‘I Know Survivors Who Are 70’ – Rotherham MP Reveals Huge Scope of Rape Gang Abuse

The Member of Parliament for Rotherham has revealed that she knows survivors of mostly-Muslim rape gangs who are now 70-years-old, suggesting the scope of the abuse is far vaster than many suspected.

Sarah Champion MP was sacked from the opposition Labour’s front bench by former leader Jeremy Corbyn after writing that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls” in 2017. Much like police officers and council workers in the city, who like the authorities in other areas had long failed to tackle the issue due to fears they would be branded racist for intervening, the left-wing party found the issue too sensitive to confront head-on.

Champion was not brought back into the party leadership by Corbyn’s supposedly moderate successor, Sir Keir Starmer — who instead made Naz Shah, who once shared a tweet saying “abused girls in Rotherham and elsewhere just need to shut their mouths. For the good of diversity”, his Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion” — but has continued to speak out on rape gangs, despite requiring enhanced police security as a result.

“I fail to understand why this topic is so emotive, when there is a clear picture of gangs with a similar profile being involved in sexual abuse and exploitation,” she wrote in the Yorkshire Post recently, against the backdrop of another victim having recently come forward to say West Midlands Police have charged none of the 18 men she named after around eight years, and lost dozens of hours of her interview tapes.

Sarah Champion MP Under Threat After Calling Out Pakistani Grooming Gangs, But Vows ‘I’m Not Done’ https://t.co/jfAFcqIC0u

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 13, 2018

“We are very fortunate in Rotherham, because the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood is looking at cases of CSE [Child Sexual Exploitation] by grooming gangs between 1997 and 2013, a 16-year period,” said Champion, referring to one of several belated initiatives to try and bring some rape gang members previously overlooked by the authorities to justice.

“It has already identified 1,569 survivors and 261 designated suspects.

“To date we have had 20 convictions in court, and four awaiting trial.

“That is in 16 years. I know survivors who are 70 years old,” she said, strongly implying that such gang-based child abuse had been going on for decades longer than generally supposed.

“Think about the scale and length of time of this abuse.”

Indeed, while some infamous rape gang members such as Shahzad ‘Keith’ Khan preyed on women in a Telford residence known as ‘The Rape House’ from 1981 — without ever being punished for it — Champion’s revelations about victims who are now as old as 70 pushes the timeline of the abuse back almost to the beginning of the mass migration era in Britain.

Sarah Champion MP Under Threat After Calling Out Pakistani Grooming Gangs, But Vows ‘I’m Not Done’ https://t.co/jfAFcqIC0u

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 13, 2018

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/11/i-know-survivors-who-are-70-rotherham-mp-reveals-huge-scope-rape-gang-abuse/

Biden Admin Paying Facebook Board Back By Ensuring They Have Influence In Administration

A law professor who’s been working on Facebook’s oversight board has resigned to receive a job in President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.

Stanford’s Pamela Karlan will serve as principal deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s Civil Division after working less than a year on the Facebook council set up in 2019 to review the social media behemoth’s content censuring decisions.

“Working with my colleagues on the Oversight Board to build a fairer and more effective approach to content moderation has been an honor. The Board has a critical role to play in holding Facebook to account, and I will continue to watch their work with great admiration,” she said in the board’s release.

The council, funded by Facebook but technically a separate organization, started accepting cases for review in October and has received over 180,000 appeals, settling less than a dozen. It’s currently reviewing Facebook’s ban on former President Donald Trump’s account.

“Pam Karlan’s legal and civil rights expertise played an important part in shaping the Board and we’re grateful for her contributions. The Trustees and Board members congratulate Pam on her new role and wish her the very best,” said board spokesperson John Taylor in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times.

She took leave from the team in the fall to assist Biden’s transition and wasn’t included in any of the adjudications the Facebook board carried, Taylor told Politico.

Karlan was listed as a volunteer on Biden’s DOJ agency review team.

In 2019, she testified at Trump’s first impeachment trial, making a joke at the expense of his son, which she later regretted. During one public appearance, she quipped that she “had to cross the street” to avoid sharing the street side with Trump’s Washington hotel.

In 2013-2014, she served as deputy assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the Civil Rights Division.

In 2009, The New York Times presented her as the favorite potential Supreme Court pick of “the left.”

Karlan’s journey matches a path of revolving doors between Facebook and Democrat administrations.

Last month, Facebook hired Roy Austin, an Obama administration veteran and member of Biden’s transition team, as the company’s vice president of civil rights and deputy general counsel.

https://www.blabber.buzz/blab/pop/1024416-biden-admin-paying-facebook-board-back-by-ensuring-they-have-influence-in-administration?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=7qADBZLM3hpVkmwJlCp5QQsI-3Jd30ksnl90Gnuy2xio.A

Bosnian Police Arrest Suspected Montenegrin Mafia Members

Police in Bosnia detained three men believed to be members of one of Montenegro’s two criminal clans known for drug smuggling and for their years-long bloody rivalry that has so far taken more than 170 lives on both sides.

Arrests JahorinaMembers of the Montenegrin Škaljari mafia clan arrested in Bosnia. (Photo: MUP RS)Police said in a statement on Thursday that the three were suspected of “illegal production and trafficking of drugs and illicit production and trafficking of weapons or explosives,” and that they were arrested Wednesday evening near the ski resort Jahorina, some 30 kilometers east of Sarajevo.

Authorities only released the initials of the suspects and said they were Montenegrin nationals from the city of Cetinje, but local media identified them as Milan Kršić, one of the leaders of the Škaljari clan and two clan members, Filip Roganović and Boban Sjekloća.

Sarajevo daily newspaper Dnevni Avaz cited police sources claiming that the three were planning to kill the leader of the rival Kavač clan, Radoje Zvicer and his wife Tamara.

Tamara Zvicer, her three children and several friends were at Jahorina waiting for Radoje to join them for a vacation when Serbian intelligence allegedly informed Bosnian authorities of the arrival of the three Škaljari clan members and their assasination plans.

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.

In May, 2020, four internationally wanted contract killers, believed to be hired by the Škaljari, tried to assassinate Zvicer in Ukraine, where he is based. He was badly injured in the attack but not killed, probably thanks to his wife who shot back at the attackers and forced them to flee - a moment local security cameras recorded.

Both clans seem to be under increased scrutiny lately. Only last week, Serbia arrested 17 people suspected of being linked to Zvicer’s Kavač clan, accusing them of serious crimes, including kidnappings and murders. It is not clear whether that operation is in any way linked to the one in Bosnia.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13847-bosnian-police-arrest-suspected-montenegrin-mafia-members

Experts Claim ‘Falling Ill’ Or ‘Death’ After Receiving COVID Vaccine ‘Predictable’ And ‘Actually A Good Thing’

A major U.K. news site — The Express — published a story to reassure readers that getting ill and dying after receiving the COVID vaccine is ‘actually a good’ — but after public outcry, subsequent editions of the story removed any mention of ‘death’ as a beneficial side effect :

Many people are concerned with growing reports of people falling ill and even death after a vaccine. Experts claim this is a predictable outcome and can actually be a good thing. What exactly happens to the body when vaccinated and why is being ill after good?

For a fraction of people, getting these first COVID-19 vaccines could be unpleasant—more than the usual unpleasantness of getting a shot. They might make you feel sick for a day or two, even though they contain no whole viruses to actually infect you. Both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are quite “reactogenic”—meaning they stimulate a strong immune response that can cause temporary but uncomfortable sore arms, fevers, chills, and headaches.

Immunologists are well aware that the immune system uses a complex set of sensors to understand not only whether or not something is foreign, but also what kind of threat, if any, a microbe might pose to the system.

It can tell the difference between viruses and parasites, like tapeworms, and activate specialised arms of your immune system to deal with those specific threats accordingly.

It can even monitor the level of tissue damage caused by an invader and ramp up the immune systems response to match.

Vaccines work by introducing a safe version of a pathogen to a patient’s immune system.

When vaccinated, a person’s immune system needs to sense danger before responding.

The requirement for danger means that one’s immune system is programmed not to respond unless a clear threat is identified.

Vaccines work by tricking the body into thinking it has been infected with symptoms occurring being an indication it has successfully done so.

The fever, fatigue, and other signs associated with a COVID-19 infection are typically caused by the immune responses, not the virus itself.

Side effects and symptoms caused by the vaccine include redness and swelling at the injection site, stiffness and soreness in the muscle, tenderness and swelling of the local lymph nodes and, if the vaccine is potent enough, even fever.

https://christiansfortruth.com/experts-claim-falling-ill-or-even-death-after-receiving-covid-vaccine-is-predictable-and-actually-a-good-thing/

YouTube shuts down LifeSite’s channel, every video completely gone

LifeSite has all its videos backed up. Our over 300,000 followers can read here where to find alternative platforms to access our truth-telling content.

February 10, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — YouTube just completely removed the LifeSiteNews YouTube channel. This isn’t a temporary ban; every single one of our videos is completely gone.

Thankfully, we have backups of all our videos, but this means hundreds of thousands of people have lost access to our truth-telling content.

You can watch our current videos on Rumble here: https://rumble.com/user/LifeSiteNews

Or on our LifeSiteNews Catholic Rumble channel, here: https://rumble.com/user/LifeSiteNewsCatholic

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-youtube-shuts-down-lifesites-channel-every-video-completely-gone

Georgia election board launches investigation into Raphael Warnock over voter registration misconduct

Georgia's state election board has voted to move forward with an investigation into newly elected Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock (Ga.) over potential voter registration misconduct, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

What are the details?

Warnock, who defeated Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler on Jan. 5 in the state's runoff election, is listed as a respondent in the case because of his past role as board chairman of the New Georgia Project, a third-party voter registration group founded by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

According to an investigator with the secretary of state's office, the organization is accused of failing to meet deadlines by hand-delivering 1,268 voter registration applications to the Gwinnett County elections office after the mandatory 10-day period had elapsed. State election rules require completed applications to be submitted by voter registration organizations within 10 days after they are received from the voter.

Warnock was serving as board chairman in 2019 when the misconduct reportedly took place. Neither he nor the New Georgia Project responded to AJC's requests for comment.

On Wednesday, the election board voted 3-0 to continue on with the probe after the board's only Democratic member recused himself and Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who is the board's chairman and normally doesn't vote unless to break a tie, abstained.

What else?

It's the latest point of contention between the organization and the state's Republican officials. Raffensperger, though dismissive of former President Trump's claims of widespread fraud during the 2020 presidential election, launched investigations into several third-party voter registrations groups, including the New Georgia Project, over the last few months.

In December, Raffensperger announced that his office was investigating the groups for "repeatedly and aggressively" seeking to register "ineligible, out-of-state, or deceased voters" ahead of the runoff election.

Raffensperger claimed that despite repeated warnings, his office had "received specific evidence that these groups have solicited voter registrations from ineligible individuals who have passed away or live out of state" — including three mailers that arrived on the secretary of state's own doorstep urging his deceased son to register to vote.

Anything else?

In a statement to Forbes, New Georgia Project CEO Nse Ufot said, "Today's State Election Board meeting was the first time we heard about the allegations regarding NGP's important voter registration work from 2019. We have not received any information on this matter from the Secretary or any other Georgia official."

Warnock resigned from his post on the New Georgia Project's board on Jan. 28, 2020. Since Loeffler was an appointed senator, Warnock's victory was in a special election. His term ends in 2022.

The announcement for the investigation comes only days after Fulton County prosecutors launched an investigation of their own into Trump's January phone call with Raffensperger.

http://www.tathasta.com/2021/02/georgia-election-board-launches.html

Someone Tell President Trump’s Attorneys – The Democrats’ Footage Showing Violence at the Capitol on January 6th Was Filmed by Antifa

Someone, please tell President Trump’s attorneys that the main evidence used by the Democrats to prove violence at the Capitol on January 6th comes from Antifa.

On Tuesday the Democrats in the House pled their case that President Trump should be impeached because he was behind the violence at the Capitol on January 6th. In their opening remarks they shared this shocking video of the actions that day in the Capitol:

Of course, the Democrats removed the President’s remarks where he told his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard.”

But what the Democrats also neglected to point out is that the video that they used comes from Antifa. The Democrats want to blame the entire mess inside the Capitol on President Trump and his followers but the facts show the violence was led by the Democrat connected violent group known as Antifa.

Throughout the Democrats’ video from their opening statement they use video footage from Jayden X. This video was filmed by a man named John Sullivan who is a member of Antifa.

Sullivan organized an Antifa event at the Capitol that very day. Then embed himself in with these violent hoodlums in the Capital and filmed their destruction:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/please-tell-president-trumps-attorneys-democrats-main-footage-showing-violence-capitol-january-6th-filmed-antifa/

NATO Chief Tells Ukraine "Door Remains Open" For Membership As Russia Fumes

During a Tuesday press conference the head of NATO, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, issued some hugely provocative words aimed at Russia while standing beside Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a joint press conference in Brussels. It comes after Joe Biden has vowed a tougher response to alleged Russian 'interference' in the West's affairs.

Asked specifically to respond claims that Russia is expanding military exercises and deployments abroad in order to "distract" from the Alexei Navalny saga and protests at home, Stoltenberg said, "What I will say is we have seen a significant Russian military buildup over the last years."

"We have seen a significant Russian buildup in the Black Sea, not least with the illegal annexation of Crimea, and also with more naval presence in the year," he added. Citing past years' conflicts and 'Russian aggression' in Ukraine and Georgie, Stoltenberg continued, "This is a military buildup very closely monitored and followed at NATO. It has triggered the largest and strongest reinforcement of NATO's collective defenses since the end of the Cold War."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nato-chief-tells-ukraine-door-remains-open-membership-russia-fumes

Biden administration sitting on $1 trillion in unspent COVID-19 relief funds

Before the Biden administration takes another $1.9 trillion out of the nation’s wallet for COVID-19 relief, fiscal hawks are urging the White House to first spent about $1 trillion in unspent previously approved virus money.

According to a Republican Study Committee tally, $4 trillion has already been appropriated for relief, and Biden’s plan would grow that 50%, an amount even GOP supporters of a big coronavirus package call too rich.

The government is sitting on about $1 trillion in unspent money. House leaders have asked the administration to identify that funding, but so far, the White House has refused.

“Unfortunately, the only ones who have those details are in the Biden administration, but they’re being tight-lipped,” said a GOP source.

That lack of transparency is just one of several issues dogging the new president and his team as they slowly get a vaccine out and try to deliver economic help to the ailing public.

What’s been delivered so far is an impressive list that has kept many afloat. The list from the RSC, chaired by Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, is based on an analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and includes:

Direct aid to households: $1.29 trillion

— Unemployment insurance: $586 billion — Stimulus checks: $458 billion

— Rental assistance: $25 billion

— Testing and hospital visits: $13.6 billion

Small business loans: $1.27 trillion

— PPP funds: $828 billion — 5.2 million businesses received loans

State and local governments: $578 billion

— Law enforcement assistance: $848 million — Firefighters grants: $100 million

— Healthcare: $178 billion in grants to health providers

— Funding for pharmaceutical companies: $33.3 billion

Vaccine rollout: $8.75 billion

Education: $112.7 billion

— K-12: $68 billion — Higher education: $36.6 billion

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/biden-administration-sitting-on-1-trillion-in-unspent-covid-19-relief-funds

Biden Holds First Phone Call With Xi, Both Sides Offer Vastly Different Accounts Of What Was Said

Nearly a month after his inauguration and more than three months since the presidential election, Joe Biden held his first call with Xi Jinping since entering the White House, just days after his secretary of state warned Beijing that Washington would hold China accountable for its “abuses”.

In a Wednesday night tweet, Biden said that he spoke today with President Xi "to offer good wishes to the Chinese people for Lunar New Year." He also shared concerns "about Beijing’s economic practices, human rights abuses, and coercion of Taiwan" and told him that Biden "will work with China when it benefits the American people."

The White house also chimed in saying that "President Biden underscored his fundamental concerns about Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices, crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and increasingly assertive actions in the region, including toward Taiwan. President Biden committed to pursuing practical, results-oriented engagements when it advances the interests of the American people and those of our allies."

"The two leaders also exchanged views on countering the COVID-19 pandemic, and the shared challenges of global health security, climate change, and preventing weapons proliferation. President Biden committed to pursuing practical, results-oriented engagements when it advances the interests of the American people and those of our allies" the White House said.

The call, however, had vastly different content when retold from China's side.

According to an account of the conversation reported by Chinese state television, Xi said that "cooperation was the only choice and that the two countries need to properly manage disputes in a constructive manner." Xi also told Biden that "confrontation between China and the United States would be a disaster and the two sides should re-establish the means to avoid misjudgments."

Xi also said Beijing and Washington should re-establish various mechanisms for dialogue in order to understand each others’ intentions and avoid misunderstandings, the report said.

Finally, and most bizarrely, Xi told Biden that he hopes the United States will cautiously handle matters related to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang that deal with matters of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Quite the opposite of what Biden reportedly told Xi…

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/biden-holds-first-phone-call-xi-both-sides-offer-vastly-different-accounts-what-was-said

Border Crisis: Forget The Increased Migrants, What Has Been Coming Across Is Truly Scary

A sentenced sex offender was among those detained by border patrol agents at a Texas border checkpoint during two human smuggling endeavors in commercial vehicles that were blocked within a day of each other, the U.S Border Patrol announced.

The first disturbance took place in the early evening of Feb. 5, when agents with the Laredo Sector Border Patrol stopped a tractor-trailer at the Interstate 35 checkpoint, north of Laredo, Texas. While border agents were examining the immigration status of the driver, a dog working with the agents alerted them to the trailer. People who were found in the trailer seemed to be illegal aliens from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Honduras.

The following evening, border agents discovered more illegal immigrants inside another tractor-trailer at the

same border checkpoint after placing the vehicle through a non-intrusive scan. The illegal aliens were revealed to be from Mexico and Guatemala.

In both examples, the drivers of the vehicles were found to be U.S. citizens. The two drivers were arrested awaiting further investigation, along with the 138 people found in the two vehicles, which have been caught by U.S. Border Patrol.

Juan Castro-Castro, 41, was captured among the illegal aliens. He was found to have been arrested in 2001 and convicted for Sexual Assault, Aggravated Assault with a Weapon in Salt Lake City, Utah, the U.S. Border Patrol announced. Castro-Castro, who is currently being held by the U.S. Border patrol pending trial of his immigration violations, will be remanded to the arrest of the U.S. Marshal Service.

The arrests come just days after border patrol agents on Feb. 4 found 253 illegal immigrants in two large crowds in the Rio Grande Valley Sector at the Texas border within an hour. Agents on Feb. 3-5 also found 38 more illegal aliens in Roma and arrested another 18 more illegal aliens in two busted smuggling efforts near the Texas border.

More than 50 House Republicans on Tuesday in a letter called on President Joe Biden to ramp up measures to tighten the security on the border and cautioned him about a “rising illegal immigration crisis” starting at the southern border, citing

increases in the number of immigrants just a few weeks into the new presidency.

Despite the surge in immigration figures, Biden had signed multiple executive actions on the first day of his presidency that rescinded Trump administration policies that were acting to diminish the flow of illegal immigration, including stopping the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, the lawmakers noted.

https://www.blabber.buzz/blab/pop/1024422-border-crisis-forget-the-increased-migrants-what-has-been-coming-across-is-truly-scary?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=5AqCJMGOtrULJ6w1rgXZp_aBNSOBQUT2Nv4E1PUuBrrY.A

Australian Christians In Shock: Ten Year Jail Sentence For Preaching Repentance

The parliament of Victoria (Australia) is about to conclude the process of the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill.

The law has been approved by both the Lower House and the Legislative Council of the Victorian parliament and could be soon ready to be implemented.

Any practice that aims to "change or suppress a person's sexual orientation or gender identity" will now be illegal.

According to Australian evangelical magazine Eternity News, this ban includes "prayer conversations suggesting change, and counselling when targeted at an individual".

Melbourne, the State's capital, is known for being Australia's region with a strongest support for LGBT movements - as seen in the Pride Marches and other demonstrations in the last years.

The law becomes a real challenge to churches that hold to a traditional and biblical view of sexuality. Jail sentences up to ten years and large fines can be imposed by courts if there is a perception that a 'conversion' practice has caused injuries to a LGBT person.

According to the analysis of Eternity News, the law distinguishes between general teaching and personal counselling. "Sermons and general discussion of same-sex and gender issues which might take a conservative line" would not be prosecuted but "activities which are directed at an individual, on the basis of a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, and have the aim to change or supress that person's identity" would.

The law will not come into effect right away, but there will be one-year period in which the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission will lead consultations to clarify the details of how the law would be applied in different scenarios.

Reactions of evangelicals

Several church denominations in Victoria have expressed their concern about the law.

The Baptist Union of Victoria, for example, asked that "the bill should permit communication of religious beliefs to all people and permit religious counselling, pastoral care and prayer for people over 16 with informed consent and the right to leave".

In December, the Victorian Church Leaders network wrote in a letter to the Attorney General expressing concern over the "lack of clear definitions and clear articulation of what is or is not considered a harmful or suppressive practice has led to a significant level of concern as to the administration of the Act".

David Benett, an international speaker on LGBT issues from a conservative Christian perspective, and author of "A War of Loves: The Unexpected Story of a Gay Activist Discovering Jesus" , said the law goes beyond addressing gay conversion therapies, which he himself condemns.

"I'm honestly so angry at the silence from Australian Christian leaders at the idea that I, or anyone else who wants to help a celibate gay Christian, could be locked in jail for ten years for helping or teaching an individual the orthodox position of the church for 2000 years if afterward they deem it harmful (especially that same-sex desire results from the effects of sin when sin entered creation)".

Benett added: "Why are [theological] liberals deliberately ignoring the problems here when they now have their rights to live as they desire? Why punish others when you have your legal freedom?"

A pastor who has campaigned against the law said on social media: "Under this Act, if Jesus shared his views with an individual or prayed with someone who came to him because they were struggling with their sexual or gender identity, Jesus could face criminal charges and time in prison. (…) Of course Jesus' view, which upholds the teaching of the Bible, form the beliefs that Christians carry today and that shape our lives".

https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=4549

Wall Street Admits Curing Diseases Is Bad for Business

Goldman Sachs has outdone itself this time. That’s saying a lot for an investment firm that both helped cause and then exploited a global economic meltdown, increasing its own wealth and power while helping to boot millions of Americans out of their homes.

But nowGoldman Sachs is openly saying in financial reports that curing people of terrible diseases is not good for business.

I wish this were a joke. It sounds like a joke. In fact, I’ll show you later that it used to be one of my favorite jokes. But first, the facts.

In a recent report, a Goldman analyst asked clients: “Is curing patients a sustainable business model?” Salveen Richter wrote: “The potential to deliver ‘one-shot cures’ is one of the most attractive aspects of gene therapy. … However, such treatments offer a very different outlook with regard to recurring revenue versus chronic therapies. … While this proposition carries tremendous value for patients and society, it could represent a challenge for genome medicine developers looking for sustained cash flow.”

Yes, a Goldman analyst has said outright that curing people will hurt their cash flow. And he said that in a note designed to steer clients away from investing in cures. Can “human progress” have a bottom? Because if so, this is the bottom of so-called human progress—down where the mud eels mate with the cephalopods. (Or at least that’s how I picture the bottom.)

This analyst note is one of the best outright examples I’ve ever seen of how brutal our market economy is. In the past, this truth would not have been spoken. It would’ve lived deep within a banker’s soul and nowhere else. It would’ve been viewed as too repulsive for the wealthy elite to say, “We don’t want to cure diseases because that will be bad for our wallet. We want people to suffer for as long as possible. Every suffering human enriches us a little bit more.”

We’re circling the drain in the toilet bowl, and as you know, the contents speed up as they near the end, the event horizon. We are beginning to see more and more how disgusting a profit-above-all-else economy really is. When Donald Trump bombed Syria, the stocks of weapons contractors shot up. That spike in stocks is a spike in the gravity of capitalism, pulling people toward death and destruction. Profit has power. And its power is exerted on the society as a whole.

Furthermore, there is no debate about this on your mainstream outlets. There is no discussion as to whether war profiteering is what we really want out of our society. None. You tell me: How many perfectly coiffed CNN or Fox News hosts stated: “Weapons contractors benefited from our bombing. Isn’t that revolting? Doesn’t that just make you gag in your soup? Doesn’t that mean we’ve created an upside-down system that rewards barbaric bullshit?”

You will not hear that discussion. You’re more likely to hear them discuss the best blind pingpong player to ever star in a short film about self-harm. Hard news topics do not see the light of day on our suffocated corporate airwaves.

And believe it or not, the Goldman note gets even worse. The analyst says, “In the case of infectious diseases such as hepatitis C, curing existing patients also decreases the number of carriers able to transmit the virus to new patients. …”

Decreases the number of carriers? Goldman Sachs … is in a financial partnership … with fucking infectious diseases.

Let that sink in. Sit with that and decide whether you want to keep your seat on spaceship earth. I’ll wait.

When I first read about this—after I stopped choking on my tongue—I realized it made more sense than I first thought. I’ve always felt Lloyd Blankfein had a striking resemblance to Hepatitis C. But it turns out he just works with Hepatitis C. They’re just really close friends and business partners. (But I heard Ebola is the godfather to his kids.)

Our aggressive strain of unfettered capitalism has blasted beyond satire in many ways. In one of my favorite Chris Rock specials, “Bigger & Blacker,” which I first saw when I was a teenager, he had a joke that blew my mind. He said something like, “They ain’t never gonna cure AIDS. They ain’t never gonna cure AIDS. There’s too much money in it. The money’s not in the cure. The money’s in the comeback! The money’s in the comeback.”

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/wall-street-admits-curing-diseases-is-bad-for-business/

Bill would cut over 100,000 DoD jobs

New legislation would require the Department of Defense to cut its civilian workforce by 15 percent by 2025, a move that would result in the elimination of over 100,000 federal jobs based on current numbers.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., Feb. 9 and titled the Rebalance for an Effective Defense Uniform and Civilian Employees Act, would enable the secretary of defense to use voluntary separation and early retirement incentives to encourage that reduction in the coming years.

But that voluntary grace period would be short lived, as the bill mandates that the secretary must initiate involuntary separations by October 2021 if the 15 percent reduction is not met voluntarily. The proposed legislation would only impact civilian employees, not uniformed service members.

According to Office of Personnel Management separation data, on average between 2015 and 2019, just under 82,000 employees left DoD jobs each year, meaning that a standard year’s departures without any new hires would not be enough to voluntarily have the agency meet the 15 percent reduction.

The civilian Senior Executive Service positions at the agency would also be capped at 1,000, and all workforce caps would remain in place until 2029.

In an interview, Calvert said he expects a flat defense budget under President Joe Biden, and while he’s open to “responsible reductions,” he’s averse to cutting uniformed personnel. He believes he can accomplish the cuts through attrition and not firings.

“Like everything else in government, personnel is your biggest cost, and the civilian-to-uniform ratio … is an all time high,” Calvert said. “Our inability to correct that trend is is eating away at our military, our procurement our readiness, all the above, and so we need to do this.”

There are currently around 1.3 million active-duty military personnel and over 768,000 federal employees working across the DoD components.

The legislation is based on a 2015 report produced by the Defense Business Board, which recommended that the DoD could save significant funds by reducing back-office bureaucracy and waste over the course of five years.

That document recommended pushing a modest early retirement option and limiting the backfill of positions that become vacant due to attrition and retirement.

That report was ultimately buried by agency leadership at the time, though a December 2016 Washington Post investigation uncovered the report and fears within the Defense Department that its contents would cause Congress to cut defense budgets.

According to the report, using retirement and attrition at the DoD to reduce the workforce would result in approximately $46 billion in savings for the agency. The remaining $79 billion in savings could be realized by making changes to federal contracts and IT practices.

Calvert’s bill, though purported to save the full $125 billion promised in the DBB report, only directly addresses the proposed workforce reduction.

The Washington Post article notes that the Army, for example employed approximately 199,661 full-time contractors at an average cost of $189,188 per contractor at the time of the report.

https://www.federaltimes.com/management/2021/02/10/reintroduced-bill-would-cut-over-100000-dod-feds/

20 suspected of testing illegal missiles in central Israel, selling to Asia

Former defense industry officials among those investigated; video appears to show rocket fired in test near residential area; country implicated in case is unnamed

(Shin Bet)

Some 20 suspects have been investigated in recent months for allegedly illegally developing, manufacturing, testing and selling armed cruise missiles to an unnamed Asian country, the Shin Bet and Israel Police announced on Thursday.

A video released by police apparently showed an illegal missile test carried out in central Israel in 2019. Police said the rocket was fired “not far” from residential neighborhoods.

The identity of all of the suspects remained under gag order.

In a statement, the Shin Bet said they included former defense industry employees and the alleged crimes included offenses against the security of the state, violations of the law on the supervision of security exports, money laundering, and additional economic offenses.

The Shin Bet additionally said the suspects received “considerable funds” in return for carrying out instructions from people connected to the Asian nation, and had tried to conceal the financial transactions.

The investigation also revealed that the activities were carried out in secret in an attempt to hide the final destination of the missiles.

“This affair underscores the potential damage to the security of the state inherent in illegal transactions carried out by Israeli citizens with foreign elements, including the concern that such technology could reach countries hostile to Israel,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.

Israel’s defense exports are regulated according to a 2007 law that requires defense contractors to consider what and where Israeli weapons will be used for. The law is designed to prevent companies from knowingly selling weapons to countries that intend to use them to commit atrocities.

While the contractors are legally required to take potential human rights violations into consideration, this requirement can be overruled out of diplomatic or security concerns.

Currently, Israeli law only prevents the sale of weapons to countries that are under an official embargo from the UN Security Council. Such embargoes rarely happen, generally because of vetoes by China and Russia.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-israelis-suspected-of-illegally-making-selling-missiles-to-asian-nation/

Biden terminates Trump emergency order used to construct border wall

President Biden has rescinded the emergency order used by former President Trump to justify construction of the border wall, the White House announced Thursday.

“I have determined that the declaration of a national emergency at our southern border was unwarranted,” Biden wrote in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“I have also announced that it shall be the policy of my administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall, and that I am directing a careful review of all resources appropriated or redirected to that end.”

The proclamation is a final step from Biden after issuing an executive order on day one questioning the validity of Trump’s national emergency and ordering a pause on all border wall construction.

Trump issued the national emergency at the border in early 2019 after repeatedly butting heads with lawmakers over funding for the project. The emergency declaration loosened the limits on taxpayer funding, paving the way for Trump to divert funds originally intended for other agencies.

But the move landed his administration in court, as environmental groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged $2.5 billion in Department of Defense spending that had been diverted to complete construction.

Trump first floated the idea of a border wall on the campaign trail, repeatedly insisting that Mexico would pay for its construction. But in early 2020, Customs and Border Protection reported it had found $11 billion in funding for the wall.

The letter was welcome news to members of Congress long opposed to the wall who argued a physical barrier would do little to address immigration or security concerns.

“Trump's national emergency was never about security,” Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D), who represents a district covering more than half of Arizona's border with Mexico, wrote on Twitter.

“It was about stealing money to fund a monument to his racist policies along the Southern Border. Now we must cancel the contracts & ensure that not another foot of border wall is constructed.”

Biden’s proclamation comes after the administration asked the Supreme Court to cancel an upcoming hearing on the legality of the border wall, which the court then granted.

"The President has directed the Executive Branch to undertake an assessment of 'the legality of the funding and contracting methods used to construct the wall,' " the administration wrote to the court earlier this month.

The move leaves Biden caught in the middle between Republicans who want to continue construction and litigants who not only want to stop construction but to tear down the portions of the wall that have already been built.

“Ending Trump’s sham emergency declaration is a good start, but just hitting the brakes isn’t enough. Trump’s wall devastated border communities, the environment, and tribal sites. It’s time for the Biden administration to step up for border communities, and commit to mitigating environmental damage and tearing down the wall,” Dror Ladin, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a statement.

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/538406-biden-terminates-trump-emergency-order-used-to-construct-border-wall

Arranging The Middle East Narrative To Push The Agenda Forward

The United States is returning to a level of activity in the Middle East unseen in nearly 4 years. This development has become obvious over the weeks since Joe Biden became US President, firstly with a large deployment into Syria, and subsequently with smaller ones.

On February 9th, the Pentagon said that it was no longer in Syria to protect and exploit oil fields.

It is now back to hunting ISIS. Back to the square one of 2014 and the Obama era. ISIS somehow obliged by ramping up their activities throughout Syria.

It is a mystery that they were able to make such a sharp and sudden resurgence. It should also be noted that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces allegedly have about 10,000 ISIS terrorists imprisoned.

This statement of intent denotes a massive shift in posture for the US. When defending the oil fields the US troops were mostly static, when hunting ISIS they can, once again, roam around and carry out various operations.

It appears likely that Idlib is now also in focus – US combat drones were observed surveying Greater Idlib. Idlib is a mixed bag – it has Turkish troops, Russians, the Syrian Arab Army along with terrorists and the moderate opposition, although confusing these two groups can be forgiven. The newest, future, US ally is there – the soon-to-be-rebranded Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

An indication of expected escalations and attacks are the Russian and Syrian military drills being carried out near Aleppo during effective wartime. Russia, separately, carried out a naval drill near Tartus.

And, as if by design, long-range missiles attempted to strike Russia’s forces at the Hmeimim Air Base. Drones occasionally attempt to infiltrate its airspace, but missiles are a rare sight.

Meanwhile in Western Daraa, the rebel leaders submitted to Damascus, likely fearing the upcoming chaos and wanting to choose a side.

Finally, the Biden administration is also working to secure Israeli support. The State Department said it doesn’t endorse Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, but doesn’t oppose it. It also provided a $9bn weapon sale as consolation. Tel Aviv is likely to use these weapons to counter its nemesis – Iran. It does so by targeting alleged Iranian interests in Syria.

Syria remains the lynchpin of US Middle East policy but the US posture in Iraq and Afghanistan has also changed. Withdrawing from the region is now out of the question – ISIS is making a resurgence, and there are other groups targeting American forces and convoys.

In Afghanistan, specifically, if the withdrawal does not move forward, the Taliban are also likely to begin targeting the US again.

The democrats are back in control and back to spreading democracy in the Middle East.

https://thesaker.is/arranging-the-middle-east-narrative-to-push-the-agenda-forward/

Leaked Letter Shows Germany Offered $1Bn To U.S. LNG Business In Return For Lifting Nord Stream 2 Sanctions

Germany reportedly offered to spend upwards of $1 billion on US liquefied natural gas and infrastructure for the same, if it would lift sanctions off Nord Stream 2.

This was revealed in recent days, as a letter was leaked allegedly showing the offer.

The leak prompted lawmakers to summon Finance Minister Olaf Scholz from a meeting about coronavirus measures to attend a debate in parliament about Russia.

Scholz allegedly wrote a letter to then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in August saying Germany was “willing to considerably increase its financial support for LNG infrastructure and import capacities by up to 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion)” if, in return, the United States “allows the unhindered construction and operation of Nord Stream 2.”

The letter was published by the NGO Environmental Action Germany, it can be found on their website.

German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer declined to comment on the letter, saying any correspondence on the issue was confidential. She said Berlin is “in contact with the U.S. government” about sanctions and the threat of sanctions. Those measures have delayed completion of the pipeline.

Demmer added that the government had “acted in a coordinated way” over the issue in the past — suggesting that other ministries and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been involved in the discussion.

Scholz didn’t speak, but Foreign Minister Heiko Maas defended proceeding with a new undersea gas pipeline from Russia that faces strong opposition from the U.S. and eastern Europe, arguing that scrapping it could have adverse geopolitical consequences.

Maas said that sanctions against Russia “must hit the right people and not employees of nearly 150 European companies, most of them from Germany.” Nord Stream 2 is owned by Russian state company Gazprom, with investment from several European companies.

Separately, comments by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier drawing a link between Nord Stream 2 and Germany’s debt over World War II have raised hackles in Ukraine and Poland.

Steinmeier had told daily Rheinische Post that Germany needed to keep in mind its eventful history with Russia. “There were phases of fruitful partnership, but even more times of terrible bloodshed,” he said, citing the 20 million people who died in the Soviet Union during World War II.

“That doesn’t justify mistakes in Russian policy today, but we mustn’t lose sight of the bigger picture,” said Steinmeier.

Ukraine and Poland complained about the statements.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin, Andrij Melnyk, said that Steinmeier’s comments in an interview last week “hit us Ukrainians deep in the heart.”

Melnyk accused the German president, whose role is largely ceremonial, of ignoring the fact that millions of the Nazis’ Soviet victims were Ukrainians.

Polish deputy foreign minister Pawel Jablonski argued that “Nord Stream 2 is the worst form of compensation.”

He said that completion of the pipeline would effectively put Ukraine at Russia’s mercy and the European Union “should never agree to continuing this project, especially in the wake of what is happening to Mr. Navalny.”

Germany appears reluctant to connect Navalny and other geopolitical issues with something that it sees as pure business.

https://southfront.org/leaked-letter-shows-germany-offered-1bn-to-u-s-lng-business-in-return-for-lifting-nord-stream-2-sanctions/

https://www.duh.de/projekte/geheimdeal-gegen-das-klima/

How signatures in public data helped expose the UK’s dirty money cottage industry

Combining public data with leaked FinCEN reports, ICIJ’s data team plotted a matrix of shadowy straw men who filed false accounts worth more than $4.5 billion.

Deep inside the FinCEN Files, a cache of more than 2,600 secret documents, lies a data story within a data story.

Early in 2020, while the world was gripped by a deadly pandemic, the ICIJ data team was digging into the accounts of hundreds of shell companies filed with Companies House, the United Kingdom’s company registration office.

This foray into public data was part of ICIJ and BuzzFeed News’ FinCEN Files investigation, which would eventually expose how some of the world’s biggest banks were at the center of a sprawling global money laundering industry. Reporting by more than 100 media partners showed how trillions of dollars of suspicious wire funds flowed through the banks, sometimes years before the banks informed the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN.

The story in the U.K. homed in on two types of companies — limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and limited partnerships (LPs) — that are popular with money launderers because they offer a degree of anonymity cherished by purveyors of dark money, all with the veneer of legitimacy that comes with operating in the heart of London. These LLPs and LPs are set up by formation agencies, which help register the shadowy companies and file the required paperwork with the British registrar.

Companies House, is a bright yellow brick building, tucked in beside the Department of Justice building in London, just a stroll from Buckingham Palace. Every year more than 600,000 new companies are formed and registered in the U.K. and more than four million companies are live on the register. It is the beating heart of British business.

The ICIJ data team started their investigation by poring over the confidential suspicious activity reports at the heart of the FinCEN Files investigation, and stripped out all the LLP and LP companies in the data. Then, using identifiers like addresses, we matched more than 3,000 to the names of businesses registered in the U.K.

We spent months manually reading through thousands of annual report accounts, as well as the public data accessible on the Companies House website. We made a note of the dozens of names that reappeared on account after account, the offshore company officers, addresses and all income and expenditure recorded in the reports.

Eventually, patterns began to emerge. The same names appeared again and again, Ali Moulaye, a Latvian dentist living in Belgium, signed dozens of false accounts, as did Dmitrijs Krasko and many others. Both Krasko and Moulaye denied wrongdoing.

By comparing and compiling signatures on documents as well as other common factors across the paperwork, we were able to tie companies into clusters and identify the specific formation agencies at the center of each cluster. An entire cottage industry had been established around the administration of these LLPs and LPs that was, ultimately, enabling criminals to wash dirty money clean through the U.K. financial system.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/how-signatures-in-public-data-helped-expose-the-uks-dirty-money-cottage-industry/

Biden Administration Intervenes in SCOTUS Obamacare Case

The Biden Department of Justice informed the Supreme Court that they no longer think Obamacare is unconstitutional despite the Trump DoJ saying it was. It’s highly unusual for one administration to contradict another before the Supreme Court, but Biden is desperately trying to save what’s left of Obamacare, even though enrollment numbers are down and premiums are going up.

At issue is the constitutionality of the individual mandate. The states that brought the suit say that if the mandate is currently inoperative and not raising any money, it can’t be considered a tax. And since the mandate is an integral part of the law, if it’s unconstitutional, the entire law must be unconstitutional.

Washington Free Beacon:

The Trump administration endorsed those arguments before the justices and declined to defend Obamacare in court. Wednesday’s letter retreats from that position, arguing instead that the zeroed-out mandate “preserved the choice between lawful options,” albeit without consequences for non-compliance.

The letter adds that if the Court deems the mandate unconstitutional, it should strike that particular provision and salvage the rest of the law—something the Court seemed inclined to do during oral arguments in November.

By normal Court practice, an initial vote in the case would have followed a few days after the Nov. 10 argument. The majority opinion has likely been assigned for several months.

Legal arguments aside, the justices have had several opportunities to kill Obamacare and have yet to deliver a death blow. The reason is not written in any law book, but rather in the book of politics. The resulting chaos if Obamacare disappeared would cause a lot of anguish and would leave millions of people without insurance.

During a pandemic? The justices read the papers too and follow the polls. The storm of criticism from liberals and the media isn’t supposed to affect their opinions. But don’t kid yourself by thinking it doesn’t.

So where does that leave us?

CNBC:

During oral argument in the case, the justices seemed unlikely to scrap the legislation entirely, though it was not clear whether a majority would find the individual mandate unlawful. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, both conservatives, suggested they supported severing the individual mandate provision from the rest of the sprawling law.

Kneedler, who has served in the Justice Department for more than 40 years under presidents of both major political parties, wrote in the letter that the department was not seeking to file more briefs in the case. A decision is expected over the summer.

Obamacare is far too intertwined in the American health care system to kill. Thousands of regulations and a large bureaucracy ensure its survival. Barack Obama set out to transform the American health care system and, for better or worse, he succeeded.

With or without the individual mandate, the insurance marketplace will remain open, subsidies for buying insurance from the marketplace will continue, and the plans will continue to get more expensive with coverage people don’t need or want.

Democrats will look to build on Obamacare by resurrecting some of its provisions and including a “public option” for those who want the government to run health insurance. Quality of care will decline. But hey! At least everyone will be “covered.”

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/02/11/biden-administration-intervenes-in-scotus-obamacare-case-n1424810

Victoria, Australia, makes it illegal to not affirm gender dysphoria

Once signed by the Victoria governor-general for royal assent, new legislation passed by the Victorian parliament in Australia will prohibit anything other than full affirmation for child transgenderism.

Known as “Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition,” the bill will make it illegal to try to change or suppress a person’s perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, even if that person seeks out treatment and consents to it.

Similar to a bill passed in Queensland last year, the Victorian legislation prohibits all “harmful practices” that might offend someone in the LGBTQP community. Such practices include “carrying out a religious practice, including but not limited to, a prayer-based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism.”

Violators of the law, which will take 12 months to come into effect, could face penalties that include fines of up to $200,000 and up to 10 years in prison.

Even a priest merely praying for his parishioner might be deemed as an offender, which is what prompted Monica Doumit, the Director of Public Affairs for the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, to write a column for The Catholic Weekly about how the new law will impact people of faith.

“A parent whose five year old son was insisting that he was a girl would be prevented from seeking any help – medical, psychological, behavioural, spiritual, social or otherwise – to assist their son in understanding and accepting that he was a boy,” she writes.

“Anything less than affirmation of him as a girl would be prohibited.”

Victorian government ignores research proving “life-saving benefits” of counseling for gender dysphoria

Doumit goes on to explain that mental health interventions will also be prohibited, forcing those who are suffering from unwanted gender dysphoria or same-sex attraction to fend for themselves.

“Christian teenagers who had committed themselves to saving sexual activity for marriage would be prohibited from gathering together to support each other to remain faithful to their commitment to chastity,” Doumit further warns.

“Not only would Courage, a ministry for those Catholics experiencing same-sex attraction but who want to live chastely in accordance with their religious beliefs be banned, the teaching of Theology of the Body would not be allowed, and it is even possible that preaching the same verse from Corinthians that got [Australian Rugby star] Israel Folau sacked could get a cleric imprisoned.”

A religious man who is tempted to cheat on his wife would likewise be prohibited from seeking out the counsel of his priest or minister. The same goes for a psychologist who might try to “convert” a pedophile away from preying on innocent children.

Perhaps the saddest element of the legislation is the total prohibition on those suffering from unwanted LGBTQP attractions from seeking out help. Many former LGBTQPs say the counsel they received was invaluable in helping them to heal and live the lives they actually wanted to live.

“Ten years ago I voluntarily sought counsel from Christian psychologists, ministries, support networks and people who had walked before me,” says Leah Gray, a self-identified ex-lesbian who was helped as a gender dysphoric child by the resources and ministries that Victorian politicians are trying to abolish.

“It was difficult, but I found relief and happiness. Every step of my journey will become illegal under the Victorian government’s [bill].”

https://www.intellihub.com/victoria-australia-makes-it-illegal-to-not-affirm-gender-dysphoria/

Twitter's Top India Execs Face Arrest As Company Refuses To Comply With Government's Blocking Orders

KEY POINTS

"Make money but you will have to abide by Indian laws and the Constitution:" India's IT minister

New Delhi calls out Twitter's "double standards" over Capitol Hill riots and violence at the Red Fort

The government posted a response to Twitter's blog on Koo, an Indian social-media app

Twitter's top India execs in danger of up to seven years in jail over non-compliance

India is a key market for Twitter; the stock closed up 13.20% on the NYSE on Wednesday

Twitter's top management in India, a key market, is at risk of being sent to jail after the social media company chose to only partially comply with a government order to block certain accounts that were allegedly inciting violence in the guise of supporting the ongoing farmers' protests in the country.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, India's minister for Electronics and Information Technology, who has the power to regulate the conduct of social media companies according to Indian law, warned in Parliament on Thursday that action will be taken if social media is misused to spread fake news and violence. Twitter has been issued a non-compliance notice by the government under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, which can lead to seven years in jail and fines for the company's Indian leadership, legal experts have told media outlets.

Twitter has millions of users, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who uses it effectively to communicate his government's policies. But Prasad told Parliament, referring to Twitter, "Make money but you will have to abide by Indian laws and the Constitution."

Modi's government first ordered hundreds of accounts to be blocked following violence in New Delhi on Jan. 26, India's Republic Day. These accounts, it said, were used to trend hashtags to provoke violence, including one that said #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide. Rioters had stormed the Red Fort in Delhi after clashes with police and flown a separatist flag there. Twitter only partially complied with the government's demand to take down accounts spreading misinformation and provoking violence, and by its own admission that it "temporarily" blocked some of the accounts. It was hit by more such requests from the government in the days that followed.

"We have now flagged Twitter," Prasad told Parliament. "Our department has engaged with Twitter. That's why I didn't want to comment on this issue outside and chose the House to raise these questions. What is the matter that when there is violence in U.S. Capitol Hill, social media platforms stand by police investigation but when (the) Red Fort is breached, the same platforms go against the Indian government? Red Fort is the symbol of our pride. We won't allow these double standards."

Twitter had quickly blocked former President Donald Trump’s account and suspended more than 70,000 other accounts following the insurrection on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6.

The IT ministry also separately called out Twitter for the "differential treatment." The Hindu reported that the government told the company to respect Indian laws and democratic institutions and that it expects full and quick compliance of its orders, quoting an unnamed official source.

In a sign of escalation, the ministry chose to respond to Twitter on Koo, a made-in-India app similar to the American microblogging site.

https://www.ibtimes.com/twitters-top-india-execs-face-arrest-company-refuses-comply-governments-blocking-3143175

Go Inside a Large-Scale DEA Bust in New York City

Hefty NYC Drug Bust Nets 86 Lbs. of Heroin, 1K Fentanyl Pills and $200K: Feds

NEW YORK CITY – An accused major trafficker and three others are charged in connection with a large-scale heroin-packaging mill dismantled in Ridgewood, Queens. Approximately 39 kilograms of suspected heroin, with an estimated street value of $12 million, 1,000 fentanyl pills and $200,000 cash were recovered during the investigation, conducted by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, DEA’s New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, Group T-21, and Homeland Security Investigations, New York.

Luis Martinez is accused of overseeing a narcotics packaging mill inside his residence at 63-16 Forest Avenue, Apartment 2A, and faces charges of Operating as a Major Trafficker, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First and Third Degrees, and Criminally Using Drug Paraphernalia in the Second Degree. Three women allegedly employed by Martinez, Sofia Medina, Maria Altagracia Berroa, and Jacqueline Sosa De Espinal, are charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First and Third Degrees, and Criminally Using Drug Paraphernalia in the Second Degree.

On Monday, Feb. 8, 2021 around 4 p.m., members of NYDETF Group T-21 and SNP’s Investigators Unit were conducting surveillance as part of the short-term investigation when they observed Martinez, a suspected narcotics trafficker, exiting 63-16 Forest Avenue carrying a backpack. Agents and officers stopped Martinez as he walked down the block and found that the bag allegedly contained approximately $200,000 cash. Martinez was also carrying four cellphones and keys to 63-16 Forest Avenue.

A short time later, Members of T-21 entered 63-16 Forest Avenue and knocked on the door of Apartment 2A. In response to the knocking, Medina opened the apartment door. Inside the living room, agents and officers saw an empty heat-wrapped bag of a type used for wrapping a kilogram of narcotics. Agents and officers heard noises coming from behind a closed door. Upon opening the door, they discovered two women, Sosa De Espinal and Berroa, hiding inside a bathroom with the lights off.

https://breaking911.com/go-inside-a-large-scale-dea-bust-in-nyc/

Biden admin erects tent city in Texas to handle influx of illegal immigrants

The Biden administration announced this week that it opened a soft-sided facility for immigrants in Donna, Texas, as Republican lawmakers warn of a "rising crisis" at the U.S.-Mexico border.

In a statement to Fox News, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said the agency’s Centralized Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, is undergoing renovation, necessitating the additional facilities.

The primary purpose of the Donna location will be to process individuals in U.S. Border Patrol custody.

"The Donna location was chosen because it is central to Border Patrol stations throughout the Rio Grande Valley Sector," a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said.

The Department of Homeland Security noted that there has been a steady increase in border encounters since April, triggered by conditions brought on by the pandemic and natural disasters.

House Republicans wrote a letter to Biden this week cautioning of a "rising illegal immigration crisis" at the southern border. Lawmakers said CBP officials have seen average daily flow increase to 3,500 from 2,000 earlier last month.

By law, the government is required to provide care for unaccompanied alien children who have no immigration status in the U.S. no legal guardian in the U.S., and who are not yet 18 years old.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/79238/biden-admin-erects-tent-city-in-texas-to-handle-influx-of-illegal.html

Crown CEO Ken Barton bows to pressure and agrees to resign

Crown chief executive Ken Barton appears likely to step down in the coming days after bowing to increasing pressure from gaming authorities, following a damning report into the Australian casino giant.

Key points:

Mr Barton is understood to have indicated he intends to resign shortly following a report highly critical of his role

Two Crown board members resigned on Wednesday amid pressure from gambling regulators

Mr Barton met on Thursday with Crown chair Helen Coonan when he offered his resignation, the ABC understands

The Bergin Report this week found there was likely no future in the company for Mr Barton.

ABC News understands Mr Barton signalled he would resign during a meeting with Crown chair Helen Coonan earlier on Thursday.

It follows the resignation of two Crown board members, Michael Johnston and Guy Jalland, on Wednesday.

Crown board member and former AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou is also facing increasing pressure to resign.

Mr Barton's decision to step down comes after increasing pressure from gambling regulators following a report critical of Crown, released this week.

An extensive investigation by the NSW gaming regulator found Crown was unsuitable to operate a licence for its new Sydney casino in its current form.

Its report outlined a litany of Crown failures, including money laundering, and said the company would have to undertake extensive cultural change in order to hold a licence to operate the new Barangaroo casino in future.

In an interview with ABC Radio National on Thursday morning, NSW's Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) chair Philip Crawford said the pair must resign or be sacked if Crown wanted to hold the licence to operate Sydney's second casino.

He welcomed the resignations of Mr Johnston and Mr Jalland.

As the crisis deepened, on Thursday afternoon the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) said Mr Barton and director Andrew Demetriou would be asked to explain why they should remain associates of Crown Melbourne in Southbank.

VCGLR chief executive Catherine Myers said the commission had a number of investigations ongoing into Crown, but the first step was to demand an explanation for the findings of the Bergin report.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-11/crown-ceo-ken-barton-bows-to-pressure-and-resigns/13146218

Tasmanian childcare centre worker charged with producing child exploitation material

A man who worked at a childcare centre in the Greater Hobart area has been charged with producing child exploitation material.

Key points:

The childcare centre says it's been working with police since October 2020

The man — who met all legal requirements to work with children — was immediately stood down and subsequently fired

He has been charged with producing child exploitation material

The centre involved sent families a letter explaining that the organisation had been assisting police with the investigation since October 2020 "regarding serious allegations concerning child safety", and "the employee was stood down immediately whilst the matter was investigated".

They said, "the individual's employment was formally terminated" and that "from the time the organisation became aware of the alleged behaviour to the point of termination, the staff member did not attend work at the service."

"The individual met all legal requirements to work with children including the possession of a valid Tasmanian Registration to Work with Vulnerable People (RWVP)," it said.

"This registration is checked prior to commencement of employment and the status closely monitored for the duration of employment. The RWVP was suspended immediately by the Department of Justice at the beginning of the investigation.

"The organisation has strict policies and procedures in place regarding Child Safety and Mandatory Reporting.

"A framework of child safe practices is embedded in daily operations, leadership and management, education and care environments and interactions with children.

"Staff are informed of their obligations and legal requirements at the time of their induction and routinely throughout their employment through professional development and regular staff communication.

"We would also like to acknowledge how incredibly difficult it has been for those involved.

"The organisation has been working closely with the families involved to ensure that they and their children are able to receive the professional support required.

"We continue to work with our staff, families and the service community to support each other and to do everything possible to ensure the ongoing safety and wellbeing of children in our care."

Police said instances of people either producing, viewing, supplying or being in possession of child exploitation material are extremely serious.

Police confirmed the man was charged on January 29, but said the investigation was ongoing, that they were still making inquiries and further charges may be considered.

The man has been bailed to appear at the Hobart Magistrates Court in April.

The Department of Education's Education and Care Unit — Tasmania's childcare regulator — has been notified of the serious incident.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-11/tas-childcare-worker-charged-with-producing-child-exploitation-/13145750

PRAY FOR EACH OTHER