Germany to slaughter 29,000 chickens after bird flu outbreak on poultry farm

Regional authorities in Germany announced that around 29,000 chickens will be slaughtered in the country’s eastern area of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte after an outbreak of the H5N8 strain of bird flu.

In recent weeks, multiple countries across Europe have reported outbreaks of avian flu to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), with incidents in poultry in Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and the UK, as well as in wild birds in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands.

While the most recent incident only covers nearly 30,000 chickens, a 10-kilometer observation area is being set up around the German case to cover almost 500 nearby farms – which contain nearly 644,000 poultry between them – to prevent any potential further cases.

In response to the recent outbreaks, the EU Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has warned countries that close cooperation between animal, public, environmental and occupational health authorities will be required to avoid further escalation of the situation on the continent.

Belgium culls 151,000 chickens after Europe's latest bird flu outbreak on farm near French border READ MORE: Belgium culls 151,000 chickens after Europe's latest bird flu outbreak on farm near French border

The EFSA has recommended similar measures to the UK’s Avian Influenza Prevention Zone, including continued surveillance of wild birds and their flocks to minimize infectious contact with farmed fowl. The UK government will additionally require poultry keepers to take a range of biosecurity precautions, including keeping free-range flocks indoors until the threat is deemed to have passed.

Although the risk to humans is considered low – as transmission from birds to people is rare and human-to-human transmission has not been observed – if contracted, it can cause severe illness.

https://www.rt.com/news/508599-germany-slaughter-chickens-flu/

Beijing blasts US govt over visa restrictions for China Communist Party members

Beijing slammed “extremist anti-China forces” in the US government on Thursday as Washington revealed new restrictions on travel to the US by Chinese Communist Party members and their families.

The Trump administration issued the new rules, aimed at protecting the US from the party’s “malign influence,” on Thursday. Under the measures, the maximum validity of B1/B2 visitor visas for party members and their immediate family is being reduced from 10 years to just one month, the State Department said in a statement.

Just like other Chinese citizens, Communist Party members – of whom there are around 92 million – could obtain US visitor visas valid for a decade, but Washington changed the rules on Wednesday, the New York Times reported earlier, citing a State Department spokesman.

The new rules take immediate effect and allow only a single entry for those affected by the change, the report said, adding that the restrictions would not affect other kinds of visas.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Thursday she wasn’t aware of the report about the new visa rules, but noted that it had been revealed previously that Washington may impose such restrictions.

“The world sees very clearly that this is an escalation of political suppression against China by some extremist anti-China forces in the US out of strong ideological bias and deep-seated Cold-War mentality,” Hua said.

Commenting on a US Justice Department statement that more than 1,000 Chinese researchers have left the US amid a crackdown on alleged technology theft, Hua said some politicians in Washington “see hatred, division, and confrontation” around them.

Beijing firmly rejects US actions that include “arbitrary harassment, persecution, and oppression against experts and scholars in the US,” she added.

The #US practice of integrated military and civilian development dates back to before #WWI. The US groundless accusations against China are typical double standards.

— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) December 3, 2020

The US had earlier slapped travel bans and financial sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials who it says were restricting political rights in the city and on officials connected to the alleged state crackdown on Uighurs and other Muslim groups in Xinjiang. China has denied the accusations.

https://www.rt.com/news/508598-us-china-visa-communists/

US Orders Draw Down From US Embassy Baghdad Until Trump Leaves Office

The United States is taking significant steps to shield its personnel from any potential retaliation attack in the Middle East, on Wednesday ordering a temporary draw down from the embassy in Baghdad until President Trump leaves office.

This involves up to half of all diplomatic personnel leaving at a moment of soaring tensions with Iran following last week's assassination of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, after which Tehran swore revenge.

Iranian leaders have blamed primarily Israel and the opposition proxy group MEK, the latter which for decades has sought the violent overthrow of the Ayatollah, but also have strongly suggested US assistance to the covert plot as well.

The move is based on fears of near-term attacks on the embassy or diplomats, as Iraqi officials told AFP: "It’s a minor drawdown based on security reservations from the US side. They could come back — it’s just a security blip," according to a source.

There's lately been an uptick in rocket fire on the embassy and Green Zone, including last month, which have been widely blamed on the powerful Iraqi Shia militias backed by Iran.

This is precisely what happened after the last January US killing of IRGC Quds Force Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

He was killed alongside Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the leader of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Force (PMF). All of this enraged Iraq's majority Shia population, leading to mass street protests demanding an immediate American exit from the country.

Further, after the killing of Soleimani under a year ago Iran launched ballistic missile strikes on American bases in Iraq. Though there were no reported deaths, it's believed that over 100 US troops suffered Traumatic Brain Injury due to the large-scale blasts.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-orders-draw-down-us-embassy-baghdad-until-trump-leaves-office

Republican-Led US Senate’s First Major Legislation After 2020 Election Is to Appease Big Tech

Days before the 2020 election, the US Senate brought in Big Tech one more time to listen to the billionaire leaders lie about not censoring conservative and God-loving Americans. The Senators attempted to look tough but it was all a show.

Now just days after the most corrupt election in US history, there is no mention or desire to address an election obviously stolen from the American people.

Big Tech is part of the steal, raising their censorship to new levels, and even now censoring the President of the United States.

The President recently asked the Legislature again to change the law so average Americans can no longer be censored by these behemoths:

Instead of addressing the problems with Section 230 and the shocking election fraud that occurred in the 2020 election, the US Senate passed Senator Mike Lee’s bill which he has been pushing for years that brings in more cheap labor for US companies while stealing good paying jobs from US workers.

Americans are so tired of being betrayed by politicians – both Republican and Democrat – because nobody likes liars and frauds and cheats:

What a bunch of cons. This is exactly why Americans loved President Trump and why he won more votes than any sitting President ever in this last election (and clearly destroyed Joe Biden in the election before the massive fraud took place).

We have to do all we can to ensure President Trump remains President for four more years in order to make America great again. The alternative is death to America.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/simply-shocking-republican-led-us-senates-first-major-legislation-2020-election-appease-big-tech/

Facebook BANS false claims about Covid vaccines ‘debunked by public health experts’ – all such posts to be REMOVED

Social media giant Facebook says it is cracking down on Covid-19 vaccine misinformation and will remove "false claims" posted to Facebook or Instagram which will have been debunked by public health experts.

In a company blog post on Thursday, Facebook said that it would be combating misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines as the world prepares for the roll-out of a number of inoculations against the disease.

Facebook’s previous policy was only to remove claims about Covid-19 which it said could lead to “imminent physical harm.”

On Thursday, it said the new move was an extension of its commitment to “remove misinformation about the virus that could lead to imminent physical harm. This could include false claims about the safety, efficacy, ingredients or side effects of the vaccines.”

For example, we will remove false claims that COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips, or anything else that isn’t on the official vaccine ingredient list.

Facebook added that it would “remove conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines that we know today are false” such as claiming that “specific populations are being used without their consent to test the vaccine’s safety.”

In November, the company reported that it had removed 12 million pieces of misinformation about Covid-19 in seven months, according to its internal guidelines.

Many of the posts removed already have related to false cures and conspiracy theories, such as one connecting the pandemic with 5G networks, according to Facebook.

On Monday, the company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it would be looking for more ways to help with the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re already planning a push around authoritative information about the vaccines,” Zuckerberg noted, though he did not elaborate.

The social media firm’s announcement comes a day after the UK became the first nation to approve a vaccine for roll-out, with the first jabs planned to be administered next week.

Despite the serious impact of the virus on health and the global economy to date, many people are still wary about receiving a vaccine. A poll released in mid-November, by analytics company Gallup found that only 58 percent of Americans would opt to receive a Covid-19 vaccine when one becomes available.

https://www.rt.com/news/508578-facebook-covid-vaccine-false-claims-remove/

3M Announces Another 2,900 Job Cuts As Corporate Layoffs Pile Up

One of the most puzzling single-stock stories of the post-pandemic era is how 3M, a pillar of American industry and long-time component of the Dow 30, has seen its shares lag this year. Though shares have seen a pickup as of late courtesy of the rotation in value, they' only just barely tapped their highs from January, before 3M was bushwacked by fears about slowing global growth and demand.

Now for at least the second time this year, 3M on Thursday announced plans for a serious "restructuring" - this one will involve 2,900 job cuts - and "scale back on investments in lower-growth markets". It will also involve a pre-tax charge of $250 million to $300 million due to the move, with $120 million to $150 million to be incurred in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Here's more from Reuters.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has advanced the pace of change and disrupted end markets around the world, increasing the need for companies to adapt faster," Chief Executive Officer Mike Roman said.

3M said the restructuring actions would allow it to take advantage of global market trends in e-commerce, health care, automotive electrification and home improvement.

The company had 96,163 employees as of Dec. 31, 2019.

The company said it expects the restructuring to result in pre-tax savings of $200 million to $250 million this year and $75 million to $100 million in 2021.

The changes appear to be aimed at 'pivoting' to a post-COVID economy, and will involve investments to the company's data and analytics prowess, according to CEO Mike Roman in comments reported by Bloomberg.

The maker of Post-it notes, medical masks and chemical additives will step up the use of analytics and data to improve efficiency and enhance marketing in response to an increasingly digital age, the Minnesota-based company saidThursday. The measures, cutting about 3% of its employees as of the end of last year, will result in a pretax charge of as much as $300 million. 3M has boosted production of the N95 masks needed by health-care workers to protect against the coronavirus, but sales otherwise have been sluggish during the pandemic. Third-quarter organic sales growth was about 1% in the third quarter and the company was unable to provide an earnings forecast.

3M highlighted safety equipment, health care, electric vehicles and home improvement among the growth markets it’s targeting. At the same time, Roman will scale back investment in slower growth areas, the company said, without giving details. Having announced strategic steps to transform 3M in January, Roman returned to the drawing board in the wake of the pandemic that’s hurt economies worldwide.

One would think a company that literally makes masks, hand sanitizer and other cleaning products would be scrambling to hire as many workers as possible. Not so.

Reading this news, you just gotta wonder: what can be said about the state of the American economy (not to mention investors' priorities) when companies that are cranking out masks and hand sanitizer are culling workers, not scrambling to hire more.

As CNBC's Carl Quintanilla noted in a tweet, the year-end corporate layoff announcements are starting to pile up.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/3m-announces-another-2900-job-cuts-corporate-layoffs-pile

Roger Stone’s voter fraud conspiracy: North Korean boats delivered ballot dumps through Maine harbor

Former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone has claimed he’s seen irrefutable evidence of voter fraud in the presidential election carried out by none other than North Korea.

“I just learned of absolute incontrovertible evidence of North Korean boats delivering ballots through a harbor in Maine, the state of Maine,” Stone told The Alex Jones Show. “If this checks out, if law enforcement looked into that and it turned out to be true, it would be proof of foreign involvement in the election.”

Stone also threw his weight behind the theory that there had been “cyber manipulation” in the election, something the president has also claimed.

Host Alex Jones agreed there was cyber manipulation through the Dominion Voting Systems, but claimed it was China that was behind the fraud rather than North Korea.

While many Trump supporters have been vocal about their belief that Joe Biden’s victory is because of targeted fraud, critics have dismissed the theories and cited a lack of evidence. Stone’s assertion of North Korean involvement has been especially mocked.

“Every single thing about this is incredibly idiotic but none [moreso] than the idea that North Korea would head to the East Coast,” Washington Post reporter Philip Bump tweeted on response.

“This is the craziest bullshit I’ve seen so far. No one can believe this, right? Not even MAGAs? Right? WTF,” writer Holly Figueroa O’Reilly added.

https://www.rt.com/usa/508601-roger-stone-ballots-north-korea/

I don't trust the old pervert, might be 5th column

Supreme Court Orders New Trial Over California Worship Restrictions In Light Of New York Ruling

The Supreme Court has sent a lawsuit over religious gatherings brought by a California church against Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and the state of California back to a lower court for a do-over, in light of the court's decision that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's restrictions on religious gatherings are unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs in the case, Harvest Rock Church, requested immediate court intervention while the state asks the Supreme Court to allow restrictions on religious gatherings to continue.

According to Just the News:

Newsom has banned indoor church services in high-risk areas – the majority of the state — yet other gatherings like sporting events, protests and Hollywood film productions are allowed to continue.

In moderate-risk California counties, churches can hold 25% of the normal capacity indoors.

• • *

"California is experiencing an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases, creating an even greater public health need for restrictions on prolonged communal gatherings in indoor places," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office said in a filing, which opposed Harvest Rock's request for the restrictions to be lifted.

According to Newsom, the "perils" of indoor gatherings - such as dining at the French Laundry - justify further restrictions.

"Scientific evidence demonstrates why those activities pose a particularly grave threat of virus transmission during the current pandemic," argued attorneys for Newsom and the state.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/supreme-court-orders-new-trial-over-california-worship-restrictions-after-finding-cuomo

Florida GOP lawyer under investigation for reportedly illegally registering to vote in Georgia and asking others to join him​

Not a good look

Georgia officials are investigating a Republican attorney in Florida after he allegedly attempted to register to vote in Georgia ahead of the Senate runoffs and instructed other voters how to do the same.

According to WSB-TV, attorney Bill Price was caught in a since-deleted Facebook Live video telling Republican Party members in Bay County, Florida, about his plans.

What did he say?

In the Nov. 7 video, which was recorded by an investigative reporter before it was deleted, Price suggested that the current legal challenges to the presidential election would ultimately fail.

"I'd love to tell you that there are legal avenues for success in the courts, but as a realist and as a lawyer myself, I know that that's just not going to happen," he said.

So instead, Price encouraged his audience to focus on securing the Republican majority in the Senate by any means necessary. On Jan. 5, Republican Sen. David Perdue will face off against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff while fellow Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler will take on Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock.

"We absolutely have to hold the Senate and we have to start fighting back, and we have to do whatever it takes," he said. "And if that means changing your address for the next two months, so be it. I'm doing that. I'm moving to Georgia and I'm gonna fight and I want you all to fight with me."

https://www.theblaze.com/news/florida-attorney-registers-in-georgia

Why Central Bank Digital Currencies Are a Bad Idea

Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) are being sold with the narrative of protecting consumers who are increasingly moving to cashless payments. Some say that these cashless payments will rob us of the privacy advantages of cash while exposing us to bank runs, payment network blackouts, and foreign financial adversaries.

Yet while these risks are real, they would be negligible had it not been for the central banking and financial regulators’ interventions into the market. CBDCs make these interventions worse and introduce some new, much bigger ones.

Design Implications

While the stated intention behind CBDCs is to keep the commercial banks in the picture, these digital currencies will bring their end users closer to the central banks. This is because blockchains and blockchain-inspired distributed ledger technologies are built on a single common ledger, which is distributed either in a permissionless or permissioned manner. The permissionless distribution exposes a lot of information about the network participants but in combination with proof-of-work verification makes it very difficult for an adversary to attack and overtake the network and, e.g., change the inflation rate.

A permissioned network with no proof-of-work or similar consensus algorithm not only doesn’t provide the immutability feature, but by having a single permissioned ledger gives potential control to those who grant the network privileges. As a result, the central bank as the ultimate permission issuer would have much stronger control over the monetary system and payment network than it has right now. This gives the central banks three very dangerous capabilities.

Helicopter Money

The reason why we’ve seen such an elevated business cycle over the past century is the central banking fiat money system. Unnatural expansion of the money supply causes booms, which are unsustainable, and markets try to clear them when they are exposed as such.

Economists of the Austrian school understand that the boom is the real problem and the economic crisis is the necessary and positive cleansing mechanism. Unfortunately, the (neo-)Keynesian response to such an event is to prop the markets up by further monetary interventions.

The problem is that the current design of the banking system requires the intermediary role of commercial banks in issuing credit to businesses. Central banks get frustrated when the commercial banks exercise caution in an economy that hasn’t fully cleared the previous misallocations and hasn’t brought prices of capital goods to more sustainable levels. Needless to say, commercial banks’ cautious approach to consumer credit in a period of growing unemployment doesn’t align well with the central bank’s goals either. During the covid crisis, the governments managed to an extent to get around these hurdles by issuing benefits en masse, but those are complicated by logistics, bureaucracy, or legislation. Since the predominant Keynesian narrative is that spending drives the economy (hint: it doesn’t—capital investments do), the central banks would like to spur more consumer spending by issuing money supply directly to consumers.

https://mises.org/wire/why-central-bank-digital-currencies-are-bad-idea

San Francisco votes to ban smoking tobacco inside apartments… but weed will still be allowed

San Francisco City Council has voted to ban tobacco use inside apartments, citing the dangers of second-hand smoke to public health. Marijuana smoking has been exempted however, after lobbying efforts from cannabis campaigners.

The Californian city will become the largest city in the US to outright ban smoking inside apartments after the city's Board of Supervisors voted 10 to one on Tuesday in favor of domestic cigarette prohibition.

Curiously, the ban ran afoul of existing legislation, as it is illegal under California law to smoke marijuana in public, so banning its use in the home would effectively ban its use outright – a case that cannabis activists argued successfully, thereby securing its exemption from the at-home smoking ban.

“Unlike tobacco smokers, who could still leave their apartments to step out to the curb or smoke in other permitted outdoor smoking areas, cannabis users would have no such legal alternatives,” explained City Council Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.

San Francisco joins 63 other California cities and counties that have all banned the smoking of cigarettes in apartments. The state’s Department of Public Health will take charge of enforcing the new ordinance.

The vote provoked a wave of reaction. While many among the 420 faithful clearly approved of the rule, some viewed it as government overreach and questioned how exactly the authorities planned to enforce the ban.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 to ban smoking tobacco inside apartments. However, marijuana use is still permitted. It's being called a huge legislative win for Dave in 3B. pic.twitter.com/ZE6jKOc9Q3

— Jarrett Bellini (@JarrettBellini) December 3, 2020

Liberal nanny-state authoritarianism.

— Intricate Entity 🌹 (@intricate119) December 3, 2020

Education-focused initiatives highlighting the dangers of smoking, along with information about ways to quit smoking will be the first measures used to encourage users to kick the habit, though repeat offenders may face $1,000 fines or even eviction.

The ordinance must pass a second vote and be signed off by the city’s mayor in order for the law to take effect some 30 days later.

https://www.rt.com/usa/508595-san-francisco-bans-smoking-tobacco/

Rona Forever! Govt Scientist Suggests Britons Could Be Wearing Masks ‘for Years’

The United Kingdom’s deputy chief medical officer has suggested that practices like wearing masks and using hand sanitiser could be habits Britons have to keep “for years”.

Jonathan Van-Tam made the remarks 0n Wednesday alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a Downing Street coronavirus briefing.

Professor Van-Tam said, according to The Sun: “I don’t think we’re going to eradicate coronavirus, ever. I think it’s going to be with humankind forever. I think we may get to a point where coronavirus becomes a seasonal problem. I don’t want to draw too many parallels with ‘flu, but possibly that is the kind of way we’d learn to live with it.”

He continued: “Do I think there will come a big moment where we have a massive party and throw our masks and hand sanitiser and say, ‘That’s it, it’s behind us’, like the end of the war? No, I don’t.

“I think those kinds of habits that we have learned from… will perhaps persist for many years, and that may be a good thing if they do.”

When Prime Minister Johnson asked the medical officer to clarify, Van-Tam said that he did not think the government “will continue to have to recommend social distancing, masks, and hand sanitiser forever and a day”.

“I hope we will get back to a much more normal world. But, the point I was trying to make was — do I think, possibly, some of those personal habits for some people will persist longer, and, perhaps, become enduring for some people, yes, I think that’s possible.”

In further comments made to Britain’s state broadcaster the BBC on Thursday morning, Van-Tam also made clear his view that a coronavirus vaccine would not be a magic-bullet returning the country to normal.

Explaining that even once individuals had been vaccinated they would still have to follow coronavirus lockdown rules, the government advisor told BBC Breakfast: “Until we are properly confident of how the vaccine works, and properly confident of how disease levels are dropping, that even if you have had the vaccine you are going to need to continue to follow all the rules that apply for a while longer.

“It isn’t something we’re going to leave people waiting on forever, but we’ve got to follow the science, we’ve got to see the data that gives us the assurance that we can tell people they can relax in certain ways, and have a fairly high degree of confidence that it is safe to do so.”

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/03/rona-forever-govt-scientist-suggests-brits-could-be-wearing-masks-years/

U.N. Chief Guterres Demands the World Reset to Forestall a Climate Apocalypse

Nature is determined to destroy humanity through flood, famine, fire, and pestilence, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared Wednesday, prophesizing the time has come for us to repent and mend our ways through a great climate and economic reset.

In an address at Columbia University in New York City, Guterres said the global climate has long been “reacting” to man-made changes, but emphasized there’s still time to prevent a total biodiversity collapse if we fall in behind the U.N. and its multiple agencies.

“Humanity is waging war on nature,” the Portugese socialist said. “This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back — and it is already doing so with growing force and fury.”

Guterres’ remarks begin a month of U.N.-led climate actions and came 10 days before its climate summit on Dec. 12, which is the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Accords.

He declared companies must adjust their business models for a green economy, and that means making carbon-free investments and follow the plans for recovery as laid out by the globalist organization.

“Biodiversity is collapsing. One million species are at risk of extinction. Ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes. Deserts are spreading. Wetlands are being lost. Every year, we lose 10 million hectares of forests,” he said.

“Oceans are overfished — and choking with plastic waste. The carbon dioxide they absorb is acidifying the seas. Coral reefs are bleached and dying. Air and water pollution are killing nine million people annually — more than six times the current toll of the [coronavirus] pandemic.”

Guterres said instead of looking to a return to “normal,” the world should take advantage of the “pandemic reset” to create “a more equitable and just world.”

Here’s what Guterres demanded the nations of the world do:

Put a price on carbon

Phase out fossil fuel finance and end fossil fuel subsidies

Shift the tax burden from income to carbon, and from tax payers to polluters

Integrate the goal of carbon neutrality (a similar concept to net zero) into all economic and fiscal policies and decisions

Help those around the world who are already facing the dire impacts of climate change

If we don’t, he said, we’re living on borrowed time, repeating a warning he made earlier this year in demanding changes to the way the world is run.

“This is a moment of truth for people and planet alike. COVID and climate have brought us to a threshold. We cannot go back to the old normal of inequality, injustice and heedless dominion over the Earth. Instead we must step towards a safer, more sustainable and equitable path.”

https://www.breitbart.com/environment/2020/12/03/u-n-chief-guterres-demands-the-world-reset-to-forestall-a-climate-apocalypse/

Four killed in massive explosion at sewage plant near Bristol

Four people have been killed and another person injured in an enormous explosion at a sewage treatment facility near Bristol.

Fire crews were called to the “serious incident” at a water recycling plant in Avonmouth at 11.22am local time. Police confirmed the fatalities shortly after 5pm.

The incident is ongoing and the public have been asked to avoid the area. A security cordon has been established as a precaution. It is understood that there is no further risk to the public.

Local police said investigations into the exact cause of the explosion are ongoing. “An explosion is believed to have occurred involving one of the chemical tanks at Wessex Water’s Bristol water recycling centre,” a spokesperson for the force said.

“A rescue operation was subsequently led by the fire service, involving five appliances and two turntable crews, and we can confirm there have been a number of casualties.”

https://www.rt.com/uk/508573-bristol-explosion-fire-casualties/

Tom Cotton: House Democrats Want National Mandate for Vote-by-Mail, Ballot Harvesting, Ending Photo-ID for Voting

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) noted on Wednesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily how House Democrats’ legislative priorities include a national mandate for mail-in voting, legalization of ballot harvesting, and ending photo-ID requirements for voting.

“It’s a tradition that a new House majority reserves its top priority for what they call H.R. 1 — House Resolution number one — the very first bill that’s introduced,” Cotton explained. “H.R. 1, under Nancy Pelosi, was a radical election law bill that would have mandated universal mail-out balloting in every state of the union. It would have required states to permit ballot harvesting. It wouldn’t have only prohibited photo identification — which [is] needful — it would have prohibited even signature verification.”

H.R. 1, dubbed the “For the People Act,” would nationally mandate automated mailing out of ballots to registered voters for elections while prohibiting states from having photo-ID requirements for ballot submission or signature verification of ballots.

Cotton continued, “[H.R. 1 would] impose draconian restrictions on campaign spending, so Republicans and conservatives can’t spend our own money to get our message out while the Democrats rely on tech giants and the mainstream media to get their message out. So unfortunately, I don’t see Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in the House taking many steps to protect the interior of our elections, so it’ll really be incumbent upon Republicans at the state level — especially in those states that have have had troubled elections [and] have the biggest problems — over the next two to four years — like Pennsylvania, like Michigan, like Wisconsin — to take steps to protect the integrity of their ballots.”

“We have Republican legislatures in all those states,” added Cotton. “In 2022, we could have Republican governors, so I would just encourage all of our fellow Republicans in the states that have had troubles to look carefully at their election laws, because you can pass all the tax policy you want, you can pass all the education policy, but if you’re in the state legislature and you don’t have elections with integrity, you can never be certain that those changes are going to remain in the future.”

https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2020/12/03/tom-cotton-house-democrats-want-national-mandate-for-vote-by-mail-ballot-harvesting-ending-photo-id-for-voting/