of California in 2010, the race was so close that ballot counting went on for more than three weeks. (On election night that year, her opponent had declared victory, too.) On the chilly, sunny morning of November 7, Harris started the day by power walking with her husband, entertainment lawyer Douglas Emhoff. She then headed back to the inn where they were staying, near Biden's campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, to take a shower and prepare for meetings; Emhoff decided to continue on by himself. Harris ran the shower to get it hot. ''Then I looked at my phone, and the texts came that they had called the race, and I ran downstairs to find Doug'--never turned off the water,'' Harris says to me with a laugh. ''Luckily enough there were people in the house. 'Somebody go turn off the water!' '' We all saw a clip of what came next: Harris standing on a grassy lawn, still in workout wear, on the phone with President-elect Joe Biden. ''We did it. We did it, Joe,'' she tells him, and laughs with a tired happiness. What they had done was remarkable'--ousting a bigoted and cruel president from office'--but, given the wreckage left behind, it was only the beginning.
That night, in a suit so white it glowed, she and Biden gave their victory speeches in front of a drive-up rally and millions of people watching from home. ''It was very important for me to speak to the moment, and the moment includes understanding that there is a great responsibility that comes with being a first,'' Harris says of that evening. We are talking over Zoom, and she's dressed in a deep brown blazer and black pearls, sitting in front of not one but two American flags, on a week in which she and Biden have begun naming their Cabinet. She wanted to say something that night that young Americans would remember. ''I always say this: I may be the first to do many things'--make sure I'm not the last,'' she tells me. ''I was thinking of my baby nieces, who will only know one world where a woman is vice president of the United States, a woman of color, a Black woman, a woman with parents who were born outside of the United States.'' Harris was also emotional that night, thinking of her mother, an Indian immigrant and breast cancer researcher named Shyamala Gopalan who passed away 12 years ago. ''I thought about what her life meant'' and how it had gotten Harris to that victory. And she was thinking about the weight on her and Biden ''to unify our country and to heal.''
A FEW WEEKS before our interview, on November 2, I followed Harris around the state of Pennsylvania. In the city of Bethlehem, sunken into the green-lit farmland of the Lehigh Valley, Harris was holding a drive-up rally to ignite a furiously long day of campaigning. Pennsylvania was a key swing state that had gone Trump's way in 2016. It's also a place where people care deeply about the land, about who has long lived on the land, and who is moving in, and about how to protect the values they believe the land represents: family, honorable work, a sense of home. The press pool and I watched her take the stage in front of young families; white men, including a group of metalworker-union members in neon-yellow sweatshirts; and middle-aged Black girlfriends in bright jackets.
''I was feeling that there's not much more we can do,'' Harris recalls of that day in Pennsylvania. ''But because I had been going to states like Florida and North Carolina during early voting, I was feeling a sense of joy in seeing how many people were voting.'' The hours-long voting lines around the country, to her, showed what she had always felt about American democracy: that it was only as strong as the people willing to fight for it. To others the lines were troubling, demonstrating state attempts at voter suppression, but to Harris, they also suggested love for our country, despite the coronavirus pandemic and the worst economic conditions Americans had experienced in generations.
All TogetherIn a family portrait taken in 1972, Harris (center) stands next to her younger sister, Maya. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, is flanked by her parents. Bright FutureA young Harris, photographed in Berkeley, California.In Bethlehem, Harris was charismatic at the microphone, sounding down-home and authoritative, even when she stumbled: She praised the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, before falling into that sometimes-awkward laugh of hers, and adding that Black women had been excluded from that right'--''Gotta deal with that,'' she said. As the audience cheered, she added, ''Let's honor the ancestors.'' I met a Black woman in the crowd named Tracie Garvin-Springer who was dressed in hazard-red heels and a cheetah-print coat, and had lived in Lehigh for 15 years. She told me, ''I'm representing my mom, I'm representing my husband. This country is more than two centuries old, and our country needs to show diversity, and diversity means leadership comes in all races, all colors. It's time for a change.'' Some minutes later, I talked to two young men who were raising their fists and whooping; they help run Black Lives Matter Lehigh Valley. ''I had mixed feelings about her'--her history as a DA and how that related to Black people,'' one said. ''But where she's at now, trying to be progressive, especially with the LGBTQ community'--'' His partner interrupted: ''Not only are we minorities, but we're gay, and she's for us.''
On the Saturday I woke up to start writing this story, the morning of Harris's and Biden's victory speeches, I did the same thing I had done every day since the election: found my phone under the duvet and doomscrolled through Twitter, news sites, and Instagram to check for updates on the vote count. We were still waiting on Pennsylvania, on Nevada, on Georgia. But 10 minutes later, a new headline appeared: CNN had declared Biden the president-elect. Photos from friends in New York and Atlanta showed crowds of people celebrating on the street, dancing and popping Champagne bottles. I texted my friends and family and set my phone down, overwhelmed with both surprise and grief'--for a pandemic and state-directed violence that continued to take Black, brown, and poor lives. I put YG and Nipsey Hussle's ''FDT,'' a pledge of disloyalty to our outgoing commander-in-chief, on repeat, to the soundtrack of fireworks in my East Los Angeles neighborhood. Then I wondered how people who had voted for Trump were reacting to the election being called, if they even thought the race was over.
After the historic congressional wins in Georgia's January runoff elections, Biden and Harris will have the narrowest possible control of the Senate. Harris says the first 100 days of their administration will focus on tackling the coronavirus. ''The first line of approach has to be to get control of this pandemic,'' she says. She is worried about children who are missing school and frontline workers who don't have protective equipment and are suffering from trauma, and says that her first priorities are distributing the vaccine and utilizing the Defense Production Act, which will increase the production and distribution of masks, gowns, and gloves. When it comes to the economy, Harris's focus is on small businesses, on using federal funds to help them adapt to life under COVID. She also wants to push a congressional bill that will help protect homeowners and renters against evictions and foreclosures. Harris says that behind all of these measures is the idea of ''investing in the American workforce.'' Even before the pandemic, ''far too many people were working two and three jobs. In the world that Joe Biden and I believe can and should exist, people should only have to work one job.''
Science will matter, too, in helping the country mitigate future disasters. Harris's mother was a scientist who took Kamala and her younger sister to the lab on weekends and after work when they were growing up in Berkeley, California. Harris sees science as the only way to hold on to the country's infrastructure through climate change. ''You look at that tunnel between New Jersey and New York; if there is another Hurricane Sandy, it'll probably be wiped out,'' Harris says. ''You look at the wildfires in California'--the whole West Coast, from Washington and Oregon, to California and Colorado. And the storms ravaging the Gulf States.'' Science also has to shape the end of the pandemic. ''What we want is to get everyone vaccinated, and we intend to make sure that they are free vaccinations,'' Harris tells me, mentioning the COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force she aims to create in Congress. ''You look at our Black and Latino and Native American populations, and you see that all the [health and economic] disparities before the pandemic have been highlighted and exacerbated.'' Focusing on the coronavirus, Harris believes, will help bring together Americans, no matter who they voted for. ''We think about the first 100 days in terms of what we need to do to support mayors and governors and local officials around their distribution and their public-health systems,'' she says. ''When we get control of this pandemic, that's going to be a critical factor in being able to reopen our economy.''
A More Perfect UnionHarris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, on their wedding day in 2014, in Santa Barbara, California. Photo courtesy Kamala Harris campaignYET, DURING THE DAY she spent campaigning in Pennsylvania, occasionally armed Trump supporters protested nearly every one of her events, including a man shouting into a bullhorn that Latinos were for Trump. As I drove around Philadelphia, I saw a billboard advertising Asian-Americans for Trump. More people'--at least 10 million more'--voted for President Donald Trump last year than in 2016. When I ask Harris how she will govern a deeply fractured electorate, she returns to her oft-repeated ''3:00 a.m. agenda'' talking point: the idea that all Americans share the same concerns that keep them up at night, anxieties that unite Americans regardless ''of where they live, the color of their skin, the God they pray to. It's about, How can I get a job, keep a job, pay the bills by the end of the month, make sure that my kids have a decent education and an opportunity to succeed, especially amid COVID?'' she says. ''It's about, How can I buy a home and keep a home?''
We're also united by the fundamental challenge of keeping our families healthy and safe, she argues. It's a belief that has guided Harris and Biden through the winter, as Trump and his surrogates have mocked his opponents and denied their win, dreaming up fantasies of election rigging, losing one court challenge after another. ''At the risk of oversimplifying it, you don't meet hate with hate,'' Harris says. ''You don't meet one line of division with another line of division. We believe that the vast majority of American people don't agree with that approach, don't accept it, and don't like it.'' Through congressional hearings, political debates, and much of her interactions with the public, Harris has an almost regal ability to let hostility or criticisms glide off her; she shrugs them away with a tilt of her head and an amused, knowing smile. That implacability could help her and Biden lead even if part of their constituency remains in a state of revolt, or it could alienate them further from Americans who refuse to support the new administration.
Last year also saw the most widespread and sustained protests against police brutality and racism in the country's history, ignited by the killing of George Floyd in May; even Mitt Romney (with his ''shirtsleeves turned up,'' Harris says) joined a march. The uprising, Harris tells me, didn't affect her thinking on the ways in which Black people are policed, charged, and prosecuted. ''What it did do was made it easier to point out that the fight for criminal-justice reform, the fight for racial justice should be everyone's fight,'' she says. ''I was out there with the folks who were protesting the murder of George Floyd, and it was the first time I saw so much diversity in who was marching arm in arm, shouting, speaking, crying that Black lives matter.''
The first 100 days of the Biden administration will focus on tackling the coronavirus. ''The first line of approach has to be to get control of this pandemic,'' Harris says
Harris's parents, Gopalan and Donald Harris, a Jamaican-born professor emeritus of economics at Stanford, met as young graduate students in the civil rights movement at the University of California, Berkeley. Harris describes a childhood surrounded by her politically active aunties and uncles: ''I always joke about being in a stroller at that moment,'' she says. ''The Black Lives Matter movement, this movement that we are witnessing and had witnessed through the summer, is an extension of that movement.'' She says that she wants to help high-crime neighborhoods deal with the causes of crime: ''Triple Title I funding'' to low-income school districts, and stop funding public schools solely from the tax bases of communities, which hurts poor kids the most. But despite the connection between BLM and her own parents, Harris has not advocated for the reforms activists have pushed for in reducing or eliminating police budgets to divert funds to social programs, and has instead talked generally about funding alternative forms of public safety.HARRIS'S NATURAL CHARISMA and relatability lend her a version of what you might call the Obama effect. She, too, has often been the only Black person in the room, the only woman, the only Black and Indian American woman, forced to prove she's as good as, if not better than, everyone around her. My friend Nientara, a psychiatry resident at the Yale School of Medicine, doesn't agree with some of Harris's neoliberal views but tells me, ''As a brown-skinned South Asian woman who has and is making her professional life in primarily white institutions, it was impossible not to see myself in her. Hearing the names Kamala Devi Harris and Shyamala Gopalan Harris read out loud during a presidential press conference was flat-out thrilling.''
Harris knows that continually being the first, while promising not to be the last, is part of her appeal. ''Vice President Harris has already been the 'first' many times in her career,'' says Michelle Obama. ''This is a woman who knows what she's doing. It can't be about trying to please everybody or prove to certain people you're good enough for the job. And the vice president wouldn't be where she is today if she let that kind of thing get to her.''
The Obama effect, though, has its limits; to some, Obama himself was too often preoccupied with making white voters feel comfortable with his race, and rarely challenged establishment politics. And so the emotion of Harris and Biden's win was immediately followed by questions about how they would govern and what kind of coalition they might build in Congress. Would they embrace members on their left, or younger moderates in the party? How would they gain trust from the progressive voters who had reluctantly cast votes for them?
During the pandemic, as is usually the way in American history, Black women working low-wage service jobs have suffered the most'--from the lack of economic relief that would allow them to stay home during lockdowns, to the absence of affordable health and child care. (Black Americans are still dying of the coronavirus at nearly three times the rate of white ones.) Black women also have the highest levels of student debt of any group, which Biden and Harris do not plan to cancel (despite calls for them to do so). And so for many Black women, Harris's talk of national unity and reconciliation is far from a vision of genuine social reform. As the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, professor Tressie McMillan Cottom put it on the podcast she cohosts, ''Hear to Slay,'' reconciling those differences may not be possible. ''This is as close as a Black woman has come to entering the White House as something other than a spouse'--and even that was novel enough. So to have a woman of color '... is a fundamental shift in how we see power, privilege, and statecraft in the United States of America.'' But, Cottom went on, ''I am still unsure as to how much it means for 'progress.' '' My friend Nana, an actor and writer, feels similarly: ''We know representation is beautiful, but we saw firsthand in Ferguson in 2014 how it prevented Obama from engaging in real, meaningful dialogue and change during the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement.'' Harris has yet to convince all Americans that she plans to radically change the circumstances for the most vulnerable among us.
''Vice President Harris has already been the 'first' many times in her career,'' says Michelle Obama. ''This is a woman who knows what she's doing''
Around the country, the election spurred a debate about the pragmatism of winning office by courting moderate voters versus pushing for progressive change. Harris says she thinks, for most people, there is no distinction. ''There are a lot of issues where we just need to speak truth, difficult though it may be to hear. If there is a rape, if there is a child who is molested, if there is a homicide, every community wants to know that there will be a police officer who responds to that. We also know we need to decriminalize marijuana and expunge the records of people'--I'm reluctant to accept false choices,'' she tells me. ''I think the vast majority of Americans, when presented with the facts, when presented with the truth, will agree we need to have reform of policing'--and we need police officers!''
AS WE WAIT to see what Harris will do, Biden appears to know enough about his vice president. ''He decided that I would be a partner for him,'' Harris says of why he chose her as his running mate. Besides her professional accomplishments while district attorney of San Francisco, attorney general of California, and senator from California'--often the first woman and person of color in those roles'--the two were ''raised the same way, with the same values,'' meaning they care about ''family and hard work.'' She sees herself as a vice president who ''will always speak truth, always give him my opinion, which will be based on fact and knowledge and life experience, and do it in a way that allows him, when he makes a decision, to make it with full information about the impact'--and he has asked me to do that.''
The glimpses of Harris we do see are of a woman who cares deeply about her family and her friends. ''Even with all the craziness of the campaign, she never lost sight of what's really important. She would just be there for all of us: the kids, the little nieces and her sister, and my parents. She kept close tabs on everyone,'' Emhoff, Harris's husband, tells me. When the couple were campaigning in different locations'--Emhoff in Ohio, Harris in Georgia, for example'--she sent him a stream of messages and photos from the road, including the now-viral video of her dancing in the rain at a rally in Florida. ''I'm drenched!'' she texted him. Most mornings, they work out immediately after waking up, listen to ''old-school hip-hop, real old-school jazz, the classics like Prince and Stevie Wonder,'' and try to cook together as much as they can. ''Loves to cook is an understatement'--it just connects her to so many things. Food is family, and family is love,'' Emhoff says. Harris taught Emhoff, usually a non-cook, ''three moves'': baked chicken thighs with brown rice and spinach, a string-bean stir-fry, and swordfish. When Emhoff once tried to grill burgers and steak inside their apartment, Harris had to fan away the smoke with her briefing binder. ''That was a low point,'' Emhoff jokes.
Dreaming BigHarris in Los Angeles with beneficiaries of the DREAM Act. Photographed by Zo Ghertner, Vogue, 2018Harris is perhaps closest with her younger sister, Maya, a lawyer and the former campaign chair for her presidential run. Maya tells me that she sees the influence of their mother in the kind of leader Harris has become: ''Our mother broke barriers, and she brought other people along with her.'' She argues, ''There were a number of people who characterized what they were running on as among the most progressive platforms in Democratic party history....When Kamala and Joe ran, they brought people to the table and made public commitments to keep people at the table,'' notably politicians like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who advised Harris and Biden on their policy proposals.
In the days after our conversation, Harris alternated between tweeting about how we needed to help one another get through the end of the pandemic, and sharing her family's Thanksgiving cornbread-dressing recipe on Instagram. Meanwhile, the Electoral College affirmed Biden's win, and there was a new sense of assuredness and lightness to her posts. She also made White House staff hires: All of her senior positions have so far been filled by women who have previously worked in government, including the Washington veteran Tina Flournoy as her chief of staff.
Weeks after we talked, I thought of the Harris rally back in Bethlehem before Election Day, when the Trump-supporting protesters turned their attention to Harris's motorcade as it pulled out of the venue. ''You don't belong here!'' one woman shouted. For much of the last four years, for millions of Americans, that statement felt true'--when it seemed impossible to belong to a place that had elected a leader who ruled by hate, when it sometimes seemed unlikely we would find a way out of the darkness. Harris remembers, too. But she's looking ahead now and wants the country to follow her lead. ''We can agree that we have more in common than what separates us,'' she says. ''And agree that it's not in the best interest of who we are as a nation to have any one group suffer for who they are.''
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect news events that have transpired since Vogue's February issue went to press in mid-December.
The Vogue February issue featuring Kamala Harris is here! Subscribe now to guarantee your copy.
An elementary school in Cupertino, California'--a Silicon Valley community with a median home price of $2.3 million'--recently forced a class of third-graders to deconstruct their racial identities, then rank themselves according to their ''power and privilege.''
Based on whistleblower documents and parents familiar with the session, a third-grade teacher at R.I. Meyerholz Elementary School began the lesson on ''social identities'' during a math class. The teacher asked all students to create an ''identity map,'' listing their race, class, gender, religion, family structure, and other characteristics. The teacher explained that the students live in a ''dominant culture'' of ''white, middle class, cisgender, educated, able-bodied, Christian, English speaker[s],'' who, according to the lesson, ''created and maintained'' this culture in order ''to hold power and stay in power.''
Next, reading from This Book Is Antiracist, the students learned that ''those with privilege have power over others'' and that ''folx who do not benefit from their social identities, who are in the subordinate culture, have little to no privilege and power.'' As an example, the reading states that ''a white, cisgender man, who is able-bodied, heterosexual, considered handsome and speaks English has more privilege than a Black transgender woman.'' In some cases, because of the principle of intersectionality, ''there are parts of us that hold some power and other parts that are oppressed,'' even within a single individual.
Following this discussion, the teacher had the students deconstruct their own intersectional identities and ''circle the identities that hold power and privilege'' on their identity maps, ranking their traits according to the hierarchy. In a related assignment, the students were asked to write short essays describing which aspects of their identities ''hold power and privilege'' and which do not. The students were expected to produce ''at least one full page of writing.'' As an example, the presentation included a short paragraph about transgenderism and nonbinary sexuality.
The lesson caused an immediate uproar among Meyerholz Elementary parents. ''We were shocked,'' said one parent, who agreed to speak with me on condition of anonymity. ''They were basically teaching racism to my eight-year-old.'' This parent, who is Asian-American, rallied a group of a half dozen families to protest the school's intersectionality curriculum. The group met with the school principal and demanded an end to the racially divisive instruction. After a tense meeting, the administration agreed to suspend the program. (When reached for comment, Jenn Lashier, the principal of Meyerholz Elementary, said that the training was not part of the ''formal curricula, but the process of daily learning facilitated by a certified teacher.'')
The irony is that, despite being 94 percent nonwhite, Meyerholz Elementary is one of the most privileged schools in America. The median household income in Cupertino is $172,000, and nearly 80 percent of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher. At the school, where the majority of families are Asian-American, the students have exceptionally high rates of academic achievement and the school consistently ranks in the top 1 percent of all elementary schools statewide. In short, nobody at Meyerholz is oppressed, and the school's high-achieving parents know that teaching intersectionality instead of math is a waste of time'--and potentially dangerous.
One parent told me that critical race theory was reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. ''[It divides society between] the oppressor and the oppressed, and since these identities are inborn characteristics people cannot change, the only way to change it is via violent revolution,'' the parent said. ''Growing up in China, I had learned it many times. The outcome is the family will be ripped apart; husband hates wife, children hate parents. I think it is already happening here.''
The small fight at Meyerholz reflects a larger development: for the first time, Asian-Americans on the West Coast have become politically mobilized. In 2019, Asian-Americans ran a successful initiative campaign against affirmative action in Washington State; in 2020, Asian-Americans ran a similar campaign in California, winning by an astonishing 57 percent to 43 percent margin. In both cases, they defended the principles of meritocracy, individual rights, and equality under the law'--and roundly defeated a super-coalition of the states' progressive politicians, activists, universities, media, and corporations.
The stakes are high for the Asian-American community. For progressives insisting on the narrative of ''white supremacy'' and ''systemic racism,'' Asian-Americans are the ''inconvenient minority'': they significantly outperform all other racial groups, including whites, in terms of academic achievement, college admissions, household income, family stability, and other key measures. Affirmative action and other critical race theory-based programs would devastate their admissions to universities and harm their futures.
At Meyerholz Elementary, the Asian-American families are on high alert for critical race theory in the classroom. Since their initial victory, they have begun to consider campaigning against the school board. ''We think some of our school board members are [critical race theory] activists and they must go,'' said one parent. The capture of our public institutions by progressives obsessed by race and privilege deserves opposition at every level. The parents of Cupertino have joined the fight.
Let Us Out!
Mass Hysteria and Covid-19 Sub stack
The effect of wearing the veil by Saudi ladies on the occurrence of respiratory diseases - PubMed
Affiliation 1 Department of Medicine, Dammam Central Hospital, Saudi Arabia. PMID: 11515979 DOI: 10.1081/jas-100001497 Item in Clipboard
E F Ahmad et al. J Asthma . 2001 Aug .
doi: 10.1081/jas-100001497. Affiliation 1 Department of Medicine, Dammam Central Hospital, Saudi Arabia. PMID: 11515979 DOI: 10.1081/jas-100001497 Item in Clipboard
Abstract It is customary in clinical practice and elsewhere to put on a mask for protection against infection, dust, and so forth. The veil, which is traditionally worn by women in many Muslim countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, may have a similar effect. The study was carried out during 1998-1999 in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. Adult women were asked to answer a structured questionnaire related to the occurrence of respiratory tract problems and about veil wearing. Veil wearing was practiced by 58% of the sample. Respiratory infections and asthma were significantly more common in veils users (p < 0.00001 and p < 0.0003, respectively). This unexpected finding was probably secondary to infection. More and bigger studies are recommended.
Similar articles Pulmonary effects of occupational exposure to Portland cement: a study from eastern Saudi Arabia. Ballal SG, Ahmed HO, Ali BA, Albar AA, Alhasan AY. Ballal SG, et al. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2004 Jul-Sep;10(3):272-7. doi: 10.1179/oeh.2004.10.3.272. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2004. PMID: 15473080
Breastfeeding practice and its association with respiratory symptoms and atopic disease in 1-3-year-old children in the city of Riyadh, central Saudi Arabia. Al-Makoshi A, Al-Frayh A, Turner S, Devereux G. Al-Makoshi A, et al. Breastfeed Med. 2013 Feb;8(1):127-33. doi: 10.1089/bfm.2011.0137. Epub 2012 Oct 5. Breastfeed Med. 2013. PMID: 23039399
Current care services provided for patients with COPD in the Eastern province in Saudi Arabia: a descriptive study. Alsubaiei ME, Cafarella PA, Frith PA, McEvoy RD, Effing TW. Alsubaiei ME, et al. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2015 Nov 4;10:2379-91. doi: 10.2147/COPD.S89456. eCollection 2015. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2015. PMID: 26604736 Free PMC article.
Environmental Determinants of Bronchial Asthma among Saudi School Children in Southwestern Saudi Arabia. Alqahtani JM, Asaad AM, Awadalla NJ, Mahfouz AA. Alqahtani JM, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016 Dec 28;14(1):22. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14010022. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2016. PMID: 28036050 Free PMC article.
[Epidemiologic study of risk factors associated with the development of respiratory pathology in children]. Sanz Ortega J, Martorell Aragon(C)s A, Alvarez Angel V, Bermºdez Edo JD, Saiz Rodrguez R, Fuertes Fortea A, Torro Dom(C)nech I, Colomer Sala J, Daz Martnez A, Mora Navarro O. Sanz Ortega J, et al. An Esp Pediatr. 1990 May;32(5):389-98. An Esp Pediatr. 1990. PMID: 2205136 Review. Spanish.
Millions In China Under New Restrictions Amid COVID-19 Spike Near Beijing : Coronavirus Updates : NPR
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, medical workers take swabs from residents in Shijiazhuang in north China's Hebei province on Jan. 6. Authorities have announced new restrictions to contain the coronavirus. Mu Yu/AP hide caption
toggle caption Mu Yu/AP In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, medical workers take swabs from residents in Shijiazhuang in north China's Hebei province on Jan. 6. Authorities have announced new restrictions to contain the coronavirus.
Mu Yu/AP Authorities in China are imposing new coronavirus restrictions near Beijing after a spate of recent outbreaks.
The Associated Press reports that the cities of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai, in the Hebei province, have issued seven-day stay-at-home orders after a week in which more than 300 people tested positive for the coronavirus.
Multiple outlets have reported that local officials announced restrictions on outbound travel from Shijiazhuang, which is home to 11 million residents, as well as bans on gatherings, school suspensions and the closing off of some villages and residential communities.
Beijing is also requiring workers from the province to provide proof that they work in the city and a negative coronavirus test to enter. Entry points into Beijing, the AP says citing Chinese media, had hourslong backups on Friday.
The South China Morning Post quotes province officials as saying the lockdown in Shijiazhuang is necessary for the "political security" of Beijing, which borders the province.
The SCMP goes on to report that many cases in Shijiazhuang were tied to a series of weddings, funerals and other events in a rural village under the city's administration.
CNN reported this week that some 3,000 health care workers had been dispatched to the city to carry out a massive testing drive. By Thursday, more than 6 million samples had been collected, and some 2 million tested.
By Saturday, more than 40,000 medical professionals had been mobilized to conduct tests on some 13 million people in four cities, the SCMP reported.
These newest restrictions are drawing comparisons to the lockdown in Wuhan, which began last January, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. The city in Hubei province, which was the pandemic's first epicenter, closed its border and restricted movement for 76 days before new cases started to dwindle.
Since then, China was thought to turn something of a corner on the pandemic, maintaining relatively low new cases compared to the U.S. and much of the world.
Reuters reports that the outbreak in Shijiazhuang accounted for most the country's new cases on Thursday. In all, China has confirmed more than 96,600 coronavirus cases and 4,700 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Report: 'Mask mouth' to blame for uptick in some serious oral health issues '' Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News
(WHDH) '-- While mask-wearing is mandatory in many public spaces and an essential tool in guarding against the spread of COVID-19, dentists have been seeing a rise in serious oral health issues since people began wearing masks for extended periods of time, according to a new report.
''Mask mouth'' has become a trend since the beginning of the pandemic, with people developing bad breath, dry mouth, tooth decay, bleeding gums, mouth ulcers, and other oral health issues, a new report from Express Dentist indicates.
''Wearing a face mask can have serious consequences for oral health. However, avoiding this protective measure is not advisable, because of its critical role in slowing the spread of COVID-19,'' the report stated.
The report identified a number of possible causes for mask mouth, including disruption of breathing, disruption of thermoregulation, dehydration, and breathing recycled air.
The good news is that mask mouth is a treatable and preventable condition.
Express Dentist recommends deep breathing, staying hydrated, and taking regular breaks from mask wearing by finding a safe outdoor area as ways to prevent mask mouth. The report also suggests washing your cloth face mask every day and throwing out disposable masks after use.
Anyone who notices symptoms like bleeding gums, bad breath, discolored teeth or dental pain should contact their dentist immediately.
For more on mask mouth and how to prevent it, click here.
(Copyright (c) 2020 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Vaccines and Stuff
Quomo open economy to accelerate vaccination desires?
Moderna says COVID-19 vaccine immunity at least a year
January 11, 2021 | 9:35pm | Updated January 12, 2021 | 7:03am
Immunity from Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine should last at least a year, the company said on Monday at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference.
The drugmaker said it was confident that the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology it used was well suited to deploy a vaccine based on the new variant of the coronavirus which has emerged in a handful of countries.
The company's vaccine, mRNA-1273, uses synthetic mRNA to mimic the surface of the coronavirus and teach the immune system to recognize and neutralize it.
Moderna said in December it would run tests to confirm the vaccine's activity against any strain.
The company said on Monday it expects to deliver between 600 million doses and 1 billion does of its vaccine in 2021 and forecast vaccine-related sales of $11.7 billion for the year, based on advance purchase agreements signed with governments.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration''The team feels very comfortable with the track record we have now '... that we are on track to deliver at least 600 million doses,'' Chief Executive Officer St(C)phane Bancel said.
Pfizer COVID vaccine trial shows alarming evidence of pathogenic priming in older adults | Opinion | LifeSite
December 11, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) '-- In the development of vaccines against coronaviruses like SARS-COV-1 and MERS in the early 2000's, researchers found evidence of a serious problem. Teams of U.S. and foreign scientists vaccinated animals with the four most promising vaccines. At first, the experiment seemed successful as all the animals developed a robust antibody response to coronavirus. However, when the scientists exposed the vaccinated animals to the wild virus, the results were horrifying. Vaccinated animals suffered hyper-immune responses including inflammation throughout their bodies, especially in their lungs.
This issue is well known. Early in the COVID-19 scenario, Dr. Peter Hotez, of Baylor College of Medicine, testified before Congress about the dangers of accelerating coronavirus vaccine development, saying ''(The) unique safety problem of coronavirus vaccines'' was discovered 50 years ago while developing the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine.''
He went to register that this '''paradoxical immune enhancement phenomenon' means vaccinated people may still develop the disease, get sicker and die.''
Researchers had seen this same ''enhanced immune response'' during human testing of the failed RSV vaccine tests in the 1950s. The vaccines not only failed to prevent infection; 80% of the children infected required hospitalization, and two children challenged with the RSV died (see Openshaw, 2005). In April of 2020, Hotez told CNN, ''If there is immune enhancement in animals, that's a showstopper.''
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There's been a serious terminology problem with this issue. The problem, of course, is not ''immune enhancement,'' which sounds like something helpful to the immune system. In fact, it is quite the opposite. The problem is, in reality ''disease enhancement''; in fact, that is what it was called in the original RSV study. Disease enhancement now appears to be caused by initial exposure to a pathogen's proteins, or parts of proteins, which primes the body to autoimmunity. That is ''pathogenic priming.'' In COVID-19, every protein in the SARS-CoV-2 has at least one epitope that matches human proteins someplace in the human body. About one-third of the epitopes in SARS-CoV-2 virus that match human proteins match immune system proteins.
The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Briefing Document on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine contains disturbing indications that might be a safety signal on pathogenic priming, especially in older adults. Before those are reviewed, there are fundamental issues with the classification of serious adverse events that reflect the short-term thinking and externalization-of-cost mindset of the vaccine safety science paradigm.
The first issue is the categorization of ''Serious vs. Non-Serious'' adverse events in the study and in the report. To a person experiencing neurologic adverse events including Bell's Palsy, neuroinflammatory and thrombotic events, these events are not ''non-serious'' and can, over time, develop into life-threatening conditions that require continuous medical intervention and repeated billable office visits for care. The short-term study excludes any means of detecting whether the initial exposure may play a fundamental root cause role in setting up patients for life-long chronic illness. The vaccine adverse events themselves seen in the Pfizer study may be indicative of pathogenic priming, especially since more serious adverse events were seen with the second dose.
The second issue is that the design and analysis set-up of the study are biased against finding adverse events.
The report states:
''Among non-serious unsolicited adverse events, there was a numerical imbalance of four cases of Bell's palsy in the vaccine group compared with no cases in the placebo group, though the four cases in the vaccine group do not represent a frequency above that expected in the general population.''
The comparison to baseline rates is meaningless because other vaccines are in use in the population. Thus, any risk due to the COVID-19 vaccine adds to or multiplies existing risk present in the population from other vaccines.
A 10-fold increase of serious adverse events on second dose in older adults on second dose, compared to 3.6-fold for those under 55Among the 18-55 year-old participants, there were 370 solicited serious adverse events (SSAEs) in the vaccinated group and 73 in the unvaccinated. Of the vaccinated, 18% experienced SSAEs; in the placebo group, only 3% did, implying that SSAEs can be expected at a rate five times greater in the vaccinated compared to the unvaccinated.
These included severe fatigue, headache, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle and joint pain. Whether these conditions represent instances of pathogenic priming, identifying individuals who are now at higher risk of serious morbidity and mortality if they become infected with SARS-CoV-2 is unknown, but given past studies, seems likely.
In the over 55 group, which was a smaller group, there were 60 SSAEs in the vaccinated group and 24 in the unvaccinated. Of the vaccinated, 6.5% experienced SAEs, compared to 1.4% in the unvaccinated, implying a 4.46% increased risk overall of SSAEs due to vaccination.
However, in the older group, the vaccinated group was 10 times more likely to have a SSAE upon receipt of the second vaccine dose than the first dose compared to the 1:1 ratio in the unvaccinated. In the younger group, the vaccinated were only 3.61 times more likely to have second-dose SSAEs than the age-matched placebo group, which had about as many SSAEs in the first and second dose.
Animal trials insufficientThe patients in the study reviewed were healthy '-- and thus the spectrum of adverse events is not representative of those that might occur if the vaccine comes to market. In the previous animal trials, the first dose was a vaccine, but the second was natural infection, leading to severe injury and often death. In these human trials, both doses were from the vaccine, so it is also not reassuring that these adverse events did not include the more serious and deadly conditions that afflicted animals.
These human trials did not rule out pathogenic priming in any way. Both the Moderna and Pfizer animal studies, which used non-human primates, failed to examine organ sites other than lung, and while they studied potential markers of pathogenic priming, they failed to measure one: interleukin-5 (IL-5), which had been found in prior coronavirus studies to be elevated in conjunction with pathogenic priming-induced disease enhancement.
Recalling that animal studies conducted on prior COVID vaccines found pathogenic priming leading to disease enhancement in older animals more than younger animals, older adults may be at highest risk of serious chronic illness due to autoimmunity resulting from vaccine-induced pathogenic priming. Dr. Anthony Fauci has informed the public that these vaccines do not stop transmission. Therefore, the next dose of the viral proteins in the form of a natural infection for these study participants '-- a SARS-CoV-2 infection leading to COVID19 '-- may be their last. The study should be extended to long-term follow up, including any further vaccination or exposure to SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins by infection.
So why have the world's top vaccine promoters, like Paul Offit and Peter Hotez, been warning us frantically about the unique and frightening dangers inherent in developing a coronavirus vaccine?
In this video footage, Offit, Hotez and even Fauci (in an unguarded moment), warn that any new coronavirus vaccine could trigger lethal immune reactions, ''vaccine enhancement,'' when vaccinated people come in contact with the wild virus. Instead of proceeding with caution, Fauci made the reckless choice to fast track vaccines, partially funded by Gates, without critical animal studies before moving into human clinical trials that could provide early warning of runaway immune responses.
Gates (in this video) is so worried about the danger of adverse events that he says vaccines shouldn't be distributed until governments agree to indemnify against lawsuits. On Feb. 4, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, there were only 11 active CV cases in the U.S., yet the U.S. quietly pushed through federal regulations giving coronavirus vaccine makers full immunity from liability.
Are you willing to take the risk? Decide for yourself, based on the evidence.
Read these related studies:
2012 study: Immunization with SARS coronavirus vaccines leads to pulmonary immunopathology on challenge with the SARS virus.
Federal Register giving liability protection, The PREP Act
Read these related articles:
Gates Pushes Experimental Technology on Seven Billion Humans
The Dengvaxia Disaster Was Twenty Years in the Making'--What Will Happen With a Rushed COVID-19 Vaccine?
Susceptibility of People to Pathogenic Priming is a Prime Reason to Eschew COVID19 Vaccine Mandates
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Children's Health Defense.
(C) December 10, 2020 Children's Health Defense, Inc. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Children's Health Defense, Inc. Want to learn more from Children's Health Defense? Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children's Health Defense.
LifeSiteNews has produced an extensive COVID-19 vaccines resources page.'¯ View it here.
Children apologize for spreading COVID-19 to relatives on death beds, officials say
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on across the country and around the world, health officials in California are sharing a dire warning about family gatherings.
In a press conference on Monday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis opened her remarks with the reminder that ''dying from COVID in the hospital means dying alone.''
She added families have been saying their goodbyes on tablets and mobile phones.
''One of the more heartbreaking conversations that our healthcare workers share is about these last words when children apologize to their parents and grandparents for bringing COVID into their homes, for getting them sick. And these apologies are just some of the last words that loved ones will ever hear as they die alone,'' she said.
''Please don't let this be your family. Don't let this be your parents or your grandparents,'' she continued. ''Please, for your loved ones, stay home, stay safe, keep your loved ones alive.''
Download the TODAY app for the latest coverage on the coronavirus outbreak.
California has been especially hard hit by the virus, with the most cases per state in the nation, according to data compiled by NBC News. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health said Tuesday that in the county alone, more than 1,600 people have died from the coronavirus over the past seven days. That's a rate of roughly one death every six minutes, NBC Los Angeles reported. Across the state, more than 30,000 people have died from the coronavirus.
Covid-19 outbreak at Auburn nursing home infects 137 residents, kills 24 - syracuse.com
Auburn, N.Y. '' A Covid-19 outbreak at a Cayuga County nursing home that began two weeks ago has infected 137 residents, 24 of whom have died.
The outbreak at The Commons on St. Anthony in Auburn started Dec. 21 as a wave of post-Thanksgiving Covid-19 cases began hitting the county, said Julie Sheedy, an official of Loretto which operates the 300-bed nursing home.
Forty-seven employees have tested positive.
Since the outbreak began, 21 residents have died at The Commons and three in the hospital, Sheedy said. Eleven residents have died since Wednesday, she said.
There had been no nursing home Covid-19 deaths in Cayuga County until the first three deaths at the Commons were reported Dec. 29. The three other nursing homes in Cayuga have not reported any Covid-19 deaths.
''Our team is always deeply affected by any loss of life, and our hearts are with the families of these individuals,'' Sheedy said.
The total Covid-19 death toll in the county has increased from 13 on Dec. 21 to 44 as of Thursday. The nursing home deaths account for 54% of the county's Covid-19 fatalities.
There have been 3,650 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Cayuga since the pandemic began. Nearly half of those cases have been reported since Dec. 21.
The average percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 in Cayuga County is 12%, the highest rate in Central New York. Here are the average positive test rates for other counties in the region: Onondaga, 7.8%; Oswego, 9.7%; Madison, 8.5%; and Cortland, 8%.
During the outbreak Commons employees are wearing gowns, gloves and face shields at all times when working with residents, Sheedy said. The nursing home also is isolating residents who test positive on Covid-19 floors.
Sheedy said the nursing home is testing residents on a schedule established by the state Health Department. The facility also is testing employees weekly. Sheedy said the state Health Department inspected the nursing home's infection control practices Wednesday and found no deficiencies.
The Commons gets a one-star rating, the lowest, from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. The one-star rating means the nursing home is considered much below average based on health inspections, staffing and quality of care.
The nursing home began vaccinating residents Dec. 22. So far 193 residents, or 80%, and 113 employees, or less than half the staff, have been vaccinated. The nursing home plans to do more vaccinations Jan. 12.
Kaylee Gabak, a certified nursing assistant at The Commons, is on life support at Upstate University Hospital after becoming infected with Covid-19. Her family believes Gabak was infected at The Commons before she went on maternity leave Dec. 16. Gabak gave birth to a baby girl Dec. 26, went home, then had to be hospitalized after developing breathing problems.
If you live or work at The Commons on St. Anthony we'd like to hear from you. We want to learn from your experience and tell your story. Contact James T. Mulder at jmulder@syracuse.com or (315) 470-2245.
Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.
Coronavirus vaccine for fur farm animals under development | Yle Uutiset | yle.fi
A vaccine is being tested, but as of yet there is no estimate of when the project may be completed. Image: EPA-EFE/All Over PressA vaccine providing protection from the coronavirus for minks and raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is being developed by the Finnish Fur Breeders' Association in cooperation with the University of Helsinki.
According to current data, mink are easily susceptible to coronavirus. Under laboratory conditions, the virus has also infected raccoon dogs. Foxes are not known to have become infected.
The vaccine is currently in the testing phase, and testing is expected to take several months. Researchers say that as of yet it is not possible to provide an estimate as to when the vaccine will be ready for production and distribution.
Mink farms in the Netherlands and Denmark have seen coronavirus outbreaks among their animals. The coronavirus is a zoonosis, a disease that can be transmitted between animals and humans.
A vaccine providing protection to animals would eliminate major concerns by Finnish fur farmers about the future of the industry, according to Fur Breeders' Association research director Jussi Peura.
Coronavirus infections among mink have been detected in 10 countries. In most cases, both the infected animals and other minks have been destroyed on the farms where the virus has been found. Sweden has taken a different approach, monitoring animals and fur farms showing infections, but not ordering the animals to be put down.
Peura says that the Finnish Fur Breeders' Association has created working methods since last spring to reduce the risk of infection. No coronavirus infections have been detected during monitoring of mink farms by the Finnish Food Authority.
"In Finland, fur breeders have done double work, both protecting themselves and also animals on the farms. The vaccine would greatly ease their job," Peura points out.
Peura also notes that Finland is in a better position to fight the virus than many other countries, as some of the fur animals raised are foxes in which the virus has not been detected. In addition, the network of fur farms is spread out over a large area.
Coronavirus vaccines for pets are also reportedly being developed in the USA and Russia. The coronavirus has also been found to infect cats.
Canada's COVID-19 vaccine contender: Medicago's breakthrough, ties to Big Tobacco and warnings a pandemic was coming | Globalnews.ca
Under a winter's snow cover on the outskirts of Quebec City, a high-tech greenhouse, set at a balmy 23 C, is growing row after row of a weed that could help end the coronavirus pandemic.
It's called Nicotiana benthamiana, a relative of the tobacco plant, native to Australia, and it is a key to biopharmaceutical company Medicago's COVID-19 vaccine.
Medicago is the leading Canadian-based contender to produce a vaccine, with an agreement to provide the federal government with 76 million doses if approved for use.
Read more: Canadian company sees positive results in early coronavirus vaccine tests
Medicago's vaulting onto the mainstage could provide a breakthrough for vaccine science. It involves a new technology that's rapid and nimble, and a vaccine that can be stored at normal fridge temperatures, of 2 C to 8 C, unlike the two other vaccines currently in circulation, which each require frozen or ultra-cold frozen storage.
While it's possible the company may emerge as the new wunderkind of the Canadian biotech sector, it wasn't without adversity.
For years, Medicago warned that Canada needed to prepare itself for a pandemic and lobbied government officials for funding to build a domestic manufacturing site for a vaccine. But Medicago didn't get what it needed from the federal government until after the COVID-19 crisis struck.
On top of that, in the middle of a pandemic, Medicago is restructuring.
In July, it announced plans to distance itself from a significant shareholder, Philip Morris International, which owns about one-third of the company '-- a controversial association with Big Tobacco that has been the source of roadblocks and criticism. Then in December, the company replaced its president and CEO.
But despite this, Medicago hasn't lost sight of its goal: a vaccine.
A Medicago employee works on the company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Courtesy: Medicago''I'm not just optimistic, I'm confident that it will work,'' said Dr. Brian Ward, medical officer at Medicago.
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In phase one of its clinical trials, 100 per cent of people who received its COVID-19 vaccine developed significant antibody responses with no severe adverse effects.
Phase two clinical trials are currently wrapping up and phase three is expected to begin later this month. It will involve 30,000 people in 11 countries '-- including Canada '-- and will ultimately determine if the vaccine protects people from COVID-19. The vaccine requires two doses, 21 days apart, and if approved by Health Canada, could be in the arms of Canadians by the second half of this year.
Read more: 1st Canadian human trial for coronavirus vaccine is underway. Here's what that means
While Medicago's vaccine may not be first out of the gate, its technology is still far quicker than traditional ones, like influenza and MMR, which are cultured in chicken eggs '-- a cumbersome process that can take up to six months. By using plants instead of eggs, Medicago produced a COVID-19 vaccine candidate within 20 days of receiving the genetic sequence.
2:00 Plants key for Canada's COVID-19 vaccine contender Plants key for Canada's COVID-19 vaccine contender ''The plant is basically acting as a factory to produce the spike protein,'' said Dr. Scott Halperin, director of the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology in Halifax.
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Once injected with the genetic material for the spike protein, the plant forms what's called ''virus-like particles'' or VLPs.
''The human who gets that sees that as, 'Oh, that looks like a virus,''' Dr. Halperin explains. ''It's not a virus that can infect you because it's just a plant capsule surrounding the spike protein, but because the immune system is tricked into seeing it as a viral particle, it responds very well.''
Medicago uses the leaves of Nicotiana Benthamiana, a cousin of the tobacco plant, to produce its vaccine. Courtesy: MedicagoThe use of VLP technology has already proven an effective platform, most notably with HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix '-- but developing VLPs in plants for use in a commercial vaccine has never been done. Medicago has conducted 15 trials for seasonal influenza using this approach and says it ''works quite well.'' That vaccine is currently under review with Health Canada for approval. ''We are hopeful that in the next influenza season we will have a licensed influenza vaccine for the world,'' Dr. Ward said.
Pandemic warningsBut if and when Medicago gets the green light from Health Canada to start shipping its COVID-19 vaccine later this year, the bulk of its doses will initially come from the U.S., not Canada.
That's because Medicago's Quebec City manufacturing site is still under construction and won't be ready until the end of 2023, possibly 2024.
Medicago says its production facility in Quebec city won't be ready until late 2023 or early 2024. Courtesy: Medicago''It is extremely disappointing. It's discouraging and it's unnecessary,'' said Bruce Clark, Medicago's CEO and president from 2017 until December 2020.
For years, he explained, Medicago had been asking the federal government for funds to assist with pandemic preparedness and to develop a manufacturing plant at home.
''Everybody's saying this is a wonderful idea, it's a made-in-Canada solution and then crickets. Nothing.''
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A Global News analysis of the federal lobby registry shows that from 2017 to March of 2020, when the pandemic was declared, Medicago representatives met with government officials 24 times, seeking ''partnerships and funding to support research, development and commercialization of vaccines'' and to prepare against ''future outbreaks of emerging infectious disease.''
''If they had made the decision two years ago when we were in discussions with them, we'd have a facility by now,'' Clark said.
Medicago had been betting on a pandemic.
But its expectation was that when it came, it would be an influenza strain, like the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, and not a coronavirus.
Medicago produced a COVID-19 vaccine candidate within 20 days of receiving the genetic sequence. Phase 3 clinical trials are set to begin next month. Courtesy: Medicago In 2005, then-CEO Andy Sheldon, who had much experience with pandemic development, started the shift to influenza vaccine development. By the next year, he said there were ''frequent meetings'' with the federal government, in an effort to secure funds to scale up.
But the money Medicago needed to build a manufacturing site didn't arrive. At least, not in Canada.
The vision and follow-through for a production plant came in the U.S, from DARPA, an R&D agency of the defence department. In 2009, under the Obama administration, DARPA launched the Blue Angel project as a response to the deadly swine flu that year to show that if another pandemic were to hit, it could respond rapidly with a vaccine.
Read more: Fauci predicts U.S. will gain control of coronavirus pandemic by next autumn
Medicago won a contract worth US$21 million one year later to manufacture 10 million doses of flu vaccine a month. As part of that agreement and cash infusion, it developed a 9000 m2 R&D facility in North Carolina, raising the rest of the capital required itself.
Not only did Medicago hit its target of making 10 million doses a month, the once fledgling biotech startup now had a production plant. It wasn't producing at a commercial scale, but it was a start.
''DARPA had money and they had a program,'' Sheldon said. ''But there was no such program in Canada.''
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Should Medicago's COVID-19 vaccine be approved, the bulk of the supply will initially come from this North Carolina plant. Only 10 per cent will actually be ''made in Canada'' the first year, coming from its pilot plant on the west side of Quebec City.
Medicago built a facility in Durham, North Carolina after getting U.S. funding for pandemic preparedness in 2010. Courtesy: Medicago. Courtesy: Medicago''I think what comes to mind is the classic Canadian dilemma,'' said Bruce Clark, the CEO from 2017 to 2020. ''You have capability that's sound and proven, but it has to go somewhere else in the world to get validated, typically south of the border, and then the Canadians say, 'Oh it's pretty good, maybe we should use it.'''
With the U.S. plant operational, the money started to come in Canada.
In 2015, the provincial government of Quebec came through with a loan for $60 million, while the federal government and the City of Quebec lent $8 million and $6.5 million, respectively.
''They were loans. These were not free gifts,'' Sheldon said.
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While the Quebec support was ''substantial,'' Sheldon said the federal contribution was ''a bit disappointing.''
Still, it was the capital Medicago needed to start building a commercial-grade production plant in Canada: a facility with a price tag of almost $300 million. But without a federal contract to develop a flu vaccine, Clark said Medicago's shareholders were skittish about dumping cash into a building that didn't yet have a purpose '-- and at the start of 2020, it still wasn't finished.
''And so they're trying to figure out, when do they write the big cheques for the facility when they don't really have a commitment from the Canadian government as to how it's going to play in their strategy,'' Clark said.
Read more: Israel is leading the world in COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Here's what Canada can learn
It wasn't until the pandemic struck that the money and a purpose came together.
In March, the federal government announced it would fund Medicago's COVID-19 vaccine efforts. Seven months later, the federal government signed an agreement worth up to $173 million to accelerate Medicago's vaccine development, secure doses, and complete the manufacturing plant.
1:09 Coronavirus: Trudeau announces $214M investment for made-in-Canada vaccine development Coronavirus: Trudeau announces $214M investment for made-in-Canada vaccine development '' Oct 23, 2020 ''It's good that the Canadian government is now supporting a Canadian company, since the U.S. government supported the Canadian company first,'' Dr. Halperin of the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology said.
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Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada acknowledged a ''decades-old decline'' in federal funding, stating that ''specific large-scale direct support initiatives, such as the Technology Partnership Canada program '... were ended in 2006.'' It says it is now ''actively working to support the rebuilding of biomanufacturing capacity in Canada.''
''The reality is it took COVID to get a decision made,'' Clark said.
From garage to global commercial enterprise''There aren't very many companies in the pharma industry that have gone from a garage to a global commercial enterprise,'' said Dr. Ward, Medicago's medical officer.
The garage was double-wide, in a house still under construction, overlooking the St Lawrence River. There, in 1997, a recent MBA grad, Fran§ois Arcand, and his childhood friend, Louis-Philippe V(C)zina, a plant researcher with Agriculture Canada, set up one of the first offices for what was to become Medicago.
''Medicago could be a major disruptive factor, in the fact that it could offer something better, faster and cheaper,'' recalls Arcand. Neither he nor V(C)zina remain with the company.
The company's name, Medicago, was Latin for the plant they were using at the time: alfalfa. But it wasn't until Medicago shifted to Nicotiana benthamiana, a cousin of the tobacco plant, that it attracted an investor that would accelerate its growth as well as lead to some of its greatest controversy: tobacco giant Phillip Morris International (PMI).
In the late 2000s, PMI had a mandate to ''explore adjacent technologies that could lead to new lines of profitable business'' and a robust R&D division that knew the potential of the plant.
Medicago uses Nicotiana Benthamiana, a cousin of the tobacco plant, to produce its vaccine. Courtesy: Medicago''There was a small group at PMI '... that were producing proteins in the tobacco plant,'' recalls Nathalie Landry, executive vice president of scientific and medical affairs at Medicago. ''We were using a different plant that is in the same family '... but it's not the one used to produce cigarettes.''
Medicago, which had gone public a year earlier, was in a precarious spot. Much of its funding had dried up and it needed an infusion of cash.
''It was a tough time,'' recalls Andy Sheldon, the CEO from 2003 to 2017.
So when Sheldon realized PMI representatives were attending the same biotech conference he was in Vancouver in 2007, he quickly brokered a meeting.
A year later, PMI invested $16 million in Medicago to become a 49.8 per cent shareholder of the company.
''They were our major lifeline, an economic lifeline for the start of the company,'' Dr. Ward said.
''Their involvement was actually probably critical for the survival of the company.''
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In 2013, a new investor came along with experience developing pharmaceutical products: Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma. The Japanese-based firm became the majority shareholder of Medicago, taking the company private. PMI's interests were reduced to a 40 per cent stake at that time, which today stand at approximately one third.
But regardless of PMI's ownership share, Medicago's relationship with Big Tobacco has been an ongoing source of friction.
When trying to attend WHO meetings, Medicago found it difficult to get a formal invitation.
''We manage to always get the notification and invitation. But it's not through the 'big door,''' Landry said. ''WHO, although they love the product and the technology, they have to deal with the fact that we're supported by tobacco. '... It's difficult for Medicago to be associated with WHO.''
The WHO has a detailed framework about who it will partner with, stating it ''does not engage with the tobacco industry or with non'State actors that represent the interests of the tobacco industry.'' However, a spokesperson for the WHO said ''Medicago has been treated the same as all other influenza vaccine manufacturers and they have been in various WHO meetings.''
Read more: Canadian company to collaborate on potential coronavirus vaccine with GSK
Last July, Medicago announced a new partnership with another major pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline '-- one of the leading makers of smoking cessation products, with brands like Nicorette and the NicoDerm patch. Medicago would be using GSK's adjuvant in its COVID-19 vaccine to amplify its effectiveness.
1:31 Coronavirus: Health Canada says some clinical questions remain on outstanding vaccine approvals Coronavirus: Health Canada says some clinical questions remain on outstanding vaccine approvalsAt the bottom of the press release, Medicago signalled it was planning to distance itself from PMI. It said PMI was seeking offers from investors who might be ''better suited to help Medicago on the next phase of its journey.''
''You can anticipate that having a big pharma working with a tobacco company could be a challenge,'' Landry said.
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GSK declined to comment on PMI's potential exit and whether it was spurred by its recent partnership with Medicago.
''Any attempt to divert attention away from a vaccine candidate is irresponsible,'' PMI spokesperson Corey Henry said. ''Medicago has completed its first phase of clinical trials, which yielded positive results and require progression.''
Despite signalling its intent to look for a more suitable partner, the impact of Medicago's association with PMI endures.
Read more: Canada's pharmacies 'ready and willing' to join coronavirus vaccination effort
Notably, last November, the medical journal The Lancet, which had published Medicago's influenza study only a month earlier, decided not to publish the Quebec company's phase one COVID-19 results over concerns about who was supporting the research.
Medicago's use of Nicotiana Benthamiana, a cousin of the tobacco plant, attracted PMI as an investor, company insiders say. Courtesy: MedicagoIn an email obtained by Global News, a senior executive editor from The Lancet explained to Medicago: ''We have no major issue with the science of this trial, and it seems to be a promising public health advance. '... I'm afraid the editorial meeting concluded that we should follow the guidelines and not publish research supported by the tobacco industry.''
The Lancet said it does not comment on individual cases and would not explain why it had accepted Medicago's influenza study earlier this fall and not its subsequent COVID-19 research.
Meanwhile, Medicago's medical officer Dr. Brian Ward vigorously defends the integrity of his work.
''We are not publishing tobacco science.''
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The federal government would not answer questions about whether Medicago's association with PMI impacted its earlier decisions whether or not to fund Medicago.
Read more: Canada investigating timing of second coronavirus vaccine dose, Tam says
In the most recent chapter of its corporate makeover, in early December, Medicago parted ways with Clark, a former PMI VP, and replaced him with Takashi Nagao, former chairman of the Medicago board and Mitsubishi Pharma Tanabe executive.
While Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma declined to comment on the change in leadership, Medicago's Nathalie Landry said that while Clark was ''instrumental in leading Medicago to where we are today '... Takashi is qualified to lead Medicago through this business model change.''
80 million doses expected in 2021Today, the pace of construction at Medicago's new production plant on the north-east side of Quebec City plant mirrors the urgency in its labs.
A greenhouse, the size of 10 football fields will soon grow thousands of plants which could satisfy far more than the Canadian demand.
Medicago's commercial-grade production plant on the north-east side of Quebec City is expected to be complete in late 2023, early 2024. Courtesy: MedicagoIf Health Canada gives it the go-ahead, Medicago expects to deliver 80 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year, doubling that in 2022. By the time the new facility is fully functioning in late 2023 or early 2024, it hopes to produce a billion doses a year.
''The pressure is high, and I think everybody in the company is tired,'' Dr. Ward said. ''But we're also among the few people in the world that are actively working to try to make things better.''
Covid: Large trial of new treatment begins in UK - BBC News
image caption Kaye Flitney is one of those enrolled on the clinical trialA large-scale trial of a new treatment it is hoped will help stop Covid-19 patients from developing severe illness has begun in the UK.
The first patient received the treatment at Hull Royal Infirmary on Tuesday afternoon.
It involves inhaling a protein called interferon beta which the body produces when it gets a viral infection.
The hope is it will stimulate the immune system, priming cells to be ready to fight off viruses.
Early findings suggested the treatment cut the odds of a Covid-19 patient in hospital developing severe disease - such as requiring ventilation - by almost 80%.
It was developed at Southampton University Hospital and is being produced by the Southampton-based biotech company, Synairgen.
A course of treatment with the new drug could cost around £2,000, which is not that expensive for a hospital treatment.
"To be viable it will have to represent good value for money," Synairgen's chief executive Richard Marsden said.
Alexandra Constantin, 34, was the first person to receive the treatment as part of this new trial, after she was admitted to the hospital with coronavirus on Monday.
She has a young daughter at home she is desperate to get back to.
Demonstrating the treatment, the nurse handed her a nebuliser that makes the drug into a fine mist, which Alexandra inhaled as deep into her lungs as she could.
How does the treatment work?
Interferon beta is part of the body's first line of defence against viruses, warning it to expect a viral attack.
The coronavirus seems to suppress its production as part of its strategy to evade our immune systems.
The new drug is a special formulation of interferon beta delivered directly to the airways via a nebuliser which makes the protein into an aerosol.
The idea is that a direct dose of the protein in the lungs will trigger a stronger anti-viral response, even in patients whose immune systems are already weak.
Interferon beta is commonly used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Previous clinical trials conducted by Synairgen have shown that it can stimulate an immune response and that patients with asthma and other chronic lung conditions can comfortably tolerate the treatment.
The results of a smaller, phase two clinical trial of the treatment conducted last year were promising.
It suggested the chances of a Covid-19 patient in hospital getting severe disease - requiring ventilation, for example - were reduced by almost 80%.
Patients were two to three times more likely to recover to the point where everyday activities were not compromised by their illness, Synairgen claimed.
It said the trial also indicated "very significant" reductions in breathlessness among patients who received the treatment.
In addition, the average time patients spent in hospital is said to have been reduced by a third, for those receiving the new drug - down from an average of nine days to six days.
But the trial was small, just 100 patients, and more testing is needed before it can be authorised for use.
This new "phase three" trial is much larger. It will involve more than 600 patients in 20 countries.
As in the earlier trial, half the participants will be given the drug, the other half will get what is known as a placebo - an inactive substance.
The team running the trial say they hope it will be completed by early summer.
If the results are anywhere near as good as in the earlier trial, they expect authorisation for the drug to be used in patients in the UK and other countries to follow shortly afterwards.
media caption Synairgen CEO Richard Marsden explains how the treatment uses the protein interferon beta to help fight the virus"If we had a positive study, we would hope to move rapidly into scaled manufacture and delivery of the drug in clinical practice," said Prof Tom Wilkinson, of the University of Southampton, who is overseeing the trial.
He added that he believes the new drug - if it proves effective - will be a complement to the vaccines that are being rolled out.
He also pointed out it would take a long time for the whole world to be vaccinated. There will need to be treatments for people who miss out on vaccination or choose not to get the jab.
There is also the risk the virus mutates and vaccines become less effective - meaning people begin to develop the disease again.
The treatment is the result of the discovery by a team from Southampton University that people with lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often had low levels of interferon beta.
"We thought why not boost patients' interferon beta levels by getting them to inhale the protein," Prof Donna Davies, who was part of that team, said.
She said research has now shown that Covid-19 can suppress the interferon beta response. But experts warn that drugs often do not live up to the promise of early trials.
"This is exciting, but we have to see what the phase three results show," says Dr Lamis Latif, a south London GP who has been working in emergency care with Covid-19 patients.
"We've had other drugs in similar circumstances, we've had hydroxychloroquine, for example, but again, when that reached further trials, it wasn't as promising as it initially made up to be.
"So that's something to really take note for this current drug."
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Interferon beta-1a (also interferon beta 1-alpha) is a cytokine in the interferon family used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS).[5] It is produced by mammalian cells, while interferon beta-1b is produced in modified E. coli.[6] Some claims have been made that Interferons produce about an 18''38% reduction in the rate of MS relapses.[7]
Interferon beta has not been shown to slow the advance of disability.[8][9][10][11] Interferons are not a cure for MS (there is no known cure); the claim is that interferons may slow the progress of the disease if started early and continued for the duration of the disease.[12]
Medical uses Edit Clinically isolated syndrome Edit The earliest clinical presentation of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis is the clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), that is, a single attack of a single symptom. During a CIS, there is a subacute attack suggestive of demyelination which should be included in the spectrum of MS phenotypes.[13] Treatment with interferons after an initial attack decreases the risk of developing clinical definite MS.[14][15]
Relapsing-remitting MS Edit Medications are modestly effective at decreasing the number of attacks in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis[16] and in reducing the accumulation of brain lesions, which is measured using gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).[14] Interferons reduce relapses by approximately 30% and their safe profile make them the first-line treatments.[14] Nevertheless, not all the patients are responsive to these therapies. It is known that 30% of MS patients are non-responsive to Beta interferon.[17] They can be classified in genetic, pharmacological and pathogenetic non-responders.[17] One of the factors related to non-respondance is the presence of high levels of interferon beta neutralizing antibodies. Interferon therapy, and specially interferon beta 1b, induces the production of neutralizing antibodies, usually in the second 6 months of treatment, in 5 to 30% of treated patients.[14] Moreover, a subset of RRMS patients with specially active MS, sometimes called "rapidly worsening MS" are normally non-responders to interferon beta 1a.[18][19]
While more studies of the long-term effects of the drugs are needed,[12][14] existing data on the effects of interferons indicate that early-initiated long-term therapy is safe and it is related to better outcomes.[12]
Side effects Edit Injectable medications can produce irritation or bruises at injection site. The bruise depicted was produced by a subcutaneous injection.
Interferon beta-1a is available only in injectable forms, and can cause skin reactions at the injection site that may include cutaneous necrosis. Skin reactions with interferon beta are more common with subcutaneous administration and vary greatly in their clinical presentation.[20] They usually appear within the first month of treatment albeit their frequence and importance diminish after six months of treatment.[20] Skin reactions are more prevalent in women.[20] Mild skin reactions usually do not impede treatment whereas necroses appear in around 5% of patients and lead to the discontinuation of the therapy.[20] Also over time, a visible dent at the injection site due to the local destruction of fat tissue, known as lipoatrophy, may develop, however, this rarely occurs with interferon treatment.[21]
Interferons, a subclass of cytokines, are produced in the body during illnesses such as influenza in order to help fight the infection. They are responsible for many of the symptoms of influenza infections, including fever, muscle aches, fatigue, and headaches.[22] Many patients report influenza-like symptoms hours after taking interferon beta that usually improve within 24 hours, being such symptoms related to the temporary increase of cytokines.[14][20] This reaction tends to disappear after 3 months of treatment and its symptoms can be treated with over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, that reduce fever and pain.[20] Another common transient secondary effect with interferon-beta is a functional deterioration of already existing symptoms of the disease.[20] Such deterioration is similar to the one produced in MS patients due to heat, fever or stress (Uhthoff's phenomenon), usually appears within 24 hours of treatment, is more common in the initial months of treatment, and may last several days.[20] A symptom specially sensitive to worsening is spasticity.[20] Interferon-beta can also reduce numbers of white blood cells (leukopenia), lymphocytes (lymphopenia) and neutrophils (neutropenia), as well as affect liver function.[20] In most cases these effects are non-dangerous and reversible after cessation or reduction of treatment.[20] Nevertheless, recommendation is that all patients should be monitored through laboratory blood analyses, including liver function tests, to ensure safe use of interferons.[20]
To help prevent injection-site reactions, patients are advised to rotate injection sites and use an aseptic injection technique. Injection devices are available to optimize the injection process. Side effects are often onerous enough that many patients ultimately discontinue taking interferons[citation needed ] (or glatiramer acetate, a comparable disease-modifying therapy requiring regular injections).
Edit Interferon beta balances the expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory agents in the brain, and reduces the number of inflammatory cells that cross the blood brain barrier.[23] Overall, therapy with interferon beta leads to a reduction of neuron inflammation.[23] Moreover, it is also thought to increase the production of nerve growth factor and consequently improve neuronal survival.[23] In vitro, interferon beta reduces production of Th17 cells which are a subset of T lymphocytes believed to have a role in the pathophysiology of MS.[24]
Society and culture Edit Brand names Edit Avonex Edit Avonex was approved in the US in 1996, and in the European Union in 1997, and is registered in more than 80 countries worldwide.[citation needed ] It is the leading MS therapy in the US, with around 40% of the overall market, and in the European Union, with around 30% of the overall market.[citation needed ] It is produced by the Biogen biotechnology company, originally under competition protection in the US under the Orphan Drug Act.
Avonex is sold in three formulations, a lyophilized powder requiring reconstitution, a pre-mixed liquid syringe kit, and a pen; it is administered via intramuscular injection.[1]
Rebif Edit Rebif is a disease-modifying drug (DMD) used to treat multiple sclerosis in cases of clinically isolated syndromes as well as relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis and is similar to the interferon beta protein produced by the human body. It is co-marketed by Merck Serono and Pfizer in the US under an exception to the Orphan Drug Act.[citation needed ] It was approved in the European Union in 1998, and in the US in 2002; it has since been approved in more than 90 countries worldwide including Canada and Australia.[citation needed ] EMD Serono has had sole rights to Rebif in the US since January 2016.[25][26] Rebif is administered via subcutaneous injection.[2]
CinnoVex Edit CinnoVex is the trade name of recombinant Interferon beta-1a, which is manufactured as biosimilar/biogeneric in Iran. It is produced in a lyophilized form and sold with distilled water for injection. Cinnovex was developed at the Fraunhofer Society in collaboration with CinnaGen, and is the first therapeutic protein from a Fraunhofer laboratory to be approved as biogeneric / biosimilar medicine. There are several clinical studies to prove the similarity of CinnoVex and Avonex.[27] A more water-soluble variant is currently being investigated by the Vakzine Projekt Management (VPM) GmbH in Braunschweig, Germany.
Plegridy Edit Plegridy is a brand name of a pegylated form of Interferon beta-1a. Plegridy's advantage is it only needs injecting once every two weeks.[28]
Betaferon (interferon beta-1b) Edit Closely related to interferon beta-1a is interferon beta-1b, which is also indicated for MS, but is formulated with a different dose and administered with a different frequency. Each drug has a different safety/efficacy profile.[29] Interferon beta-1b is marketed only by Bayer in the US as Betaseron, and outside the US as Betaferon.
Economics Edit In the United States, as of 2015[update], the cost is between US$1,284 and US$1,386 per 30 mcg vial.[30] As of 2020, the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) in the United States for Avonex was $6,872.94 for a 30 mcg kit.[31]
Avonex and Rebif are on the top ten best-selling multiple sclerosis drugs of 2013:[32]
It is an example of a specialty drug that would only be available through a specialty pharmacy. This is because it requires a refrigerated chain of distribution and costs $17,000-a-year.[33]
Research Edit Evidence that insufficient production of interferon beta-1a in lung cells in older people may lead to increased susceptibility to respiratory viral infections such as SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV[citation needed ] has led to investigations into whether replenishing a deficiency of this interferon can protect against the dire effects of these diseases. Company Synairgen began clinical tests of SNG001, a special inhalation formulation of interferon beta-1a in patients with COVID-19.[34][35]
COVID-19 Edit The British biotech company Synairgen announced in July 2020, that clinical trials with an inhaled form of interferon beta suggest that it reduces the likeliness of a COVID-19 patient developing a severe form of the disease, such as requiring ventilation, by 79%. The underlying peer reviewed data from the trial was published in the esteemed medical publication the Lancet in November 2020.[1]
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Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery. 114 (7): 986''9. doi:10.1016/j.clineuro.2012.02.039. PMID 22429566. S2CID 9236986. ^ "Plegridy- peginterferon beta-1a kit Plegridy Pen- peginterferon beta-1a kit Plegridy- peginterferon beta-1a injection, solution". DailyMed. 19 July 2019 . Retrieved 30 March 2020 . ^ Nikfar S, Rahimi R, Abdollahi M (October 2010). "A meta-analysis of the efficacy and tolerability of interferon-β in multiple sclerosis, overall and by drug and disease type". Clinical Therapeutics. 32 (11): 1871''88. doi:10.1016/j.clinthera.2010.10.006. PMID 21095482. ^ Langreth, Robert (June 29, 2016). "Decoding Big Pharma's Secret Drug Pricing Practices". Bloomberg . Retrieved 15 July 2016 . ^ "NADAC as of 2020-02-12 | Data.Medicaid.gov". Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services . Retrieved 2020-02-18 . ^ Top 10 best-selling multiple sclerosis drugs of 2013; September 9, 2014 ^ Gleason PP, Alexander GC, Starner CI, Ritter ST, Van Houten HK, Gunderson BW, Shah ND (September 2013). "Health plan utilization and costs of specialty drugs within 4 chronic conditions". Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy. 19 (7): 542''8. doi:10.18553/jmcp.2013.19.7.542. PMID 23964615. ^ SG016 - Treatment for patients with confirmed COVID-19 ^ University-led COVID19 drug trial expands into home testing External links Edit "Interferon beta-1a". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Interferon Beta-1a Intramuscular Injection". MedlinePlus.
COVID herd immunity won'²t happen in 2021, says WHO
Despite widespread vaccination campaigns, herd immunity to the coronavirus will not be achieved this year, the WHO's top scientist has said. Until then, preventive measures such as masks will be necessary.
World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said Monday that herd immunity to the coronavirus would not be achieved in 2021, despite the growing availability of vaccines.
Mitigating factors to herd immunity include limited access to vaccines in developing countries, skepticism about vaccination and the potential for virus mutations, according to health experts.
A growing number of countries around the world '-- including the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Germany and other EU countries '-- are in the first stages of mass-vaccination campaigns.
Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a population have immunity to an infection so that it prevents the disease from spreading.
Making progress, but vaccines 'take time' "We are not going to achieve any levels of population immunity or herd immunity in 2021," Swaminathan told a briefing, while emphasizing that measures such as physical distancing, handwashing and wearing masks continue to be necessary in containing COVID-19's spread for the rest of the year.
Swaminathan commended the "incredible progress" made by researchers to develop several safe and effective vaccines at unprecedented speed. Countries are currently administering vaccines developed by BioNTech-Pfizer, Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Moderna.
The WHO scientist called on people to be "a little patient," saying the rollout of vaccines "does take time," as the scale of dose production is in the billions.
"The vaccines are going to come," she said. "They are going to go to all countries ... but meanwhile we mustn't forget that there are measures that work," she added, referring to hygiene and social distancing.
In the United States, which currently has the world's highest daily case numbers, officials said Monday that over 25.4 million vaccine doses have so far been distributed, with nearly 9 million doses having been administered. In Germany, more than 600,000 people have so far been vaccinated against COVID-19, according the Robert Koch Institute for public health.
Herd immunity must be global "We won't get back to normal quickly," Dale Fisher, chairman of the WHO's Outbreak Alert and Response Network, told a conference hosted by the Reuters news agency.
"We know we need to get to herd immunity and we need that in a majority of countries, so we are not going to see that in 2021," Fisher said.
"There might be some countries that might achieve it but even then that will not create 'normal,' especially in terms of border controls," he added.
wmr/rt (AFP, Reuters)
Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine generates immune response, few side effects, in early trials - CNN
(CNN) Early stage trials of Johnson & Johnson's experimental coronavirus vaccine show it generated an immune response in nearly all volunteers, with minimal side-effects, after a single dose.
The company expects to report details of more advanced trials later this month and is hoping to apply for authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration soon after.
Researchers who tested the vaccine in a combined Phase 1-2 trial -- mostly meant to show safety -- found either one or two doses of the vaccine generated both antibody and T-cell responses against the coronavirus. The trials were not designed to show whether the vaccine protected people against either infection or symptoms of coronavirus -- that's what the ongoing Phase 3 trials are designed to do.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of researchers who tested the vaccine in around 800 volunteers said the early stage trials showed it was safe and probably should work.
The researchers -- in the Netherlands, the United States and Belgium -- tested the vaccine in a group of people 65 and older and a group ages 18 to 55.
Vaccination elicited neutralizing antibodies -- expected to stop the virus from infecting cells -- in 90% of all participants by the 29th day after the first dose of vaccine and in all of them by two months after the first dose. The levels of these antibodies stayed stable for at least 71 days, they reported.
The FDA has given emergency use authorization to two coronavirus vaccines -- one made by Pfizer with its partner BioNTech, and another by Moderna. Both were about 95% effective in preventing symptomatic disease in their Phase 3 trials. They use messenger RNA or mRNA -- a new vaccine technology.
Johnson & Johnson's vaccine arm, Janssen, uses a different approach for its vaccine, called for now by its experimental name, Ad26.COV2.S. It uses a weakened version of a common cold virus called adenovirus 26 to carry genetic material from the virus into the body, prompting human cells to produce pieces of the virus which are then recognized by the immune system.
"A single dose of Ad26.COV2.S elicited a strong humoral response in a majority of vaccine recipients, with the presence of S-binding and neutralizing antibodies in more than 90% of participants, regardless of either age group or vaccine dose," the researchers wrote.
"An efficacious single-dose Covid-19 vaccine have obvious logistic advantages over a two-dose vaccine, especially during a pandemic." The company is studying whether a second dose increases efficacy or durability of the immune response.
Side effects included headache, body ache and, more rarely, fever.
"The Company anticipates announcing topline Phase 3 data for its single-dose Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate in late January 2021; however, as this trial is dependent on disease events, the timing is approximate," Johnson & Johnson said in a statement. But with the pandemic raging in the US and Europe, vaccine experts say, answers are coming quickly for vaccine trials.
"If the single-dose vaccine is shown to be safe and effective, the Company expects to submit an application for Emergency Use Authorization with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shortly afterwards, with other regulatory applications around the world to be made subsequently," Johnson & Johnson added.
All of the companies making coronavirus vaccine have been manufacturing doses even as they test them, so they can roll them straight out to people should they get FDA authorization. Johnson & Johnson is contracted to deliver 100 million doses to the US government if it wins EUA from the FDA.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Johnson & Johnson was behind schedule in its production, however.
"The pandemic shows no signs of slowing, and we, like everyone, are eager for more tools to help stop it. At the same time, it is premature to get into the specifics of the supply of our vaccine candidate, as we do not yet have Phase 3 data, nor have we filed for or been granted Emergency Use Authorization," Johnson & Johnson said in a statement Wednesday.
"We remain in active discussions with regulators, including on the approval and validation of our manufacturing processes."
Disappointing Chinese Vaccine Results Pose Setback for Developing World - The New York Times
Brazil says CoronaVac has an efficacy rate just over 50 percent, much lower than previously announced. More than 380 million doses have already been ordered.
Inspecting vials containing the CoronaVac vaccine, made by the Chinese company Sinovac, at the Butantan Institute in S£o Paulo, Brazil. Credit... Amanda Perobelli/Reuters Scientists in Brazil have downgraded the efficacy of a Chinese coronavirus vaccine that they hailed as a major triumph last week, diminishing hopes for a shot that could be quickly produced and easily distributed to help the developing world.
Officials at the Butantan Institute in S£o Paulo said on Tuesday that a trial conducted in Brazil showed that the CoronaVac vaccine, made by the Beijing-based company Sinovac, had an efficacy rate just over 50 percent. That rate, slightly above the benchmark that the World Health Organization has said would make a vaccine effective for general use, was far below the 78 percent level announced last week.
The implications could be significant for a vaccine that is crucial to China's global health diplomacy. At least 10 countries have ordered more than 380 million doses of CoronaVac, though regulatory agencies have yet to fully approve it.
A senior official in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China that had already ordered CoronaVac, said on Wednesday that an advisory panel would strictly review the vaccine based on clinical trial data before it was rolled out there.
''Those countries that have ordered the Chinese-made vaccines are probably going to question the usefulness of these vaccines,'' said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on health care in China.
''Countries with opposition parties might use this to challenge the decision made by the incumbent government, and that will likely have domestic political implications in these countries,'' Mr. Huang said.
Sinovac did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
For months, Chinese officials had said the vaccines made by Sinovac and Sinopharm, a state-owned vaccine maker, would be important tools for fighting the pandemic in poorer countries that do not have extensive health care infrastructures. Unlike the vaccines made by the American drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna, they do not need to be frozen.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which can be refrigerated and are more effective than their Chinese counterparts, could provide an alternative. But it is now unclear if the governments that have bought CoronaVac can scrap their deals and turn to others.
CoronaVac, unlike some of the other vaccines, relies on older technology that uses chemicals to weaken or kill the virus, which is then put into a vaccine to spark antibodies in the recipient. But the process of killing the virus can weaken a vaccine's potency, resulting in an immune response that could be shorter or less effective.
The lower efficacy announced Tuesday would mean it would take longer for countries that used CoronaVac's vaccine to reach ''herd immunity,'' the point at which enough people are resistant to the virus '-- roughly 70 percent, many scientists have said '-- that it is vanquished in a population. By contrast, the vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have been shown to have an efficacy rate of about 95 percent.
''This was one of the reasons the Americans and Europeans didn't go with this older technology,'' said John Moore, a vaccine expert at Cornell University. ''A well-maintained Ford Model T would probably get you from Wuhan to Beijing, but personally I would prefer a Tesla.''
Brazil's health regulatory agency, Anvisa, is reviewing data from the trial, which relied on volunteers who are health care professionals. If Anvisa approves emergency use of CoronaVac, officials hope to start giving out shots in Brazil late this month. It has roughly 10.8 million doses of CoronaVac on hand. Last week, Brazil's health minister, Eduardo Pazuello, said the government intended to buy 100 million doses of CoronaVac.
Natalia Pasternak, a microbiologist and the president of Instituto Quest£o de Ciªncia, a Brazilian nongovernmental organization, told reporters on Tuesday that the results of the trial meant it would not be a panacea.
Covid-19 Vaccines 'ºAnswers to Your Vaccine QuestionsWhile the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary by state, most will likely put medical workers and residents of long-term care facilities first. If you want to understand how this decision is getting made, this article will help.
Life will return to normal only when society as a whole gains enough protection against the coronavirus. Once countries authorize a vaccine, they'll only be able to vaccinate a few percent of their citizens at most in the first couple months. The unvaccinated majority will still remain vulnerable to getting infected. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines are showing robust protection against becoming sick. But it's also possible for people to spread the virus without even knowing they're infected because they experience only mild symptoms or none at all. Scientists don't yet know if the vaccines also block the transmission of the coronavirus. So for the time being, even vaccinated people will need to wear masks, avoid indoor crowds, and so on. Once enough people get vaccinated, it will become very difficult for the coronavirus to find vulnerable people to infect. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve that goal, life might start approaching something like normal by the fall 2021.
Yes, but not forever. The two vaccines that will potentially get authorized this month clearly protect people from getting sick with Covid-19. But the clinical trials that delivered these results were not designed to determine whether vaccinated people could still spread the coronavirus without developing symptoms. That remains a possibility. We know that people who are naturally infected by the coronavirus can spread it while they're not experiencing any cough or other symptoms. Researchers will be intensely studying this question as the vaccines roll out. In the meantime, even vaccinated people will need to think of themselves as possible spreaders.
The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is delivered as a shot in the arm, like other typical vaccines. The injection won't be any different from ones you've gotten before. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported any serious health problems. But some of them have felt short-lived discomfort, including aches and flu-like symptoms that typically last a day. It's possible that people may need to plan to take a day off work or school after the second shot. While these experiences aren't pleasant, they are a good sign: they are the result of your own immune system encountering the vaccine and mounting a potent response that will provide long-lasting immunity.
No. The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer use a genetic molecule to prime the immune system. That molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse to a cell, allowing the molecule to slip in. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus, which can stimulate the immune system. At any moment, each of our cells may contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules, which they produce in order to make proteins of their own. Once those proteins are made, our cells then shred the mRNA with special enzymes. The mRNA molecules our cells make can only survive a matter of minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell's enzymes a bit longer, so that the cells can make extra virus proteins and prompt a stronger immune response. But the mRNA can only last for a few days at most before they are destroyed.
''It is not the best vaccine in the world,'' she said at the news conference during which the efficacy rate was disclosed. But she called it a ''perfectly acceptable vaccine'' that would lead to fewer patients developing serious cases or dying from the virus.
Dimas Covas, the director of the Butantan Institute, called the vaccine an ''excellent'' tool ''waiting to be used in a country where currently 1,000 people are dying per day.''
Many of the countries that have ordered CoronaVac are relatively poor, desperate to halt the pandemic and protect their populations.
Indonesia, for example, has ordered 125.5 million CoronaVac doses. The country has reported nearly 850,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 25,000 deaths, the highest numbers in Southeast Asia.
On Wednesday morning, its president, Joko Widodo, was injected with CoronaVac on live television, kicking off a national vaccination program. ''Covid vaccination is important for us to break the chain of transmission of this coronavirus and provide health protection for all of us,'' Mr. Joko said after getting his shot.
Sulfikar Amir, an Indonesian associate professor of disaster sociology at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the latest results from Brazil were a cause for concern.
''Why doesn't Indonesia wait for a better vaccine?'' he asked. ''My impression is that this is rushed and forced.''
In the short term, some countries may have few viable options. Governments, many of them in richer nations, have already locked in more than half the doses that could come onto the market by the end of next year.
To its comparative advantage, Sinovac has immense manufacturing capacity. The company has said it can make 600 million doses this year.
In China, the weaker efficacy data from Brazil could be a setback for the country's biotech ambitions. It had pinned its hopes on making a Covid-19 vaccine that would burnish its credentials as a global scientific power.
The tepid results could also be problematic for Chinese officials, given that they had touted the efficacy of the vaccines made by Sinovac and Sinopharm. Even though the vaccines had not received regulatory approval, and data from late-stage trials had not been made public, Beijing gave them to thousands of Chinese people under an emergency use policy; it plans to vaccinate 50 million people by the middle of next month.
State media in China played down the news from Brazil. Global Times, a state-owned nationalist tabloid, ran a headline that said the Sinovac vaccine was ''100 percent effective in preventing severe cases, could reduce hospitalizations by 80 percent.''
The new data could heighten skepticism among people around the world who are already wary of Chinese-made vaccines, given that the country has a history of vaccine quality scandals. A study from the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that just 37.2 percent of respondents in Hong Kong were willing to be vaccinated.
Scientists had already raised questions about the piecemeal way in which efficacy data about the Chinese vaccines had been released. Indonesia said on Monday that its interim analysis found CoronaVac to have an efficacy rate of 65.3 percent. Last month, Turkey said it had an efficacy rate of 91.25 percent, but that was based on preliminary results from a small clinical trial.
The vaccine had long taken on a political dimension in Brazil. President Jair Bolsonaro had spoken derisively about CoronaVac, fueling an growing anti-vaccination movement in the country, where more than 200,000 people have died from Covid-19. The vaccine had been championed by S£o Paulo's governor, Jo£o Doria, who is widely expected to run for president in 2022 and is among Mr. Bolsonaro's most vocal critics.
In Brazil, officials say the higher efficacy rate previously announced for CoronaVac pertained to the protection it offered against developing Covid-19 symptoms significant enough to require treatment. While officials had asserted last week that the vaccine provided absolute protection against moderate to severe symptoms, they had not disclosed another group who had ''very mild'' infections despite having been vaccinated.
Denise Garrett, a Brazilian-American epidemiologist and vaccine expert, said there was no reason to doubt CoronaVac's safety, adding that the data presented so far suggested it would provide a satisfactory level of protection. But Dr. Garrett said the vague and sometimes misleading manner in which information about the vaccine had been made public could shake people's confidence in its reliability and fuel the political battle over the vaccine.
''The lack of transparency really damages people's trust,'' she said. ''They've just reinforced the narrative that this vaccine is not good.''
Reporting was contributed by Manuela Andreoni, Letcia Casado, Richard C. Paddock and Muktita Suhartono. Elsie Chen contributed research.
Moderna CEO says the world will have to live with Covid 'forever'
The CEO of Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna warned Wednesday that the coronavirus that has brought world economies to a standstill and overwhelmed hospitals will be around "forever."
Public health officials and infectious disease experts have said there is a high likelihood that Covid-19 will become an endemic disease, meaning it will become present in communities at all times, though likely at lower levels than it is now.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel appeared to agree Wednesday that Covid-19 will become endemic, saying "SARS-CoV-2 is not going away."
"We are going to live with this virus, we think, forever," he said during a panel discussion at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference.
Health officials will have to continuously watch for new variants of the virus, so scientists can produce vaccines to fight them, he said. Researchers in Ohio said Wednesday they've discovered two new variants likely originating in the U.S. and that one of them quickly became the dominant strain in Columbus, Ohio, over a three-week period in late December and early January.
Pfizer researchers said its vaccine developed with BioNTech appeared to be effective against a key mutation in the U.K. strain as well as a variant found in South Africa.
Moderna's vaccine has been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for use in Americans who are 18 years old and older. Additional studies still needed to be completed in children, whose immune systems can respond differently to vaccines than those of adults.
U.S. officials are racing to distribute doses of both vaccines, but it will likely take months before the U.S. can vaccinate enough people to achieve herd immunity, meaning the virus won't have enough new hosts to spread. Still, Bancel said Wednesday he expects the U.S. will be one of the first large countries to achieve "sufficient protection" against the virus.
There are already four coronaviruses that are endemic across the world, but they aren't as contagious or deadly as Covid-19, according to the World Health Organization.
China
Exclusive: China's HNA in talks to buy controlling stake in Forbes - sources | Reuters
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Acquisitive Chinese conglomerate HNA Group is in talks to buy a controlling stake in the owner of the publisher of Forbes magazine, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Hong Kong-based investor group Integrated Whale Media Investments (IWM), which holds 95 percent of Forbes Media, is also in talks with another Chinese media firm and is scouting for more potential buyers for most or all of its stake, said one of the sources, who declined to be identified as the talks are confidential.
Reuters was not able to confirm the names of the other possible bidders.
HNA, ranked 353rd in the 2016 Fortune Global list of the world's biggest 500 companies, has been in discussions for a couple of weeks with IWM for a deal worth at least $400 million, said the source.
IWM and Forbes Media declined to comment, while HNA didn't respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The move comes three years after the Forbes family, which founded the American financial magazine 100 years ago, gave up its controlling stake in Forbes Media to IWM.
That transaction valued the Forbes company at $475 million, a source familiar with the transaction has said. [reut.rs/2mTiy5j]
HNA, which has more than $100 billion in assets, has been on an acquisition spree expanding out of its traditional business of aviation and logistics into financial, media and cultural sectors.
Late last year, HNA Capital, the group's financial arm, bought an 80 percent stake in Beijing Lianban Caixun Cultural Media, a media firm that runs the website of influential financial publication Caijing magazine, for an undisclosed sum, records with China's state-run corporate register showed.
''Going forward, HNA will continue to scout for good-quality domestic and international media assets,'' the second source said. ''HNA wants to display publications owned or invested by it on its planes, in its hotels across the world.''
The media deals are taking place at a time when Beijing is flexing its ''soft power'' muscles to extend its global influence.
Last year, China Central Television, the country's largest TV network, said it would launch a new global media platform to help re-brand China overseas.
Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.N has also acquired or invested in a growing portfolio of media and content firms in the past few years. It snapped up Hong Kong's flagship English-language newspaper the South China Morning Post and other media assets of SCMP Group Ltd 0583.HK for $266 million in late 2015.
Reporting by Julie Zhu; Additional reporting by Jessica Toonkel in New York, Michelle Price in Hong Kong and Liana B. Baker in San Francisco; Editing by Anshuman Daga and Will Waterman
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
After 97 years of family ownership, Forbes Media has announced it has sold a majority stake in the company to a Hong Kong-based group of international investors.
Forbes Media '' which includes Forbes magazine '' was sold to Integrated Whale Media Investments for an undisclosed sum.
The Forbes family said it would still have a ''significant'' stake.
Article continues after advertisementSteve Forbes will remain as chairman and editor-in-chief.
''While today marks a fundamental turning point in this 97-year-old company founded by my grandfather, it should be seen as an opportunity to continue and strengthen our mission,''
Forbes '' which says it reaches 75 million people worldwide every month through its print, digital, TV, conferences and research ventures '' began looking for a buyer last November.
Forbes will continue to be headquartered in the US, but announced plans for an international expansion.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on February 4, 2010 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong/Getty ImagesThe inaugural committee for President-elect Joe Biden reportedly returned a $500 donation from former California Sen. Barbara Boxer after it was learned she registered as a foreign agent for a Chinese surveillance firm.
Axios reported that the committee rejected Boxer's donation since the Chinese firm '-- named Hikvision '-- has been "accused of abetting the country's mass internment of Uighur Muslims." According to Justice Department documents published Friday, Boxer provides ''strategic consulting services" to Hikvision's subsidiary in the United States.
Hikivision was banned from doing business with U.S. firms absent a government-issued license in 2019, and was accused by the Trump administration of having ties to the Chinese military.
In a statement to Axios, Boxer stated, "When I am asked to provide strategic advice to help a company operate in a more responsible and humane manner consistent with U.S. law in spirit and letter, it is an opportunity to make things better while helping protect and create American jobs.''
During his presidential campaign, Biden said the internment of Uighur Muslims is "among the worst abuses of human rights in the world today."
"The U.S. cannot be silent '-- we must speak out against this oppression and relentlessly defend human rights around the world," he tweeted in November 2019.
Boxer is the latest California Democrat with reported ties to agents of the Chinese government. In December, Axios published another story revealing that Rep. Eric Swalwell had close ties to a suspected Chinese spy who was sent to gain influence with young, up-and-coming American politicians.
In 2018, it was revealed that Sen. Dianne Feinstein had a suspected Chinese spy on her staff for about 20 years without her knowledge.
Text of a Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate | The White House
Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order taking further steps to deal with the threat posed by the People's Republic of China's (PRC) increasing exploitation of United States capital to resource and to enable the development and modernization of its military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses which continue to allow the PRC to directly threaten the United States homeland and United States forces overseas, including by developing and deploying weapons of mass destruction, advanced conventional weapons, and malicious cyber-enabled actions against the United States and its people.
Through the national strategy of Military-Civil Fusion, the PRC increases the size of the country's military-industrial complex by compelling civilian Chinese companies to support its military and intelligence activities. Those companies, though remaining ostensibly private and civilian, directly support the PRC's military, intelligence, and security apparatuses and aid in their development and modernization. At the same time, they raise capital by selling securities to United States investors that trade on public exchanges both here and abroad, lobbying United States index providers and funds to include these securities in market offerings, and engaging in other acts to ensure access to United States capital. In that way, the PRC exploits United States investors to finance the development and modernization of its military.
To deal with that threat, I signed Executive Order 13959 on November 12, 2020. Executive Order 13959 prohibits certain purchases involving publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities, of any Communist Chinese military company. Those companies are ones the Department of Defense has listed, or will list, pursuant to section 1237 of Public Law 105-261, as amended, or are identified as Communist Chinese military companies or their subsidiaries by the Secretary of the Treasury using similar criteria.
Today, I signed an Executive Order amending Executive Order 13959. The amendments prohibit certain sales as well as purchases of publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities, of any Communist Chinese military company. They also prohibit possession of such securities by United States persons 1 year after a company is determined to be a Communist Chinese military company. And, finally, they allow the Secretary of Defense publicly to list whether a company is a Communist Chinese military company using the criteria in section 1237(b)(4)(B) of Public Law 105-261, as amended by section 1233 of Public Law 106-398 and section 1222 of Public Law 108'375, regardless of whether the Secretary must report that determination under section 1237(b)(2).
I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued.
Sincerely,
DONALD J. TRUMP
Build Back Better
What Experts on Extremism Want From the Biden Administration
The warnings were frequent. In September, FBI director Christopher Wray said domestic terrorism was the greatest threat to American citizens, adding that white supremacists made up the largest share of that threat. On October 6, the Department of Homeland Security named white-supremacist groups as ''the most persistent and lethal threat in the homeland.'' Two days later, the FBI announced the arrest of 13 men in Michigan for allegedly plotting to kidnap and execute the governor of Michigan. Which is why national-security experts were shocked, but not surprised, by Wednesday's riots, in which Trump loyalists and far-right extremists stormed the Capitol.
President Trump approached violent extremism the same way he approached climate change and the pandemic. He ignored it and then tended to it for political gain, even as his own security officials sounded the alarm. From his infamous ''very fine people on both sides'' remarks after Charlottesville, to his refusal to disavow QAnon conspiracists, to his incessant demands to ''liberate'' states where strict COVID-19 rules were in effect, to his defense of Kyle Rittenhouse, the militia member charged with killing two George Floyd protesters in Wisconsin, Trump made the country more vulnerable to far-right extremist violence. Experts agree Wednesday's violence is an escalation, not a climax.
''This is an enduring issue for the rest of the country, not just Washington, D.C.,'' said Javed Ali, a former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council. ''Empirically, [Wednesday's riot] showed a proof of concept '-- it worked. Beyond inauguration, what events, statehouses, or government buildings, will be subjected to this? People can swarm these places quite easily thanks to social media.''
On Thursday, President-elect Joe Biden called Wednesday's rioters ''domestic terrorists,'' which some have interpreted as a willingness to give federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers broader authority to investigate and charge extremists. In recent years, lawmakers have debated whether a federal statute should criminalize domestic terrorism, simplifying the current process which requires prosecutors to make cases against violent extremists using a wide range of charges that often don't explicitly mention the word terrorism, even when the crimes meet the federal definition of domestic terrorism. For example, prosecutors charged Christopher Hasson, a Coast Guard lieutenant who stockpiled arms and ammunition with the intent of carrying out a mass murder in the name of a white homeland, with firearms and drug charges despite the fact that prosecutors had explicitly called Hasson a domestic terrorist.
''A domestic-terrorism statute would certainly help investigators,'' said Seth Jones, a counterterrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ''But the data suggests that there are plenty of people who aren't associated with a group that are still going to be willing to conduct attacks. You're not going to be able to use a domestic-terrorism statute or designation on someone who may be sympathetic to Atomwaffen Division, but he's operating on his own. He's never had any ties. He's not providing material support.'' While the Trump administration avoided the issue for nakedly political purposes, resistance to a new statute isn't divided along neat partisan lines. Those who oppose one say it would run the risk of infringing on First Amendment rights.
''You wouldn't expect a new law that gives more authority to be used on white supremacists and far-right militants '-- you'd expect it to be used on groups being investigated, but prosecutors don't have a way to charge,'' said Mike German, a former FBI agent and fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice's liberty and national security program. ''You see the way the Trump administration went after protesters involved in the DisruptJ20 protests, the way the Obama administration's FBI and Justice Department went after environmental groups and Standing Rock water protectors and Black Lives Matter activists. The problem isn't a lack of authority, but a lack of attention on white supremacists and far-right militants. It's not as if they're charging a lot of white supremacists for decades but not successfully convicting them. They have a pretty good record when they actually pay attention to the violence.''
For some, the Trump administration's efforts to label Antifa a terrorist organization was a parable, proof that any new statute granting the government broad authority to classify groups of Americans could be misused. In 2018, Jason Blazakis, a former counterterrorism official at the State Department and a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, argued in favor of a law that would allow federal agencies to label individuals as ''Specially Designated Terrorists'' and groups as ''Domestic Terrorist Organizations.''
''I've walked back my view over the past two years,'' Blazakis said recently. ''Unfortunately, politics being what it is, I worry that politicians would use it as a mechanism to chill free speech.''
Despite his comments on Thursday, Biden has yet to map out a clear plan to address domestic far-right extremism. Biden launched his presidential bid with a video that recounted the violent 2017 white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, and he continued to reference that rally throughout his campaign. During the first presidential debate in September, he pushed Trump to disavow the Proud Boys. Now, as Inauguration Day draws near, counterterrorism experts are eager to see where homegrown extremism will rank on the new administration's list of priorities.
While domestic terrorism isn't mentioned on Biden's transition website, his campaign website includes a plan to establish a task force to ''focus on the connection between mass shootings, online harassment, extremism, and violence against women.'' Jake Sullivan, Biden's choice for national security adviser, has said the president-elect asked him to ''reimagine national security'' to include ''threats to democracy, racial justice, and inequality in all forms.''
''My concern is that the Biden administration will think things were going swell during the Obama administration and that all we have to do is go back to what we were doing then without recognizing that there was a problem during that period as well,'' German said. ''What I would hope the Biden administration is focused on is collecting the appropriate data and presenting a clear picture of the threat before we develop new methods to address the threat.''
Across the board, experts agree that more data is essential. The FBI does not share its data on domestic terrorism, and when it does, it's packaged in imprecise categories such as ''racially motivated violent extremists,'' which doesn't distinguish between violence perpetrated by white supremacists and acts by so-called Black Identity Extremists (a term that should make anyone familiar with the FBI's history of investigating civil-rights activists uneasy).
For some, Biden's experience is an auspicious starting point. ''Just the fact that Biden's going to run a normal process, that alone will make us safer because you'll actually have people paying attention and addressing these issues,'' Elizabeth Neumann, a former senior Homeland Security official in the Trump administration, told USA Today. Incoming Attorney General Merrick Garland, for one, who oversaw the prosecutions of the Oklahoma City bombers and the Unabomber, seems to offer an indication of Biden's intention to prioritize domestic terrorism. Garland's deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, previously served as chief counterterrorism advisor to Barack Obama. But conspicuously absent from Biden's recent announcement of National Security Council posts were key positions that address counterterrorism and homeland security.
''I have a hard time believing they're going to come up with a status quo approach,'' said Ali. ''It wouldn't square with the reality of the threat.''
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By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. What Experts on Extremism Want From the Biden Administration
H.R.127 - 117th Congress(2021-2022): To provide for the licensing of firearm and ammunition possession and the registration of firearms, and to prohibit the possession of certain ammunition. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
IntroducedArray( [actionDate] => 2021-01-04 [displayText] => Introduced in House [externalActionCode] => 1000 [description] => Introduced [chamberOfAction] => House)
Passed HousePassed SenateTo PresidentBecame Law Summary (0) Text Actions (2) Titles (1) Amendments (0) Cosponsors (0) Committees (1) Related Bills (0) Go to: Summary: H.R.127 '-- 117th Congress(2021-2022)All Information (Except Text)A legislative analyst in the Congressional Research Service will begin analyzing this legislation after text becomes available.
Text - H.J.Res.14 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the electoral college and to provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States. | Congress.go
Text: H.J.Res.14 '-- 117th Congress (2021-2022)All Information (Except Text)There is one version of the bill.
Shown Here: Introduced in House (01/11/2021) 117th CONGRESS 1st Session
H. J. RES. 14
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the electoral college and to provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. Cohen (for himself, Ms. Lofgren , Ms. Eshoo , Ms. Schakowsky , Ms. Brownley , Mr. DeFazio , Mr. Espaillat , Mr. Garamendi , and Mr. Cooper ) submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the electoral college and to provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States.
Whereas the Founders of the Nation established the electoral college in an era of limited nationwide communication and information sharing;
Whereas the electoral college is premised on an antiquated theory that citizens will have a better chance of knowing about electors from their home States than about Presidential candidates from out of State;
Whereas the development of mass media and the internet has made information about Presidential candidates easily accessible to United States citizens across the country and around the world;
Whereas citizens now have a far better chance of knowing about out-of-State Presidential candidates than about Presidential electors from their home State;
Whereas Thomas Jefferson wrote, ''I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.'';
Whereas since the Nation's founding, United States citizens have amended the Constitution to expand the opportunity for citizens to directly elect their elected leaders;
Whereas the 15th Amendment guarantees the right of all citizens to vote regardless of race;
Whereas the 19th Amendment guarantees the right of all citizens to vote regardless of gender;
Whereas the 26th Amendment guarantees the right of all citizens 18 years of age and older to vote regardless of age;
Whereas the 17th Amendment establishes both a precedent and a preference for the direct election of citizens' elected representatives; and
Whereas the electoral college has become an anachronism: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House ofRepresentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of eachHouse concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:
'' article '--
'' section 1.
''The President and Vice President shall be elected by the people of the several States and the district constituting the seat of government of the United States.
'' section 2.
''The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most populous branch of the legislature of the State; although Congress may establish uniform age qualifications.
'' section 3.
''Each elector shall cast a single vote for two persons who have consented to the joining of their names as candidates for President and Vice President. No elector shall be prohibited from casting a vote for a candidate for President or Vice President because either candidate, or both, are inhabitants of the same State as the elector.
'' section 4.
''The pair of candidates having the greatest number of votes for President and Vice President shall be elected.
'' section 5.
''The times, places, and manner of holding such elections and entitlement to inclusion on the ballot shall be determined by Congress.
'' section 6.
''The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death or any other disqualification of any candidate for President or Vice President before the day on which the President-elect or Vice President-elect has been chosen; and for the case of a tie in any election.
'' section 7.
''This article shall take effect one year after the first day of January following ratification.''.
BTC
Austin is The Crypto Capitol and comedians
Children with beards
They have been cheated
Iraq war
Wrong country
9/11
Great depression
Rona
Neil Jacobs on Twitter: "Bitcoin and Black America author Isaiah Jackson "For the first time in history we have a Plan B option to the current financial system which has seen years of redlining, racial discrimination, &other egregious acts by retail b
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Bitcoin is 'highly speculative' and needs to be regulated, says ECB's Lagarde We're sorry but www.theblockcrypto.com doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue.
Bugs
Yellow mealworm safe for humans to eat, says EU food safety agency | Food safety | The Guardian
Yellow mealworm finger foods, smoothies, biscuits, pasta and burgers could soon be mass produced across Europe after the insect became the first to be found safe for human consumption by the EU food safety agency.
The delicacies may not be advisable for everyone, however. Those with prawn and dustmite allergies are likely to suffer a reaction to the Tenebrio molitor larvae, whether eaten in powder form as part of a recipe or as a crunchy snack, perhaps dipped in chocolate.
The conclusion of scientists at the EU food safety agency, following an application by France's first insect-for-food production company, Micronutris, is expected to lead to EU-wide approval within months of yellow mealworm as a product fit for supermarket shelves and kitchen pantries across the continent.
The insect's main components are protein, fat and fibre, offering a potentially sustainable and low carbon-emission source of food for the future. When dried, the maggot-like insect is said to taste a lot like peanuts.
Ermolaos Ververis, a scientific officer at the agency, said: ''This first EFSA risk assessment of an insect as novel food can pave the way for the first EU-wide approval. Our risk evaluation is a decisive and necessary step in the regulation of novel foods by supporting policymakers in the EU in making science-based decisions and ensuring the safety of consumers.''
For leading players in the insects-as-food industry, the potential for their high-protein food has been held back by a lack of EU-wide approval. The products are prohibited from sale in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, among other European countries. Without approval from the EFSA, they faced being banned elsewhere on the continent too.
The UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Finland have previously taken a permissive approach to an EU law that requires foods not eaten before 1997 to get novel food authorisation from Brussels.
British, Dutch, Belgian, Danish and Finnish regulators had decided the EU directive did not pertain to animals products used for food. But in 2018 a new EU law sought to bring some clarity. It stipulated that insect-based dishes would require novel food authorisation, putting the nascent insect-food industry in the EU on death row.
The products have remained available in those countries as a result of a transition period to allow companies already producing food from insects to operate until they received the final judgment. And the potential for mass production and expansion in product ranges in Britain, among others, has been held back.
Companies such as Micronutris, Protifarm in the Netherlands, Essento in Switzerland and Entogourmet in Spain are understood to be preparing to ramp up their operations.
Insect-based food has long been seen as a part of the solution to cutting the emission of greenhouse gases in food production. Yellow mealworm is the larval form of Tenebrio molitor, an insect species that belongs to the family of Tenebrionidae, or darkling beetles. They are usually fed in farms on wheat flour or bran, although they are omnivorous.
The eggs are separated from mating adults by sieving so that larvae can grow separately. The post-harvesting process includes rinsing the larvae with water, killing them by immersion in boiling water for up to five minutes, and dehydration in ovens, packaging and storage.
Mario Mazzocchi, an economic statistician and professor at the University of Bologna, said: ''There are clear environmental and economic benefits if you substitute traditional sources of animal proteins with those that require less feed, produce less waste and result in fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Lower costs and prices could enhance food security and new demand will open economic opportunities too, but these could also affect existing sectors.''
There have been 15 applications for insect-based food products. The four at the final stages of the EFSA process are fresh and dried adult crickets, locusts and litter beetles, also known as lesser mealworm. From the time of publication of the EFSA's opinion, the EU's member states have seven months to table a proposal for authorisation, which will then go to a vote.
Giovanni Sogari, a social and consumer researcher at the University of Parma, said the squeamishness of many consumers towards insect-originated food products may eventually fall away. ''There are cognitive reasons derived from our social and cultural experiences '' the so-called 'yuck factor' '' that make the thought of eating insects repellent to many Europeans,'' he said. ''With time and exposure, such attitudes can change.''
EFSA scientists examining the safety of yellow mealworm recommended that it should not be eaten by people with allergies to crustaceans and dustmites as it risked an oral and skin reaction.
Solar Winds
SolarWinds Hires Chris Krebs and Alex Stamos for ...
The former US cybersecurity official and former Facebook security chief will help SolarWinds respond to its recent attack and improve security.SolarWinds, the company targeted in a major cyberattack affecting US government agencies and private organizations, has hired Chris Krebs and Alex Stamos to recover from the incident and improve its overall security posture.
Krebs is a former US security official who previously led the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) until he was fired by President Trump following efforts to ensure the security of the 2020 election. Stamos, former security chief for Facebook, is now a Stanford professor and director of the Stanford Internet Observatory.
The two have formed a consulting business that will help SolarWinds respond to a security incident widely considered one of the most severe attacks to target the United States in recent years. Attackers who infiltrated SolarWinds sent backdoored versions of its software to some 18,000 customers, including federal agencies and companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, and Intel.
SolarWinds had already hired CrowdStrike to help assess the attack and improve its security, Reuters reports. Now it's bringing in the two experts as part of larger efforts to strengthen its security strategy, which had been criticized in the past.
"We have brought in the expertise of Chris Krebs and Alex Stamos to assist in this review and provide best-in-class guidance on our journey to evolve into an industry leading secure software development company," a SolarWinds spokesperson said in a statement.
Read more details here.
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Secret meetings with the CIA, interview with MI6 boss, the 'evidence' that convinced expert Angelina Jolie is a SPY
IT reads like the most outlandish of Hollywood spy scripts: Angelina Jolie '' one of Tinseltown's biggest stars '' working undercover with the CIA.
Yet there is a growing dossier of evidence which suggests that such a wild claim about the 45-year-old actress and humanitarian may not be quite as crazy as it sounds.
13
Angelina played a CIA operative in the movie Salt Credit: (C)Sony PicturesAnd if a leading expert on the relationship between Hollywood and the US government is to be believed, Angelina may have been recruited as an asset by the spy agency at some point in the 2000s.
Since then, the Oscar-winner has twice been accused by angry foreign officials of being a CIA ''agent'', held meetings with and played a role in the downfall of a CIA director and starred in two movies supported by the CIA.
She also joined one of Washington D.C.'s most influential foreign policy think tanks and interviewed the outgoing boss of the UK's MI6 secret service '' one of the CIA's strongest allies.
Expert Tom Secker has spent years using the Freedom of Information Act to investigate the connection between the movie industry and the intelligence community, and says that the evidence hints that ''something is going on'' between Angelina and the CIA.
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Now an expert on Hollywood-government relations believes she could be a spy in real life Credit: Alamy 13
Author Tom Secker believes the actress may have been recruited as a PR asset by the agency Credit: AFPThe author, who wrote a book called National Security Cinema, says he believes that Jolie is an ideal ''front person'' for the intelligence community.
''Under the first Obama administration there was an attempt to redraw US foreign policy," he told The Sun.
''It continued to look like US foreign policy has for decades but they very much promoted the notion of humanitarian intervention and the doctrine of the responsibility to protect, known as R2P.
''That's how they branded the Libyan war and the Syria intervention and the general expansion of the War on Terror with the drone program.
''The notion of getting a theoretically liberal Hollywood star as a front person fits in entirely with how foreign policy was being rebranded in that period.
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Angelina has starred in two CIA-backed movies Credit: Handout 13
Tom Secker has been investigating the links between the entertainment industry and the intelligence community Credit: Coleman-Rayner 13
He has obtained documents such as this, which shows the CIA's support for two of Angie's movies Credit: Coleman-Rayner''I wouldn't have thought Angelina is a salaried CIA officer - she could be although I don't think so.
''I think somewhere along the line in the 2000s she was in effect recruited as some kind of PR asset.
''Throughout the Cold War both the CIA and the FBI were recruiting people in Hollywood for various purposes, not least hyping up the Red Scare and informing on people within the film industry."
I think somewhere along the line in the 2000s she was in effect recruited as some kind of PR asset.
Tom Secker Over the past decade foreign officials have gone much further than Secker and suggested Angelina is a full-blown CIA ''agent'' who uses her humanitarian work for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to promote US foreign policy.
Most recently, Angelina was blasted by then president of Venezuela's National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, following a visit she made to Venezuelan refugees in Peru in October 2018.
'Evidence' that may suggest Angelina is a spy
Held meetings with and played a role in the downfall of a CIA DirectorSpoke to CIA agents when she starred in two movies which were supported by the CIAJoined one of Washington D.C.'s most influential foreign policy think tanksAccused by two foreign politicians of being a CIA operativeInterviewed the outgoing boss of the UK's MI6 secret service '' one of the CIA's strongest alliesSimilar claims had already been put forward six years earlier when Angelina praised the Turkish government following her visit to camps for Syrian refugees in September 2012.
A deputy with Turkey's main opposition party Mehmet KesimoÄlu asked: ''Is Angelina Jolie an agent of the CIA, and is there any intelligence report about Angelina Jolie that indicates she is used as the face of CIA's war politics?''
Angelina's name has also been linked to disgraced former CIA Director David Petraeus.
The pair held talks and posed for a picture in Baghdad in February 2008 while Petraeus was serving as the top commander in Iraq.
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Angelina has been pictured with former CIA boss David Patraeus Credit: Getty Images - Getty 13
The CIA has supported several films, documentaries and books, according to this document Credit: Coleman-Rayner 13
Angelina has even visited the agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia Credit: Getty - ContributorAfter he took the top CIA job, the pair met again at the service's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on January 11, 2012, the same day Angelina and her then partner Brad Pitt visited President Barack Obama in the White House.
The meeting would later come to play a minor role in the sex scandal that ended Petraeus' CIA career.
Early concerns about the director's relationship with his biographer Paula Broadwell were reportedly raised amongst CIA staff after the writer posted an unofficial photo of the Angelina meeting on Facebook, in breach of security protocols.
In October this year, Angelina conducted an extraordinary interview with the outgoing head of Britain's foreign intelligence service, MI6.
During her conversation with Sir Alex Younger, published in Time magazine, Angelina admiringly quizzed the British spymaster about his secret life.
Secker believes that the actress's link to the British intelligence service may have been made through the UK's Foreign Office, which she began working with on a campaign against wartime sexual violence in May 2012.
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Angelina played CIA officer Evelyn Salt in the 2010 movie Salt Credit: AFP 13
She spoke to real CIA agents to prepare for the role Credit: HandoutAngelina's movie collaborations with the CIA are also well-documented.
To date she has starred in at least two spy films which were directly supported by the CIA '' The Good Shepherd in 2006 and Salt in 2010.
The CIA's first ever entertainment liaison Chase Brandon, who served from 1996 to 2007, listed The Good Shepherd as one of the movies he had worked on.
Just months after The Good Shepherd was released in December 2006 Angelina became a member of the influential Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
The Council's links to the CIA date back to the early days of the intelligence service and continue to this day.
Angelina is amongst just a handful of Hollywood stars to have been made a member of the exclusive organization, along with George Clooney and Warren Beatty.
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Angelina has previously claimed she couldn't be a spy because she 'couldn't live a secret life' Credit: HandoutThen in 2010 Angelina starred in Salt, a story about a Russian sleeper spy who has infiltrated the CIA.
CIA documents obtained by Secker list Salt as an example of one of the movies that it provided ''entertainment industry outreach'' for ''in an effort to ensure an accurate portrayal of the men and women of the CIA''.
Secker says that to prepare for Salt, director Phillip Noyce went on a tour of CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, with Angelina and they had a video conference with CIA operatives who were active at the time.
In production notes for the movie distributed by Sony Pictures, Angelina stated: ''We talked to a lot of the women in the CIA.
''One after the other, they are just these lovely, sweet women that you can't imagine being put in a dangerous situation, but they really are.''
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Tom Sicker authored this book about the ties between Hollywood and government Credit: Coleman-Rayner''The interesting thing is that they were talking to CIA operations officers,'' Secker said.
''Normally if you want to have a look around Langley to do research and talk to a couple of people, that is organized through the CIA's Office of Public Affairs.
''The fact they were sitting down and having a conference with currently serving operations officers, people who work undercover '' that's unusual.
''On Salt it is evident that the relationship went deeper.''
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In the past the actress has claimed she couldn't ever be a spy, telling AFP in 2010, "I couldn't keep a secret life because it is just not natural to me and my family, but I think it is a great sacrifice people make."
The Sun reached out to a representative for Angelina on Secker's claims.
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VIDEO - (1946) Butterfly of the Week, 11 Jan 2021: Hidden in Plain Sight (for references click show more below) - YouTube
Biden Will Restore White House Pet Tradition With 2 German Shepherds President Trump did not have pets. President-elect Biden's dogs are named Champ and Major. The Delaware Humane Society is honoring Major's journey from the shelter to the White House.
TONYA MOSELY, HOST:
Donald Trump has been the first president in more than a century without a dog. Next week, Joe Biden restores the tradition with two German shepherds, Major and Champ. Major's story in particular is a wags-to-riches tale.
PATRICK CARROLL: We had someone from the community reach out to us who had a litter of German shepherd puppies, and they weren't doing well.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Patrick Carroll is executive director to the Delaware Humane Association. He says Major and his five littermates were hospitalized for days.
(SOUND OF PUPPY CRYING)
CARROLL: They had gotten into a toxic substance - we're not sure what. But it was curable, but it just required medical care.
(SOUND OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You're so cute.
CARROLL: So we put them into foster homes once we got them better.
MOSELY: One of those fosters was Joe Biden. Major found his forever home. Biden fully adopted him in November of 2018.
(SOUND OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: You're adopted. You did it. You did such a good job.
JOE BIDEN: Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Thank you. Congratulations. Bye, Major.
MARTIN: Major will be the first dog to go from a shelter to the White House, but he follows in the footprints of another rescue dog, Yuki.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON: He is the friendliest and the smartest and the most constant in his attention of all the dogs that I've known.
MARTIN: That's President Lyndon Johnson, whose daughter picked up the pup at a gas station in Texas.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHNSON: Do you want to go (howling)?
(SOUND OF YUKI HOWLING)
JOHNSON: Come on. Sing for me (howling).
(SOUND OF YUKI HOWLING)
LADY BIRD JOHNSON: (Laughter) Oh, you silly dog.
MOSELY: The Delaware Humane Association is holding a virtual indoguration (ph) for the first dog-elect on Sunday to benefit the shelter.
CARROLL: Major is highlighting adoption. I think, also, it's shining a light on all the resources that animal shelters bring to a community. So if you need pet food because you're struggling or you need low-cost vaccinations to keep your pet healthy - all of the things that people need, they should see their shelter as a resource.
MOSELY: Carroll says if Major is good enough for the White House, a shelter dog is good enough for your house.
Copyright (C) 2021 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
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VIDEO-Dr. Fauci warns South Africa Covid strain could pose threat to antibody drugs
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A mutated and more infectious coronavirus strain first identified in South Africa is "disturbing" and could pose a threat to Covid antibody treatments, White House advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said. Through discussions with health experts in South Africa, Fauci said preliminary data shows there's "more of a threat" the strain would evade some of the protections antibody treatments provide.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said there's no evidence so far to show the mutations alter the effectiveness of current vaccines.Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, sits ahead of a Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020.
Graeme Jennings | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A mutated and more infectious coronavirus strain first identified in South Africa is "disturbing" and could pose a threat to antibody treatments that are used to prevent people from falling seriously ill from Covid-19, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.
New coronavirus strains first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa have caused some concerns among scientists who say the mutated variants are highly infectious, though they don't appear to be any deadlier compared with previous strains.
So far, health experts have said there's no evidence the mutations alter the effectiveness of current vaccines. However, there's some concern that the variant found in South Africa, known as 501Y.V2, might be more resistant to monoclonal antibodies, which have helped some people fight the virus when administered early on in their infection.
Through discussions with health experts in South Africa, Fauci said preliminary data shows there's "more of a threat" the strain would evade some of the protections antibody treatments provide.
"It could be having some impact on protection for the monoclonal antibodies and perhaps even for the vaccine. We don't know that," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a Q&A session at Schmidt Futures' Forum on Preparedness.
He added that researchers in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health and across the country are quickly trying to determine the possible impact of the strain found in South Africa.
"People ask me, 'Are you worried about it?' These are not the kind of things I worry about, but it's the kind of thing that I take very seriously," Fauci said.
As viruses spread, they're expected to mutate over time as the spikes on their surfaces change, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The 501Y.V2 variant gets its name from the N501Y mutation found in the spike protein that the virus uses to gain entry into cells within the body.
This mutation is also seen in the variant U.K. health authorities identified in December, known as B.1.1.7. While both variants found in the U.K. and South Africa shared the N501Y mutation, they are different, according to the World Health Organization.
Fauci has previously said the mutated Covid-19 variations could pose a risk to the coronavirus therapeutics. Unlike vaccines, which trigger an immune response that attacks different parts of the virus, monoclonal antibodies target a very specific component, Fauci told California Gov. Gavin Newsom in late December.
Eli Lilly Chairman and CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC earlier Tuesday that he expects the company's monoclonal antibody treatment to be effective against the variant found in the U.K., though the one in South Africa could pose more challenges. Eli Lilly's drug was given emergency authorization in the U.S. in November and was followed by another drug from Regeneron.
"The South African variant ... is the one of concern. It has more dramatic mutations to that spike protein, which is the target" of these antibody drugs, Ricks said on "Squawk Box." "Theoretically, it could evade our medicines."
The CDC has yet to identify any strains of the 501Y.V2 variant in the United States, though the agency has found at least 72 cases with the B.1.1.7 strain found in the U.K. as of Monday, according to data from the CDC.
'-- CNBC's Holly Ellyatt and Kevin Stankiewicz contributed to this report.
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VIDEO-The Deeper Connections Alex Jones and Joe Rogan Exposed
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from 153NewsNet by Mathew North RIP MattyI'm SO glad I stopped watching this individual many years ago...he NEVER talks about the joos... can you say controlled opposition?Bill Hicks is Alex Jones.I can not stand Joe Rogan either...
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The European Central Bank's latest projections for economic growth in the euro area are still ''very clearly plausible'' despite the resurgent coronavirus and latest lockdowns, President Christine Lagarde said.
The ECB chief stressed that many of the uncertainties that previously clouded the outlook have now been cleared, including U.S. elections, the Brexit trade deal with the U.K., and the start of vaccinations.
''We start on a more positive basis than some would like to look at,'' she said in an online event organized by Reuters, while adding that continued monetary and fiscal support will still be needed.
The euro-area economy is on track to shrink again at the start of 2021 as the resurgent pandemic plunges the region into a double-dip recession. Numerous economists have downgraded forecasts in recent days to account for renewed restrictions, which in some places are tougher than ever.
To support the economy through turbulent times, Lagarde's central bank extended out its bond-buying program to March 2022 when it last updated stimulus in December. Policy makers meet to set policy next week.
The president also said policy makers will be ''extremely attentive'' to the rise of the euro against the dollar, which pushes down on inflation by cutting import costs.
By David Wilcock, Whitehall Correspondent and James Tapsfield, Political Editor and Jack Elsom and Connor Boyd Assistant Health Editor For Mailonline 11:54 12 Jan 2021, updated 19:24 12 Jan 2021
He risked a diplomatic row with the remarks in a virtual speech to the One Planet Summit yesterdayPangolins are heavily-trafficked scaly anteater-like creatures found across Asia used in Chinese medicineEndangered species blamed for transmitting the virus from wild bats to humans via wet market in WuhanBoris Johnson has come under fire from his own party for publicly shaming China's use of traditional medicine and blaming the 'demented' practice of harvesting pangolin scales for causing coronavirus.
Conservative insiders detected the Prime Minister's fianc(C)e Carrie Symonds' influence in his incendiary remarks, which has sparked a furious row with Beijing.
In an environmental speech to world leaders yesterday Mr Johnson tore into people who 'grind up the scales of a pangolin' in a bid to become more 'potent' - a thinly veiled attack on Chinese remedies.
Ms Symonds has been vocal in her opposition to wet markets, where the animals are sold, gaining praise from Peta as it announced her as one of its most influential activists of 2020
Former Tory aides told MailOnline she was 'definitely' behind Mr Johnson's conservation push and are growing concerned that her enthusiasm for such issues are eating up too much of the Government's bandwidth at the expense of other policy areas.
One Tory insider said: 'When the f*** was he talking about the environment before he got with her? I've never seen Boris talk about the environment.
'It's also a tangential issue. It is completely lacking any political antennae. it is not mission critical. This government should be about the public's agenda, not Carrie's agenda.'
The Tory said there was a 'time and a place' to talk about conservation issues, and this was 'not it'.
Mr Johnson made the remarks in a virtual speech to the One Planet Summit, hosted by France's President Macron, citing the illegal trade in the scaly anteater-like creatures.
They are widely used in Chinese medicine and their trafficking has been blamed for transmitting the virus from bats found in the wild to humans.
The first documented cases of the Covid-19 were in the Chinese city of Wuhan, with a wet market trading in exotic animals being seen as the probable source.
Mr Johnson's attack on China was followed today by a broadside by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab over the treatment of the Uighur minority.
On another day of chaos for Britons battling the worst crisis for a generation:
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned furlough is masking unemployment and the true rate could be 6.5 per cent not 4.9 per cent; The government is facing more pressure to make the vaccination programme 24-hours and start giving more frontline workers jabs; Matt Hancock has denied there is a national oxygen shortage as the strain on the NHS increases but admitted patients might have to be moved to where there are supplies; One in every three deaths in England and Wales was linked to coronavirus in the final days of 2020, official figures revealed today as a separate analysis claimed the virus was behind the sharpest rise in fatalities since 1940; Downing Street has admitted pictures of the random contents in some free school meal food parcels are 'completely unacceptable' after the issue was highlighted by Marcus Rashford; Seven vaccination hubs have come into use, including London's ExCeL and Birmingham's Millennium Point; Derbyshire Police has cancelled £200 fines for two women penalised for driving five miles to go for a walk; Nearly a quarter of care home residents have received their first shot of Covid vaccine, with nearly 2.7million doses now administered across the UK; Hospitals started rationing oxygen as it emerged that one in four coronavirus patients is under 55. Former Tory aides told MailOnline that Carrie was 'definitely' behind Mr Johnson's conservation push, pointing out he rarely talked about such issues before they were linked She has been vocal in her opposition to wet markets where they are sold, gaining praise from Peta as it announced her as one of its most influential activists of 2020. Boris Johnson in a Protect The Pangolin t-shirt in 2018, while jogging with then Australian counterpart foreign minister Julie Bishop Two suspects surrounded by dead pangolin that were among 457 confiscated from a wild animal smuggling ring in Guangdong Province, China Pangolins are heavily-trafficked scaly anteater-like creatures, which have been blamed for transmitting the virus from bats to humans Carrie backed ban on wet markets as she boosted her wildlife activismCarrie Symonds won a wildlife award last year for her environmental work, including support for endangered pangolins.
Last April she publicly revealed she had signed a petition calling for an end to the wet markets where they are often sold.
The Prime Minister's fianc(C)e, who was pregnant with son Wilfred at the time, took to social media to share the 'End the Trade' petition.
The 32-year-old wrote: 'Have signed this petition calling for an end to the global wildlife trade once and for all. Please do consider doing the same.
'This crisis gives us the chance to start doing things better. Let this be one of those things.'
Ms Symonds tweets support for then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's call to end pangolin traffickingHer championing of the heavily-trafficked animal's plight stretches back years, and in 2018 she threw her weight behind Boris Johnson, then Foreign Secretary, who was calling to stamp out the trade.
Hardline environmental group Peta later named her Person of the Year, saying her 'activism gets results,' after she campaigned against the plight of monkeys being used to pick coconuts.
Ms Symonds has been vocal in her opposition to wet markets, the fur trade and trophy hunting.
Last year she also raised awareness of monkeys being used as slave labour to pick coconuts, helping to get products support the practice taken off British shelves.
Ms Symonds has long burnished her environmentalism credentials and works as a senior adviser to conservation charity Oceana.
In comments that are likely to risk fury from Beijing, Mr Johnson said: 'Obviously it's right to focus on climate change, obviously it's right to cut CO2 emissions, but we won't achieve a real balance with our planet unless we protect nature as well.
'One final thought, don't forget that the coronavirus pandemic was the product of an imbalance in man's relationship with the natural world.
'Like the original plague which struck the Greeks I seem to remember in book one of the Iliad, it is a zoonotic disease.
'It originates from bats or pangolins, from the demented belief that if you grind up the scales of a pangolin you will somehow become more potent or whatever it is people believe, it originates from this collision between mankind and the natural world and we've got to stop it.'
But China hit back at the PM after his comments. Today Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said: 'We've said many times that origin tracing is a scientific matter.
'There is no room, no place, for people making speculations, hyping up - otherwise it will only disrupt international co-operation.'
Meanwhile Chinese web users labelled Boris Johson 'laughable' and 'very ignorant'.
Under a Weibo post by the state-run Vhina Daily, one user who claimed to be a medical student said: 'As a medical student majoring in traditional Chinese medicine, I feel the comment from the British Prime Minister is very ignorant, to be honest.'
Another critic wrote: 'This is laughable. Does the British Prime Minister have a brain?'
Some took a step further and suggested that coronavirus had affected the PM's ability to think.
One such user stated: 'It seems that the novel coronavirus has affected not only Johnson's lungs but also his brain.'
Mr Raab this afternoon said British firms will face heavy fines if they are lined to Chinese human rights abuse and companies will have to meet requirements showing their supply chains are free from forced labour in the Xinjiang province, the Foreign Secretary told the Commons this afternoon.
The Beijing government has been accused of widespread abuse in the area, home to the Muslim Uighurs, including allegations of forced sterilisation, slave labour and mass internment.
Members of the Uighur minority group have reportedly been made to pick cotton in Xinjiang province, leading to concerns British consumers could inadvertently be buying tainted goods.
Mr Raab said companies will be given robust guidance on how to carry out due diligence checks to make sure they are not sourcing products tainted by the human rights violations in the province.
He told MPs the picture of human rights abuses in Xinjiang was 'harrowing' and the UK had a 'moral duty to respond'.
Pangolins inhabit tropical forests in India, China, south-east Asia and parts of Africa.
Out of the eight existing sub-species, three are critically endangered, and all of them are protected by international treaty.
The general hunting and trading of pangolins have been banned in China since the late 1980s, but the exotic mammals are still trafficked by the thousands for their perceived nutritional value.
Their scales are deemed as a previous ingredient by believers of traditional Chinese medicine and its than 123 tons were sold in 2019 on the black market.
People also eat their meat for the supposed health benefits and the animals' blood is seen as a healing tonic.
China has previously denied pangolin are a vector for moving the virus from bats to humans.
Last year researchers in the Communist state found that the animals are indeed natural hosts for various coronaviruses, but do not appear to be the direct source of Covid-19.
In November a different team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences claimed the virus likely originated in India in summer 2019 - jumping from animals to humans via contaminated water - before travelling unnoticed to Wuhan, where it was first detected.
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In a further attac on China, companies will have to meet requirements showing their supply chains are free from forced labour in the Xinjiang province, the Foreign Secretary told the Commons this afternoon Members of the Uighur minority group have reportedly been made to pick cotton in Xinjiang province, leading to concerns British consumers could inadvertently be buying tainted goods Britain yesterday recorded a further 529 Covid deaths - marking a 30 per cent rise on the 407 reported on the same day last week. It is also the deadliest Monday since April 20 when 570 people lost their lives Pictured: A map showing the nine countries China has blamed for the outbreak of Covid-19 What has Covid got to do with pangolins?Pangolins - which have been illegally traded for centuries and used in traditional Chinese medicine - have been implicated in the emergence of coronavirus in China last winter.
Scientists are almost certain the virus first emerged in bats. But, because bats are not usually able to infect humans directly, they believe the virus was passed to an intermediate species before jumping to people.
Pangolins appear to be immune to Covid-19, which makes them a prime carrier of the virus and would have allowed them to act as an unharmed vector carrying the virus from bats deep in the wild, where they live, to public markets where the scaly creatures are illicitly traded.
All eight species of pangolin are supposed to be protected from trafficking by international law. Yet they are one of the most bought and sold mammals in Asia and Africa, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Based on reported seizures between 2011 and 2013, more than 230,000 pangolins are killed every year. But experts believe the official seizures represent as little as 10 per cent of the actual number being traded on the black market.
In Asian countries, particularly China and Vietnam, pangolin meat is a delicacy and their scales are used as ingredients for traditional medicine, to treat ailments such as skin diseases, menstrual disorders and arthritis.
Chinese law states that selling pangolins is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The prevailing theory is that Covid-19 emerged in Wuhan's infamous wet market, where hundreds of different species of animals were kept in cramped cages dangerously close to one another, sometime last winter.
Scientists have described such markets as the perfect breeding ground for new, pandemic-causing viruses.
Pangolins were not listed on an inventory of items sold at the Huanan Seafood Market, however the illegality of trading pangolins could explain their exclusion from the list.
The black market trade in the creature has also been previously implicated in oubreaks of bird flu.
World Health Organization experts will visit the city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, on Thursday at the start of their investigation into the origins of the pandemic, Chinese authorities have said.
China has denied that the market - or pangolins - are involved in the spread of the virus, and its authoritarian regime has blamed other countries such as India for the outbreak.
Another theory is that the virus was engineered at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a high-security biochemical lab in the city.
One of America's most senior government officials last week claimed this was the most 'credible' origin theory.
Matthew Pottinger, president Donald Trump's Deputy National Security Adviser, told politicians from around the world that even China's leaders now openly admit their previous claims that the virus originated in a Wuhan market are false.
Mr Pottinger said that the latest intelligence points to the virus leaking from the top-secret Wuhan Institute of Virology, 11 miles from the market, saying: 'There is a growing body of evidence that the lab is likely the most credible source of the virus.'
In a zoom call with UK MPs he claimed the pathogen may have escaped through a 'leak or an accident', adding: 'Even establishment figures in Beijing have openly dismissed the wet market story.'
Like the wet markets, China has denied the lab having anything to do with the outbreak.
The visit to Wuhan by the WHO team is already mired in controversy after it published terms of reference revealing it will not investigate the Wuhan institute '' the only laboratory in China with the highest international bio-security grading '' as a possible source of Covid-19.
Scientists have previously said that Covid-19 unique spike protein and its ability to latch onto human cells so efficiently mean generic engineering shouldn't be ruled out.
Mr Johnson has previously called for greater protection for pangolins.
In 2018 he wrote a newspaper article calling for greater efforts to track down on hunting and smuggling the mammal.
He wrote: 'As we get older we human beings are capable of all manner of self-deception. We go under the knife in the hope of looking younger. We take pills and potions of dubious efficacity.
'But in the annals of human folly there is surely nothing more delusional than the belief still prevalent in large parts of Asia that a man can somehow rectify his waning virility by grinding and eating the scales of a pangolin.
'And yet that is what they do. The tragedy is that all eight species of pangolin are now endangered, two of them critically so.
'We are losing them to poachers at a rate of 100,000 a year. They are smuggled, butchered and cooked '' all for the sake of their mythical medicinal qualities.'
Mr Johnson gathered Cabinet today amid fears lockdown could be tightened within days unless coronavirus numbers ease.
The PM has been holding a virtual meeting with his senior team as they consider the next move in the crisis wreaking havoc on the country.
Ministers have been desperately pleading with Britons to limit their contacts as the NHS struggles to cope with the volume of Covid patients, as police ramp up enforcement of the brutal restrictions.
But the government has made clear it is ready to get even tougher, with leading figures on SAGE pushing for a three metre social rule distancing rule and threats to axe the loophole allowing people to exercise with a friend from another household.
Other options thought to have been considered include stopping non-essential click-and-collect shopping, and closing more workplaces.
Matt Hancock hinted at a crackdown on exercising with one other person at a Downing Street briefing last night, saying the exception was being abused to socialise.
In another ominous sign this morning, Mr Johnson tweeted saying that 'meeting others from outside your household or support bubble puts you and others at risk of serious disease'.
However, in a round of interviews policing minister Kit Malthouse risked muddying the message by saying a 70-mile cycle ride would count as 'staying local' under the lockdown rules.
Mr Johnson gathered Cabinet today amid fears lockdown could be tightened within days unless coronavirus numbers ease.
The PM has been holding a virtual meeting with his senior team as they consider the next move in the crisis wreaking havoc on the country.
Ministers have been desperately pleading for people to limit their contacts as the NHS struggles to cope with the volume of Covid patients, and police ramp up enforcement of the brutal restrictions.
But the government has made clear it is ready to get even tougher, with leading figures on SAGE pushing for a three metre social rule distancing rule and threats to axe the loophole allowing people to exercise with a friend from another household.
Other options thought to have been considered for England include restricting click and collect to essential retail, and closing more workplaces.
Nicola Sturgeon said today that she is considering harsher click and collect limits in Scotland, as well as tightening the rules on takeaways. She is expected to announce any changes tomorrow.
Matt Hancock hinted at a crackdown on exercising with one other person at a Downing Street briefing last night, saying the exception was being abused to socialise.
In another ominous sign this morning, Mr Johnson tweeted saying that 'meeting others from outside your household or support bubble puts you and others at risk of serious disease'.
However, in a round of interviews policing minister Kit Malthouse risked muddying the message by saying a 70-mile cycle ride would count as 'staying local' under the lockdown rules.
The comments came after Mr Johnson faced a backlash for cycling with his security detail in the Olympic Park over the weekend - seven miles from Downing Street.
There is also fresh confusion after No10 sources insisted it is not against the rules to sit on park benches, but only for a 'short pause' during exercise.
The scale of the problem confronting the UK was starkly illustrated again last night with another 529 Covid deaths recorded - marking a 30 per cent rise on the 407 reported on the same day last week.
It was the deadliest Monday since April 20 when 570 people lost their lives and it marked the worst week for deaths in the UK since the pandemic began.
An average of 931 people have lost their lives on each of the past seven days, compared to the highest seven-day average of 920 in April's first wave.
But, in a glimmer of hope the UK's soaring case load may be leveling out, 46,169 people tested positive for the virus - down 20 per cent in a week.
The effects of the widespread Tier 4 lockdown that came into force on Boxing Day, and the national lockdown from last week, should be starting to feed into the daily infection figures
Boris's First Lady who saw off Dominic Cummings in No10 power struggleCarrie Symonds and the question of how much power she wields over the Prime Minister has very much been in the spotlight in recent months, after she helped throw his chief advisor out of Downing Street
Dominic Cummings left No10 in November after a bitter and very public civil war over the direction of the Government.
He had wanted Mr Johnson's now former director of communications Lee Cain to be made the PM's chief of staff.
But the appointment was said to have been blocked by Ms Symonds and her supporters, prompting Mr Cain to resign as Mr Cummings also then quit his post.
It was claimed allies of Cummings used a cruel 'Princess Nut Nut' nickname for months.
The slur went viral as the extraordinary power struggle between the PM's fiancee and the Vote Leave cabal emerged in public.
There has long been frustration that Ms Symonds was running a shadow PR operation, while she is said to have been incensed at the aggressive behaviour of Mr Cummings and his cadre.
Ms Symonds, herself a former government special adviser and Conservative Party head of media, emerged triumphant on in the struggle for control with Mr Cummings.
In December Mr Cummings launched a thinly veiled revenge attack on Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds as he said politicians now focus more on 'gossip-column stories about their dogs' than on 'issues of existential importance'.
The remark will almost certainly be seen in Number 10 as a jab at Mr Johnson, Ms Symonds and Dilyn, with the Jack Russell rescue dog having become a familiar face in photographs since he moved into Downing Street in September 2019.
Both Ms Symonds and Mr Johnson have been repeatedly pictured with Dilyn, with the PM even taking the dog out on the campaign trail ahead of the 2019 general election.
Boris Johnson gathers Cabinet amid fears lockdown could get tighter in DAYS unless Covid numbers turn '' with options including a THREE-metre rule and banning people from different households from exercising togetherBoris Johnson gathered Cabinet today amid fears lockdown could be tightened within days unless coronavirus numbers ease.
The PM has been holding a virtual meeting with his senior team as they consider the next move in the crisis wreaking havoc on the country.
Ministers have been desperately pleading with Britons to limit their contacts as the NHS struggles to cope with the volume of Covid patients, as police ramp up enforcement of the brutal restrictions.
But the government has made clear it is ready to get even tougher, with leading figures on SAGE pushing for a three metre social rule distancing rule and threats to axe the loophole allowing people to exercise with a friend from another household.
Other options thought to have been considered include making all shopping click and collect, and closing more workplaces.
Matt Hancock hinted at a crackdown on exercising with one other person at a Downing Street briefing last night, saying the exception was being abused to socialise.
In another ominous sign this morning, Mr Johnson tweeted saying that 'meeting others from outside your household or support bubble puts you and others at risk of serious disease'.
However, in a round of interviews policing minister Kit Malthouse risked muddying the message by saying a 70-mile cycle ride would count as 'staying local' under the lockdown rules.
The comments came after Mr Johnson faced a backlash for cycling with his security detail in the Olympic Park over the weekend - seven miles from Downing Street.
There is also fresh confusion after No10 sources insisted it is not against the rules to sit on park benches, but only for a 'short pause' during exercise.
The scale of the problem confronting the UK was starkly illustrated again last night with another 529 Covid deaths recorded - marking a 30 per cent rise on the 407 reported on the same day last week.
It was the deadliest Monday since April 20 when 570 people lost their lives and it marked the worst week for deaths in the UK since the pandemic began.
An average of 931 people have lost their lives on each of the past seven days, compared to the highest seven-day average of 920 in April's first wave.
But, in a glimmer of hope the UK's soaring case load may be leveling out, 46,169 people tested positive for the virus - down 20 per cent in a week.
The effects of the widespread Tier 4 lockdown that came into force on Boxing Day, and the national lockdown from last week, should be starting to feed into the daily infection figures.
On another day of chaos for Britons battling the worst crisis for a generation:
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned furlough is masking unemployment and the true rate could be 6.5 per cent not 4.9 per cent; The government is facing more pressure to make the vaccination programme 24-hours and start giving more frontline workers jabs; Seven vaccination hubs came into use, including London's ExCeL and Birmingham's Millennium Point; Derbyshire Police has cancelled £200 fines for two women penalised for driving five miles to go for a walk; Nearly a quarter of care home residents have received their first shot of Covid vaccine, with nearly 2.7million doses now administered across the UK; Hospitals started rationing oxygen as it emerged that one in four coronavirus patients is under 55. Mr Johnson held a virtual meeting with his senior team as they consider the next move in the crisis wreaking havoc on the country The distance was set at two metres in March after experts said coronavirus was up to ten times more transmissible at one metre than at two. Now experts want the public to maintain the distance on public transport, in supermarket lines and while out and about Nearly 2.7million vaccine doses have been administered across the UK, according to government figures from last night In another ominous sign this morning, Mr Johnson tweeted saying that 'meeting others from outside your household or support bubble puts you and others at risk of serious disease' PM is given March deadline by Tory lockdown-sceptics Boris Johnson has been given a March 8 target by Tory lockdown sceptics to start easing coronavirus curbs.
Former chief whip Mark Harper, chairman of the Tory backbench Covid Recovery Group, said restrictions should not remain in place for 'a second longer' once the vaccine has protected priority groups.
Around 15 million people are expected to be vaccinated by mid-February, covering care home residents, the over-70s, clinically extremely vulnerable people and frontline health and care staff.
Those groups accounted for 88% of fatalities in the first wave and the Government is in a race against time to protect them with a first dose of vaccine.
Mr Harper suggested that once they had received their jab '' and it has been given time to become effective '' there should be no excuse for keeping England's national lockdown in place.
More than 2.3 million people have so far received a jab and Mr Harper said achieving the mid-February goal must remain the 'central, overriding focus' for ministers.
He said that 'like the disease, lockdowns and restrictions cause immense harm'.
'So for today's progress to really mean something to the millions of people across the country who are doing the right thing and obeying the law, the Government must urgently set out exactly how today's progress begins to translate into a return to normal life for us all and show a clear exit strategy '' a route back to freedom.'
With a lag of three weeks between the vaccine being administered and offering its full protection, Mr Harper said 'if we hit the crucial February 15 deadline, the four top-risk groups will have immunity by March 8'.
'At that point '' once all the key groups have become immune to Covid '' what possible reason could there be for keeping severe restrictions in place a second longer?
Mr Johnson warned yesterday that 'complacency' among the public could plunge the country into a deeper crisis at what was already a 'very perilous moment'.
The warnings came amid mounting Government concern that the third lockdown may fail to bring the latest spike in coronavirus infections under control.
Chief medical officer Chris Whitty said Britain was 'now at the worst point of this epidemic' and urged people to stop seeing friends and family, even in the limited circumstances still allowed, saying every 'unnecessary' contact risked spreading the virus.
The only assurances so far offered are that support bubbles will remain in place and nurseries can stay open.
Mr Johnson has been given a March 8 target by Tory lockdown sceptics to start easing coronavirus curbs.
Former chief whip Mark Harper, chairman of the Tory backbench Covid Recovery Group, said restrictions should not remain in place for 'a second longer' once the vaccine has protected priority groups.
Around 15 million people are expected to be vaccinated by mid-February, covering care home residents, the over-70s, clinically extremely vulnerable people and frontline health and care staff.
Those groups accounted for 88% of fatalities in the first wave and the Government is in a race against time to protect them with a first dose of vaccine.
Mr Harper suggested that once they had received their jab '' and it has been given time to become effective '' there should be no excuse for keeping England's national lockdown in place.
More than 2.3 million people have so far received a jab and Mr Harper said achieving the mid-February goal must remain the 'central, overriding focus' for ministers.
He said that 'like the disease, lockdowns and restrictions cause immense harm'.
'So for today's progress to really mean something to the millions of people across the country who are doing the right thing and obeying the law, the Government must urgently set out exactly how today's progress begins to translate into a return to normal life for us all and show a clear exit strategy '' a route back to freedom.'
With a lag of three weeks between the vaccine being administered and offering its full protection, Mr Harper said 'if we hit the crucial February 15 deadline, the four top-risk groups will have immunity by March 8'.
'At that point '' once all the key groups have become immune to Covid '' what possible reason could there be for keeping severe restrictions in place a second longer?
Mr Johnson is facing growing pressure to launch round-the-clock vaccinations as ministers 'race against time' to get jabs in arms.
Labour has demanded the Government 'sorts out' a 24/7 operation despite No10 claiming there is no 'clamour' for appointments after 8pm.
Tory MPs are urging ministers to 'look carefully' at whether the hours can be extended while some have said there is 'no excuse why it shouldn't be 24/7'.
Armed police were on duty at Waterloo Station today as the government considers tightening the lockdown rules again The concourse was all-but deserted at Waterloo as the public gets used to the draconian restrictions being in place Pressure mounts for 24-hour vaccinations Boris Johnson is facing growing pressure to launch round-the-clock vaccinations as ministers 'race against time' to get jabs in arms.
Labour has demanded the Government 'sorts out' a 24/7 operation despite No10 claiming there is no 'clamour' for appointments after 8pm.
Tory MPs are urging ministers to 'look carefully' at whether the hours can be extended while some have said there is 'no excuse why it shouldn't be 24/7'.
The PM has promised that around 13million of the most vulnerable Britons will be vaccinated by mid-February.
The aim is for everyone over the age of 50 to be offered a Covid jab by the end of April.
But doubts have been raised about the target with numbers standing at around 2.7million as of yesterday, and there are also calls for frontline workers such as teachers and police officers to be pushed up the priority list.
Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick today said her officers should be 'properly recognised' in the prioritisation list for vaccines as she warned her colleagues are 'not immune to the virus'.
The latest ambitious timetable means vaccinating 32million Britons '' six in ten adults '' within 16 weeks. Two million jabs will have to be given every week in the 'greatest logistical challenge of our time'.
A 47-page masterplan published last night said the nation's remaining adults '' another 21million '' would be inoculated by autumn.
The PM has promised that around 13million of the most vulnerable Britons will be vaccinated by mid-February.
The aim is for everyone over the age of 50 to be offered a Covid jab by the end of April.
But doubts have been raised about the target with numbers standing at around 2.7million as of yesterday, and there are also calls for frontline workers such as teachers and police officers to be pushed up the priority list.
Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick today said her officers should be 'properly recognised' in the prioritisation list for vaccines as she warned her colleagues are 'not immune to the virus'.
The latest ambitious timetable means vaccinating 32million Britons '' six in ten adults '' within 16 weeks. Two million jabs will have to be given every week in the 'greatest logistical challenge of our time'.
A 47-page masterplan published last night said the nation's remaining adults '' another 21million '' would be inoculated by autumn.
The Daily Mail has been told that Leading members of the Sage scientific advisory panel want the one-metre plus rule raised to 'two metres plus'.
In practice this would change the limit to three metres '' nearly 10ft. The drastic proposal emerged as a furious Matt Hancock denounced individuals who flout social distancing rules.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference the Health Secretary said that he would 'not rule out further action if needed.'
He was backed by Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, who sits on Sage and said it was time to 'double down' on Covid curbs '' including outdoor contact.
Asked if a three-metre rule would be imposed in England, a Downing Street spokesman said last night: 'There are no current plans to change social distancing rules. However, everything is kept under review.'
Several members of Sage say the lockdown needs to be even tougher than the first one in March last year.
The idea of a Chinese-style ban on residents leaving their homes was raised at one meeting.
Ministers are furious that some people have been using their right to daily exercise simply as an excuse to meet friends for a coffee in the park.
One source said: 'If it means limiting people to a single one-hour walk on their own once a week that is what we must do. We cannot let a few selfish idiots put the whole country in danger.'
It is feared that the failure to observe the restrictions is fuelling the number of deaths and risks hospitals becoming overwhelmed.
Increasing the social distancing rule to three metres is seen as one way of stopping the spread of the new variant of the virus, which can be passed on more easily.
In a round of interviews this morning policing minister Kit Malthouse risked muddying the message by saying a 70-mile cycle ride would count as 'staying local' under the lockdown rules What are the government's rules on taking exercise? You should minimise time spent outside your home, but you can leave your home to exercise.
This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.
You can exercise in a public outdoor place:
by yourselfwith the people you live withwith your support bubble (if you are legally permitted to form one)in a childcare bubble where providing childcareor, when on your own, with one person from another householdThis includes but is not limited to running, cycling, walking, and swimming.
Personal training can continue one-on-one unless everyone is within the same household or support bubble.
Public outdoor places include:
parks, beaches, countryside accessible to the public, forestspublic gardens (whether or not you pay to enter them)the grounds of a heritage siteplaygroundsOpponents of the move say it would have little impact, cause more confusion and be a logistical nightmare.
Two-metre signs have been painted on pavements across the nation, with similar notices found in tens of thousands of shops, factories, offices and public places.
Changing them all would add to the soaring cost of fighting the pandemic.
Supporters claim the benefit in saving lives and protecting the NHS means the move is worth it. They argue it is a response to the new variant which is thought to be up to be 70 per cent more transmissible.
If it goes ahead it would be the Government's third policy on social distancing.
The distance was set at two metres in March after experts said coronavirus was up to ten times more transmissible at one metre than at two.
But it was reduced to 'one metre plus' in July after the first lockdown '' mainly to make it easier for restaurants and cafes to reopen.
A 'two metre plus' rule would in practice mean staying three metres apart '' nearly 10ft '' unless steps were taken to limit the danger of transmission, such as screens.
Social distancing gaps vary around the world.
In China, Hong Kong and Singapore, which were successful in controlling the pandemic, the gap was one metre.
However, they imposed other, far stricter, rules including curfews. Spain and Canada followed the two-metre rule.
The three other home nations have different versions of the two-metre rule.
In Scotland people are advised to keep two metres apart and in Wales they are told to stay two metres apart unless it is not practical, with young children exempt.
The gap in Northern Ireland came down to one metre but is two again.
Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia said: 'Risk declines the further you are away from someone.
'So three metres will reduce risk somewhat compared to two metres '' but it is difficult to say how much and whether that would make a big difference. I suspect the main issue is people not sticking to the two-metre rule.'
Mr Hancock warned against trying to 'push the boundaries' on exercise, adding: 'If too many people break this rule we are going to have a look at it. Don't say you are exercising if really you are just socialising.'
He said the two-metre rule had to be obeyed, not seen 'as a limit to be challenged'.
Shortly after Mr Hancock's Downing Street press briefing on Monday, the PM released a short video filmed during his visit to the Ashton Gate vaccination centre in Bristol.
Mr Johnson faced a backlash for cycling with his security detail in the Olympic Park over the weekend - seven miles from Downing Street In it, he urged Britons to 'follow the guidance, stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives' as Covid continues to spread rapidly in several parts of the country.
Britons shouldn't 'lose focus on the pandemic' as coronavirus is 'still causing huge, huge problems for our NHS', Mr Johnson added.
Mr Hancock also used the briefing to defend the PM after he was spotted cycling in the Olympic Park seven miles from Downing Street in apparent breach of government advice.
The Health Secretary said it is allowed to cycle that distance from where you live to take exercise, despite also insisting that people must 'stay local'.
But he also warned that rules on two people from different households being able to exercise outdoors together could be torn up if people keep abusing them.
'If too many people keep breaking this rule we are going to have to look at it but I don't want to do that,' Mr Hancock told a No10 briefing yesterday evening.
The PM was seen wearing a hat and a face mask on his bike at the venue seven miles away from Downing Street yesterday afternoon.
A source told the Evening Standard that Mr Johnson was exercising, accompanied by his security detail.
Extraordinarily the premier is said to have 'noted how busy' the park was and remarked on it at a meeting later.
Official Government guidance says exercise should be limited to once a day and 'you should not travel outside your local area'.
Two women were fined £200 each by Derbyshire Police for driving five miles from their home for a walk, while in Whitby officers have slammed people for going sledging.
A witness said: 'He was leisurely cycling with another guy with a beanie hat and chatting while around four security guys, possibly more, cycled behind them.
'When I realised the person looked like Boris I cycled past them to hear his voice and be sure it's him. It was definitely Boris.
'Considering the current situation with Covid I was shocked to see him cycling around looking so care free,' added the woman, who asked not to be named.
Also considering he's advising everyone to stay at home and not leave their area, shouldn't he stay in Westminster and not travel to other boroughs?'
The PM's spokesman was unable to give any information yesterday on why Mr Johnson had gone to Stratford and why it was within the rules.
It is also not clear whether Mr Johnson was driven to the park with his bike, or cycled the whole way there and back.
Lib Dem MP Tim Farron said: 'Government guidance on travelling to exercise is as clear as mud.
'People are travelling hundreds of miles to the Lake District while others are afraid to drive 5 minutes to the local park.
'I've written to the Prime Minister, asking him to set out clear guidance once and for all.'
In a video shared to the PM's official Twitter account yesterday evening - which features footage of Mr Johnson's visit to Bristol on Monday- the PM heaped praise on the Government's vaccine programme.
But he warned Britons that it should not lead to complacency, as the new Covid variant is still spreading rapidly.
Mr Johnson said: 'Hi folks. I am here at this amazing Bristol mass-vaccination centre in a football stadium and it's one of the 50 that we are going to be rolling out by the end of the month to help all the 1,000-plus GP surgeries, the 233 hospital sites, plus the 200 pharmacies.
'And that's, of course, just a start that we're using to dispense the vaccine.
'As I speak to you this morning I think we've done about 2.4 million jabs, 2 million people in the country already who have been vaccinated, and we will be massively ramping that up in the course of the next few weeks as we get up to, we hope, 15 million by the middle of February.
'And that's a very ambitious programme, we're confident we can do it.
'But, as we get the jabs into people, it's incredibly important that we don't lose focus on the pandemic that is still, alas, surging in so many parts of the country, still filling our hospitals with Covid patients, still causing huge, huge problems for our NHS.
'So everybody has got to follow the guidance. Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.'
Along with his video, the PM tweeted: 'As we get jabs into arms, we must not lose sight of the state of the pandemic - which is putting huge pressure on our NHS.
'So, please follow the rules and stay home to protect the NHS, and save lives.'
Rumble '-- In an interview with a physician, a news reporter spills the beans about the real intentions of COVID-19.
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VIDEO-James O'Keefe on Twitter: "BREAKING: @PBS Principal Counsel Michael Beller Incites Political Violence In Radical Left-Wing Agenda ''Go to the White House & throw Molotov cocktails...'' ''Even if Biden wins, we go for all the Republican voters
James O'Keefe : BREAKING: @PBS Principal Counsel Michael Beller Incites Political Violence In Radical Left-Wing Agenda ''Go to the'... https://t.co/tBI2oAm8VZ
Tue Jan 12 16:00:01 +0000 2021
look how happy ð"¸'ð''¨ð' : @JamesOKeefeIII @disclosetv @PBS He is one person and PBS is a wonderful public asset that has helped educate generations of children.
Tue Jan 12 17:41:39 +0000 2021
VIDEO-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continues call for Trump's removal after 'insurrection against the United States' - ABC7 New York
NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is continuing her call for President Donald Trump to be removed from office following Wednesday's attack on the Capitol.
Ocasio-Cortez spoke out on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday morning days after her experience inside the Capitol during the riots.
The Democratic congresswoman said what happened Wednesday was "insurrection against the United States."
Ocasio-Cortez said accountability is required for the healing process to begin.
"If we allow insurrection against the United States with impunity, with no accountability, we are inviting it to happen again, that is how serious it is," she said.
ALSO READ | Trump supporter who died from apparent trampling in US Capitol riots followed QAnon, family saysShe believes the president must be removed from office. She said every minute and every hour the president remains in office is a clear and present danger to the country.
Ocasio-Cortez also said it's important to bar him from running for office ever again and prevent him from pardoning himself from charges he was impeached for.
"We came close to half of the House nearly dying on Wednesday... and if another head of state came in and ordered an attack on the United States Congress, would we say that that should not be prosecuted?" Ocasio-Cortez said. "It is an act of insurrection, it's an act of hostility, and we must have accountability because without it, it will happen again."
Ocasio-Cortez said she believes the House will move forward with impeachment.
However, she said it's not a question of debating which avenue to pursue when it comes to removing Trump from office -- impeachment, 25th Amendment or investigating other avenues through the 14th Amendment -- she believes Congress will take an all-of-the-above approach.
RELATED | Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells Eyewitness News she feared for her life----------
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VIDEO-3...2..1.ð¶¸ß·ðºð²ð¶¸ on Twitter: "ð-- 7yr anniversary of famous occult speech by Lagarde about magic of #7 1/15/14 + 7yrs ... 1/15/21 Thread below ..full speech linked https://t.co/TgEKCIJbgg" / Twitter
3...2..1.ð¶¸ß·ðºð²ð¶¸ : ð--7yr anniversary of famous occult speech by Lagarde about magic of #71/15/14 + 7yrs ... 1/15/21Thread below'... https://t.co/yD0UasalFG
Mon Jan 11 01:50:33 +0000 2021
VIDEO-Frontex on Twitter: "For the first time, the European Union has its own uniformed service '' the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps. And here's a sneak peak of the uniform they will be wearing to represent the ðªðº at its borders
Frontex : For the first time, the European Union has its own uniformed service '' the European Border and Coast Guard standing'... https://t.co/VyRcVNHX1Z
Mon Jan 11 15:28:46 +0000 2021
Juanillo "Ranigan" : @Frontex La skin the fornite de @TheGrefg
Mon Jan 11 20:00:02 +0000 2021
Marc : @Frontex @morte_oscar flipant
Mon Jan 11 19:59:34 +0000 2021
Ian Bourns : @Frontex Some dissimilarity but it did make me think of Captain Black https://t.co/aqKhVhlZ8X
Mon Jan 11 19:57:34 +0000 2021
Das Perlchen : @Frontex The uniforms of murderers.
Mon Jan 11 19:56:51 +0000 2021
Jay Spears : @Frontex It's sneak PEEK not "peak".
Mon Jan 11 19:56:01 +0000 2021
Wokebubbleburster : @Frontex Oh look, ANOTHER #REMOANER LIE EXPOSED. Glad to see the remain campaign are being proven wrong in every si'... https://t.co/hnEdqKd77l
Mon Jan 11 19:55:49 +0000 2021
carles vidosa : @Frontex https://t.co/bzCf15xiUH
Mon Jan 11 19:55:36 +0000 2021
Charlie Grummit : @Frontex It's just a dangerous fantasy.
Mon Jan 11 19:54:06 +0000 2021
von Hagestolz-Schneetag ð·ðªðº : @Frontex ð¤®
Mon Jan 11 19:53:43 +0000 2021
CaptainSala : @Frontex By chance designed by Hugo Boss? Theres a tradition with police force breaking human rights, you know.
Mon Jan 11 19:53:41 +0000 2021
Lukas : @Frontex Hopefully not the last uniformed service of the Union.
Mon Jan 11 19:53:33 +0000 2021
VIDEO-AOC: 'We came close to half of the House nearly dying' during riots | Fox News
She said if foreign head of state ordered attack on Congress, most people would call for prosecutionRep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Sunday assailed last week's storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, saying that half of House lawmakers "came close to dying."
Ocasio-Cortez made the comments during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" with host George Stephanopoulos.
Stephanopoulos read a letter by GOP lawmakers to President-elect Joe Biden in which they opposed efforts to impeach President Trump so close to Inauguration Day. The lawmakers said that moving forward with the effort was "unnecessary" and "inflammatory."
Ocasio-Cortez slammed the tone of the letter, calling Wednesday's storming of the U.S. Capitol "insurrection against the United States." She said both Trump and the rioters were complicit.
Ocasio-Cortez said any "healing" '' as the GOP lawmakers alluded to in their letter to Biden '' would require accountability.
"And so, if we allow insurrection against the United States with impunity, with no accountability, we are inviting it to happen again," Ocasio-Cortez said. "We came close to nearly half of the House dying on Wednesday."
A violent group of Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and windows, and rampaged through the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to scatter as they were finalizing Biden's victory over Trump in the Electoral College.
SECRET SERVICE PROBES DISTURBING DEATH THREAT AGAINST VICE PRESIDENT
Ocasio-Cortez noted that if a foreign head of state ordered an attack on the United States Congress, most people would call for prosecution.
"Would we say that there should be absolutely no response to that? No. It is an act of insurrection. It's an act of hostility. And we must have accountability because, without it, it will happen again," she said.
Her comments came hours before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday the House will proceed with legislation to impeach Trump as she pushes the vice president and Cabinet to invoke constitutional authority to force him out, warning that Trump is a threat to democracy after the deadly assault on the Capitol.
In a letter to her colleagues, Pelosi said the House will first vote to push Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the powers of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. After 24 hours, she said, the House would proceed with legislation on impeachment. Trump could become the only U.S. president to be impeached twice.
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"In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both," Pelosi said, and added: "The horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
VIDEO-Dr David Martin - This is not a vaccine , it's a pathogen !!! Important video !!!
First published at 08:37 UTC on January 11th, 2021.
Dr David Martin describes what this ' vaccine ' really is . It's not a vaccine . It's a chemical pathogen device. It's a CRDH definition of a device. It comes in a molecular package.
MORE
Dr David Martin describes what this ' vaccine ' really is . It's not a vaccine . It's a chemical pathogen device. It's a CRDH definition of a device. It comes in a molecular package.
LESS
BigTech just purged the president of the United States and untold numbers of creators and users. We are working around the clock to keep up, but could do with extra help. Consider a $5 donation today. Thank you - BitChute.
VIDEO-Pompeo laying 'landmines' in U.S.-China relations, Australia's Kevin Rudd says
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Over the weekend, Pompeo announced the lifting of all "self-imposed restrictions" in U.S. relations with Taiwan '-- a democratic and self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory.The move could further complicate a tense U.S.-China relationship days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, said former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.Rudd said Pompeo may be motivated to harden U.S. stance on China now so that he could attack Biden as "having gone soft" on China should it make any policy changes.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's latest move on Taiwan could upend a major foundation underpinning the U.S.-China relations '-- further complicating a tense bilateral relationship just before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, said former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
"What Pompeo is doing is laying a whole series of landmines for the incoming Biden administration '... salting the earth in the U.S.-China relationship in general, and laying landmines on Taiwan in particularly," Rudd told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Monday.
Over the weekend, Pompeo announced the lifting of all "self-imposed restrictions" in U.S. relations with Taiwan '-- a democratic and self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory.
Pompeo said in a statement on Saturday that the U.S. had unilaterally limited contact between its officials and their Taiwanese counterparts for several decades "in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing." He then declared all those restrictions are "no more."
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the U.S. State Department
Win McNamee | Getty Images
The move could mark the end of the "one China policy," said Rudd, who's now president of Asia Society Policy Institute.
The one China policy is the principle in which the U.S. and the international community recognize that there's only one Chinese government '-- under the Communist Party of China in Beijing.
"That has been the mainstay of strategic stability for the last 40 years or so," said the former Australian leader.
"I think we need to understand that we are moving to the end of the 'one China policy.' And what does that mean for markets? What does that mean for the international community? It means a new period of real strategic instability given this is a fundamental item of faith in Beijing," he added.
The communist party has never governed Taiwan, but Beijing considers the island's reunification with the mainland an eventuality and so Taiwan has no right to participate in international diplomacy of its own.
China and Taiwan react to Pompeo's moveChina reportedly slammed the U.S. decision to lift restrictions on Taiwan, while the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked Pompeo on Twitter.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman from Chinese foreign ministry, said China opposed Pompeo's move and will resolutely fight back attempts to sabotage its interest, reported Reuters.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Pompeo's removal of U.S. restrictions on contact with Taiwan is a "big thing," the news agency reported.
"Taiwan-U.S. relations have been elevated to a global partnership. The foreign ministry will not let our guard down and hope to continue to boost the development of Taiwan-U.S. ties," Wu reportedly said.
Rudd said Pompeo may be motivated to harden U.S. stance on China now so that he can attack Biden as "having gone soft" on China should the new administration make any policy changes. Some media reports have named Pompeo as a potential 2024 presidential candidate.
Nevertheless, the Biden administration is unlikely to shift away from the "strategic ambiguity" that has long been U.S. foreign policy on Taiwan, said Rudd.
The ambiguity helps maintain "sufficient doubt" that the U.S. would immediately defend Taiwan should the island embrace any "reckless policy" such as a unilateral declaration of independence from China, explained Rudd.
The other dimension of the U.S. stance involves challenging any assumption by Beijing that Washington will not react if the mainland takes any military action on Taiwan, added Rudd.
"That's the strategic ambiguity up until now. I don't see that as changing."
We're all gonna die. Oh, you're gonna get it. Oh wear a mask. Adam Curry Jhansi devorah January 14 2021 this is your award winning combination media assassination Episode 30 This is no agenda
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broadcasting live from opportunity's own 33 here in the frontier of Austin, Texas capital of the star state, everybody. I'm Adam Curry. Dan from Northern Silicon Valley where everybody's awaiting show 1313 the double lucky numbers. I'm Jesse devorah.
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Hey, let me start off by saying thank you to all producers once again, past and present for making this podcast possible with our value for value model. These are interesting times we live in and if you were ben shapiro you might have to watch what you say. cumulus media which is home to several conservative talk radio hosts is cracking down on shows that push election fraud conspiracies the company memo tells host quote we need to induce national calm now and warns them to stop suggesting the election isn't over anyone breaking the new role can be fired? Can you imagine how tough this must be for Ben Shapiro now
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can you just imagine this he worked for them? Yeah, he has he has a daily radio show.
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Yeah.
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what he has to say about discuss it on a show he probably is probably a little line in the memo that says do not discuss this on on the air it wouldn't surprise me that would be the typical way it's done that would not surprise me No that's the way you do it because you don't want to be blasted This is like a lot of you know companies you do any business with they have Terms of Service includes non disparagement.
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Yes, and there's a morality clause
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all kinds of stuff like that. And man the mainstream media m five M.
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And I expected it to be kind of bad. The going after complications. Yes. I said it because I'm hearing for more.
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But the extent man, I mean, the only thing they haven't hit yet is DNS. that's gonna happen to
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they're gonna need to go that far. It'll be over by then. What will be over by then? This bickering
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except except for the fact that I'm going to give you kudos on this one because I thought it was bold crap.
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But it does turn out if you especially my clips seem to confirm this is that they may impeach
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impeach Trump.
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which they've done the house snap impeachment. Yeah. Yeah. This is by resolution. Hell up your hands if you want to impeach Trump again. Yeah, we do. Wait isn't? Isn't isn't impeached now. Yeah, he's impeached. Yeah. And so they sent over to the Senate, which will reconvene on the 19th the day before? Yeah. But
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yeah, they can still have the trial after he's gone.
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Oh, of course. Now, I mean, the idea is to have him as close to dead as possible. I mean, have you seen like, all the banks are saying they won't do business with them. But if you just look across the spectrum of, of D platforming from modern life,
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parlor, I didn't know this. They they even their lawyers quit on them.
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It's it's pretty bizarre. It's so bad that lots of world leaders are not. Okay. Lots of douchebags, who are the heads of state around the world are coming out and saying, Oh, this goes too far. And I know why they're sitting there going, holy. Holy crap. These guys could do that to me. And it could be the Biden crime family.
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Hi, it's Amazon is the worst they did. You know, it's just getting rid of everything everywhere.
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I think they're, I think Amazon's the one the only one making a major mistake. The rest of these guys are doing this kind of thing kind of routinely, get let's play. Can I play a few people showing up for Trump? Okay, sure. I thought, well, Tom McClintock someone that all the all the right wing shows played this little speech. I have a second part of it, and none of them played. But this is McClintock standing up for Trump. And during these this this, I'd say I call the kangaroo court. I didn't like the President's speech on January 6, either. I thought he was wrong to assert that the vice president in Congress can pick and choose which electoral votes to count. He was wrong to set such a confrontational tone in a politically tense situation. But what did he actually say?
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Say his exact words were quote, I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard, unquote. That's impeachable.
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That's called freedom of speech. Now, he also threatened to oppose candidates in future elections. And by the way that was directed at republicans like me, who'd resolved to uphold the constitutional process and protect the Electoral College. Well, so what that's called politics. If we impeached, every politician who gave a fiery speech to a crowd of partisans, this capital would be deserted. That's what the President did. That is all he did. He specifically told the crowd to protest peacefully and patriotically. And the vast majority of them did.
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Yeah, and no one knows this. In at least half of the United States and probably the rest of the world. Don't knows that no one knows what actually happened. No, that's just a bit kangaroo court. That whole thing is rigged. And the media is all in and the whole last week is but let's listen the second part of this which is the part nobody played, and I thought it was also good, but every movement has a lunatic fringe suppressing free speech is not the answer. Holding writers accountable for their actions is the answer. And we are and if we prosecuted BLM and and Tifa rioters across the country with the same determination these last six blows third rail this incident may not have happened at all. Now short of declaring war, the power of impeachment is the most solemn and consequential act that Congress can take to use it in this manner in the heat of the moment. With no hearings, no due process. Many members phoning in their votes after a hastily called debate. Exactly one week before a new president is to take office trivializes this power to the point of caricature. The Democrats have won everything inside the House, the Senate and the presidency. In a republic that calls for magnanimity by the victors only in a banana republic does it call for vengeance? Joe Biden's not even president yet? And already they're screwing up the audio? Oh, I noticed this. But before you get to that, which is funny. I have you know, we have our favorite Congress people. Yes. Uh, I've got a new favorite. It's a little, a little fireball woman named Lauren bovard. Is this the Blondie? No, no, she's a little brunette. Oh, she's, and she goes up there and She's shaking her fist. And I just got a kick out of it. Okay, this is only a 15 second clip. This is rapids under rap rip.
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Because she throws in a kind of a no agenda term, rather than actually helping American people. In this time. We start impeachments that further divide our country. I call bullcrap that here the democrats?
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Sadly, they are only unified and hate. Now we'll know it's true. If in the future, she throws out a bogus div. If she does, hey, this is a bogus bill. It is tough. No, you don't I mean, we have we have reached baby. Now let's go back and forth for a second
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little setup. I was talking with sir Jean the other day, and we're talking about chicks as we do. And, and I said, and we were talking about how I'm just telling you the conversation how we got there as unimportant. And as that, you know, women have such an odd image of themselves. And you know, and said, Man can look at a woman's Oh baby, you look great. And the woman or look in the mirror as I look horrible. I've sat like this, like that. And we concluded that really truly men see something different and that women just had I mean, we're not seeing the same thing. It's just not possible. And add on to that that we have testosterone which chemically clouds our vision even more. So for the half of the country that hates Trump, I guess we're just gonna divided like that it seems to be about half I cannot fault them. I cannot fault them. Because what they are seeing what they are hearing is so it's it is just it's become the reality you can you can never convinced anybody otherwise ever. And just listen to just old two clips here from one from CNN. Just hear how everything is being presented. And this is really tough to sit and listen to MSNBC and CNN all day. Because just so you know, COVID now has a bigger threat. Donald Trump is more deadly than COVID there's nothing almost about COVID it's all about Trump 24 hours a day. And here's an example.
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CNN he was hard to reach. And you know why? Because it was live TV said one close Trump advisor. If it's TiVo, he just hits pause and takes the calls. If it's live TV, he watches it. And he was just watching it all unfold. watching an attack on democracy. watching people hunt the halls of Congress for his loyal Vice President Mike Pence, hoping to hang him watching people with zip ties search for Nancy Pelosi and others. What do you think the President was thinking while watching that, and not responding to send a national guard or immediately addressing his followers ordering them to stop? I mean, was he watching hoping it would continue? I was hoping the man who had just tweeted against his own vice president would be killed, was hoping Nancy Pelosi would be was he hoping this would somehow usher in a new Trump era in America? Then Ivanka could take over after that. And then Downey Jr. Hard to imagine it's possible that the President could have hoped that this actually would result in him continuing on in power or in some new form of power. But if he didn't want it to go on, then why didn't he act to stop it? Remember his first video message immediately after the worst attack? was him expressing his love for the attackers? calling them special people? It's very fine people Anderson, mean, that kind of messaging is powerful man, this powerful with the images, the riots in the background? ABC does a good job at it too. Well, it's certainly not the first time that we have heard the President listen to this mute, listen to this edit, listen, to listen to the music. ABC is put under this little, little 42 second clip? Well, it's certainly not the first time that we have heard the President elect not come out outright, and condemn violence and condemn riots.
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in Charlottesville, when you had white supremacist marching, engaging in violence.
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The President said they were very fine people on both sides.
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And when it was his own supporters that gathered in Washington DC to stand by him when it was Ryder storming into the United States Capitol.
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He called them very special people. He told them that he loved them and in, politely asked them to go home.
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I love the music addition. And then let's just do a little piece of CMS NBC, Ari melber, you may have seen something Wednesday that looks different today, you may have seen something today that you're going to understand better in the future. All I can tell you is that in these six days, the evidence we have the independent reporting, we have the view, you saw their shot by the criminals inside their own conspiracy shows the depths of this insurrection, which was not an accident or a fringe activity as a direct consequence of what Donald Trump had been doing for four years trying to turn this country, your country
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into an authoritarian nation that he would lead indefinitely. It is that serious? Keep that in mind. Now, I'm not sure how it works. By the way, I'm gonna keep that in mind. I didn't realize that. That's what he was up.
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Keep that in mind? Well, yeah.
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It's I don't know what it is that makes us immune for that. But it's clearly we've either missed a piece of the programming, or we got deprogrammed. You've probably always been this way. But I certainly, you know, to 25 years ago, I probably would have been all in Oh, my gosh, what's going on? This is crazy. America's melting down. He's trying to kill everybody couldn't do a set of this without Chris Cuomo. Of course, this impeachment is causing tremendous anger. I think it's causing tremendous danger to our country. Have you read my speech, and many people have done it. And I've seen it both in the papers and in the media, on television. It's been analyzed, and people thought that what I said was totally appropriate.
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Not you, not me, the only people who thought it was appropriate with the members of that mob. Those would be terrorists that responded to his words by attacking our democracy. Turns out that now, even diehard Trump Wiccans are doubting their dedication.
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For that reason I did. So
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may I remind everybody with a supercut of how Democrats in the media Democratic Party, specifically politicians, how they responded to the Black Lives Matter riots. Now, let's just remember Ah, I'm glad you got this. The the republicans are being I can't even say are being a saying, Hey, wait a minute, Trump. D incited this. He's been doing it for four years.
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Yours. He told him to go do it. Go take your country back. He tried to have overturned the election violence, insurrection domestic terrorists, we only have to look back at the past year.
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I just don't even know why there aren't uprisings all over the country and maybe there will be. People need to start taking to the streets. This is a dictator. You know, there needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there's unrest in our lives. enemies of the state. Show me where it says the protests are supposed to be polite, and peaceful. Do something about your dad's immigration practices you feckless, they go low. Week. How do you resist the temptation to run up and wring her neck biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized right off to the right. I thought he should have punched him in the face. Even if you lost He insulted your wife
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called Mexicans rapists and murderers. He said what do you think I said it is I think it's a function in the face and then gotten out of the race, he would have been a hero. I'd like to punch him in the face. I said we're in high school, I take you behind the gym and beat the hell out of
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some people in the face rooms last time an actor assassinated the president, they're still gonna have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump. And that's the fact that
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his his character is stabbed to death. Where is john Wilkes Booth?
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I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. A Missouri State Senator is under investigation by the Secret Service after saying she hopes President Trump is assassinated. I will go and take Trump out tonight
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from that cabinet in a restaurant
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and sadly to domestic enemies to our voting system and our honoring our constitution are right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue they're not going to stop before election day November and they're not going to stop after election day and that should be everyone should take note of that on both levels that this isn't they're not going to let up and they did not
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one left out of that a different Supercuts. Which was Cuomo Cuomo was in now
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he has a lot of good bits probably. Yeah, he had one going this is the way this is the way democracy works riots and then it protests and murder and mayhem and burning is the way is get over it. Yeah.
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Now the biggest group of phoneys
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that I've missed it's it's sickening to witness it to be honest about it. Well, no, it's sickening is you know, this is who they pretend to be. Yeah.
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We're gonna get a lot of freedom. But also just looking at the D platforming the count freezing.
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Yeah, all kinds of just being dropped from media life for sure book deals or whatever stuff is happening. Yeah, the Democratic Party appears to be taking out their opponents before they're in charge. You know, it's weaken them a little bit. Let's make sure that don't have a a voice on the Twitter, the partner thing, the more I think about it, Apple's role in that specifically and Amazon's role
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in taking out a, like a big potential competitor. Because you know, Apple was aligned with Twitter, the Twitter app has deep integration in the iPhone. Might have Tim Cook. Oh, okay. I'm about to smash on my iPhones. I think we need to start this movement because Tim Cook. I didn't hear him speaking up or about BLM or anything like that with people who might be this morning. There's an interview coming out today. Ah, okay, so what do I doubt it though? Because she's Gayle King. Oh, yeah, sure. That'll work. She's She's hardcore. So let's, let's listen to what she says. In an exclusive interview you will see only on CBS This Morning. We always like when that happens. We spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook about the aftermath of the assault on the Capitol. Apple has removed the social media app parlor, which is popular with the far right from its App Store. Tim Cook says the platform violated Apple's Terms of Service by not adequately monitoring posts that incite violence. We talked about the attack and asked him what he thinks needs to happen next. I think it's key that
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people be held accountable for it. This is not something that should skate. This is something that we've got to be very serious about and understand and
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and did we need to move forward
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to President Trump should be held accountable for it when you said he'd be held accountable. There's a whole discussion about that, even as we sit here today. I think no one is above the law. I mean, that's a great thing about our country, and we're rule of law country. I think everyone that had a part in it needs to be held accountable. Well, this is a little kid, there are consequences to your actions. But I don't know how we just let this go. I would agree. I don't think we should let it go. I think holding people accountable is gonna work. And you can see more of our exclusive interview with Tim Cook tomorrow on CBS This Morning. He's Listen, we should say he didn't sit and say you know, I want to talk to CBS about this. This was an interview that was scheduled because they have a big announcement yet I want to exam tomorrow. It is not a new product. We should say it is not a new product, everybody except Yeah, exactly. So phony. insincere. Do you need to announce a new product CES is underway and everyone's doing their announcements and he wants to do a big one. And that's it looks pretty calculated to me.
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That was the most shallow view you can imagine. He's an iPhone, he that's what it is.
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iPhone eight, iPhone, phony.
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phony, phony,
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big fat, phony,
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bad phony, there were a lot of
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people were as part of the terror campaign to prove one side over the other, which they don't have to do. This is just all reinforcement. You can never convince one side of the others visual because it's explained it's chemicals in your head. You can't can't unsee it, the way they see it or where you see it. Let's talk about how scary it was for the Congress, House of Representatives members who were there. So scary was really, really scary. And thank goodness, Eric swalwell trots back out on the stage, is it. Because you'll be at the inauguration, you'll obviously be back in the Capitol again doing the nation's business later today. Tomorrow morning. Is it true that you guys were even told? You know, remember, bulletproof vests are reimbursable expenses.
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Yeah, he's so afraid. Now he needs a bulletproof vest, we were sent an email last night that listed some of the reimbursable expenses for your Office account to protect yourself and just to, you know, not tip off these terrorists as to what we're dealing we are in security measures. And we've been advised as to how we can protect ourselves and our family. And this puppy really is to just show ourselves in the world that we can carry this off on January 20, that we're not going to be bullied or intimidated, and not perform this transfer power. That'd be hilarious. Everyone's wearing a National Guard. If the thing they have a language issue with the descriptions and has been bothering me, a terrorist by definition, is not the same as an insurgent
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at all, no. And they're not the same as a coup attempt a person to attempting a coup okay, but can you terrorist is very specific is to terrorize the public is not to do anything else. It's just to terrorize them to make them for political for you, and you'd be all three at once. You can't be an insert Can you be a terrorist? We could be all three. But it seems to me that they're they're isolating these terms that they if you're all three, you'd have to call this as such a thing, right? Well, terrorist insurgents, it's just nobody uses these terms interchangeably. But they are they're using them interchangeably and well, but this is also part of our modern day parlance. Doesn't matter what it is. I'll give you an example. We went from a positive test to cases to infectious oozing citizens
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Yes, they do that but in this case that that was a that was a march toward a
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march toward a term of march toward infections there's no march toward anything with these three terms Don't forget there may be a fourth in there that I'm not remembering they're just using them interchangeably for no good reason. Because they don't they're not they don't have their act together and and the other thing is they know it's bull crap Yeah, these are not terrorists. They stay within the lines they didn't steal any the paintings and spray paint the place
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they're not insurgents. They weren't were they gonna go into an accomplished there wasn't a coup attempt how you gonna do a coup attempt against the standing president who's behind it this is make any sense? Well, they don't really understand the definition of the terms.
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I don't think they care about the diet they think they know it's all bogus. That's what I'm convinced. Let's listen to some Moore's using the surgeon and and Eric swallow well, which is what they're calling on now.
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Boy is is it a doofus to fuss?
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Let's listen to another terrorize representative, Representative tourists. I was in the last group to be evacuated.
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We ran down the halls. There's near a mob that was being held on the ground at gunpoint.
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shelter for four to five hours in a room that was patched shoulder to shoulder with people.
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Adding more trauma to the riot we had just survived.
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For several Republican colleagues refusing to wear a mask. Oh,
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that was the scariest thing. They will Yes. You know, she sounds I wish we get this is impossible to get this clip. But she sounds like those two dingbat journalists from cow that were rescued from North Korea.
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And ding dong. Remember those two? It's the same programming.
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Programming. Yeah.
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I think they've been heard this voice before is the point I'm trying to make. Yeah. Well, because it's,
So we've heard the very fine, he sounds just traumatized as that woman that was on the c span call the Zoomer
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who was all shook up, but she was sitting at home by her, you know, locked down. Yeah. But she had that same voice, that same traumatized sound. I would like to know how old that what's the name of that congressman that gave that little Her name is Torres t o. r. s.
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And well, cheers. And while you're looking that up.
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So we've heard the very fine people lie. Come back again in the news reports. So now's a nice time to start wrapping up our packages on President Trump. And let's remember, let's remind everybody of the oh so accurate story of the president wanting a moat. To remember this story.
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Yeah, this reminds me of the gold toilet story, too. Yeah. But it was. He was building border wall and sources. Most sources claim that first he was he said, Why can't we shoot him in the knees and
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just shoot him in the noise. And he said, I want a moat with alligators. This is recounted in this 18 second clip. Over time, President Trump has demanded modifications that have been largely rejected. He wanted to paint it black to burn the hands of those who touched it. He wanted it adorned with deadly spikes. haven wanted to surround it with an alligator filled moat. Just a little background on this wall.
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That was when he went down to Alamo Texas to do a little speech at the wall. That's what the mainstream brought back for us.
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Thanks. Yeah. No, we're calm review of bullcrap. Yeah, let's review our own bullcrap about Trump as if it's true. Yeah, that's the best circular. It's the way you get. Let me draw it to you, Jim. Okay, we got a list of things he supposedly did. Okay. getting worse by the minute.
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Both things we got to get. We got to make sure megan mccain. McCain gets her word in for you. Oh, yes. Okay. I think we have a terrorist the way we do actual terrorists. I think we need to consider all all all possibilities. I'm not against sending these people to get my oil. And that may sound extreme. These are domestic terrorists who attacked our own Republic, they should be treated the same way we treat al Qaeda go my
28:52
tell them to get mo I have no problem sending them to get mo I'm on the view. My opinion matters.
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I have three clips from Chris Coombs. Who behind the BBs? Oh, yes, Chris. He brought up a point that I don't think we've discussed, or it hasn't been even I don't think it's
29:18
been acknowledged that much. But they will. But it does explain a lot. And this is a three parter. Let's play part one. And then he gets to the part. Part two is where he talks about the
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about what he calls repentance. And this is really an important concept because this is what this is all about. So you are very familiar with your Republican colleagues. Do you think there's any chance that a Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would agree to that sort of special circumstances to speed up a trial in the Senate and just the next few days? You know, Judy, it seems unlikely. But one of the things that was most striking to me Wednesday night was after law enforcers
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Spent regained control of the Capitol. And we all have to be grateful for the men and women of law enforcement, the special officers and agents who regained control of the Capitol under very tough circumstances. When we went back into the chamber, some of the strongest language about the importance of certifying this election came from Vice President Pence, Majority Leader McConnell, other senators, I rarely agree with folks like senators cotton and Lee, to me and others spoke very forcefully. They recognize how important it is for there to be truth telling to the American people, how important it is for President Trump's misled and misguided base to hear from Republican leaders that Joe Biden is the duly elected next president of the United States. But at this point, it appears it's more likely once the house impeaches with which it appears it will do a trial would take place in the senate after President Trump leaves office. It would be when Joe Biden would then be the president. How do you see that complicating then President Biden's agenda? We just heard the reporting from you, me, Sean splitting the time every day. But is that the way Joe Biden wants to begin his administration? Well, you know, President Elect Biden was in no small part elected because he ran on bringing our country together, on moving us forward past the divisive Presidency of Donald Trump. And in this moment, when the pandemic is raging out of control, we need the sort of leadership that Joe Biden can provide to our country we have two pandemics. One this COVID-19 public health crisis, but also a pandemic of division and distrust. How's that a pandemic? We know what the definition of a pandemic? Yes, it's I find it odd because we heard the pandemic in America was racism. I think we have a few clips even we have three pandemics. Yes, we have a COVID. We have a divisiveness and we have racism, the pandemic of racism. That's the bias. Listen to the point that he I think that got my attention. Maybe get these clips is what he has to say in part two. Okay, hold on a second. I lost my place. There we go. A number of my Republican colleagues have reached out to me saying that impeachment is the wrong path that it won't bring reconciliation. And as I've said, in other contexts, repentance is required before reconciliation. We need to hear and see some actions by President Trump or on your partner who have long encouraged and supported him despite his unconventional and his destructive behavior. We need to see them do an about face and recognize the harm that was done on Wednesday, and the actions that need to be taken to bring our country back together. Yeah, so to repent is the act of expressing extreme.
33:00
Big forgiveness. Yes. On your knees begging for forgiveness. Yes. So we need that first and are they gonna wait for that? Or are they trying to force not gonna get they're not gonna dole out this? Any forgiveness or any of the reconciliation is a term he used? Yes, no reconciliation until there's repentance. Repentance, part this blood The last thing? He reiterates this, what do you see any indication that's going to happen? You had eight members of the Senate who voted who objected to Joe Biden's electoral vote when 138 members, Republicans in the House are a number. I believe that's correct. Do you expect any of them to express regret to apologize to try to change direction on where they stand right now, Judy, there were 13 senators originally prepared to challenge the certification, roughly half of them change their mind and change their vote after they saw the tragedy of the storming of the Capitol. What I struggle with most is folks like leaders in the house McCarthy and Scully nice folks in the Senate, Senators Holly and Cruz, who are seasoned lawyers who both clerked for the Supreme Court, folks who I believe know better than to do this kind of thing. And I think all of them should be publicly speaking about how they have repented of this action and they regret and want to move past the violence and divisiveness that resulted.
34:38
Now, repenting, I'm gonna read one of the definitions through the repentance, a called for throughout the Bible is summoned to a personal, absolute and ultimate unconditional surrender, in this case to God. But in that case, it would be to the Democrats, right. Don't reduce the sorrow and regret. It is more than that.
35:00
They're different panting one makes again, this is what Judy says she uses the word change of direction. It means a change of direction. 180 degree turn in this in the Bible towards God, but in that in their case, it's toward the democrats is towards them, you must repent, you must change your direction, flip around and see the truth is the is the opposite of Trump. We are the truth. This is really sick, we are the truth.
35:33
Well, I'm sure that they some have some of the Democrats, Republicans too, but definitely Democrats have godlike tendencies.
35:42
Like they are the all mighty rulers.
35:47
Well, they consider it to be the case at the moment. So there's no reconciliation, none of this crap that Biden keeps ran on none of this stuff he ran on until there's repentance, what is missed that is written and people have to realize how important that is. And they This is going to be their excuse for not doing what Biden wants to do, which is to, you know, bring the country together make us all one big happy family, that's not going to happen until there's repentance. And that definition needs to be explored missing from all the reporting is
36:23
any depth of investigation or at least presenting it? Why?
36:30
As they keep saying 74 moves around 74 75 million Americans are pissed off. It's you're just supposed to think well, because they were hypnotized by Trump and now they're now they're sad that they're their leader is gone. And but even if you think that way, it's that's not sufficient to to govern a country. You have to say, Okay, so what do we do for these people who I've never heard anyone say that? It's just you guys suck. You're all trumpers. And, and you don't have the truth. And until your guy repents, don't get nothing just gonna be treated the same as we treat him. That's the message. Yeah, it's totally the message. They had a couple days, the foreign press was all over this door. chavalla being the worst of the group, because they're a Chinese front organization role. I can tell. They had some they had a couple of analysts on and both of them were Trump haters. And they're trying to analyze the two Trump haters. I didn't get that. Here's a look at this one. This will be the
37:38
election prep one Deutsche Avella worry is that pro Trump supporters will try to disrupt the ceremonies that police wants to be better prepared this time.
37:49
The city is in a state of emergency buses for the National Guard troops arrived around the clock.
37:59
different clips. Well, can I just say something? Or do I just say something about that? Yeah. All of this
38:06
noise and reports and FBI intelligence that there's going to be armed protests in all 50 states. If I ever saw something getting set up for will it's just called a false flag for something to happen with a specific outcome and reason it's this. Have you seen some of the so called fliers? it? I mean, they didn't even bother taking the anti fraud template out of it. It's It's so obvious, not like a magnet thing.
38:35
It's just yeah, it's this is they're playing high stakes here. Well, good luck with that.
38:42
We'll see how that goes. But what the clip I wanted to play as GOP analysis is this is typical that what you'd hear if you watch Deutsche Avella
38:51
actually, for the last four years for the history being made in the Capitol today, it's about the president. Yes, but it's also about the existential crisis of the Republican Party. Will the GOP survive after Donald Trump is history. But we have two guests tonight two political insiders to talk about that. I'm happy to welcome Reed Galan. He is with the Lincoln project that is a group of Republicans who joined forces during the presidential campaign against the re election of Donald Trump rejoins us tonight from Park City, Utah and from Washington, DC. I'm happy to welcome ativa Mondrian. He is a political analyst, author and former Deputy Executive Director of the National Black Caucus of state legislature tours. Gentlemen, it's good to have you on the program. I want us to start with the impeachment vote. We understand maybe six House Republicans plan to vote to impeach. There were no republicans in the first impeachment vote last year. Right. Let me ask you, does this portend well for the GOP moving forward, or is this bad that you've only got six who are willing to vote for impeachment? I think it unfortunately does not support
40:00
I think that what we're seeing here is that the trumpist wing of the Republican Party is assumed that it has the energy it has a lot of funding. And the establishment, unfortunately for them spent so long saying so little, or collaborating with with this president, that although I'm very happy to see that six republicans did stand up, I think it's indicative indicative of the fact that many Republicans do not want across Donald Trump, even as he's on his way out the door, even as he faces impeachment. And even as he you know, incited a riot and insurrection at the US Capitol, so I don't think it portends well at all for the party.
40:39
Yeah, pretty much what the other guy says to so and that that message is the same around the world as we know, European press wakes up.
40:50
Actually, that they're at work.
40:52
And they just have to wait a few hours. And here's the early 5am New York Times, let's just copy and paste it translate translate, you use Google Translate even better.
41:03
Copy and paste it well. Here's I have another one. This is the impeachment rundown of France 24.
41:09
Countries away.
41:12
Donald Trump has become the first US president to be impeached twice with 10 Republican lawmakers joining the Democrats in the House of Representatives in backing the move. The decision made exactly a week after a pro Trump mob stormed Congress, as it was confirming joe biden's electoral victory. The violent assault on the heart of us democracy, that the deaths of five people, including a police officer, more details here's a caravan gorgeous dummy frustrating force Washington correspondent. Well, it means that indeed, there is some bipartisan support for this impeachment process much more than there was last time around and so saw these 10 republicans breaking siding with the Democrats, including the number three Republican in the house, Liz Cheney and going forward. We're gonna have to see if that holds true also in the Senate, and you have some early indication that there is a possibility that we're going to see several Republican senators vote to convict Donald Trump after that as senate trial and Senate Majority Leader the current still sitting and Majority Leader, and Mitch McConnell said that while he's not going to bring back the Senate in session before it is supposed to come back to Washington on January 19. He is leaving the door open by saying that he doesn't know yet well, where he'll fall on his vote on this impeachment process. He's as also, according to several US media reports said that he will not be a whipping those votes those Republican votes, leaving Republican senators to vote their conscience, we are expecting maybe few Republicans to break ranks of whether there will be enough republicans joining Democrats to convict the president. That is a whole other question. Well, we know for sure is that Donald Trump will already be out of office once that senate trial, it begins. But the democrats are intent on going forward with it. Because if there is a vote to convict Donald Trump, even if he's out of office, that could lead to another vote this time with just a simple majority, which could ban the president from ever running for office again, and that would be the point. And that would be what you said weeks ago, and I think that would be the point but they're not going to get that far. And I want to clear up a couple of things. The the reports over the last few days about mitch mcconnell thinks it's great, you know, he should be impeached. newsletter that was good. It was bullcrap what McConnell was saying was he what he kind of welcomed it, but he, he, I believe he welcomed it for leverage in 2022. So they can be camera, the democrats with it.
44:06
Because they're not going to get this done that it looks as though six democrats from or some sort of six republicans might vote for impeachment in the Senate. They need 17 people to bail on the party and vote for him. And he's 17 for this to go through. They're not going to get 17 they're going to get about seven. And again, I think McConnell's kind of let the floodgates open. Because the idea is to expose these people. Yes. It's all part of the plan. I think it is trust the plan. So it's
44:40
not you walk away you walk right into it. Now I gotta pick it up. You walk right and let me just finish with the numbers. All right, this will end 17 of the republicans to join sighs with the democrats to get this impeachment to go through so they can have that second, you know, vote to condemn him so he can't run again. They're not going to get
45:00
At 17, they're going to get about seven or eight and is the usual suspects romney right at the top of the list. That guy what a great republican is.
45:10
Ben sasse will be another one. And they always have Murkowski and they always list borkowsky that woman from
45:19
Maine main, I think, Collins, Collins, and they are always listed at the beginning, but they never follow through, they probably won't vote that way. It's just gonna be a fiasco. It's a waste of time. And the whole thing is just going down the tubes. For them, it seems to me and it's just a setup. But I could be wrong. I'll be talking and now you are you are. And something happened yesterday and event that I'm so happy to place.
45:46
Because it will give you
45:49
my colleague john C. Dvorak insight into what I have been listening to
45:55
months since months before the election, from multiple people, really three who have been, have just always given me good insights and information. And they are intelligence community linked. And
46:10
this is not about the theory itself. Well, there's a little bit of just two quick clips, you know, under a minute,
46:16
which, and I'll just tell you right now, there's going to be a coup, and Donald Trump will be inaugurated president, and they're going to arrest all of these people. Now that's just in a very short order. That is what is happening. And part of this coup that has been set up includes pushing everything. And without a doubt, what we've seen is a very good exposure, they've done a great job of doing it to themselves, exposing the pharmaceuticals, the media has completely fallen flat. And many, many politicians and other douchebags galore, and we've kind of all seen everyone's shown their color by now. It's a Steve PICHETTE airman Steve. Oh, hold on, let me I know, I'm not just open your mind. This is not about what may or may not happen. I want you to hear what I have been hearing for months, and the veracity because that's why I kept saying, Look, I don't see any of this stuff happening. I've seen no cracking, I've seen no 1000s of sealed indictments, I am certainly disappointed in all of that, because these people would talk to me in the following manner. And this is what happened yesterday, Steve pjanic, went on info wars, and laid down this plan as to what is going to happen. It was too crazy for Alex Jones. john was too crazy for Alex Jones. So this is newsworthy. What is taking place. Listen to this past two years, we're not talking about past weeks, we're talking about the next few days, and where we are right now. Now, I know you are not informed when I'm telling you this either one of us is wrong, but I'm not wrong. Well, let me say I mean, you can certainly get people thinking they're upside down when they're standing straight. I mean, you were the only guy that got the Camp David Accords through that. But I mean, you've definitely done some psychological operations. But I'm just telling you in seven days, but genic tell us what's gonna who's gonna be the president, what's about to happen. Seven days, let me repeat it again, Jones, it's going to be Trump, it will not be Biden, Biden's people will be arrested. There will be people who will be arrested Pelosi Biden,
48:22
that's what's going to happen. And if I'm wrong, fine. Don't put me on your show. If I'm right, what else are you going to do? That the point of fact is either you want to believe me or not. I don't particularly care what most people say or don't say,
48:39
Now, sees botanic is either completely right. Or this is some version of implosion and self harm that is I've never witnessed before.
48:51
Is it possible that it's a cointelpro? operation run aimed targeting him? targeting botanic? Yeah, yeah. Because that would Well, yes, that is a third option. So it's either a true be some weird psychological self implosion and self harm mission, or to take him out for once and for all, but one more clip, same links very short of what is going to happen, and I've never heard chetnik say, Jones. I've never heard him say that. Yeah, I know. He said, I heard that too. He said,
49:25
it's like we're talking we're arguing about something which we do. And then I all of a sudden say Curry, that would be weird. I mean, we've had a number of arguments on this show, but I've never done that. And I've never said before rack divorce for now. And we argue, I think we should do that.
49:44
But I think about it. Yeah.
49:47
You saw the queue guys go into the capital of zip ties. They thought they were in a secret mission to arrest people. Alex quiet down a bit. I've never been in.
49:57
Another thing I'm gonna try and divorce
50:00
I have done a little bit. Oh, you've done that? I don't think I've said it like that. I've certainly never combined the two door there. All right, quiet now never been in a military coup, you do not understand what that means. You do not understand how quickly we work. And how long have you been preparing for this? When I told you months ago that we were involved in this, and we were taking over all the elements of the political system because we could not trust the mitt romney's the governors, the senators, the judges, you're talking about when I said to you years ago and you still don't remember, john roberts, the Supreme Court Justice has been indicted. He was corrupt at the time that he made the Obama case into attacks. He then went to Malta, he was paid off. He will be arrested. You're talking about Obama's people where I said repeatedly, he was a CIA operative. There was nothing about him. That was real. So
51:00
yeah, I think you nailed this was a great one. I would have loved to have seen that. Oh, my goodness. And it's 45 minutes, I would watch the whole thing. Yeah, you should know, because of its entertainment value. It is. It was some of the most riveting video I've ever watched and you picked up on it immediately. But chetnik was an Alex Jones's face. Like, wow, cuz that's what I've been hearing, not just from him from others. That veracity like this is really happening. Curry. It's really happening. Curry.
51:31
Now, I want to play something similar. I'm not the same. But this is interesting, too. This is from Jeff rinses podcast. Hmm, yeah. And it's just which is a well known right wing.
51:45
Truth podcast, truth or podcast. He there's just a little hold on hold on. Oh, just just for, for the term sake, we we accuse people of using terms incorrectly. But truth is the only the only to talk about 911 because that's what a No, No, they don't. It's just a general. It's
52:05
it's like
52:07
it's like our show if we were big gasp bags.
52:12
Okay. All right. There's a lot of those shows out there. If you haven't noticed. They don't have they don't have clips. They don't have background they don't have. They don't have they say they say I think a lot. I think I think I think I may say that i think i think i think but there is a little gem. There's a little gem in here that I don't know if you can pick it up. But I just I heard I said oh, and it has a little bit to do with what you just played. But it's just however you look at it. It's Trump is guilty of creating incredible false hopes in people and that he is like yo yos for four years. Yeah.
52:53
The fat but people are. It's like the people not to that degree but their reason why people give money to unbelievably phony televangelists like Jim and Tammy Baker Jimmy Swaggart, people like that.
53:09
Okay, now what was in there was
53:14
this is part of the stages of grief
53:18
and it's an anger is the anger and is that birthed by the fact that Trump and if you go and start making you can make a laundry list anyone can Trump promised a wall is going to be built by Mexico you're gonna do this there was that all How about the drain the swamp that was the one drain the drain the swamp and the and the all the queue stuff which you need to be working with, which I think was creating a lot of false hope. The Joe digenova is out there with their 10,000 sealed indictments coming on over and over and over again. Bill Barr was going to come in to do something the Jeff Sessions when he was in Durham, Durham, Durham. Yeah, the Durham that's all these things are brought in by the truckload. You know, Trump did this. And he did that. And all he got was a bunch of books written about Trump being a douchebag. And it's just a whole, there was nothing. I mean, this stuff that he accomplished, I think was major. And I wrote it up in one of those sub stat columns about Trump in 2028, which includes, and I think this is not trivial. He did make us aware of the immigration problem, and nobody was talking about it until he showed up. And he's aware of the China the China thing is the big deal. And that and it's a bigger deal than anyone thinks, and no one can ignore it from forevermore, and everything else. And he also propped up the economy pretty well. propaganda, which was pulled out from under him by COVID. And which was he was not mishandled the way Biden thinks, but it was just mishandled, but it's got nothing to do with Trump.
54:54
You know, he accomplished a major, major things and it changed the way that republicans think about things
55:00
But it was a lot of false promises. And I think the rents, guys rents and his buddy David some books, I can't remember his name. They were saying it was four years of, you know, yeah. 10,000 sealed indictments, we talked about it ourselves. There's, there's one more piece that is not told that that widely that I just want to share because it's gonna be the last time I can ever do this. I mean, once all of this doesn't happen, then, you know, there's my career in the toilet, you know, what am I going to go back to legislation? Because I can't I can't rely on any contacts I've built up.
55:36
But the second, the second, reliable This is by the way, the same thing with the producers who send us bad made happen shot happens. So the second part is about China. And because it's and so I'm just telling you the story because I haven't memorized this easy. I've heard it enough times.
55:53
So China is going to be blamed for a lot of the problems from the Coronavirus to the Biden crime family. And because it is a military coup that I've heard is there will be certain strikes on China, which pathetic is again just telling you what I heard is advising against, but check this it would be the target would be the the Three Rivers dam for two reasons one for the nuclear weapons development that is taking place underneath the Three Rivers dam in the secret caves. And the testing on down wiegers is also taking place there. But the best thing is the attack will be rods from God, which are telephone pole tungsten telephone pole sized tungsten rods that they shoot from space. And you know that they have no warhead but they hit with such veracity and they're so hot from from re entering the atmosphere that they they do a lot of damage but no nuclear fallout etc. The rods from God are coming.
57:01
Wow, it's good. Isn't this is good stuff. I know. I know.
57:09
Yes. The rods from God has been talked about for a long time. This is just a science fiction idea that has been that can be it would work somebody else's so you can send a refrigerator down and dude pretty much do the same damage. Yeah, but it's not as cool. But here's zero here's a fresh rods from God has a better sound and look then a fridge. Yeah, I'm gonna kill you CCP with a fridge.
57:36
Yeah.
57:38
Well, I don't know what this guy's gonna be.
57:41
I know. I know. I don't know. I mean, I feel bad about this because progenitors always had good material. But you can't say it's not in hindsight. It's still good material. Still good material, but now it's just pure science fiction. Yeah. But I am just mentally preparing for the case.
58:03
In cases true.
58:06
That's all I have. No, I'm you know, I have to tell my wife, like you're hanging on by your fingernails. And no, I'm not. I'm really not. I'm really I'm really, I'm really Shut up you.
58:20
Shut up, Dvorak. I probably have said that.
58:25
For which I repent.
58:27
Yeah, you're gonna have to repent. Repent on a level wait until after buying it. You're after buying in an empty stadium goes up and take the oath of office. And now they say they don't want you they want to reach their blocking here because they don't want him being booed.
58:44
Have you heard down? No, no, no. I thought no matter what anybody there because they don't want to hear a bunch of people booing him. I still I still think my prediction that we'll have to inaugurations could possibly happen. That's just how nutty it is. Yeah, it could have been he did have to it. But we I mean, you can say that it's not a new idea, because they did that with Obama and the second Obama. That's right. They had a second swearing in Biden's for all we know if the gag is real lively. You know, the reason why.
59:13
Here's the crock pot now.
59:17
I just thrown it out there. But here's the play. This is the PBS This is the PBS analyst with some assumptions about the Trump in the future. Cynthia Miller interests helped me understand the conversation that has been had around the President's rhetoric. We saw Twitter and Facebook have taken down specific the President's ability to use those platforms arguing that he himself was inciting violence. How true do you think that is? Do you as many have lay some of the responsibility for Wednesday at the feet of the president?
59:54
I do. I think that not just the incitement of violence in this particular case, but I think
1:00:00
What we have seen for several years now has been a mainstreaming and a normalization of extremist ideas. And and a lot of dog whistle kinds of calls like the stand back standby statement that even if the intent isn't there, it's received the way it's received the impact. It has a lot of danger attached to it in terms of the far right mobilizing online and feeling like they've been legitimated. And so what we're seeing now is people not just the president, but other elected officials, the very people who are supposed to be trusted sources of information, helping to create and propagate a disinformation landscape that says, this election is invalid, that there's been massive voter fraud and really compelling these people to act. Well, that last bit is, is really in a nutshell, the belief that there is that because of their hacking of the media, they've been able to propagate these lies, even though it seems highly unlikely. But just in case, let's freeze everybody's account, and let's knock them off. And let's
1:01:05
let's make sure we put the fear of God into anybody trying to trying to spread this message the
1:01:11
along those lines as to where the show started with that was your first anecdote about poor Ben Shapiro. Yeah. So listen to this, the National Association of Realtors
1:01:23
have now changed their bylaws,
1:01:27
to condemn hate speech by any of their 1.4 million members. And they are going to do pamphlets and materials that will be handed out through real estate now. I guess they can do an awareness campaign with a special number to call. If If you are for instance, how shopping and
1:01:51
you think that your reloader use of hate speech about something then you can go in and think on them? Oh, the think line and just imagine a realtor has to talk about locations, gentrification neighborhoods. It's really easy in today's world to say something that could sound racist. But here's the here's the ticket to the neck the real level here. a realtor is a salesperson.
1:02:20
sales people say what they have to say to get the sale. That's what they do. I can't believe he said master bedroom.
1:02:28
Yeah. You just nailed it.
1:02:33
Yeah, you could, you can think on this real estate guy say oh, here's the master bedroom where you you and, and you're, you and you use the wrong pronoun pronoun. Yo, my goodness. This, uh, his in her bathroom. A jack and jill. Oh, my.
1:02:51
It's gonna come down to that. No, it's coming down. It's gonna be great. It's lovely. It's gonna be so much fun. A couple more games. Well, let me get a couple more. Here's Taylor green. Now this is a Newsmax. Yeah, my favorite channel, which is like the amateur hour and remember, they fell apart. They fell apart during the capital. kerfuffle. They didn't know what do they fell apart? No, here's something where they're at least they're trying to resolve something or other with this interview with the Taylor green. The American Congress. Sorry, Congresswoman. Thank you, the American people, we have to make sure that our leaders are held accountable. We cannot have a president of the united states that is willing to abuse the power of the office of the presidency and be easily bought off by foreign governments, foreign Chinese or Chinese energy companies, Ukrainian energy companies. So on January 21, I will be filing articles of impeachment.
1:04:01
articles on Joe Biden on his first full day. President. I'm looking at Hunter Biden right now. So we're talking. Obviously, we know hunters got issues as well. How is that gonna work? You are a freshman. We are in the minority.
1:04:19
What will happen next? Is this symbolic? Or can you really do something about this? Well, like I said, I'm a big believer in having people in office that are actually willing to do the job. And I can't imagine people in this country, being so fearful of a future of abiding presidency, that they may be willing to commit violence like they did in the Capitol here in Washington, DC. We cannot have that I do not condone that violence. The American people need hope.
1:04:50
You know, it's interesting. A producer sent me sent me a clip, it's 39 seconds, but it had that pertinent bit in there about Biden's
1:05:00
impeachment filing on the 21st and I couldn't play it. Because the producer just sent me this. There's no I don't know who it was. I have no idea who it was. I didn't know the source. Yeah, bad. Well, I know they can do better. That's I'm sorry. It's one of these young women I had one earlier in the show, Lauren. Yeah. That young republican women that you know, and they made a big fuss when they couple of couple of rounds ago and the democrats put all these women in and they're adding in the republicans can't get any women. It's okay, we get some women. Let's put these gals in. This is what they do. Derek, kick ass. I was giving a shit. Yeah, it was just in there. And these are all American women ask these are all American women. You're right. These are Yeah, these are the tough chicks.
1:05:48
Yes, yes. And that's when you played the the other one earlier. I thought you were referring to her? Because I knew it was phenomenal trauma from Congress. But yeah,
1:05:59
they are definitely they are tough. I like it more than a bull crap
1:06:06
oh, that's what that's that's why you're all all God for jacked up you are. You're here's a little list. By the way. Here's a little list that guy forget this club should have played it earlier. This is the 23 second election business backlash on PBS Marianne Tao and the BlueCross BlueShield Association, among others, announced they would hold donations to any lawmaker who voted against certifying the electoral college results. Ford and Microsoft will suspend all political donations until they review the events of last week. And the payment companies stripe said it will no longer process payments for the President's campaign website. Yeah.
1:06:45
Yep. Now this is part of the council and one of the one of the Republicans, his insurance company dropped him.
1:06:52
I mean, Oh, I didn't know that. But so people need to be put on a list. Here's my question. Here's my question. How is this okay? But refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding is not okay.
1:07:07
Yeah, no, that's just all ideology. It's all ideology, or I mean, it's, yeah, I think you think you can say its ideology. You can look at it and say it's hate, but it seems to be ideology, just different views of opinion. But for but for that reason, you're not going to ensure someone, the airlines are already saying that, you know,
1:07:26
did you they need to be put, you know, what no,
1:07:30
kid put together where it's just a bit a list of people that should be you know, Schindler's List.
1:07:39
Now, there should be somebody should put together the st. Get back to work. Let's do this. You know, they say, well, these guys are lazy Republicans, let's put a list together of target and target companies that are doing this. And don't do business with it. If half the country is a lot of people that voted for Trump. And there's a lot of people that don't any of you that didn't vote for Trump that don't like this. Yes. And I think we will see the issue right now is it's a little bit in flux, since there's no way to start a viral campaign. And viral campaigns are squashed immediately. So there must be there needs to be some code or needs to be a way to say, hey, smash your iPhone. And I did this just because Tim Cook's iPhone, that's just my personal beef. But Amazon don't order from Amazon.
1:08:27
And there's all kinds of just you can just go online and see how many companies have virtue signaled about this. And in the, in the infamous words of Magic Johnson, Republicans by Nikes to Yes, I think that's a great quote. And I should mention the one virtue signaling trick. That was if you listen to that story closely, at the very end, they mentioned Ford. Yeah. And Microsoft. They're not they're just going to stop political donations until they research this more. So it's like, that is just virtue signaling nonsense, but I thought it was creative. They got their name in. Yeah. Yeah, that's how you want to do it. You want it? They got your name. And but you can't say Well, I'm not gonna work because either they're not going after Trump or anything. They're just, they're gonna look into it, which makes them look reasonable.
1:09:17
Yeah.
1:09:20
It's ridiculous. Now, I do have one last clip in this in this whole thing. This is a short clip, another 23 second clip. This is yummy.
1:09:32
Imagine when you when your Miche comes on msnbc. This is probably from PBS. She is she's gotten real loose. And she I think she's going a little bit beyond her journalistic endeavors and how she speaks She's coming. I think she's fishing because I think she's
1:09:51
she shouldn't be on PBS. She's not got the she's trying to hit
1:09:57
her agent called listen to you miss you, me.
1:10:00
Hey baby How you doing? Listen, it's Javi Listen, okay, you know the PBS you know this I didn't really for you Your hippie youngest, like moving a little bit with the msnbc crowd Come on, smooth up a little bit to Rachel.
1:10:15
There was a PBS
1:10:18
on PBS Frontline frontline, which is always entertaining reporting. Yeah. And frontline did a special on Alex Jones. Oh, this wasn't Megyn Kelly. You mean? Or it's the new ones? No, this is a pretty old one. I don't know she was on this that much. But you Mitch was?
1:10:37
Oh, yeah, Mitch was. And it was it was a it was a hit piece against Alex Jones and how he rose and fall I got a fool of himself. And they kicked him off everything. But it's a very it's very entertaining piece to watch. And emissions on their sheet crops up. I think she ruined a piece completely. She was on a couple of times. And she's going on about a lot this had to do with Alex Jones and the way he exploited 911 and some of the other and he took credit for the truth or movement and some of these other things. She comes on and started yakking about 911 as if she was either there are some knowledge of it a family passport. She was talking about one thing and I love it. So I looked into her age. She was in the eighth grade. Yeah. When 911 happened. And so she's talking like she knows about 911 from it, what she was in the eighth grade, which is in Manhattan. I mean, it was bullcrap. That's a put her on there. And I think they ruined that as a whole. But I think their credibility was took a hit personally, because I was like, very skeptical after that, whether the report was even any, any good, but they did have a lot of good stuff in there. But the image shares You mean, I don't want you to try to do the math on what the emissions have to say about how they're going to handle this impeachment. President Biden wants to see President Trump held accountable, but he doesn't want to see his legislative agenda derailed. So there are talks now that President Elect Biden has said he's talking to members of Congress to try to bifurcate the impeachment process so that half a day would be spent on impeachment, half a day spent on confirming his cabinet secretaries and time spent on trying to pass that COVID relief bill that Joe Biden wants to pass as soon as he gets into office was definitely her PBS voice. Now, yes, so you have a half and a half and a half. What? another half? No, there's there's another half how many hats are there in the day?
1:12:35
Give me
1:12:37
I will say something about her age. Yeah, I've been very busy with podcasting. 2.0. And we're figuring out how to do a version of value for value where
1:12:49
you're receiving mp3 and you're listening to it. And simultaneously you're sending back little bits of, of money in the form of satoshis which is a small pieces of Bitcoin. So I've been I've been working with a lot of the people in the in the Bitcoin here comms community. And it turns out Austin is somehow kind of a mini crypto capital. We have a lot of Bitcoin related companies. Yeah, I had no idea. But I kind of fall into it. Now. Here's what is interesting to me.
1:13:23
Pretty much everybody is a millennial. And and it's male, I don't know, I have yet to meet a woman, I think in any of these meetups or anything.
1:13:34
And they're between 26 and you know, like 30 years old. And sir Jean calls them, children with beards. And they're all good looking. They're You know, they're, they're well dressed, whatever their vibe is, but to a tee, tears, why they're doing this, I just thought this was interesting.
1:13:52
They feel they have been so cheated. They were born. And it was during the Gulf War. And then we had 911. And then we invaded the wrong country. And then we had the Great Depression. And now we have the Roma, and they are all so removed, and they're not political at all, don't give a shit one way or the other. But who's the president? They believe Bitcoin is God. And it will save them because saving little bits of Bitcoin will increase in value over time. And it was just eye opening to me and gave me a much better understanding because they're on a mission. And it's real. It's a real mission. And because they're on a mission, I think it's going to be stopped every single way possible, such as the European Central Bank with where FIFA guard now brains the roost. It is a speculative, it's a speculative asset, by any account. I mean, when you look at the most recent developments output, and now the most recent downward trend, it's for those who had assumed that it might turn into a currency
1:15:00
terribly sorry, but this is an asset. And it's a highly speculative assets, which
1:15:06
we just conducted some funny business and some interesting and totally reprehensible money laundering activity. I think that they are criminal investigations that have taken place that I'm sure will continue to take place that demonstrate it very clearly. And there has to be regulations. And and this has to be, this has to be applied and agreed upon, it's a matter that needs to be agreed at a global level. Because you know, if there is an escape, that escape will be used. So I think it needs to be to be, if anything, it shows that global cooperation, multilateral action is absolutely needed, whether it's initiated by the g7, moved into the G 20, and then enlarge, but it's something that needs to be to be addressed. And hottap is clearly an organization that has expanded in that respect, I think is definitely going to shut down all kinds of ways for turning your euros into bitcoin or the other way around. And I feel bad, I feel bad for these for these young people, because they really truly believe there's only two ways forward. One is the Bitcoin life. The other one
1:16:15
is exemplified by the most recent Experian, boost commercial.
1:16:21
Now, Experian, Experian is a credit company, they have very much like Credit Karma, they have a credit rating, so you sign up for the app, and your credit rating, will Yeah, will determine how much they how much credit they will give you and they will offer you financial products. So instead of teaching you how to save or do anything smart, they are going to tell you to behave properly, so that we feel that you're a good person, and we will give you more credit that you can borrow against. And it's not even a FICO score. It's our own made up number and and we're kind of glossing over it but there's an entire generation of young people who think this is a good idea. Now there's a new way Experian boost can raise your credit scores, who'd have thought paying for my streaming services would help boost my credit score. My FICO score just went up 17 points with experience.
1:17:12
I just heard my credit score 13 points with Experian boost, I stream shows all the time, and now it's helping me boost my credit score. That's awesome. I can't believe paying for streaming services is going to help me boost my credit score. Now pay for streaming can boost your credit scores. Download the Experian app now. So you so you are intended to link your Netflix account. What you just played, oh, it's worse than that.
1:17:39
I believe. And I said it that this is just phase one, phase two will be either watch this to increase your score, which is money in the bank. This is how people are being thought or liked or or I can't on the other side of that one. Or I can't believe you watch that your your score just went down.
1:18:01
You rock you watch the wrong thing. You watch the Trump documentary bad bad. This is the beginning. And it's it's a modification. It's American system. This is the beginning of the social credit score.
1:18:17
It's how it works.
1:18:19
You getting benefits and we're so stupid. Well actually, we're not so stupid. In China, they take away your benefits so you can't fly. And here we're doing easily like hey, you know we'll give you this cool look at your score went up you increase you're better than you were minutes ago. You're number one. Want to buy something we got credit for you.
1:18:41
So while the young men I've seen in Austin, the crypto capital The world may be incorrect. I don't know. I'm on I'm on I'm on board with them.
1:18:52
I sure hope they're right and not and not this other than this. This is dystopian, this is very, very bad.
1:19:01
blinking up here so you hope they're right. And Christine Lagarde is wrong? You think you would you bet would you bet that Christine Lagarde would lose and they'd win?
1:19:14
I will take that bet over time. Yes.
1:19:17
And I have to because I'm I can't otherwise I'm I'm not a maxi I'm not a full Bitcoin I have to believe in the long run. Bitcoin will win against the guard specifically. Yeah.
1:19:32
And that's my report
1:19:35
that's saying that all hell is gonna break loose and you're gonna need a Bitcoin and with that, I thank you for your courage and say in the morning to you the man who put the C in credit score john C. Dvorak. Well, let me get my device out. Oh, your device in the morning to you Mr. Adam Curry. Also in the morning all ships and sea boots on the ground, feet near subs in the water. And all the dams are nice.
1:20:00
out there. Yes in the morning to our trolls are trolls are available for you at no agenda stream.com and we now have since flash expired we have a regular html5 player. The hell was that all about? Oh, I knew it was gonna happen. You didn't know it. You didn't know that. Oh, yeah, no flash was gonna expire.
1:20:22
No, I knew about it because they kept flashing it on half of the things I had that are you know, functional by your laughter Yeah, January of fuck.
1:20:32
That's exactly what the warning was. The trolls are hanging out and no agenda stream.com Now when I say trolls, it's because it's a chat room. And it's not filled with people who chat. It's trolls. And you may feel like a troll. You may want to know what it's like to be one you may want to experience troll pneus
1:20:50
what i think i think you're glossing over this. My complaint. This Adobe After decades of making us use flash. Hmm. All of a sudden they say you know, well, not all of a sudden this was planned a year. Okay. Yeah, I spent for six months to a year they've been saying this was beside the point. They say for and I would think that the old flash install would still work. But no, no, no, there's apparently it's always been calling home.
1:21:22
Constantly Hey, john. So he calls home doesn't work because home says no, you can't work anymore.
1:21:31
Are you lying? I'm just saying for years and years and years Adobe kept you got to upgrade flash by the way. Do you want McAfee? Do you want to upgrade flash? Do you want McAfee? And now they just pulled the plug with no remorse. No regret no repentance.
1:21:48
I understand you're upset that flash no longer works on your MySpace page. I understand the problem. things do go away. Hello, geo cities. Hello Alta Vista. Yeah, things go away.
1:22:03
How about that Microsoft Flow? Is it?
1:22:07
nightlight super light. They had a flash alternative. What was that? I don't know. Silverlight. Silverlight. Silver. Short. Late, john. You wrote the book on Oh, come on. stuff goes away.
1:22:21
I personally loved I was too. I was too is great. I could do Rex. I have little Rex in me. Oh, yeah. But you do you do have a little Rex.
1:22:31
Rex, here we are. All right, hands up trolls. Let's see how many we got in the room. We have 2068 trolls. Good to have you here on board for this Thursday. Now you can listen to the show live when you're at the troll room is free to join. Have fun, troll along Do whatever you want and ask anyone in there. Or Doug? For an invite to no agenda. No agenda social.com, which is our federated social media site. It's very popular. I have. I've seen my Twitter followers go down by the 1000s. Presumably people closing their accounts. And we have seen again an uptick on no agenda social.com big shout out to Aaron are with running that from his cave. Even in the midst of moving he continues to run everything love him for that.
1:23:20
And you should join. That's where we where we have real conversations because we don't have algorithms to mess you up and make your witness arguments. Dark, we just kind of go away, they scroll off. They don't come back. That's the main secret. If it scrolls off, and I no one's gonna scroll down that far. And then the just kind of goes away. Unless you're actively involved, which is your own fault. I have a suggestion. You please.
1:23:44
to somebody mentioned in that matter of space. I think that I'm just suggesting this.
1:23:50
There's no reason to keep posts more than six months, huh. I think they should be expunged. I believe we do an expanded expunge will periodic I will find it we have to people have no idea. Otherwise, you'd have just a bunch of archives that nobody there would just be building up a dead space. It's it's terabytes. It was already terabytes when I was running it years ago. It's an unbelievable amount of data. People don't appreciate that was an unbelievable amount of data. And I'm sure we expunge and we should probably post that so people know to Aaron and will let us know. But go ahead and join no agenda social.com it's really a great place to hang out. It's kind of like a no agenda meetup in the sky.
1:24:39
And a big in the morning to what turns out to be such a
1:24:44
thought provoking
1:24:47
and not even thought provoking just an image that hit home. People love this immediately that you championed it and rightfully so Tonto nail brought us the artwork for Episode 1311. We totaled that one we titled that
1:25:00
Woke kindergarten. And it was the Twitter
1:25:06
bird as democrat with the blue blue and the stars with the legs of the
1:25:13
set the donkey and the red donkey. It was split in half. It was just the whole thing was good and I love the font that she used the
1:25:24
for Noah j
1:25:26
is really fantastic. And I have a couple pieces that I should remind people I want to remind artists don't use stolen images. And unless I'm told otherwise, the red bird with the communists sighs hammer and sickle is verboten now.
1:25:45
It's stolen, unless you did it. Unless you did it someplace. I just because I saw a collection of images that were put together by somebody else. Maybe they stole it. But this wasn't with the no agenda logo is just standalone. So that's a possibility. Don't do. Don't do that. very embarrassing to the show when it happens. And it has Yeah, because we because there was a nice piece and you use it. The other thing is anyone who uses images that are repulsive.
1:26:16
And I'm looking at the piece next to it by Nestle yesil hirscher, whatever his name is, I get to look at it up. Yes, so Hirsch is a zombie. Yeah, that any pictures that are repulsive, I'll just mix. They're not happening. You don't want to. And here's the here's the thinking here. You don't want an associate. You don't want an association between the show and something repulsive. Because then you start associating the show with repulsive, it's stupid, and we'd rather we'd rather have you associate the show with jobs, jobs, jobs, anything, but the point is, by the way, everything else on this image was especially the logos and the type font, everything is fine, but the image itself is repulsive. So report and that's why I don't like the Coronavirus thing as an image. So repulsive images do not get picked ever. Don't bother. Send us your censoring, man.
1:27:13
Sam censoring answers what art directors do and that's what we are two art directors.
1:27:20
Five minutes a day we're at art directors.
1:27:25
There's a lot
1:27:27
you hated. What was the NIC the rat piece with the firesale garden? Did I did I hate it? I hate it. Did I say that? Yeah. No, I don't think so. I don't even see it. Where is it? The fire is right above the piece we picked.
1:27:44
I kind of liked it because I thought it was cute.
1:27:48
It was an olive garden kind of rougher. Yes. No. And I did not hate it. I said I felt it just didn't come across Now see, the part the part that is tough. And I'll give you I'll give you the quote is what you said. He said I don't get all of garden out of that picture. Exactly. And let me explain.
1:28:09
When when we're looking at the page, if you mouse over tells you who made it, and it gives you a title. I try to never mouse over because if you had I looked at I would not have gotten all of garden out of that. Unless I'd seen the title. So I just feel that we're fooling ourselves because we have to think like people looking at this and I just don't think everyone say oh, that's funny. That's Olive Garden on fire with a coupon you cut out now Yeah, yeah. Well I do the same thing you do. I did not look at the title before I
1:28:43
thought well I don't use it Olive Garden. So that's why
1:28:49
actually I did it all of garden once and thank you Dred Scott for using our podcasting 2.0 and putting all those images in the chapter by rotating while we were talking about it it's missing It's amazing. So we thank Tom toenail who was out of the gate is that now too so far this year? No was your competitor the other Oh, wasn't I thought Thompson nailhead one
1:29:14
No, she had a nice lady j two in a row DJ got one this year is I don't think enough.
1:29:20
Yeah, no, I don't know. I'm sure someone will correct us on no agenda, social calm, but thank you very much time to nail we appreciate that's a great amount of value was extremely important. And that's exactly how it fits in our model time, talent or treasure, anything. If you get value of the show, give it back to us in one of those categories. And to keep us functionally functioning on the air. We do need support and we love highlighting our executive producers and associate executive producers visit came in with big numbers for Episode 1312. And we start off with was anonymous
1:30:00
Right off the bat nonnamous $1,000 from anonymous $1,000 so nearly crap for the new Night of the roundtable on behalf of Dame Illuminati a
1:30:12
peerage and roundtable blessing soon
1:30:16
Hmm Okay, so not not on the list probably. I guess more information to come I'm guessing yeah i mean i saw the the the original donation as well and that's literally what it said so Okay, well thank you very much anonymously congratulations Dame illuminata pyridium table blessing soon we would look forward to it will so the knighting is in abeyance at the moment. Yeah. On on pause. Gary Ferris or Fars. I think it's f p h. AR s. I don't know how you pronounce it to be honest about it. $500 from San Diego he sent a note in handwritten
1:30:56
ITM and Happy New Year fellows with this donation I passed the threshold of knighthood I would like to be the title of Sir my ass night of greasy Creek in southwest Missouri. Sir my ass. I believe he's on the list. I like some old Viscardi Imperial stout.
1:31:18
At the Round Table please no jingles no karma. And then he has a little a little accounting with the word byeeeee the opposite of Hi guys. Yeah, that's that's the end do you say Hi guys, then you say bye he here's a tip. A tip for all you producers out there. If you send me a link to a video, and I'm fine. You know you say as long we said this usually that's a warning. It's long, but you'll love it. There's plenty of clips. So if you haven't put in time codes, I'm already thinking Alright, if it starts with either Hi guys. It's an immediate deny. Or if it starts with ominous crescendoing music
1:32:00
live now it's a pass to give me time codes.
1:32:07
time codes are important to
1:32:10
onward with Mark drink water came in from New Zealand $432 they got a note from his wife or girlfriend and his wife, Alice.
1:32:20
And the note said, Is this the right email to send a note to and then there was no note
1:32:29
best
1:32:31
replied I said yes. He could have put it I said well, it's a little late because it was like blade. And and I guess I didn't encourage her to so she was probably sleeping because of the time change. So I got nothing to mark. There's some surprises the knighting if some sort for Mark, but again, this will be just like anonymous of dairy. Those will be in abeyance until I hear from Alice. Make sure he's not on the birthday list. No, I just it might have been a birthday. Well anyway, so sometimes she didn't say the right address. slips through the cracks. Sometimes I do this one.
1:33:08
Yes, please. simca funk emmalyn in for birth.
1:33:13
365 44 in the morning, john and Adam. Adam. Please don't read my note with a Dutch accent say that Florida, the Prime Minister. Alright, so I want to thank you both for the much needed amygdala shrinkage during these crazy days. My truly wonderful and ruggedly handsome husband. Raimi kicked me in the mouth about a year ago. In honor of his upcoming birthday, Sunday Please accept this donation that will make him a knight. He shall be known as sir stink finger. The plague from the Hague.
1:33:46
Okay, for the roundtable, he would like
1:33:50
rice miscarries house and copper signers made spec, which is rice with curry sauce and capers with bacon.
1:34:00
It's a Dutch delicacy. Is that what that means? Because spec is actually a type of prosciutto spec. Oh, really? Yes, spec is bacon.
1:34:10
Hmm. Well, that's interesting. Yeah, the more you know, like the high end high end prosciutto. Okay, well, that's not if you go to Holland and ask for spec and you're thinking you're gonna get some high end prosciutto. You're gonna be disappointed. Bacon.
1:34:26
No agenda listeners that are into stoner metal please look up his band stitch fork on face bag, which is facebook.com slash stick stitch fork band, Spotify or bandcamp. And if you like, if you like it, let him know. He will love hearing from you know agenda gives our family many interesting perspectives to talk about and is keeping us even keeled. This is much needed since our three Human Resources 1113 and 14 are constantly bombarded with woken up by teachers and classmates. Smart parents boots on the ground report. Alright.
1:35:00
oldest daughter was shown a clip of the dove commercial where collared lady took off her shirt and magically turned into a white woman. The assignment was to write a complaint to dove because this was, of course racist. The idea being that dove soaps make you white and white is better. This isn't That's crazy. I remember that campaign. And it wasn't intended that way years ago, was it they don't think they got any letters of complaint.
1:35:25
But they stopped that and they took it off the air and it was years ago. Yeah, and it wasn't their intent. Anyway, the teacher offered a list of words to use in the letter such as white supremacy, our human resources, looked up the video online and told the teacher or human resource, looked up the video online and told the teacher that this was framing because if you watch the entire commercial, you'll see the white woman turning white woman turning into a colored woman as well. The teacher responded that it was racist anyway. But our daughter could tell that many of her classmates agree that this was BS. We are so very proud of her. Yes, you shouldn't be and you should be proud parents. That's a no agenda kid right there and a kid's payment only watch the whole commercial you douchebag Yeah, tricking me.
1:36:14
birthdays. Please put r1 on the birthday list for January 20. She'll be 15 rameez birthday will be January 16. And he will be 48 Can I get a double goat karma and a Trump jobs to help with my recruitment agency. Much love from the lowlands were the ones courageous Dutch fighters of the seat now hide behind the curtains with their masks on semco from forbear PS it's a no it's too long. You can leave boots on the ground part out of it. No, that was a quite. That was the best part. That was a part of you wanted to really like that piece. Thank you very much. And we've got your birthdays here on the list jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs. Let's vote for job.
1:36:54
karma.
1:36:59
Karma
1:37:04
is next on the list from Fayetteville, Fayetteville, Georgia, ga 333 dot 33.
1:37:10
I recall and attempted hit in the mouth by your longtime listener Tony Cabrera, few years ago, but it took a reminder from Joe Rogan for me to start listening.
1:37:23
organ donation.
1:37:26
I have not missed the episode since Joe Rogan Who?
1:37:31
Oh boy.
1:37:33
Not good. We love Joe Rogan. Yeah, we do. Thank you for an amazing show. I like most of your list. I like most of your listeners. It keeps me sane. My husband and I are from the former Soviet occupied country from a from da and this will be around to a socialist.
1:37:52
You know how to get how to do it. I guess maybe it's following them around. I guess unlike most Americans, we will be prepared to keep up. Yes, yeah. Yeah. Give him the good work. Well, I'm prepared to because I live in California. Hopefully we can get keep listening to you, even if the only way left will be via shortwave radio, like we used to do during Soviet times. Listening to American Voice of America from Washington making sure our neighbors do not hear us. headphones. I'm sure they were listening to no jingles no karma. Well, comrades welcome. We are happy you are here.
1:38:33
Welcome comrades, David Gomez and Holly Springs North Carolina 333 33. Nice. In the morning, these you might 30 330-333-3333 333 as a follow up to being called a douche by the anonymous Kansas bound Googler in Episode 1289.
1:38:55
He hit me back in the mouth in the mouth back in February. Recently, Mike day and his smokin hot wife from Fuqua way Varuna North Carolina gave me a and I sure I butchered that gave me a birthday donation and a douchebag in Episode 1310 Oh no. Let this serve as the first of my repentance there it is. For being that douche despite being l cafe I think my friend Mike the Googler and a few others are all
1:39:28
founders of a veteran own and us manufactured surgical device and positioning positioning company in tinnitus medical technologies. infinitas Medical comm rolls off the tongue
1:39:43
was it publicly traded we are continuously blessed with a growing base of customers despite the Safe Harbor third party firewalls and small niche businesses facing healthcare. No,
1:39:55
no.
1:39:57
No commodities here having robotic surgery
1:40:00
Your surgeon if he uses our product if not, why not? No products do what ours do. It's all about the processes baby. Any who's john thanks for your and Adams guidance during these dark days my amygdala is slowly shrinking, but my liver might be taking a beating. Would you please plant jobs comments for me to continue to grow noodle gun jingle because it makes me laugh and i f cancer from my colleague Kelly, who is currently in hospice after a long courageous fight. yours and your families are in our prayers special shout out to my nurse and anesthesiologist. crna colleagues and all the other doctors nurses and tireless caregivers working out there COVID or otherwise don't retire. God knows I can't have reformed douche. David Gomez
1:41:04
locked and loaded.
1:41:06
jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs for jobs.
1:41:17
Gu spotbot is next on the list from Syracuse, New York. It's $333 dot zero. A respectfully I have to disagree, though.
1:41:29
According to KTLA, his initial reporting out of 52 arrests, there were six firearms recovered.
1:41:36
More police reports have come out since then. Were these The only guns all found by Magic City spanning gun metal detectors? Or is this a fairly random sample of the people who happen to be arrested? I think the phrase will be wild was understood as a dog whistle by the whole bunch of preppers who showed up ready for Trump to say all right, let's go get these crooks. All right.
1:42:07
You're innocent disagreement is no. Noted. Thank you, spot. You're anonymous in Charlotte, North Carolina. 333.
1:42:17
Thank you for all that you do your work is priceless. But the shameless plug isn't to any job creators. I am an employee benefits consultant that exposes corruption in insurance.
1:42:30
email me
1:42:35
at protonmail.com for a walk a walker broker
1:42:43
broker broker nice anonymous.
1:42:47
What do you do with it? I don't know. No. That's I sent him a note
1:42:51
was 333 benefits at protonmail Matthew Wilson $300 no genius no karma. We love it. I just giving 20s and Xing and singles. No Manning no goat thought you guys could use some cash to stay afloat. Oh, it rhymes. Thank you. That's a nice No thank you. Matthew palm, sir bill love in Plano, Texas. 249 44. Associate executive producer. Hey, guys. Hey, jingles prep fisting nuts. I need another job. Carmack Give me the classic since TPP. hasn't worked yet. Which is the information we need by the way. I'll share it with my buddy Chris in Florida who's currently a douchebag Oh.
1:43:35
Only because he's been looking for an IT manager job for two years. Thank you for your courage, sir. Be below go for
1:43:44
your peeve about the fisting method of eating stocks. I see this on the airplane and it's very annoying and I think it will result in in fights breaking out because it just so annoying to watch. guy takes his bag of peanuts, throws a pile of them into his palm of his hand and then he makes a fist around the nuts.
1:44:09
And then he shakes his fist to try to bring a nut to the little hole.
1:44:17
throws a nut in his mouth from his
1:44:21
bed he does it again he shakes and throws and shakes and throws.
1:44:25
It is annoying as hell to watch jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs for jobs.
1:44:35
They production notice this is no longer classified as a jingle. It's an end of show mix is 46 seconds long. It's a little long, long. Unless someone wants to make an edit then I'll be happy with it's too long.
1:44:51
Sure Darren O'Neal might want to do that here. No. coquina Illinois to 2976
1:45:00
He's an Afghan sir and this donation of 229 76 is an honor today being the 33rd anniversary my first date with my spectacularly patient and beautiful wife, Kim.
1:45:12
Health karma works. I requested it for my mom's double bypass and it has carried her through her bypass and subsequent calling colon cancer surgery and treat while she's doing well please send out an F cancer for both my mom and also my cousin Kevin was recently diagnosed with tonsil cancer. He wow I've not heard that. I never heard of it either. This donation is also the Vig owed to both of you from donations my podcasts have received during the valley for value model. I would like to formally ask JC D to be a guest of Sir bemrose and mine on grumpy old Ben's as he is by far the most requested guest our producers have asked for Well, we'd love
1:46:00
everything over we'd love to discuss any and all tech topics with the original cranky geek. In the meantime, everyone can get caught up with my shows on grumpy old Ben's dot com and rent random Do you MB thoughts calm? Sorry for the shameless plug. But podcasting is easy. Thanks for keeping us all sane. So Darren and Darren Thank you Darren for the Darren does so much for the show including some workaholic debt guy the rock'n'roll pre show which she does she's a multi talented maniac he is it Yes, he is multi talented is quite do we even know what he does in real life?
1:46:44
I think he's just done on welfare.
1:46:49
Are you trying sorry are you printing something? No, that's a jackhammer next door Thank you very much. Oh my goodness sounded like a you can pick it up this behind the mic it's really tough tell you what I thought it was which is why I was I thought it was a dot matrix printer. It sounds like birds I'm like You gotta
1:47:07
be kidding me. He's gonna die. No, they still sell those things are really we should hook one up do a printout of one of those nude pictures in ASCII art in ASCII, ASCII nudes.
1:47:22
All he does for the days dot nudes dot ASCII. I got one note on Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I gotta get
1:47:35
you've got to make sure that blasts out to all of Derek's peeps. Here we go. Yeah, so the I'm more annoyed by that noise than you are believe me? Mm hm. And comes in from quenelle bc or Kaz Nell I'm not sure you pronounce it something bc but it's owned by spasm. 222 dot dot in the morning.
1:48:00
This donation is on behalf of my boyfriend uhand buoy Han. Oh, I'm not sure you pronounce that. Hey, you he he and he is one of your biggest fans and aspires to be a knight one day he also talks about your podcast to anyone that might be interested in it. Nice. So for him this donation is his late birthday present and Happy Birthday
1:48:23
uhand I'm guessing I'm
1:48:28
guessing
1:48:29
Tim Hershey i don't know i don't have any idea what it was Scandinavian. Does that mean it's exact producer what's 220 to 22 canon Eva that dog?
1:48:40
dog dog dog dog what is 222 dot 22 in Canada navy and in America it maintain the Navy and money. Alright, we'll move on that would be American money. What is it becoming? Yeah. What is it? What is it Canada avian money. Yeah. Daniel Reese. Daniel reason like, okay, I don't have a note from him in Riverside, California to 1114. I don't have a note from Douglas Kuhlman in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And there was no note for this run of him here. Here it is.
1:49:11
California, Jeff Madrazo. Now note from him. Hold on, hold on. To 2222 is
1:49:19
281 31. So it's not enough. That doesn't make it still great. She's
1:49:26
Daniel Douglas and Jeff. And Jeff's in Fillmore, California. That is
1:49:32
Kendra lamarche in East Haven, Connecticut. $200.08.
1:49:40
And she starts off with your favorite. Hi guys. I started listening in November when my brother told me about your show. Keep up the great work. Oh, by the way, please call out my brother Jay Lamott of old Saybrook Connecticut as a douchebag.
1:49:58
He's too cheap to donate.
1:50:00
Wow, signed Kendra Lamott. East Haven, Connecticut and All that's missing is by
1:50:07
Peter Egan and Golden Valley, New South Wales. 200. bucks. pants, then shoes. No jingles. No karma. Sneaky.
1:50:19
Okay. Anonymous in Jackson, Mississippi. Yeah. This is now it says here I will email you both directly. Keep my name my name anonymous and I believe this is the email you and I were discussing brief all you think that one does that long email? I do have a Yeah, I do. Do you have a gun? It's got secret information in it that we he doesn't know. But if it is what I'm thinking it is, you know, he starts off by saying I've tried to sit down or I'm trying to find right now. And and read this note several times in order to write this note several times. Yeah, this is the China he's in China. Yes, that the 773 words.
1:51:03
I don't know if
1:51:05
the keeper countered him? Oh, I don't know, as long as
1:51:10
you want to just read a little bit from it like, Well, I mean, it's something that would be nice to reprint someplace like on the cosmic weenie or something. It's a good note.
1:51:22
There's notice it's doesn't it's not concise enough to. He just is lamenting the fact that if you live outside of US media and social media for so long really opens your eyes to the evil of these groups. As an example of two weeks of no US media, no social media and admittedly no English language conversations about politics. I had more energy and was able to rapidly learn a new language, something I'd failed that before. There was like my mind was constantly wasting time trying to make sense of the constant flow of conflicting and paradoxical statements. I think that's valuable. observation. Human beings cannot live in a paradox and that feeling you get listening to politicians speak. That is a paradoxical warning. I believe I have an idea. And it's simple enough for anyone to do get a list of all state congressional officials, not those in DC. Many of these people do not support what is happening in Washington. They will read their emails and they will read their snail mail, send them a simple request and send this to everybody regardless of their party. I would like to stay to amend all employment laws to prohibit any discrimination due to political affiliation, or assumed affiliation. We would like to state to amend all employment laws to prohibit any inquiries regarding political affiliation or assumed affiliations. This would benefit everyone who writes, including the people who see themselves in currently favorable groups, groups shift politics change, people never win if their livelihood can be impacted, or simply existing. And it goes on with this complaint.
1:52:53
So I appreciate it. And we both read it.
1:52:58
Yeah, 770 there was something at the end here. Well, you look through that now. Yeah, he was I'll just read this little bit. So he says you'd like to get my hands. I'm the old fart. He says right there.
1:53:10
He wants to prediction on 2022 and then after he's done any once you you need to something about the Oh, yes. Yeah, this is not happening. I'm gonna I'm gonna answer for Adam. Okay, this is someone who's been out of it so long doesn't realize that Adam already did this.
1:53:28
He writes, after we're done with lockdowns and insanity, I think you need to offer a course we're building an independent Podcast Network.
1:53:38
Not an exit strategy. I could easily be the primary to get people back into building their own tech. Yes. Thank you. podcast. index.org. join in the fun open for all in it again. Yeah.
1:53:52
Yeah, this is a new new version. podcast is a pod show. version three. Yeah, I don't think so. That's that's not what I'm doing.
1:54:04
That's not what we're doing. It doesn't have to be the same exact thing that we're building. We have anyone that wants a jingle. I'm always going from my favorite which is the share secret as you can find it. share a secret. It's not tell a secret. Let's hold hands and tell a secret I think. Yes. That's why I always get it wrong. Oh, there's no winning. We don't like to foster a competitive atmosphere. But we laugh a lot. Now everyone can share a secret. Oh, share a secret but the title is tell the secret. Okay. Got it. Then that's where we're headed.
1:54:38
That's it. We're writing right back on track.
1:54:43
Eric, sink Meyer from Michigan Fort gratiot.
1:54:50
In the morning from getman, North stem lager Michigan as a listener for over a decade. I used to have a very small subscription donation for a short time of when PayPal
1:55:00
Forgot the subscription. It happens check your subscriptions people. I had three comes in one, three kids in one income. Two are now in college. Wow.
1:55:10
Kids have grown up with us. Two are now in college. Which is good Ivy League no doubt, but I still had a little extra dollar income and I wanted to get deduced. What was
1:55:24
he doing? I punched my smokin hot wife in the mouth this summer and while dollars is still tight, she was on board with the donation. The family that no agendas together. I'd love a jobs karma for the handyman construction side job a buddy of mine and I started during the demmick we'll do that for you once a suasana for 6969 us was on office we call the end of That's true. We got that for you and thank you so much.
1:55:50
That's true jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs.
1:56:00
Trevor loman in Loma Linda California down south from here 200 bucks. Thank you for reading my note last week and mentioning my coffee roasting business. Good boy coffee. Good boy coffee. Here's the 20% promise since the last show. More specifically $13 and 63. Is your share from the last show. I'm donating the rest I suspect it would have been more than $13 but unfortunately john see where the C stands for cold read. Oh here we go.
1:56:33
Read the URL in crow nose. This is horrible that we botched their marketing. Yeah, that's right. I'm guessing this what happened to ko and good buy coffee. No no stop Stop. Stop. It's good boy coffee co.com you're already botching it. I use it must have something against this point. Let me try it. Good boy coffee code.com Good boy coffee code.com maybe Adam should read this next part to be safe. And he just did mention this show on his own he didn't even ask.
1:57:11
Right mentioned the show for 20% donation strong work on your cupping knowledge john thanks guys. No jingles no karma Thank you very much. It's very kind know about the cupping. No agenda where the make goods are paid for by the marketer. I know what a model what a model.
1:57:31
Pay attention advertisers. These are people who give a crap about our product and we care about them. That's what's going on here. That's what's really going on. Lieutenant winters in Nashua, New Hampshire $200 and we're almost done. Thanks for being one of the few sane voices left in the world if you acknowledge the donation please refer to me as Lieutenant winners. Thanks okay. That's what we did. You got it. And last but not least is Dame g money. g dollar sounds e money. It's her name is G money. That's what it is your money.
1:58:05
in Dallas. She's in Dallas 200 bucks.
1:58:08
throwback jingle j CD yearning for his old school Bakelite phone. That was actually the tech crouch ITM john and Adam, I'm kicking off 2021 the right way with a donation to the best podcast in the universe. I can't I can't I or can I? Please get some think a karma goat will work for this. And thank you for your courage donating his love. Indeed. Dame g money. Thank you so much.
1:58:37
landline, phone should be made out of Bakelite.
1:58:45
You've got
1:58:48
how I yearn for the days of the tech grouch. Now we could do him audio. I think tech rocks would be great in audio to so hard to the problem with the tech grouch. And actually the tech tech hippie too. Yeah, is that I developed these voices for him.
1:59:04
And the tech grouch in particular was painful. Oh, it hurts your throat. Yeah. And I try to make adjustments or I did the I need to go to a voice coach to do that voice correctly, because I was doing it incorrectly. And I was not you went to a voice code. No. I said I need to go. Oh, did you have them show me how to do that voice correctly without hurting my throat.
1:59:31
So all we need is like as a tech grouch saying something like I was OTG before the unit bomber was in the woods, something like that. You know, it'd be good for the show. Yeah, well, you can write the material if you want.
1:59:43
Will you perform? Most of that was ad libbed? I, you are so talented. Yeah, we could do that one of these days. Yeah, we'll put it on the list of great projects. exit strategies galore, everybody and thank you to our executive and associate exactly
2:00:00
Have producers you can proudly display that anywhere you wish because you are one for Episode 1312 of the no agenda show the best podcasting universe anyone doubts that look it up in the Muller report. But if someone really calls you on it challenges we'll be happy to vouch for you. And thank you for allowing us to not be ben shapiro and being told what to and what not to talk about on our very own show. And remember, we do it again with you. On Sunday go to voran.org slash and a value for value All we need is your time your talents and your treasure. Thank you for bringing it our formula is this we go out for hit people in the mouth
2:00:55
to
2:00:57
revisit this Shapiro thing.
2:01:00
What do you think? Who who needed what How did this get initiated in the first place? Why does anybody who's syndicating somebody really care that much about this one topic that you think it was the advertisers or pressure from the the nerds out there that that are Democrats? They bitch about these things? What do you think it was? Oh, cumulus is a radio syndicator. I'm not sure how many stations they carry their show. But yeah, they're big. And your answer? I mean, you already gave the answer. It's because it's pre emptive against advertiser anger, which always comes up. Here's how it works. I hate Ben Shapiro. He's a Nazi. He's a Jew, but let's call him a Nazi anyway. Well, I'm gonna do platform it let me see who is advertising on his show. Ah, hey, Ford. Alright. Hello, station. Hey, man. Yo, yo, Ben Shapiro is a Nazi. And he's a racist. And Ford. Oh, I'm gonna go call Ford. That's how it goes. So they're just pre empting. They don't want the hassle. It's not even ideology. They don't want the hassle, because they know that the D platforming is underway in broad daylight. That's that's the that's the correct business decision. You have to do that. I would if I was the cumulus guy. I probably would. Yeah.
2:02:22
course. I don't know. Did we play this or not? But this is from last year. I think it was a late in the year. Dave Jackson was on the podcast Roundtable. The show with the Dave Jackson. Yeah, the Dave Jackson, the guy the podcast School of podcasting, perhaps on financial. But here, Dave, I think we can pretty much trust our opinion. Now that can be controversial on its own right. Everyone says, Oh, yeah, you might have an agenda. Dave, you work at Lipson. So maybe you have an agenda when you do have podcast information, right? Yeah, that's, I get that as soon as I've been there five years. And anytime I say anything about media hosting people like Oh, you're gonna do that because you work for Lipson, and I'm like, but two of the shows that I trust the most one is congressional dish by Brian Roget, who actually used to read all the bills that went through Congress still does. And she's still almost saying and then the other one is the no agenda show with Adam Curry and Jhansi Dvorak and both these guys have extensive show notes. In fact, Jen is like, Look, if I say something, and you think I'm wrong, bring it I'm not here to go who's wrong and who's right, let's figure out what the truth is together. So it's a completely different it's not the whole I'm right, you're wrong kind of setup. But both those shows are and they they talk about stuff that you just won't hear on on regular TV, which is sad because like they just the no agenda just talked about how there was a reported news that this two month old kid died of COVID, like two months old. Okay, that new story on mainstream media forgot to mention the kid was born with its like guts on the outside of its body.
2:04:04
Hey, I can't wait to listen to that. No agenda show now.
2:04:09
With guts, I mean,
2:04:11
thank you, dad. That's very kind. Well, since we're on that topic, the guys over at gab. They listen to the show. I've known this for a long time, and I've been using their dissenter browser.
2:04:24
Gosh, I think maybe going on a year and a half now maybe maybe two years. I love it. It's a good browser, extremely good browser. I really do enjoy it. And he was you know, since parlay parlour has been
2:04:41
de parlayed.
2:04:44
gab is still one of the games in town and and I've always liked them. I like I liked a lot more when they were federating. I think it was too much for them to handle just the amount of data storage transfer. I mean, it would take too much money. I don't think that you can
2:05:00
It's just too big, maybe, maybe over time, they can try that again. But he's also now jumping on what I'll just call the is the graph fino s bandwagon, which is what I now have installed.
2:05:11
It seems to be the the the operating system of choice for those who want full control over it no Google crap or Apple crap in there.
2:05:20
And he was proud of it. This is the prototype of the gab phone. Yes, that's not the official name. But this is the prototype of the Godfather. So we are building our own smartphone. It's based on the Android operating system. But it is totally removing anything related to Google, it will not communicate to Google whatsoever. It has hardened security and is going to come preloaded with all the gab apps and and parlour and whoever else has been banned from the App Store, by the way telegram is next, you know, they're already coming after them signal is next. They're not gonna allow any free speech on these platforms. If there's if you have free speech on your platform, you're gonna get booted from the App Store, right? So this is still in very early development. I can't say too much on it yet. But this is on that because that's where they're going next, they're going to start censoring At the hardware level. We're already 10 steps ahead. They're also going to start censoring at the browser level. The web browser level we see the chairman of Mozilla come out and say that deep platforming is not enough. Well, you know what they're going to do? They're gonna start blocking gab.com on the Mozilla Firefox browser. Mark my words. That's what's next. I think he's right. The Mozilla browser will start blocking the problem with the most Mozilla Firefox operation. The guy who founded it quit formed brave. While he was at platform, basically, he was thrown out he was killed. He was kicked out for saying, babe, or I don't know, no, no, no, no, he had donated money in the past. That's right to a group that was clearly homophobic or something like that. He gave some money to a charity that was that was not woke. Yeah. And so he got driven out of his own company by the woke, folks at Mozilla. And Mozilla right now is woke. And I think you should avoid their browser and use something else use the brave browser use the gap, the gap browser, there's a lot of browsers out there. And I would avoid using Mozilla. And I would say this is a shameful company. Oh, yes, of course, their money comes from from Google. they would they would have looked at it would have been dead if it wasn't for Google. And for for Andrew torva. Please consider putting one of our podcasts in 2.0 apps on there with a pre subscribed list. just telling you how much cooler you can make. It's the left decentralized podcasting, like podcast addict, does it play a pod? wanton new podcast app.com and put a pre subscribed list in there with no agenda show me because I know you listened to it. And he even follows some of our philosophy. We launched our own browser on free speech browser dissenter.com, about a year and a half ago. So you can go and get that it blocks big tech trackers, and ads. By default, it has a built in free speech commenting system. So you can go to cnn.com. And even though they don't allow comments, you can leave comments and see what other people are saying. And there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop you. So we have a browser already. Now we're working on a phone, that's next. gab is not just the Facebook alternative, all right. It's not just a Twitter alternative. We are the Silicon Valley alternative. We are going to take these guys down. Metaphorically, of course, we're gonna win. And we're gonna win with your help. because like you said, our business model is value for value. We're treating us data service and selling you value for value. There you go. I'm liking it. Yes.
2:08:35
While we're talking about these sort of companies getting kicked off and they collude. This is an interesting clip from some attorneys. He was a when a state's attorney or some somebody who's on Fox, and this is the attorney on collusion. I thought this was interesting.
2:08:51
And former assistant US Attorney Andy McCarthy, this is brand new news, and he just happened about an hour ago. What do you make of it? They alleged there's a monopoly. You can't stifle them. What do you think? Do they have a case? I think, bill that this is an unusually brazen amount of what looks like collusive activity between the big tech companies in connection with this one target parlor, where when you Marshal it, it doesn't really take a rocket scientist to put this together and say, you know, they're trying to do a knockout punch on this business, which is a potential competitor of theirs in certain contexts, particularly Twitter. So I think it's surprising because you don't usually get this kind of this kind of really brazen evidence of these companies working together against this one company. Can you prove they're working together? Or is it just suggested do you think? Well, you always need an investigation like this bill to get a look at what the internal communications are and the emails and all that stuff, but to see something you know, rat tat tat
2:10:00
happened like this. What we usually tell juries in trials is that you don't check your common sense at the door and when things kind of fit together the way these seem to fit together it's a rational inference that people are colluding any collusion
2:10:16
Yeah.
2:10:17
They are colluding and whenever Apple is in the bunch then you know it was really organized and coordinated Apple does not do anything.
2:10:27
knee jerk ever very very tightly run ship so and they are clearly anti anti free speech and just delicious and that the whole company but the the vibe there is holier than now they're not even woke they're holier than that. We stand above all this. I'm Tim Cook. I'm here to launch my new thing, which is not a product. Do we know what he launched? By the way it was it was it something super exciting? Well, my understanding in advance was it was going to be some tracking stuff for the COVID Oh, how exciting.
2:10:59
Time to smash your iphone iphone II. I have a few COVID things which I would like to start sharing here. And a bit of an analysis which I found interesting. Well, we get I play one COVID Thank you. I insist. I insist. Well, this is the COVID that is apparently China's got some issues. They got a COVID thing going on. They got they got a report. Is it just a COVID the COVID China Oh, f from France. 24 tried to report six first Coronavirus to Coronavirus death in eight months. Despite being the origin of COVID-19 the world's most populous nation, the tally, just 4795 fatalities to date and under 10 or 100,000 cases. Also, this Thursday, a team of scientists from the World Health Organization will start an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 in bouddhanath Oh, and the origins, please one get in China.
2:11:58
You know the the or we all know the origins of COVID-19. And it was really spelled out perfectly by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom's no longer Europe
2:12:11
where they are now modeling their new first uniforms for the uniform services for Tex. Europe. EU has a it's not an army, but they got uniforms getting closer. So Bo Jo was in the climate without their hosting the climate, one bullcrap for climate change the precursor to the new Paris accord, whatever it is, he's all in. And we always need to remind people that COVID is because of climate change, because of our total disregard and, and, and disrespect for Mother Nature. That's why we got COVID. Or, obviously, it's right to focus on climate change. Obviously, it's right to cut co2 emissions. But we wouldn't achieve a real balance with nature next week with our planet unless we protect nature as well. And one final thought, don't forget that
2:13:10
the the coronavirus pandemic was the product of a
2:13:18
an imbalance in man's relationship with the natural world. I like the original plague that struck the the Greeks I seem to remember in Book One of the Iliad, it is a sewer notic disease, it originates from, well, whether it's bass or I'm winding up. But whether it originates from backs or pangolins, from the demented belief that if you grind up the scales of a pangolin, you will somehow become more potent, or whatever it is.
2:13:53
Mankind and the natural world, and we've got to stop it. And that's why I think that this summit is important. And this focus on the natural world and on biodiversity is absolutely critical. You can imagine that the CCP the Chinese Communist Party is outraged by his comments because that is clearly racist. Because we all know it's only Chinese who do such nutty things, grinding up the scales of the pangolin to produce boner pills.
2:14:30
Do you remember the other day? And back by the way, the way it's pronounced is zoonotic. Yeah. jus notic, not zoa notic, no zoonotic? Nobody. Oh, good.
2:14:43
I mean, you think because I'm always bitching about so ologies Yeah, but that is to be true on it all day. So you know, no, it's pronounced zoo. notic hear me the other day. The British do pronounce things differently. So but you remember the other day, I was reading the
2:15:00
The shaming the repent message from Forbes magazine, how they were going to assume if you hired anyone from the Trump administration, you're liars. And if that person is a PR person, they're liars. They will go after him. Yeah. Do you know who owns Forbes media use it odd Republicans who own it? Yeah. Except Forbes was sold to
2:15:22
HMA in 2017. Chinese?
2:15:29
That would make sense. Yeah, I know, Steve Forbes came out with a statement, I didn't record it, I could have put it on the show. apologizing kind of goes to advertisers gonna be, he never really got around to firing the idiot who wrote that editorial. That guy, by the way, should be on a list. I'm gonna just say it. The list we should have is a list of all these companies that have done all this stuff, you know, not gonna hire not gonna hire that gonna do this not gonna do that not gonna give any money to Republicans, put them on a list and put that guy on a list. He shouldn't be hired by anyone. He's a, he's an editor, you shouldn't hire
2:16:03
a hipsters or
2:16:06
put him on that list.
2:16:10
We heard about the dark winter. And I have some analysis of this concept of the dark winter, which I think we know that that at one point in 2014, maybe it was, it was even earlier than that. It was some kind of biological warfare exercise. And it was a tabletop or it was kind of like probably more like an event 201 type thing. Well, here's what's going to happen is that we tell the media.
2:16:37
And we kept hearing this term crop up in the media, which is why everyone started to look further into the hole. But there's a Wikipedia page for dark winter for this exercise. Here's a quick supercut of the mainstream media and five m discussing or not discussing, using the term dark winter, we're about to go into a dark winter, a dark winter, I have no plan to have a dark winter, we're still facing a very dark winter, we're entering a dark winter, my heart goes out to each of you. In this dark winter of the pandemic when he talked about a dark winter, a dark winter, my opponent is promising a long dark winter, we are facing a very dark winter, we're still in the middle of what will be a very, very, very dark winter. It could be a long, dark winter without better planning 2020 who would be the darkest winter in modern history? What are the priorities for who in getting through this dark winter, we're in for a long, dark winter before a vaccine becomes broadly available. The courage and judgment to lead us through this long dark winter has been the
2:17:45
winter of the pandemic and what we've all had to endure and what we're going to have to endure during this very dark winter to combat this virus and to save as many lives as we can. I said in March it was gonna be a long dark winter. We're still in that long dark winter, the US faces the darkest winter in modern history. Britain is braced for a duck winter as new measures are deployed to stem a surge of Coronavirus. And more than nine months into the pandemic COVID-19 is spreading with a vengeance. It has now killed a reported 280,000 Americans according to Johns Hopkins University, record numbers of new cases and hospitalizations increased concern that a dark winter is ahead. All I can tell you is the truth.
2:18:27
We're in a very dark winter, things may well get worse before they get better.
2:18:33
I forget who the producers name who did that. But good job. I'd like the ominous music underneath it, put some of their own fire on him. So here's an analysis of this term and how it's being used by Heiko schoening. He's vice president of the world freedom Alliance. I don't know what that is. It could be a Chinese front, I have no idea.
2:18:55
But I liked his analysis of the term and how it relates to the COVID and what kind of situation we're in right now. But this mess panic one was created them by the governments and by the media was and tricks and tricks and tricks like now, Corona, Corona, Corona. And well they created a law in December 2001. And this is nearly exactly the law that happened now in Germany on the 18th of November 2020. So and this was the model state emergency powers act of the draft of December 21 2001. So it looks like that the antrix event in 2001 is like a blueprint of this Corona virus in 2020. We have a lot of our similarities and cold words. Interestingly. So we know from the anthrax Yeah, it was not foreign attack. There was a domestic is and this is official in the government of the United
2:20:00
Say it's okay this anthrax attack was not a foreign check was a domestic attack. Because in December 2001, there was a scientific investigation. And it came out that the anthrax came out of the US Army lab 400%. There, the government admitted this. So what happened? All the mass media panic was coming from 100% down to 0%. Most of the people didn't know. I can't remember of the antrix The answer was something.
2:20:31
All right. So that's his setup.
2:20:34
And I was living in Europe at the time. So the anthrax scared. Tinnitus was weird. It didn't come across. I mean, there was just, it was too confusing. The European 2001 EUROPEAN NEWS wasn't covering stuff well enough to keep her though. She was in Florida, and she remembers it was right near her in Boca where it's discovered. So this guy continues, and he ties it into
2:21:00
something surprising. Well, Doc, one two was the name of the simulation in 2001. Before this viral threat happened as more in reality. Yes. And very interestingly, yes, there is a man from duck winter one of the planners who have the connection to the great reset of today. What's going on, though, the financial great reset of clouds trust, we must not miss this unique window of opportunity. And is there a direct connection between dark winter and Klaus Schwab? Yes.
2:21:32
And his name is Mr. david gergen. He was the planner of dark winter, he sat on the table with the Central Intelligence Agency with the Johns Hopkins University. And now he's sitting at the board of the Klaus Schwab foundation.
2:21:50
foundation forces behind or has a connection to this so called great reset. Yes, exactly. All right. I like it. Klaus Schwab connected to the amps
2:22:05
after the anthrax dark winter exercise. love these people. They always keep you guessing
2:22:15
what you're gonna do now Klaus?
2:22:18
What's he gonna do? No. I think he's lost it. Klaus, I was looking at the history of the we have somebody on the no agenda social that's following this operation very closely. She came over from Twitter, I invited her Oh, nice.
2:22:35
And spin the spin girl.
2:22:37
And
2:22:39
I was looking at the history of this operation did and Schwab went off the he's in his 80s he went off the rails about and I think his needs to be explored a little bit. I think we will I will for sure.
2:22:52
About six, seven years ago, and he started having little
2:22:58
meditation sessions and all these crazy New Age crap, started sneaking into the I was looking at a rundown. But of all places in New York Times. And there's also certain things that they did themes they had from year to year to year. And about five or six years ago, this guy lost it. And now he's producing this nutty stuff. And I think it's this
2:23:22
guy, unfortunately, I think he's still taking seriously, we have to we have to we have to reveal what's going on here. Because this is nuts. I mean, this is where the that movie came from. We haven't really explored much. We talked about which movie The movie was. Oh, there's gonna be no more private property. Everything's gonna be it's not a movie. it's it's a it's a World Economic Forum promo about the future where you don't owe anything. Yeah.
2:23:49
Yeah, they love it. That's what that's their dream. Get Everybody streaming from Netflix to increase their credit score. On nothing, rent everything be in debt for all. It's the future. Don't you love it kids?
2:24:03
It needs to be discussed more than we do.
2:24:07
Something that we knew would be a story at least we caught one, one verse or two versions of it. See you again tomorrow night. Now it's time for the last word, lawrence o'donnell. Good evening, Lawrence, Jr, Rachel. And of course, the invasion of the Capitol was also a super spreader of events, including apparently, in the safe room where they were holding members of the house representatives. We're going to be joined tonight by All right, so that was msnbc ABC had kind of the same idea. And now there's concern that last week's riot in Washington may have been a COVID Super spreader event to Congresswoman say they don't have said positive after some of their fellow lawmakers were seen not wearing a mask. Now it's subtle. I believe that this verse for some people saying this. They are creating an invisible connection between people who are sick and spread sickness and
2:25:00
Republicans or Trump supporters.
2:25:05
And I truly think they're trying to make that case. And it makes sense.
2:25:11
When you think about how a large majority of the population if they get COVID are so upset because they feel they have done something wrong.
2:25:25
Yeah. And
2:25:28
that was something just just hit me there was something about some school I think it was the woke Elementary, maybe where they were teaching the kids that you know, to be sorry, or how to apologize because they killed grandma. Because they came home and spread it and I gotta find that it wasn't a clip on unfortunately.
2:25:48
Anyway, I think this is a connection that's being made on purpose, and it will spill over. And you can identify these crazy horrible people easily. This morning. Airlines cracking down against unruly fliers following last week's Riot at unruly fliers means republicans at Trump magga hat wearing people that's your unruly flyer capital at least two congressmen asking the Federal Aviation Administration to find disruptive passengers $35,000 per violation.
2:26:19
Applause as this woman is escorted off an American Airlines flight and DC Sunday American saying she was not complying with math policies. Passengers say she was yelling about tyranny.
2:26:34
The crackdown comes as videos emerge, showing a growing number of incidents on flights to and from DC after the riot. On this flight from Washington to Phoenix Friday, the pilot was threatening to stop midway if passengers did not follow the rules.
2:26:54
The list of banned passengers also growing United Airlines banning 60 people for mask violations just last week, and Alaska Airlines banning 14 people on one slide alone the FAA tweeting that federal law prohibits you from physically assaulting or threatening to physically assault the crew and anyone else on an aircraft you could be subject to fines up to $35,000 and imprisonment.
2:27:20
I'm really sad because I saw something live which I cannot find. It wasn't on c span. I saw it for it was on msnbc for a moment. It was Chuck Schumer in New York, you know one of those tight shots where he's on the sidewalk and he has a lectern there. And he was calling for these types of people unruly people to be put on a no fly list, not not just a you know, you should be banned from your airline, oh, put them on the federal No Fly List register. So they can never fly again. And he's doing this whole thing. He's holding up the No Fly List rule book or whatever it is. And all of a sudden, an old an older Jew and probably younger than him but older Jewish woman confronts them, she gets in front of him in front of the camera, unfortunately, and she starts going on, you should be ashamed of yourself, especially for a Jew. We went through this with Hitler, you are literally making people other and less than human use and just went off and it was it was a whole minute. And Schumer just stood there like a deer in the headlights his security detail didn't know what to do. If no one was doing anything she just kept on railing at it and then they they cut away and that was it. It was not in any other network. I can't find the clip was beautiful. Well maybe somebody out there can find a clip that's that sounds like a great clip but Schumer is in fact he's other ring. He's othering that's Yeah, that's the charm
2:28:51
of the ring, which is wrong. It's wrong. It is very wrong. ABC World News now.
2:28:59
They're on board with helping to combat the narrative which comes from official research that asymptomatic spread is kind of bullcrap.
2:29:08
So we have to counter that some gorillas at the San Diego Zoo are believed to be the first primates have their kind of test positive for COVID. So officials say eight animals are believed to have the virus and several have been coughing. It's believed that they were infected a member of the zoos wildlife care team who has been asymptomatic. They're being treated with vitamins, fluid and food.
2:29:32
hydroxychloroquine Yeah. So hey, just so you know, humans can split it to gorillas so they can probably spread it to you.
2:29:42
Canada's in a new lockdown. It's pretty severe. Solicitor General Sylvia Jones who's responsible for health and security or something. Let me be clear. If people are found not complying with these orders, they will be subject to fines and persecution.
2:30:00
Nice, premier Doug Ford. If you love your grandparents and I know what you do if you love your parents, love your neighbors, your co workers, please follow the process follow the guidelines that we put out there. I just I just can't stress it enough. And if we don't, we're gonna see the numbers that we saw the modeling Dr. Brown showed us and if that isn't scary enough, I don't know what it is.
2:30:27
These lockdowns
2:30:30
the Netherlands was promised
2:30:35
January 15, would end their most recent lockdown that has now been renewed to February 9. And from everything I understand the Netherlands will follow Germany's example and will have a hard lockdown into April.
2:30:52
April, my daughter called me and she she'd kind of broken down like that. It's just I know three people who have committed suicide, friends of mine losing their house, nowhere to go.
2:31:07
It's heartbreaking. They're truly truly with bullcrap. completely unnecessary. I'm walking on free rent free man in Texas, if not more people dying, perhaps even less.
2:31:23
My column ran in substack to one very good slow clap slow clap for the substack was was a great column.
2:31:31
Got some attention here in there. And I think I'm by confirmation clip is the one I played about China wishes they had one death. Yeah. Can you want you want to summarize just briefly? Yeah, the columns? Well, the column says that. I blame much of this unmask hysteria people. And that's we all we do is discuss the mass hysteria aspect on this show where people get the COVID they get all freaked out. Because they're hysterical from the get go, and they're expecting the worst, they're gonna die and all the rest now. And the thing that I noticed is that and at first I started comparing African nations death tolls, like Nigeria with half of our population as like four or 500. Dead, not, you know, 400,000. And why? And so I asked the question, why are we in the United States number one in the world for this, we only have 4.2% of the population and 20% of the cases, it makes no sense. China has nothing. and India with the three or four times our population has half as many of everything. And so I blamed it, I would what could cause this Ellen, the constant barrage by the media, and just never ending relentless barrage, we play clip after clip for months, about Oh, it's the worst thing ever. And oh, we're all gonna die. Oh, you're gonna get it, oh, wear a mask. And it goes on and on and on. And if you'd look at countries without mass media, like ours, and the one in the UK is got another mass media very similar, very, very hyperbolic, it is panicky, it's, it's, it did sensationalizes everything. That's what we do in this what they do. If you look at country with none of that, like China, for example, or most of Africa, there's no the COVID numbers are way down. They just take it for granted. And they go on and on their merry way. And so I put two and two together. So there's the media that's causing this is causing people to actually have and there are responses. They're notorious, you can look it up. how people can catch make themselves sick, literally make themselves sick. And there's tons of examples of this over history by just being freaked out. And this is what's going on. Yeah, it was a really good piece.
2:33:46
It really was. And I love it. I love your sub stacks because usually a sub stack
2:33:52
because I only subscribe to a couple you know about halfway through like I can't handle it. Glenn Greenwald is too much copy.
2:34:01
Matt Taibbi please condense. I lose interest. I will just pat myself on the back. Yeah.
2:34:11
I know the limits of short form writing and do what happens with people that are in the that are being published constantly where they have the limits, because they have to they have to fill space. And this takes a while to get used to but I've been writing online for 20 years or more. So I launched hansmann no ideas. You want shorter not longer. And I've seen this before a lot of writers Oh my God, I don't have any limits. I can just go on and on and on. I don't think tayyiba is too bad. I mean, he is goes over he writes about 2000 words when he should be writing 1200 or 10,000. But great Glenn Greenwald has always needed somebody to stop him, because he'll just write for days.
2:34:54
And he does. He does.
2:34:58
Yeah, so you got enjoyable nuggets.
2:35:00
Okay, I got a three parter. And this is about the vaccine. And as we've shifted, we've gone from the models, the to 2.3 million people will die in America. Remember that people remember that back in February, March.
2:35:16
We we we saw the switch the moving of the goalposts. We're now in day 390 of flattening the curve in two weeks, in case you forgot. We went through a ventilator shortage, which wasn't where's the where's that now? Why how many ventilators a big army, the big giant shifts, we had ships. We had the Javits Center where car shows boat shows are done. We had emergency hospitals around the country, not us but now now we're out of out of beds, we're out of ICU beds, we're all gonna die shut up slaves sit home and get depressed until the vaccine comes now the vaccine is coming it's like wow, you know,
2:35:56
the vaccine he can still give it to you can still kill grandmas you get away mass, social distance. It's all not true. They have lied to you to us continuously. pushing pushing, pushing the goal. Oh, just let's do it. Come on. We're all Americans well know. The years the problem with the vaccine. I finally found someone to deconstruct it. His name is Dr. David Martin.
2:36:21
Oh, yeah, this is good. I'd before you play that I gotta say something.
2:36:27
So they put set up a shop or shut up shop in scrim Washington, which is near Port Angeles for people to get shots, I think was an Indian reservation, they got a bunch of shots. And so they told everybody to you know, you can come in as the shots started, I think this morning. And they had all these people going to Eric around the block his report. Darren, this is cars, it's a car drive thru shot. Yeah.
2:36:51
The cars are blocking the roads. They're going back miles.
2:36:56
The first cars before they weren't even open. We're here. We're jacked up at 3am. there waiting. It was gonna start at 10 or something. People are just really they dynamite want this shot? There's nothing I mean, there are flocking to these shots. I just want to mention that. Yeah. Because this what we've been predicting. Because that's what people do. Because they've been told to do it by the media. And you can thank the media for that. We'll play clips like this.
2:37:24
to no avail. Even Christina, like,
2:37:28
I should probably just take the shot they want. They're not gonna let us travel anywhere. And that's what it is. You break people, you break them. And then, of course, they're gonna say, Dr. Phil, give it to me. Give it to me. Dr. Bill. Dr. David Martin, it was a rather odd YouTube channel, from what I understand he's done a lot of he's a lawyer.
2:37:53
And practices in medical field and in medical trials specifically. It's kind of weird, because he has his I guess, his wife, who is either Australian or British. And she kind of almost is sitting on his knee. And she's going Oh, yeah, you know, she's,
2:38:09
he's like,
2:38:10
if I didn't, I don't know the guy, but you'll bite in approach. I mean, but she's beautiful. And she just just like, does echoes, you know? Yeah, that's right.
2:38:21
It's a sidekick. But it almost looks like she's sitting on his lap. That doesn't matter. I cut her out. I want to just hear what he has to say.
2:38:28
So he's going to explain why the vaccine and I'm talking specifically about Madonna, and the Pfizer, these are what we've been told is this new new technology. He says it is not a vaccine by what it does or the legal definition. And it is a sense that you're in five a mainstream media is not helping you to form informed consent. You know, agenda show has to do it. So when Madonna was started, and if you go back and look at their SEC filings, and we've gone through all their SEC filings, they make a point of saying that their technology is a gene therapy technology, gene therapy technology, you'll notice that they don't say vaccination, and it was set up to be a cancer treatment. So this is gene therapy, chemotherapy. Now let's just stop for a minute. Let's just ask the question. If Anthony Fauci got up and said to everybody, hey, we want you to take chemotherapy for the disease that you may or may not ever have. There wouldn't be a single person raising their hand, the prophylactic chemotherapy, we wouldn't be doing it. You know why you wouldn't be doing it because it's a dumb idea. That's why you wouldn't be doing it. And states wouldn't be able to mandate it and employers wouldn't be able to get it. No employer would be able to mandate a chemotherapy for a disease that you don't have. That would not be a legal thing to do. But they called their technology, gene therapy technology. They made a big point of saying that this was not investigational new drugs that
2:40:00
Gene therapy technology this belonged in the Center for Biologics, potentially even the cdrh, the Center for Devices and Radiological Health. But what they're doing is they're putting together a synthetic fragment of nucleic acid. It's not mRNA. It's not natural. It's not even a natural component of a fragment. It's a synthetic fragment. It's a technology embedded within a fat carrier.
2:40:29
A peg carrier and and that is being introduced into the cell not to induce a immunity from infection with a SAR CMV virus. And it's not to block transmission of it. It's actually to lessen symptoms associated with the s one spike protein, not even the virus itself. The fact of the matter is, this thing is actually not a vaccination.
2:40:57
What I found interesting as I was doing your show prep, is the UK is about to start a large treatment trial. And they're going to be using interferon beta one a. And I remember interferon,
2:41:12
interferon our interface that's, they use that against AIDS.
2:41:17
It's giving people chemo. And this shot is apparently a high tech version, or maybe the medical definition of a chemotherapy, not a vaccination. Now he reviews how the CDC defines this. Why would you say it's not a vaccination? Well, let's look at the legal standard for what a vaccination is. And let's start with the Center for Disease control's own definitions. Two important operative definitions, community is protection from an infectious disease protection from an infectious disease. If you are immune to a disease, you can be exposed to it without becoming infected. By definition. Neither Pfizer nor moderna even claims that to be the case, immunity, you can be exposed to a pathogen infectious disease without becoming infected. Not only is that not the case, we're going to get to this in a minute, but in their clinical trials, they specifically say they're not going to test that. And then the CDC says a vaccine is a product that stimulates a person's immune system to produce immunity, see the definition above to a specific disease protecting the person from that disease. That's the CDC. So let's just stipulate for the sake of this conversation that the CDC his own definition, and what Pfizer and Madonna are doing, do not match, I find this very encouraging news, because if we ever get to the point where travel is restricted, or life is restricted, because you didn't take your mandatory vaccine.
2:42:53
Now we have some different recourse. And I think that'd be very, I don't know, there's no way to break to the mainstream. But once people figure out that you're being given chemotherapy, and not a vaccine, they may change their mind. And that was the CDC. Now he goes into the final clip the the actual legal definition. Coincidentally, he takes two states, I think, Iowa and Washington State, we're just talking about miles and miles of people are lined up lined up in their car to drive through and get some chemo TDC is not the law. CDC is an expression of a agency empowered by the law, but it's actually not the law. So why don't we actually look at the laws where vaccine has been defined? And it turns out, that's a much harder exercise than you would think. Because vaccine, the term is actually not a legally defined term in a normal enormous number of statutes that govern vaccines, which is actually a really interesting thing. But let's look at some examples. And I just pulled a couple examples from the Iowa codes vaccine and I'm quoting means a specially prepared antigen administered to a person for the purpose of providing immunity, immunity once again, the operative definition, which is to say that when exposed to a pathogen, you are not susceptible. That's the Iowa code. How about Washington State, you know, the state that has been absolutely tyrannical and all of its interventions around Coronavirus, allegedly the birthplace of the US experience with Coronavirus State of Washington vaccine legally defined term now this is in the statute means a preparation of a killed or attenuated living micro organism or fraction thereof vaccine means a preparation of a killed or attenuated living micro organism mRNA. synthetically developed by Madonna and Pfizer do not meet this definition.
2:45:00
Now we know why the vaccine menu or the manufacturers of this so called vaccine had an additional specific indemnification brought to life for them, even though manufacturers of vaccines in the United States by law are already indemnified under the biologics category.
2:45:21
This is disturbing, because it's not a biologic correct.
2:45:27
This is the but this does. I mean, wow, can you think of the of the lawsuits that may be possible
2:45:34
and certainly just know, you're not gonna put chemotherapy in me know, they can still have these losses are still possible because the people have been misled. Informed consent that if you're told that you're getting a vaccine, and you're getting a certificate, I got vaccinated. And even in the end, the state of Washington, which has a definition for a vaccine, you're I don't care what your indemnification is, you're not gonna be able to carry it this is like the this is like the indemnification kind of or the or the pile of money that was put together so john Mansfield could cover all this best those cancer cases. That's what's gonna be it's gonna just put everybody Yeah, you get your you get some money out of this deal, but those companies won't stay in business.
2:46:17
Advisors putting themselves at great risk. It's shocking. really shocking.
2:46:24
Really?
2:46:25
Yeah, I mean, because it's so in your
2:46:32
is a gambling going on? I am kind of shocked. I'm gonna show my
2:46:38
Imagine all the people who could do Oh, yeah, that'd be fun.
2:46:51
That's a good place to take a break and we do a few people a thank the show. 1312 Big 1313 coming up on Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Mike. Mike Brewer Brewer, Brower Brewer in wattle Park, South Australia. That's nice. 14824 and I think this bumped him up. Oh, it does. It's a donation of $200 reduced
2:47:17
credit for loopy linndrum. He is pleased credit this donation to loopy and as a result he will need a DD he got
2:47:29
his birthday is on the 15th and we do have nonetheless. Thank you. So we have to remember that put this Yeah, got it. It's in the system. Sir herb lambed of icon of Georgia Baron of Buford dam and Sugar Hill ga 121 21. Thank you. I think he's got a note here. He's got a birthday. Something's coming up.
2:47:52
A Dakota Walker in Redondo Beach, California. 113 86 and other birthday Andy Rogen a regular after Rogan. That's good. Yeah. Oh, so so Rogan is just so you know, just reminding you execs and associate execs can do the jingle thing. Just so you know. And and yeah, and we like putting you put in
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numerology use of numerology. You can send coded messages with numerology. He does want to deducing we do that. Absolutely.
2:48:29
And you're on the birthday list. Gerald Clement Jr. in Oak Park, California. $100 Mike Bateman in Minneapolis, Minnesota nets $100. Charles up to up john up john $100.
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Richard radowsky in Smyrna, Georgia and Richard was heard it will do it at the end for him health karma requests for co workers mom who was rushed to the ER you bet we'll do that.
2:48:57
Sanford felter in Reno, Nevada at 718.
2:49:03
That's an amuse boosh, as he puts it, in anticipation of 1330.
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Use of Shawnee
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small boobs, Adam Wiener is 60 could be one or not a pure Wiener Wiener Wiener one of the two. Sir not appearing on this podcast in Richland, Washington. 5678 Baron Bob of high point North Carolina 35 3010 he will get some health karma for complications with his back surge. Holy crap. Listen to this note. Holy crap. Baron Bob. No, no, you gotta do this now. Baron Bob of high point North North Carolina. Can I please get some health karma I had complications with my back surgery that has left me a pair
2:50:00
diplegic and I'm trying to learn how to do everyday tasks over again while in a wheelchair. Nice, thank you. No, thank you for your courage Baron Bob. Wow. So is that permanent or? Well, we're gonna have to find out I don't know. Oh my goodness yeah health karma health karma right away. You've got karma. Horrible. Sorry. Yeah.
2:50:24
Now the following people are $50 donors name and location starting with Michael Berlin in Odessa, Florida. $50. Evan panico in Bradenton, Florida and Dame Patricia Worthington in Miami, Florida. Bangor Floridians right there. Thomas Hurtado, $50 Bert Wilson 50 sir lab rat of the hill country in Universal City, Texas our topic and metal
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2:52:35
Well, here we go. And the what is the 14th already 14th of January we have on the birthday list. Mmm he says Happy Birthday to her boyfriend, you and you and probably Dakota Walker who celebrates on the 13th sir Kenneth will be 33 on the 15th Mike Brewer says Happy Birthday to loopy Linda will be celebrating tomorrow and Finca fun. Bemelmans says Happy Birthday to her daughter arwin who turns 15 on the 20th Andra handsome hubby Raimi, who will be 48 on January 16, happy birthday from everybody here and the best podcast in the universe.
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They all sit around from time to time as our as our period steps up with more aggregate donations of $1,000 or more. That's why we are very happy to welcome sir Kenneth the norseman of leaf bless leaf as Burnett Kenneth the norseman of that leatherleaf
2:53:42
le iith I should really figure it out when I'm graduation sir Kenneth and thank you so much for your courage. We have two nice things right now on deck so the gentlemen already ready to join us here at the round table. Let's bring out the Blaze. A
2:53:59
nice
2:54:01
pair of pliers next to me Gary and Ramy. Oh gentlemen,
2:54:07
both of you qualify and are very welcome here at the table a round tables no agenda knights and dames. This is where we pronounce the Kate you with your new official title. And I hereby pronounce the KC as night of the greasy Creek in southwest Missouri and surfing finger that playing from the Hague. For you. We have hookers and blow rent boys and Chardonnay. Let's add to that Viscardi Imperial stout
2:54:34
a cup of
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beer and blondes we'll add those. We got some gin Jalen jerboas bong hits and bourbon Misaki and of course,
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if you want to add it to the Scottie here's some mutton to me which is always ready for you at the roundtable here to no agenda show. To get your ring and your ceiling wax and your official certificate please go to no agenda nation.com slash rings and thank you both
2:55:00
thank everybody for supporting the no agenda show. As you know, according to the mole report, the best podcast in the universe.
2:55:13
The no agenda meetups and got a written report here. Let me see
2:55:19
a written report from the East Tennessee meetup. From dr. john Cummins. I want to report on our most excellent meetup last night at the Dandridge Brewing Company. I don't know if Adam reports this stuff or not, Yes, I do. Anyways, we had 18 all non muscled people in attendance and a great ratio 11 male seven female we had a dude named Ben even I don't know if we had any nicer days but we had 12 regular listeners to the show to newbies and for that have not listened but we'll we had a super time for four hours drinking beer, eating food getting to know each other it was it was like a potty. all agreed that we need more parties sooner rather than later. And they're going to do it in the same venue a successful meetup. Congratulations. We love that. on the calendar for let's see tomorrow. We have Kansas City Full Frontal exposure addition at six o'clock. JOHN delitos in Michigan. New on the list for the 16th that Saturday Midland Texas meetup at two o'clock at rusty buckets barbecue also on Saturday, the local 919 Durham, North Carolina at four o'clock the venue may change but for now it's kickback Jack's
2:56:25
tiny amygdala of Anchorage, the one I wanted to go through for four o'clock 4pm Alaska time at Matt anouska. brewing Midtown anchorage on Sunday Sioux Falls. South Dakotans of Gitmo nation that meet up at two o'clock in granite city. And on the 17th we have the Southwest Florida pre inauguration meetup at 1111. At the beach box cafe, and let me see we have on the list the 19th will be Dallas Fort Worth The 20th Quebec City 22nd, Miami 23rd. Pittsburgh,
2:57:01
also Springfield Missouri it's like a world tour.
2:57:06
It's like doing the doing the tour dates for for Beyonce, Quebec City. be fun to hold this time of year. Let's go. Let's go. And I sold
2:57:18
these are the meetups for the next few few days and weeks. You can find all of the meetups at no agenda meetups calm and if you're looking at and saying hey it's really nothing nearby I'm not near Quebec City can what you can do to start one yourself it's easy no agenda meetup calm is like a party. Sometimes you
2:57:58
so since I haven't seen her in 14 months,
2:58:03
I've decided I have to go visit my daughter probably I'm going to shoot for the around February 9 hopefully the lockup will not be continued. But it's unlikely and I've called not been in touch with the embassy because you can't travel you know I'm not allowed to travel unless you have an exemption to the Netherlands on during lockdown. And this these rules changed two days ago.
2:58:27
However, how funny is it? That Yes, media is exempt. And as long as I get an invitation and perform some journalistic media duty which I think I can arrange take a picture no I got a radio show to do I have to report on the United States. I got friends on radio Good idea. Yeah, get me Do I know I'm gonna get an invitation from the Dutch government broadcasting organization. So now you're talking Yeah. And so I don't know if we might be able to do a meet up a clandestine meet up when I'm there. Because you know you can't nothing's gonna be open.
2:59:04
We're just all yours you send me your your you get somebody they've got a place they can. Yeah, you can work that out. That is you should Are you kidding? You can't do that in the Netherlands. People will think on you and then we'll get arrested.
2:59:18
You can manage it.
2:59:21
Well, the underground work during German occupation after they took the bikes away. They're working. They weren't aware. Are those Dutch people? Exactly. Thank you. That's the spirit I'm looking for. That's okay. As long as I'll do that, as long as you can do the show without me.
2:59:37
When I'm in the slammer, I get a hold of mo
2:59:45
Oh, yeah.
2:59:49
I got a couple things they finished with I got good news. Hey, wait first. Do you have an iPhone? What are you gonna do for the end here? I do have one I so it's only the only one I really have. Which is the bullcrap. Oh yeah, this is gonna work. I can't
3:00:00
bullcrap dynamite, no argument you're in. You're done. It's perfect.
3:00:05
Now, I do have to play this. This is the new some recall update. Oh, yes. I believe this might be working a major milestone to recall Gov news. And then wait a minute. Is this a local news report? Yeah. What kind of internet what kind of read is this? A major,
3:00:29
major milestone in the push to recall Gov news and that campaign now has a million signatures. The campaign needs to get about 800,000 more by March to qualify the recall for the ballot. Organizers hope that the recall election will be held in August or September and say former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and john Cox are among the potential candidates.
3:00:56
It's gonna happen.
3:00:58
He doesn't look good. He looks like he's very upset about this. Oh, because he knows he knows he's toast. Like could be if they get together don't get the 800 I think they're doing do they're they're doing save Austin and recall Adler here and they're getting signatures. They're getting closer. They were even at our meetup the other day, how many do you need? Oh, it's not many. I think it's
3:01:20
it's some low amount like 20,000 or something. It's not a lot.
3:01:26
I have some of the world updates here. We've got another number of them. The one note that I think that people like is this 18 second clip from France, France. 24. But even maybe that's South Korean woman that was the president for a while. They arrested her. Yeah. kit Park. Yeah. Well, here's the update on her. South Korea's Supreme Court has upheld a 20 year prison sentence. The former President Park again. Hey, the conservative leader was charged with corruption and removed from office in 2017. In total, she's set to spend 22 years behind bars, and she was also found guilty of election meddling in a separate case. Wow. Yeah, I'd like to do that with Trump. Hey, by the way, yeah, where's jack ma?
3:02:13
No, you still haven't heard? No, not that I know of. It'd be dead.
3:02:21
Got
3:02:23
Italy's falling apart. You know about this. I know a lot about Italy, but I'm not sure what this refers to. Let's listen because only a minute government is having issues with the government and Matteo Renzi has pulled up ministers from his small centrist party out of the cabinet, leaving the coalition without a majority in parliament to move threatens to throw the Euro zone's third largest economy into political chaos. At a time that's battling a surge of covid 19 cases and a deepening recession. Renzi had long been at odds with the current prime minister Giuseppe Conte. After over how billions of euros of eu Coronavirus funds would be spent, leaving Italy's ruling coalition on the brink of collapse. Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced on Wednesday that cabinet ministers from his party Italia Viva were resigning their positions in government and democracy I believe for me is silly for me no vango Marie spitta coma aku troppo in questo brinsea headlong threatened to quit governments complaining about Prime Minister Giuseppe contest plans for spending billions of euros promised by the EU to relaunch the economy. Despite the resignations, Renzi said his party could be open to backing a new administration led by contest it remains unclear what country or his main allies the five star movement and center left Democratic Party will do next. The coalition parties could attempt to renegotiate a new pact with Italia Viva almost certainly opening the way for a major Cabinet reshuffle
3:03:50
I got to talk to Willow she says everything's a mess. Everything's a mess and they're not under any lockdown most of Europe is under lockdown and they're they're kind of not
3:04:00
well it doesn't help with everything. everybody else's lockdown doesn't it's like here we got one stayed locked down South Dakota's never locked down and they're doing fine right but Italy Italy I mean what they haven't learned how can we have a new variant and they're not locking down because we've learned they were the ones that everyone died? Italy Italy now they're all dead.
3:04:22
That's the reason i icon Go ahead. Yeah, I was gonna say I was gonna
3:04:27
go ahead fine. Whatever. Wait, no, you go ahead. Not you go ahead please, please go ahead.
3:04:34
I'm gonna skip this otherwise I have a bunch of people got arrested in Hong Kong that's to be expected by the Chinese. But the tumors that you want to go out I I have a humorous clip for out. Okay, I got it. My my pre humorous clip or a humorous is a humorous is the Tintin art that 10 different people out there like to collect art is the Tintin art auction.
3:05:00
And finally a one of a kind original artwork of legendary comic book hero. Tintin is on sale here in Paris this Thursday. painting was supposed to be used as the cover of the 19 to 36th edition of Adventures of Tintin. In the Far East, the Blue Lotus though it was rejected, because it would have required too many colors in the printing process. If you're interested in trying to acquire it, the auction estimate is a mere 2.8 million euros. I grew up with Tintin. Except it wasn't Tintin in Dutch because it was translated into Dutch was copia.
3:05:38
copia. I don't think many Americans know Tintin. No, they never came over here. They never ever tried to push it here.
3:05:48
final clip for me. And I think that should do it for us is NPR who are very busy reporting on the incoming Biden crime family and what they're going to be doing and changing and bringing into the White House and the Oval Office. And What didn't you know it I had to, I had to clip at least at least half of this two minute report out because it just consisted of barking and whining Donald Trump has been the first president in more than a century without a dog. Next week, Joe Biden restores the tradition with two German Shepherds, major and champ. Major story in particular, is a Wags to riches tale. had someone from the community reach out to please note Wags, to which the riches
3:06:30
to rags to Rich's tail, had
3:06:34
reached out to us who had a litter of German Shepherd puppies and they weren't doing well. Patrick Carroll is executive director to The Delaware Humane Association. He says major and his five litter mates were hospitalized for days.
3:06:49
They had gotten into a toxic substance, we're not sure what but it was curable, but it just required medical care.
3:06:57
So we put them into foster homes once we got them better. One of those Foster's was Joe Biden major found his forever home. Biden fully adopted him in November of 2018. Major will be the first dog to go from a shelter to the White House, but he follows in the footprints of another rescue dog Yuki he is the friendliest and the smartest and the most constant, and his attention of all the dogs that I've known that's President Lyndon Johnson, whose daughter picked up the pump at a gas station in Texas. The Delaware Humane Association is holding a virtual inauguration for the first dog elect.
3:07:35
Dogs
3:07:44
it's bad as empty opera for sure. That's NPR everybody. Unless you're, you're on top of it. Yeah, message. Trump hates dog barking up the wrong tree when you listen to them.
3:07:57
Let's see up next on no agenda. stream.com Oh, the latest episode of podcasting. 2.0. Thank you very much, Darren for putting that on. Also in the show mixes Jessica Nelson Doug Longnecker. Which I will say up front. JOHN did not want me to play. I thought it was no good. No, I didn't say that. I think it's disturbing. But you said you didn't want me to play it? No, I did say I didn't want you to play because I thought it was too disturbing. It's disturbing. I will agree as the survey. So look forward to that. Like you need more disturbing stuff to listen to. And coming to you from opportunity's own 33 here in the
3:08:36
frontier of the capital of of Texas is the drone star stakes theme region number six and the governmental maps in the morning, everybody. I'm Adam Curry. I'm from Northern Silicon Valley, where it looks like traffic's pretty normal, even though it's supposed to be shut down lockdown. I don't know what. I'm Jesse devorah. We returned on Sunday right here on no agenda, please remember us at devore ak.org slash na until then. Adios mofos
3:09:03
in such
3:09:09
servers and bartenders sported red suspenders that stood out in the hallway decor. Wow. Three dangly white signs spelled out story. They put a picture up Yeah, that was Vladimir Putin with his bare chest and then they had these three guys dreamy eyes and the thing was very gay. Bump cheeks like begging you go up there and bump bump the cheek doesn't his wife looks scary. I mean, not like ugly or anything but she looks like mean spirited mean spirited exactly as she does she does like to beat your head off. Her breasts were as big as my head was kind of a wide bottom woman experience kind of attractive but the New York Times does not go to this event. Watching Charlie Rose eat a salad his stomach churning demand. He like shovels that leaves into his mouth and forward. That is you hold the fork. Yeah, well, he holds it correctly.
3:10:00
Not like you.
3:10:02
We all know you hold the forky correctly. And what is brokers a weatherman? Why is he there? Because he left his dirty underwear in the White House. Biden was getting pooped on.
3:10:18
Joe Biden driving around in a yellow Corvette, because he's such a blue doofus. Yeah, he's a doofus. That's right. They were given Biden. Biden was getting pooped on. A lot of fun to drink and get laid. If someone else is paying the bill. I don't notice it that many people are getting laid. Oh yeah, no.
3:10:37
Nancy Pelosi took a picture with the cast from House of Cards.
3:10:42
Hello, there's no smoking. The drinking has changed. Reporters used to drink many bottles of scotch whiskey at every table. Now it's a lot less drinking more wine and escalators told me a lot of food flavor drinks. They're not drinking anymore. You're not drinking anymore. This is very bad.
3:11:03
In the 40s, who would have multiple entertainers, including Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby of animal acts and Hollywood guess Barbra Streisand came to her first dinner in 1962. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in my world that's a celebrity of course the society is different in some are fundamentally different. But there's a certain common ingredients that make up success, basic Liberty so citizens can think and speak freely and journalists can tell people the truth
3:11:41
is going on there.
3:11:49
being so mean, you can read that exact same sentence without the word baseless. Another move.
