Politician raises alarm over Trudeau Govt’s plan to build COVID ‘Quarantine/Isolation’ camps

The camps will be built across Canada

OTTAWA, Ontario, October 9, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – An Ontario politician is raising alarm over the Trudeau Liberal government’s plan to expand COVID isolation/quarantine facilities coast to coast.

Randy Hillier, Independent Ontario MPP for Lanark, Frontenac & Kingston, expressed concern over the “Federal Quarantine/Isolation sites” in the provincial question period late this week.

He asked the Doug Ford government of Ontario if they knew of “how many of these camps will be built, and how many people does this government expect to detain.” He pointed out how documentation shows that the “Federal Quarantine/Isolation sites” could be used for “other requirements” besides for COVID-19.

www.lifesitenews.com/news/politician-raises-alarm-over-trudeau-govts-plan-to-build-covid-quarantine-isolation-camps

Listen to Steve describing the new rules in Australia. I wonder if this will come to Canada also & that’s why the turd wants to build all those camps?

https://youtu.be/nKW1YbsJloA

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/politician-raises-alarm-over-trudeau-govts-plan-to-build-covid-quarantine-isolation-camps-2/

125 Pounds of Meth, Cocaine, Heroin Seized at Texas Border Crossing

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in South Texas seized more than 125 pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin in two separate incidents. The seizure prevented more than $2 million in illicit drugs from reaching the streets of American cities.

CBP officers assigned to the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge in Laredo, Texas, observed a 2007 Dodge Ram truck approaching for entry into the United States on October 6. Officers referred the driver, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, to a secondary inspection station, according to information obtained from CBP officials in Texas.

Officers scanned the pickup truck with a non-intrusive imaging system and detected anomalies. A physical search of the truck led to the discovery of 29.14 pounds of cocaine. Officials estimate the value of the cocaine to be $224,740. Officers seized the drugs and the pickup truck. They placed the driver under arrest.

The following day, officers assigned to the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge observed a 2011 Chevrolet Traverse approaching for inspection. The officers referred the driver, a 54-year-old U.S. citizen, to a secondary inspection station. A scan utilizing a non-intrusive imaging system detected anomalies in the vehicle, officials stated.

The officers conducted a physical search of the vehicle and discovered bundles containing 3.3 pounds of heroin and 94.35 pounds of methamphetamine. Officials estimated the drugs to have a combined street value of $1,962,137.

Officials seized the drugs and the Traverse and placed the woman under arrest.

In total, the officers assigned to these two Texas-Mexico border crossings found nearly 127 pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin with a combined estimated street value of $2,186,877.

“Drug trafficking organizations are persistent in their attempts to smuggle hard narcotics into the United States,” Acting Port Director Andrew Douglas, Laredo Port of Entry, said in a written statement. “Through hard work and vigilance, we will continue to intercept these dangerous drugs at our port of entry before they can harm our communities.”

Officials turned both cases over to ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents for further investigation and referral of charges to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/10/13/125-pounds-of-meth-cocaine-heroin-seized-at-texas-border-crossing/

Cop Admits to Sexual Abusing 2 Young Girls, Instead of 30 Years, He Got Just 60 Days in Jail

Jefferson County, MO — Police, we are told, are society’s finest. Heroic men and women sacrifice themselves to protect society from criminals so that we may live long and safe lives. If this assertion were entirely true, when these fine men and women commit a crime they are sworn to prevent, they should be held to higher standards than the rest of society because not only have they broken a law, but they have betrayed the trust of people they serve.

However, as the case below illustrates, all too often, when a police officer betrays this trust—going so far as to prey on society’s most vulnerable, children—their badge grants them a lower standard of justice and they escape accountability.

A now-former Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy was entrusted by the citizens of Jefferson County, Mo. to serve and protect them. However, protecting and serving were the last things this admitted child predator had on his mind.

According to police, former deputy Joshua Skaggs, 25, was accused of molesting two children on two different occasions. The victims were 14 and 13-years-old at the time of their sexual assaults.

Authorities say the first incident happened on September 3, 2019, when a 14-year-old girl was visiting Skaggs and his wife at the home. While the relation to Skaggs was unclear, the girl’s story is laid out in disturbing detail in court documents.

According to the victim, as KMOV 4 reports, she was awoken around 5 a.m. by Skaggs touching her bare chest below her bra. She said her shirt had been pulled over her bra, and the light from Skagg’s cell phone had been turned on. She told police she thought it was possible that he had taken a photo of her.

The other incident happened when the 13-year-old was visiting Skaggs’ home in July of 2019. The 13-year-old also claimed that she woke up with this child predator standing over her, lifting the waistband to her pants in an attempt to get inside them.

Both girls woke up during the abuse and both girls were terrified of telling anyone because Skaggs was a cop and he would try to hurt them for telling.

“The oldest was extremely scared that he (Skaggs) would come try to harm her,” the mother said in a statement to News 4. “The youngest daughter told us she was terrified he would hurt her or our family, and because he was a cop he wouldn’t get in trouble.”

After the girls came forward in September of 2019, the department made the right decision and fired Skaggs after he denied one incident and then said the first one may have been an accident — as if you can accidentally start sexually assaulting a child as she sleeps. Eventually, Skaggs pleaded guilty to the charges of child molestation and sexual abuse.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-admits-to-sexual-abusing-2-young-girls-instead-of-30-years-he-got-just-60-days-in-jail/

>>11053165

Extortion

UK Facing Massive Tax Hikes Following COVID Spending Spree, Warns Think Tank, As Unemployment Rises

The British government may need to increase taxes by over £40 billion per year in order to prevent the debt accrued during the China virus lockdowns from “spiralling upwards”, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned in a report.

The think tank’s report suggested that a decrease in tax revenue combined with record peacetime spending will force the government to either decrease spending — an unlikely proposition — or increase taxes, in a move that would fly in the face of the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto.

The IFS forecast that the deficit will reach £350 billion this year, representing 17 per cent of British GDP and more than six times initially projected in the March budget.

Tax Rises or Cuts? UK Government Faces Dilemma Over How to Pay for Coronavirus Spending https://t.co/p35LQ0nRE6

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 14, 2020

“Even a government content to keep debt constant at 100% of national income, and borrowing at around £80bn a year, would, under our central scenario, require a fiscal tightening (tax rise and/or spending cuts) worth around 2% of national income in 2024 — over £40bn in today’s terms,” the report said.

The report noted, however, that these figures are based on the current level of spending, meaning that if the government spends more to prop up industries hit by further lockdown, such as the hospitality sector, then taxes may need to be raised further.

IFS director Paul Johnson said that the money being spent to prop up the economy is necessary to prevent economic collapse. He said that as a result of low-interest rates, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak “shouldn’t worry unduly about the debt being accrued as a result. It is necessary.”

“Unfortunately, none of this will be enough fully to protect the economy into the medium run. Without action, debt — already at its highest level in more than half a century — would carry on rising,” he warned.

“Tax rises, and big ones, look all but inevitable, though likely not until the middle years of this decade,” Johnson added.

The report also found that the economic damage during the first half of 2020 caused by the China virus was ubiquitous, with GDP falling in the U.S. and Germany by 11.5 per cent and 14.3 per cent in the European Union as a whole. Yet the sharpest declines in major economies were seen in Spain and the United Kingdom which saw 22.7 and 22.1 per cent falls in GDP respectively.

Delingpole: Boris’s Chancellor Discovers the Magic Money Tree https://t.co/GhroelPBQd

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 11, 2020

The prospect of massive tax hikes comes as the unemployment rate in the United Kingdom reached its highest level in three years.

In the three months to August, the unemployment rate rose to 4.5 per cent compared to 4.1 in the previous quarter. During the same time, redundancies rose by a record 114,000, reaching the highest level since 2009 during the last economic crisis.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/10/13/uk-facing-massive-tax-hikes-following-covid-spending-spree-warns-think-tank/

Aldi Grocery Store in England Fines Slow Shoppers for Shopping Too Long

A Woman has been fined £40 for shopping too long with her elderly mother who walks with a stick and is slow.

She was clobbered with a £40 fine for overstaying the parking the time limit of one hour and 30 minutes.

Aldi have been contacted for a comment.

www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/18787207.aldi-fines-shoppers-spending-long-inside-supermarket/

www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/18787207.aldi-fines-shoppers-spending-long-inside-supermarket/

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/aldi-grocery-store-in-england-fines-slow-shoppers-for-shopping-too-long/

NAZI

Feminists Attack Amy Coney Barrett’s Motherhood: ‘Handmaid’ With ‘Clown Car Vagina’

Feminists freaked out by the prospect of Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court venomously attacked Barrett on Monday, the first day of the confirmation hearings on her nomination to the court, using the fact that she has borne numerous children to wage war on her, with one going so far as to mock Barrett as a “handmaid” with a “clown car vagina.”

Feminist author Lauren Hough tweeted, “It’s a very weird thing to watch these old creeps congratulate a handmaid on her clown car vagina.”

Hough added, “You can tell a lot about how a judge will rule by her fertility so I’m glad she’s already proven hers because the cervix check really shouldn’t be done live. But I’m excited for her to share her casserole recipe and some stain-removal tips.”

Washington Post contributor Jill Filipovic chimed in, mocking, “It does seem telling that the Republicans who have spoken so far have emphasized Amy Coney Barrett’s fertility and family size. It’s almost like the message is, ok you’re a very successful Career Woman, but you’ve justified your selfish ambitions by having seven kids so it’s ok.”

Another Washington Post contributor, Helaine Olen, echoed, “By the way, I’m really tired of hearing about Amy Coney Barrett’s family. I’m sure she’s a great mom! I’m sure she’s better than me! (I can barely manage 2 kids, never mind 7). But she’s not getting voted into a parenting position. Let’s move on.”

As The Daily Wire reported over the weekend, The Washington Post targeted Barrett’s children last week:

The Washington Post targeted the children of Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Friday, running a headline that suggests the children spread COVID-19 within their school, though the children have no ties to the three positive tests and have tested negative themselves.

http://www.scoopyweb.com/2020/10/feminists-attack-amy-coney-barretts.html

Germany Demands UK Submit over Fishing, Competition Rules for Brexit Deal

Germany’s Europe minister has told the United Kingdom it must compromise on the ‘level playing field’ and fishing to secure a free trade agreement with the European Union.

Ministers from the bloc’s 27 member states are meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday to discuss a UK-EU trade deal ahead of the crunch European summit on Thursday.

Germany’s Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth said, according to Reuters, that while he hopes Brussels and London can agree on a deal, the bloc is ready to trade with Brexit Britain on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms from January 1st, 2021, when the UK leaves the transition period.

Remarking that talks were at a “critical stage”, the German minister said that his and other EU nations “expect substantial progress by our friends in the United Kingdom in key areas: in particular on governance, ‘level playing field’ and fisheries”.

There has so far been stalemate over these issues, with the EU wanting any future deal to be arbitrated by its own European Court of Justice (ECJ). Brussels also demands the UK abide by ‘level playing field’ rules to stop it becoming a competitor to the bloc in the region, and for EU member states to retain longterm and significant access to British fishing waters. The UK has maintained that submission in any of these three areas would constitute a failure to regain control of Britain’s laws and territory.

Boris Faces Big Brexit Test: Clean Break, Deal, or Another Broken Deadline? https://t.co/GBSI5nnQwH

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 12, 2020

Some states, such as France, as are more hardline on demanding continued access to UK fishing waters. France’s Europe minister Clement Beaune also said on Tuesday that the bloc has to remain “very firm” in negotiations, particularly on fisheries and the level playing field.

Currently, EU fishing boats can land more than 60 per cent of the fish caught in the territorial waters surrounding the United Kingdom, with Spain and France demanding no change to that arrangement in exchange for a UK-EU free trade agreement.

The UK wants to arrange deals annually, based on zonal attachment where the UK reserves ownership of the fish in her waters. France’s fishing minister Annick Girardin said on Monday the UK’s plan to take back control of her own waters as “unacceptable”.

Ms Girardin described British fish as the EU’s property, continuing: “We have laid out red lines: access to fishing grounds, quotas and the species that we fish today. Europeans must preserve their resources and their access.”

Prime Minister Johnson is facing his Brexit test on Thursday, after pledging it will be the turning point for deciding whether to go WTO or strike a deal with the bloc.

Brexit Party leader predicted that there will be a deal struck in time for the end of the year, but that it likely will contain compromises that will fail to please some Brexiteers.

Boris May Submit to European Court of Human Rights for EU Deal https://t.co/Vz7p9HAxhl

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 9, 2020

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/10/13/germany-demands-uk-submit-competition-rules-fisheries-brexit/

Crematorium Bans Lord’s Prayer Because ‘Chanting’ Is Forbidden Under Coronavirus Laws

A crematorium employee told a minister and mourners they could not say the Lord’s Prayer at a funeral because it is “chanting” which is banned under coronavirus laws.

The minister, 53-year-old Alison Davies, said that when mourners joined her in reciting the prayer during the funeral of a 94-year-old woman at Coychurch Crematorium, in Bridgend, Wales, that the chapel superintendent “wagged her finger” at her and told her that not more than one person could recite it as it would count as “chanting”.

“When I started reciting it, mourners stood up and joined in. The family were only mumbling it quietly and were all socially distanced and wearing masks.

But the chapel superintendent wagged her finger at me and said ‘you can’t do that’,” Ms Davies told The Sun.

The director of the council-run crematorium claimed that her staff were only following government guidelines.

In another set of bizarre coronavirus laws imposed last week by the notionally conservative government, “congregational singing” and chanting have been banned from worship.

Man Scolded for Cuddling Grieving Elderly Mother at Social-Distanced Funeral https://t.co/d347u8dtvQ

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 6, 2020

“Activities such as singing, chanting, shouting and/or playing of instruments that are blown into should be specifically avoided by congregations/worshippers. This is because there is a possible additional risk of transmission in environments where individuals are singing or chanting as a group, and this applies even if social distancing is being observed or face coverings are used,” the government rules published October 8th said.

The regulations add that for the same reason, “spoken responses during worship should also not be in a raised voice”.

This is not the first time in recent weeks that a funeral director has intervened at sensitive moments during funerals because of alleged breaches of coronavirus laws.

Last week, two men were scolded and told to stop cuddling their grieving elderly mother at their father’s funeral because of social distancing rules.

Despite the two men being in a “support bubble” with the widow, a Milton Keynes funeral director had interrupted the service after they had moved their chairs next to their mother to hold her.

The member of staff from Crownhill Crematorium scolded them, saying: “You can’t move the chairs, you were told.”

The hysteria created by government-mandated rules on human interaction has filtered down into schools, with reports that some had banned singing ‘Happy Birthday’ in class. While not yet illegal, the Department of Education last week said it was up to individual schools to decide whether to ban children from singing the song to each other.

Coronavirus: UK Police Bust Hot Tub Party https://t.co/FoZv7Oainh

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 12, 2020

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/10/13/mourners-banned-saying-lords-prayer-funeral-case-they-spread-coronavirus/

Appeals Court Blocks More Construction of US-Mexico Border Wall

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday said that President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to distribute millions of dollars in funding for the construction of a southern border is illegal.

The court upheld a December 2019 district court judgment in favor of a request from the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition against Defense Secretary Mark Esper, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, and others.

After Congress provided Trump $1.3 billion instead of his requested $5.7 billion for wall funding, Trump invoked the National Emergencies Act and declared an emergency at the southern border.

The panel, in a 2-1 decision, found the allocation of funds to be unlawful and went against the Constitution’s separation of powers clause.

“Particularly in the context of this case, where Congress declined to fund the very projects at issue and attempted to terminate the declaration of a national emergency (twice), we cannot interpret the statute to give the Executive Branch unfettered discretion to divert funds to any land it deems under military jurisdiction,” wrote Chief Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas, a Clinton appointee, in the ruling.

www.ntd.com/appeals-court-blocks-more-construction-of-us-mexico-border-wall_516326.html

Couple Barred from Fostering Their 1-Year-Old Great-Granddaughter Because of They Oppose Homosexuality and Gender Transitioning

The Washington Department of Child, Youth, and Families reached this decision based on the purely hypothetical possibility that maybe the 1-year-old might eventually be attracted to girls, or might want to transition to being a boy; but a federal judge just held in the great-grandparents’ favor.

From Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr.'s opinion yesterday in Blais v. Hunter (E.D. Wash.):

James and Gail Blais hope to foster, and eventually adopt, their great-granddaughter, H.V. After H.V. was born [in September 2019], concerns about her welfare arose. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare ("IDHW") ultimately removed H.V. from her birth parents' care and later reached out to the Blaises about possibly fostering or adopting her. The Blaises expressed an interest in caring for H.V., so IDHW asked the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families ("Department") to evaluate the Blaises for a foster care license.

To address the needs of foster children who are developing, discovering, or identifying themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ+), the Department has promulgated several regulations and policies for Department staff and foster parents providing foster care services. The Blaises are devout Seventh-day Adventists. Following a home study, the Department denied the Blaises' foster care license application. Their answers to a series of hypotheticals involving a foster child who might in the future develop or identify as LGBTQ+ did not conform to Department regulations and policy…. [The questions were:]

"How would we react if H.V. was a lesbian?"

"Would we allow H.V. to have a girl spend the night at our home as H.V.'s romantic partner?"

"If at 15 years old, H.V. wanted to undergo hormone therapy to change her sexual appearance, would we support that decision and transport her for those treatments?"

"If as a teenager, H.V. wanted to dress like a boy and be called by a boy's name, would we accept her decision and allow her to act in that manner?"

The Blaises informed [Patrick Sager, a foster care licenser,] that their Christian faith obliges them to love and support all people. They conveyed that this tenet especially applies to children who may feel isolated or uncomfortable. As for the specific questions on possible hormone therapy, they "responded that although we could not support such treatments based on our sincerely-held religious convictions, we absolutely would be loving and supportive of H.V." They "also indicated that, in the unlikely event H.V. may develop gender dysphoria (or any other medical condition) as a teenager, we would provide her with loving, medically and therapeutically appropriate care that is consistent with both then-accepted medical principles and our beliefs as Seventh-day Adventists and Christians."

https://reason.com/2020/10/09/coupled-barred-from-fostering-their-1-year-old-great-granddaughter-because-of-their-opposition-to-homosexuality-and-gender-transitioning/

Twitter Fined For Multiple Campaign Finance Violations

Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Tuesday that Twitter would pay $100,000 to Washington's Public Disclosure Transparency Account after violating state campaign finance disclosure laws.

From 2012 to 2019, Twitter received nearly $200,000 for campaign ads but failed to follow Washington disclosure laws by unlawfully failing to maintain public records about the political ads that ran on the platform has resulted in a $100,000 fine.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter's chief executive, said in October 2019 that the social media platform would ban all political ads due to misleading messaging by some candidates.

"We've made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought. Why? A few reasons…," Dorsey tweeted last year.

The judgment, filed Tuesday in King County Superior Court, notes that at least 38 Washington candidates and political committees paid $194,550 for political advertising on the platform between 2012-2019.

"Transparency in political advertising is critical to a free and informed electorate," Ferguson said. "Whether you are a local newspaper or a multinational social media platform, you must follow our campaign finance laws."

"The Public Disclosure Commission appreciates the shared commitment of the Attorney General's Office to vigorous enforcement of the state's campaign finance laws," Public Disclosure Commission Chair David Ammons said. "The people of Washington, in their overwhelming vote for the disclosure Initiative 276 nearly a half-century ago, created one of the nation's most emphatic demands for transparency and accountability in campaign finance reporting. As powerful new platforms and commercial advertisers emerge in the campaign world, we must stay vigilant in demanding full compliance with all disclosure laws of Washington state."

Washington's Public Disclosure Commission first received notice from an independent researcher on Oct. 30, 2019, about Twitter's potential violations.

The irony here is, of course, that Twitter - which has been doing everything it can to crack down on political "misinformation" - is now being dinged for failing to share information about its political advertising operation.

Find the full legal complaint below:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/twitter-fined-multiple-campaign-finance-violations-washington-state

Signed Twitter Judgment

https://www.scribd.com/document/479859411/Signed-Twitter-Judgment#from_embed

Majority of lawmakers in 116th Congress are millionaires

Congress is an exclusive club. It’s also a wealthy one.

More than half of those in Congress are millionaires, data from lawmakers’ most recent personal financial disclosures shows. The median net worth of members of Congress who filed disclosures last year is just over $1 million.

Much of the wealth in Congress is concentrated at the top. The top 10 percent of wealthiest lawmakers have three times more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. While some lawmakers are still paying off student loans, others are paying off their third or fourth mortgage. The group of wealthiest members includes career politicians who boosted their portfolios over decades in Congress and recently elected lawmakers.

According to estimated net worth calculations, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is the wealthiest lawmaker with nearly $260 million in net assets. Scott dethroned Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) for the top spot after he won election in 2018, despite injecting nearly $64 million of his own money into his campaign.

Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.), who made his wealth through a software company, is the richest House member with $189 million. Gianforte chose to disclose his exact assets last year rather than showing them in wide ranges, providing a clearer picture of the state of his finances.

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/04/majority-of-lawmakers-millionaires/

21 Israeli troops injured as two companies turn on each other in brawl at IDF training base

A massive brawl erupted between Israeli troops from two different training companies over who was going to eat first at the canteen. Some 21 soldiers were injured in what the IDF called an “unusual and serious” incident.

The confrontation between training companies representing the Bedouin 585th reconnaissance unit and the Shaked Battalion occurred at the Har Keren training base on Sunday.

Things became so heated in the fracas that one of the troops even started loading his gun, according to one witness who was cited in local reports.

The brawl lasted several minutes and involved around 30 people – some 21 of whom were injured in the altercation. The majority of the soldiers were treated on site, but eight required hospitalization with light injuries.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the brawl was “an unusual and serious incident” and one which is “inconsistent with the IDF's values ​​and [the] behavior required from the soldiers.”

An investigation by the force revealed that the troops got into an argument in the queue for the canteen, with things swiftly getting out of hand due to the “failure of the entire chain of command.”

And it didn't entirely end there – two of the injured soldiers fought each other while seeking treatment at hospital, but were quickly separated, the IDF said.

Both companies have been suspended from training in the wake of the outbursts. Instead, they'll be attending classes on the IDF's values and accepting fellow servicemen, after which they're expected to spend an evening together in the presence of the commander of the base in order to reconcile their differences.

Both the soldiers and their commanders – who failed to prevent the fight or swiftly end it – will face strict punishment, the IDF said.

https://www.rt.com/news/503298-idf-troops-brawl-training-israel/

Top General: US Withdrawal From Afghanistan ‘Conditions-Based’

Last week, President Trump said all US troops in Afghanistan will be home by Christmas

Since President Trump said all US troops in Afghanistan would be home by Christmas, the military has kept quiet on the possible deadline. In an interview with NPR on Sunday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley avoided endorsing or rejecting Trump’s Christmas deadline and insisted withdrawal is “conditions-based.”

When asked about Trump’s comment and an earlier statement from National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, who said there will be 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan by early 2021, Milley refused to disclose information on possible future numbers. “We have a plan, a series of responsible drawdown options that has been briefed to the president. I’m not going to go into specific numbers for the future,” he said.

When the US signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February, Milley said there were about 12,000 US troops in the country, which was drawn down to about 8,500 by midsummer. Now the military is in the process of withdrawing another 4,500. Trump administration officials have said the current plan is to bring troops down to around 4,000 before the presidential election.

Milley said after the current drawdown is complete, “future drawdowns will be determined by the president. And I’m not going to disclose specific numbers and what those are.”

“The whole agreement and all of the drawdown plans are conditions-based, and I expect that we’ll have further discussions on the conditions and ensure that they warrant,” Milley said.

Some of those conditions, Milley explained, include a reduction of violence, a commitment from the Taliban to prevent groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS from gaining a foothold in Afghanistan, and progress with intra-Afghan peace talks. Talks between the Taliban and the US-backed government are ongoing in Doha.

Despite the talks, fighting continues between the warring parties. On Monday, the US announced it had launched several airstrikes on the Taliban over the past two days.

The US claims the Taliban violated the peace deal by launching an offensive on Helmand Province. For their part, the Taliban said they were reclaiming territory taken from them by the government in recent months.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/10/12/top-general-us-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-conditions-based/

Anything to stop Trump's Xmas call

How UK “Track-And-Trace” Data From Restaurants Is Being Harvested And Sold

This latest revelation will no doubt be an embarrassment to what is already looking like a haphazard biosurveillance operation being run by the UK government.

It’s now been revealed that private firms are collecting UK government NHS ‘track-and-trace’ data taken unknowingly from visitors to pubs and restaurants, harvested and then sold to marketing firms for profit.

New reports this week reveal how mobile apps using quick QR codes operating under the auspices of the government’s COVID surveillance operation – are trafficking customer data through opt-in clauses baked into the terms and conditions of data storage services. Some firms state how they will use details scanned in by customers for marketing purposes and even keep your personal data for up to 25 years.

Through this corporate backdoor, aloof customers would have their personal data passed on to corporate clients such as advertisers, big data brokers and insurance companies, to name only a few.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/10/how-uk-track-and-trace-data-from-restaurants-is-being-harvested-and-sold.html

Join ToI Community to learn how ADL helped Facebook formulate hate restrictions

Access Wednesday’s Behind the Headlines webinar with ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt by becoming a ToI Community member and hear about the 107-year-old organization’s ongoing campaigns

Please join us this Wednesday, October 14, for a special Behind the Headlines interview, exclusively for the ToI Community.

This week, we’re speaking with ADL CEO & national director Jonathan Greenblatt who will join us to discuss the impactful work of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) since its foundation.

With the rise of social media — and more acutely since the onset of COVID-19 — online hate against Jews is at an all-time high. What are some steps being taken to combat this, and other manifestations of the oldest hatred in the world?

Since becoming CEO in July 2015, Greenblatt has turned the 107-year-old organization’s focus to contemporary forms of discrimination and hatred against all people, even as attacks against Jews — physical and verbal — have surged.

In our Behind the Headlines series, ToI reporters and editors video interview influential individuals from a wide range of fields. All sessions are aired exclusively to The Times of Israel Community before being shared with our broader readership.

Greenblatt has been on the frontlines in calling out and condemning hate speech — from politicians, from celebs, and on social media — and his work is now bearing fruit:Due to a lengthy and concerted effort by ADL and other organizations, Facebook recently announced a series of measures to eradicate QAnon and Holocaust deniers.

Greenblatt will speak about tangible measures ADL is taking to fight hate with Amanda Borschel-Dan, The Times of Israel’s Deputy Editor.

If you’d like to join the session with Greenblatt on October 14 — it’s not too late. Become a Times of Israel Community member today and you’ll gain access to this Wednesday’s special session, along with all of our upcoming exclusive webinars. You’ll also gain an ad-free experience of the ToI site and apps, and a weekly insider letter from David Horovitz.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/join-toi-community-to-learn-how-adl-helped-facebook-formulate-hate-restrictions/

FBI's McCabe, Page texted several times about anti-Trump stories during 2016 election

Senators accused FBI Director Wray of withholding more relevant evidence after belated disclosure of new text messages.

Then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe texted several times during the 2016 election about anti-Trump stories in the news media, according to new messages released by Senate investigators that show the bureau brass was on a first-name basis with reporters driving the now-discredited Russia collusion narrative

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a new letter to FBI Director Chris Wray they just got the text messages from a subpoena two months ago, accusing the bureau of withholding far more information about the 2016 election just three weeks before Election Day 2020.

"It is simply unacceptable that we have waited so long to receive so little," the senators wrote in a letter Monday. "The 24 pages of McCabe text messages that the FBI did produce include notable information that is highly relevant to several aspects of the Committees' oversight efforts."

The letter reveals some of the first text messages that were exchanged during the Russia probe between McCabe and Lisa Page, an ex-FBI counsel who was assigned to the deputy director. The texts, disclosed in the letter, show several conversations about leaked stories unfavorable to Trump on the now-discredited Russia collusion probe.

For instance, Page alerted McCabe to an Oct. 31, 2016 story in Slate magazine suggesting there was a secret communications channel between Trump and Vladimir Putin at the Alfa Bank. The FBI, special counsel Robert Mueller and a British court have all dismissed that allegation as an unproven conspiracy theory. Here's the exchange:

Page: "Christ. A LOT of articles tonight. MJ published, lots about MYE, and an allegation about a PI on Manafort."

McCabe: "MJ? Kelly File was really rough on me."

Page: "Mother Jones. Re western intel source reporting on trump. … I didn't watch. … It's the first time you've really come up since last sunday. Thought Devlin's piece was pretty benign."

Page: "And the alphabank(sic) story is in slate."

McCabe: "Awesome."

The fact that McCabe appeared to be applauding a now-disproven anti-Trump story a week before Election Day 2016 has caught Senate investigators' attention.

So too did an earlier exchange between Page and McCabe back in July 2016, just a few days before the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane probe targeting the Trump campaign. In that exchange, they discussed a Lawfare blog article suggesting Trump was an agent of Russia, an allegation eventually ruled out by Mueller's probe. Page actually included a link to the story. Here's the exchange:

Lisa Page: "You should read this – the D surely has by now. Some of the internal links are well worth your time as well. Is Trump a Russian Agent? A legal Analysis – Lawfare."

Andrew McCabe: "Thanks much."

https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/fbis-mccabe-page-texted-several-times-about-anti-trump

Barr-Durham investigation drags on despite mountains of evidence pointing to coup

President Trump earlier this week vowed complete and final transparency in the Russia probe, ordering the declassification (without redaction) of all relevant documents that show how the false Russian collusion narrative was created by Hillary Clinton operatives and then investigated for three years by the FBI.

With less than four weeks to Election Day 2020, there is little time to complete the mission so that voters can understand the foreign influence, dirty tricks and misconduct that began in the last presidential election and continued for years.

So Just the News put together a list of the 40 most important documents yet to be released that would help America understand what really happened and who is most culpable.

Most of the documents have been sought by Congress dating all the way back to 2017 and have been withheld from public release, mostly by bureaucrats at the State Department under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the FBI under Director Christopher Wray.

https://theduran.com/barr-durham-investigation-drags-on-despite-mountains-of-evidence-pointing-to-coup/

Americas Jews divided over source of growing antisemitism in the US

The Democratic Party has blamed Trump for the rise of antisemitism, but in an op-ed, Kenneth Levin has said that they are deflecting from their own culpability.

A dispute between Jewish Americans over where the main threat of antisemitism is coming from in the US is rolling on ahead of the US presidential election in November, with both Democrat- and Republican-backers accusing the opposing side of covering for antisemitic incitement.

In early October, the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) released a campaign ad comparing US President Donald Trump's administration to the rise of fascism in Nazi Germany, comparing images of antisemitic graffiti in 1930s Germany and modern America. Halie Soifer, JDCA executive director, said in response to its release: “We must vote like our future as a people depends on it – because it does.”

The ad drew criticism from a number of groups including the American Jewish Committee and the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC); Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC's associate dean said the comparison was "beneath contempt," and added "the invoking of Nazi imagery not only slanders the victims of the Nazis [and] the candidate, but [also] the tens of millions of Americans who support him."

However, the criticism was not unanimous. Prominent Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt and former Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham Foxman expressed sympathy with the advert, voicing concern for the future of Jewish Americans under Trump.

Now author and historian Kenneth Levin has gone further in condemning the advert. In an opinion piece for the Jewish News Syndicate headlined "Jews Betraying Jews," Levin accused the Democratic Party of stoking antisemitism in America and deflecting the blame on to President Trump.

"The Jewish Democratic Council of America, in its Trump as Nazi ad, covers up the truth about who is battling antisemitism and who is abetting it. In doing so, it serves a political end, but undermines the security of American Jews," he wrote, adding: "It is hardly unprecedented in American history for some Jews to try and move Jewish political opinion by invoking, at times scurrilously, perceived or imagined threats. Still, the issue of antisemitism in America and the well-being of the Jewish community is too serious a matter to be trivialized or misrepresented for narrow political ends of any sort."

Levin pointed to the Democratic Party's continued acceptance of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) within the ranks of the party, despite both representatives having come in for sharp criticism over their use of antisemitic tropes, and the pair's refusal to join a party-sponsored trip to Israel in summer 2019. Instead, they chose to attempt to make the trip under the auspices of Miftah, an organization known for its Holocaust denial and stark antisemitism.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/americas-jews-divided-over-source-of-growing-antisemitism-in-the-us-645583

Blaming everyone else as usual

The Steele Dossier & the Obama State Department

“Our [US] ambassador to Ukraine thought that Steele’s reports were “flakey,” Nuland thought they were “extreme”, Fitton stated in last week’s Weekly Update.

“Corrupt” is a word Tom Fitton uses often to describe Christopher Steele and his relationship to the Obama State Department. With newly obtained documents detailing how senior Obama State Department officials “knew he had flakey reports and yet they worked with him to take out Trump,” this couldn’t be more true, at least according to Fitton. “Our [US] ambassador to Ukraine thought that Steele’s reports were “flakey,” Nuland thought they were “extreme”, Fitton explained on Friday.

“Steele had a big in with the the State Department. He was providing them with all kinds of “intelligence” reports through his company, Orbis.”

As detailed in a recent Judicial Watch press release, Steele and State Department official Jonathan Winer “worked closely together to create aspects of the [Steele] dossier that were used to target Trump.” Judicial Watch uncovered this close cooperation after almost two years of investigations, an effort which now demonstrates that “Christopher Steele had a willing partner with the Obama State Department, despite top officials having little confidence in his work.” “The Obama Administration had multiple warnings that Steele was unreliable though they used his garbage dossier to target Trump and of course the court was never told that these reports were considered flakey.”

“Once again, this is coming out not because of voluntary disclosures by the agencies, it’s because of litigation,” Fitton concluded. “I don’t know where we’d be without Judicial Watch.”

https://www.judicialwatch.org/deep-dive/steele-dossier-obama-state/

Justice Department Charges More than 14,200 Defendants with Firearms-Related Crimes in FY20

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-charges-more-14200-defendants-firearms-related-crimes-fy20

PRAY FOR EACH OTHER