This LARP sure gets attacked alot

CPS Energy: 'These are no longer rolling outages. They are controlled outags..

On its website, the utility states, “These are no longer rolling outages. They are controlled outages and happening at a large volume and for longer sustained periods of time.”

The utility did not say how long the controlled outages would stick around.

CPS Energy is also addressing a widely circulated email that looks like it’s from the company which claims it can no longer protect critical infrastructure like hospitals. CPS Energy says that email did not come from the utility and is calling it misinformation.

“Customers who have been on critical circuits with no-to-minor disruption, unfortunately, will now experience outages,” the company clarified.

Hospitals were never mentioned in the utility’s latest statement, but we have confirmed that some hospitals in the area were warned that they could experience outages.

For the latest updates from CPS Energy, click here.

http://www.tathasta.com/2021/02/cps-energy-these-are-no-longer-rolling.html

Texas running out of food. Biden’s promised Dark winter is here.

Storm info for the beginning of the day on Wednesday Feb 17

Customers Power Out (not people – customers)

Texas 2,777,129

Oklahoma 12

Arkansas 465

Louisiana 45,849

Missouri 237

Kansas 17

Kentucky 102,590

poweroutage.us/

No other state appears to have had the electrical distribution system collapse that Texas has had. With the other states with higher numbers, which are at worst less than 5% of what Texas is experiencing, those power outages appear to related almost exclusively to power lines being taken out by ice covered trees. Oklahoma, right next door to Texas and on the Eastern US Grid, is only showing 12 customers out of power.

Texas’s power problem seems to almost exclusively caused by a generating system collapse.

SALENA ZITO: Texas grid trouble offers warnings about Biden’s anti-energy policies.

The images of frozen wind turbines and solar panels brought to life how one of the most independent and powerful energy states in the country could fall to its knees when snow, ice, and frigid temperatures battered its power grid.

It was imagery that tells a cautionary tale of what the future in this country could look like if the Biden administration continues its dismantling of fossil fuel and related infrastructure industries. In short, what happened in Texas could happen anywhere, whether under the strain of a winter storm in Texas and Oklahoma or a heat wave in California.

To be fair, pumps and turbines also froze. This was an unprecedented winter storm for Texas. But yeah, all the green BS will make it worse. And, in fact, already has.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/texas-running-out-of-food-bidens-promised-dark-winter-is-here/

Every living president EXCEPT Trump has called me says Joe Biden - and says he had never been in the White House residence before despite being Obama's VP for eight years

Joe Biden said Tuesday he's talked to all the living presidents with the exception of one and that he'd never been in the White House residence before even after eight years as vice president.

He revealed the details about his first month as president as his 75 minute town hall with CNN came to a close.

As he spoke about the weight he feels being commander in chief, CNN's Anderson Cooper asked of him: 'Have you picked up the phone and called any former president yet?'

'Yes, I have,' Biden confirmed.

'Do you want to say who?'

Biden declined to talk specifics, citing privacy reasons, but noted all but one living president has reached out to him.

'They're private conversations,' Biden said of his talks with his predecessors. 'But, by the way, all of them have with one exception picked up the phone to call me as well.'

The living presidents are Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. All were at Biden's inauguration except for Carter - who wanted to attend but didn't because of his age and COVID concerns - and Trump, who refused to go after losing the presidency.

'I know you don't want to talk about him but,' Cooper replied as the audience burst into laughter.

Biden didn't reveal the former president who hasn't called him but his implication seemed clear. And Cooper's comment referenced an earlier remark Biden made about Trump, when he was asked about the former president's impeachment trial.

'For four years, all that's been in the news is Trump. The next four years, I want to make sure all the news is the American people. I'm tired of talking about Trump,' Biden said.

As his town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, came to a close, Biden said he is still in awe of living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the home of every president except George Washington.

'I get up in the morning and look at Jill and say, "Where the hell are we,"' Biden said, referring to his wife of more than forty years.

He says that despite being president only four weeks it feels like four years.

'It's not because of the burden is because there's so much happening that you focus on, you're constantly focusing on one problem or opportunity,' he said.

He also revealed that, despite eight years working with Obama and a close relationship between the two men, he had never been in the White House residence.

'I had never been up in the residence,' Biden noted.

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2021/02/every-living-president-except-trump-has.html

TALKING HEAD IN AUS SMASHES THE COVID LIE TO PEICES ON NATIONAL TV!

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/wow-talking-head-in-aus-smashes-the-covid-lie-to-peices-on-national-tv/

Houston's 'Mattress Mack' opens his store so freezing residents with no power can take refuge in the storm: Texans rage as power grid CEO refuses to apologize for deadly outage

A Texas furniture store owner has opened his business as a shelter for those left without power in the state after nearly five million people were left freezing in the darkness as a result of the harsh winter storm there.

The death toll on Tuesday rose to 15 across multiple states. Historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge of demand for electricity to warm up homes across Texas unaccustomed to such extreme lows.

That buckled the state's power grid and caused the widespread blackouts. Some in Houston area could be without power several more days, officials there said Tuesday evening.

Jim 'Mattress Mack' McIngvale told ABC 13 of the decision to open his store as a shelter: 'The cold is bitter, so we're opening up the doors to Houstonians. Whether they want to stay for two hours until their power gets back on, or they want to stay for two days, we're here for the community.'

Those without electricity for two straight days are now demanding answers as to why the energy rich state has been left paralyzed and unable to produce enough power to face a winter storm.

The electrical grid CEO on Tuesday refused to take the blame for the ongoing crisis. Bill Magness of The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said it is down to 'catastrophic conditions'. He told WFAA that he was unable to say when power would be restored.

But Texas Gov Greg Abbott on Tuesday demanded an investigation into the state's main power grid operator and federal regulators said they are launching an 'inquiry' into the operations of the bulk-power system. Rep. Jeff Leach called it 'ridiculous' that five of the 15 ERCOT board members do not appear to live in Texas.

He tweeted: 'I'm filing legislation this session requiring all @ERCOT_ISO officers and directors to be Texas residents. Completely ridiculous and unacceptable that current ERCOT Board Chair lives in Michigan!'

'I know people are angry and frustrated,' said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who woke up to more than 1 million people still without power in his city. 'So am I.'

Amber Nichols, whose north Austin home has had no power since early Monday, said: 'We're all angry because there is no reason to leave entire neighborhoods freezing to death. This is a complete bungle.'

Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, rejected that the storm went beyond what ERCOT could have anticipated. 'That's nonsense. It's not acceptable,' Hirs said. 'Every eight to 10 years we have really bad winters. This is not a surprise.'

http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2021/02/houstons-mattress-mack-opens-his-store.html

Military being purged of all conservatives, under Biden

Now the military is turning on white people

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a 60-day stand-down of the military to root out anyone remaining who supported the Jan. 6 protest at the United States Capitol.

Austin reportedly held a meeting last Wednesday with the service secretaries and Joint Chiefs to address their concerns about conservatives in the military and what to do about it.

“Even though the numbers might be small, they may not be as small as we would like them to be, or we believe them to be,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby to reporters.

“And that no matter what it is, it is not an insignificant problem,” Kirby added about the prevalence of troops with right-wing views.

After 60 days, Kirby expects to see guidance about what to do next to rid every last nook and cranny of the military of “extremists” who do not believe that the 2020 election results are legitimate.

“It wasn’t a blithe, ‘Hey, go talk to your people,’” Kirby added about Austin’s orders to the service secretaries and Joint Chiefs.

“He was very clear that he wants commands to take the necessary time. And I didn’t hear him be overly proscriptive about that … to speak with troops about the scope of this problem, and certainly to get a sense from them about what they’re seeing at their level.”

Because the Department of Defense (DoD) does not centrally track troops believed to have a history of “domestic terrorism” or “extremist sentiment,” and neither do the services, there is no data-based read available to know where the military currently stands.

On Jan. 28, Kirby told reporters that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened 143 investigations into troops and veterans throughout 2020. Of this, 68 were associated with alleged cases of “domestic extremism.”

https://www.intellihub.com/military-being-purged-of-all-conservatives-under-biden/

Western Governments Are Killing Their Own People … Again. Experimental mRNA Injections in Nursing Homes

Western countries, including Canada, are using experimental mRNA injections in nursing homes, on the most vulnerable of people.

Nobody can give informed consent because the injections are experimental. How do we know that the injections are experimental? There are at least two on-going clinical trials:

One is,

“A Study to Evaluate Efficacy, Safety, and Immunogenicity of mRNA-1273 Vaccine in Adults Aged 18 years and Older to Prevent COVID-19” (1).

The estimated study completion date is October 27, 2022.

Another study is titled,

“Study to describe the Safety, tolerability, Immunogenicity, and Efficacy of RNA Vaccine Candidates Against COVID-19 in Healthy Individuals” (2).

The estimated study completion date is January 31, 2023.

We do have a narrow window to observe the immediate adverse impacts of the vaccines. So far, CDC data alone indicates that there have been 653 deaths and 12,044 other injuries following COVID vaccine injections (3). (Many countries are not included in this data.)

Nobody knows the medium and long term adverse vaccine-related events, so this precludes informed consent.

Since informed consent is impossible, and experimental vaccines are being administered to humans, Western governments are in violation of the Nuremberg Codes, established after the Second World War to prevent human experimentation and subsequent evils.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/western-governments-killing-own-people-again/5737407

Issue of BLM’s Relationship to the Democratic Party: Black Lives Matter Inland Empire Announces Departure from BLM Global Network.

Today Black Lives Matter Inland Empire announced its departure from the Black Lives Matter Global Network, highlighting several grievances, and perhaps, calling attention to the need for movement leaders and members of movement organizations to have broader conversations of transparency, Collective organizing and accountability. The following is a statement from Black Lives Matter Inland Empire.

Recently, a group of BLM chapters known as the BLM 10 has come forward to voice their concerns and opposition to the Global Network. Those concerns, along with the egregious conduct the Global network demonstrated on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, have brought us to the conclusion that continuing to remain silent would be an act of betrayal. While the issues and problems that have been raised have been well known within our circle for years, it prompted many questions & concerns for us locally. We’d like to let the community know everything outlined in the statement put out by the BLM 10 is valid. We’ve also reached out to the BLM 10 and offered to sign on in support. Hopefully, we can provide insight and clarification into our chapter’s history, our relationship with the global network, and our commitments going forward.

When BLM IE first started, we were originally known as the Black and Brown Underground (BBU). In 2015 we were approached by an individual named Patrisse Cullors, who offered us an opportunity to join the Global Network and organize as a Black Lives Matter chapter. After hearing her proposal, we believed that our work, direction, and principles aligned and agreed to join the network; renaming ourselves Black Lives Matter Inland Empire in the process. We were told that the organization we were joining was decentralized and leaderless, but we quickly discovered that was not the case. The Global Network is a top-down dogmatic organization that promotes certain chapters that choose to align with their direction and sequester the ones that don’t. For us locally, that chapter has been Los Angeles.

For years, the leadership of the Los Angeles chapter has aligned with the Global network and One United Bank to impose on various chapters, particularly ours. We believe that while doing this they received substantial donations and funding, despite them continually soliciting the community for donations. Together, the Los Angeles Chapter along with the Global Network have consistently tried to strong-arm other groups and have worked to undermine a grassroots movement by capitalizing on unpaid labor, suppressing any internal attempt at democracy, commodifying Black death, and profiting from the same pain and suffering inflicted on Black communities that we’re fighting to end. In spite of being ostracised, receiving no financial support, and the maltreatment from both the Global Network and Los Angeles Chapter we’ve maintained our composure while working to the benefit of our community and victims of state sanctioned violence.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) Chapters Demand “Accountability” from Trio that Cashed in on the Movement

https://www.globalresearch.ca/black-lives-matter-inland-empire-announces-departure-blm-global-network/5737426

NATO Expected to Increase Military Training Presence in Iraq

Sources told Reuters that NATO could increase troops from 500 to around 4,000 or 5,000

At the upcoming NATO ministerial meeting, military leaders from NATO countries are expected to agree to expand the alliance’s military training presence in Iraq once coronavirus restrictions ease.

NATO defense ministers, including US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, are meeting virtually on Wednesday and Thursday. Sources told Reuters that on Thursday, the military officials are expected to agree to increase NATO’s mission in Iraq from its current maximum of some 500 troops to around 4,000 or 5,000.

NATO has had a “non-combat train-and-advise” presence in Iraq since October 2018. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg discussed the increase in NATO’s training mission in Iraq on Monday, which he expects the defense ministers to agree on. “The mission will expand gradually, in response to the situation,” he said.

Afghanistan is also going to be discussed during the ministerial meeting. While the US-Taliban peace deal signed last year paved the way for a May 1st withdrawal of all foreign forces, NATO is signaling it wants to stay. There hasn’t been an official announcement, but NATO sources told Reuters that the alliance plans to stay beyond the May deadline.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/02/16/nato-expected-to-increase-military-training-presence-in-iraq/

IT exceptionalism? Putin calls out Big Tech’s ‘ideological divide’, widespread censorship

He responded to the recent statements made by Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma (lower house), who put the spotlight on Big Tech’s violation of freedom of speech

Big Tech’s efforts to restrict user access to various Internet platforms are a serious challenge, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with leaders of parliamentary factions on Wednesday.

He responded to the recent statements made by Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma (lower house), who put the spotlight on Big Tech’s violation of freedom of speech.

"What you said about these so-called platforms, IT companies, is a serious challenge not only for us - we see what has happened in the [United] States," Putin noted. According to him, it is quite obvious that such an "ideological divide" runs throughout the world.

Read also

‘Lesson for the entire world’: Kremlin weighs in on Big Tech muzzling Trump

"If they behave like that in their country, then how will they treat others, given that they consider themselves exceptional? This is a serious issue. And, of course, we should think about how to deal with it," the Russian leader reasoned.

In January, Volodin instructed the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee to urge international organizations to review the state of freedom of speech in the United States since some social media accounts of then-President Donald Trump and his supporters were locked down after the Capitol unrest in Washington DC.

Twitter permanently banned Trump’s account, citing the outgoing president’s violation of its terms of service and the possibility that Trump could use the platform to incite violence.

Moreover, Apple and Google deleted Parler, a microblogging and social networking service popular among Trump supporters, from their app stores, while Amazon decided to drop Parler from its cloud hosting services.

https://tass.com/politics/1257699

China extends online free speech crackdown, makes news, political content providers get a license

New Chinese policy forbids bloggers from writing about politics without approved credentials.

The Chinese Communist Party is extending its crackdown on free speech, requiring bloggers and other online users to have government-approved credentials to post political-related content.

The law was mandated by the Cyberspace Administration of China and is set to go into effect next week.

Ma Xiolin, one such politics writer based in China, was told to stop writing about issues relating to politics, economics, or military issues, according to the Associated Press.

"As an international affairs researcher and a columnist, it looks like I can only go the route of entertainment, food and beverage now," he said a few weeks ago.

Ma publishes his stories on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo, which informed him of the new law.

Weibo CEO Wang Gaofei said policy commentary is allowed but posting breaking original news is not without the special permit, the wire service also reports.

In recent days, the Chinese government has also banned citizens for using the new social media app Clubhouse on which they could communicate with others worldwide.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/media/china-steps-online-control-bloggers

NC Dem Senate Hopeful Backs Bill Enfranchising Violent Felons

H.R. 1 would undercut 11 states that bar heinous felons from voting

North Carolina Democratic Senate hopeful Jeff Jackson backed a bill that would immediately grant voting rights to convicted felons—including murderers and rapists—upon their release from prison.

Jackson expressed support for H.R. 1 in a Medium post, calling the legislation one of his "top priorities" should he serve in the upper chamber. Often presented as a campaign finance reform measure, the 700-page bill also guarantees voting rights for all felons who are not currently incarcerated, including those released on parole or probation and those convicted of murder and sexual offenses.

The provision is at odds with some in the Democratic Party's progressive wing. Vice President Kamala Harris, for example, argued that heinous criminals should be "deprived of their rights" during her failed presidential bid.

"Currently in our country there are 6 million people who have served their time and are still prohibited from voting … and we have got to address that immediately," Harris said in April 2019. "But do I think people who commit murder, or people who are terrorists, should be deprived of their rights? Yeah, I do. I'm a prosecutor. I believe there have to be serious consequences for the most extreme types of crimes."

Jackson, who did not return a request for comment, praised H.R. 1 for its "pro-democracy reforms" in his Medium post. The bill is unlikely to pass the Senate in its current form: Democrats lack the votes to end the filibuster, and Republicans remain united against the legislation. But a stronger Democratic majority could tip the scales if Jackson and other top recruits are successful in 2022.

If enacted, the bill would place the federal government in conflict with a majority of U.S. states, likely sparking legal challenges. Thirty states currently bar felons from voting until they are discharged from parole, and 11 states disenfranchise felons convicted of certain crimes, such as murder, rape, and election-related offenses. Public Interest Legal Foundation spokesman Logan Churchwell called H.R. 1 "a brave new experiment in pushing the Elections Clause of the Constitution to the limit and beyond."

"It doesn't matter what Texas or Florida have to say about felon re-enfranchisement—Capitol Hill leadership wants to throw their trump card on the table. Federalism be damned," Churchwell told the Washington Free Beacon. Felons in both states cannot vote on probation or parole, and Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2018 that enfranchised 1.4 million felons but excluded those convicted of murder or sexual offenses.

House Democrats first passed H.R. 1 in 2019 before then-Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) blocked it from consideration, calling the proposal a "one-sided power grab." In addition to enfranchising violent felons, the bill would mandate automatic voter registration at the DMV and preregister 16-year-olds. Current Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) introduced the legislation's Senate companion as the "first bill of the new Congress" in January, highlighting its status as a top Democratic priority.

A state lawmaker, Jackson launched his Senate bid in late January and raised $500,000 in the following two days, according to his campaign. The Democrat flirted with a 2020 bid to unseat Republican senator Thom Tillis but objected to Schumer's campaign strategy, which consisted of spending "the next 16 months in a windowless basement raising money."

Jackson will face former state senator Erica Smith in the Democratic primary. Smith ran against Tillis in 2020 but lost the primary to failed candidate Cal Cunningham, whom Schumer endorsed. Smith went on to accuse Schumer of not wanting "an African American running for Senate in North Carolina."

https://freebeacon.com/politics/nc-dem-senate-hopeful-backs-bill-enfranchising-violent-felons/

MIA: McAuliffe Corruption Probe

Federal prosecutors are missing in action in a corruption probe that at one time reportedly was zeroing in on then-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. Mr. McAuliffe served as governor from 2014 to 2018, but was barred by Virginia law from running for a second consecutive term. He’s back now, taking another shot at the Executive Mansion. He’s raised more than $6 million for the Democratic Party’s June primary, making him the frontrunner for the nomination.

It’s Mr. McAuliffe’s fundraising prowess, in fact, that has raised eyebrows throughout his storied career—and sometimes drawn the attention of law enforcement. In May 2016, the Washington Post reported that “federal prosecutors are investigating campaign contributions” to Mr. McAuliffe in what they “consider suspicious personal finances” in a year-long probe.

The investigation centered around Chinese billionaire Wang Wenliang, chairman of the Rilin Construction Group. Rilin contracts building projects around the globe for the Chinese government, including embassy construction. Wang directed $120,000 to McAuliffe’s 2013 gubernatorial campaign and pledged $2 million to the Clinton Foundation, where McAuliffe served as a board member. A spokesman for Wang told the Post that all donations were legal and properly disclosed.

McAuliffe has deep ties to the Clintons. In 1996, as national chairman of the Clinton-Gore re-election effort, he raised $50 million for his Arkansas allies but sparked a sweeping campaign-finance scandal. Later, he played key roles in the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, and Hillary’s Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. The Clintons enthusiastically backed his 2013 run for governor.

In September 2016, Wang was expelled from China’s largely ceremonial but prestigious National People’s Congress, in a vote buying scheme.

In 2019, Wang’s nephew, Dan Zhong, a senior official of the Rilin Group and a former Chinese diplomat, was convicted in federal court in New York for running a “debt bondage” scheme involving Chinese construction workers in New York City. Let’s call that what it really is: modern-day slave labor.

A Justice Department statement details the Zhong conviction. Among the guilty counts: “conspiracy to provide forced labor, providing and benefitting from forced labor, concealing passports and immigration documents in connection with forced labor (also known as document servitude), conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit visa fraud.”

For more on the Zhong case, read a Reuters’ account here. The government’s full statement on the case is here.

The Zhong case also turned up a connection to an old Clinton associate, billionaire Ng Lap Seng. A Macau casino owner with alleged ties to the Chinese government, Ng appeared in the 1996 campaign finance scandal—that’s the one presided over by Terry McAuliffe—wiring more than $1 million to a Clinton associate. Twenty years later, federal prosecutors in New York nailed him in a United Nations bribery scheme.

In the Zhong case, forced-labor teams were dispatched work on the private U.S. residences of various Chinese money men, including the Long Island mansion of Ng associate Qin Fei. According to court records, Ng was questioned by federal investigators about whether Qin had ties to Chinese intelligence.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/investigative-bulletin/mia-mcauliffe-corruption-probe/

FSB Neutralized 19 Terrorists Planning Attacks In Russia

On February 17, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had detained 19 members of the Takfir wal-Hijra militant group.

The militants were involved in propaganda of radical ideas and recruiting of new members and planning terrorist attacks in Russia’s North Caucasus.

Members of the group were detained in Karachay-Cherkessia, Crimea, Krasnodar Krai and Rostov Oblast.

During the arrests, law enforcements seized weapons and IED elements, including a cache with an RPK machine gun, an AKM machine gun, improvised explosives and a suicide bomber belt.

https://southfront.org/fsb-neutralized-19-terrorists-planning-attacks-in-russia-video/

Cyprus Police Attack Anti-Corruption Protesters

Anti-corruption protesters said on Tuesday they will hit the streets of Nicosia again next weekend despite police brutality seen last Saturday, when 11 people were arrested and riot units deployed water canons and teargas against the crowd, injuring several dozen peaceful demonstrators.

Cyprus protestPhoto of a water cannon being used by police against Cyprus protesters on a commercial street in the capital of Nicosia (Photo: Hara Hadjiadamou)According to the organizers, made up of members of civil society organizations and trade unions, among the injured was a 25-year-old woman who is at risk of permanent loss of eyesight after being hit with a water cannon.

In a Tuesday Facebook post, one of the protest’s organizers, the Cyprus Leftist Federation Movement, said that “the violent repression and police barbarism we faced… totally justify the reason why we went out onto the streets,” and called for another demonstration next Saturday.

“This is the worst violence that Cyprus has seen since 1974,” said Corina Demetriou, a lawyer who was present at the rally – alluding to a year in which Cyprus underwent a coup d'etat and an invasion by Turkey.

The Independent Authority for the Investigation of Allegations and Complaints Against the Police (IAIACAP) appointed on Tuesday four criminal investigators to probe claims of excessive violence by officers during Saturday’s protest.

The motivation for Saturday’s protest comes amidst a backdrop of public anger of government corruption. A recent survey shows that 72% of Cypriot respondents have noticed a rise in corruption cases over the last several years.

Trying to save face after its golden passport scandal, the government launched an anti-corruption campaign just two weeks ago in which it voiced its commitment towards the rule of law, transparency, and accountability.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades called it “the most sweeping initiative to establish the strongest possible protection network against corruption.”

The plan contains 47 reforms and 27 actions aiming to “improve the political, economic, social and legislative environment” and tackle money-laundering and financial crime, he said.

It also mandates a special financial crimes unit within the police and the establishment of a register of ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs), an already existing obligation under the EU’s 4th anti-money laundering directive.

The President said Cyprus will come up with other incentives for investments instead of its ‘golden passport’ program – suspended on November 1st– which had over seven years injected 9.7 billion euros (US$11.7) billion into the island’s economy but has also contributed to its drastic drop on the Transparency International’s global corruption index (CPI).

“Many of the measures announced by the government sound good in theory,” Sofronis Clerides, a Cypriot professor of Economics at the University of Cyprus, told OCCRP.

“To an uninformed outside observer, they may appear like a good road map, but it is a bit of an oxymoron to have an anti-corruption campaign being launched by a government that has been in power for eight years and is accused – with good reason – of corruption at the highest level,” he added.

According to the Cypriot economist, “it is difficult to take this campaign seriously when politicians, both those in government but also those in other parties, fail to display a basic understanding of conflict of interest.”

He said that any formative moves to address corruption in Cyprus probably won’t come from what he described as an “entrenched government.”

“It could come from a grassroots anti-corruption movement that disrupts the political system, but Cypriot history does not offer much hope that this is possible. A more plausible - but still not highly likely - scenario is for change to be imposed from outside, from EU institutions such as the European Public Prosecutor’s Office” Clerides said.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13885-cyprus-police-attack-anti-corruption-protesters

Japanese CEO and Employees Charged in Scheme to Defraud U.S. Navy and Dump Wastewater in Ocean

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/japanese-ceo-and-employees-charged-scheme-defraud-us-navy-and-dump-wastewater-ocean

Italian Mafias Operate as One Syndicate

Italy’s four traditional mafias, along with their newer and smaller counterparts, are increasingly uniting during various criminal ventures to form one cohesive group, an Italian anti-mafia prosecutor said in an interview published on Monday.

Federico Cafiero De RahoProsecutor Federico Cafiero de Raho argues that Italy’s mafias increasingly operate together. (Photo: Filippo Coppoletta, Wikimedia)Speaking to journalist and adviser to the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, Sergio Nazzaro, for the Eurispes research institute, Public Prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho said that shared cocaine shipments, money laundering and online gaming entreprises suggest an operational blurring of boundaries between Italian organized crime groups.

"The most recent judicial developments make us see that this distinction of Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, Camorra as different and separate criminal entities hardly corresponds to reality anymore," Cafiero De Raho said.

“The various mafias operate together, as a single entity,” he concluded.

This allegedly includes not just the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, Campanian Camorra and Pugliese Sacra Corona Unita, but also newer groups such as the Foggia Mafia and Gargano Mafia.

Such criminal consolidation is not a recent phenomenon, according to Sergio Nazzaro, but has taken investigators several years to fully discern. The result has been that investigators’ sharp focus on the individual activities of different groups and clans has sometimes led them to miss broader connections between these groups.

“We were following different leads but in reality there was just one masterplan,” he told OCCRP.

While collaboration has always occurred across these groups alongside competition, it would be false to claim the groups have merged, according to Federico Varese, Professor of Criminology at Oxford University.

“Induction rituals remain separate, and the territory they control is different. It is possible that occasionally they use the same person to launder money, although even that I would expect to be a very rare event,” Varese told OCCRP.

“In any case, if two legal firms use the same bank it does not follow that they are the same entity,” he said.

The Prosecutor said that law enforcement needs to learn from organized crime and promote a greater collaboration at the regional, national and international level.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13888-italian-mafias-operate-as-one-syndicate

Breaking911

@Breaking911

NEW: A federal judge in California has blocked a Trump-era regulation that sought to limit the ability of Central American migrants to claim asylum in the United States

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1362086065805361152

Joe Biden Suggests Blacks and Hispanics Are Too Stupid to Figure Out How to “Get Online”

Joe Biden’s CNN town hall last night was an absolute dumpster fire.

Anderson Cooper asked Joe Biden softball questions such as, “What it is like to live in the White House?”

But despite the softball questions and Democrat plants in the audience Joe Biden managed to say one gaffe after another.

At one point Biden suggested that Blacks and Hispanics who live in the inner cities are too stupid to figure out how to get online.

Whose idea was it to allow Joe Biden to speak without his teleprompter?

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/joe-biden-suggests-blacks-hispanics-stupid-figure-get-online-video/

‘If You Attack Our Cities We’ll Attack Yours’, Hezbollah Warns Amid Massive Israeli Air Force Drills

The Israeli Air Force carried out 60 hours of exercises ending Tuesday. The drills involved some 85 percent of all Air Force personnel, and simulated attacks against more than 3,000 Hezbollah targets, as well as Lebanese civilian infrastructure, in response to a hypothetical Hezbollah attack on an IAF plane.

Hezbollah is not interested in starting a conflict with Israel, but will resort to a fiery response if attacked, Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese militia and political movement’s secretary-general, has warned.

“We are not looking for a confrontation but we do not forget the blood of our martyrs,” Nasrallah said in an address on Lebanese television on Tuesday. “But should a confrontation take place, we will engage in it. I warn that even the game of ‘a few days of fighting’ will be a dangerous game for the Israelis and would lead them to undesirable consequences.”

“Should war erupt, Israelis will see events they haven’t witnessed since Israel’s inception. So, stop playing with fire. We are in the Resistance Era,” Nasrallah added.

Accusing Tel Aviv of acting outside international law and of blindly “destroying cities and killing civilians in all its wars”, Nasrallah warned that if war does break out, Hezbollah would resort to in-kind retaliations. “If Israel bombs cities in Lebanon, we’ll bomb cities in Israel, and if it bombs villages in Lebanon, we’ll bomb towns in Israel. If the IDF bombs our military targets, we can also attack Israeli military targets,” he said.

The Hezbollah chief’s comments came after the wrap-up of 60 straight hours-worth of drills by the Israeli Air Force, with the exercises, dubbed the ‘Galilee Rose’ taking place between Sunday and Tuesday, and involving about 85 percent of the IAF’s personnel, including pilots, technicians, and reservists. The drills were based on the premise of a hypothetical Hezbollah missile attack on an IAF fighter, and invoked shock and awe-style attacks on targets in Lebanon, including bridges, power plants and airports. The drills also included training for concentrated strikes on over 3,000 Hezbollah targets over a 24 hour window, and air defence training against Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israeli military bases and cities.

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202102171082104201-if-you-attack-our-cities-well-attack-yours-hezbollah-warns-amid-massive-israeli-air-force-drills/

Virginia Now Starting Another Garbage Audit – Using a 1980 Audit Program to Catch 2020 Voter Fraud

Virginia announced it started an audit of the 2020 election results yesterday on February 16th. The state publicizes the audit as the answer to any questions about the 2020 election. Unfortunately, this is not true.

The state of Virginia announced this week that their audit started yesterday statewide. The Department of Elections shared:

Virginia’s 133 localities will take part in a statewide post-election Risk Limiting Audit of the 2020 U.S. presidential and Senate elections, a procedural step where ballot scanner machines used in November will be inspected.

The Virginia Department of Elections then provided the following summary of what they will do:

● Creating a ballot manifest – Localities will create a simple spreadsheet that lists all of the containers or the batches that contain the ballots cast and how many ballots are in each batch. All types of ballots are to be included (in person, mail-in, provisional, etc.).

● Uploading the ballot manifest – once the ballot manifest is completed, localities will upload the spreadsheet into VotingWorks’ audit software.

● Generating a Random Seed Number & ballot selection – ELECT and VotingWorks will hold another virtual meeting on February 22 to generate the random seed number. The random seed number is a 20-digit number created by a roll of dice. The random seed number entered into the audit system software generates the list of ballots for retrieval by each locality.

● Ballot Retrieval lists – Localities will receive a list of ballots to review. The lists will include which batches to open and the ballot(s) to retrieve. Localities will have three days to upload the vote tallies from the ballots retrieved.

● Ballot retrieval – Each locality will hold a public meeting to retrieve the ballots on the ballot retrieval list. A review board of two people from each participating locality will retrieve ballots and record the Presidential and Senatorial votes on a tally sheet. Some localities in the Commonwealth will not have to retrieve any ballots and not need to have a meeting.

● Entering ballot tallies – After retrieving the ballots, localities will enter the vote(s) cast for the Presidential and Senatorial contest on each ballot VotingWorks’ audit software.

A voter might think this work is alright – a worthwhile exercise. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This audit is like performing a 1980 audit to catch 2020 election fraud. This audit is garbage.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/virginia-now-starting-another-garbage-audit-using-a1980-audit-program-catch-2020-voter-fraud/

World's Largest Asset Manager: "We've Started To Dabble In Bitcoin"

Bitcoin's recent surge, above $51,000 this morning, has been accompanied by a growing acceptance and adoption by many across the institutional space - from hedge funds to 'the oldest bank in America' and from corporate treasuries to payment systems providers.

And now, Rick Rieder, CIO of BlackRock, says the biggest asset manager in the world has "started to dabble" in bitcoin:

"…people are looking for store-houses of value, people are looking for assets that could appreciate under the assumption that inflation moves higher as debts are building… and we have started to dabble in it."

While unwilling to put a figure on a suggested allocation for investors, Rieder added that:

"…the technology and the regulation has evolved to the point where a number of people find that it should be part of the portfolio, and that's what's driving the price up."

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/worlds-largest-asset-manager-weve-started-dabble-bitcoin

News Corp. and Google reach global news-sharing deal

News Corp., the parent company of the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal, said it has reached a three-year agreement to provide content from its news sites around the globe to Google in exchange for “significant payments” from the search giant.

The deal appears to resolve a long-simmering standoff between News Corp. and Google that has spilled across multiple continents and spurred government efforts worldwide to curb Google’s growing dominance over online advertising, most prominently in Australia.

In addition to the Wall Street Journal and The Post, among the News Corp. publications participating in “Google News Showcase” in the US will be Barron’s and MarketWatch, the company said Wednesday. In the UK, the Times, the Sunday Times of London and the Sun will participate, and in Australia, it will include a range of news platforms including The Australian, news.com.au, Sky News and multiple local titles.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but News Corp. said the deal involves the development of a subscription platform, the sharing of ad revenue via Google’s ad technology services, the cultivation of audio journalism and meaningful investments in innovative video journalism by YouTube.

Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp., said the deal would have “a positive impact on journalism around the globe as we have firmly established that there should be a premium for premium journalism.”

“I would like to thank Sundar Pichai and his team at Google who have shown a thoughtful commitment to journalism that will resonate in every country,” Thomson said. “This has been a passionate cause for our company for well over a decade and I am gratified that the terms of trade are changing, not just for News Corp., but for every publisher.”

News Corp. shares were recently off 1.6 percent at $23.42. Shares of Google parent Alphabet dipped 0.5 percent to $2,101.03.

The deal comes as pressure has been mounting on social-media giants Facebook and Google to share revenue with the media companies that produce content that appear on the tech giants’ platforms and which help them generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue. Last week, Microsoft weighed in, throwing its weight behind the publishers.

Google said last year that it plans to distribute $1 billion to media companies over the next three years.

Media companies worldwide are watching as Australia is on the brink of passing a law that would allow companies to join forces and negotiate directly with the tech titans for payment. The bill passed from committee to the full legislature on Tuesday and is expected to be passed into law. Google has chafed at the government proposal and has threatened to deny search engine access in Australia if the bill becomes law.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/17/news-corp-and-google-reach-global-news-sharing-deal/