BORDER PATROL: 300 Illegal Immigrants Apprehended in Eighteen Hours

LAREDO, TEXAS – Within eighteen hours, U.S. Border Patrol agents worked collaboratively with other law enforcement agencies shutting down stash houses and interdicted smuggling conveyances at checkpoints to apprehend nearly 300 illegal aliens.

The first incident occurred during the late afternoon of October 13, when agents from the Laredo South Station, working with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Webb County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO), conducted a consensual search at a residence in which they discovered 123 individuals stashed inside. They were determined to be in the United States illegally from the countries of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The U.S. Border Patrol took them into custody pending investigation.

The second incident occurred a couple of hours later, when agents along with HSI and WCSO acted on information received regarding another possible stash house. Agents and deputies conducted a consensual search at the apartment in question and apprehended 13 individuals who were in the United States illegally from the country of Mexico. Numerous U.S. citizens who were also present in the apartment were taken into custody for their involvement in the human smuggling attempt.

Later that evening, U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a large human smuggling attempt at one of the Border Patrol checkpoints after a Service canine alerted to a tractor trailer. A search of the vehicle led agents to discover 84 individuals inside the trailer. All of the individuals were illegally present in the United States and from the countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. All individuals were taken into custody for further investigation.

The final incident occurred early the next morning, when agents at another Border Patrol checkpoint encountered a second tractor trailer. After a Service canine alerted agents, a non-intrusive scan was conducted on the vehicle that led agents to discover 74 individuals inside the refrigerated trailer. The individuals, illegally in the United States, were from the countries of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Peru. They were taken into Border Patrol custody for further investigation.

A total of 294 individuals were discovered being smuggled into the United States in the four separate incidents. Ninety of them were from countries other than Mexico.

In all of the incidents, none of the individuals were wearing any personal protective equipment. These callous and dangerous acts are several examples of the lack of regard human smugglers have for those they exploit for profit.

https://breaking911.com/border-patrol-300-illegal-immigrants-apprehended-in-eighteen-hours/

“I’m Ashamed to Say I Was a Democrat” – First Time Voters and Former Dems Rally to Re-Elect Trump in Pennsylvania

First time voters and disaffected Democrats rallied in rural Pennsylvania to re-elect President Trump.

A 65-year-old first time voter told CNN’s Dana Bash he will be voting for President Trump.

A former Democrat told CNN that she is ashamed to say she was ever a Democrat, “From what I’ve seen in the past couple years, I’m ashamed to say I was a Democrat.”

President Trump won Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes in 2016 and he is working hard to win The Keystone State again in 2020.

Pennsylvania voters are not happy with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over their promise to ban fracking — then lying about their plans to ban fracking.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have repeatedly stated they will ban fracking if they win the November election.

Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are now trying to distance themselves from their previous promises to ban fracking because thousands of Pennsylvanians would lose their jobs.

Pennsylvanians know better so they are turning out for Trump again in 2020.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/ashamed-say-democrat-first-time-voters-former-dems-rally-re-elect-trump-pennsylvania-video/

The Fed Wants the Public to Know It Can Withhold Information Under an Executive Order and Defy Subpoenas from Courts and Congress

The United States is experiencing the worst pandemic since 1918. The U.S. economy is experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. And the general public is attempting to vote in the most important presidential election of a lifetime with obstacles like fake ballot boxes, 5-hour wait lines, and destroyed mail-sorting machines. What is the central bank of the United States, the Federal Reserve, doing with its free time at this critical moment? It’s rewriting its rules for responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from the public and media.

After revising the Fed’s own FOIA rules earlier this year, the Fed is now rewriting the FOIA rules for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). That just happens to be the entity in charge of sluicing that cumulative $9 trillion to trading houses on Wall Street from September 17, 2019 through March of this year. The Fed has yet to release one detail about what specific trading houses got the money and how much each got. But the Fed is very likely contemplating the day that it is sued for that information or Congress or the courts issue subpoenas.

Yesterday, the Fed released the details of what it is proposing in changes to its FOIA rules for the FOMC. The public will have 60 days to submit a comment letter. (Comments from the public on the proposal can be emailed to FOMCregs.comments@FRB.gov – include “Part 271 Rules Regarding Availability of Information” in the subject line of the message.)

This might be an excellent time for Americans to tell the Fed just what they think about its history of secrecy and stonewalling. For a primer on that history, see our article: Why Americans Don’t Trust the Fed: It’s Too Damn Secretive.

While the Fed attempts to give the impression that it is merely shuffling around language that already exists under law, what does pop out is that it is accentuating that it can withhold information based on an “Executive Order.” Has President Donald Trump issued such an Executive Order to the Fed?

The revised paragraph will read as follows:

“§ 271.15 Exemptions from disclosure. (a) Types of records exempt from disclosure. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(b), the following records of the Committee are exempt from disclosure under this part. (1) Any information that is specifically authorized under criteria established by an executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and is in fact properly classified pursuant to the executive order.”

The Fed is also adding a new section, §271.3, which describes the process for certification and service of subpoenas. Is the Fed contemplating subpoenas under a new Congress next year? Here’s why that might happen.

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2020/10/the-fed-wants-the-public-to-know-it-can-withhold-information-under-an-executive-order-and-defy-subpoenas-from-courts-and-congress/

END THE FED, LOCK UP THE BANKERS, REDISTRIBUTE THEIR WEALTH BACK TO THE PEOPLE

Wikipedia Editors Censor Hunter Biden Bombshell, Call New York Post ‘Unreliable’ Source

Wikipedia has joined Twitter and Facebook in seeking to suppress revelations from the New York Post about Hunter Biden allegedly securing a meeting between his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and a high-level adviser to Ukrainian energy company Burisma where the younger Biden served as a board member and which faced serious corruption allegations. Editors recently deemed the Post an “unreliable source” on Wikipedia and cited this as a reason to exclude mention of the story.

Previously, editors have slanted content on Wikipedia regarding the Biden-Burisma controversy and also joined in Big Tech censorship campaigns to suppress the name of the alleged whistleblower who sparked the Ukraine-focused impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Yesterday’s New York Post story prompted a flurry of censorship as both Facebook and Twitter moved to suppress or outright remove links to the article, which discussed e-mails obtained from a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden. The e-mails allegedly show Burisma repeatedly pushing Biden to help them gain access to his father who was in charge of Ukraine policy under President Barack Obama, with one suggesting these efforts got one company adviser a meeting with the then-Vice President. Following the Post’s revelations, one editor attempted to add mention of the story on an article for “Conspiracy theories related to the Trump-Ukraine scandal” citing the Post, Fox News, and the Daily Mail.

Editor “Soibangla” promptly removed the material on the story claiming “this story smells” and arguing it was based on “unreliable” sources. The editor who had added the material restored it and questioned how the Post and Fox News could be deemed unreliable. At the discussion page, Soibangla cited a list on Wikipedia of sources whose reliability has been assessed by the site community, which shows the Post listed as unreliable and Fox News discouraged for politically contentious claims. Both outlets have only recently been downgraded with Fox News being discouraged as a political source in July and the Post being deemed ureliable in a discussion last month.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/10/15/wikipedia-editors-censor-hunter-biden-bombshell-call-new-york-post-unreliable-source/

Joe Biden Campaign Claims New York Post Hunter Biden Article ‘False’ Because Twitter Censored It

The Joe Biden campaign claimed on Thursday that a New York Post article containing allegedly damaging information about Joe and Hunter Biden is “false” because Twitter censored it.

Jamal Brown, the national press secretary for Biden’s campaign, said, “Twitter’s response to the actual article itself makes clear that these purported allegations are false and are not true.”

NEW — the @JoeBiden campaign responds to the @nypost story and @Twitter fallout on @cheddar:

“Twitter’s response to the actual article itself makes clear that these purported allegations are false and are not true.” @JTOBrown pic.twitter.com/rwSH8RiNYo

— j.d. durkin (@jiveDurkey) October 15, 2020

Facebook and Twitter decided to censor a New York Post article saying that, contrary to Biden’s claims, Biden allegedly met with an executive at Burisma when he was vice president. Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, reportedly arranged the meeting while he was working as a lobbyist for the company.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), in response to Biden’s claim, asked rhetorically if Twitter has now made an editorial claim about the truthfulness of the New York Post story. He said, “Wait – now @JoeBiden is using @Twitter as the factual authority on whether the @nypost story is accurate? Is this serious?”

“So #BigTech monopolies donate massive money to Biden/Harris, Biden gets the monopolies to censor negative stories about him, and then points to the monopolies as experts,” Hawley added. “Talk about collusion.”

So #BigTech monopolies donate massive money to Biden/Harris, Biden gets the monopolies to censor negative stories about him, and then points to the monopolies as experts. Talk about collusion

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 15, 2020

Twitter’s censorship of the New York Post led Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to subpoena Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

“Twitter is actively blocking — right now, this instant — stories from the New York Post alleging corruption and the Biden family receiving millions of dollars from communist China,” Cruz told reporters during a break on the final day of the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

“This is election interference, and we are 19 days out from an election. It has no precedent in the history of democracy. The Senate Judiciary Committee wants to know what the hell is going on,” he added.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/15/joe-biden-campaign-claims-hunter-biden-article-false-because-twitter-censored-it/

Vatican issues coin of mother carrying ‘earth in her womb’ one year after Pachamama scandal

The Vatican City State Mint issued a 10 euro silver coin depicting a mother carrying the earth in her womb.

ROME, Italy, October 15, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican issued a coin depicting a mother carrying the earth in her womb. The issue of the coin comes almost one year to the day when the idol Pachamama was worshipped in the Vatican gardens in the presence of Pope Francis as part of the opening ceremony of the Amazon synod.

“The Vatican City State Mint will issue a 10 euro silver coin made by Maestro Oldani, depicting a mother carrying the earth in her womb, to whom we owe care and love as if it were a daughter, with long ears of wheat in her hair, in a reference between past and future that becomes timeless, and therefore eternal,” states the official description of the coin.

“The celebration of life on earth is a commitment to take care of the planet, a project to which the Church intends to offer its support, a grandiose and complex work that aims: to promote international action to guarantee everyone a future, the food that is needed, both in quantity and quality, so that economic advancement may be accompanied with social development, without which there is no real progress.”

Various media outlets, including the news website owned by the German bishops, made a connection between the coin and the Pachamama statues used in the context of the Amazon synod last year, even though the appearance of “Mother Earth” on the coin differs from the statues used in 2019.

“The coin recalls the Pachamama statues set up at the Amazon synod in the previous year, which according to the prefect of the Vatican communication dicastery, Paolo Ruffini, ‘stand for life, fertility and mother earth’ and should bring the culture of the Amazon region also objectively to the synod,” wrote katholisch.de.

In the fall of 2019, Alexander Tschugguel, a young Austrian Catholic, had thrown a number of the controversial Pachamama statues into the Tiber in Rome after they had been prominently featured in a church in Rome for days.

Similar statues had also been used in a religious ceremony in the Vatican gardens on October 4, 2019. At that even, Pope Francis blessed one of the statues. At the ceremony, people were bowing down to the ground worshiping the statue. Additionally, the Pope prayed in front of a Pachamama statue at St. Peter’s Cathedral on October 7 and then accompanied it in procession into the synod hall.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-issues-coin-of-mother-carrying-earth-in-her-womb-one-year-after-pachamama-scandal?utm_source=featured&utm_campaign=standard

Syrian Intelligence Apprehended U.S.-led Coalition ‘Spies’ In Southern Raqqa – Report

The Syrian intelligence has apprehended nine “spies” of the U.S.-led coalition in the southern countryside of Raqqa, the Euphrates Appeal Media Network revealed on October 14.

The suspects were arrested by the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) in a series of raids inside the government-held towns of Sabkha and Madan.

All nine suspects were former members of the National Defense Forces who served in southern Raqqa and Deir Ezzor around a year ago.

“The arrested personnel were accused of leaking information about the government-held area to the International Coalition, as well as of photographing checkpoints and headquarters there,” the networks’ reporter in the region said.

The suspects were allegedly transported by the GID and the Russian Military Police to a Russian base near the ancient city of Palmyra in eastern Homs.

Recently, it was revealed that U.S.-led coalition is spying on Syrian government forces as well as Russian troops in the central region.

In July, two U.S.-backed fighters who snuck out of the occupied area of al-Tanaf to spy on military and civilian facilities in southern Homs were captured by the Syrian Arab Army. Before that, Syrian security forces apprehended a spy of the British intelligence in Palmyra.

https://southfront.org/syrian-intelligence-apprehended-u-s-led-coalition-spies-in-southern-raqqa-report/

The US Navy’s ‘Manhattan Project’ has its leader

WASHINGTON – The US Navy’s top officer has tasked a former surface warfare officer turned engineering duty officer to create a powerful, all-connecting network service leaders believe they will need to fight and win against a high-end foe such as China.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday tasked Rear Adm. Douglas Small to lead an effort that will “develop networks, infrastructure, data architecture, tools, and analytics that support the operational and developmental environment that will enable our sustained maritime dominance.”

Calling the effort “Project Overmatch,” Gilday called it the Navy’s top priority after the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine.

“Beyond recapitalizing our undersea deterrent, there is no higher developmental priority in the U.S. Navy,” Gilday said. “All other efforts are supporting you. Your goal is to enable a Navy that swarms the sea, delivering synchronized lethal and non-lethal effects from near-and-far, every axis, and every domain.”

In the past, Gilday has referred to the effort to field a powerful network as its “Manhattan Project,” harkening back to the rapid development of the atomic bomb in the 1940s. The urgency behind the effort to create this network highlights the growing sense of unease the Navy has around its position in the world as China builds towards its goal of achieving first-rate military power status by 2049.

“The Navy’s ability to establish and sustain sea control in the future is at risk," Gilday said in his letter. “I am confident that closing this risk is dependent on enhancing Distributed Maritime Operations through a teamed manned/unmanned force that exploits artificial intelligence and machine learning. I am not confident we are building the Naval Operational Architecture connecting and enabling this future force as quickly as we must.”

The network is to connect with the Air Force’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control effort, which the services are all lining up behind.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/naval/2020/10/14/the-us-navys-manhattan-project-has-its-leader/

Australia: 40% of Renters Can’t Afford Essentials Due to COVID Lockdowns

40% of tenant households across Australia indicated that after paying rent there was not enough money left over to buy essentials due to COVID lockdowns

One third of renters surveyed were ignored or unable to negotiate a rent reduction with their landlord

5% of renters were issued with an eviction notice during the pandemic

Around half of survey respondents indicated that their mental health had been negatively affected by COVID-19 lockdowns.

Almost 40% of Australian tenant households can’t afford essentials such as bills, clothing, transport and food, after paying rent, because their incomes have reduced significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has found.

The research, ‘Renting in the time of COVID-19: understanding the impacts’, led by the University of Adelaide surveyed 15,000 public and private renting households across all Australian states and territories during July and August 2020.

The research identified challenges for the rental sector and brings insights into how the rental market is performing, the uptake of existing support measures and the demand for future assistance.

According to the research, as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Australian tenant households earning less than $90,000 per year had higher rates of reduced working hours (up to 26% of households), temporary job loss (up to 16%) or reduction to overall income (up to 11%) when compared to higher income households.

One in six respondents reported that they had accessed government income assistance, such as JobKeeper or JobSeeker, for the first time, with low-to-moderate income households having a higher need for assistance.

Around half of survey respondents indicated that their mental health had been negatively affected by COVID-19 lockdowns and just over 10% reported that this had been significant.

‘COVID-19 has been devastating for many Australians but those in the rental sector have been particularly impacted,’ says project leader Professor Emma Baker, University of Adelaide Professor of Housing Research.

‘The pandemic, and the subsequent economic and social lockdown, has rapidly changed our housing system: the way we use our homes, our ability to afford them, and the role of government safety nets. The pandemic has placed many people in the rental market at risk; they face uncertainty, tenure insecurity, financial hardship and significant mental health effects.’

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2020/10/australia-forty-percent-of-renters-cant-afford-essentials-due-to-covid-lockdowns.html

Senior Horas Al-Din Leader Allegedly Killed In Drone Strike On Syria’s Greater Idlib (Videos, Photos)

On October 15, a new drone strike hit the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib, which is controlled by a number of jihadi groups.

The strike targeted a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV that was passing near the town of Arab Said in Idlib’s western countryside. Two adults and a child, who were aboard the SUV, burned to death as a result of the pinpoint strike. Several people who happened to be near the targeted vehicle were also injured.

Arab Said is known to be a stronghold of al-Qaeda-affiliated Horas al-Din, one of the biggest jihadi factions in Greater Idlib. The group’s ranks are filled with al-Qaeda veterans.

Opposition sources claimed the drone strike had claimed the life of “Abu Zur al-Masri,” a high-ranking Egyptian leader of Horas al-Din.

Al-Masri is a hardliner and a foe of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohamad al-Julani. Beside commanding military operations, he is a member of Horas al-Din’s Shura Council.

In July of 2019, jihadi sources reported that al-Masri was among several commanders of Horas al-Din who were killed in a U.S.-led coalition strike on Sharia [Islamic] court in the western Aleppo countryside. These reports were apparently false.

The U.S. is known to be behind the recent drone strikes on Greater Idlib which claimed the lives of prominent terrorists. Many of the targets were commanders of Horas al-Din.

https://southfront.org/senior-horas-al-din-leader-allegedly-killed-in-drone-strike-on-syrias-greater-idlib-videos-photos/

Abortion: More than Just a 'Single Issue'

"Progressive" politicians condescendingly brand pro-lifers as "single-issue voters" and abortion as a "single-issue." This straw man subtly dismisses pro-lifers as simplistic, fanatical, and naïve, and abortion as "one among many" on the electoral laundry list. Once the elephant in the room is pushed aside, SJW candidates feel empowered to tout the "real" issues of economic equality and climate change. Yet abortion is far from being just a single issue.

Abortion is the master key that releases Pandora's box of radical calamities. If your own child is an undue burden who may be terminated, what about the critically ill, the handicapped, the infirm? If the unborn baby is construed as an unwelcome intruder to be removed, as in the infamous violinist thought game, why not any unwanted Other — the unmasked passerby, the white privileged, the MAGA-hatted, the gun-owner, the religious believer, the maligned police, the vilified president? If you justify spilling innocent blood, why not that of those labeled bigoted, undesirable, or unfit? If the ultimate cancelation is a "right," toppled statues, burnt flags, vandalized buildings, looted stores, and banned media outlets are but paltry collateral damage.

And you, politician: If you do not stand for innocent human life, what do you stand for? Should it be a surprise that the governor who confined COVID-19 patients to nursing homes as pandemic solution had cheered, merely a year before, codifying abortion until birth? That bill declares that "every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion." "Every individual"? "Fundamental right"?

No slippery slope here. Just connecting the dots. The totalitarian mindset behind abortion taints thought, language, and action.

The abortion apparat's links to socialism, communism, and fascism are no secret. In these ideologies, the state subordinates the individual person; adults' interests override the child's. The abortion machinery in communist China and Nazi eugenics is but Exhibit A. The godlike prerogatives behind the state suffocating the person, and the adult crushing the unborn, also lurk behind the impetus to create a new world order.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/10/abortion_more_than_just_a_single_issue.html

==Home | Israel News

Israel Approves Thousands More Homes in West Bank Settlement==

Despite UAE accord blocking annexation, 2020 proves to be the biggest year for the settlement enterprise in close to a decade

Israel on Thursday pressed forward on plans for more than 3,000 West Bank settlement homes, making 2020 one of the most prolific years for settlement building, according to a settlement watchdog group.

Thursday's approvals, along with more than 2,000 new homes approved a day earlier, are part of a building boom that has gained steam during the presidency of Donald Trump. It also comes months after Israel promised to put on hold plans to annex parts of the West Bank in exchange for a U.S.-brokered normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates.

The move, welcomed by settler leaders, was heavily criticized by the Palestinians and the United Nations Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov.

The latest approvals raised the number of settlement homes to be advanced this year to more than 12,150, according to Peace Now. It is by far the highest number of approvals since Trump took office in early 2017 and the highest since Peace Now began recording the figures in 2012.

This includes a program to legalize five illegal outposts, including Mitzpe Dani, Harasha, Tapuach West and Pnei Kedem. Plans are also to advance the establishment of the controversial Samaria Gate industrial area, which has come under fire from environmental groups for effectively cutting an important wildlife corridor. It also includes the retroactive approval of an illegal motor park built in 2016 in the Jordan Valley.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-approves-thousands-more-homes-in-west-bank-settlement-1.9238068

Viral! World Lockdown Plan Leaked

This leak from the inner circles of the Canadian government, if true, confirms all of our worst fears. They plan to use the COVID hoax as a pretext to destroy the economy and put everyone in the world under lockdown unless they accept the vaccine.

They want to confiscate all of our property in exchange for a guaranteed income. And yes, they have a stronger virus planned.

'And that over a short period of time as more Canadians transitioned into the debt forgiveness program, the ones who refused to participate would be deemed a public safety risk and would be relocated into isolation facilities. Once in those facilities they would be given two options, participate in the debt forgiveness program and be released, or stay indefinitely in the isolation facility under the classification of a serious public health risk and have all their assets seized."

"That it won't just be Canada but in fact, all nations will have similar roadmaps and agendas."

By LPC_leaker@protonmail.com

I want to provide you some very important information. I'm a committee member within the Liberal Party of Canada. I sit within several committee groups but the information I am providing is originating from the Strategic Planning Committee (which is steered by the PMO).

I need to start off by saying that I'm not happy doing this but I have to. As a Canadian and more importantly as a parent who wants a better future not only for my children but for other children as well.

The other reason I am doing this is that roughly 30% of the committee members are not pleased with the direction this will take Canada, but our opinions have been ignored and they plan on moving forward toward their goals.

They have also made it very clear that nothing will stop the planned outcomes. The road map and aim was set out by the PMO and is as follows:

• Phase in secondary lockdown restrictions on a rolling basis, starting with major metropolitan areas first and expanding outward. Expected by November 2020.

• Rush the acquisition of (or construction of) isolation facilities across every province and territory. Expected by December 2020.

• Daily new cases of COVID-19 will surge beyond the capacity of testing, including increases in COVID-related deaths following the same growth curves. Expected by end of November 2020.

• Complete and total secondary lockdown (much stricter than the first and second rolling phase restrictions). Expected by end of December 2020 - early January 2021

• Reform and expansion of the unemployment program to be transitioned into the universal basic income program. Expected by Q1 2021.

• Projected COVID-19 mutation and/or co-infection with a secondary virus (referred to as COVID-21) leading to a third wave with much higher mortality rate and higher rate of infection. Expected by February 2021.

• Daily new cases of COVID-21 hospitalizations and COVID-19 and COVID-21 related deaths will exceed medical care facilities capacity. Expected Q1 - Q2 2021.

• Enhanced lockdown restrictions (referred to as Third Lock Down) will be implemented. Full travel restrictions will be imposed (including inter-province and inter-city). Expected Q2 2021.

• Transitioning of individuals into the universal basic income program. Expected mid Q2 2021.

• Projected supply chain break downs, inventory shortages, large economic instability. Expected late Q2 2021.

• Deployment of military personnel into major metropolitan areas as well as all major roadways to establish travel checkpoints. Restrict travel and movement. Provide logistical support to the area. Expected by Q3 2021.

Along with that provided road map, the Strategic Planning Committee was asked to design an effective way of transitioning Canadians to meet an unprecedented economic endeavor. One that would change the face of Canada and forever alter the lives of Canadians.

https://www.henrymakow.com/2020/10/viral-world-lockdown-plan-leaked.html

Military Situation In Syria On October 15, 2020 (Map Update)

A brief overview of the recent developments in Syria:

SAA artillery shelled Turkish-backed forces positions in the village of Barah;

SAA artillery shelled Turkish-backed forces positions in the Kabani area;

Turkish-backed forces artillery shelled SDF positions east of Ras al-Ain;

Turkish-backed forces artillery shelled SAA positions in the Hazarin area;

A child was reportedly killed by a landmine explosion in the al-Busayrah area.

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-syria-on-october-15-2020-map-update/

Map Update: Armenian-Azerbaijani War On October 15, 2020

A brief overview of the recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh region:

Azerbaijan allegedly took control over the villages of Garadaghly, Khatunbulag, Garakolla, Bulutan, Malikjanli, Kemartuk and Teke;

Azerbaijan artillery shelled Agdam and Martakert;

Armenian artillery allegedly shelled Tartar;

Azerbaijani forces made an advance attempt on the Armenian-controlled town of Fuzuli;

The Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) released the names of 23 other Armenian soldiers who killed in the Karabakh region. The confirmed death toll of Armenian forces reached 555 people;

The Armenian military claims that Azerbaijan lost 350 troops, 20 armoured vehicles, a plane and 3 UAVs in recent clashes.

https://southfront.org/map-update-armenian-azerbaijani-war-on-october-15-2020/

How a Syrian Ambassador’s Friend Made a Million Selling Him an Embassy

The Art Deco-style mansion at 47 Paris Street in Bucharest was never going to be cheap. It measures over a thousand square meters, sits in a prime neighborhood favored by diplomats, and was built by legendary Romanian engineer Emil Prager in 1933.

But it still raised eyebrows among some in Romania’s capital when the white stone building shot up in value by a million euros in under a week in 2009.

Even more unusually, the mansion passed through the hands of a widowed pensioner who lived in a Communist-era public housing block in southwest Bucharest. Leana Pielmus, then 58, bought it on September 10 for 3.5 million euros (the equivalent of US$5 million). The average pension in Romania at the time was 162 euros per month.

investigations/Mansion-Paris-Street.jpg

Credit: Google Maps

The mansion on Paris Street in Bucharest.

Pielmus sold it a week later to the Syrian Foreign Ministry for 4.46 million euros (US$6.6 million), according to sales contracts obtained by journalists from OCCRP partners RISE Project and SIRAJ.

The deal, which has never been reported in the mainstream media, was brokered by her son-in-law, Ammar Aoun, a dentist who counts the Syrian ambassador to Romania among his friends.

“The person who bought and sold the property to the Syrian government is a relative of a close friend of the ambassador,” said Romania-based Syrian dissident Mohamad Rifai, also a dentist.

“She did not have millions sitting in her bank account, she is not a known real estate agent, and a huge amount of money entered and left her bank account overnight.”

Read a version of this story in Arabic.

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Read more

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In the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal suppression of anti-government protests in Damascus in March 2011, the European Union imposed sanctions on the Syrian strongman and his close associates, which are still in place. Romania is one of a few EU countries that have nevertheless maintained diplomatic relations with the Syrian regime throughout the subsequent civil war.

Dissidents like Rifai argue that Bucharest has become a European hub for the illicit financial networks of Assad and his wealthy cousin, Rami Makhlouf, who is married to the daughter of the Syrian ambassador.

That ambassador, Walid Othman, is among Assad’s closest associates. He has been at his diplomatic post in Romania for 13 years, despite having blown past the mandatory retirement age of 65. In 2012, Reuters quoted a former Syrian oil minister as saying that Othman was “one of the people making dealings on behalf of the Assad family,” although he could not provide concrete proof for the claim.

The dentist who brokered the embassy deal, Ammar Aoun, told OCCRP member center RISE Project that he was responsible for the purchase made by his pensioner mother-in-law — as well as the building’s immediate sale to the Syrian Embassy at a nearly 30-percent markup.

“I did everything,” he said. “Why is a Romanian citizen questioning what is happening in the Syrian Embassy?”

https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/how-a-syrian-ambassadors-friend-made-a-million-selling-him-an-embassy

Jail bankers who allow money laundering, top Democrat in U.S. Senate banking committee says in wake of FinCEN Files

Sen. Sherrod Brown calls for criminally prosecuting executives who profit from moving money for criminals and corrupt regimes.

In the wake of the FinCEN Files revelations about global banks profiting from the flow of dirty money, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate banking committee says American authorities should prosecute bankers who allow their institutions to profit from moving money for criminals and corrupt regimes.

“I think if some bankers go to jail, that stuff stops happening,” U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio said in a telephone interview with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. “One or two big-deal bankers going to jail, and the world will change a bit.”

ICIJ, BuzzFeed News and other reporting partners found that big banks — including JPMorgan Chase, HSBC and Deutsche Bank — continued moving money for shadowy characters and criminal networks even after U.S. authorities fined these financial institutions for earlier failures to stem flows of illicit money.

Brown credited the FinCEN Files investigation with revealing the lack of forceful enforcement actions against banks that repeatedly violate the law, a problem that he hopes will be addressed by the proposed Anti-Money-Laundering Act of 2020, which he is co-sponsoring with a bipartisan group of senators.

“The FinCEN Files series revealed longstanding problems [involving] willful violators of our nation’s laws,” Brown said. “We’re hopeful this new bill, that once it comes into law — and I think it will — it will be a lot harder for them to violate these laws and that they’ll pay a price when they do.”

Obama could have been more aggressive. The Justice Department should have been more aggressive, and the regulators should have been more aggressive.

— Sen. Sherrod Brown

The proposed legislation, co-authored by Republican Sen. Mike Crapo, banking committee chair from Idaho, would boost penalties for repeat offenders and require limited liability companies to disclose the true owners, including those with at least a 25% stake or who own a controlling interest. Currently, money launderers and other criminals hide behind shell companies created in Delaware, Wyoming and other tax haven states to open bank accounts and move ill-gotten gains.

The names would be shared with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, which would provide the information under strict safeguards to law enforcement and other government agencies.

Brown said the lack of criminal enforcement goes back to the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis when the Obama administration failed to aggressively prosecute executives behind the wave of financial fraud that led to the crash.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/jail-bankers-who-allow-money-laundering-top-democrat-in-u-s-senate-banking-committee-says-in-wake-of-fincen-files/

German Prosecutors Drop Money Laundering Probe Into Deutsche Bank

German prosecutors discontinued a money laundering investigation against managers at Deutsche Bank in relation with Estonian subsidiary of Danske Bank due to lack of evidence, the Frankfurt-based German multinational investment bank said Tuesday in a statement.

Deutsche Bank Frankfurt 20Deutsche Bank headquarter in Frankfurt, Germany. (Photo: Deutsche Bank)“This step means that the allegations of aiding and abetting money laundering that were made against the bank have been dropped,” read the statement.

Despite closing the case, the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office fined the bank €13.5 million (US$15.9 million) for its slow reporting of suspected instances of money laundering.

The fine was imposed due to the bank’s transactions conducted between 2010 and 2015, according to Deutsche Bank, which said it “terminated its relationship as correspondent bank for Danske Bank Estonia back in October 2015.”

These transactions were allegedly linked to the Azerbaijani Laundromat, which in 2017 exposed a complex money-laundering operation and slush fund that handled $2.9 billion over a two-year period through four shell companies registered in the United Kingdom.

As OCCRP reported at the time, the cash was used to pay off influential Europeans to burnish the image of Azerbaijan’s ruling elite. Danske Bank’s Estonian branch registered the accounts of all four companies as belonging to British shell companies, which auditors considered “inadequate” documentation under anti-money laundering protocol.

Danske Bank was also mentioned in the 2014 Russian Laundromat scandal.

“With the closure of these proceedings it is clear that there was no evidence of criminal misconduct either on the part of Deutsche Bank or its employees,” said member of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank, Stefan Simon, who commented on the ruling.

He argued that no allegations were made against Deutsche Bank within the investigation, “in terms of it having breached its supervision obligations or organizational duties or certain persons violating their responsibility, nor were any breaches ascertained."

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13257-german-prosecutors-drop-money-laundering-probe-into-deutsche-bank

British lawmakers call for sanctions over Uighur human rights abuses

In a debate held in the House of Commons on China’s programs in Xinjiang, some MPs urged the U.K. government to follow the example of the United States.

A group of British lawmakers has called for sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for human rights violations against the Uighur minority and for trade restrictions on goods made with forced Uighur labor.

In a debate held Monday at the House of Commons, the politicians referred to an increasing amount of evidence showing that members of the Muslim minority in the Chinese region of Xinjiang are being detained, subjected to political indoctrinaiton and forced to work in factories under dire conditions.

“The suffering that the Uighur Muslims have undergone, and sadly continue to undergo, is nothing short of horrifying,” Member of Parliament Chris Evans said in a speech that kicked off the debate.

“The petition calls for action and asks the [U.K.] government to take any necessary steps to stop such breaches of human rights.”

We must do much more as a country to ensure that … the labor of the Uighur people is not found in either the clothes we wear and the technology we use or the kit that our national health service uses.

— MP Shabana Mahmood

The parliamentarians urged the U.K. government to follow the example of the United States, which recently passed a bill authorizing sanctions against Chinese officials involved in the human rights abuses and is now considering passing another bill to ban imports linked to Uighur forced labor.

China has repeatedly called allegations of human rights abuses as slanderous and defended their policy in Xinjiang as necessary to combat terrorism.

The Chinese government opposes the U.K.’s interference in China’s “internal affairs,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a July press conference.

To support their claims, the British MPs cited information from leaked classified documents, satellite imagery and witnesses’ accounts reported over the years by journalists and researchers.

Last year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists obtained top secret Chinese government documents detailing Beijing’s mass detention and surveillance program in Xinjiang.

The China Cables investigation revealed how Chinese officials were instructed to hold detainees in prison-like conditions and to use sophisticated surveillance and data collection systems to police and detain Uighurs and other minorities.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-cables/british-lawmakers-call-for-sanctions-over-uighur-human-rights-abuses/

Australian Defence Force orders ban on destruction of evidence from Afghanistan war, as inquiry into alleged war crimes nears end

The Australian Defence Force has ordered a halt on the destruction of any records relating to Australia's two-decade-long war in Afghanistan, more than four years after an inquiry commenced into allegations of war crimes by Australian special forces.

Key points:

An embargo has been placed by the ADF on the destruction of evidence relating to the war in Afghanistan

The direction comes at the behest of the Afghanistan Inquiry Task Force, as an inquiry into allegations of war crimes nears its end

The embargo has raised concerns that material crucial to any potential future prosecutions may not have been preserved

The ABC has obtained an internal Defence bulletin sent last week that places an embargo on the shredding of any records relating to ADF operations in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2015.

The bulletin states the embargo is at the direction of the "Afghanistan Inquiry Task Force".

When asked about the nature of the task force, the existence of which has not been disclosed before now, Defence responded:

"The Afghanistan Inquiry Task Force is a small temporary team established within the Australian Defence Force Headquarters. Its primary role is to prepare Defence to receive and respond to the IGADF Afghanistan Inquiry report."

The Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) has been conducting a wide-ranging but highly secretive inquiry into allegations that Australian special forces committed war crimes — including the murder of civilians — in Afghanistan since early 2016.

The report, compiled by NSW Supreme Court judge and Army Reserve Major General Paul Brereton, is expected to be completed before the end of the year and is widely expected to shine a light on a number of allegedly unlawful killings by Australian SAS troopers and commandos.

The Afghan Files

A blast of fire shoots out of a soldier's rifle.

Secret defence force documents give an unprecedented insight into the operations of Australia's elite special forces in Afghanistan.

Read more

Over the last three years, the ABC has reported on a number of incidents in which Australian special forces soldiers allegedly committed war crimes by killing unarmed civilians in Afghanistan.

Some incidents have already been referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for investigation and possible prosecution.

After a Four Corners program aired in March showed the killing of an unarmed Afghan man by an SAS soldier, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds quickly referred the incident to the AFP and the soldier was suspended from duty.

Defence records relating to those incidents would potentially be crucial for any police investigation into alleged war crimes.

Those materials could include helmet-cam vision taken on operations, photographs, patrol reports, inquiry reports, drone vision and post-operation debriefs.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-16/adf-issues-embargo-on-destruction-of-afghan-war-evidence/12769318

YouTube Just Banned QAnon. Will It Actually Work?

Company said that it would be “taking another step in our efforts to curb hate and harassment by removing more conspiracy theory content used to justify real-world violence”

On Thursday, YouTube became the latest platform to crack down on QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory promoting the idea of a deep state leftist cabal of pedophiles and child traffickers.

In a blog post, the company said that it would be “taking another step in our efforts to curb hate and harassment by removing more conspiracy theory content used to justify real-world violence.” It specifically cited QAnon as an example, noting that it had removed thousands of individual QAnon-themed videos and hundreds of QAnon-affiliated channels as a result of this policy update.

In announcing its policy update, YouTube has joined a slew of other platforms that have taken action against proponents of the conspiracy theory, including, most recently, Facebook, Pinterest, and the TikTok competitor Triller. “There’s a greater focus in the lead-up to the presidential election on having clear, accurate communication to ensure that we are able to have a safe, fair democratic election,” Kathleen Stansberry, associate professor of communications at Elon, tells Rolling Stone. “There’s a lot of concern that widespread misinformation is an increasing problem and that needs to be addressed both by users and platform level.”

QAnon has also been linked to episodes of real-world violence, such as the 2019 murder of a Staten Island mob boss, a 2018 incident with an armored vehicle at the Hoover Dam, and the kidnapping of multiple children across the country this year. Such incidents have likely played a role in putting pressure on platforms to update or clarify their content guidelines to scrub their QAnon presence, Stansberry says.

Following widespread de-platforming by social media websites, many QAnon believers have taken to alternative platforms like Parler and MeWe, which cater to conspiracy theorists and far-right extremists by offering much more lax content guidelines.

From the very start of the QAnon movement in 2017, YouTube has played an active part in the community, particularly for those new to the movement. “YouTube has played a major role in radicalizing Q believers, with popular Q videos like Fall of the Cabal and Out of Shadows often serving as an introduction to the movement,” author and QAnon researcher Mike Rothschild tells Rolling Stone.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/youtube-qanon-ban-1076158/