Hacked Documents Detail China’s Effort To Control Narrative Surrounding Coronavirus Outbreak

https://www.oann.com/hacked-documents-detail-chinas-effort-to-control-narrative-surrounding-coronavirus-outbreak/

UPDATED 8:50 AM PT – Thursday, December 31, 2020

China’s ruling Communist Party took extensive steps in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak to control the narrative surrounding the virus and fight public opinion.

This comes amid reports by Pro-Publica and the New York Times, which detail documents leaked by a hacker group that calls itself “CCP Unmasked.”

These documents show thousands of directives and memos reportedly from the country’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, working to make the virus appear less threatening and authorities seem as if they were competently handling the situation

This included using specialized software, which allowed the government to track online trends, coordinate censorship activity and manage fake social media accounts. These directives date back as far as early January. This also included ordering news sites to use only government-published reports and not to compare the virus with the SARS outbreak of 2002.

At the beginning of February, Chinese President Xi Xinping himself called for tighter control of digital media with a directive stating regulators should work to “influence international opinion.”

Much of this came to a head on February 7, 2020 with the death of coronavirus whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang who had warned of a new viral outbreak before succumbing to the virus himself.

Authorities began an immediate crackdown by warning expressions of grief would be allowed, but anyone “sensationalizing” the story would be dealt with “severely.” Following Li’s death, online memorials vanished and police detained people working to archive deleted posts.

By late May, authorities were alerted to confidential opinion analysis reports being published online and ordered cyber administration offices to get rid of internal reports.

Researchers said hundreds of thousands of people work part-time in China to help shape the country’s online narrative, including low level government employees as well as university students and teachers.

This is not the first report to show China’s effort to censor its own people. Reports dating back to early 2020 show the Chinese messenger app WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings, blocked keyword combinations that criticized President Xi, local officials and policies linked to the outbreak.

The U.S. and other nations have long accused China of suppressing information about the coronavirus that could have potentially changed the tide of the outbreak.

McConnell moves to vote on override of President Trump’s veto of NDAA

https://www.oann.com/mcconnell-moves-to-vote-on-override-of-president-trumps-veto-of-ndaa/

UPDATED 8:29 AM PT – Thursday, December 31, 2020

The Senate passed a motion bringing President Trump’s veto of the national defense bill into question. Immediately following Wednesday’s vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a cloture motion placing a time limit on arguments over the move.

President Trump vetoed the bill for several reasons, including a provision calling to rename military bases named after Confederate leaders and the lack of a plan to terminate Section 230.

On Tuesday, McConnell urged his colleagues to continue to support the defense bill. He claimed it’s vital for U.S. defense interests.

“For the brave men and women of the United States armed forces, failure is simply not an option,” stated the Kentucky senator. “So when it’s our turn in Congress to have their backs, failure is not an option either. I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation one more time when we vote.”

President Trump called GOP lawmakers “weak” and said the attempt to defy his veto was an act of cowardice. Meanwhile, the override vote is expected to take place on Saturday.

Anybody else having to refresh page to post?

McConnell Again Thwarts Vote for $2K Relief Checks Demanded by Trump

https://www.newsmax.com/headline/mcconnell-vote-senate-checks/2020/12/31/id/1003784/

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell once again thwarted an attempt for a quick vote on $2,000 coronavirus stimulus checks on the Senate floor Thursday.

He then launched into a verbal fight with with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

McConnell slammed the House-passed bill for $2,000 stimulus checks as "socialism for rich people." This despite the vote is part of President Trump's request that stimulus checks be boosted from $600 in the recently passed stimulus.

"The data show that many upper-middle class Americans have kept their job, work remotely and remain totally financially comfortable," McConnell said. "On the other hand, some of our fellow citizens have had their entire existence is turned upside down and continue to suffer terribly. We do not need to let the speaker of the House do socialism for rich people in order to help those who need help."

But Schumer was having none of it. McConnell's insistence that the Senate only consider checks along with other Trump priorities including repealing controversial Section 230 liability protections for online platforms and investigating election security would make it impossible for any to become law, he said.

"Let me make this offer to the Republican majority. We're willing to vote on the other issues that President Trump mentioned. All the issues the Republican leader says must be addressed so long as we vote on them separately," Schumer said. "If Leader McConnell wants a vote on these issues, we're here for it. Just give us a vote on the House-passed bill and we can vote on whatever right-wing conspiracy theory you'd like."

Schumer then requested that the Senate quickly vote on the House bill on $2,000 stimulus checks. McConnell objected.

On Wednesday, McConnell said on the Senate floor that a bill passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which sought to meet fellow Republican Trump's demands for bigger checks, "has no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate."

With a new Congress set to be sworn in on Sunday, the action appears all but certain to kill the effort to increase the amount of the $600 checks Congress has already approved.

Appearing to shrug off Trump's own initiative, McConnell continued: "The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats' rich friends who don't need the help."

Democrats have insisted the aid is for people in dire need of help in the face of a health crisis that has killed nearly 340,000 people in the United States, but McConnell complained the checks were not targeted to need.

"Let folks vote. Mitch McConnell has the ability to do that … He simply is unwilling to do that and the American people are going to be hurt," Democratic Senator Gary Peters told CNN.

Trump had ramped up pressure on fellow Republicans to back the bigger checks for struggling Americans in a series of tweets over recent days. "$2000 ASAP!" Trump wrote on Twitter early on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the president attacked Republican leaders as "pathetic" and accused the party of having a "death wish" if it did not back raising the stimulus payments or scrap legal protections for social media companies.

Republican Senator John Cornyn told reporters he thought it unlikely that Congress would now act to increase the checks given McConnell's remarks.

Asked if he expected his party to face political blowback, Cornyn said: "No, not in any normal world," noting that lawmakers had already approved trillions of dollars in relief for an economy battered by the pandemic.

Some Republican senators had supported an increase in the payments, including David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who face runoff elections in Georgia next week that will determine which party controls the Senate under President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration.

Biden, who defeated Trump in a November election and takes office on Jan. 20, supports the House bill.

Congressional Republicans have largely stuck with Trump through four turbulent years, but the president is angry that they have not fully backed his claims of election fraud.

The tensions among Republicans have been exacerbated by a second showdown over an effort in Congress to override Trump's veto of a defense policy bill.

The Senate voted 80-12 on Wednesday to begin debate on the issue, with another procedural vote due on Friday. If successful, the effort would lead to the first veto override of Trump's presidency.

The House of Representatives voted to overturn Trump's defense bill veto on Monday. Once preliminary hurdles in the Senate are cleared, a final vote could come later in the week or over the weekend.

China Rattled After Trump Sends Warships Through Taiwan Strait

https://www.newsmax.com/world/asia/china-us-taiwan-strait/2020/12/31/id/1003724/

BEIJING (AP) — China accused the U.S. of staging a show of force by sailing two Navy warships through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday morning.

The Navy said the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS John S. McCain and USS Curtis Wilbur “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit” in accordance with international law.

Their movement “demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the Navy said in a statement on its website.

China’s Defense Ministry called the move a “show of force” and a provocation that “sent the wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan independence forces’ and seriously endangered peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait area.”

“We firmly oppose this," the ministry said in a statement on its official microblog, adding that it monitored the ships' passage from the air and sea. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army at all times maintains a high level of alert and can respond at any time to any threat or provocation and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

While China claims Taiwan as its own territory, the busy Taiwan Strait is generally considered an international waterway. China fiercely opposes any signal of U.S. military support for Taiwan, a self-governing republic that relies on Washington for defensive weapons and political backing in the face of Chinese threats to annex the island by force.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry issued a statement saying it had observed the passage of the ships passage and that “the situation is normal."

Graham: Next Congress Should Vote Solely on $2K Checks

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/graham-congress-mcconnell-covid/2020/12/31/id/1003766/

A stand-alone vote on approving $2,000 coronavirus relief checks "might pass," but there is no way to get that vote before the next session of Congress starts on Jan. 3, Sen. Lindsey Graham said Thursday.

"I'd like a stand-alone vote in the new Congress on the $2,000 check," the South Carolina Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We have seven Republicans who have already said they would vote for it. We need five more."

However, he said he does agree with the need for a vote on repealing liability protections on big tech companies and for a commission to investigate the 2020 election.

"I'm urging Sen. (Mitch) Mcconnell to give a standalone vote in the new Congress after Jan. 3 on all three measures," said Graham. "I would predict that if you had a standalone vote on the $2,000 check, it's better than 50/50 it would pass."

Graham added that 70% of Republicans in the Senate don't want the checks to be increased to $2,000 each because doing so would bring a $430 billion cost to the Treasury, but he agrees with President Donald Trump that the extra money is needed.

"They're not wrong to be concerned about the expense," he said, "but I've seen with my own eyes the destruction of small businesses in South Carolina … I think a family of four, if they got $8,000, it would help our economy. I think they need the $8,000."

Meanwhile, if Georgia's Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler lose their races next week over the check impasse, the bill will seem "really cheap."

"If we lose the Senate, and (Democrats) have control of the House and the Senate and the White House, they're going to send over a monster of a bill, and will make this bill look cheap," said Graham. "If we lose Georgia, everything goes by the wayside."

He added that it's important that Trump, while heading to Georgia to campaign for Perdue and Loeffler, tell his voters that the best revenge for the November election is to make sure the incumbent Republicans win.

>>12253779

Starting to show hie true colors, isn't he.

Tom Homan Predicts 'Unprecedented' Border Surge Because of Biden

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/tom-homan-border-illegal-immigrants-asylum-seekers/2020/12/31/id/1003753/

Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says the U.S. will see "unprecedented" numbers of migrants at its southern border under a Joe Biden administration.

Homan made his comments during a Thursday interview on "Fox & Friends First."

"We've been talking about this for months — that a Biden presidency would result in an unprecedented surge," he said. "When you say you're going to let hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers into the United States, when data clearly shows 90% don't qualify, they're just going to get released and wait illegally in the United States for the next amnesty. He [Biden] wants to put a moratorium on detentions. He wants to give them free healthcare.

"The border numbers are already up because of what I call the 'Biden effect.'"

Homan maintained the best thing for Biden to do is to continue with President Donald Trump's success at the border and "build upon it."

Fox News noted border apprehensions totaled 67,101 in November — up 64% from November 2019.

"If [Biden] loves this country like he says he does, he going to forget his [own] ideas because we're going to lose the border," Homan said. "We're going to see an unprecedented surge like we've never seen before."

But he said it may be too late for Biden to reevaluate his border policy.

"The cartels are already geared up," Homan said. "People are already coming. The groups are already forming. Transportation infrastructure is already there."

Biden has said it will take months to roll back some of Trump's actions on immigration, offering a slower timeline than he promised on the campaign trail.

>>12253810

I know.

Really sux not being able to verify how your vote got posted.

>>12253860

That would be nice, but…..

>>12253899

Let's just hope that it goes some where, unlike the SCOTUS tossing shit.