https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1357674954364485633
Breaking911
BREAKING: The United States Supreme Court has scheduled the Pennsylvania election case, Sidney Powell's Michigan election case, and Lin Wood's Georgia election case for its February 19 conference
Pennsylvania Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Allow Drivers' Licenses For Illegal Aliens
Pennsylvania lawmakers have put forward a largely partisan bill that would grant drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens.
Sponsored by 27 House Democrats and 2 Republicans, House Bill 279 is currently pending in the House Transportation Committee. The bill would let people without a Social Security number, including those living in the United States illegally, obtain a driver’s license or a learner’s permit.
“In today’s fast-paced world, a driver’s license is essential to earn a living, travel safely, and live a dignified existence,” the sponsors wrote in a January memo.
The bill amends current state law to allow people without a Social Security number to apply for a driver’s license or learner’s permit using such alternatives as a federal taxpayer identification number, foreign passport, consular identification document, or birth certificate.
“Unfortunately, countless undocumented persons are unable to apply for a driver’s license in Pennsylvania because they do not have the required Social Security number,” the lawmakers wrote.
“As a result, they contribute to our economy without the equal protections and basic rights that the rest of us enjoy, such as the ability to drive safely to work, school, and businesses.”
The co-sponsors argue that, since a road test is required to receive a license, passage of the bill will make roads safer by reducing the number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on the roads. Illegal immigrants who obtain licenses will also be more inclined to report accidents and cooperate with police, they argue.
Thais Carrero, the Pennsylvania director of immigrant advocacy group CASA, which is one of a dozen groups in the state that supports the bill, told local outlet WGAL that she believes illegal immigrants should be allowed to legally drive.
“It’s about folks being able to move around, have a meaningful job, be able to take care of themselves and their families, so we just continue pushing until we get this legislation passed,” she said.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pennsylvania-lawmakers-introduce-bill-allow-drivers-licenses-illegal-aliens
Police in Europe Arrest 105 Over International Bank Card Fraud
European authorities detained 105 people and indicted another 14 for their alleged role in an international scheme that defrauded 12 million euros (US$14.4 million) from banks based in the United States.
Officers also seized more than 400,000 euros in cash, 14 luxury vehicles, fake identification documents, guns and over 200 bank cards. (Source: Europol)Officers also seized more than 400,000 euros in cash, 14 luxury vehicles, fake identification documents, guns and over 200 bank cards. (Source: Europol)The Spanish National Police and the U.S. Secret Service said they dismantled the criminal network, which allegedly defrauded more than 50 American financial institutions, in an investigation that involved Europol and law enforcement of seven European countries where the gang members operated.
The eighteen-month-long investigation is the largest international probe to date against bank card fraud, Spanish authorities said in a statement on Wednesday.
Police searched 88 locations, including a hotel in eastern Spain where the criminal network is believed to have set up its operation center in 2017. As a result, authorities have blocked 87 bank accounts in Spain and several other European countries, freezing more than 1.3 million euros ($1.56 million).
Officers also seized more than 400,000 euros ($479,000) in cash, 14 luxury vehicles, fake identification documents, guns and over 200 bank cards.
According to Europol, the criminal organization defrauded the financial institutions through U.S. shell companies and a complex scheme that exploited the difference in payment acceptance between American and Spanish banks.
Police determined that the gang carried out its activities in 16 countries and was planning to open two new operation centers in Austria and Greece before it was dismantled.
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13802-police-in-europe-arrest-105-over-international-bank-card-fraud
Bongino: ‘Monday looks good’ for Parler to return online
Dan Bongino, co-owner of Parler, told “Hannity” Thursday night that Parler may be up and running by Monday of next week.
Parler has been offline for nearly a month after Amazon, Apple and Google all removed the app from their platforms for failure to moderate “egregious content” related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“We’re shooting for Monday,” Bongino told Hannity. “Monday looks good. Fingers crossed.”
This announcement comes one day after a memo was released explaining why former CEO, John Matze, was terminated by Parler’s board of directors.
Matze claimed he was met with “constant resistance” on how Parler should be managed following the site shutdown.
“Over the past few months, I’ve met constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the Parler site should be managed. For example, I advocated for more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to content moderation,” Matze said in the memo.
In a Facebook video published Wednesday, Bongino said they did not share the same vision for the future of Parler.
“Here’s what really happened. We were the ones, in fact, fighting to get Parler back up. There was some really bad decisions made from people on the inside, and listen, this isn’t us airing dirty laundry. This is protecting a company that is absolutely committed to free speech, that I put the last year of my life into. Do you actually believe that someone else was on the side of free speech?”
“There were two separate visions for the company,” Bongino added. “The relationship with Parler and the CEO did not work out because the CEO’s vision was not ours. Everybody clear on that? Our vision was crystal clear. We needed to get up and fight back, some terrible decisions were made in the past that led to this. That led to us getting put down by Amazon and others.”
https://saraacarter.com/bongino-monday-looks-good-for-parler-to-return-online/
University of Michigan Demands $1,200 for China Documents
Public university in lucrative partnership with Chinese regime-linked program
The University of Michigan refused to turn over public documents related to its $25 million research partnership with China unless it receives more than $1,200 in fees, an "extreme" request that experts said prevents transparency.
The Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI) offers robotics and technology researchers millions in funding as well as priority access to the Chinese market. The Washington Free Beacon filed a Freedom of Information Act request for specific documents associated with the lucrative program in January. The taxpayer-funded university, however, demanded $1,204 in fees before releasing the documents.
Modest fees are common in FOIA offices and generally cover expenses related to information gathering and photocopying. But some transparency experts were alarmed by the steep demand, saying that high fee costs can inhibit the public's right to records.
Steve Delie, who has filed multiple FOIA lawsuits against the University of Michigan, said that he has heard of FOIA cases that charged more than $30,000 in fees. He said that the high fees—coupled with long wait times that exceed the statutory deadline—are a serious obstacle to government transparency and discourage Michiganders from acquiring public documents that they have the right to see.
"When these fees are this high, it creates a very chilling effect on public records because your average citizen is unable to gain access to what should be publicly available information," Delie said. "Even institutional entities like the media have difficulty getting prompt responses or justifying the expense for the information being sought."
The Free Beacon requested two specific documents—known within the program as "exploratory project proposal" and "full proposal"—that researchers complete to request BICI funding, according to the program's website. The documents would illuminate key details about the BICI-backed research projects, including whether patent rights will be granted to U.S.- or China-based entities. BICI says it has no ties to the Chinese government but is closely tied to multiple Chinese state-backed universities and enjoys the backing of Chinese Communist Party officials.
Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight, said state institutions sometimes resort to expensive FOIA fees to conceal unflattering information or to fill their coffers.
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/university-of-michigan-demands-1200-for-china-documents/
Biden Claims New Sanctions On Russia On The Way, Unless His Neo-Liberal Bro Navalny Is Released
On February 4th, US President Joe Biden warned Moscow that the United States will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend American interests in his first major foreign policy address since taking office.
He, after all, doesn’t want to be painted as “Putin’s puppet.”
The entire scene is quite showing, with Vice President Kamala Harris sitting behind him as a sort of handler.
“I made it very clear to President Putin in a manner very different from my predecessor that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russian aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens, are over,” Biden said.
“We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interests and our people, and we will be more effective in dealing with Russia when we work in coalition and coordination with other like minded partners,” the president said.
Biden also lost no time to make a call out to his neo-liberal “bro-in-arms” Alexey Navalny, calling for his immediate release.
“Mr. Navalny, like all Russian citizens is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution,” Biden said. “He’s been targeted for exposing corruption and should be released immediately and without condition.”
According to MSM, Navalny’s detention has sparked “mass protests” across Russia over the past two weekends.
“The Russian efforts to suppress freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are a matter of deep concern to us and the international community,” Biden said.
Pres. Biden speaks out against jailing of Alexey Navalny: ‘He’s been targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition’ pic.twitter.com/qWpPBOPMKi
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 4, 2021
The Biden administration faces growing pressure to impose sanctions on Russia for Navalny’s alleged poisoning.
In case, however, the stern-talking-to by Joe Biden doesn’t work out, MSM is already attempting to construct a new narrative, having learned from the situation in Belarus in late 2020.
https://southfront.org/biden-claims-new-sanctions-on-russia-on-the-way-unless-his-neo-liberal-bro-navalny-is-released/
FBI's desperate pretext to keep spying on Carter Page: He might write a book!
Newly declassified FISA application shows FBI, without proof, portrayed First Amendment-protected activities as Russian plot.
Nine months into a relentless effort to spy on Carter Page with the most awesome surveillance tools the U.S. possesses, the FBI had no proof the former Trump adviser had colluded with Russia to hijack the 2016 election.
In fact, the bureau hid from the FISA court the fact that it knew Page was actually a U.S. asset who had helped the CIA and that in a secret recording with an informant he had denied all the core allegations against him with significant proof.
But it wanted to keep spying on its target for another three months. So what did the FBI cough up to the FISA judge to keep up its surveillance and its now-debunked claim that Page might be a Russian agent of influence?
The FBI actually argued that Page's lawful exercise of his First Amendment rights — he was giving media interviews and considering writing a book — might be proof he was carrying out a Russian plot, according to a newly declassified version of the final FISA warrant reviewed by Just the News.
"The FBI also notes that Page continues to be active in meeting with media outlets to promote his theories of how U.S. foreign policy should be adjusted with regard to Russia and also to refute claims of his involvement with Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election," the once top-secret FISA application read on page 57.
"The FBI believes that Page may have been instructed by Russian officials to aggressively deny, especially in the media, any Russian involvement with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The FBI believes this approach is important because, from the Russian government's point of view, it continues to keep the controversy of the election in front of the American and world medium, which has the effect of undermining the integrity of the US electoral process and weakening the effectiveness of the current US administration.
It added: "The FBI believes Page also may be seeking media attention in order to maintain momentum for potential book contracts."
It offered no proof for such a dramatic allegation. No source. No document. No intercept. Nothing. Just the affirmation "The FBI believes …"
Kevin Brock, the FBI's former chief of intelligence who helped craft most of the bureau's current human source and spy rules before he retired a decade ago, told Just the News on Thursday that the FISA application's use of unfounded speculation undercut the very requirement that warrants contain verified evidence.
"It is a desperate attempt to keep an investigation, which had no predication in the first place, going with conjecture, speculation and manufactured belief," Brock said in an interview.
https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/fri-fbis-desperate-justification-keep-spying-carter-page
UBI
Romney Proposal Would Give a Monthly Check to Families With Children
There appears to be bipartisan momentum for a monthly cash payment to families with children as GOP Senator Mitt Romney’s proposal echoes several Democrats who have discussed a similar idea. President Biden has also expressed an interest in the plan, which could become part of a post-COVID effort to address the problem of “income inequality.”
What sets apart Romney’s proposal that it addresses both spending and the deficit. The Utah Senator believes his plan could be revenue-neutral by eliminating some federal programs as well as reducing the cost of the earned income tax credit and repealing the state and local tax deduction in Donald Trump’s tax bill.
The Hill:
The proposal comes as many Democrats have similarly expressed interest in providing payments to families with children on a monthly basis.
“This proposal offers a path toward greater security for America’s families by consolidating the many complicated programs to create a monthly cash benefit for them, without adding to the deficit,” Romney said in a news release.
That the proposal comes from Romney is significant. He is part of a small group of senators who have demonstrated a willingness in the past to buck their party leadership in order to address a national problem. The half-dozen or so moderate senators are expected to hold the balance of power in the upper chamber.
Romney’s ideas are certainly ambitious.
Under Romney’s proposal, the existing child tax credit would be replaced with monthly payments of $350 for children ages 5 and under and $250 for children ages 6 to 17. Families would be capped at monthly payments of $1,250.
All children with Social Security numbers would be eligible for the payments, and parents would also be eligible to apply to start getting the benefit four months before a child’s due date.
The payment amounts phase out for single tax filers with income above $200,000 and married couples with income above $400,000 — the same income phaseout thresholds for the current child tax credit. The Social Security Administration would administer the monthly payments, and people would reconcile any overpayments or underpayments with the IRS when they filed their tax returns.
There’s no doubt that child poverty is a problem that has been growing over the last decade. But is this really the best way to address it? Direct cash payments are always fraught with problems, not the least of which are fraud and abuse. And as far as liberals sitting still for totally eliminating the temporary assistance for needy families program (TANF), it’s not going to happen. They will gladly help pass the monthly benefit for children but getting them to cut anything in return would be like pulling wisdom teeth. They want the monthly tax credit and TANF, plus a few more goodies on top of it.
Romney is asserting himself in the Senate, not necessarily in the Republican Party. He won’t be a party-switcher unless he’s given a healthy shove, which some Republicans appear eager to do. He’ll be no more welcome on the Democratic side of the aisle than he is on the Republican side.
We can expect more of this from the moderate caucus of Democrats and Republicans who will test their influence over the next few months.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/02/05/romney-proposal-would-give-a-monthly-check-to-families-with-children-n1423404
During Pandemic, China Sent Millions of Counterfeit Masks, Test Kits to US: Customs Data
China accounted for about 51 percent of counterfeit or substandard COVID-19-related products seized by U.S. customs officials from October 2019 to Sept. 30 last year, according to a newly-released report from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Among the products seized by U.S. customs officials were over 12.7 million counterfeit masks, 177,356 COVID-19 test kits prohibited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and 38,098 FDA-prohibited chloroquine tablets.
The effectiveness of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine and its closely-related chloroquine in treating symptoms of COVID-19, which is caused by the CCP virus (commonly known as the novel coronavirus), is of much debate.
The FDA initially issued an emergency use authorization for the two drugs, but later revoked the authorization in June last year, saying that they were “unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19.”
However, there have been studies showing their effectiveness: one study showed hydroxychloroquine lowered the death rate of COVID-19 patients, while another study demonstrated a drug cocktail containing hydroxychloroquine could lower the hospitalization and death rate of patients infected by the virus.
The FDA currently has a database listing fraudulent COVID-19 products, including test kits. The list contains company names and the names of their products.
In December last year, customs officials in Cincinnati seized 10,080 counterfeit surgical masks, which were labeled “3M Mask Model 1860,” in a shipment originating from China, according to a press release. The boxes containing the masks were fraudulently labeled as “Made in the USA.”
If genuine, these fake 3M masks would have an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $65,520.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/during-pandemic-china-sent-millions-of-counterfeit-masks-test-kits-to-us-customs-data_3686127.html
The SPLC's Horrifying Plan for Your Children's Schools
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), notorious for branding mainstream conservative and Christian nonprofits “hate groups” and including them on a list with the Ku Klux Klan while ignoring the destructive and deadly antifa riots, has adopted Marxist critical race theory and has asked the government to push this noxious agenda in public schools. This week, the SPLC urged President Joe Biden to direct taxpayer funds to develop a “curriculum on structural racism” in the Department of Education. The smear group also revamped its Teaching Tolerance program, which pushes its leftist agenda in schools.
In the SPLC’s annual “Year in Hate” report released on Monday, the organization called on the federal government to “address far-right and racist narratives” by providing “funding for the Department of Education to develop a curriculum on structural racism and funding for states to implement their own related initiatives.”
“Americans can only dismantle white supremacy if they understand how racism shaped (and continues to shape) housing, education, policing, health care and other policies and practices that affect our everyday lives,” the SPLC report claimed.
On Tuesday, the SPLC announced it would revamp its “Teaching Tolerance” program — which spreads its far-left agenda in schools — renaming the program “Learning for Justice.”
“We are called as educators, justice advocates, caregivers and students to reimagine and reclaim our education system so that it is inclusive and just,” Jalaya Liles Dunn, the new Learning for Justice director, argued (emphasis added). “In shifting from Teaching Tolerance to Learning for Justice, we’re offering an urgent call to action: We must learn, grow and wield power together” (bold emphasis added, italics original).
The SPLC has long pushed leftist activism in schools through the Teaching Tolerance program, but this explicit call to “reimagine” the education system and use it to “wield power” seems brazen, even for an organization infamous for its “hate” fundraising scam and its routine defamation. Education should not be about “wielding power” but about teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic — and training kids to think freely and be good citizens.
The SPLC wants schools to turn children into leftist activists, training them to deconstruct American society to find hidden racism everywhere, and encouraging them to “wield power” by eradicating it.
Critical race theory teaches that the central aspect of society is racial oppression — the historic abuses white people have committed against people of other races. “White supremacy” secretly rules everything, even when policies explicitly consider people on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. It does not matter that American law expressly forbids racial discrimination, according to this theory. If white people have more money than black people, that is ipso facto proof of white supremacy, regardless of how Asians are doing and regardless of the true reasons behind any disparity.
The Smithsonian briefly showed how this works when it published a “teaching tool” infographic on “whiteness.” That infographic claimed that the nuclear family, science, capitalism, the Judeo-Christian tradition, individualism, “objective, rational linear thinking,” and even values such as “be polite” are aspects of oppressive whiteness. The Smithsonian rightly removed the graphic after facing criticism, but a similar mindset arguably drives the SPLC’s paranoid demonization of conservative Christian nonprofits as “hate groups.”
Marxist critical race theory inspired much of the destruction of the Black Lives Matter and antifa riots over the summer. While protesters rightly expressed outrage at the treatment of George Floyd, many of the protests devolved into looting, vandalism, and arson in which lawless thugs — acting in the name of fighting racism — destroyed black lives, black livelihoods, and black monuments.
During the mayhem, President Donald Trump designated antifa a terrorist organization. The SPLC condemned Trump’s move as “dangerous and unjust.” The SPLC pushed the narrative that police were “punishing peaceful protest” even as rioters were burning down buildings and throwing Molotov cocktails at law enforcement.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/02/04/new-leftist-project-urges-schools-to-reimagine-education-and-wield-power-to-fight-structural-racism-n1422964
The Q-Word: Weapon of Choice for Smearing Opponents
If you’re not echoing the establishment narrative, you are vulnerable to attack, writes Trevor Scott FitzGibbon.
One of the most effective information-operation weapons during the 2016 presidential election was to smear political targets as “Russian bots” working on behalf of the Kremlin. Journalists were de-platformed, presidential candidates were smeared, and lives were immeasurably damaged.
The art of attacking political targets by using open-sourced guilt-by-association is not new — nor is using Russians as foils. Joseph McCarthy and his ilk did it in the 1950s with “red-baiting” and the FBI tried to do it to Paul Robeson, Martin Luther King Jr. and others. Today that disgraceful tactic has reemerged. The smear du jour is to accuse someone of supporting the insane QAnon conspiracy — even if they don’t.
Assassinating the character of political opponents for “supporting” Q has migrated from dubious online provocateurs to television news programming. Suddenly, it seems as if every other word out of certain hosts and pundits on cable news shows begins with “Q,” and that a majority of Democrats sit around the dinner table every night discussing the conspiracy and how it is impacting Timmy’s fourth-grade class.
Ironically, according to the most recent Pew Research Center poll, while close to half the country has heard of QAnon, the majority of them are Democrats. Awareness of Q increased dramatically from 23 percent in March to 47 percent in September.
One reason for this is that the effort to hype the fringe conspiracy group has grown quickly. Increasingly, money flows to digital mercenaries to shame and cyberstalk not only individual targets but entire voting blocs.
QAnon is an idea with no structure, no chain of command and no rules. Anybody can pick up a YouTube channel or another social media account and claim to be an anonymous insider — and exploit and project whatever insane claim they want to make. With the rise of social media and recruitment of virtual reality and “gaming” technologists, these consultants have provided new mediums and taken the art of smearing to a new level. From slanderous TED Talks to inaccurate documentaries that defame individuals who have nothing to do with QAnon, the damage to the target can be severe. Often, those making the allegations are reliant on discredited sources.
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/02/04/the-q-word-weapon-of-choice-for-smearing-opponents/
Outspoken Republican US Rep. Lauren Boebert granted concealed carry permit in DC
Take that, Pelosi!
After infuriating Democrats by carrying a gun on the job, outspoken freshman U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) was granted a concealed carry permit in Washington, D.C., the Hill reported.
So, why did the 5-foot, 100-pound congresswoman stir up so much angst among her leftist colleagues? Well, the following tweet from Boebert — a staunch Second Amendment supporter — may have been part of it:
Let me tell you why I WILL carry my Glock to Congress. Government does NOT get to tell me or my constituents how… https://t.co/yA5KuB38Mx
— Lauren Boebert (@Lauren Boebert)1609720406.0
The video in the latter tweet shows Boebert appearing to carry a gun around the Capitol — and The Hill said members are allowed to do so.
What did the DC police chief have to say?
While the video suggested the congresswoman was armed, Boebert never has been seen with a gun, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said at a press conference Thursday, the outlet reported. Contee also said after the ad was released that he learned a permit application was "in the works" at the department, The Hill added.
"As we do with all our permits, if citizens are allowed to carry, then we grant them a permit," Contee continued, according to the outlet. "In this case, she was allowed to carry, and she was granted a [concealed carry] permit. And yes, we did reach out to the office."
Anything else?
Boebert had expressed her desire to carry a gun on Capitol grounds well before she was sworn in early last month. In fact, 21 Democrats signed a Dec. 15 letter to House Leadership requesting a "change in House Rules for the 117th Congress to ensure that Members of Congress are held to the same firearm safety rules as the public while they are on Capitol grounds."
"Ultimately, the current regulations create needless risk for Members of Congress, their staff, members of the Capitol Police, and visitors to the Capitol grounds," the Democrats wrote.
In response, Boebert penned her own letter — signed by "83 members and member-elects of Congress in an effort to block a gun grab recently proposed by House Democrats."
"I refuse to give up my Second Amendment rights," Boebert wrote. "I'm a 5-foot tall, 100-pound mom with four children and will be walking to work and serving in one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. I choose to defend my family and my life with all of the force the Constitution provides. I will not let a bunch of gun-grabbing House Democrats take away my Constitutional right to protect myself."
Soon after, new rules for the 117th Congress did not appear to include the Democrats' proposed ban on lawmakers carrying guns inside the U.S. Capitol building — notching a win for Boebert on her first day at work.
But the her path forward still came with its share of bumps.
On the heels of the Capitol riot, a number of GOP members were reportedly "furious" Jan. 12 upon discovering they would need to pass through metal detectors manned by U.S. Capitol Police officers in order to gain entry to the House chamber. Boebert refused to comply with officers searching her bag before entry.
And then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the following day that the House will be considering a new rule that would impose hefty fines on lawmakers who refuse to comply with the added security measures.
Boebert's name first hit the public consciousness in 2014 with stories about her Colorado restaurant "Shooters Grill," where servers exercise their open-carry rights. She made even bigger headlines in 2019 by standing up to then-presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke — who infamously declared, "Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47" — by telling him, "I am here to say: Hell no, you're not."
https://www.theblaze.com/news/gop-rep-lauren-boebert-concealed-carry-permit-dc
TOTAL COINCIDENCE ALERT: C19 Diagnostic Criteria Tightened by WHO on Biden Inauguration Day!
https://redstate.com/michael_thau/2021/01/20/total-coincidence-alert-who-issues-new-c19-guidelines-requiring-2nd-test-for-symptom-less-on-day-biden-takes-office-n313400
Why ARE COVID cases plummeting? New infections have fallen 45% in the US and 30% globally in the past 3 weeks but experts say vaccine is NOT the main driver because only 8% of Americans and 13% people worldwide have received their first dose
Daily cases have dropped 45 percent since the latest peak on January 11, according to data from the COVID-19 Tracking Project . There were 131,341 new cases reported on Wednesday
The decline appears to be a global phenomenon, with new infections falling worldwide for the past three weeks in a row, the World Health Organization said Monday
Hospitalizations have fallen a whopping 26 percent since they peaked most recently on January 12
Currently, 44 states are seeing a decline in cases with just Alabama, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania trending upward, according to Johns Hopkins data
California's 21,451 new confirmed cases on Tuesday are about one-third the mid-December peak of 54,000
New York recorded 8,215 new infections on Tuesday, down from the record-high of 19,942 new cases reported on January 15
Health experts say it is too soon for vaccines to be playing a major role in the decline with just 8% of the population having received the first shot and fewer than 2% being fully immunized
Officials say the drop is likely due to a higher number of people who've had the virus than official counts suggest, as many as 90 million people, and fewer people traveling than did over the winter holidays
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9219379/Why-coronavirus-cases-falling-fast-New-infections-drop-44-three-weeks.html
Soros, Gates-Linked Election ‘Integrity’ Group Falsifies ‘Bipartisan’ Claims While War-Gaming How Biden Could Seize Power Even if Trump Wins
August 3, 2020
The Transition Integrity Project – which bills itself as a bulwark against President Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 election – is founded by a Board Member of George Soros’s Open Society Foundation and A Vice President of the Chinese Communist Party-linked Berggruen Institute, the National Pulse can exclusively reveal.
The Transition Integrity Project (TIP) appears to be another establishment-sanctioned offensive to nullify the Trump presidency akin to impeachment and the Russian collusion hoax. Now, however, TIP’s paramount concern is President Trump’s refusal to relinquish the presidency should Democratic candidate Joe Biden win given the potential for a botched election resulting from mail-in ballots and coronavirus.
The breathless media coverage of TIP in the last few days has hailed the group’s “bipartisanship,” but a National Pulse investigation has found that the group is anything but. In reality, it’s another globalist front comprised of Soros staffers, linked to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and appears to exist for the express purpose of backing Biden’s claims to the White House in an event of a disputed election in November.
TIP claimed to have “war-gamed” potential outcomes of the 2020 election with a host of establishment figures such as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign Chair and Obama-era Counselor John Podesta, Never Trump Republican National Committee (RNC) Head Michael Steele, and acting chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Donna Brazile who leaked presidential debate questions to Clinton in 2016.
In one concerning iteration, Podesta, who acted as Biden, seized the presidency by “failing to concede as Mrs. Clinton had.”
The Establishment Strikes Back.
The project, whose ranks include individuals dead-set on removing President Trump from office since his inauguration, is founded by Rosa Brooks and Nils Gilman.
Brooks was an Obama-era Counselor to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Special Coordinator for Rule of Law and Humanitarian Policy along with a Senior Advisor t0 Bill Clinton’s State Department. She also served as Special Counsel to the President at the Open Society Institute and now serves on the advisory board of the foundation, the brainchild of progressive mega-donor George Soros.
Penning a piece entitled “Three Ways to Get Rid of President Trump Before 2020” in Foreign Policy just 10 days after his inauguration, Brooks declared “four years seems like a long time to wait,” and plotted several methods to see the duly-elected president removed.
She championed impeachment, reveling in weaponizing the seldom-used maneuver without any evidence of an actual crime: “If impeachment seems like a fine solution to you, the good news is that Congress doesn’t need evidence of actual treason or murder to move forward with an impeachment: Practically anything can be considered a “high crime or misdemeanor.”
She also floats the prospect of “a military coup, or at least a refusal by military leaders to obey certain orders.”
Brooks also serves as a fellow at the New America Foundation (NAF), which enjoys financial backing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Google. NAF’s CEO Anne Marie Slaughter served as Director of Policy Planning in the Obama administration and the foundation’s board features individuals like Fareed Zakaria, a CNN host and Washington Post contributor who was recently exposed by the National Pulse for collaborating with a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) funded “Marxist journalism” school.
Gilman serves as the Vice President of Programs at the Berggruen Institute which hosts the Berggruen China Center and has funneled tens of millions of dollars into CCP-run universities such as Peking University – merely scratching the surface of the institute’s CCP overtures.
The Berggruen Institute’s China initiative lists a bevy of Chinese government-run entities as partners including the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Chinese Association of Artificial Intelligence.
https://thenationalpulse.com/politics/establishment-election-interference/
kek we are 'domestic terrorists' coz they said so
Senior DOJ Officials Reportedly Greenlighted Non-Prosecution Deal for Epstein in 2000s
In July 2019, Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges and put in a New York City jail to await trial. Just a month later, he was found dead in his prison cell, with the authorities concluding that the 66-year-old had committed suicide.
In the early 2000s, then-senior US Department of Justice (DOJ) officials certified a non-prosecution agreement on Jeffrey Epstein to spare him of federal sex-trafficking charges at the time, according to court documents disclosed on Thursday. The White House and the DOJ have yet to comment on the matter.
The documents were made public by attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former associate, who was arrested by the FBI in July 2020, on charges of playing a role in the "sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls" by the convicted paedophile who was found dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019.
The court filing contains a copy of the deal that was inked by then-Florida federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta. The document details how the "atypical" agreement which kept Epstein from facing federal prosecution was agreed upon.
Maxwell's lawyers argued that the deal was "heavily negotiated over approximately eight months" and was approved by "senior levels of Main Justice in Washington, DC".
Epstein Fund Pulls the Plug on Compensations
In a separate development, the Epstein Victims' Compensation Programme (VCP) announced that it will stop offering payouts to the late convicted paedophile's accusers through at least 25 March.
The fund cited uncertainty about the liquidity of the Epstein estate assets needed to finance payouts.
VCP administrator Jordana Feldman said in a statement that she regrets a pause in payouts as she underscored the necessity of protecting the rights of Epstein accusers whose claims have yet to be resolved.
"Issuing a compensation offer that cannot be timely and fully funded and paid, consistent with the way the [Epstein Victims' Compensation] Programme has operated to date, would compromise claimants' interests and the guiding principles of the programme", Feldman said in a statement.
In May 2020, the disgraced finacier's accusers along with Epstein's estate and US Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise Attorney reached a deal to compensate more than 100 victims who claim to have been subjected to the financier's dirty sexual practices.
Media reports claimed that about $49.8 million had already been transferred to an unspecified number of women through the VCP "from June to 31 December 2020 onwards".
https://sputniknews.com/us/202102051081989084-senior-doj-officials-reportedly-greenlighted-non-prosecution-deal-for-epstein-in-2000s/
FOR THOSE THAT MISSED THIS
So why is Joe Biden at Castle Rock Studios?
Here’s what Senate Democrats rammed through in COVID-19 ‘vote-a-rama’
Senate Democrats agreed to prevent $1,400 stimulus checks from going to high earners and to remove a $15-an-hour minimum wage from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package during the marathon “vote-a-rama” that ended early Friday.
But the measure — part of the package rammed through by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaker — is seemingly rudderless as it doesn’t specify a specific income cut-off for the free money, which was set at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples during previous giveaways.
And US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — who surprisingly supported removing the minimum-wage hike — said he’d still work to have it included in the federal budget bill, according to reports.
Other plans adopted by the Democrat-controlled Senate include providing schools with $130 billion to help them reopen amid the continuing pandemic and increasing the child tax credit for low- and middle-income families.
A total of $160 million would be allocated to help roll out COVID-19 vaccinations, increase coronavirus testing and fund other health care programs.
Rural hospitals strained by the pandemic would receive additional funding, as would state and local government, Reuters said.
Enhanced, $300-a-week unemployment benefits, set to expire in March, would be extended through September and there would be money dedicated to rental assistance and nutrition programs, according to reports.
Vice President Kamala Harris sits in the chair on the Senate floor to cast the tie-breaking vote on February 5, 2021.Vice President Kamala Harris sits in the chair on the Senate floor to cast the tie-breaking vote on February 5, 2021.AP
The Senate also wants to provide tax relief to mobile health care workers and block tax increases on small businesses during the pandemic, according to reports.
Non-monetary plans approved by the Senate included opposing the defunding of police departments and keeping the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
The adoption allows the Senate to proceed toward a final bill under the budget reconciliation rules, which would let the Dems pass a coronavirus stimulus plan by circumventing a GOP filibuster if their caucus remains united.
https://nypost.com/2021/02/05/what-senate-democrats-passed-in-covid-relief-vote/