Pelosi’s $1.9 Trillion COVID Bill Includes Up to $21,000 Bonus for Federal Workers Whose Kids or Family Members Are Impacted by Virus

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

— A famous line from George Orwell’s famous novel Animal Farm.

The US House is expected to vote on the Pelosi $1.9 Trillion COVID relief bill and Democrat wish list on Friday.

The bill is expected to give average Americans $1,400 each.

But if you work in government you can collect up to another $21,000 in a bonus!

The Democrat bill gives federal workers an extra $21,000 if they have kids out of school or loved ones affected by the coronavirus.

This is exactly what Socialist hellholes do — Government workers get the goodies as the rest of society suffers.

Forbes reported:

The U.S. House version of the “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021” – a $1.9 trillion emergency aid package to help America recover from the coronavirus pandemic has an extra perk for federal workers: Enhanced paid time off if your child is enrolled in a school that isn’t back to full-time, in-classroom instruction.

Critics call it a personal bailout for bureaucrats. It is funded through a new $570 million family leave account exclusively for federal workers.

While millions of parents struggle to work from home with kids who are enrolled in shuttered or partially shuttered schools, and millions more left the workforce or lost jobs to care for their at-home children, evidently parents in the federal bureaucracy need their own, personal Covid-19 bailout…

…Under the bill as currently drafted, full-time federal employees can take up to 600 hours in paid leave until September 30, up to $35 an hour and $1,400 a week. That’s 15 weeks for a 40-hour employee. Part-time and “seasonal” employees are eligible, too, with equivalent hours established by their agency.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/pelosis-1-9-trillion-covid-bill-includes-21000-bonus-federal-workers-whose-kids-family-members-impacted-virus/

700+ children remain in detention at US border, 200 for over 48 hours, amid spike in unaccompanied crossings – media

Hundreds of unaccompanied minors have been held at the US border waiting to be processed, Axios reported. Almost a third of them have been lingering in detention for more than two days, as the backlog piles up.

Around 700 minors who crossed into the US on their own were kept in Border Patrol Custody as of Sunday, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing an internal Customs and Border Protection document.

By that time, around 200 children had already been held up for over 48 hours, and in the case of nine child migrants, for over 72 hours, which exceeds the maximum limit under the Flores Settlement Agreement, which stipulates that CBP cannot hold children for more than three days. Per the same agreement, asylum-seeking children transferred to ICE detention centers cannot spend more than 20 days there, after which they must be released.

The processing system is under increasing strain due to an influx of child migrants. In January, CBP encountered 5,707 child migrants at the southwest border, almost a thousand more than in December (4,855).

President Biden, who was promising a U-turn from the Trump administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy, has recently come under fire for reopening a child detention facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas. The Biden administration was quick to defend the move as a temporary fix in the times of pandemic, arguing that the infamous Trump facility was reopened since the Office of Refugee Resettlement cannot house as many asylum seekers as before due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

Still, the decision has drawn comparison with Trump’s vilified “keeping children in cages” policy, and has drawn scorn from fellow Democrats, such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

https://www.rt.com/usa/516513-migrant-children-detention-backlog/

India introduces strict new rules on social media companies in battle on ‘double standards’

The Indian government announced new regulations on social media giants, which will come into force in three months, as part of its campaign to tackle the “double standards” of these companies in removing content.

The new measures will impact social media companies, streaming services and online news sites, requiring them to remove content within 24 hours of a complaint being filed.

Companies will also be legally obliged to provide information to the Indian court system or the country’s government outlining the origin of tweets that are deemed “mischievous” if asked.

The legislation was brought forward by the government following last month’s violence at New Delhi’s Red Fort, when farmers protested agricultural reforms in the country. While Twitter initially complied with government requests to remove users and tweets that mentioned the demonstrations, they later backtracked and reinstated the accounts.

This reversal sparked condemnation from the country’s information technology minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, who accused Twitter of “double standards” and compared the company’s response to content from the attack on the US Capitol two weeks before Indian police and farmers clashed at the Red Fort in New Delhi.

Alongside the changes they will have to make to their internal policies, social media companies operating in India will now be required to appoint a chief compliance officer and a grievance redressal officer who will be based there to handle complaints raised within the country.

Facebook and Twitter have not commented on the new legislation or indicated whether they will be willing to comply with the requirements.

https://www.rt.com/news/516570-india-new-rules-social-media-companies/

‘Stop this child abuse now!’: Washington high school band practice in anti-Covid TENTS gets ridiculed

A student band at a high school in Wenatchee, Washington was made to practice inside small, enclosed tents. Some ridiculed this protective measure against Covid-19 amid the reopening of schools across the US.

The Wenatchee High School children have been back at school since January 26, however with strict coronavirus measures in place.

Photos posted on Wednesday by local newspaper Wenatchee World showed the young musicians awkwardly confined to their small, green, socially-distanced tents as they tried to play their instruments, prompting many to ridicule the situation.

“This is what happens when parents can't or won't draw a line,” commented one social media user. While TV host Bill Spadea wrote, “WTF are these cowardly and ignorant adults doing to an entire generation of kids? When will we hold the school administrators accountable for this insanity.”

Podcast host Michael Berry also mocked the photos, tweeting, “Idiots abound.”

Others called the display “taxpayer funded child abuse” and “madness,” and questioned whether schools should even be opening if such drastic safety measures are required.

“Please stop this child abuse now!” protested Republican Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. “End this nonsense, America!”

Some Americans, however, came out in support of sealing up the band kids.

“I applaud their efforts of maintaining their standards while still trying to adhere to safety. While it may look ridiculous, these kids wouldn't do it if they didn't want to,” reacted one user.

The reopening of schools in the United States has varied by state.

Back in December, President Joe Biden pledged to open the majority of schools in the first 100 days of his term.

Biden himself has called it “a national emergency” that about 20 million US children have been kept out of classrooms for nearly a year. Deprived of socialization and normal school activities, vulnerable children are at a higher risk for suicide. NRP reported earlier this month that hospital providers in at least seven states across the country reported a surge in admissions of suicidal children.

The CDC has said that schools can safely reopen, even without teachers first being vaccinated.

https://www.rt.com/usa/516544-washington-band-kids-covid-tent/

Most Major Retail Brokerages Suffer Outages As 'Meme Stock'-Mania Continues

Downdetector reports customers of E-Trade, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, Robinhood, and Fidelity are experiencing outages and issues 30 minutes into the US cash session on Thursday. This comes as heavily-watched so-called 'meme stocks' are higher after yesterday's late-day gamma squeeze in GME (and AMC, among others).

E-Trade outages and issues were detected around the cash session start.

The resurgence in bullish sentiment towards WSB-Short-Squeeze favorites began Wednesday afternoon, with GameStop doubling in minutes.

In a virtual conference on Thursday, Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Pruzan said the number of trades customers are making daily on the self-directed online trading platform E*Trade is "off the charts."

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/etrade-and-td-ameritrade-suffer-outages-meme-stock-mania-continues

Police Lieutenant Who Shot and Killed Ashli Babbitt – Lead Murder Suspect in Ashli Babbitt Case

On January 6th, 2021, Ashli Elizabeth Babbitt was executed by a Capitol Police Officer who seemed to hold no restraint.

50 days later, the Capitol Police Officer responsible has been identified in photos before and during the shooting.

The Police Lieutenant’s name is being withheld from Ashli Babbit’s attorneys.

You can see the Officer disregards nearly every basic firearm safety rule in the book. His finger is wrapped around the trigger, while his firearm is aimed in the direction of his colleagues.

The Officer could not see three uniformed Officers against the wall nearest to Ashli, was not able to see how far down the crowd extended, saw a hallway full of “oncoming people“, and claims Ashli Babbitt wearing a backpack compounded his fears leading to the shooting.

He contradicted himself multiple times in one statement. If he is telling the truth about not seeing the Officers, he is lying about Ashli Babbitt’s backpack compounding to his fears.

Unless he has X-Ray Vision.

More

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/breaking-exclusive-police-lieutenant-shot-killed-ashli-babbitt-lead-murder-suspect-ashli-babbitt-case/

Pennsylvania Poll Watchers Testified About Election Fraud and Irregularities in 2020 Election – Then AG Special Agents Harassed Them and Now They’re Being Sued

Leah Hoopes and Gregory Stenstrom were GOP poll watchers in Chester Pennsylvania during the 2020 election.

The far left officials running the elections forced the GOP poll watchers into a small pen where they could not witness the counting of ballots. This was a common tactic used in swing states by far left officials during the 2020 election. GOP poll watchers were abused and prevented from doing their job.

This resulted in massive chain of custody issues across the US — and always hampering Republican poll watchers, never the other way around. This is one tactic Democrats used to cheat and steal the election.

Leah Hoopes later told her story to Rob Schmitt on Newsmax TV.

After Leah Hoopes and Gregory Stenstrom testified in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, special agents from the state Attorney General’s office showed up at their door to harass them.

And now Delaware County is suing Leah and Greg for court costs after they spoke out nationally on the voter fraud they witnessed in their county.

If you’d like to give to their legal defense fund, click here.

Bill Lawrence Online reported:

Leah Hoopes and Gregory Stenstrom are being sued for costs — claimed to be $19,224.56 — relating to their actions against the Delaware County (Pa.) Board of Elections for perceived irregularities stemming from the Nov. 3 election.

Leah and Strenstrom –who were Delaware County Board of Elections certified poll watchers and observers at the counting center — testified at the Nov. 25 hearing in Gettysburg before state senators that the chain of custody for ballots was shattered in Delaware County, and the USB drives containing records from voting machines disappeared.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/pennsylvania-poll-watchers-testified-election-fraud-irregularities-2020-election-ag-special-agents-harassed-now-sued/

‘Completely defiant’ minority have no regard for Covid-19 rules, police say, as almost 70,000 fines issued in England and Wales

A total of 68,952 fixed penalty notices have been handed out by police officers in England and Wales since Covid-19 laws came into effect last year, with more than 10,000 given in London alone.

Data compiled by the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) on penalties from March 27, 2020, when the Covid-19 laws took effect, through to February 14, 2021 was released on Thursday.

In the week beginning January 27, police handed out their highest weekly total of the pandemic to date, issuing 6,218 tickets.

“Eleven months on and back into a national lockdown, the rules are really clear and so it is frustrating that we still have a small number of completely defiant and irresponsible people who have no regard for the safety of themselves or others,” NPCC chairman Martin Hewitt said of the coronavirus rule breaches.

In the past few weeks alone, police shut down an illegal nightclub in Birmingham with more than 150 people packed inside over two floors. Officers were pelted with bottles and glasses, and one was injured when a door was smashed open as those inside tried to get out and evade the police.

In Greater Manchester, officers discovered a party that had descended into violence, after receiving reports of up to 50 people fighting, and in South London, an officer was admitted to hospital after being injured while responding to reports of a mass gathering. Glasses, bricks and other objects were thrown at officers, and seven other people were also injured.

Hefty fines are still being meted out to Covid-19 rule-breakers. Police in Nottingham on Saturday fined the organiser of a church group’s meet-up, held in a pub car park, £10,000 for the incident.

Meanwhile, in Hertfordshire, a funeral director was hit with a £10,000 fine after 150 people turned up at a service on Saturday. Under current Covid-19 laws, a maximum of six people are allowed to attend a wake or a ‘celebration of life’ event, while up to 30 people are allowed to attend a funeral service.

The NPCC figures show that 272 fines for £10,000 apiece have been handed to organisers of mass gatherings – including illegal raves, parties and protests – in England, and three in Wales. Over 480 penalties of £800 have been issued to people attending gatherings of more than 15 people.

https://www.rt.com/uk/516580-police-fines-covid-england-wales/

School board VP: 'Forcing' teachers back to class before they're vaccinated is 'a very white supremacist ideology,' akin to 'slavery'

'We don't have to give anybody any date!' the VP hollered at her fellow board members. 'We don't have to do anything that we don't want to do right now.'

A California school board vice president argued that "forcing" teachers back into classrooms before they receive COVID-19 vaccinations "seems like a very white supremacist ideology" and is akin to "slavery."

Chardá Bell-Fontenot, vice president of the La Mesa-Spring Valley Board of Education, sparred with numerous board members during Tuesday's virtual meeting and even appeared to accuse district Superintendent David Feliciano of "racism" after he found some of her comments "offensive."

What are the details?

The primary issue was setting a date for teachers to return to in-person instruction. While it appeared most of the individuals at the meeting — Bell-Fontenot's video thumbnail was not onscreen, but her voice could be heard — were in favor of setting a return date, Bell-Fontenot was opposed to making a decision at the meeting.

While one of the proposals involved giving time for teachers to get vaccinated, at least one board member insisted that waiting wasn't necessary. Bell-Fontenot took issue with the idea of "forcing" teachers to return to classrooms without being vaccinated, which she said "seems like a very white supremacist ideology" and akin to "racism."

Several outlets said Bell-Fontenot did not respond to their requests for comment.

"We don't have to give anybody any date!" Bell-Fontenot hollered at one point. "We don't have to do anything that we don't want to do right now. That's what you don't understand. I don't know where you're getting your information, or who's telling you that we have to make a decision today, but that is not how this works."

When a board member argued that a survey indicated 70% to 80% support for returning to school, Bell-Fontenot replied, "Who are the 70 to 80 percent, and where are they? I would like to know geographically from which school sites, which language groups, and how they conducted this feedback. Where? Please give it to me before I can make a decision. I can't make one. I cannot make one. And I will not make one."

When one individual said Bell-Fontenot could abstain from voting, Bell-Fontenot shot back, "There's no reason to be nasty with me." And again, when it was put to her that she's "welcome" to vote no, Bell-Fontenot replied, "I know what I'm what I'm welcome to do, you guys. I do. And I know that what we're doing is wrong."

https://www.theblaze.com/news/school-board-vp-forcing-teachers-back-to-class-racism

Maryland teacher’s aide seen masturbating during Zoom lesson with kids

A teacher’s aide in Maryland masturbated during a Zoom call with eighth-graders — but insists he thought the online lesson had ended.

Marc Schack, an assistant for special education students at Shady Grove Middle School in Gaithersburg, told the Bethesda Magazine Wednesday he was unaware his self-love session had been captured on the virtual call until being interviewed.

“I thought I was logged out when class was over,” Schack told the bimonthly mag. “I had no clue that Zoom was still on. Why would I do that? That’s my job. I had no clue that Zoom was on. I mean, that’s just crazy behavior.”

A 13-second clip — later posted on social media – shows Schack gaze at his screen before standing up, taking a few steps away and beginning to pleasure himself, according to the report.

Schack’s name appeared on the screen as the host of the Zoom call. Seconds later, another name appeared, replacing him as the moderator.

The 21-year employee for Montgomery County Public Schools – who also runs Pirate Magic, a business that throws “pirate parties” for youngsters while he portrays a character named “Captain Silly Bones” – said he has since been placed on administrative leave.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/25/teachers-aide-seen-masturbating-had-no-clue-zoom-was-on/

AT&T Doubles Down On Working With CCP, Confirms Everything Tucker Carlson, National File Reported

AT&T doubles down on working with a CCP-controlled company that assists with the genocide of the Uyghur ethnic minority.

National File originally reported that AT&T petitioned the United States government to allow it to continue working with China Telecom, a company wholly owned by the Chinese Communist government, that former Undersecretary of Commerce Corey Stewart revealed gives location data about members of the Uyghur ethnic minority and other dissidents to the Chinese government so they can arrest and send them to concentration camps.

After Stewart appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss National File’s reporting, AT&T doubled down, defending its decision to work with and lobby on behalf of a CCP-controlled company that allegedly assists in what the U.S. State Department considers a “genocide” of an ethnic minority.

First reiterating their original statement, obtained by National File, which defended the decision to work with the CCP-controlled company because it allowed them to make large profits while serving companies located in the Chinese mainland, AT&T then used bullet points to highlight their financial motivations.

“By law in China, without a relationship with a licensed Chinese communications company, AT&T (or any other non-Chinese carrier) cannot fulfill its obligation to support our US based clients operating in China,” wrote AT&T in one bullet point. “In the absence of that, such support would be provided by a Chinese state-owned enterprise instead of AT&T or any other American company,” they added in another.

https://nationalfile.com/att-doubles-down-on-working-with-ccp-confirms-everything-tucker-carlson-national-file-reported/

ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC Ignore Andrew Cuomo Sex Harassment Claim

America’s three most prominent networks–ABC, NBC, and CBS–ignored any mention of sexual harassment claims against Gov. Andrew Cuomo during their evening news programs Wednesday. CNN and MSNBC also declined to address the scandal.

According to transcripts, ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS’s Evening News, and NBC’s Nightly News made no mention of the embattled Cuomo, who is also facing calls for his impeachment and resignation after he was accused of covering up the number of deaths from the coronavirus in state nursing homes following his controversial order that these facilities accept coronavirus-positive patients.

Cuomo’s former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser Lindsey Boylan alleged on Wednesday in an essay published on the website Medium that the governor went “out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs,” forcibly kissed her on the lips during a one-on-one briefing, and suggested they “play strip poker” during a plane ride.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) later on Wednesday called for Cuomo to resign in the wake of twin scandals over his handling of data on coronavirus deaths in the state’s nursing homes and allegations of sexual harassment by a former aide.

Boylan’s allegations come as Cuomo’s administration is under investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn following reports that the governor’s top aide told Democrat lawmakers officials withheld the nursing home data due to concerns that the figures could “be used against us” in a federal investigation.

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2021/02/25/abc-nbc-cbs-cnn-msnbc-ignore-andrew-cuomo-sex-harassment-claim/

Report: Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago Ranked Most Corrupt City in America

A report by the University of Illinois claims Chicago is the most corrupt city in America, according to a WGN 9 article published Thursday.

“The report is based on data from the justice department, which looked at public corruption convictions between 1976 and 2019,” the outlet said.

In that time period, the city had almost 1800 convictions, more than Los Angeles which had the second highest. New York came in third.

The university’s annual report, co-authored by professor Dick Simpson, also said Illinois is the third-most corrupt state, according to WTTW.

The outlet continued:

In 2019, there were 26 public corruption convictions in the Northern District of Illinois, which includes all of Chicago and the northern third of Illinois — double the number recorded in 2018, according to the report. The rest of the state had six additional public corruption convictions in 2019 for a state total of 32, according to Simpson’s findings based on the most recent DOJ data available.

[…]

In May 2019, Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) was indicted on 14 counts of racketeering, bribery and extortion based on evidence that he repeatedly — and brazenly — used his powerful position at City Hall to force those doing business with the city to hire his private law firm. Burke has pleaded not guilty.

Due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the voluminous amount of evidence regarding the case, Burke has not yet stood trial.

“Former Ald. Willie Cochran (20th Ward) pleaded guilty in June 2019 to wire fraud in connection with allegations he used a charitable fund for personal expenses. Cochran was sentenced to a year and a day in prison,” the WTTW report added.

Meanwhile, at least 18 individuals were shot, two fatally, last weekend in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago, according to Breitbart News.

The first of the two fatalities was a man found facedown on a sidewalk Saturday morning. He had been shot in the back of the head and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

More than 4,100 people were shot in Chicago from January 1, 2020, through December 27, 2020, Breitbart News reported.

https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2021/02/25/report-chicago-ranked-most-corrupt-city-in-america/

Hunter Biden Accused of Smuggling Ex-Stripper into Swedish Govt-Owned Embassy Building

Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, has been accused of smuggling guests, including an ex-stripper, past security into a Swedish state-owned building that houses several embassies in Washington D.C.

The House of Sweden building in Washington DC houses the Swedish and Icelandic embassies, as well as office suites and events spaces. Mr Biden, who rented office space in the exclusive modernist building starting in February of 2017, is said to have allowed guests to circumvent security to the building after office hours.

The allegations come as part of a series of emails obtained by Swedish media of a real estate representative for the building discussing the matter with Mr Biden himself, best-selling Swedish newspaper Expressen reports.

“It has again come to my attention that it appears that visitors have gained access to number 507 through the northern entrance after office hours – as we have 24/7 video surveillance throughout the building. Help us keep the building safe by following House of Sweden’s rules,” an email to Biden read.

In response, Biden subtly accused the building staff of racism saying, “If NN has a problem with my guests’ race or attire, I think we should all sit down and talk about it with a lawyer present.”

According to Expressen, one of the guests was a woman named Lunden Roberts, a former stripper who made headlines after it was revealed she’d had a child with Mr Biden.

At the time, Mr Biden is said to have told the real estate company complaining of security breaches at the embassy building that Roberts worked as a basketball coach for his daughter and the daughter of former President Barack Obama.

Hunter Biden has made headlines for years over his prior problems with drug addiction and links to the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, on which he served as a board member in 2014.

His father, President Biden, has also been suspected of involvement in not just Burisma but also in Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings, with leaked emails allegedly implicating the senior Biden in being involved in Hunter Biden’s business relationships directly.

Burisma adviser Vadym Pozharskyi is said to have thanked Hunter Biden in an email from 2015 for introducing him to his father, who at the time served as Vice President under President Obama.

Earlier this month, White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed that Hunter Biden was attempting to divest his share in an investment firm that was formed along with Chinese state-owned entities.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/24/claim-hunter-biden-smuggled-ex-stripper-into-swedish-embassy-building/

Huawei Defies Rejection in U.S., Europe, and Australia to Make Big Middle East Inroads

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is enjoying an extended honeymoon with oil-rich Gulf nations, despite being criticised in the United States and Europe as a potential security threat.

Arab Gulf countries — strategic partners of Washington that are seeking to diversify their economies — are investing heavily in the sector as their appetite for technology grows.

Huawei has struggled in recent years in the face of US sanctions, as Washington claims Huawei has close ties to China’s military and that Beijing could use its equipment for espionage — accusations the company denies.

Britain and Sweden have banned the use of Huawei equipment in their 5G networks, while France has also imposed restrictions.

Yet Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have not only chosen Huawei for their 5G rollouts, but have also partnered with the company to develop “smart cities.”

These feature enhanced digital services and security surveillance — a Huawei speciality Gulf states value highly for monitoring their populations.

Gulf countries’ “use of technologies for population surveillance is closer to the practices of China than those of Western countries,” said Camille Lons, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Concerns about Huawei voiced in the US and Europe “weren’t convincing” in the region, she told AFP.

– Mitigating ‘political pressures’ –

While the telecoms giant has had a strong presence in the Gulf since the 1990s, its deals and big announcements there have multiplied in recent years.

In January, Saudi Arabia announced it would open the largest Huawei store outside China in Riyadh, a few months after a deal with the company on developing artificial intelligence to support public and private sector growth.

Last summer, Saudi investment firm Batic cemented a deal with Huawei to work on “smart city” projects in the kingdom, where it is already a main partner in the Yanbu Smart Industrial City project on the Red Sea.

Huawei has also developed apps and digital infrastructure to support Muslim pilgrims visiting Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest sites.

“By gaining the trust of our partners in the Middle East, we have been able to mitigate external political pressures like those pursued by the US,” Charles Yang, Huawei’s Middle East chief, told AFP from the company’s headquarters in Dubai.

In the high-tech emirate, one of seven that make up the UAE, Huawei has launched projects ranging from data storage to online payment services for public transport networks.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2021/02/25/huawei-defies-rejection-in-u-s-europe-and-australia-to-make-big-middle-east-inroads/

Belgium gave pharmacists 15 million TOXIC Covid facemasks that can cause pneumonia, health chiefs fear

Health concerns over 15 million masks provided to pharmacists in Belgium

The masks contain silver and titanium dioxide which could prove harmful

Sciensano has responded by saying its too early to draw any conclusions

Health chiefs in Belgium are concerned that 15 million fabric masks given to pharmacists may be toxic and cause pneumonia.

According to a preliminary report carried out by Sciensano, the Belgian Institute for Public Health, the masks contain nanoparticles of silver and titanium dioxide that when inhaled could damage the respiratory tract.

The face masks were made in Asia by Luxembourg-based company Avrox.

Two toxicologists warned that those who wear the masks could develop pneumonia, according to a report in Dutch-language newspaper HLN.

The nanoparticles of silver and titanium dioxide are used to whiten the fabric of the face masks.

'Sooner or later you can ingest these nanoparticles, especially if the mask is washed and worn regularly.

'They can easily end up in the lungs and blood,' toxicologist Alfred Bernard said.

Sciensano released a press statement after the results of the report were leaked, saying that they should be interpreted with caution as it was only the 'first phase' of the study.

'These are the first results of the first phase of a study and it is important to interpret them with caution.

'Based on the current data, it cannot be determined whether these nanoparticles actually come out of the masks and to what extent the users are exposed to them.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9296137/Belgium-gave-pharmacists-15-million-TOXIC-Covid-facemasks.html

The Dangers of Cryptocurrency - Catherine Austin Fitts

Health Secretary Matt Hancock and NHS Sued Over £23.5 Mln Contract With US Data Firm Linked to CIA

Palantir was set up in 2003 by German-born tech billionaire Peter Thiel and four business associates. It specialises in storing big data and allowing corporations and governments to visualise it to solve problems.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock is being sued over a £23.5 million contract with Silicon Valley data firm Palantir.

In March 2020 the NHS hired Palantir to store massive amounts of health data which were accruing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The temporary deal was extended in December for two years.

Open Democracy is suing NHS England for failing to carry out a fresh Data Protection Impact Assessment when the deal was extended in December.

Open Democracy, which is crowdfunding the £30,000 cost of the litigation, said on its website: "Palantir is best known for powering US intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its founder Peter Thiel, a Trump-backing Silicon Valley billionaire, famously once wrote 'I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible'."

Under the deal, NHS data is anonymised before it is handed over to Palantir, which contributes its software and staff, but the NHS insists the data remains under its control.

But last month Phil Booth, a coordinator of medConfidential, a group which campaigns for patient confidentiality and consent in Britain, said the extended deal was a “significant expansion” well beyond the health emergency posed by the pandemic.

Mr Booth said: “It is one thing to use Palantir's data integration capabilities during a declared public health emergency, it is quite another to begin to embed them in the day-to-day running of aspects of the NHS and wider care system.”

​On Tuesday, 24 February, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported Palantir had been conducting a charm offensive against the NHS since the summer of 2019.

It said on 2 July 2019, on the eve of the NHS launching a new technology arm, that Palantir’s UK chief, Louis Mosley hosted a meal attended by NHS England chair David Prior at which watermelon cocktails were served.

Palantir - named after a seeing stone in the book Lord Of The Rings - is known for its work with the CIA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States.

The firm’s software provided the intelligence which enabled a massive ICE raid on poultry processing plants in Mississippi in August 2019 which led to 680 suspected illegal immigrants being arrested and held for deportation. Dozens of children came home to find their parents had been deported.

In February Palantir forecast revenue growth of 30 percent this year, down from 47 percent last year, when it won a number of government contracts, including from the US Army and Air Force.

An NHS spokesman told the BBC an impact assessment had been done in April, "and an update will be published in due course".

https://sputniknews.com/uk/202102251082182535-health-secretary-matt-hancock-and-nhs-sued-over-235-mln-contract-with-us-data-firm-linked-to-cia/

Facebook bans Myanmar military accounts with immediate effect over coup

Facebook announced in a blog post on Thursday that it has removed Instagram and Facebook accounts used by Myanmar’s military to communicate with the public in the wake of a coup by the armed forces in the Asian nation.

The social media company said it was left with no choice but to ban the accounts following the “deadly violence” in the country after the coup, believing that it was too risky to allow the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, to remain on its platforms.

Facebook will also remove and prevent all Tatmadaw-linked commercial entities from advertising on its platforms.

The tech company had previously removed 20 military-linked individuals – including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing – and organizations from the site in 2019 over “severe human rights violations,” and taken down six “Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior networks” run by the Tatmadaw in the last two years.

The social media site said it had based its decision on information provided in the UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar’s 2019 report, the economic interests of the country’s military, and the UN guiding principles on business and human rights.

Protesters and military figures have been clashing in Myanmar after the army seized power and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1. With demonstrations taking place daily, the state broadcaster, which is linked to the military, has threatened to use lethal force against protesters.

As protesters took to the streets in the country, the military has also implemented an internet blackout, cutting off access to social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in a an attempt to silence dissent and cut off the ability of anti-coup activists to communicate.

https://www.rt.com/news/516529-facebook-bans-myanmar-military-immediate-effect/

Watch: Leaked Video Shows Tech Boss Describing How All Conservatives Will Be Frozen Out of the Market

https://youtu.be/GBUK1jMvKAE

https://thomasdishaw.com/watch-leaked-video-shows-tech-boss-describing-how-all-conservatives-will-be-frozen-out-of-the-market/

Secret documents reveal Saudi Khashoggi killers used private jet Crown Prince had seized - as U.S. prepares to condemn royal for personally approving the murder

Documents revealed that the assassins who killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi used two private jets from a firm that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince had seized

The documents, which were filed as part of a lawsuit in Canada, say ownership of Sky Prime Aviation was transferred into country's $400bn sovereign wealth fund

In October 2018, company's jets were used to carry out Khashoggi's murder

Meanwhile, US officials said their intelligence report assessed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved and likely ordered Khashoggi's murder

Khashoggi had written Washington Post column criticizing bin Salman's policies

Khashoggi was killed in October 2018 while visiting Saudi consulate in Istanbul

President Joe Biden said he plans to call the king of Saudi Arabia Thursday; his administration will name crown prince as man who approved Khashoggi's death

Top secret documents have revealed that the assassins who killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi used two private jets from a firm that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince had seized as a declassified version of a US intelligence report on Thursday will find that Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 killing.

The documents, which were filed as part of a lawsuit in Canada and obtained by CNN, describes how ownership of Sky Prime Aviation was transferred into the country's $400billion sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, in 2017.

Just a year later, in October 2018, the company's Gulfstreams were used to carry out Khashoggi's murder.

According to the network, the documents that have established the link between the planes and the prince were filed by a group of Saudi-owned companies as part of an embezzlement suit against Saudi intelligence official, Saad Aljabri.

Aljabri had filed a lawsuit in Washington, DC, last year against MBS, initials for which the crown prince is known by, accusing him of sending a hit team to kill him in Canada days after Khashoggi was murdered.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9298239/Khashoggi-assassins-used-private-jet-firm-Saudi-Arabias-Crown-Prince-seized.html

So far they are going after Putin, MBS and Trump

This Congressional Bill Would Stop China From Infiltrating Our Universities - But Dems To Block

The legislation called the “End College Chinese Communist Partnerships Act,” would limit taxpayer funds from proceeding to institutions that have partnerships with Beijing-funded Confucius Institutes (CI) and the People’s Republic of China.

“The CCP is partaking in genocide, censoring speech, & influencing our academia. Taxpayer $$ should NOT fund their partnerships with U.S. schools! Period,” the congresswoman announced in a statement on a Twitter post.

Under the bill, all American colleges and universities that have “a contractual partnership in effect with an entity that is owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, or organized under the laws of the People’s Republic of China,” will have federal funds barred.

The legislation exempts funds from the Department of Education that are presented straight to students.

CIs bill themselves as places to learn Mandarin, study Chinese culture, and land a scholarship. They’re funded and mainly staffed by Hanban, a nonprofit

that claims to be non-governmental, however, is in fact directly managed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from Beijing, according to a report by the Senate homeland security committee’s investigations subcommittee.

The institutes came under severe criticism from U.S. officials under the Trump administration over anxieties that they spread Chinese propaganda, restrict academic freedom, and facilitate espionage in U.S. classrooms.

https://www.blabber.buzz/blab/pop/1024776-this-congressional-bill-would-stop-china-from-infiltrating-our-universities-but-dems-to-block?utm_source=c-am&utm_medium=c-am-email&utm_term=c-am-GI&utm_content=6VI7tUwKWKo4vfBhwQRRVAYo21k0mldQVDHvbb9bNoE4.A

Black Lives Matter Foundation Raked In More Than $90 Million Last Year: Report

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) made more than $90 million amid the unrest that swept the U.S. in 2020.

Disclosing their financial situation for the first time in their eight-year history, the foundation revealed in documents shared exclusively with The Associated Press that much of the windfall came from small donations gathered via their main fundraising platform.The average donation, according to the report, was approximately $30.

“We want to uplift Black joy and liberation, not just Black death. We want to see Black communities thriving, not just surviving,” the organization said in an impact report provided first to the AP.

The impact report continued:These realities were not achieved in 2020, nor will they be achieved in the next year. We know systemic change takes time, so we’re in it for the long haul. In the meantime, we need to immediately support our Black communities through our own forms of funding and grantmaking. We are now an organization that intervenes on philanthropy, which is typically an anti-Black space full of bureaucratic hoops of white supremacy. In addition, one of our thematic emphases in 2021 and beyond will be economic justice, in the wake of the devastating socioeconomic effects of COVID on Black working class communities. But these projects will not be standalone instances; to carry them out until the day we reach our vision, we will need fiscal sustainability.

Beginning in 2020, BLMGNF began to build out its endowment, with the goal of using investment in our communities as a way to improve the conditions of Black life. As BLMGNF grows its reach and scope, we will continue expanding our internal capacity to best meet the needs of Black communities. Likewise, the direct impact and scope of our work will stretch into new geographic and thematic areas, thus necessitating a greater pool of resources to fund projects that are more and more expansive.

The AP also noted “the foundation’s coffers and influence grew immensely following the May 2020 death of George Floyd.”

Black Lives Matter had about $8.4 million worth of expenses last year, which included “staffing, operating and administrative expenses, civic engagement, programs and field expenses, rapid response, and crisis intervention,” according to the impact report. They also dispensed more than $22 million in grants to the organization’s local chapters and other black-run organizations around the U.S. They ended the year flush with $60 million.

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors told the AP that the foundation is focused on a “need to reinvest into Black communities.”

“One of our biggest goals this year is taking the dollars we were able to raise in 2020 and building out the institution we’ve been trying to build for the last seven and a half years,” she added.

Black Lives Matter has faced accusations of being a Marxist organization, especially given past comments Cullors had made in support of the ideology.

http://www.tathasta.com/2021/02/black-lives-matter-foundation-raked-in.html

Canadian National Pleads Guilty to Human Smuggling Conspiracy

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/canadian-national-pleads-guilty-human-smuggling-conspiracy

Germany Prepares to Stay in Afghanistan

Berlin's Cabinet approved a draft mandate that would allow German troops to stay in Afghanistan through January 31st, 2022

Germany is taking steps to allow its military to stay in Afghanistan beyond the May 1st deadline set by the US-Taliban peace deal. On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet approved a draft mandate that would allow German troops to stay in Afghanistan until January 31st, 2022.

The mandate still needs to be approved by Germany’s parliament. The current mandate for Afghanistan expires at the end of March. Germany currently has 1,100 troops in Afghanistan, the second-highest number next to the US, which currently has 2,500 troops in the country.

No official announcements have been made by either the US or NATO on the Afghanistan withdrawal, but Berlin seems keen to keep the war going. Over the past few months, German officials have been urging their allies to stay in Afghanistan.

Last week, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer warned against an Afghanistan withdrawal while acknowledging staying in the country means putting German troops in danger.

Kramp-Karrenbauer said staying in Afghanistan “means a changed security situation, an increased threat for the international forces, also for our own forces. We have to prepare for this, and we will certainly discuss this.”

While proponents of continuing the war in Afghanistan like to say the Taliban isn’t living up to its end of the deal, one pledge the Taliban has kept is not attacking the US or other coalition forces. February 8th marked one year without a US combat death in Afghanistan.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/02/24/germany-prepares-to-stay-in-afghanistan/

Funded by the US taxpayer

British royal plays 'high-level salesman for British arms exports'

The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, is acting as a "de facto high-level salesman for British arms exports" and is "bolstering autocratic Gulf regimes," claims a new report by Declassified UK. The investigative journalism website has released two reports on the relationship between the House of Windsor and Arab royalty. It found that over the past decade, Charles alone has had meetings with ruling families in the Middle East 95 times, while in total members of Britain's royal family have met with counterparts in the region's monarchies on 217 occasions.

Charles' diplomatic trips to the region are made at the request of the Foreign Office. He has helped to cement controversial alliances with undemocratic regimes and promoted £14.5 billion worth of arms exports in the past decade, the new report reveals.

The real purpose of these visits is concealed by Buckingham Palace, it is claimed. The palace emphasises his cultural visits although meetings are often with senior military, intelligence and domestic security officials.

The report catalogues the prince's meetings in London with Gulf royals and his many foreign trips to the Middle East over the past decade, even as the region entered a period of great instability, war and repression of pro-democracy activists. While details of what was said during Charles's meetings with Arab royals are not known, they would occasionally be followed by announcements by British arms manufacturers such as BAE Systems that they have sealed multi-billion-pound arms deals.

Visits by the Prince of Wales also coincided with high levels of repression against pro-democracy protestors in the region. The human rights situation in many Gulf States, meanwhile, saw a dramatic deterioration.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210225-british-royal-plays-high-level-salesman-for-british-arms-exports/

Man accused of raping 13-year-old at government-run COVID quarantine hotel

Suspect, 24, admits sex with child, claims it was consensual; police say he choked and beat victim as they stayed in facility for virus-infected young people

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Thursday extended by five days the remand of a man from southern Israel suspected of raping a 13-year-old girl at a Jaffa quarantine hotel for coronavirus carriers under the care of welfare services.

A police representative told the court that the 24-year-old suspect raped the girl twice and also choked and beat her.

The Welfare Ministry said in a statement that its staff at the hotel “intervened in real-time” during the incident and immediately reported to the police.

The suspect, speaking via video link, claimed during the hearing that the sex was consensual and that the girl had told him she was 16.

Police arrested the man on Wednesday night after receiving a report of sexual assault at the facility, which is used to quarantine confirmed COVID-19 patients from state welfare dormitories for young people unable to live at home.

Attorney Hagit Rahmani Weiss from the public defender’s office, who is representing the suspect, said her client had been in contact with the girl via the Instagram app, and that messages between the two would show the alleged victim invited her client to her room.

Weiss claimed the girl made the rape complaint after the man was discovered in her room in violation of the hotel quarantine rules, because she feared being punished for the infraction, Channel 13 News reported.

However, a police investigator told the court the girl denies asking the suspect to come to her room or agreeing to have sex with him. The girl also told investigators she tried to fend off the man but that he forced himself on her.

Police, who had sought to extend the suspect’s arrest by eight days, said he assaulted the girl on two other occasions during visits to her room.

The hotel has comprehensive security cameras installed, according to Hebrew media reports. Male and female guests are kept on separate floors and are forbidden from straying between the two.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/man-accused-of-raping-13-year-old-at-government-run-quarantine-hotel/

Potential Biden NASA Pick Invested in Chinese Telecom Giant Blacklisted by Pentagon

Ex-senator Bill Nelson has supported joint-space operations with CCP

President Joe Biden's potential pick to lead NASA has a history of investments tied to a Chinese technology giant and has advocated for cooperating with China in space.

Former senator Bill Nelson (D., Fla.) is reportedly jockeying to lead America's space agency under Biden. Sources close to Nelson say that his closed-door campaign for the position is more than a rumor. As a former career astronaut, Nelson would seem a natural to lead the agency, but Nelson's financial and political ties to China could complicate his potential confirmation.

Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) criticized Nelson on the campaign trail for holding between $3,003 and $45,000 in a mutual fund invested in China Mobile, a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company. At the time, Nelson dismissed the revelation as unimportant compared with Scott's own investments. China Mobile is China's largest telecommunications provider, and the Department of Defense in November blacklisted the company, along with 19 other major Chinese companies, for its ties to the Chinese military. Adjacent state-owned Chinese businesses have developed 5G satellite technology that NASA may need to make note of in its daily operations.

Nelson did not return a request for comment.

Beyond financial interests, Nelson touts a long track record of championing closer ties with China in space. In 2004, Nelson met with both the Chinese ambassador and Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei in an intimate meeting to discuss space issues and the potential for Sino-American cooperation in space. Nelson was among the first Americans to congratulate Yang on his successful launch, saying that he hoped China could emerge as a key partner in American space initiatives, while some Republicans remained troubled by China's growing space ambitions. Nelson told the Chinese ambassador that he wanted closer ties with Beijing in space efforts, even going as far as supporting a joint mission to Mars with China in their 2004 meeting.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/potential-biden-nasa-pick-invested-in-chinese-telecom-giant-blacklisted-by-pentagon/

‘A bracelet of freedom’ says CEO in charge of COVID electronic monitoring

A pilot project offering returnees from abroad the possibility to isolate at home with the monitoring device instead of in hotels will be launched on Sunday.

The electronic bracelets that will be offered to people returning from abroad who wish to isolate at home instead of in coronavirus hotels will not monitor anything but whether the person is complying with the quarantine, Ordan Trabelsi, President and CEO of SuperCom, vowed on Thursday, a day after the Health Ministry and the Knesset Law and Constitution Committee agreed to launch a pilot to test the solution.

In addition, if a person decided to break the rules and leave their house, the device would not track them in any way, he said.

Established in 1988, SuperCom is a leading company in the field of cybersecurity specialized in providing safety, identification and security technologies to governments and private organizations around the world. The firm has been working on home confinement solutions for years, among others in the fields of healthcare and criminal law. After the coronavirus pandemic broke out, they developed less invasive systems for the purpose of tracking people required to quarantine.

In the past, SuperCome had collaborated with Israeli authorities on other projects, including the management of the driving license system and in the fight against domestic violence.

“They already knew us and they reached out to see if we could help. We offered them a solution custom built for home-quarantine,” Trabelsi told The Jerusalem Post, explaining that the situation represents a relatively simple case in consideration of their monitoring capability.

The CEO explained that the pilot is expected to be launched on Sunday. Supercom supplied the Health Ministry 100 kits which will be offered to people who land to Israel from abroad.

“It is up to the Health Ministry to decide the details of the project, but currently the plan is for people who arrive to get tested and once they receive their results, at the airport or at the corona hotel, they will have the option to go quarantine at home with the solution that we provide,” Trabelsi explained.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/a-bracelet-of-freedom-says-ceo-in-charge-of-covid-electronic-monitoring-660230

Military Escalation Begins In Eastern Ukraine With Heavy Clashes Near Gorlovka

A military escalation is beginning in Eastern Ukraine.

On February 24th, the Ukrainian Armed Forces began shelling the outskirts of Yelenovka.

During the day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire 10 times.

Seven settlements were under fire: Golmovsky, Gorlovka, Vasilyevka, Yakovlevka, Spartak, Staromikhaylovka, Vedenskoye.

Two houses were damaged in Saromikhaylovka. In total, 37 pieces of ammunition were fired across the territory of the DPR.

There were clashes near Gorlovka, with the Ukrainian side admitting that it lost 1 soldier and 1 was wounded.

According to the Donetsk People’s Republic, Ukraine lost more soldiers than that, and more than 1 were wounded, but will reveal it over the next few weeks, to spread them out.

The Ukraine armed forces began preparing for an offensive in urban areas.

This was stated by the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, the press service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported.

“With regard to offensive actions, last year we began preparing all our military units for action in an offensive in urbanized areas, because this is what we must also be ready for,” the commander-in-chief said.

Khomchak added that the General Staff is working out the response plans, and the troops are preparing for all possible scenarios for the development of the situation at the front.

On February 21st, the speaker of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG, Aleksey Arestovich, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces adhere to a regime of silence in the Donbas, after he quoted the terrorists’ record on the social network about the elimination of the position of the “Russian hybrid army and the elimination of up to 20 fighters.”

On February 24th, when the bigger escalation began, Ukraine reported that the DPR and LPR violated the ceasefire 20 times.

“The armed formations of the Russian Federation opened fire from 82mm mortars and grenade launchers of various systems and small arms on Ukrainian positions near the village of Zaitseve (62km north-east of Donetsk). As a result of the enemy shelling, one serviceman was killed and another soldier was wounded,” the press center of the Joint Forces Operation reported.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, censorship and oppression continue at a regular pace.

On February 23rd, the investigating judge of the Kievsky district of Kharkov decided to block the well-known Telegram channels Legitimny, Gossipnitsa, Resident and Kartel, against which the Security Service of Ukraine fabricated a case of working for Russia.

On February 24, artillery of the DPR/LPR forces reportedly targeted UAF positions near Krasnogorivka

On February 24, artillery of the DPR/LPR forces reportedly targeted UAF positions near Zaytseve

On February 24, the DPR/LPR forces targeted positions of the UAF forces by grenade launchers near Katerynivka

On February 24, the DPR/LPR forces targeted positions of the UAF forces by grenade launchers near Prychepilyvka

On February 24, 1 Ukrainian serviceman was killed and 2 were wounded in actions in the last 24 hours

On February 25, UAF artillery reportedly targeted the DPR/LPR forces near Mariupol

On February 25, UAF artillery reportedly targeted the DPR/LPR forces near Yelenivka

https://southfront.org/military-escalation-begins-in-eastern-ukraine-with-heavy-clashes-near-gorlovka/

Thanks Biden

Ukraine war back on

Syria ramped up

Iraq war restarted

Afghanistan resumed

Yemen escalated

Africa ISIS returns

Cold war 2.0 with China being set up now

NK getting antsy again after Biden reinstates war games with SK

Color revolution ongoing in US / Russia