Records ‘Disappeared’ of Cop’s Arrest Over Torturing Woman to Silence Her Claims of Child Rape

St. Albans, VT — The term blue privilege came about in this country after people began paying attention to the crimes committed by police officers and the subsequent lack of accountability they face when committing them. Over the years, TFTP has reported on countless cases of murdering, raping, child molesting, and rights violating cops escaping accountability for their actions with little to no jail time. In some instances, they aren’t even fired for murdering unarmed innocent fathers, crawling on their knees, begging for their lives.

Continuing in the trend, in a case out of Vermont, a St. Albans police officer has received repeated hefty doses of blue privilege over his alleged crimes. In April of last year, he was arrested for allegedly breaking into a woman’s home, beating her up, throwing her down a flight of stairs, and burning her repeatedly with a cigar. For good measure, he took his father along with him — who was also arrested for his role in the incident.

Despite these grim allegations, after Officer Zachary Pigeon, 29, and his father Allen Pigeon, 56, each pleaded not guilty to five charges: simple assault, kidnapping, obstructing justice, burglary, and unlawful restraint and they were released without bail and walked out of the courtroom. In December, despite the evidence in the case against them, the charges were thrown out.

The cop’s privilege was even extended by his own department who issued nothing but praise for him after the arrest.

“There is nothing, nothing whatsoever in his file that would show up as a red flag or an indicator of any of the things that I have now heard that he is alleged to have done,” St. Albans Police Chief Gary Taylor said. “We went all through it. He polygraphed twice– and there is nothing.”

Now, the privilege goes a step further and any mention of the incident is effectively being scrubbed out of official existence.

Freestar

The VTDigger reports that records related to dismissed sexual assault and kidnapping charges against a former St. Albans police officer have effectively disappeared, following a court order that the records be sealed — even after two news organizations had requested the information.

The very existence of public records requests filed separately last month by VTDigger.org and Vermont Public Radio has been wiped clean from an online index kept by the Vermont Attorney General’s Office that tracks the status of such requests.

Last Friday’s court order sealing the records is also unavailable to the public. According to state law, if a case is dismissed before trial, the court “shall” within 60 days seal the records unless an objection is raised.

According to the victim, as reported by the St. Albans Messenger, she says two men she identified as Zachary and his father Allen Pigeon entered her home the first weekend in April, dragged her from the couch where she was sleeping, threw her down some stairs and off her porch, then pulled her back up it and again threw her down again, this time off a section of porch with no stairs, before burning her back with a cigar.

State’s Attorney Diane Wheeler disagreed with the judge at the time and pushed for both men to be held without bail. She did not get her way. Instead, two men accused of attempting to cover up a case of long-term sexual abuse, by torturing a woman, were released to their homes.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/records-disappeared-cops-arrest/

Dave Portnoy accuses Jose Canseco of taking ‘dive’ in $1 million boxing fiasco

Jose Canseco made over $1 million fighting a 22-year-old Barstool Sports employee for just a few seconds Friday night — and it did not go over well with the brash media company.

The 56-year-old disgraced former baseball star was accused of taking a “dive” when he crumbled 12 seconds into the headline match for the media company’s $20 pay-per-view amateur boxing event, “Rough ‘N Rowdy.”

The fight immediately when the 6-foot-4, 270-pound Canseco fell to the floor and held his right shoulder after taking a couple of punches from Barstool’s Will Cotter, a former high school quarterback who goes by “Billy Football” and is 6-foot-4, 225 pounds.

Afterward, Canseco claimed he tore his shoulder months earlier.

“Jose 100% took a dive,” Barstool Sports founder and president Dave Portnoy tweeted. “We paid half up front and he got double if he won. We thought that would ensure he’d fight. We were wrong.”

Pornoy said in a tweet Saturday that Canseco was guaranteed $50K, as well as a revenue share if Barstool broke its record for PPV purchases. The company “shattered” the record, according to Portnoy.

“Get ready to puke,” Portnoy tweeted. “Jose made over 1 million dollars for 5 seconds last night.”

Down goes Jose Canseco, who can't get up and then quits. pic.twitter.com/HBFoIeYU3c

— Tyler Treese (@tylertreese) February 6, 2021

The Barstool Sportsbook, which is owned by gambling operator Penn National Gaming, said it voided all bets on Canseco, while those who bet on Billy Football were awarded.

An admitted steroids user who outed several baseball stars including Alex Rodriguez, Canseco earned more than $45 million playing baseball, but filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and has struggled financially since.

These days Canseco floods the internet with alien conspiracy theories and picks fights with Rodriguez, whom he has baselessly accused of cheating on fiancée Jenifer Lopez with Canseco’s ex-wife, Jessica.

A-Rod hosts a business podcast with Barstool Sports, and when he declined Canseco’s invitation to the ring, the media company stepped in.

The fight was billed by Barstool as a way to “settle the score” between the two former baseball sluggers.

Billy Football is described as an “intern” for “Pardon My Take,” Barstool’s popular sports podcast.

“I’m fighting tonight for everyone who’s tired of Barstool Sports being on the internet,” Canseco tweeted before the fight.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/06/portnoy-accuses-canseco-of-taking-dive-in-boxing-fiasco/

CNN Repeatedly Claimed Capitol Officer Sicknick Died Due to a Fire Extinguisher Hit… Now They’ve Quietly Admitted That May Not be True.

CNN quietly snuck out a report this week, without posting the story to their homepage and barely covering the news on air. It suggests despite the multitude of claims since January 6th, Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick was NOT killed by a blunt force trauma.

Posted on Tuesday, CNN’s new story was not shared by any of their leading personalities, reporters, or anchors. The eighth paragraph of the story claims (emphasis added):

According to one law enforcement official, medical examiners did not find signs that the officer sustained any blunt force trauma, so investigators believe that early reports that he was fatally struck by a fire extinguisher are not true.

One possibility being considered by investigators is that Sicknick became ill after interacting with a chemical irritant like pepper spray or bear spray that was deployed in the crowd. But investigators reviewing video of the officer’s time around the Capitol haven’t been able to confirm that in tape that has been recovered so far, the official said.

The case could also be complicated if Sicknick had a preexisting medical condition.

Despite dozens of results for CNN mentioning the fire extinguisher, there are just two correcting the record since their report was released.

The network has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Officer Brian Sicknick was definitely killed by Trump supporters with a fire extinguisher.

Poppy Harlow claimed: “We turn now to a tribute happening soon for fallen Capitol Hill police officer Brian Sicknick who died — was killed. He was killed when one of the rioters hit him with a fire extinguisher.”

Anderson Cooper asserted: “[A] Capitol police officer was beaten reportedly with a fire extinguisher.”

Ana Cabrera stated: “Officer Brian Sicknick died after being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher during the hours long attack.”

Erin Burnett asked: “Why is Trump trying so hard to make those claims the focal point of the Senate trial? Charging him with inciting insurrection? Does he think that the lie would justify a mob of his supporters trampling a woman? Does it justify police officers being hit beaten with a hockey stick and crutch? Does he think Brian Sicknick working the Capitol that died, after hit in the head with a fire extinguisher?”

Wolf Blitzer allowed Rep Ted Lieu to assert, unchallenged: “This was an insurrection and attempted coup where multiple people died including a law enforcement officer that reportedly was bludgeon [with a] fire extinguisher.”

None of these shows, their staffs, nor their anchors have issued apologies nor corrections for their incorrect assertions, which are especially galling given Officer Sicknick’s family outwardly called for his death to not be politicized.

https://thenationalpulse.com/breaking/cnn-admits-sicknick-story-not-true/

China Threatens Revenge After UK Bans Communist Propaganda Outlet

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has threatened to retaliate against the United Kingdom after Britain’s broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, revoked the network licence for the state-owned propaganda outlet China Global Television Network (CGTN).

Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused the UK on Friday of “political oppression, double standards and hypocrisy” following the Thursday decision from Ofcom.

Mr Wang went on to warn, according to The Telegraph, that the CCP “reserves the right to take action in response,” despite Ofcom operating as an independent body from the government — a foreign concept in the Chinese state, in which all media are under the strict control of the central government.

The Chinese embassy in the UK wrote on social media that “Ofcom’s oppression of CGTN” was political in nature, going on to claim that the move “seriously damages Chinese media’s reputation and interferes with normal people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries,” adding: “China is firmly opposed to it.”

Announcing the ban on CGTN on Thursday, Ofcom said that the network is “ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party” and is therefore in violation of the UK’s broadcasting law.

The decision was questioned by the foreign ministry spokesman, who said: “China is a socialist country led by the Communist Party, and the British side has always clearly known the attributes of the Chinese media from the first day CTN arrived and began broadcasting in the UK 18 years ago.”

In a statement released on Friday, CGTN claimed that the Ofcom investigation came as a result of the broadcast regulator being “manipulated by extreme right-wing organizations and anti-China forces.”

Chinese Communist Propaganda Outlet Faces Ban in Britain over Biased Hong Kong Protest Coverage https://t.co/3jbCc9MHql

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 28, 2020

A former British diplomat in China, Charles Parton, warned that the CCP will take “revenge” by blocking the BBC, writing that the “likelihood is that the BBC’s operation in China will be shuttered.”

The BBC, he said, will bear the brunt of the backlash “not least because of its horrifying report from eye-witnesses of organised rape and torture in the concentration camps in Xinjiang.”

In China, the BBC World Service is one of the few Western media outlets which are permitted by authorities in Beijing to air. However, the service often sees its feed cut during reports critical of the communist regime.

The former British diplomat went on to predict that CGTN will likely shift its main European operations to Brussels, which he noted has already seen its outfit “beefed up, probably in expectation of the Ofcom verdict.”

CGTN is also active — like most CCP outlets — on Western social media, despite access to the services being blocked for citizens in China.

Boris Johnson Should ‘Reconsider’ Huawei Ban Following Trump ‘Defeat’, Threatens Chinese Tech Giant https://t.co/n39DQPl7XK

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 17, 2020

The founder and chairman of the UK-based think tank, Hong Kong Watch, Benedict Rogers hailed the move by Ofcom to block the CCP propaganda outlet, saying that it was “about time”.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/06/ccp-threatens-revenge-after-uk-bans-communist-propaganda-outlet/

New York finally releases data on COVID-19 deaths at each nursing home

New York state finally released fatality data for individual nursing homes, painting a much grimmer picture of the toll taken by the COVID-19 virus.

The state Department of Health quietly updated its chart of nursing-home deaths to include those who died at hospitals as well as in the facilities. The update added more than 4,000 deaths to the state tally as of Thursday.

The Upper East Side Rehabilitation and Nursing Center had 29 deaths at the home, and another 51 in a hospital.

Information for the Bronxcare Special Care Center had previously showed only eight COVID-19 deaths. But there were 20 additional deaths in the hospital, according to the new data.

At the Boropark Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare, an additional 41 people died in the hospital on top of 32 at the home.

And there were 32 residents of the Parker Jewish Institute for Healthcare and Rehabilitation in Queens who died at the hospital in addition to 83 at the home.

see also

COVID-19 deaths in NY nursing homes were 50 percent higher than claimed: probe

The state Department of Health had refused for months to provide the information until it was forced to by a judge Thursday.

Acting Albany Supreme Court Justice Kimberly O’Connor blasted the DOH for claiming it could not produce the data, and ordered the stats released within five days. The Empire Center for Public Policy had sought the information under a Freedom of Information Law request.

State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker finally released the total number of nursing home deaths on Jan. 28, putting the figure at 12,743 with the hospital fatalities, instead of 8,740. The disclosure came after Attorney General Letitia James produced a damning report saying the number of deaths could be as much as 50 percent higher than officials claimed.

The state has been criticized for early directives that mandated ill-equipped and understaffed nursing homes accept COVID-19 patients, knowing the elderly population was most at risk for the virus.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/06/new-york-releases-data-on-covid-deaths-at-each-nursing-home/

https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/diseases/covid-19/fatalities_nursing_home_acf.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1OOmTi01TqC7cUwl45V7EvqJ2DI3qTS_6T_ugFfLzwgndjXllP_fwlldY

‘People don’t go to the pub for lemonade’: Angry Brits protest over alleged Covid plan to ban ALCOHOL from pubs

Reports suggesting that the UK government is contemplating a ban on alcohol when pubs reopen after lockdown in April have provoked fury and disbelief from Brits on Twitter.

On Friday, the Daily Telegraph reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is considering a policy which would only allow pubs to reopen if they don’t sell alcohol – an effort to stop the spread of coronavirus due to drunk people being less likely to follow social distancing rules.

The suggestion promptly caused an uproar among pub-starved Brits, who argued that a pub without alcohol is no longer a pub at all.

🤔 Wouldn’t call it a pub then. 🍻 pic.twitter.com/RXLqWGSaH8

— Líam Rudden 💙🧢 (@LiamRudden) February 6, 2021

Absolutely. A pub isn’t a pub without alcohol. https://t.co/mHbiRtaL5I

— Jim Fitzpatrick (@Fitz_xMP) February 6, 2021

Utterly power-crazed nonsense from this government now. This is way beyond a joke.

— Jeffrey Peel (@JeffreyPeel) February 6, 2021

“Pubs with no alcohol? What is the point. Government control has gone way too far,” protested Brexit icon and avid beer drinker Nigel Farage. Others compared a pub without alcohol to a fish and chip shop without chips, a clothing store without clothes, or a chemist without medicine.

Pubs with no alcohol? What is the point. Government control has gone way too far.

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) February 6, 2021

Its like having a chippy without being able to sell chips

— DazM33 (@dazM33) February 6, 2021

They did it in Wales. It's absolute bonkers. I certainly won't go to a pub if that's the case. It's like saying a clothes store can open as long as they don't sell clothes or a chemist can open but can't sell any medicine.

— Justin Allen (@justinallen1976) February 6, 2021

https://www.rt.com/uk/514817-pubs-reopening-alcohol-ban/

How Robert Maxwell rose from poverty — and corrupted his daughter Ghislaine

Within 72 hours of her birth, Ghislaine Maxwell’s life was twisted by tragedy.

Baby Ghislaine was the ninth child born to Robert Maxwell, the self-made millionaire publisher, and his wife Betty. Though he had left his former name and identity far behind in a blighted corner of Czechoslovakia, Maxwell had been determined to sire a brood of nine children and recreate the family of his birth after Adolf Hitler’s forces slaughtered his siblings, both parents and a grandfather in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

On Christmas Day 1961, Ghislaine’s arrival was the gift that achieved that goal. At age 38, Maxwell was at last the triumphant paterfamilias, the prosperous lord of a grand 53-room mansion in Oxford, England — 1,400 miles and a world away from his own childhood in a two-room, earth-floored shack.

Three days later, the newborn’s eldest brother, 15-year-old Michael, was crushed in a car accident that left him comatose for the next six years. “This was the moment the family started to break apart,” said John Preston, author of “Fall: The Last Days of Robert Maxwell” (HarperCollins), out Feb. 9.

“What had hitherto been a pretty happy family became very fractured. And Ghislaine was completely overshadowed.”

In his book, Preston traces Robert Maxwell’s tumultuous rise and mysterious 1991 death, while uncovering the forces that produced his manipulative, flirtatious youngest daughter.

Consumed by his son’s condition, Maxwell clamped down on his surviving children. “They led this hermetically sealed life,” Preston told The Post, “and they lived in increasing dread of incurring his disapproval, his wrath.”

Michael was installed in a hospital less than a mile from the family home at Headington Hill Hall.

“This terrible dark specter hung over the family, unspoken, for the next six years, until Michael finally died of meningitis,” Preston said.

Use link for more

https://nypost.com/article/how-robert-maxwell-rose-from-poverty-and-corrupted-daughter-ghislaine/

One brother looks like Eli Cohen hmmm

Wife of Sen. Josh Hawley takes criminal action after 'anti-fascist' group targeted family's personal residence

The protest group claims they were holding a 'candle light vigil' outside the Hawley residence

Erin Hawley, the wife of Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), has taken action against the alleged organizer of a protest outside the Hawley's Virginia home last month.

Demonstrators gathered outside Hawley's personal Washington, D.C.-area residence on Jan. 4 to protest the Missouri senator's planned objection to the certification of Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. At the time of the protest, Hawley was in Missouri with his two sons, but his wife and newborn daughter were at the Vienna, Virginia, residence.

In response, Hawley claimed the protesters "threatened" his family — but said he would "not be intimidated by leftwing violence." Hawley claimed the demonstrators were affiliated with Antifa.

"Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can't travel. They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by leftwing violence," Hawley said.

Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughte… https://t.co/kb3HLZ3opk

— Josh Hawley (@Josh Hawley)1609820001.0

What did Erin Hawley do?

Erin Hawley filed a criminal complaint against Patrick Young, the alleged protest organizer who is part of the self-described "anti-fascist" group ShutDownDC. The criminal complaint was filed in Fairfax County, Virginia, where the incident took place.

According to ABC News, a local magistrate found sufficient probable cause to issue Young a summons, charging him with one misdemeanor count of illegally demonstrating.

"[B]ased on a citizen, the magistrate issued a summons for a defendant for a violation of Virginia Code 18.2-419 (picketing or disrupting tranquility of home), a Class 3 misdemeanor," a police spokesperson told ABC News.

Video of the demonstration showed protesters standing just feet from the Hawley residence. According to Erin Hawley, the protesters "were screaming with bullhorns and shouting 'Come out, come out!' I was frightened."

A police officer with the Vienna Police Department later arrived on scene, informing the protesters they needed to disperse because the town prohibits demonstrations outside private residences. The protesters were also allegedly violating noise ordinances. However, the protesters allegedly continued demonstrating for 10 more minutes.

What was the response?

ShutDownDC issued a statement claiming their protest was a "candle light vigil," and accused Hawley of using his power as a U.S. senator to "harass a normal person."

"We are not aware of any summons issued related to our candle light vigil at Senator Hawley's house. Police on the scene did not believe a crime was committed. That was confirmed by the Vienna Police department in media reports days later. If a summons has been issued, it is outrageous that a rich and powerful person — a United States Senator — can go to their magistrate to get a summons to harass a normal person," the statement said, according to the Kansas City Star.

However, Hawley's office said the senator's family has been targeted with numerous threats in recent weeks, which are being investigated by law enforcement.

"Because of the attacks in the media and from the left over the past few weeks, Josh's family has been the subject of numerous threats on their lives that are being monitored by authorities," Hawley's communications director, Kelli Ford, told ABC News.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/erin-hawley-criminal-complaint-protest

Tim Scott: Biden Admin Doesn’t Want to Follow Science on Re-Opening Schools, We Already Approved $82 Billion for Schools

On Friday’s “Fox News Primetime,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) blasted the hypocrisy of those on the left like the Biden administration that say they want to follow science on the coronavirus, but then ignore the science on reopening schools.

Scott said, “I mean, the hypocrisy of the left, they say they want to follow the science. The CDC says, open the schools. The Biden administration says, no, we’ll wait and follow something else.”

He added, “Fact is, in December, we approved $82 billion, billion dollars, to reopen schools. They still won’t do it. I’m stunned, Trey, truly stunned.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/02/06/tim-scott-biden-admin-doesnt-want-to-follow-science-on-re-opening-schools-we-already-approved-82-billion-for-schools/

Biden: ‘Nonstarter’ to Think Businesses Can Be ‘Open and Moving and Thriving Without Dealing with This Pandemic’

During Saturday’s Weekly Address, President Joe Biden stated that “the idea that we think we can keep businesses open and moving and thriving without dealing with this pandemic, it’s just a nonstarter.”

Biden said, “I’ve been saying a long time, the idea that we think we can keep businesses open and moving and thriving without dealing with this pandemic, it’s just a nonstarter. We’re putting together a plan that provides for emergency relief to people who are in desperate need now. Everything from mortgage payments, to unemployment insurance, to rental subsidies, to food security for children. It provides for small and medium-sized businesses to be able to open.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/02/06/biden-nonstarter-to-think-businesses-can-be-open-and-moving-and-thriving-without-dealing-with-this-pandemic/

253 Migrants Apprehended in One Hour Along Texas Border with Mexico

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended two large groups of migrants during a one-hour period earlier this week near Mission, Texas. Agents also apprehended 56 others in a stash house and a failed human smuggling attempt.

Late Thursday night, McAllen Station Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 166 migrants who surrendered to them after illegally crossing the border from Mexico just south of Mission. The group consisted of family unit aliens and unaccompanied alien children, according to information obtained from Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials.

While screening this group of migrants, another group of 87 migrants approached the agents and surrendered. This group also consisted of families and unaccompanied minors, officials stated.

Prior to this, Border Patrol agents in this area had only been finding groups of 50 or less migrants, MyRGVNews reported. Rapid expulsions of the migrants under the Title 42 coronavirus protection protocol put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deterred larger groups from attempting the dangerous and seemingly pointless border crossings. That program, along with other Trump administration programs effectively ended “Catch and Release” and reduces illegally border crossings by up to 85 percent, officials previously told Breitbart Texas.

Changes in policy by the Biden administration that ended the Migrant Protection Protocols and an apparent change in Mexican policies regarding the Title 42 expulsions appear to have exacerbated the situation in the Rio Grande Valley area.

On Wednesday, Border Patrol agents began releasing migrants families into the communities of McAllen and Brownsville, Texas. The migrants are being released into these border towns without being tested for COVID-19, local officials stated.

In response, Texas Governor Greg Abbott authorized state health officials to send 10,000 COVID-19 test kits to the City of McAllen, Breitbart Texas reported.

“(Border Patrol agents) were just dropping them off at the bus station without testing them. Obviously, that’s very alarming to all of us in that they’re coming from Central America and through Mexico and to be released into the United States without being tested for COVID is really unconscionable,” Texas State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen) said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials responded that Border Patrol agents have never been responsible for testing migrants for COVID-19.

A statement from CBP explains:

CBP uses a combination of onsite contract medical personnel and referrals to local health systems to provide medical support for persons in custody who require medical attention. CBP personnel conduct initial inspections for symptoms or risk factors associated with COVID-19 and consult with onsite medical personnel, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or local health systems as appropriate. Onsite medical personnel can provide basic assessment and supportive treatment, but suspected COVID-19 cases are referred to local health systems for appropriate testing, diagnosis, and treatment.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/02/06/253-migrants-apprehended-in-one-hour-along-texas-border-with-mexico/

Nevada Democrats To Introduce Bill That Would ‘Allow Tech Companies To Create Governments’: Report

Democrats in Nevada are reportedly planning to introduce legislation in an effort to attract technology companies to the state that would effectively allow them to form their own separate governments at the local-level.

Democrat Governor Steve Sisolak announced the plan last week and said that the goal was to form “Innovation Zones” in an effort to boost the state’s economy.

“According to a draft of the proposed legislation, obtained by the Review-Journal but not yet introduced in the Legislature, Innovation Zones would allow tech companies like Blockchains, LLC to effectively form separate local governments in Nevada, governments that would carry the same authority as a county, including the ability to impose taxes, form school districts and justice courts and provide government services, to name a few duties,” The Las Vegas Review Journal reported. “Sisolak pitched the concept in his State of the State address as his plan to bring in new companies that are at the forefront of ‘groundbreaking technologies,’ all without the use of tax abatements or other publicly funded incentive packages that had previously helped Nevada bring companies like Tesla to the state.”

Sisolak specifically mentioned Blockchains, LLC during his speech and said that they had committed to developing a so-called “smart city” near Reno that would attempt to run solely on blockchain technology.

“The Governor’s Office of Economic Development would oversee applications for the zones, which would be limited to companies working in specific business areas including blockchain, autonomous technology, the Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence, wireless, biometrics and renewable resource technology,” the Associated Press reported. “Zone requirements would include applicants owning at least 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) of undeveloped, uninhabited land within a single county but separate from any city, town or tax increment area.”Companies would also need to have at least a quarter of a billion of dollars and would need to have plans to invest at least a full billion in their zones over a 10-year period.

A spokesperson for the governor’s office said that he “looks forward to rolling out more information on Innovation Zones and other items from his State of the State speech in the future.”

“The Governor’s Office has not submitted a bill draft request related to this initiative so we will not be commenting on any language at this time,” the statement concluded.

Nevada’s economy has been hit hard due to the coronavirus pandemic because it “relies heavily on tax revenue from tourism and hospitality to underwrite spending, including on health care and education,” the AP reported in December. “Sales tax accounts for almost one-third of general fund revenue and the state also relies heavily on live entertainment and gaming taxes from tourists who frequent concerts and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip.”

Tourism numbers in the state are currently the lowest in nearly 30 years due to restrictions that were put in place to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.

News that Nevada is trying to attract tech companies comes after some tech companies have fled Silicon Valley in California for more business friendly environments in Texas and Florida.

http://www.scoopyweb.com/2021/02/nevada-democrats-to-introduce-bill-that.html

Congress launches investigation into movements of Trump allies the day of the Capitol siege as new video emerges of Roger Stone surrounded by Oath Keeper militia members hours before the riot

Newly surfaced video shows Trump ally Roger Stone being flanked by members of far-right Oath Keepers on the morning of January 6, just hours before members of the group stormed the Capitol.

The video is a part of the evidence being used by House impeachment managers to determine whether there are links between the former president and those who stormed the building in Washington D.C., last month.

'So, hopefully we have this today, right?' a man - who goes by the Black Conservative Preacher on social media - can be heard asking Stone at the Willard InterContinental hotel, just blocks from the White House.

Stone responds: 'We shall see.'

Posing with fans for photos after that moment, Stone takes a photo with the preacher who had the brief exchange with him.

The Black Conservative Preacher would later post several videos of his time at the actual Capitol riots. Members of the Oath Keepers were also seen at the Capitol on January 6.

Stone has claimed that he played 'no role whatsoever in the January 6 events,' adding that he 'never left the site of my hotel until leaving for dulles Airport,' later that afternoon, ABC News reports.

'I had no advance knowledge of the riot at the Capitol,' Stone told the outlet in response to the footage. 'I could not even tell you the names of those who volunteered to provide security for me, required because of the many threats against me and my family.'

http://www.stationgossip.com/2021/02/congress-launches-investigation-into.html

The State Is Destroying Freedom, Life, and History By Censoring and Eliminating Information and Speech

“The state, I call it, where all are poison-drinkers, the good and the bad: the state, where all lose themselves, the good and the bad: the state, where the slow suicide of all — is called “life.” Just see these superfluous ones! They steal the works of the inventors and the treasures of the wise. Culture, they call their theft — and everything becometh sickness and trouble unto them! Just see these superfluous ones! Sick are they always; they vomit their bile and call it a newspaper. They devour one another, and cannot even digest themselves.”

Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”

State censorship has been evident over all time, but what is happening today, especially considering the ease of access and the voluminous amount of information available, is far beyond the scope of understanding for most in this country. The Internet is a wonder, but it is a very sharp double-edged sword. The real power among us understands this concept intimately, while the ‘public’ has little awareness of the potential for the controllers to eliminate history and speech by using the very tool that should allow for an expansion of learning and intellect. The Internet can store and make available all the works of man, both past and present, and all this information is seemingly accessible to anyone with little effort, but is that really the case?

The risk that is missed by most, is that as easy as it is to access information today, that information can be manipulated, hidden, or eliminated just as easily, and that process could be controlled by a central ‘authority’ through any of its fascist partnerships. If much of the underlying information of recorded history; books, journals, letters, and all historical and political records and writings, can be captured, controlled, or even destroyed by nefarious efforts, then that would leave available only what is stored digitally. This would be an abomination, because it would also allow for the loss of much hard knowledge of the past and present by those controlling the Internet and communication systems. For this horror to occur, all books would not have to be destroyed, but if much of the important information were restricted from view by whatever means, or made very difficult to access, then people would know only what the state wanted them to know.

We live in a digitized age where physical classic and modern works, documents, books, and papers are very seldom sought. I find this very troubling, because the general population, especially the young, have been raised and trained in an era of television, cell phones and computers, and many have never read any physical material about history, culture, nature, science, art, or any other of a multitude of subjects. In other words, they are fully dependent on the mainstream media, technology, and the Internet for all the information they get, good or bad. It takes little imagination to realize that this could lead to a planned censorship over generations so as to mold minds in a way suitable to the state. If all information is thought to be available from limited sources that can be manipulated, censored, or fully controlled, what will be available in the future is what those that gain or hold power want to be available. In reality, the future is already here.

https://patriotrising.com/the-state-is-destroying-freedom-life-and-history-by-censoring-and-eliminating-information-and-speech/

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt: The Masters of the Universe Aren’t Censoring Enough Conservatives

CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Jonathan Greenblatt told Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) that a term like “globalists” is “white supremacist” language, and that the Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe have not done enough to stifle free speech on the internet.

“Fighting hate previously was not a Republican issue or Democratic issue, it was a bipartisan issue. That changed in the last four years,” said Greenblatt in response to Clarke’s question about the alleged role that “presidential rhetoric” played in fostering “hate” over the last four years.

“The prior president, indeed — from the rhetoric he used on the campaign in 2015 and 2016 — when he would retweet white supremacists, and he would use their language, terms like ‘globalists,’ and whatnot, and ‘George Soros,'” continued the ADL CEO.

“That created the conditions in which they felt encouraged,” he added,

Greenblatt went on to further disseminate the Charlottesville hoax, which many on the political left have regurgitated over the years, falsely claiming that President Trump referred to neo-Nazis as “very fine people.”

“It was a failure of leadership,” said Greenblatt, “to call them out clearly, consistently, cogently, after Charlottesville, after the debate every time.”

“The extremists felt emboldened, congresswoman, and they leapt into the vacuum that he created, and they recruited, they did more public events, they ran for office, and they really exploited social media,” said the ADL CEO. “So they felt emboldened.”

Greenblatt then claimed that big tech companies have not been doing enough to stifle free expression on the internet, and that they should not feel the need to uphold their users’ First Amendment rights.

“The tech companies have been far too lax and lazy about enforcing their own terms of service,” said Greenblatt. “They do not, as businesses, have to abide by the First Amendment.”

The CEO went on by pushing another popular narrative being used by many on the left in order to justify the silencing and censoring of their political adversaries — the notion that political dissenters’ sheer words equate to “inciting violence.”

“But even then, freedom of expression isn’t the freedom to incite violence,” he said. “And what’s happened in the past 30 days — taking off the worst actors — it should have happened years ago.”

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/02/05/adl-ceo-jonathan-greenblatt-the-masters-of-the-universe-arent-censoring-enough-conservatives/

Tiny Group of Never-Trumpers Is Running an Ad Next Week on FOX News Attacking Trump Supporters

Another group of Never Trumpers are out for blood.

The ‘Republican Accountability Project’, a group of misfit Never Trumpers who also have no interest in the heart of America and the massive base that voted for President Trump, like their Democrat partners in crime, are after Americans who voted for and supported President Trump.

AOL reported:

A conservative group is calling out members of the Republican Party by name for promoting “lies, violence and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories” in a scathing new ad that will air on Fox News during “Hannity” in Washington, D.C. next week.

The spot from the Republican Accountability Project ― part of Defending Democracy Together, a never-Trump conservative group ― praises the members of the party who turned on former President Donald Trump after the violent insurrection carried out by his supporters in the Capitol on Jan. 6.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2021/02/tiny-group-of-never-trumpers-is-running.html

Hunter Biden and wife Melissa upsize into $25k-a-month canal-front home in Venice, California where they are under 24-hour protection by Secret Service agents

Hunter Biden has moved his family to a stylish $5.4million canal-front home in Venice, California.

The president's son moved into the three-story property with wife Melissa and their 10-month-old son Beau toward the end of last year and the family is now under 24-hour Secret Service protection.

It's believed the father of five, who turned 51 on Thursday, is paying $25,000 a month to rent the posh property owned by Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman.

Hunter has some fresh cash to help pay for the pricey rental. On Thursday it was revealed he has written a memoir titled Beautiful Things, that will be published April 6. The advance for the book is said to be as much as $2million.

Before his father took office, Hunter and his family had been keeping a low profile during the pandemic and had been cooped up in their former home, a rented luxury $3.8million three-bed pad perched on the Hollywood Hills.

It's understood Hunter was paying $12,000 a month for the mid-century modern 2,000 sq ft house with stunning views and a swimming pool. But it's likely he and his wife wanted more space to raise their son Beau and sought out something bigger.

The Hollywood Hills house was also located in a secluded community tucked away in a private lower hillside area.

The outgoing pair may have wanted to be closer to the action and the Venice pad, which is just a block from the beach and a short walk to trendy Abbot Kinney Blvd which is bustling with shops and cafes, fits the bill.

However, Hunter's arrival has certainly attracted the attention of residents in the small, quiet community just one block from the beach.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2021/02/hunter-biden-and-wife-melissa-upsize.html

Has the UN simply failed in Syria, or is it complicit in the regime's crimes?

As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Syrian uprising, the conflict rages on with no apparent end in sight. The role of the United Nations, the international organisation created to keep the peace and promote human rights in the world, has clearly been a dismal failure. Whilst no one claims that the Syrian conflict is the death knell for the UN, it is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine how the organisation can move forward from here. A litany of failures by the organisation has resulted in the Syrian people feeling abandoned by the international community. An argument could be made that the UN did not simply fail, but is complicit in the murder of Syrians on a huge scale.

The recent revelation that the World Health Organisation, a body that feeds into the UN, has been using the Rami Makhlouf-owned airline "Cham Wings" to deliver aid to Libya from Dubai is deeply disturbing. Makhlouf is the maternal cousin of Bashar Al-Assad and has been on the EU as well as the Caesar Act sanctions' lists. He exemplifies the corrupt elite who have profited under Assad's two-decade rule and, up until very recently, has had vast influence within the regime. The UN should be held to account for using his company. Furthermore, on the issue of the WHO, its representative in Syria Elizabeth Hoff's appointment of Shukria Mekdad, the wife of the Syrian Foreign Minister, as a WHO mental health consultant for displaced persons was also a major concern. The lack of impartiality and the lack of qualifications on her part together indicate a lack of care towards the Syrian people.

The fact that there has been no concerted effort by the UN to ensure that humanitarian and medical aid reaches opposition held areas has been catastrophic. There have been avoidable deaths in north-west Syria; deaths that need not have happened. With the race to deliver the new Covid-19 vaccines there are genuine fears that these areas will miss out whilst regime-held areas benefit. Withholding healthcare as a weapon of war has been a modus operandi of the Syrian regime, but the UN has done little to stop it.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210206-has-the-un-simply-failed-in-syria-or-is-it-complicit-in-the-regimes-crimes/

Biden to Reverse Terror Designation of Yemen’s Houthis

The administration formally notified Congress of the decision

The Biden administration notified Congress that it will remove Yemen’s Houthis from the US government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, a designation made in the last days of the Trump administration.

“We have formally notified Congress of the Secretary’s intent to revoke these designations,” a State Department official said in a statement. “Our action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, which the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have since made clear would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”

Due to the US-backed Saudi-led war in Yemen that has been raging since 2015, about 80 percent of Yemenis are reliant on aid, and mass starvation has been ongoing in the country for years. The terror designation means anyone who does business with the Houthis could be targeted by US sanctions. It essentially criminalizes the delivery of aid and other goods to Houthi-controlled areas, where most of the population lives.

After the Trump administration announced the designation, the UN predicted that it would cause a massive famine, the likes of which the world hasn’t seen in “40 years.” The Biden administration initially granted a temporary waiver for people to do business with the Houthis, but the UN said that was not enough and still called for the full reversal of the designation.

The reversal comes after President Biden announced that he will end US support for Saudi Arabia’s “offensive” operations in Yemen. While it was framed to leave wiggle room for the US to support the Saudis militarily in other ways, the administration seems serious about ending the conflict. Biden also announced that he appointed Timothy Lenderking as the US special envoy to Yemen. Lenderking is a veteran diplomat who will work to end the fighting between the Saudis and the Houthis.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/02/05/biden-to-reverse-terror-designation-of-yemens-houthis/

Netanyahu: An ICC investigation of Israel would be ‘pure anti-Semitism’

After court says it has jurisdiction for war crimes probe, PM fumes: ‘Court set up to prevent atrocities like Nazi Holocaust against the Jews now targets the one state of the Jews’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday assailed the International Criminal Court for ruling it has jurisdiction to open a war crimes investigation against Israel, calling such a probe “pure anti-Semitism” and vowing to fight it.

“When the ICC investigates Israel for fake war crimes, this is pure anti-Semitism,” Netanyahu said in a forceful English-language video sent out by his office.

In a major decision Friday, a pretrial chamber of the ICC determined that The Hague has jurisdiction to open a criminal investigation against Israel and the Palestinians for war crimes alleged to have taken place in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

It now falls to the ICC’s chief prosecutor Fatouh Bensouda to decide whether to launch an investigation, and she indicated in 2019 that she intends to do so.

Netanyahu lamented that “the court established to prevent atrocities like the Nazi Holocaust against the Jewish people is now targeting the one state of the Jewish people.”

Exterior view of the headquarters of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, January 12, 2016 (AP Photo/Mike Corder)

He further asserted that the ICC is “outrageously” claiming “that when Jews live in our homeland, this is a war crime” — a reference to the court potentially probing Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank.

And, he added, “it claims that when democratic Israel defends itself against terrorists who murder our children, rocket our cities, we’re committing another war crime.”

At the same time, the prime minister complained that the ICC “refuses to investigate brutal dictatorships like Iran and Syria who commit horrific atrocities almost daily.”

The Israeli leader vowed to “fight this perversion of justice with all our might!”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-an-icc-investigation-of-israel-would-be-pure-anti-semitism/

FSB exposes terrorist cell in Russia’s Dagestan region

According to the FSB, the cell members planned to carry out a series of terror-related crimes, attacking law enforcement officers and civilians

MAKHACHKALA, February 6. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has exposed a two-member terrorist cell in the Dagestan region, the FSB said in a statement on Saturday.

"On February 5, FSB officers in the Republic of Dagestan carried out an operation together with the regional Interior Ministry, exposing an underground terrorist cell consisting of two members. The two were detained, an improvised explosive device, firearms and ammunition were seized from them," the statement reads.

According to the FSB, the cell members planned to carry out a series of terror-related crimes, attacking law enforcement officers and civilians. Preparations are underway to open a criminal investigation.

https://tass.com/emergencies/1253387

Omar Kept Husband’s Consulting Firm Afloat

Campaign payments to her husband's firm

accounted for nearly 80 percent of its 2020 cash haul

Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D., Minn.) campaign payments to her husband's firm accounted for nearly 80 percent of its cash haul during the 2020 elections, federal filings show.

The E Street Group, a D.C. consulting firm owned by Tim Mynett, Omar's husband, and his partner Will Hailer, received $3.7 million from political committees this past cycle. Omar's campaign was by far its biggest moneymaker, doling out 146 checks for $2.9 million, or 78 percent of the firm's payments. Its second biggest cash source was Omar mentor Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), whose campaign provided $194,000. The two combined for 85 percent of the firm's payments.

Omar's payments to E Street constituted a large part of her campaign expenditures. Her committee spent $5.2 million, meaning that the $2.9 million that she funneled to her husband's firm was 56 percent of the campaign's operational costs. The money went toward advertisements, mail, consulting, and travel.

Omar faced heat over the payments but brushed them off as typical campaign work. Last July, she defended herself following a Washington Free Beacon report detailing $600,000 in payments over a three-week span. "I don't pay my husband, I pay the firm to do work, and that 600 really is an example of that work," Omar said when questioned during a debate. "And so what we do is that we have this firm really carry out the contractual work that we do with other vendors."

Omar doubled down in September, telling the New York Times that getting rid of her husband's firm would be a "stupid thing to do."

"You don't stop using the service of people who are doing good work because somebody thinks it means something else," she said. "Why would I not work with people who understand my district, who have been working there for 10 years, who understand what it means to raise resources for a candidate like myself and manage and target our communications to our district to battle the misinformation and narratives that the media and our adversaries continue to put out?"

Two months later, however, Omar sent an abrupt email to supporters announcing that she would cut ties with the firm. "So we've decided to terminate our contract with Tim and Will's firm," the email said. "While many of our close supporters know these two well and have recommended we keep them on — I want to make sure that anybody who is supporting our campaign with their time or financial support feels there is no perceived issue with that support."

Omar's final payment was made in early November.

Despite raking in millions from Omar's campaign, Mynett's firm also received more than a half a million dollars in bailout cash last year intended to help small businesses cope with the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Omar's campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the payments.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/omar-kept-husbands-consulting-firm-afloat/

>>12842349

ICC approves investigation into Israel, citing war crimes

US voices 'serious concerns' • ICC recognizes Palestinian Authority as under its jurisdiction

The International Criminal Court at the Hague approved an investigation into Israel on Friday evening, citing war crimes.

The court recognized the Palestinian Authority as a member of the ICC Rome Statute, which dictates the locations that stand under the court's jurisdiction. It recognized the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza as falling into the category.

According to the court, it may apply the Rome Statute to alleged war crimes committed by Israel.

The Rome Statute is the treaty established by the ICC which dictates its functions, jurisdiction and structure.

"Today, the International Criminal Court has proven once more that it is a political body and not a judicial institution," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday in response to the decision.

"This is refined antisemitism," Netanyahu later said. "This court was created to prevent horrors like the Nazi Holocaust against the Jewish nation, and now it is attacking the only country of the Jewish nation."

He added that the court "casts these delusional accusations against the only democracy in the Middle East" while refusing to "investigate the real war crimes committed by brutal dictatorships like Iran and Syria on a daily basis."

The United States has "serious concerns" about the effort to assert jurisdiction in the region, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Friday after the announcement.

"We are aware of it and we are reviewing it," Price said of the ruling.

Later, a State Department spokesman said that the US objects to the ICC decision.

The decision is a win for "the victims of the Israeli crimes," according to Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. He called on the court to go forth with its investigation.

The permission for the criminal investigation was given to Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, whose term ends in June. She had conducted a preliminary investigation into the alleged war crimes. It states that the investigation can look into actions taken in Judea and Samaria, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

Bensouda said her office was studying the decision and would decide what to do next "guided strictly by its independent and impartial mandate" to prosecute grave war crimes and atrocities when countries are unable or unwilling to do so themselves.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank may be illegal, and Israel may have violated the laws of war during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and the 2018 Gaza border riots, Bensouda said as a preliminary matter, which led to her request to fully criminally investigate the issues. She also sought to fully criminally investigate Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups of targeting Israeli civilians and using Palestinians as human shields.

It could still be years before any criminal investigation leads to an actual indictment.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/icc-approves-investigation-into-israel-657993

Who Controls American Imperialism?

America does most of the entire world’s invasions and coups and sanctions. This has been the case ever since 1945, Eric Zuesse writes.

U.S. imperialism is a fact, which the U.S. Government always denies. However, U.S. President Barack Obama implicitly ‘justified’ it when he told graduating students at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, on 28 May, 2014, “The United States is and remains the one indispensable nation.” That means: every other nation is “dispensable”; only the U.S. is not. He then went into a tirade against Russia and China, and even added: “From Brazil to India, rising middle classes compete with us, and governments seek a greater say in global forums… It will be your generation’s task to respond to this new world.” He was telling these West Point cadets (ever so tactfully) that they would be waging war for the benefit of America’s international corporations, and against “rising middle classes [which] compete with us, and governments [which] seek a greater say in global forums” — and that these graduating cadets would be serving in the U.S. military forces in order to crush such “competitors,” if and when America’s diplomatic corps and CIA are turning out to be insufficient to do the job. U.S. military muscle, he was telling them, is against “rising middle classes [which] compete with us, and governments [which] seek a greater say in global forums” — to block such “rise,” and to prevent those other nations from having “a greater say in global forums.” How much more clearly — though only by way of logical inference from what he was explicitly asserting — could he have admitted that America’s military is for global conquest, against all other nations (the world’s “dispensable” nations), and is NOT for national defense? And how much more hostile could he possibly have been to “rising middle classes” abroad, than to say they “compete with us,” and to tell — to America’s future generals, no less — that it will be their “task to respond,” to them, and to that?

America does most of the entire world’s invasions and coups and sanctions. This has been the case ever since 1945. These invasions, coups, and sanctions, aren’t being done in order to conquer a country that attacked America, but are instead being done purely for conquest — 100% aggressive — though “national defense” is always the main excuse that the U.S. Government gives. Only a single quasi-exception to the falsehood of the “national defense” excuse (i.e., the only instance of that excuse having been partly true) has existed, and it was America’s 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, which country likewise had not invaded America, but Al Qaeda had located its headquarters there and so America conquered Afghanistan’s Government, using the 9/11 attacks as its ‘justification’, and this invasion made things even worse for almost everybody (as usually happens from America’s invasions, coups, and sanctions). U.S. imperialism — like that of other countries — doesn’t benefit anyone except the aristocracy (the super-rich) of the invading, coup-promoting, and/or sanctioning, power. The U.S. Government chose to invade Afghanistan instead of to do a Special-Operations take-out of Al Qaeda’s leadership — the alternative option (targeted specifically and only against Al Qaeda’s leadership). The Special-Operations alternative was extremely difficult to achieve, when it was finally done (by Obama), because it wasn’t even started until years after America had already invaded Afghanistan. (Furthermore, the U.S. Government blamed no Government for the 9/11 attacks — not even Afghanistan’s — except Iran, which certainly didn’t participate in either carrying it out or funding it, or planning it; so, that was yet an additional lie by the U.S. Government. The U.S. had grabbed Iran via a coup in 1953 and then lost Iran in 1979 and aims to get it back, so blames Iran mercilessly. America’s entire response to 9/11 was simply loaded with lies.)

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/02/06/who-controls-american-imperialism/

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>>12842462

Vanguard Group owns 41.8 million shares of Boeing, representing 7.4% of total shares outstanding, according to the company’s 13F filing for the period ending March 31, 2020.10 The company is primarily a mutual fund and ETF management company with about $6.2 trillion in global assets under management (AUM).11 The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) is one of the company’s largest exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with about $151 billion in AUM. Boeing comprises 0.31% of VOO’s holdings.12

BlackRock Inc.

BlackRock owns 33.3 million shares of Boeing, representing 5.9% of total shares outstanding, according to the company’s 13F filing for the period ending March 31, 2020.10 The company is primarily a mutual fund and ETF management company with approximately $6.47 trillion in AUM.13 The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) is among one of BlackRock’s largest ETFs with approximately $198 billion in AUM. Boeing comprises 0.36% of IVV’s holdings.14

Newport Trust Co.

Newport Trust owns 32.7 million shares of Boeing, representing 5.8% of total shares outstanding, according to the company’s 13F filing for the period ending March 31, 2020.10 Newport Trust, owned by Newport Group Inc., is a private company that provides trustee and independent fiduciary services to leading U.S. companies and institutions, including 25% of the corporations in the Fortune 500.15 16 The total value of the company’s portfolio is $24.3 billion. Boeing is among Newport Trust’s top 10 holdings, comprising about 20% of the portfolio’s total value [$4.8 billion], as of March 31, 2020.17

Here are the “Top 10 Owners of Raytheon Technologies Corp”, as reported by CNN Money, on 20 January 2021:

Stockholder Stake Shares

owned Total value ($) Shares

SSgA Funds Management, Inc. [State Street] 8.13% 123,514,657

The Vanguard Group, Inc. 8.09% 122,794,043

BlackRock Fund Advisors 4.64% 70,492,612

Wellington Management Co. LLP 2.87% 43,629,052

Capital Research & Management Co. 2.66% 40,390,876

Dodge & Cox 2.00% 30,322,795

Capital Research & Management Co. 1.93% 29,296,294

Geode Capital Management LLC 1.48% 22,419,532

ClearBridge Investments LLC 1.41% 21,351,034

Franklin Advisers, Inc. 1.28% 19,441,659

Investopedia also lists the top individual (direct) investors, but those each are top executives of the given firm, and are “less than 0.01% of all outstanding company shares” for Lockheed, and also for Boeing. So, institutional investors control America’s producers of war-weapons.

So: the individuals who are making the investment decisions that determine which U.S. war-weapons makers will be selling stock at what prices are investment-fund managers, mainly at Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street, but also including Wellington Management, Newport Trust, and other such firms. Each of those funds manages hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars, and the identity of their beneficiary top individual investors is not public information; so, these persons, who control American imperialism, are actually anonymous — hidden from the public (as if this were simply a matter of their personal privacy, instead of their participation in ruling over the global empire). Whether those individuals also own controlling interests in mainstream news-media and/or in think tanks or in funding university professorships, or members of Congress, or any U.S. President, or any cabinet member, is likewise unknown — hidden from the public, in this ‘democracy’.

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Minimum wage? Self-service pays $0 per hour…with absolutely no benefits

As Parker Beauregard proved once again yesterday, when preening politicians force businesses, in this case grocery store workers in Long Beach, Calif., to pay their workers higher wages — for the workers' own good, of course — the workers lose.

Indeed, just about everyone loses. Except the politicians.

In this case, the grocery store workers lost their jobs. The residents in the neighborhoods where these grocery stores were located lost the convenience of having reliable, well stocked grocery stores serving a wide variety of fresh food close by. The city lost the tax revenue the stores generated. The residents of the city will lose money or services because the city will have to charge higher taxes or reduce services to compensate for lost tax revenue. The remaining stores will increase prices to cover their increased labor costs.

Indeed, so the only winners will be the politicians, who will pat themselves on the back as they compliment themselves for their own wonderfulness.

Something similar is occurring in my city, hundreds of miles from Long Beach, Calif. When the minimum wage increased, a local grocery chain, Target, Home Depot, and a number of other stores reduced the number of full-service checkout lanes and 10 items or fewer checkout lanes while greatly expanding the self-checkout lanes. Boom! Many of the cashiers lost their jobs! The baggers, many of whom were (warning: P.C. speak ahead) developmentally delayed and were placed in these jobs through a coordinated effort with the company, neighboring schools, and social workers, lost their jobs. Instead, now, with multiple closed-circuit cameras overhead, one worker, enjoying newly increased pay, supervises the multiple terminals, watching as shoppers scan, bag, and pay for their items, helping out when necessary.

The situation is similar in nearby fast food restaurants. Yes, those fast food restaurants, so often scorned by the elite, once provided an introduction to the world of work for low-skilled people, students, and new immigrants. But that was then, and this is now. And now these opportunities for those who so desperately need them are diminished as higher labor costs give owners no choice but to replace order-takers with touchscreens and introduce self-pick-up instead of servers.

Touchscreens pay for themselves within a few weeks. And they don't call in sick.

And the newly jobless quickly discover that $0 per hour doesn't buy much.

But the politicians and labor leaders keep their inflated salaries — well above the minimum wage — so they don't care.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/02/minimum_wage_selfservice_pays_0_per_hourwith_absolutely_no_benefits.html

Serbian Police Arrest 17 Suspected Members of a Mafia Group

With the help of Serbia’s Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA), police in Belgrade arrested 17 people suspected of being members of an organized group that committed serious crimes, including kidnappings and murders, Serbian authorities said Thursday.

Veljko Belivuk KRIKVeljko Belivuk, aka Velja Nevolja, suspected leader of a criminal group involved in serious crimes. (Photo: KRIK)Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin told reporters in Belgrade that the group has also allegedly been involved in extortion and drug dealing and that it hid under the guise of a soccer fan club.

“Serbia is a serious country and we will not allow some new ‘Zemun clan’ to be formed,” Vulin said, referring to a notorious criminal group that was part of the Serbian mafia. “We will not tolerate organized crime groups that believe they are stronger than the state, to kill, deal drugs, racketeer and extort,” Vulin said.

The acting head of the anti-organized crime unit of the Serbian police, Ninoslav Crnolić, stressed that the arrested group is “responsible for a series of the most monstrous crimes in the last couple of decades.”

Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, commended the joint police and intelligence operation, stressing that it dealt “a big blow to the mafia and a big blow to organized crime.”

The gang was allegedly led by Veljko Belivuk who has been also known as the leader of the so-called “Principi” - a fan club of the Belgrade football club Partizan, and as a member of one of Montenegro’s notorious criminal clans - Kavač. His right-hand man, Marko Miljković, has also been arrested.

Belivuk and Miljković were shortly detained last Friday at the Belgrade airport. A dozen of armed and masked police officers detained the two shortly and released them after questioning, according to OCCRP Serbian partner KRIK.

Only a day earlier, Montenegrin police and the country’s Organized Crime Prosecutor said that they have prevented an attack one Montenegrin criminal group was planning against members of another. Officials said that a murder was to take place at the airport in the coastal town of Tivat.

The magazine Blic, identified the targets as Belivuk and Miljković who were supposed to be assassinated by the Škaljari clan.

The Kavač and the Škaljari clans both hail from Kotor, on Montenegro’s picturesque Adriatic coast. They were once part of the same gang smuggling drugs from South America into Europe, but split in 2014 after a cocaine deal in Spain went bad, creating a violent rift that has deepened ever since — and pulled in other Serbian and Montenegrin crime groups.

The clash between the two clans so far took 171 victims, according to the Black Book (Crna knjiga), an investigation project by KRIK and Radio Free Europe.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13804-serbian-police-arrest-17-suspected-members-of-a-mafia-group