Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Is Only 66% Effective Against COVID-19

A third COVID-19 vaccine by Johnson & Johnson could be on the horizon, but while it could be beneficial to those who aren’t comfortable with the two doses needed by the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, there is one major issue with the newest one to potentially hit the market—its efficacy rate.

Following global clinical trials, the vaccine was proven to be 66% effective at preventing moderate and severe illness from COVID-19, according to The Washington Post. The trial found 85% efficacy at preventing severe disease overall and 72% effectiveness at preventing moderate to severe illness in the United States, but in areas where troubling new variants of the disease have emerged, the rate was much lower—showing only 66% effectiveness in Latin America and 57% in South Africa.

For comparison, the flu vaccine is usually only 50% effective against influenza B viruses and 37% effective against influenza B viruses, according to the CDC.

Despite having a lower rate than both the Pfizer and Moderna shots, which both have a rate of over 90%, it is expected that the company will file for Emergency Use Authorization with the FDA next week, meaning, if approved, it could be available to the public by late February or early March. The minimum requirement the FDA has for vaccines to be approved is at least a 50 percent efficacy rate.

However, while the shot is considered to be less effective than its counterparts, there are other advantages to the potential third vaccine, including the fact that those who are administered it only need one dose, which could help streamline vaccination efforts and mean more doses are available to more people, versus the two-shot system which winds up in fewer arms. Jonathan Temte, a vaccine expert at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health also noted to WaPo that this one could be stored for months at a refrigerated temperature, unlike its competitors which need to be kept in ultracold or freezing temperatures, another complication which has effected rollout.

The company also reports that similar to its competitors, no major side effects are expected for those who receive the shot, with some reporting fevers. No one in the 44,000 person trial experienced anaphylaxis, which did previously affect the distribution of the Moderna vaccine when a lot in California seemed to cause severe allergic reactions in multiple people.

If approved, the company has an agreement with the government to deliver 100 million doses to the United States by the end of June.

The newest vaccine comes as concerns have grown about the other ones on the market, especially with the newly emerging South African and UK strains that are more contagious. Dr, Anthony Fauci already warned the public that while the vaccines still have a good efficacy rate against variants like B-117 and 501Y.V2, the vaccines were less effective against those.

https://www.ibtimes.com/johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine-isnt-effective-has-other-big-benefit-3133523

Biden DHS Suggests That Nearly Everyone Dissatisfied With The Status Quo Is A Potential Terrorist

The Biden regime, faced with the fear of multiple populist uprisings, has issued an Orwellian "terrorism" alert suggesting pretty much everyone who is against the status quo is a potential terrorist.

From ABC News, "DHS uses federal alert system for 1st time in a year to warn of domestic terrorist threat":

Using a federal system designed to warn all Americans about terrorist threats to the U.S. homeland, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning that anger "fueled by false narratives," especially unfounded claims about the 2020 presidential election, could lead some inside the country to launch attacks in the coming weeks.

"Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence," according to a bulletin issued Wednesday through the DHS National Terrorist Advisory System – or NTAS.

The system was last used to issue a public warning a year ago, when DHS issued a bulletin over potential retaliation by Iran for the U.S. assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq days earlier. A year before that, DHS issued a bulletin through the same system to highlight the threat from foreign terrorist groups like ISIS or al-Qaida.

But over the past year, domestic terrorists "motivated by a range of issues, including anger over COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and police use of force have plotted and on occasion carried out attacks against government facilities," and "long-standing racial and ethnic tension including opposition to immigration has driven [domestic terrorist] attacks," the bulletin issued Wednesday said.

Note how they even included BLM protesters.

The message is clear: everyone is a potential terrorist – so be very, very afraid and do whatever the regime demands of you.

Of course, the regime terrorizing the public to get them to submit to their tyranny is just fine!

The DHS also encouraged the public to rat on their neighbors and "report suspicious activity and threats of violence, including online activity, to local law enforcement, FBI Field Offices, or their local Fusion Center."

"If You See Something, Say Something™," the alert said (the trademark was included).

ABC News released this propaganda piece on the alert bulletin which was so over the top it would make the editors of Pravda blush:

https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=62027

Sheila Jackson-Lee Will Decide if You're Sane Enough to Buy a Gun

Insanity Wrap needs to know: Would a law empowering the federal government to determine who is sane be the craziest thing ever?

Answer: Yes. Next question?

Before we get to the sordid details, a quick preview of today’s Wrap:

The Left looks and acts increasingly like third-rate Batman villains

Google drops the demonetization hammer again, now on Epoch Times

Chris Cillizza finally learns the awful truth about Andrew Cuomo, hems and haws anyway

And so much more.

Shall we begin?

This Is Not a Sane World, Exhibit #1,000,006

good evening people of gotham, you have 24 hours to turn in The Batman pic.twitter.com/yVFpVSd8Bv

— evan (@evcon) January 28, 2021

Please skip right down to the next item while Insanity Wrap mixes up a Bloody Mary — and we’re going to make ours a double.

Some mornings, we wish we could make one for everybody.

Your Daily Dose of Mostly Peaceful Protest

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2021/01/29/insanity-wrap-135-sheila-jackson-lee-will-decide-if-youre-sane-enough-to-buy-a-gun-n1418047

Bill Gertz reveals China’s nefarious biowarfare campaign: ‘They’ve discovered 2000 new viruses’

Sara Carter was joined by China expert and national security reporter Bill Gertz on the “Sara Carter Show” podcast Thursday. Gertz discussed the origins of COVID-19 and revealed shocking information about China’s discovery of thousands of other viruses to Carter.

Slightly over a year ago, Gertz published a report in The Washington Times titled “Virus Linked to Wuhan Lab, Military Work at Wuhan Lab.” The article was based on an interview with a former Israeli military intelligence doctor who had studied the Chinese biological warfare program.

The former Israeli military intelligence doctor told Gertz during the interview that the Wuhan Institute of Virology is linked to the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese military, and suggested that the coronavirus could have been leaked from that lab.

During this time, China was blaming the cause of the virus on an animal market in Wuhan, about five miles away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to Gertz.

Gertz’s article, complete with the interview from the former Israeli military intelligence doctor, was labeled as a “debunked conspiracy theory” by USA Today and “false information” by Facebook. The article was then removed from The Washington Times‘ website.

Earlier this month, the State Department revealed information that confirmed the claims in Gertz’s article were true.

“Well, fast forward to January 15 of this month, and the State Department, in a very detailed fact sheet, revealed that yes, indeed, as I reported a year ago, the Wuhan Institute of virology is not only linked to the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese military, but that they have been conducting secret biological warfare experiments at the laboratory since at least 2017,” Gertz told Carter.

More information continues to be released verifying the information in Gertz’s article, but Facebook has not removed the “false” label from his work.

“It’s been a battle but truth will out,” Gertz said. “I’m confident that when the dust settles on this, my story will be recognized as having been one of the first to say that this is one of the two paths that this pandemic began and the most likely path in my personal view for where the virus began.”

Gertz says that the Chinese Communist Party is controlling the media and we need to hold them accountable for their actions.

“If you look at our mainstream media today, there’s almost no mention of the fact that this virus came from China. And in fact, China’s narrative is that it didn’t come from China.”

“Chinese are spending billions of dollars annually to influence the United States,” Gertz said. “And how do they do that? On the on the media front, they control a lot of the media, by access to China. Any major news organization that wants to have a bureau in China will have to be compliant with Chinese narratives … We’re now suffering the consequences of this, because they have also exploited the business community by saying, if you want to do business in China, not only do you have to go along with us, but you have to actually lobby the U.S. government and the U.S. public to support our policies.”

https://saraacarter.com/bill-gertz-reveals-chinas-nefarious-biowarfare-campaign-theyve-discovered-2000-new-viruses/

ISIS ‘Governor Of Iraq’ Eliminated In Joint Operation By Washington & Baghdad

The top ISIS leader in Iraq Abu Yasir Al-Issawi was killed in a special operation, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi announced on January 28.

In a statement, the Iraqi PM said that Abu Yasir was hunted down in response to the January 21 Baghdad bombings. The attack, which was orchestrated by ISIS, claimed the lives of 34 civilians and injured more than 100 others.

Aby Yasir, whose real name is Ali Farhan al-Issawi, was ISIS’ “Wali” [governor] of Iraq. According to the PM statement, he referred to himself as the “deputy” of ISIS’ leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.

Col. Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, said that Abu Yasir was killed during an airstrike near Kirkuk on January 27. The airstrike was the result of a joint operation between the coalition and Iraqi government forces.

“Abu Yasir’s death is another significant blow to Daesh resurgence efforts in Iraq,” Col. Marotto said. “The Coalition will continue to remove key leaders from the battlefield and degrade the terrorist organization. Terrorists-you will never live in peace- you will be pursued to the ends of the earth.”

ISIS is yet to comment on the Iraqi government announcement. The group rarely acknowledges the death of its senior commanders.

While the death of Abu Yasir is a significant blow to ISIS, it will not likely affect or slow down the group’s operations in Iraq. ISIS actions in both Iraq and Syria saw a surge following the killing of the group’s founder and leader Abu Baker al-Baghdadi in 2019.

https://southfront.org/isis-governor-of-iraq-eliminated-in-joint-operation-by-washington-baghdad/

Twitter crackdown on content leaves posts celebrating leftist violence untouched

Social media platform has lately taken hardline stance against posts risking violence.

Twitter is continuing to allow users to post and maintain content celebrating and in some cases encouraging progressive-aligned violence even as it cracks down on content glorifying violence across the rest of its platform.

The microblogging site made global headlines earlier this month when it announced it was permanently banning then-President Donald Trump for what it claimed was the president's risk of inciting violence following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The company claimed that Trump's announcement that he would not be attending the Jan. 20 inauguration of Joe Biden — as well as his praise of the tens of millions of voters who cast a ballot for him in the 2020 election — could potentially be "mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence."

Those two messages "are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021," the company said.

Twitter at about the same time also banned the accounts of Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell, citing their promotion of the QAnon conspiracy theory as a further risk of violence. This week, meanwhile, it reportedly suspended over 500 accounts after a violent rally in India.

Multiple tweets from verified accounts celebrate violence against prominent senator

Yet even as Twitter signals its intent to begin more aggressively enforcing its violent content policies, the company has nevertheless allowed the proliferation of countless tweets that celebrate violence in line with left-wing ideology.

Prominent among them have been an avalanche of tweets criticizing Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul. The senator in recent days has been an outspoken critic of the ongoing effort by congressional Democrats to convict former President Donald Trump in a post-presidency impeachment trial in the Senate. This week, Paul attempted to preempt that trial by holding a procedural vote declaring it unconstitutional due to Trump's already having left office.

In the midst of that effort, which ultimately failed, numerous high-profile Twitter users criticized the senator on the social media platform, openly referencing the November 2017 incident in which one of Paul's neighbors assaulted him. During that attack, Paul sustained serious injuries that eventually required the removal of part of one of his lungs.

Actor and liberal activist George Takei on Sunday referred favorably to Paul's assault in a tweet in which he wrote: "Admit it. These days we all sort of wish we had been Rand Paul's neighbor."

Podcaster Amy Westervelt, meanwhile, wrote: "Where is Rand Paul's neighbor when you need him."

Author Brandon Snider tweeted in favor of a "GoFundMe for Rand Paul's neighbor to finish the job."

https://justthenews.com/nation/technology/twitter-cracks-down-violent-content-posts-encouraging-celebrating-leftist

White House refuses to address GameStop controversy

Press secretary Psaki punts on market volatility, refers reporters to SEC

The White House is staying out of the GameStop controversy.

Asked about the market volatility during Friday morning's press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki punted on the question and directed reporters to statements by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"They are closely monitoring this situation but it is under their purview at this point of time," Psaki said, declining to speak specifically about the situation.

It came a day after Psaki during Thursday's briefing also refused to answer directly about the contoversy. The chaos started when a Reddit group called WallStreetBets banded together to squeeze short-sellers out of their positions by buying up stock in video game retailer GameStop and other flailing companies.

The Reddit group temporarily went private. Trading app Robinhood and online broker Interactive Brokers restricted trading in certain securities because of the recent volatility in a number of stocks, igniting controversy.

"Given all the volatility surrounding Wall Street and GameStop, what is the Biden administration doing to protect the average American investor if there’s going to be, potentially a major market correction?" a reporter asked.

Psaki referred her to an SEC statement, which said the commission was "monitoring the on-going market volatility."

"Beyond just monitoring it, has he had any conversations with economic officials about what’s going on?" the reporter pressed.

"He’s briefed by his economic team frequently," Psaki said. "But I don’t have anything more to read out for you."

Psaki again pointed to the SEC statement when another correspondent addressed the controversy.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-staying-out-of-gamestop-controversy

Growing evidence Capitol assault was planned weakens incitement case against Trump, experts say

If Trump "didn't know about it, they had planned it without him, then you're missing the causal relationship," said Alan Dershowitz. "It would have happened without his speech as well. So that would be relevant on the issue of causation."

Growing evidence of advance planning and coordination of the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol undermines claims that the rioters were responding spontaneously to former President Trump's speech to supporters about a mile and a half away, according to legal and intelligence experts.

As Senate Democrats mull their options for convicting or censuring Trump and banning him from future public office for allegedly inciting insurrection, experts said their incitement case against him was dealt a severe blow this week when federal prosecutors charged three men in the Capitol attack, alleging their communication and coordination dated back to November.

For speech to meet the threshold of incitement, a speaker must, first, indicate a desire for violence and, second, demonstrate a capability or reasonable indication of capability to carry out the violence, according to Kevin Brock, former assistant director of intelligence for the FBI.

In Trump's case, Brock said, there were neither.

In an interview Thursday, Brock told Just the News he listened to Trump's entire Jan. 6 speech. "I didn't hear a single word about — or anything that would trigger a reasonable person to believe that he was inciting— violence," he said. "He even used the words 'peaceful' and 'respectful.'"

Brock thinks that Trump "was caught by surprise at what happened" and was probably unaware of the segment of the crowd intent on violence. That was "a failure, frankly, on the intelligence that he should have been provided as president of the United States," Brock said. "We shouldn't be in a position where knuckleheads like Proud Boys and Oath Keepers can plan a disruptive violent event and it catches us by surprise."

Still unanswered are questions about how much House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell knew in advance of the potential for violence and when they knew it. Also unresolved are lingering questions surrounding the Pentagon's pre-attack offer to send National Guard troops to reinforce the Capitol Police.

Brock, former principal deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), noted that Trump did use the word "march" in encouraging his supporters to march to the Capitol and voice their dissent during the floor proceedings to formally certify the 2020 Electoral College vote.

"But 'march' — we've had peaceful marches as part of our history — doesn't necessarily indicate automatic, violent response," Brock said. "So I think they'd be hard-pressed to prove that he was using words that were inciting violence."

https://justthenews.com/government/security/evidence-pre-planned-capitol-attack-grows-experts-say-case-weakens-tying-trump

>>12757685

fuck off

Pope Francis Unable to Stand During Audience Due to ‘Troublesome’ Nerve Condition

In 2013, the pontiff commented on his first weeks in the role, saying the worst thing that happened to him during that time was “an attack of sciatica”.

Pope Francis has apologised for remaining seated during an audience on Friday, blaming the cancellation of a number of his recent public duties on a “troublesome guest” – sciatica, the pontiff said, addressing members of the Roman Rota, a top Catholic Church tribunal.

The Argentine head of the Catholic Church had to skip and delegate at least two recent masses, on Sunday and Monday, as well as postpone his New Year’s greeting for ambassadors to the Holy See after missing New Year's masses at St Peter's Basilica due to the painful nerve condition.

Pope Francis leads the Easter mass in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican April 16, 2017

© REUTERS / Stefano Rellandini

Pope Francis’ Personal Doctor Dies From Coronavirus Complications, Report Says

He is understood to have been suffering from occasional bouts of sciatica for several years. In 2013, he shared with journalists that weeks after being elected head of the Roman Catholic Church, he suffered an acute condition.

“The worst thing that happened - excuse me - was an attack of sciatica - really! - that I had the first month, because I was sitting in an armchair to do interviews and it hurt”, Pope Francis relayed at the time.

Amid concerns over how the 84-year-old pontiff is faring at the height of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, news came along earlier this month that he had been vaccinated against COVID-19, alongside his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

https://sputniknews.com/society/202101291081923157-pope-francis-unable-to-stand-during-audience-due-to-troublesome-nerve-condition/

Albanian PM: ‘Ndrangheta Tried to Launder Money in Albania but Failed

After an Italian operation arrested dozens of alleged ‘Ndrangheta members last week, Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, said the mafia group had tried to use his country as a money laundering base but without success.

The opposition immediately accused the government of involvement in money laundering schemes. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)The opposition immediately accused the government of involvement in money laundering schemes. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)Among those arrested were also seven Albanians and Albanian media have published leaked recordings that indicate the Italian mafia group was planning to invest its illicit money in the country.

The opposition immediately accused the government of involvement in money laundering schemes.

“It is no coincidence that, whenever the Italian mafia and drug networks in Italy are hit, wiretaps bring to light the large-scale corruption of the highest echelons of Edi Rama's power,” a statement from the Democratic Party said.

Rama acknowledged that ‘Ndrangheta had made attempts to use his country as a money laundering base, but claimed that they had no success.

“After more than one year of travels to Tirana and talking with each other about investments they would make in Albania, they completely failed,” Rama said during a virtual press conference this week, citing an Italian investigation.

The roundup of ‘Ndrangheta members last Thursday was unique in that it didn’t just target the group’s street thugs or enforcers, but took aim at the high ranking political connections that allow ‘Ndrangheta to operate its massive money laundering apparatus and clean funds from their criminal enterprises that are believed to account for more than 3.5% of Italy’s GDP.

Among those arrested were a Calabrian mayor, council member and finance minister, and a former lieutenant in Italy's Guardia Di Finanza, as well as several entrepreneurs and business leaders.

“So many white collar criminals were caught in this operation,” Sergio Nazzaro, an Italian journalist, writer and adviser to the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, told OCCRP.

It showed a stark difference from how the mafia is often imagined both in Italy and abroad, as well as how deep ‘Ndrangheta’s infiltration may go into southern Italy’s political and financial infrastructure.

The Italian investigation found through wiretaps that ‘Ndrangheta members engaged in various discussions about money laundering opportunities in Albania, Exit News, an Albanian news outlet reported.

In their recorded conversations, the alleged mafia members reportedly discussed potential investments with an Albanian businessman that they described as “close to the Prime Minister, he’s close to the Tirana mayor, he’s an important person.”

Another wiretap showed the mafiosi talking about investing in the healthcare sector of the northern Albanian city of Shkodra, Exit News revealed.

As insights into ‘Ndrangheta’s money laundering empire continue to be revealed, Italy has also put one of the group’s foremost clans in the spotlight in the country’s biggest mafia trial since the so-called Maxi Trials of the 1980s and 1990s.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13755-albanian-pm-ndrangheta-tried-to-launder-money-in-albania-but-failed

Nine Days After Biden Inauguration, Judge Rules Late Changes To VA Election Law That Allowed Late Mail-in-Ballots Without Postmark To Be Counted Is ILLEGAL

100 Percent Fed Up – Joe Biden’s bizarre inauguration spurred the same amount of enthusiasm most Americans have for purchasing a 3-ring binder from CVS. Yet, somehow, we’re supposed to believe he got more votes than any president in United States history?

One of the most common arguments made by Democrats, RINOs, and their allies in the media, to disprove voter fraud in the November election is that every single voter fraud case that’s been tried in the courts has failed. Americans need to keep their eyes on upcoming court cases related to election fraud. SCOTUS Blog lists an astounding 21 election fraud-related cases they’re watching.

One case that’s not making news in the Democrat Party’s mainstream media is a decision made by a Virginia judge on Wednesday. The judge ruled that last-minute changes made by election officials to allow absentee ballots with missing or illegible postmarks to be counted is illegal.

Washington Examiner- “This is a big win for the Rule of Law,” said Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams, who represented Frederick County electoral board member Thomas Reed in the case. “This consent decree gives Mr. Reed everything he requested — a permanent ban on accepting ballots without postmarks after Election Day and is a loss for the Virginia bureaucrats who said ballots could come in without these protections.”

The case was over a Virginia Board of Elections rule issued in August that allowed mail-in ballots without a postmark to be received up to three days after the November election.

The new Virginia Board of Elections rule notified county election boards that any ballots “received by the general registrar’s office by noon on the third day after the election … but does not have a postmark, or the postmark is missing or illegible” should not be rendered invalid. The elections board decided a week later that those ballots should be counted.

One win for Virginia voters who care about election integrity. It’s a pity this practice wasn’t stopped BEFORE the ballots were tabulated in the November election.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/nine-days-biden-inauguration-judge-rules-late-changes-va-election-law-allowed-late-mail-ballots-without-postmark-counted-illegal/

Election Cases We’re Watching

Welcome to the 2020 Election Litigation Tracker, a joint project of Election Law at Ohio State and SCOTUSblog. During the 2020 election season, we will provide up-to-date information on major election law cases as they make their way through every level of the court system. Our goal is to serve as a resource on election law and administration for the general public, lawyers, educators, journalists and policymakers. You can read all of our previous election-related coverage here. [Disclaimer: SCOTUSblog and Election Law at Ohio State are nonpartisan and do not endorse, support or oppose any candidate, campaign or party.]

https://www.scotusblog.com/election-litigation/

How CIA Created Signal Messenger App

Recently, after WhatsApp threatened to change its privacy policy, people were nuged to the alternate Signal messenger app. However, serious discussion of Signal’s history, and funding sources, has been entirely absent from the puff pieces by media. This investigation reveals how CIA created the Signal app, funded by the US government to protect communications of its agents deployed for regime change.

Open Whisper Systems

Signal was launched by now-defunct Open Whisper Systems (OWS) in 2013, brainchild of shadowy tech guru ‘Moxie Marlinspike’ – real name Matthew Rosenfeld.

In February 2018, responsibility for managing the app passed to the nonprofit Signal Foundation, launched with $50 million in startup capital provided by billionaire former Facebook higher-up Brian Acton, the Foundation’s executive chair.

OWS never published financial statements or disclosed the identities of its funders at any point during its operation, although the sums involved in launching and maintaining a messaging platform used by a vast number of people internationally over several years were surely significant.

Open Technology Fund

Rosenfeld alleges the app “never [took] VC funding or sought investment” at any point during that time, and quite how much money was involved in total is a mystery.

It’s clear though that at least $2,955,000 was provided by the Open Technology Fund (OTF) 2013-2016, and the organization’s website refers to Signal being “originally developed with OTF funding.”

The site is also home to a dedicated OWS profile, which boasts of how the OTF “enabled the OWS team to continue providing Signal at no cost around the globe and adapt their operations for a growing user base.”

The OTF was created in 2012 as a pilot program of Radio Free Asia (RFA), an asset of US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which is in turn funded by US Congress to the tune of $637 million annually.

In August 2018, its then-CEO acknowledged the outlet’s priorities “reflect US national security interests.”

Radio Free Asia

RFA’s own origins harken back to 1948, when National Security Council Directive 10/2 officially authorized the then-newly created Central Intelligence Agency to engage in operations targeted at communist states, including propaganda, economic warfare, sabotage, subversion, and “assistance to underground resistance movements.”

The station formed a key part of this effort, along with Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberation From Bolshevism, later Radio Liberty – it broadcast unrelenting propaganda in China, North Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere.

In 2007, the CIA’s official website stated these “psychological warfare” initiatives were among “the longest-running and successful covert action campaigns” the US ever mounted.

After the CIA’s role was made public in the 1970s, Congress took over running and funding the stations, before in 1999 they were grouped along with other state-run media entities under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, USAGM’s forerunner.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/79127/how-cia-created-signal-messenger.html

Tony Blair: ‘Inevitable’ GLOBAL Vaccine Passports Should Be Implemented Now

Former British Prime Minster Tony Blair has said that the British government should take advantage of the fact that it is to preside over the G7 this year to implement a global vaccine passport system.

Blair’s globalist institute issued a report urging the UK government to “place the creation of a global Covid-19 travel pass as a key item” on the G7 agenda.

In an interview with the Telegraph, the Iraq war architect himself stated that vaccine passports are “inevitable” and that British government needs to “take the initiative” using its “fortuitous” G7 presidency, and implement a “critical first step” toward global adoption of the scheme.

Blair argued that without a global standard on vaccine passports, there could be two problems.

“One is that everyone just does their own thing, which is much more chaotic and difficult to manage.

Or secondly, there’s a set of rules in place that you may not be that happy with,” Blair said.

What a horrible prospect, sovereign nations ‘doing their own thing’!

Blair added that an international vaccine passport scheme is essential to “re-connect” the globe.

“It’s better to have common rules and a common verification system, so that people know what your disease status is and know it with some validation,” he said.

“It’s going to be a new world altogether,” Blair proclaimed, adding “The sooner we grasp that and start to put in place the decisions [needed for a] deep impact over the coming years the better.”

Blair also praised Joe Biden for “completely [understanding] that you need global coordination.”

Blair has been pushing for vaccine passports ever since the pandemic began. Last April he declared that the situation is going to lead to “dramatically increased technological surveillance,” and suggested that “under the right conditions, this is a price worth paying.”

Blair is correct that the push toward COVID passports has become a juggernaut that now appears unstoppable. Everyday there are new reports of countries, airlines, and businesses declaring their intention to implement some form of vaccine passport system.

He is also correct that at the moment it appears to be somewhat uncoordinated and disparate, rather than any kind of standardised plan. However, the EU is debating a standardised scheme, and airlines seem to be falling into line behind the IATA Travel Pass ‘digital passport’ which shows passengers’ proof of Covid-19 tests and other entry requirements when flying.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/79123/tony-blair-inevitable-global-vaccine-passports-should-be-implemented.html

Robinhood Limits Purchases Of GME To Just 2 Shares

To much fanfare, late on Thursday Robinhood "caved" to massive peer pressure as WallStreetBets, politicians, the public, even its employees, raged at the company's decision to halt buy orders in GME - which had sent the stock price crashing - and once the company relented and said it would again allow stock purchase, GME stock exploded, soaring as high as $460 today after dropping to just above $100 yesterday.

However, as always, there is a catch, because while Robinhood allows purchases of GME stock… they are limited to just 2 shares!

Other size restrictions are as follows:

AAL - 55 shares

AMC - 25 shares

BB - 25 shares

BBBY - 30 shares

CTRM - 1650 shares

EXPR - 200 shares

GME - 2 shares

KOSS - 10 shares

NAKD - 300 shares

NOK - 50 shares

SNDL - 1200 shares

TR - 25 shares

TRVG - 400 shares

While previously it has been reported that RObinhood's limitation is 5 shares, whether it is 2 or 5 is modest, but what matters is that Robinhood has come up with a clever loophole: while it still "allows" buying of GME stock - as a reminder it was the outright halt of buying that sparked a firestorm of response - it permits so little that it would have virtually no impact on either Robinhood's balance sheet or any investor's wealth chances.

But at least it's "allowing" customers to trade in GME again, thus frontrunning even more populist anger. Smart.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/robinhood-limits-purchases-gme-just-2-shares

Biden Attacks Farms – Comprehensive War on Global Food Supply – Engineered Famine

The Biden admin’s executive actions in the last 48 hours are attacking farms and implementing the technocratic takeover of food, accelerating a global collapse in food production by paying farmers NOT to grow food, cutting their financial support, tasking Tom Vilsack’s USDA with a Net-Zero goal, changing COVID guidance on grocery stores, restaurants, and meatpacking plants.

Meanwhile, the media is finally acknowledging the soybean shortage, and the US is now also experiencing a fertilizer shortage, which will further increase costs and cause yields will collapse.

As other countries stop exporting to protect domestic supplies, the US has been wholly sold out. This confluence of issues and cascading failures merits our attention urgently — start growing food today.

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2021/01/biden-attacks-farms-comprehensive-war-on-global-food-supply-engineered-famine.html

Top Facebook executive reveals details of new brain-reading device in leaked audio

The device can read ‘neural signals coming from my brain, down my spinal cord along my arm, to my wrist.’

New information about Facebook’s effort to develop brain-reading technology came to light last month after a recording from a company meeting was leaked to the press.

Speaking with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other top executives of the social media giant, Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer previewed a sensor device that he said can read “neural signals coming from my brain, down my spinal cord along my arm, to my wrist.”

He added that “this sensor that we are building detects [neural signals], interprets them, and allows me to control [the] device.” This includes, for instance, typing or playing video games with mental commands.

Schroepfer’s revelations are the latest from the Big Tech company’s secretive, years-long quest to put out a neural device. The project began with plans for a “brain mouse” that would allow users to type with their minds, as the director of Facebook’s now-defunct research lab, Building 8, announced in 2017.

Since then, Facebook has purchased neural interface startup CTRL-Labs, the developer of an experimental wristband that purports to give users the ability to operate computers by thinking.

In a post announcing the acquisition of CTRL-Labs in 2019, the head of Facebook Reality Labs, Andrew Bosworth, claimed that the wristband “will decode” neural signals and “translate them into a digital signal your device can understand.” “It captures your intention so you can share a photo with a friend using an imperceptible movement,” or by “intending to,” he added.

Earlier that year, Facebook had revealed details of a separate thought-reading headset in a paper published in Nature Communications. Researchers backed by the company claimed that the algorithm for the headset technology could interpret speech from brain signals with 61-76% accuracy.

The research team published another paper in 2020 detailing an artificial intelligence system that can translate thoughts to text in real time by analyzing brain data. The AI had an error rate that was as low as 3%, according to the study. In the leaked audio from December, Mike Schroepfer noted that Facebook uses artificial intelligence prolifically to censor certain users, celebrating that AI bots remove 95% of “hate speech.”

“Our investments in technology aren’t just about keeping our services running,” Schroepfer said. “We are paving the way for breakthrough new experiences that, without hyperbole, will improve the lives of billions.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/top-facebook-executive-reveals-details-of-new-brain-reading-device-in-leaked-audio?utm_source=featured&utm_campaign=standard

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-020-0608-8

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10994-4?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_junction&utm_campaign=3_nsn6445_deeplink_PID100062364&utm_content=deeplink

https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/19/15360798/facebook-brain-computer-interface-ai-ar-f8-2017

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/facebook-mind-reading-neural-sensor-b1774825.html

Mattis takes a swipe at Trump, gives advice to new secretary of defense

Retired Marine general and former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis took a shot at his old boss, former President Donald Trump, while talking about the challenges current Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin might face in the job.

“I hope he’s not in quite the same situation I was in terms of his superior, frankly,” Mattis said of Austin as part of Thursday night’s “Oh So Social” conversation series hosted by the Office of Strategic Services Society.

Austin took the job after being confirmed by a 93–2 vote on Jan. 22.The former Army general became the first Black man to take lead the Pentagon as the Secretary of Defense.

During the online conversation Mattis went on to describe the lack of direction the Defense Department had when he first took the job, recalling that he had spent the month before his confirmation requesting a defense strategy from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and then Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work.

Eventually on his first day on the job he directly asked the leaders where the defense strategy was.

“The chairman looked me in the eye and said we don’t have one and we haven’t had one in 10 years,” Mattis said.

“It was a strategy-free environment,” Mattis said. “It is not that now and I’m hoping that he can adjust off the strategy with that we’ve written.”

In addition to building off the national defense strategy the Defense Department is working under Mattis said he hopes Austin works to “demilitarize” the nation’s foreign policy.

“Over the last 25 years we’ve over militarized our foreign policy, and he is going to have to deal with that,” Mattis said.

President Joe Biden indicated in an essay for The Atlantic that Austin would do just that as Secretary of Defense.

“[Austin] and I share a commitment to empowering our diplomats and development experts to lead our foreign policy, using force only as our last resort,” Biden said in the essay.

Thursday’s talk with Mattis went beyond advice for the current defense secretary and included general advice on leadership, the need for strong alliances and even the future of military technology.

“I think one thing that won’t change is it’ll be the skills of the individual troops that we see more and more prized today over the raw numbers of the industrial age armies,” Mattis said.

“A few troops with the top-line skills will have an influence far beyond what any squad leader in World War Two, Korea, and dare I say, Iraq 2003 ever could have forecast because the change is coming so quickly,” Mattis added.

The Marine Corps is hoping to get a jump on improving the skills of frontline troops, as it tests outs a revamped and extended infantry training program that will better prepare Marines for a future battlefield.

Mattis also mused about the potential of robotic soldiers heading to the battlefield without any fear and how that would change the very nature of war.

“What do you do today where technology is going so fast it’s out in front of legislation in front of poets, philosophers, lawyers?” Mattis asked.

As far as risks to the nation goes, Mattis said the No. 1 risk may not an ascendant China or the imperial ambitions of Russia, but rather the insider threat that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection attempt.

“The lack of unity on the consensual underpinnings of our democracy, what we saw on Jan. 6 fermented by a sitting president,” may be the main threat to the nation, Mattis said Thursday.

Mattis said the best route America can take to prevent the downfall of democracy would be to look deeply at the root causes.

“We’ve got to go back to our first principles … and we better start treasuring them and protecting them like there are as precious as they are,” Mattis added.

https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2021/01/29/mattis-takes-a-swipe-at-trump-gives-advice-to-new-secretary-of-defense/

Black Lives Matter movement nominated for Nobel peace prize

Norwegian cites global impact of BLM in raising awareness and consciousness of racial injustice.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel peace prize for the way its call for systemic change has spread around the world. In his nomination papers, Norwegian MP Petter Eide said the movement had forced countries outside the US to grapple with racism within their own societies.

“I find that one of the key challenges we have seen in America, but also in Europe and Asia, is the kind of increasing conflict based on inequality. Black Lives Matter has become a very important worldwide movement to fight racial injustice,” Eide said. “They have had a tremendous achievement in raising global awareness and consciousness about racial injustice.”

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Eide, who has previously nominated human rights activists from Russia and China for the prize, said one other thing that impressed him about the Black Lives Matter movement was the way “they have been able to mobilise people from all groups of society, not just African-Americans, not just oppressed people, it has been a broad movement, in a way which has been different from their predecessors.”

The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal in the US of the man who shot Trayvon Martin. It gained wider recognition in 2014 following protests over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and was the wellspring of a series of global protests in 2020 following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Nominations for the Nobel peace prize are accepted from any politician serving at a national level, and they are allowed just 2,000 words to state their case. The deadline for this year’s submission is 1 February, and by the end of March the committee prepares a shortlist. The winner is chosen in October and the award ceremony is scheduled for 10 December. There were more than 300 nominations for last year’s award, which was ultimately won by the World Food Programme.

The committee award the WFP because it wanted to “turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger”, but perhaps the most high profile nomination last year was for former US president Donald Trump.

Trump was nominated for a second time by another Norwegian MP, Christian Tybring-Gjedde. The far-right MP cited Trump’s role in normalising relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates under the Abraham Accords, although Eide said he had “a little difficulty defending that nomination” after the Capitol riot of 6 January when a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Congress buildings and five people died.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/29/black-lives-matter-nobel-peace-prize-petter-eide-norweigan-mp?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1611943735