Police use water cannon against protesters in Paris amid clashes over Global Security Bill

The Eiffel Tower was the scene of the latest unrest in the French capital directed at the law, which makes it illegal for the public and journalists to share images of police officers

The rally, which went on amid a heightened police presence at the Trocadero Square near the Eiffel Tower, was organized by Reporters without Borders, Amnesty International as well as other human rights groups and journalist unions. Opponents of the Global Security Bill insist that it’s a major infringement on the freedom of the press.

Activists carried banners decrying the law, chanted slogans, while also singing La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. Some in the crowd sported yellow vests, a symbol of the larger protest movement against economic injustice across France.

The rally was staged despite a national lockdown and a ban on public gatherings, in an attempt to stem a second wave of the coronavirus. Many demonstrators neglected social distancing rules and the government’s order to wear face masks.

The rally went on peacefully for hours, but tensions began rising after dark when some demonstrators started setting trash bins on fire. The protesters threw bottles and other objects at riot police, an RT France correspondent reported from the scene.

The police initially refrained from action, but then deployed a water cannon and to disperse the crowd.

Smaller protests against the law were also held in Marseille, Lille, Montpellier and other French cities on the day.

The Global Security Bill, which is pushed forward by the government of President Emmanuel Macron, among other things criminalizes the distribution of images of law enforcers by both the public and the media. A violation could carry a one-year prison sentence or a €45,000 fine.

The legislation got the greenlit from the National Assembly on Friday and is expected to be approved by the Senate next week.

In response to the criticism, Prime Minister, Jean Castex, assured that the bill “won’t impede the freedom of information,” but will only focus on images shared with “clear” intent to harm a police officer.

https://www.rt.com/news/507424-paris-global-security-bill-protest/

'Widespread destruction to businesses' in Portland by violent black bloc vandals

There was also an armed heist of a UPS truck in Portland

Destructive saboteurs purposely damaged at least two dozen businesses in Portland on Friday night. The Portland Police Bureau declared that the night of civil unrest resulted in "widespread destruction to businesses in Hollywood neighborhood."

The Portland Police Bureau stated that a "group of nearly 50 people gathered" and then "vandalized many businesses including many small businesses in their path." The vandals were "dressed in all black and seen wearing helmets and carrying umbrellas."

Police found that the violent black bloc anarchists "vandalized and destroyed private property in both Downtown and Northeast Portland." The rioting group also vandalized the Mexican Consulate.

This evening, a group gathered outside the Mexican Consulate in Downtown Portland. The group was described as dress… https://t.co/xkED441uQL

— Portland Police (@Portland Police)1605938771.0

In videos of the destruction, you can hear glass being shattered as windows of storefronts are destroyed.

Portland still at it I guess, breaking windows on what I'm sure is corporate buildings only. https://t.co/yMH70FZjMw

— Kitty Shackleford (@Kitty Shackleford)1605937773.0

The anti-cop acronym A.C.A.B., which stands for "All Cops Are Bastards," was spray-painted on numerous stores. Banks and a Whole Foods were targeted

(Content Warning: Explicit language)

Portland building damage from the "Trans Day of Rage" (Whole Foods) (BehindEnemyLinesNews Twitch) https://t.co/RUQYmr9vrZ

— Kitty Shackleford (@Kitty Shackleford)1605939048.0

https://www.theblaze.com/news/portland-rioting-vandals-business

Top Biden advisors Flournoy and Blinken promise smarter, more secretive permanent war policy

Biden’s likely pick for Secretary of Defense, Michele Flournoy, and his top foreign policy advisor, Tony Blinken, have played central roles in every war waged by Democratic presidents dating back to the Clinton era

Throughout his campaign, Joe Biden railed against Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy, claiming it weakened the United States and left the world in disarray. “Donald Trump’s brand of ‘America First has too often led to America alone,” Biden proclaimed.

He pledged to reverse this decline and recover the damage Trump did to America’s reputation. While Donald Trump called to make America Great Again, Biden seeks to Make the American Empire Great Again.

Joe Biden: “Tonight, the whole world is watching America. And I believe at our best, America is a beacon for the globe. We will lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.”

Among the president-elect’s pledges is to end the so-called forever wars – the decades-long imperial projects in Afghanistan and Iraq that began under the Bush administration.

“It’s long past time we end the forever wars which have cost us untold blood and treasure,” Biden has said.

Yet Biden – a fervent supporter of those wars – will delegate that duty to the most neoconservative elements of the Democratic Party and ideologues of permanent war.

Michele Flournoy and Tony Blinken sit atop Biden’s thousands-strong foreign policy brain trust and have played central roles in every U.S. war dating back to the Bill Clinton administration.

During the Trump era, they’ve cashed in through WestExec Advisors – a corporate consulting firm that has become home for Obama administration officials awaiting a return to government.

Flournoy is Biden’s leading pick for Secretary of Defense and Blinken is expected to be the president’s National Security Advisor.

Biden’s foxes guard the henhouse

Since the 1990s, Flournoy and Blinken have steadily risen through the ranks of the military-industrial complex, shuffling back and forth between the Pentagon and hawkish think-tanks funded by the U.S. government, weapons companies, and oil giants.

Under Bill Clinton, Flournoy was the principal author of the 1996 Quadrinellial Defense Review, the document that outlined the U.S. military’s doctrine of permanent war – what it called “full spectrum dominance.”

https://thegrayzone.com/2020/11/20/biden-advisors-flournoy-blinken-permanent-war/