Pentagon Begins Process to Purge Confederate Names from Military Bases, Property

The Pentagon is moving forward to satisfy a congressional directive in the 2021 defense policy bill that will result in the renaming of at least 10 Army bases and possibly two Navy ships that honor the Confederacy.

On Friday, Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller appointed four members of what will eventually be an eight-member congressionally mandated panel: the lengthily named Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.

Those members include Sean McLean, a White House associate director from California; Joshua Whitehouse, a former Republican member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives who now serves as a White House liaison to the Defense Department; Ann Johnston, acting assistant secretary of defense for Legislative Affairs, from North Carolina; and Earl Matthews, principal deputy general counsel for the Army and a colonel in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

Congress voted Jan. 1 to override President Donald Trump's veto of the Fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act – a $740 billion defense policy bill that includes a provision for the Defense Department to create a special commission tasked with putting an end to the longstanding U.S. military tradition of honoring Confederate leaders.

The Pentagon has three years to put into action a plan from the commission to "remove all names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederate States of America … from all assets of the Department of Defense," according to language in the NDAA.

Pentagon officials have been reluctant to discuss the issue but have acknowledged the directive now that it has become law.

"It is extremely early in the process," Peter Hughes, a Pentagon spokesman, told Military.com in a statement Thursday. "To be clear, the DoD is tracking the requirement in the NDAA. … At this time, it is too early to say what the plan will entail, and any information would be pre-decisional."

The NDAA provision requires the Pentagon to form an eight-member commission to create a plan for renaming or removing certain Defense Department assets. The defense secretary was allowed to appoint four members of the commission; the other four will be appointed by the chair and ranking member of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, according to the legislation.

The Pentagon had 45 days from the NDAA's enactment to form the commission, which is then required to hold its first meeting in 60 days, the language states. The commission, which is required to deliver its first written report by Oct. 1, is responsible for creating a list of all military properties that need to be removed or renamed; a cost estimate for carrying out the changes; and an approved criteria for coming up with replacement names where they're needed, according to the bill.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/01/08/pentagon-begins-process-purge-confederate-names-military-bases-property.html

HIT PIECE

Trump supporters organized the Capitol riot online

Supporters of President Trump mused openly on social media about the possibility of violence in the days leading up to the riot at the Capitol, using various mainstream and conservative-leaning sites to organize.

As tech platforms crack down on Trump in the wake of the attack, experts say increasingly popular right-wing sites could pose an even greater danger down the road as conspiracy theories breed real-life crises.

“Jan. 6 is an inflection point for how the United States and the world views conspiracy theories, and how conspiracy theories, ranging from election fraud and ‘Stop the Steal,’ can lead to real-world harm in a way that a lot of people never really kind of believed,” Jason Blazakis, director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute, told The Hill.

“I think now, after seeing that happen on the 6th of January, I think this chapter of the book related to conspiracy theories has been written. And it is a national security threat,” he added.

Posts on websites including Parler, a Twitter-like platform with minimal content moderation, and TheDonald.win, a message forum that sprung up after Reddit banned a “subreddit” of the same name in June, were rife with posts about storming the Capitol in the days leading up to the deadly riot that prompted a lockdown and forced lawmakers to evacuate.

But posts on mainstream platforms, including Twitter, also mused about a potential attack coinciding with the day Congress was set to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s win, according to a report from Advance Democracy, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that conducts public-interest research & investigations.

For five days leading up to the riot, when a mob forced its way into the Capitol, there were 1,480 posts on Twitter from QAnon-related accounts about the Jan. 6 date that contained “terms of violence,” according to the Advance Democracy report.

One account related to the QAnon conspiracy theory late Tuesday night tweeted, “WE are all done being the bigger person, no more MR. NICE PATRIOT! it’s Time for Patriots to Rise up, Kick The Tires and Light the Fires, and Kick Ass and Take Names!!,” according to the report.

Advance Democracy also identified four TikTok videos with between 1,900 views and 279,000 views that called for violence or rebellion during pro-Trump demonstrations scheduled for Jan. 6.

Thousands of Trump's supporters had gathered in Washington, D.C., for a series of demonstrations aimed at protesting the election results, with the president addressing a crowd near the White House.

In his address, Trump continued to spread unsubstantiated claims about widespread election fraud and undermined Biden’s electoral win.

Hours later, the pro-Trump mob swarmed the Capitol, delaying the certification, forcing lawmakers and staff to shelter, and resulting in numerous violent clashes with police.

“There were explicit discussions of assaulting the Capitol in these far-right forums,” Emerson Brooking, resident fellow at Digital Forensic Research Lab in D.C., told the Hill.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/533450-trump-supporters-organized-the-capitol-riot-online

The Military Can’t Legally Curb a President's Access to Nuclear Codes, Experts Say

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley Friday morning to discuss what she described as necessary precautions to prevent an "unhinged" president from accessing nuclear codes.

But experts and officials said there’s no place in the system for the military or Congress to intervene in a sitting president’s access to the nuclear arsenal.

"The situation of this unhinged president could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy," Pelosi, a California Democrat, said Friday in a circulated letter.

She and dozens of other lawmakers mostly Democrats have called for President Donald Trump's removal from office following Wednesday's violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol by the commander in chief's supporters.

Milley's office confirmed that the call took place.

"Speaker Pelosi initiated a call with the Chairman," said Army Col. Dave Butler, Milley's spokesman. "He answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority."

Pelosi said Friday that Trump should not be allowed to initiate "military hostilities or [access] the launch codes [to order] a nuclear strike."

CNN reported that, after her call with Milley, Pelosi told her caucus she received assurances about safeguards should Trump decide to launch a nuclear weapon. It's unclear what those assurances would have been since, as the Congressional Research Service wrote last month, "The President does not need the concurrence of either his military advisors or the U.S. Congress to order the launch of nuclear weapons.

"In addition, neither the military nor Congress can overrule these orders," a December report titled "Defense Primer: Command and Control of Nuclear Forces" states.

Ankit Panda, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's nuclear policy program, also noted that, short of removing Trump from office, there's no legal remedy that Milley or Pelosi can take to prevent the president from issuing a valid and legal order to use nuclear weapons.

"It's how we designed the system," he wrote Friday. "We could change it, of course. … If there's a way in which the American presidency is effectively monarchical and absolute, it's this one."

Officials with U.S. Strategic Command, or STRATCOM, which oversees nuclear weapons, referred questions from Military.com about Pelosi's call to Milley back to the Pentagon.

Adm. Charles "Chas" Richard, the head of STRATCOM, told reporters this week that he would not recommend changes to the system the U.S. has had in place for decades.

He would, however, decline to follow illegal orders to deploy a nuclear weapon, Richard added.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/01/08/military-cant-legally-curb-presidents-access-nuclear-codes-experts-say.html

Bill Gates is accused of hypocrisy after joining bidding war to buy the world's largest private jet operator - one month before he releases his book preaching about climate change

Bill Gates has been accused of hypocrisy after entering a bid to buy the world's largest private jet operator, just one month before he releases a book preaching about climate change.

The Microsoft boss's company Cascade Investment entered the bidding war for Signature Aviation Friday, teaming up with Blackstone Group to make a $4.3 billion play for the British private jet servicing company.

Cascade and Blackstone are now going head-to-head with private equity firm Carlyle, which had already made an initial takeover approach.

Gates' Cascade already owns a 19 percent stake in Signature making it the firm favorite to win the bid.

But news of Gates' pursuit of the private jet firm has raised eyebrows given the company's actions are at direct odds with his very vocal stance on climate change.

It comes just one month before Gates releases his hotly-anticipated book, 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need', where he sets out his plans for how the world can reach zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to prevent a climate crisis.

It also comes just months after he published a blog post lecturing the public that climate change 'could be worse' than the coronavirus pandemic.

Bill Gates is accused of hypocrisy after joining bidding war to buy the world's largest private jet operator - one month before he releases his book preaching about climate change

Bill Gates has been accused of hypocrisy after entering a bid to buy the world's largest private jet operator, just one month before he releases a book preaching about climate change.

The Microsoft boss's company Cascade Investment entered the bidding war for Signature Aviation Friday, teaming up with Blackstone Group to make a $4.3 billion play for the British private jet servicing company.

Several people were quick to point out the hypocrisy in Gates' latest business venture on social media Friday.

'Bill Gates, one of the most prominent climate change activists, has a big investment in a company that runs small airports for the mega-rich's private jets,' one person wrote.

'What does climate change have to do with flying around in private jets? Ask Bill.'

Gates releases his book, 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need' in February, where he sets out his plans for how the world can reach zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to prevent a climate crisis

Gates releases his book, 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need' in February, where he sets out his plans for how the world can reach zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to prevent a climate crisis

Another objected to being lectured by one of the world's richest men on climate change while he buys up jets and jet companies.

'Let's not hear from Bill Gates about climate change please. Investing in private jet companies,' they tweeted.

'Gates is consistent: 'We cannot get to zero emissions simply—or even mostly—by flying and driving less.' Still, it should be hard to demand action on climate change and promote private jets,' tweeted another.

Should Cascade win the bid for Signature, any deal is likely to still be in the works when Gates' book is released on February 16.

The book aims to educate people about the need to work toward net-zero emissions and how individuals can help achieve this goal.

In the book's foreword, it states that Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change.

In August, the billionaire philanthropist warned in a blog on his Gates Notes site that 'as awful as this pandemic is, climate change could be worse.'

'A global crisis has shocked the world. It is causing a tragic number of deaths, making people afraid to leave home, and leading to economic hardship not seen in many generations. Its effects are rippling across the world,' Gates wrote.

http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2021/01/bill-gates-is-accused-of-hypocrisy.html

Beijing Orders "Severe And Unusual" Media Censorship Of Alibaba Anti-Trust Probe

Despite claims that China's richest man is alive and well and merely "laying low" (reminder - Jack Ma has not been seen in public since he made a speech criticizing the country’s state-owned banks and financial regulators in October), speculation about his whereabouts grows as China’s government has told the country’s media to censor reporting on an antitrust probe into tech giant Alibaba.

The FT reports that at the end of December, the Chinese government’s propaganda arm directed media outlets to “strictly invoke” the official line on the antitrust investigation into Alibaba and to “not make changes or engage in extended analysis without permission”.

“If any company announcements oppose the official stance, do not publish, do not re-post, do not quote foreign media,” the directive said, according to two people who read it.

This silencing of the Ma debacle clearly indicates the sensitivity of this topic at the highest levels of Chinese politics and fits with hedge fund billionaire, and noted China hawk, Kyle Bass' view that Ma had outlived his usefulness, and that Beijing would never tolerate a billionaire with so much power and influence, both at home, and in the West.

Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the University of California at Berkeley School of Information, noted that "this directive is severe and unusual,” adding more ominously that:

"the language [of the directive] is quite similar to the directives on ‘very important political event’ reports such as the trial of Bo Xilai,” he added, referring to the disgraced former politician jailed for life for corruption.

One state media employee even ventured that:

“I think Beijing is still afraid of Alibaba to a degree… The government thinks it’s being challenged."

Unofficial media in China, such as online blogs, have continued to speculate on Mr Ma’s whereabouts, although several have been censored, as China's courts have just offered up the latest example of just how little the Party cares about preserving human dignity and life. In keeping with China's heavy handed punishments against public corruption, a former chairman of one of the country's top 4 state-controlled asset managers was sentenced to death on Tuesday over allegations he accepted 1.8BN yuan (roughly $277M).

We suggest Mr. Ma "lay low" a little longer (or call Carlos Ghosn for some tips of escaping government's clutches).

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/beijing-orders-severe-and-unusual-media-censorship-alibaba-anti-trust-probe

Illinois Expunges Over Half a Million Past Marijuana Convictions Despite Federal Prohibition

Illinois expunged over 500,000 past marijuana convictions in 2020 despite federal prohibition.

Illinois legalized marijuana by a legislative act in 2019 and the law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. The law also created a process for expunging low-level marijuana convictions.

Under the law, nearly 800,000 people with criminal records for purchasing or possessing 30 grams of marijuana or less can have those records expunged. The governor will pardon past convictions for possession of up to 30 grams, with the attorney general going to court to expunge or delete public records of a conviction or arrest. For possession of 30 to 500 grams, an individual or a state’s attorney may petition the court to vacate and expunge the conviction, but prosecutors may object, with a judge to make the final decision.

In 2020, the Illinois State Police expunged 492,192 non-felony cannabis arrest records. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker also issued 9,219 pardons for low-level cannabis crimes on Thursday.

“The collateral consequences of a marijuana conviction last a lifetime,” NORML State Policies Coordinator Carly Wolf said. “I commend Governor Pritzker for taking action to ensure that the lives of hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans with otherwise clean records are not derailed because of an erroneous marijuana conviction that would not have been prosecuted today.”

In the early days of marijuana legalization, people with past convictions were left with few options to clear the records, even though they were guilty of a “crime” that was no longer a crime. But as more states legalized cannabis, states began to pass bills to expunge marijuana charges. Illinois was one of the first states to build expungement into its law.

In fact, in the past, we’ve seen some opposition to marijuana legalization bills because the new laws generally left those previously charged and convicted unprotected. The recent movement toward expungement, and Illinois building it into its legalization scheme reveal an important strategic point. Passing bills that take a step forward sets the stage, even if they aren’t perfect. Opening the door clears the way for additional steps. You can’t take the second step before you take the first.

EFFECT ON FEDERAL PROHIBITION

Under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) passed in 1970, the federal government maintains complete prohibition of marijuana. Of course, the federal government lacks any constitutional authority to ban or regulate cannabis within the borders of a state, despite the opinion of the politically connected lawyers on the Supreme Court. If you doubt this, ask yourself why it took a constitutional amendment to institute federal alcohol prohibition.

Despite federal prohibition, Illinois legalized marijuana. This removes a huger layer of laws punishing the possession and use of marijuana in the state, but federal prohibition remains in effect. This is significant because FBI statistics show that law enforcement makes approximately 99 of 100 marijuana arrests under state, not federal law. When states stop enforcing marijuana laws, they sweep away most of the basis for 99 percent of marijuana arrests.

https://www.activistpost.com/2021/01/illinois-expunges-over-half-a-million-past-marijuana-convictions-despite-federal-prohibition.html

With Hundreds of Potato Varieties in U.S. Govt. Spends Millions to Develop More

Although there are already hundreds of different types of potatoes in the United States, the government wants additional varieties and is spending $2.5 million to develop more kinds. It appears to be a concocted potato emergency and American taxpayers will come to the rescue by funding an essential Potato Research Program. The goal, according to the federal agency doling out the cash, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is to establish new potato varieties with a high value to the nation’s commercial potato industry. It will be accomplished through a process known as varietal development and testing research that uses conventional breeding and/or biotechnological genetics to develop improved potato varieties, according to the grant announcement.

“The Potato Research program will fund two-year projects that have great potential for developing and releasing new potato varieties with a high value to the commercial U.S. potato industry,” the USDA grant document states. “The Potato Research program encourages applicants to establish and work through regional, multi-location, research breeding networks to address priority national or regional science needs of the potato industry. By bringing together expertise across multiple university, federal agency, and industry organizations and states, the Potato Research program seeks to enhance the effectiveness of limited state, federal, and industry resources and accelerate the development of superior varieties that produce benefits to the potato industry.” Creating “superior varieties” of potatoes may not sound like a pressing issue deserving of government funding, especially in the middle of a health pandemic.

The government is clearly catering to the potato business. Outcomes important to the industry are identified by the USDA as: Developing superior performing varieties with resistance to established pests and diseases that include potato virus Y, damaging nematodes, storage rot diseases, powdery scab and white mold that limits profitability; creating a variety with a decreased demand for irrigation and fertilizer; identifying desirable yield, storability, consumer, and other value-added quality traits for use in new varieties and developing high throughput methods for rapidly selecting traits, specifically for new superior-performing varieties targeted for specific markets. “The goals of this program imply that successful proposals will be associated with practicing, variety-releasing breeding programs,” according to the USDA. Grant recipients must have at least one letter of support from industry partners to “verify industry relevance.”

There are already more than 200 varieties of potatoes in the United States, according to Potatoes U.S.A., the nation’s potato marketing and research organization. All of them belong to one of seven categories that include white, yellow, russet, blue/purple, red, petite and fingerling. Russet, large with brown skin and white flesh, is reportedly the most widely used potato in the U.S. The Potato Association of America offers interesting data, including varieties available by state and links to an Ivy League university’s potato cultural guide as well as assortments available internationally. Potato research is a serious business handsomely funded by American taxpayers. A multitude of public universities have programs dedicated to the starchy vegetable, such as Michigan State University’s Potato Outreach Program and the University of Idaho’s Potatoes, a “program of distinction” within the school’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Oregon State University has a potato breeding program and Colorado State University has an acclaimed potato research center in the San Luis Valley. The list goes on and the money keeps flowing.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/with-hundreds-of-potato-varieties-in-u-s-govt-spends-millions-to-develop-more/

Capitol riots: This Jewish student helped ensure Biden’s presidency

“It was a great honor and excitement, it was like a political science nerd’s dream come true."

Brennan Leach wants you to know, first of all, that the caption on the viral photo of her taken inside the US Capitol building on Wednesday was wrong.

The Jewish college student wasn’t rescuing the august leather boxes carrying the electoral votes that would let Congress certify Joe Biden’s election from the mob of Trump supporters trying to stop that process. The photo was from earlier that morning, when she and other assistants brought the boxes into the US House of Representatives chamber, before the mob stormed the Capitol and drove lawmakers and staffers into hiding.

“It was a great honor and excitement, it was like a political science nerd’s dream come true,” Leach told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about being asked to partake in the ritual.

Leach, 19, is a student at Northwestern University majoring in political science who returned to the Capitol this week to assist with the certification process because the program that usually supplies high school pages is suspended because of the pandemic. Someone snapped a picture of her at work Wednesday morning, which morphed into a story of heroism on social media that afternoon.

“Here are the women — Senate aides — who had the presence of mind and courage to transport and keep safe the electoral votes before fleeing the Senate,” said @RaeMargaret61, a Twitter user whose posting garnered more than 360,000 likes by Thursday evening. “There will always be villains. There will always be heroes.”

Here are the women - Senate aides - who had the presence of mind and courage to transport and keep safe the electoral votes before fleeing the Senate. There will always be villains.

There will always be heroes. pic.twitter.com/lO0mNcHg7h

— Robbin ¯_(ツ)_/¯ (@RaeMargaret61) January 7, 2021

In an interview, Leach recounted her experience on Wednesday.

“The scariest part of all of this was just how quickly things escalated, and it went from one minute kind of looking out the window and laughing at like ‘look at the crazy people outside’ to all of a sudden we’re locked in the chamber and people are banging on the door,” she said.

“We can hear them outside. We’re able to pull up social media and see literal pictures of people on the other side of the wall. We had Confederate flags in the back hallway, we had dozens and dozens of people pouring in through the Rotunda and so, you know, to see those images and know that kind of the only thing that stuck between us and them was the wall of the Senate chamber. It was an intimidating and, in a lot of ways, utterly terrifying moment.”

Her terror was compounded when Leach realized that she had left her phone in the chamber. She soon found a way to reach her family and reassure them that she was secure. Her father — Daylin Leach, a Democrat who served for years in both chambers of the Pennsylvania state legislature — could not contain his pride, posting the viral photo on his Twitter feed.

Brennan Leach said the experience cast the contributions that elected officials make for their constituents in a new light for her.

https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/capitol-riots-this-jewish-student-helped-ensure-bidens-presidency-654814

Former Obama Adviser: Capitol Riots a Worse Security Failure Than 9/11

Former Obama senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said that Wednesday's U.S. Capitol riots were a worse "security failure" than the 9/11 terror attacks.

"It's clearly one of the greatest security failures in modern American history," Pfeiffer said Thursday on Pod Save America. "Worse than 9/11. It's 9/11 if they had told you that 9/11 was going to happen and you didn't prepare for it."

On Wednesday, hundreds of pro-Trump rioters broke into the U.S. Capitol to disrupt Congress's certification of the presidential electoral votes. The riot left five people dead, including a U.S. Capitol police officer.

Pfeiffer, who cohosts Pod Save America with several other Obama administration alums, served as White House communications director and senior adviser to the former president.

After facing calls to step down, Capitol police chief Steven Sund announced his resignation on Thursday. The District of Columbia U.S. attorney's office is working on dozens of cases related to the riot, the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/former-obama-adviser-capitol-riots-a-worse-security-failure-than-9-11/

'Hang Mike Pence' trends on Twitter after platform suspends Trump for risk of 'incitement of violence'

The tweets appeared to circulate a video of Capitol protestors chanting the phrase

Twitter saw a surprising item trending on Friday night when "Hang Mike Pence" hit around 14,000 tweets, according to reports.

The social media platform announced Friday night that it was permanently suspending President Donald Trump’s Twitter account.

The decision was made "due to the risk of further incitement of violence," according to a statement on the company’s blog.

Many users were confused, then, to see such a violent item in the trending section.

Twitter appeared to notice the trend at some point: on the Twitter Trending USA site, which tracks the past 12 hours of the top 10 trending, the item does not appear.

"We blocked the phrase and other variations of it from trending," a Twitter spokesperson told Fox News on Saturday. "We want trends to promote healthy discussions on Twitter."

PENCE TO OPPOSE 25TH AMENDMENT POWERS TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE

"This means that at times, we may prevent certain content from trending. As per our Help Center, there are Rules for trends – if we identify accounts that violate these rules, we’ll take enforcement action."

Some users were quick to point out that the trending item was not due to fresh threats, but rather that users were circulating a video from the Wednesday riot at the U.S. Capitol.

In the video, protesters could be heard chanting the phrase repeatedly.

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No matter the reason, some users believed that allowing the item to trend at all was hypocritical after Twitter explicitly cited "violence" as the reason Trump was suspended.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/twitter-trending-hang-mike-pence

ANALYSIS: Journos Incapable of Treating Democrats Like Politicians

Journos and other libs have a tendency to treat Democratic politicians less as public servants worthy of public scrutiny than as superheroes, epic celebs, or deities to be worshiped and admired. (See: Barack Obama, 2008 election.)

The media's obsessive coverage of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris's shoes, for example, suggests a level of derangement that would not ordinarily be tolerated in a functioning society. Four years ago, of course, it was considered "sexist" to discuss Hillary Clinton's fashion choices, but there's no point trying to make sense of it. Journos will be journos. Libs will be libs.

This week, it was failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams's turn in the spotlight. She's been hailed as "a real superhero," a "GODDESS," and "one of the most consequential women in US history" for starting a Super PAC funded by Michael Bloomberg.

When it comes to the Democratic politicians who actually won their campaigns for governor, the national political press has been similarly incapable of treating them like elected officials who deserve to be held accountable. Governors, as it turns, are rather important figures in the effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in terms of vaccine distribution.

That includes Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D., Mich.), who was in the running to be Joe Biden's running mate. How is the vaccine rollout going in her state? Not that great, according to the local journalists who don't regularly appear on cable news networks.

The GULF between the number of people vaccinated in Michigan and the # of vaccine doses distributed continues to grow.

It's a canyon.

It's now 551,101 doses that are NOT in people's arms.@GovWhitmer needs to explain how this is possible.

Every big county says they're out. pic.twitter.com/pyKvAcPjMR

— Chad Livengood (@ChadLivengood) January 7, 2021

CBS correspondent Ed O'Keefe, among others, appears more concerned with Whitmer's personal Twitter account, and responding to her epic owns of Trump cabinet members with fire emojis. (O'Keefe deleted the tweet after realizing his critics were right.)

https://freebeacon.com/satire/analysis-journos-incapable-of-treating-democrats-like-politicians/

Notice how many of the bearded protesters are clean shaved for their arrest?

NOT MAKING HEADLINES: Utah Activist John Sullivan Organized Antifa Protest Near US Capitol Before It Was Stormed — Tweeted About BLM Buses in DC on the 6th

Earlier this week CNN interviewed John Sullivan from Utah after the shooting death of Ashli Babbit by Capitol Hill police.

John Sullivan, a noted leftist leader from Utah, stormed the US Capitol with fellow activists on Wednesday.

John Sullivan is a Black Lives Matter goon from Utah who was flown into DC during the planned “Stop the Steal” rally.

In August John Sullivan threatened to “rip President Trump from the White House” during violence in Washington DC. Sullivan was flown to DC for the protests.

At the time John Sullivan was described as a Black Lives Matter leader from Utah.

John Sullivan stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday. He was near Ashli Babbit when she was killed by Capitol police.

Amy Mek at RAIR Foundation reported:

So what was John Sullivan was caught on camera in the US Capitol?

On Friday investigative journalist Millie Weaver ran into John Sullivan in Washington DC.

She overheard him say he was not being charged.

As we reported earlier — and from Millie Weaver — John Sullivan organized a BLM-Antifa event at the Washington Memorial on Wednesday, January 6th.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/not-making-headlines-utah-activist-john-sullivan-organized-antifa-protest-near-us-capitol-stormed-tweeted-blm-buses-dc-6th/

Israeli Military Threatens Residents Of Druze Town In Southern Syria

On January 8, the Israeli military dropped leaflets over the Druze town of Hader in the southern Syrian governorate of al-Quneitra, warning the residents from supporting Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

The Israeli military claimed that Hezbollah is planning to turn Hader into a stronghold for its fighters. In the leaflets, the group was also accused of spreading “drugs and poisons” in the Druze-majority governorate of al-Suwayda.

Watch and learn,” the leaflets read. “Those cooperating with Hezbollah and working within its terrorist framework will be targeted.”

The Israeli military dropped leaflets over Syria’s southern region before. However, previous leaflets contained threats to military service members, not to civilians.

Earlier this week, the Israeli military dropped leaflets over Daraa with a direct threat to the commander of the 112th Brigade of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) 1st Corps, Brigadier General Basil Abu Eid, who was accused of cooperating with Hezbollah.

The leaflets were dropped a few hours after Israeli strikes, which hit many targets including a building right next to Brig. Gen. Eid’s office.

The Israeli military has been attempting to intimidate SAA personnel and civilians in Syria’s southern region. On the other hand, these threats may backfire and fuel more hate against Israel.

https://southfront.org/israeli-military-threatens-residents-of-druze-town-in-southern-syria/

Graham: ‘I’m more determined than ever’ to strip big tech of section 230 protections

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) announced on Twitter that he has found new motivation to fight big tech and its Section 230 protections. Graham said he “willingly” accepts his fate of a potential banning but that the removal of Trump’s account was a “serious mistake.”

“The Ayatollah can tweet, but Trump can’t. Says a lot about the people who run Twitter,” Graham tweeted.

One of the most effective solutions to stop the discrimination conservatives are seeing increasingly on big tech is strip Section 230 protections—as recently reported by this author on SaraACarter.com.

Graham agrees with this assessment, tweeting “I’m more determined than ever to strip Section 230 protections from Big Tech (Twitter) that let them be immune from lawsuits.”

Section 230 is a small portion of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA)—an act passed with the purpose of preventing minors from accessing sexually explicit materials on the Internet. The CDA itself was an addition to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which sought to expand competitiveness in this groundbreaking internet market. The CDA was added on as an amendment—Title V—months later and thus Section 230 became law.

It allows big tech companies to remove and block content it deems to be “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.” The law’s only boundaries are that removal of speech be done in “good faith.”

Intended to allow internet companies to block harmful content and to avoid consequences for content put out by their users, this section has since been hijacked to pave the consequence-free way for big tech to shadow-ban, silence, and squash conservative thought.

https://saraacarter.com/graham-im-more-determined-than-ever-to-strip-big-tech-of-section-230-protections/

Up is down left is right - every word is a lie

Military Situation In Syria On January 9, 2021 (Map Update)

A brief overview of the recent developments in Syria:

On January 9, Russia reported that Idlib militants violated the ceasefire regime in Greater Idlib 2 times: 1 – in Idlib province, 1 – in Aleppo province;

On January 9, artillery of Turkish-backed forces shelled Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in the Ain Issa area;

On January 8, artillery of Turkish-backed forces shelled SDF positions north of Tal Tamar;

On January 8, artillery of Turkish-backed forces shelled Syrian Arab Army (SAA) positions in the Shalaf area;

On January 8, clashes between ISIS and the SAA were reported near Rahjan village in the northern part of Hama province;

On January 8, a car bomb targeted the headquarters of Turkish-backed forces in the village of Kafr Safra in the Jinderis district;

On January 8, Kurdish internal security forces killed an ISIS suicide bomber in the al-Hawl camp.

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-syria-on-january-9-2021-map-update/

Coup Bid in Washington and America’s Bankrupt Moral Authority

The mayhem in Washington this week is the manifestation of America’s political putrefaction.

The spectacle of a riotous mob invading the U.S. Congressional building this week with the aim of violently overturning the presidential election has shocked the world. It is a moment of truth about America’s bankrupt claims of “exceptionalism” and “moral authority”.

Lawmakers were in the process of certifying the November election of Democrat candidate Joe Biden when thousands of supporters of incumbent President Donald Trump stormed the iconic Capitol legislature forcing police officers to flee and politicians to shelter in secure chambers.

It took several hours before reinforcements from the National Guard managed to restore order by evicting the seething crowds. Five people were killed in the melee, one from police gunshot wounds, the other a police officer who later died from injuries. Windows were smashed, public property was trashed and private offices were vandalized. Several police officers were injured and dozens of protesters arrested.

Many Americans and observers around the world were shocked by the scenes of lawlessness and depravity. The seat of U.S. government was sacked – albeit temporarily – by a baying mob. All the more perplexing was the fact that the brazen act of sedition had been incited by a sitting president. Only minutes before the rampage, Trump had fired up angry crowds to “save” American democracy by forcing lawmakers to overturn the election result. (He later denounced the violence with his trademark cynical duplicity.)

Since the November 3 presidential election, Trump and his supporters have defiantly refused to accept the result of both the popular vote and the Electoral College, which decisively nominated Biden as the clear winner. Trump and his ilk have persisted with unsubstantiated and outlandish claims of systematic election fraud. The sowing of doubt in American democracy by the president led to the chaotic scenes this week in Washington when Congress was attacked by furious mobs who believe in the nefarious nonsense that the election was stolen.

Part of the problem is the dearth in popular trust of U.S. institutions, in particular the news media, as well as the bitter and burgeoning political polarization across American society. If major news media declare Biden the winner and Trump the loser, then the opposite must be true for many people.

It is true that U.S. corporate media have lost credibility over many years from the prevalent lies they have told concerning false pretexts for foreign wars, and, in the past four years, regarding the whole baseless “Russiagate” scandal embroiling Trump. Nevertheless, America at large seems to have become mired in conspiratorial thinking that is bordering on mass delusional, preventing normal cognitive function and rationale dialogue based on any consensus around objective reality.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/01/08/coup-bid-in-washington-and-americas-bankrupt-moral-authority/

The All-Out Assault on Conservative Thought Has Just Begun

After the white nationalist riots in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and others renewed their demands for the suppression of conservative speech on social media. After Trump’s supporters breached the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Big Tech companies clamped down on President Donald Trump and many of his supporters. Incoming President Joe Biden has said he plans to pass a law against domestic terrorism.

While conservatives rightly denounced the violence this week, this response bodes ill for conservative speech not just on social media, but in the public square and even in private organizations.

In the aftermath of the Capitol riots, Twitter suspended President Donald Trump’s account for the first time and Facebook permanently banned the president. After Trump deleted the tweets Twitter had flagged and had his account restored, Twitter proceeded to ban him entirely on Friday, and then it banned the official President of the United States (POTUS) account.

Facebook throttled the great Rush Limbaugh, notifying him that his “Page has reduced distribution and other restrictions because of repeated sharing of false news.” Limbaugh left Twitter in protest after the platform banned Trump. Apple and Google attacked Parler, claiming that the new haven for conservatives had allowed people to plan the violence of the Capitol riots on its platform.

House Democrats filed articles of impeachment that explicitly blame President Trump for the Capitol riots, even though he never told his supporters to invade the Capitol. While the president’s exaggerated rhetoric inflamed the rioters, Democrats repeatedly did the same thing this summer. Before and after Black Lives Matter protests devolved into destructive and deadly riots, Democratic officials repeatedly claimed America suffers from “systemic racism” and institutionalized “white supremacy.”

Columbus’ Proposed Police Witch Hunt Will Send Chills Down Your Spine

Big Tech did not remove House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s accounts when she called for “uprisings” against the Trump administration. Facebook and Twitter did not target Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when she claimed that allegedly marginalized groups have “no choice but to riot.” These platforms did not act against Kamala Harris when she said the riots “should not” stop.

This week, Joe Biden condemned the Capitol rioters, saying, “What we witnessed yesterday was not dissent, it was not disorder, it was not protest. It was chaos. They weren’t protesters, don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. It’s that basic, it’s that simple.”

https://pjmedia.com/columns/tyler-o-neil/2021/01/09/the-all-out-assault-on-conservative-thought-has-just-begun-n1326710

Some in MAGA Movement Turn on Trump for His 'Betrayal'

Come with me down the rabbit hole and enter a world where up is down, black is white, and Donald Trump is a traitor to the MAGA cause.

Trump’s video statement announcing his concession of defeat in the 2020 presidential election and his pledge to cooperate in a peaceful transfer of power apparently didn’t sit well with some of Trump’s most ardent and faithful supporters. There were disbelief and anger from some in the loose confederation of groups and individuals known as the “MAGA Movement” and the focus of that anger was on their former leader Donald Trump.

These are the “bitter enders” — those who will always claim that dark forces stole the election and Trump didn’t lose. Beyond that, they were ready to go to the mattresses for Trump if he encouraged them to do so.

Politico:

“People were willing to die for this man and he just threw them all under the bus. That’s the only thing that’s shameful about the events of the past 36 hours,” Nick Fuentes, the host of the America First podcast and the unofficial leader of the white nationalist Groyper Army, angrily tweeted, shortly after Trump released a video Thursday night in which he conceded that Biden would be the next president and called for political reconciliation.

Cassandra Fairbanks, a prominent MAGA activist, tweeted: “[He] tells angry people to march to the capitol [and then] proceeds to throw his supporters under the bus.”

Some in the movement saw the video and refused to believe it. “He DID NOT CONCEDE! ITS HIS NEW ADMINISTRATION that will be coming in,” wrote one responder to a Twitter thread on the video. Even acknowledging Trump’s own words as real could get a poster in trouble.

But the reaction of some QAnon conspiracists shows the depths of fantasy and paranoia to which some in the movement have fallen.

QAnon conspiracy theorists, praying for years that Trump would flush Satan-worshipping pedophile elites out of Washington, tore apart any scrap of data from the video to prove that he was playing one final trick. They subjected the time stamps to numerology, thinking that there was a secret message encoded.

“In no way did Trump say he conceded. He said: transitioning to a new Admin. As in, he gonna clear this one out and bring a new one,” tweeted We The Inevitable, a conspiracy account, getting more than 3,000 retweets within the hour. The account’s followers agreed that this was surely a sign that he was getting rid of Vice President Mike Pence — now cast as a MAGA traitor after participating in the certification of Biden’s win — and that on Jan. 20, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, now a full-fledged QAnon patriot, would replace him in Trump’s second term.

Wow. Just wow.

These are the irreconcilables — nothing will ever convince them that their beliefs are insane. And there aren’t just a few of them. There are millions of people who believe in one or more threads of the QAnon conspiracy. They can be a potent political force if someone learns how to dial into their minds as Trump did.

Americans on both sides believe all sorts of crazy things. Most of them are born out of ignorance and fear. But when those conspiracy theories and ideas move from the radical fringe to the mainstream, America has a problem.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/01/09/some-in-maga-movement-turn-on-trump-for-his-betrayal-n1326734

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