Pound Tumbles As Chief EU Negotiator Says Brexit Talks Are "Paused"

Update (1420ET): Yet again, Brexit headlines on Friday have now come full circle as a day that began with surging optimism about the prospect for talks has given way to more FUD. Despite earlier reports that talks were continuing Friday night in London, the EU's Michel Barnier has reportedly 'paused' the negotiations, following what's been said to have been an extremely unproductive week of negotiations.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/important-day-brexit-deal-talks-looms-eu-threatens-hold-out-until-next-year

U.S. Election ‘Success’… And Hey Presto ‘Russian Interference’ Disappears

The United States’ election victory of Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden has yet to be officially confirmed. That requires the 500-plus Electoral College comprising the 50 federal states to cast the final vote when the constitutional body meets on December 14. Biden holds a commanding lead of over 300 delegates in the Electoral College, more than 70 above Donald Trump’s quota and decisively more than the 270 threshold required for election to the White House.

Nonetheless, already one thing is indisputably clear. Biden’s nominal victory from the popular vote tallies is glaring proof that Russia did not interfere in the American presidential ballot. Not in 2020. And not, we may discern, in 2016, nor in any other election. Yet the silence in US media over this obvious conclusion is deafening.

Four years of frenetic and unsubstantiated allegations of “Russian interference” have disappeared overnight, it seems. Poof! Gone! As if by a magic conjuring trick. Now you see it, now you don’t, so to speak.

The New York Times has declared the recent presidential contest a “great election.. a resounding success free of fraud”. The Department of Homeland Security pronounced the election to be the “most secure in American history.” Other US media outlets have jettisoned supposed political neutrality and can barely contain their elation at Biden’s electoral victory.

But hold on a moment. In the months and weeks leading up to the November election, there was a fever pitch in US media among politicians, national security chiefs, pundits and anonymous intelligence sources that Russia was allegedly stepping up “interference efforts” to get Trump re-elected. Those evidence-free claims were predicated on the equally absurd assertion that Trump was a Manchurian candidate for the Kremlin. That “Russiagate” fable was first spun in 2016 and for the past four years elaborated into a tangled web to “explain” how a maverick former reality TV star had been elected to the White House.

Suddenly, however, the Democrats and supportive US media are now asserting that the voting process was impeccable and unblemished by any malfeasance. Of course they would say that in order to bolster legitimacy of Biden’s win against the Republican White House incumbent Donald Trump. But the thundering takeaway which the US political class and media are bizarrely ignoring is that Russia did not interfere not in the 2020 race nor in any other election. Russia has always categorically said it is not meddling in US politics and its electoral process. Turns out that Russia is de facto vindicated in its protestations against American slander.

The “Russiagate” nonsense was hatched by Democrats, their supportive media and intelligence agencies because they could not come to terms with the reality of why Trump beat the then establishment-ordained candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. Could it have been because Clinton and the Democrat party was repudiated by popular sentiment due to perceived corruption and overseas wars? No, another “explanation” had to be found. And the US political establishment came up with the “Russian interference” narrative.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/11/27/us-election-success-and-hey-presto-russian-interference-disappears/

More than half of FDNY say they’ll refuse COVID-19 vaccine

More than half of New York City firefighters say they won’t be vaccinated for COVID-19 when the potentially life-saving shot becomes available to first responders in a matter of weeks, according to a new internal survey.

About 55 percent of 2,053 smoke-eaters polled in the last three days by their union, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, answered “No” when asked, “Will you get the COVID-19 Vaccine from Pfizer when the Department makes it available?” UFA President Andy Ansbro told The Post. The responses account for about 25 percent of the UFA’s 8,200 active members.

The stunning anti-vax response follows an August survey of MTA workers that showed only 30 percent of 645 respondents were definitely willing to be vaccinated. Thirty-eight percent were unsure and 32 percent said they would not take the vaccine, according to the poll of Transport Workers Union members conducted by the NYU School of Global Public Health.

If the survey results become the reality, it would mean thousands of NYC’s first responders and other essential frontline workers would continue to be vulnerable to the virus and remain potential spreaders.

The FDNY announced last week it would not make the vaccine mandatory for its members, a policy expected to be followed by all city agencies and even hospitals.

The data comes as Trump pandemic advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said that most healthy Americans should not expect to be vaccinated before the spring, as the first shots are rolled out to health care workers, the elderly and the medically vulnerable.

“A healthy non-elderly person with no recognizable underlying conditions, will likely start . . . in the end of March, early April. Once you get into April, probably full blast with those individuals,” Fauci said during a CNN town hall Friday — the same day the city reported positive coronavirus test results doubled in the past month.

Among firefighters, positive tests have tripled during that time, according to an FDNY source, who said that as of Friday there were more than 130 positive cases in the department’s ranks. At least six firehouses have three or more cases.

Vaccine acceptance is a matter of trust, it seems.

https://nypost.com/2020/12/05/these-nyc-first-responders-fear-covid-19-vaccine-side-effects/

Jet exec busted in NYC sex trafficking probe was known pedophile, neighbors claim

Neighbors of the convicted sex offender who was arrested in the Bronx Thursday say he was a known pedophile and alleged they regularly saw him bringing young girls back to his apartment.

Paul Alexander, 57, the CEO of a small, Bronx-based charter jet company, was arrested this week on charges he trafficked girls as young as 12 years old.

The arrest was the result of a joint investigation by the state prosecutor’s office called “Operation Mile High” — a nod to his job as CEO of Central Jet Charter, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Saturday.

Alexander had no remorse for his young victims, and would charge older men to have sex with them, the AG’s office said.

He allegedly charged an undercover agent $300 for sex with two young victims, ages 14 and 12, with each girl earning a third of the take, according to a criminal complaint.

The undercover investigator was told to give the kids alcohol before doing the deed, according to the complaint.

Paul Alexander

https://nypost.com/2020/12/05/man-busted-in-nyc-sex-trafficking-probe-was-known-pedophile-neighbors/

Labor senator Penny Wong questions Prime Minister Scott Morrison's actions over China

Shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong has questioned the Prime Minister's decision to blast China in a televised press conference, which marked a new low in the relationship between Canberra and Beijing.

Key points:

Labor senator Penny Wong says the Federal Government needs to "stop focusing on splashy headlines" in regards to China

She urges the Prime Minister to be cautious in using new laws to veto agreements struck by state and local governments with foreign powers

Senator Wong is disappointed Foreign Minister Marise Payne won't discuss China matters with her

"In diplomacy you always have to think about how you calibrate your response," Senator Wong said on the ABC's Insiders program.

"It is a big call to go directly, escalate directly to the national leader, and I hope that Scott Morrison thought very carefully about that decision.

"I hope that he took advice and thought carefully before he did escalate it to the national leader level when we responded."

Last week, Mr Morrison held a press conference to demand an apology from China within an hour of a Chinese Government official uploading a controversial image on Twitter taking aim at Australian soldiers.

"It is utterly outrageous and cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever. The Chinese Government should be totally ashamed of this post," Mr Morrison said.

The stylised picture depicted an Australian solider holding a bloodied knife to the neck of an Afghan child, and included a caption which read, "Don't be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace!"

A long-running investigation by the inspector-general of the Australian Defence Force has found credible evidence that Australia Special Forces unlawfully killed 39 prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan.

Labor has joined the condemnation of the tweet, but has been critical of the Government's broader handling of the relationship with Australia's biggest trading partner.

"The relationship is obviously in a very difficult and challenging place," Senator Wong said.

"I think the Government really does need to stop focusing on splashy headlines and work out what is it doing, how is it helping our exporters, how is it helping those who are so dependent, and have become more dependent on China for Australian jobs."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-06/penny-wong-questions-scott-morrison-china-reactions/12954836

Yes Australia trust the Chinese lesbian MP

BIBLICAL

Soros' Open Society President Gaspard Resigns Amid Reports That He Will Join Biden Team

Patrick Gaspard, former United States ambassador to South Africa, was appointed president of George Soros' Open Society Foundations in January 2018. Gaspard formerly served as the White House director of political affairs for the Obama administration between 2009-2011.

The president of George Soros' Open Society Foundations, Patrick Gaspard, announced that he would step down from his position on Friday, as reports emerged suggesting that he might join Biden's projected administration.

According to Open Society, Gaspard will be replaced by Mark Malloch-Brown, the former UN deputy secretary‐general and UK minister, who currently serves on the Foundations’ Global Board.

“It has been a profound honor to lead this organization,” Gaspard said in his statement. “Fundamental social change doesn’t customarily occur in a revolutionary moment. Instead, what is needed is the partnership of activists, government, and the nonprofit sector, collaborating over time and space in unity and solidarity. This is what I worked to do at Open Society. My commitment now will be to re-enter the world of politics and ideas, where I can continue the struggle against oppression everywhere.”

Soros, a Hungarian-born billionaire and investor, praised Gaspard as "a champion of all rights: whether for workers, for women, or for underserved groups".

“[Gaspard's] dedication to those challenging power is precisely why I invited Patrick to join Open Society", Soros said. "I have great admiration for the way he led the Foundations in a world beset by illiberalism, and I applaud him.”

According to Axios, Gaspard's move to resign fuels speculation over him joining the Biden team, possibly as Labor Secretary.

Gaspard has been serving as the Open Society Foundations president since January 2018, with positions of US ambassador to South Africa and White House Director of Political Affairs also on his record. He worked on government positions under former US President Barack Obama.

If Gaspard joins a Biden administration, as reports suggest, this will fall in line with Biden's move to appoint several Obama-era officials to key positions in the White House.

For the Biden administration to become reality, however, the Democrat must secure the Electoral College vote, and it will only be clear whether he manages to do that after 14 December, when the electors cast their votes.

While Open Society Foundations describes itself as "the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights", some critics accuse Soros of being a "puppet master" behind the destabilization of political regimes and of funding movements like Black Lives Matter and antifa. Many claim that Soros stole a Trump victory from the 2020 presidential election.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202012061081372429-soros-open-society-president-gaspard-resigns-amid-reports-joining-biden-team/