TSA screens 1.2M flyers in busiest airport travel day since March

More people traveled through US airports on Wednesday than any day since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the nation in March, the TSA said.

Just days ahead of Christmas, security agents screened 1,191,123 people at American airports on Dec. 23, TSA spokesman Lisa Farbstein said — the most in a single day since March 16, when 1,257,823 flyers passed through TSA checkpoints.

The surge in plane trips comes despite pleas from health officials to stay home and avoid travel during the holiday season amid an ongoing rise in COVID-19 cases.

Still, Wednesday’s throughput was just 61 percent of the number of people who passed through TSA screeners on the same day in 2019.

Air travel has been well below usual levels throughout the pandemic. As shutdowns took hold across the world, TSA agents screened as few as 90,000 people on multiple days in April.

Air travel began to creep up in late April and has continued a steady increase since then. This past weekend marked the first time since March where Friday, Saturday and Sunday all saw over a million people enter American airports, according to TSA figures.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging Americans not to hold inter-household holiday celebrations as the coronavirus continues to spread.

“People who do not currently live in your housing unit, such as college students who are returning home from school for the holidays, should be considered part of different households,” according to the agency’s guidance.

https://nypost.com/2020/12/24/tsa-screens-1-2m-flyers-in-busiest-travel-day-since-march/

Dominion CEO Threatens ‘Imminent’ Legal Action Against ‘Repeated and Amplified False Statements’ About Our Company

Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos on Thursday discussed his threat of “imminent” legal action against the Donald Trump campaign for statements made about their company following the 2020 elections.

Poulos said the lawsuit against “several different people that have been spreading lies and defamatory remarks” about his company since Election Day is in his legal team’s hands now. He said that entails Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and possibly even the president himself.

“[S]everal different actors have been promoting lies and amplifying those lies, as I said, on various media platforms, since Election Day. And many Americans across the country have been listening to this, repeatedly, and it’s causing serious doubts with their election systems, which in our opinion, is the exact intent of these actors,” Poulos told CNN “New Day” host John Berman. “And they have refused to testify under oath and to bring these matters in front of a court. In fact, to my knowledge, I am the only one that has testified under oath on any of these matters. So, it’s just forced our hand. So, we fully expect that none of them will be retracting their statements, so it forces our hand to file action.”

“[W]e will be looking into absolutely everybody that has … made and repeated and amplified false statements that have been defamatory and damaging to our company and to our election,” he added.

“Including, perhaps, the president?” Berman asked.

Poulos replied, “Like I said, we will not be overlooking anybody.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/12/24/dominion-ceo-threatens-imminent-legal-action-against-repeated-and-amplified-false-statements-about-our-company/

California Lawmakers Want Wealth Tax That Will Follow Taxpayers When They Inevitably Move to Cheaper States

Progressives in Sacramento want to create a tax that will extract tax dollars from those who have already left their state

As people leave the State of California in record numbers, Progressive lawmakers in that state are moving ahead with plans to enact a wealth tax that will tax a person’s net worth and even follow them out of state should they move.

Many businesses and wealthy executives are leaving the State of California because of an overreaching tax code that is bleeding the states population of their ability to accrue wealth. But that’s not stopping some state lawmakers from supporting a wealth tax proposal, even as a growing number of Californians are calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), to be recalled.

The California legislature left the door open last session to enact a wealth tax proposal that would apply up to a 0.4 percent tax on the amount of a state resident’s net worth over $30 million dollars.

And there would be no escaping the revenue generated by existing in California. Even leaving the state would not free an individual of the Tax burden. Under the proposed tax law, anyone who would have been subject to the tax in the preceding ten years would still be subject to some level of the tax for up to 10 years, even if not a California state resident.

State Senate Minority Leader Shannon Grove (R), said in an interview that even though the proposal failed in the last legislature, it “is coming back this year,” because the legislators adjourned without advancing the legislation.

Grove said state Democrats will “try to say that if you generate any revenue in the state…that they can track you down in whatever other state you go to and they can tax you California state taxes for ten years after you leave.”

https://nationalfile.com/california-lawmakers-want-wealth-tax-that-will-follow-taxpayers-when-they-inevitably-move-to-cheaper-states/

Shutdown Looms As Democrat Bid For $2,000 Relief Checks Fails House, Here's What Happens Next

House Democrats on Thursday failed to replace the $600 direct checks in the latest pandemic relief bill with $2,000 payments demanded by President Trump this week - which House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) sought to pass by unanimous consent, only to be blocked by House Republicans.

House Democrats will try again on Monday, with a new stand-alone bill for the $2,000 checks, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). The House will also attempt to override Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act as government funding is set to lapse.

To avoid a shutdown, the House could also pass another stopgap measure - however several pandemic relief measures will also run out between Saturday and Dec. 31, including $300 per week in bonus unemployment insurance and a moratorium on rent-related evictions.

Politico's Jake Sherman opines on the next steps after Trump tossed lighter fluid and a match on GOP leaders, who largely failed to support his challenge to the November election:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/shutdown-looms-democrat-bid-2000-relief-checks-fails-house-heres-what-happens-next

AUST MSM GOING ON A PANIC RANT

Lies, distortions, disinformation and spin are what broke the US in 2020

Forget the pandemic, there’s another thing that’s plaguing the US and a vaccine isn’t going to stop it. And it’s got a grip on at least 50 million Americans.

Forget the pandemic. 2020 was the year of the infodemic. Lies, distortions and bucketloads of spin were fed into social media in the past year on issues as diverse as virology, politics and history. So how do democracies survive in a post-truth world?

It’s a matter of belief. But the impact is real.

Seven out of 10 Republicans are convinced that President-elect Joe Biden has “stolen” the US election. That’s 50 million Americans.

But that belief has failed every reality test. Republican election officials have certified the results. Republican judges have thrown out challenges for being baseless.

But that reality has been brushed aside by the power of belief. And that belief has been weaponised.

International analysts say spin has long since moved out of the back rooms filled with political advisers. It is no longer just the tool of choice for lobby groups and commercial advocates. It has mutated into a devastating weapon in the hands of dictators.

According to the European-based think tank Atlantic Council, social media has become a clear and present danger.

“The intentional use of misleading information to influence societies presents a serious threat to the integrity of democratic systems,” its report reads.

“Authoritarian states regularly use it to exploit democracies’ open information systems, presenting a significant national security threat that demands a purposeful and concerted response.”

And it has a plan for fighting back: “Defence against disinformation has to be rooted in democratic principles and values: transparency, accountability, and respect for freedom of expression. We must not become them to fight them.”

ASSAULT ON TRUST

Controversy has long boosted newspaper sales. But in the case of social media, clicks equal cash. So pushing controversial content to the top of people’s feeds is the fundamental business model of the likes of Facebook and YouTube.

And they’ve found a rich market to exploit.

But, according to Dr Kate Starbird, these international megacorporations are starting to realise the damage they are doing.

“They tried. They were certainly making changes. They were certainly trying to address the problems,” the University of Washington associate professor of election integrity recently told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). “I think they had prepared very well for the issues we saw in 2016 around foreign campaigns and inauthentic (fake) accounts.”

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/lies-distortions-disinformation-and-spin-are-what-broke-the-us-in-2020/news-story/4a76b32a695200ab5a27a4ac799c888e

GASLIGHTING ANYONE

https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-nsw-avalon-cluster-new-cases-sydney-christmas-restrictions/1252b844-b8d0-4fbd-b367-cbca046e568d

The Jew who ruined Christmas

British Government Contracts Firms To Make COVID ‘Freedom Passports’

The British government has contracted two firms to develop COIVD ‘freedom passports’, that would be used to segregate society between those who have been tested or vaccinated against COVID and those who have not.

While the government is still saying that it will not introduce such a system, the firms have been given instructions to develop an app based system to integrate a QR code linking to a digital passport.

The QR code would be used to gain entry into pubs, clubs, venues, cinemas, basically anywhere in public.

“After scanning in the code, the venue could refuse entry to those without a recent negative result,” the Daily Mail notes.

The ‘negative Covid-19 test certification’ plans were discovered on the UK Government’s contracts finder.

The site shows that in November a £42,000 contract was awarded to a company called Netcompany UK to develop a ‘Covid-19 Certification/Passport MVP’ (minimum viable product’).

Another contract for £34,000 was awarded to Hub Company to develop an app that would include a personal QR code for COVID tests.

“It is about looking at ways we could use this in future,’ a Deprtment of Health source claimed, adding “It is looking at whether it would be possible.”

“There are no plans to introduce immunity passports,” the source also claimed, echoing previous government assurances.

We previously reported, back in November, on the government’s active plans to develop a QR code system to use as an ‘immunity passport’.

The report, stemming from sources close to the government, noted that “Those who refuse to get the Covid-19 jab would likely be refused entry to venues, as part of the same proposals.”

Other reports have suggested that an app already used prominently in the UK by people to book doctor and hospital appointments could implement a vaccination status section that will show whether a person has taken the coronavirus jab or not, and that businesses may use it to refuse entry to those who have not.

Government officials have previously signalled that the system could be integrated with the much maligned NHS ‘track and trace’ app.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has repeatedly refused to rule out making vaccination mandatory for all UK citizens, previously announced that ‘immunity passports’ could be rolled out for those who have antibodies against the virus, allowing them to participate in society.

The system would be similar in nature to that being considered by Ticketmaster, who it was revealed are considering making customers prove they’ve had the vaccine or a negative coronavirus test before allowing them to purchase tickets.

Ticketmaster later clarified that a final decision on such measures would be up to event organizers but that they were still mulling over the implementation of the system.

The spectre of so called ‘immunity passports’ stretches beyond Britain. Recently, the government in Ontario, Canada admitted that it is exploring ‘immunity passports’ in conjunction with restrictions on travel and access to social venues for the unvaccinated.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/78847/british-government-contracts-firms-to-make-covid-freedom.html