FLASHBACK: Former AG Barr Initiated Spying Program on Americans Back in 1992

AG Bill Barr will now go down in history as a total disgrace. When America needed someone to address the Deep State DC Swamp, after months of delays Barr finally showed he was a swamp creature himself.

We reported a month ago on the disgrace that Bill Barr had become:

Of course we should have known when AG Barr discounted any evidence that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered that Barr was not on the side of justice:

We kept hoping that Barr was finally someone who would address the criminals running Washington DC but he ended up being a card carrying member himself.

As he was walking out the door Barr claimed there were no crimes with the Obama Administration spying and demasking the incoming Trump Administration members in 2016. He also claimed the CIA did nothing wrong in relation to the Trump – Russia scandal. And, of course the FBI is now a disgrace after four more years of persecuting innocents and letting criminals go free. Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray plotted with Deep State members in overthrowing the government this election as can be seen by their selective blindness and lack of efforts to address the coup they are part of.

Why would Barr ignore the truth and justice? Looking over Barr’s past we have a couple possible answers.

While Barr was Attorney General under George H. W. Bush, he was involved in surveillance activities on Americans without obtaining warrants back in 1992:

The Justice Department under Attorney General William Barr launched a vast surveillance program that gathered records of innocent Americans’ international phone calls without first conducting a review of whether it was legal, the department’s inspector general concluded Thursday.

It happened in 1992, the last time Barr served as attorney general.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/flashback-former-ag-barr-initiated-spying-program-americans-back-1992/

China Slams Jack Ma's Ant Group, Orders It To Halt Expansion, Return To Online Payment Roots

Last week we reported that after having disappeared off the face of the earth (almost literally) for the past month following Beijing's crackdown on the now botched Ant Financial IPO, Jack Ma tried to rebuild some burned bridges when China's richest man - who had successfully pissed off China's most powerful man, dictator-for-life Xi Jinping - announced his Ant Group, the world’s largest fintech company, would slash borrowing limits for some users of its popular digital credit-card service "a sign the financial-technology giant is dialing back risk in its lending business following pressure from Chinese regulators."

According to Ant, one of the fintech giant's consumer-lending platforms, Huabei, lowered credit limits for some younger borrowers “to promote more rational spending habits”, or generally in line with what Beijing hopes to achieve even as it floods the economy with its own trillions in new credit.

In any case, Ma's peace offering was summarily ignored because just hours later, we learned that China had formally kicked off an investigation into alleged monopolistic practices at Alibaba - and unlike in the US, an anti-trust probe is almost certain to result in a breakup of the company in the not too distant future - escalating a campaign of scrutiny over the country’s internet giants. In response BABA shared tumbled double digits, dropping to the lowest level since July.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-slams-jack-mas-ant-group-orders-it-halt-expansion-return-online-payment-roots

Brother of Biden’s top aide takes Amazon lobbying job, as president-elect packs government with tech industry players

Joe Biden has staffed his transition team with a host of former Silicon Valley players, and now a brother of his top White House aide has landed a lobbying gig with Amazon. Can Biden be trusted to rein in big tech?

Jeff Richetti, the brother of Joe Biden’s White House counsellor Steve Richetti, has landed a lobbying job with Amazon Web Services, CNBC reported on Saturday. According to documents seen by the news outlet, Richetti registered as a lobbyist for the e-commerce giant’s cloud services division on November 13, the same day TV networks called the election in Biden’s favor, after a trickle of late-arriving ballots put the former vice president ahead of Donald Trump in a number of key swing states.

CNBC’s sources reassured readers that Jeff Richetti’s work as a lobbyist wouldn’t influence Steve and, in turn, Biden.

“Jeff has never and will never lobby his brother on behalf of any of his clients, and Steve has had no role in his brother’s business since he sold his stake in the firm in 2012,” the source reportedly said. “Steve and Jeff keep their professional activities distinctly separate.”

Yet some readers were left unconvinced, with reporter Patrick Howley calling the “globalist” Biden administration “an alliance between [Amazon CEO Jeff] Bezos and the multinational corporate class and the politicians who have no clue what is going on but just want money.”

The globalist regime is an alliance between Bezos and the multinational corporate class and the politicians who have no clue what is going on but just want money and people to submit to their will. https://t.co/dD7fy5pZpX

— Patrick Howley (@HowleyReporter) December 27, 2020

Same ol’ corruption. https://t.co/z2HTECLH74

— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) December 27, 2020

most progressive lobbyists ever! https://t.co/FXP00IX6OT

— jordan (@JordanUhl) December 26, 2020

Biden spoke little on the campaign trail about restricting the growing power of big tech. He mentioned back in May that Amazon and its ilk “should start paying their taxes,” and spoke more than a year ago about wanting to revoke Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields social media companies from legal liability for content posted on their platforms, but has since been quiet on the topic, while President Donald Trump has made it a rallying cry.

However, any voters expecting Biden to crack down on Silicon Valley once in office are likely to be disappointed. While House Democrats grilled the ‘Big Four’ tech executives this summer and unveiled plans to break up their monopolies in October, the tech industry and the Biden administration are heavily invested in each other.

Biden’s agency review teams – who ensure the smooth transition of power across all departments of the government – are packed with tech industry figures, according to a list released last month.

Among them are names from Amazon, Airbnb, Lyft, LinkedIn, Google, Uber, Stripe, Dell, and Twitter. Representatives from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s private foundation, as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are on board, along with a number of pro-tech advocates and think-tank heads.

https://www.rt.com/usa/510846-biden-aide-lobbyist-amazon/

Covid expert Fauci says pandemic’s ‘WORST YET TO COME’ (yet again)

Infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has warned Americans that the worst ravages of the coronavirus pandemic are yet to come. But the government physician’s proclamation is not his first doom-laden prediction.

Speaking on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ on Sunday, Fauci was asked whether he believes the “worst is still yet to come” in the ongoing pandemic.

“I do,” Fauci replied, predicting a “post-seasonal – in the sense of Christmas, New Years – surge.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci says he believes the worst is still yet to come in the coronavirus pandemic following the holiday season. “I share the concern of President-elect Biden that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse.” #CNNSOTUhttps://t.co/c5vBjWbU3Ipic.twitter.com/uOdjNHehGx

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 27, 2020

“We’re really at a very critical point,” he continued, “if you put more pressure on the system by what might be a post-seasonal surge because of the traveling and the likely congregating of people.”

Fauci has made similar predictions before. As the US’ cases numbered in the thousands back in March, he told Congress that “things will get worse than they are right now.” Three months later, he called the pandemic his “worst nightmare,” and warned that “it isn’t over yet.” In August, he again reminded the public he wasn’t “pleased with how things are going,” and told them to expect “big spikes” in positive tests.

Fauci’s predictions were not wrong, and daily new cases have trended upwards since mid-summer. However, while more than five times as many were reported on Saturday as on June 26, deaths have not risen as sharply. Just over 1,400 deaths were recorded on Saturday, in comparison to 660 back then, figures provided by Johns Hopkins University show.

https://www.rt.com/usa/510863-fauci-covid-worst-prediction/

Dem Senate Hopeful Urged Americans to Follow Chinese State-Run Media

Jon Ossoff, a Democratic Senate candidate in Georgia, hyped the reporting of Xinhua News – a Chinese Communist Party-run news outlet – with a shoutout on Twitter and has shared clips praising the advances of China’s Navy.

The unearthed remarks – occurring on Twitter in 2012 – are in addition to Ossoff’s financial ties to another Chinese state-run media company – a relationship he failed to include on financial disclosures and labeled “paperwork oversight” by his campaign.

On November 7th, 2012 he encouraged Twitter users to “follow @XHNews (Xinhua – Chinese state media)”:

Esp. during 18th Party Congress, #follow @XHNews (Xinhua – Chinese state media). #ff

— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) November 8, 2012

Xinhua – funded by the Chinese Communist Party and regulated by the regime’s propaganda department – was recently labeled by the U.S. Department of State as a “foreign mission” of the Chinese Communist Party.

The State Department described Xinhua as an integral component of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda organs:

“Over the past decade and particularly under General Secretary Xi Jinping’s tenure, the CCP has reorganized China’s state propaganda outlets disguised as news agencies and asserted even more direct control over them. He has stated “Party-owned media must. . . embody the party’s will, safeguard the party’s authority … their actions must be highly consistent with the party.” In short, while Western media are beholden to the truth, PRC media are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party.”

Ossoff also shared a Chinese-language newscast from the state-run CCTV outlet hyping how “China’s jets landed on [an] aircraft carrier”:

Video: Chinese J-15 traps on aircraft carrier #Liaoning #China #PLA #PLAAF https://t.co/siJXY6sq

— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) November 26, 2012

The writeup accompanying the video – a fawning profile of the People’s Liberation Army penned by the state-run media outlet – hails the navy’s “achievement”:

This achievement marks a crucial step in the development of China’s ambitious aircraft carrier program as landing tests of carrier-based aircraft are the most challenging to perform. “Capabilities of the carrier platform and the J-15 have been tested, meeting all requirements and achieving good compatibility,” the Chinese Navy said.

https://thenationalpulse.com/breaking/ossoff-hypes-chinese-media/

Man apparently jumps to his death from Manhattan high-rise building

A 39-year-old man apparently jumped to his death from a Manhattan high-rise apartment building Sunday morning, police said.

The suspected suicide leap occurred at 58 W. 52nd Street, a 31-story condo building between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, at 10:45 a.m., according to the NYPD.

The man’s identity was not immediately released.

https://nypost.com/2020/12/27/man-apparently-jumps-to-his-death-from-nyc-high-rise/

China’s Zhejiang province to launch 120,000 new 5G stations next year

East China’s Zhejiang province will build 120,000 5G base stations by 2022 and increase its network capacity, local authorities said this week.

According to Li Min, deputy director of the Economy and Information Technology Department of Zhejiang, the province will promote the wide application of 5G in industrial manufacturing, urban governance, services related to people’s livelihood, culture and entertainment, and other fields.

Authorities said earlier that Zhejiang had built a total of 15,770 5G base stations as of the end of 2019. The added value of core industries in the province’s digital economy exceeded 622.89 billion yuan (over $95 billion) last year, accounting for 10 percent of the province’s GDP and up 14.5 percent year-on-year.

In total, Chinese telecom carriers have managed to build more than 600,000 new 5G base stations this year, in addition to about 100,000 5G stations built in 2019.

According to the Chinese Academy of Engineering, they are likely to build more than a million new 5G base stations next year. That would bring the total number of 5G base stations in China to more than 1.7 million by the end of 2021.

https://www.rt.com/business/510648-china-building-5g-stations/

Amazon Hires Lobbying Firm Connected To Biden’s Top White House Adviser

Amazon, the trillion dollar tech company, has hired lobbyist Jeff Ricchetti, whose brother will be the top White House counselor to Joe Biden.

Ricchetti’s firm, which he founded in 2001 with his brother Steve, the incoming Biden adviser, registered as a lobbyist for Amazon on Nov. 13.

According to disclosure forms filed with Congress, Ricchetti will lobby for Amazon on “[i]ssues related to COVID-19, including implementation of the CARES Act.”

Biden tapped Ricchetti, his longtime aide, to serve as his counselor on Nov. 16. CNBC first reported that Amazon had hired Ricchetti.

Ricchetti Inc. is poised to be a lobbying powerhouse in the Biden administration. Amazon is the 10th company the firm has registered as a client since May 1, 2020. Ricchetti has a stable of other corporate clients, but had inked only one lobbying deal since July 1, 2016, according to records filed with Congress.

Ricchetti Inc. registered in August to lobby on behalf of Applied Materials, a California-based firm that produces semiconductor materials. Ricchetti disclosed that he plans to lobby the White House and other executive agencies on U.S. trade policy with China.

Ricchetti also signed an agreement on Nov. 13 to lobby for Vaxart, a biotech company that is developing an oral vaccine for coronavirus.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/12/27/amazon-lobbying-joe-biden-steve-jeff-ricchetti/

Trump Declines to Sign Relief Bill, Suspending Unemployment Benefits for Millions

President Donald Trump declined to sign the coronavirus relief and stimulus bill on Saturday evening as he pushed for higher stimulus payments of $2000 rather than $600, meaning millions of Americans would exhaust their unemployment benefits.

Two unemployment benefits programs expired at midnight on Sunday morning, as the Wall Street Journal noted:

The first provided unemployment benefits for gig and contract workers and others who don’t generally qualify for jobless aid. The second provided up to 13 weeks of additional payments to individuals who exhausted other programs that pay benefits, such as regular state unemployment benefits. In early December, roughly 14 million people were receiving benefits through those pandemic-relief programs, representing nearly three-quarters of those currently receiving jobless benefits.

The controversial bill, nearly 6,000 pages long, would also provide temporary funding for the federal government, meaning that it would shut down at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday if Trump does not sign the bill, or another bill funding the government.

Trump retweeted a video Saturdayof a speech he made last week criticizing wasteful spending in the bill, and demanding $2000 stimulus checks rather than $600 that had been agreed to by Congress.

Democrats attempted to push the $2000 stimulus proposal last week through the House by unanimous consent, which failed when Republicans objected.

Congress faced criticism for not providing more relief to Americans, and for larding a bill sold to the public as coronavirus relief with billions of dollars in unrelated spending.

But now Trump also faces criticism for allowing unemployment benefits to lapse because of his refusal to sign the compromise bill, which his own administration helped negotiate.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/12/27/trump-declines-to-sign-relief-bill-suspending-unemployment-benefits-for-millions/

Scientists Demand that England Go into Strict Lockdown Immediately

A group of independent scientists has demanded that the whole of England go into the strictest lockdown level, Tier 4.

A scientist belonging to Independent SAGE has demanded that the entirety of England is put under the strictest conditions which prohibit socialising, bans ‘unnecessary’ travel, and forces so-called “non-essential” shops to close.

Independent SAGE is run by the government’s former scientific adviser, Sir David King, but is not affiliated with the government or its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).

Dr Zubaida Haque of Independent SAGE said on Saturday: “Given that we surpassed 70,000 COVID-19 deaths in UK on Christmas Day, and there are now more patients with coronavirus in hospital than at any point in the pandemic, why hasn’t the government implemented Tier 4 restrictions everywhere in the UK? Independent Sage are very worried.”

“We need Tier 4 everywhere now to save lives,” Dr Haque added.

Following the end of the second lockdown, the government introduced in December a three-tiered system of restrictions that came into effect in early December, putting some 99 per cent of the population under the top two tiers.

While Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised that for five days over Christmas, rules would be relaxed so all Englishmen could enjoy family time over the festive period, the discovery of a new strain of the Chinese coronavirus resulted in the government inventing Tier 4 — with the toughest restrictions — imposed almost immediately on 16 million Britons in the south, banning gatherings and effectively cancelling family Christmases.

Scientists have said that while the new strain found in Britain is more contagious, it is not believed to be more deadly.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that from December 26th, Boxing Day, that Tier 4 would be extended into other parts of the south and east of England, but stopped far short of total nation-wide Tier 4 restrictions, meaning that most of the country could still enjoy limited time with loved ones over the holy period. Still, some 43 per cent of England’s population — 24 million people — are now living under Tier 4 restrictions.

However, even on Christmas Eve, Independent SAGE demanded that Christmas be ruined not just for those 16 million Englishmen, but for the entire country, telling the government to roll out Tier 4 and “ban household mixing on Christmas Day”.

The alternative scientific group added that the “devolved nations” of the United Kingdom — Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland — “should bring forward their own national lockdowns from Boxing Day to 24th December. Tier 4 should include enhanced travel restrictions.”

The government’s own SAGE scientists have also demanded that Christmas freedoms be curtailed, with some suggesting families should meet outside or people avoid hugging loved ones.

One member of NERVTAG, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, claimed that “kissing your grandparents may be delivering a deadly dose of the virus”, while the architect of the first lockdown, Neil Ferguson, alleged earlier in the year that “people will die” if families socialise at Christmas.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/27/scientists-demand-uk-goes-strict-lockdown-immediately/

Delingpole: Lockdowns Were Inspired by the CCP, admits Professor Pantsdown

Professor Neil Ferguson, the discredited Imperial College computer modeller behind Britain’s draconian lockdown policies, has come clean about his inspiration: none of it would have been possible without the shining example of the Chinese Communist Party.

In an extraordinary interview with the Times (of London), Ferguson admits that if it hadn’t been for China’s example, no Western country would ever have dreamed of putting its populace under house arrest.

Back in 2019, about the time someone was getting infected by a bat, no European country’s pandemic plans seriously entertained the prospect of putting a country on pause.

Then, that’s what China did. “I think people’s sense of what is possible in terms of control changed quite dramatically between January and March,” Professor Ferguson says.

Ferguson appears to find the idea of emulating a totalitarian state exciting rather than embarrassing or shaming because he boasts about it again later in the interview.

In January, members of Sage, the government’s scientific advisory group, had watched as China enacted this innovative intervention in pandemic control that was also a medieval intervention.

“They claimed to have flattened the curve. I was sceptical at first. I thought it was a massive cover-up by the Chinese. But as the data accrued it became clear it was an effective policy.”

Then, as infections seeded across the world, springing up like angry boils on the map, Sage debated whether, nevertheless, it would be effective here. “It’s a communist one party state, we said. We couldn’t get away with it in Europe, we thought.” In February one of those boils raged just below the Alps. “And then Italy did it. And we realised we could.”

That phrase ‘get away with it’ is instructive. It implies that, at least on a subconscious level, Ferguson is aware that copying Communist China’s lockdown policy was not a morally acceptable act, merely one that peculiar circumstances made possible.

Though the lockdowns are unprecedented in modern history and have, in the UK, been responsible for the biggest collapse in GDP in 300 years, as well as the destruction of many thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of jobs, Ferguson shows zero contrition for having provided the computer modelled doomsday scenarios responsible for all this misery.

Nor does he apologise for the incident during the first lockdown when he was caught breaking the rules he helped create by bonking his mistress at her place (not, obviously, at the home he shares with his wife). This earned him the soubriquet ‘Professor Pantsdown’ – as well as a reputation as a prize hypocrite.

“I made some mistakes. I’ve been completely open in terms of saying they were mistakes. But, nevertheless, the fact that journalists were digging into my private life at that level of detail was not something I could ever imagine. That’s not something you want to be on the end of.

“My wife and son and my partner had journalists on the doorstep. I was actually in my flat in London, they didn’t know where I was. It was a very difficult time.”

In other words, Professor Pantsdown’s line is that when you break the lockdown rules you yourself have invented and pop off down the road to have a shag with your bright-red-lipsticked, hard-left activist girlfriend, you are nothing but a blameless victim.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/27/lockdowns-were-inspired-by-the-ccp-admits-professor-pantsdown/

Almost Half of Swedish Coronavirus ICU Patients are Migrants

Nearly half of those in intensive care units (ICU) due to complications from the Wuhan coronavirus across Sweden are from migrant backgrounds.

A total of 46 per cent of those in ICUs in Sweden are from migrant backgrounds according to a report. Given that Sweden’s foreign-born population is around one-fifth of the total number of residents of the country, the figures suggest that migrants are serious over-represented in coronavirus statistics.

According to a report from Swedish newspaper Expressen, migrants also account for nearly half of those who have died of the Wuhan coronavirus under the age of 65, with native Swedes making up the majority of those over 65 who have fell victim to the disease.

Stockholm No-Go Suburb Most Affected by Coronavirus https://t.co/ccDaYvhMgL

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 8, 2020

The paper notes several reasons that migrants have been disproportionately affected by the disease such as socio-economic factors as migrants have a much higher unemployment rate than native Swedes, and the paper also lists overcrowding and larger average household sizes. Nevertheless, migrants are much younger, than average, than the broad Swedish population.

The Swedish Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine (CEM) released a report in November on the spread of the coronavirus in Stockholm and found socio-economic factors to be the main reason for the increased number of infections among migrants.

The report did not claim, however, that a lack of information was a factor for migrant communities, as had been suggested earlier this year when it was reported that Stockholm’s Somali community had been hit especially hard by the virus.

Sweden is not the only country to see migrant-background and minority communities hit harder by the coronavirus. In Italy, Minister for Regional Affairs Francesco Boccia inadvertently revealed in August that migrants made up as many as 25 per cent of the coronavirus infections.

Finland reported a similar trend earlier this month, with the country’s National Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) admitting that a quarter of the coronavirus cases involved non-Finnish speakers as patients.

Quarter of Finland’s Coronavirus Cases Involve Foreign Language Speakers https://t.co/nzcdWOamdZ

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 2, 2020

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/27/almost-half-of-swedish-coronavirus-icu-patients-are-migrants/

NY Governor Cuomo Grants Clemency To Illegal Aliens To Help Them Remain In The U.S.

Law-abiding citizens in New York continue to be put last.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo released a list of pardons and commutations on Christmas Eve.

Among the pardons were two illegal aliens.

Cuomo did to help them avoid deportation.

From The Press Release:

Kaydian McKenzie, 43, was convicted of Criminal Possession of Marijuana in the Second Degree and Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree in 2001 and 2002. Ms. McKenzie has been crime free for 18 years, is a registered nurse, and has worked at a nursing home in New York State throughout the COVID-19 public health crisis. In addition to her role as a frontline worker, Ms. McKenzie is the mother of three U.S. citizen and is active in her local church, where she has volunteered with a program that delivers food to older New Yorkers who are living alone. A pardon will help Ms. McKenzie remain in the United States with her family.

Rosario Pena, 61, was convicted of Petit Larceny and Attempted Robbery in the Second Degree in 1981 and 1986. Ms. Pena was forced to commit these crimes by sex traffickers to whom she fell victim. After a childhood marred by abuse, homelessness and years of victimization by traffickers, Ms. Pena has now been crime free for 34 years. A pardon will allow Ms. Pena to remain in the United States, where she has lived for more than 50 years.

It’s not the first time Cuomo did this.

The Gateway Pundit reported in 2019:

Democrat New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has pardoned 22 illegals to stop them from being deported.

The pardons were mostly for drug possession, but drug dealing, arson and robbery as well.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/ny-governor-cuomo-grants-clemency-illegal-aliens-help-remain-u-s/

Cardinal Burke: “The MSM gave us conflicting information. Covid has been used by certain forces to advance their evil agenda”

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/cardinal-burke-the-msm-gave-us-conflicting-information-covid-has-been-used-by-certain-forces-to-advance-their-evil-agenda/

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