Texas judge and three others arrested on 150 counts of voter fraud

Justice of the Peace Tomas Ramirez is accused of ballot harvesting at assisted living centers in the 2018 primary election.

A south Texas justice of the peace was arrested along with three other individuals who face 150 charges of voter fraud altogether.

Medina County Justice of the Peace Tomas Ramirez was arrested on Feb. 11 and is charged on one count of organized election fraud, one count of "assisting voter voting ballot by mail," and 17 counts of unlawful possession of a ballot or ballot envelope, KABB reports.

He was arrested with Leonor Rivas Garza, Eva Ann Martinez, and Mary Balderrama. All four were indicted by a Bandera Grand Jury on Feb. 9.

Garza, Martinez, and Balderrama were each charged with organized election fraud. They also face multiple charges of illegal voting, unlawful possession of a ballot or ballot envelope, election fraud, fraudulent use of an absentee ballot by mail, tampering with a government record, and purportedly acting as an agent.

According to the Texas attorney general's office, the case against Ramirez and the others involves allegations of vote harvesting at assisted living centers in Medina County in the 2018 Medina County Primary Election. Ramirez was elected as a justice of the peace in 2018 and was suspended from his position after his arrest.

In a statement, Ramirez said he was "stunned" by the allegations and denied all charges against him:

I was stunned by the allegations because there is absolutely no truth to them. I have spent the last 27 years building my law practice and serving in this community which has created my reputation for fairness, sincerity and integrity. I entered the race for JP because I wanted to serve Medina County and make the office function better for its citizens. I feel I have done exactly that up to this point. For people who know me, these allegations are absurd. To those who don't, it provides reason to sneer and hate.

I will vigorously defend myself to the fullest extent and I fully expect to be vindicated.

The arrests come as former President Donald Trump continues to allege that the 2020 presidential was illegitimate because of voter fraud. Though there were incidents of attempted voter fraud committed on a relatively small scale, there is no evidence of widespread election fraud occurring in the 2020 election as Trump's legal team alleged.

Speaking at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference Sunday, Trump claimed, "This election was rigged, and the Supreme Court and other courts didn't want to do anything about it."

"Had we had a fair election, the results would have been much different," he asserted.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/texax-judge-others-arrrested-voter-fraud

UK Convicts SBM’s Ex-Executive in Unaoil Case

A London jury convicted on Wednesday a former executive of Single Buoy Moorings Inc. (SBM) for conspiring to bribe Iraqi public officials in order to secure lucrative oil contracts in the years following the overthrow of Saddam Hussain in 2003, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said in a statement.

“A jury found the former senior sales manager, Paul Bond, guilty on two counts of conspiracy to give corrupt payments following a retrial of his case at Southwark Crown Court,” read the statement.

SFO underlined that Bond’s has been the latest in a string of convictions related to the Unaoil bribery case, “which has uncovered the payment of over US$17 million worth of bribes to secure contracts worth $1.7 billion for Unaoil and its clients.”

In an attempt to rebuild the economy of the war-torn country, in 2007 the Iraqi Ministry of Oil made a “master plan,” setting up a strategy to quadruple the country’s oil exports within five years. The Ministry, as SFO recalled, then tasked the state’s South Oil Company (SOC) to “commission new oil pipelines and offshore mooring buoys (SPMs) in the Persian Gulf.”

“Consulting on behalf of SBM Offshore and working with Paul Bond directly, Unaoil employees paid over $900,000 in bribes to Iraqi public officials at the SOC and the Ministry of Oil to win a $55 million contract for SBM for the provision of the SPMs,” according to SFO.

Through bribes, Bond and others also managed to buy access to sensitive information on SOC’s competitive tendering requirements,” and “skew the process in SBM’s favour.”

SFO last year secured the convictions of Bond’s co-conspirators and former Unaoil territory managers for Iraq, Stephen Whiteley and Ziad Akle, as well as Unaoil’s former partner in Iraq, Basil Al Jarah.

The Oil Ministry’s projects “were crucial to the reconstruction of the Iraqi oil sector and the future prosperity of the fledgling state’s economy,” according to SFO Director, Lisa Osofsky.

She stressed that Bond and his co-conspirators knew that and yet “corrupted the tender process for financial gain.”

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13945-uk-convicts-sbm-s-ex-executive-in-unaoil-case

Two Ukrainian diplomats ARRESTED at border in Poland-bound minibus allegedly packed with cigarettes and gold

A pair of Ukrainian diplomats have been recalled after being arrested for trying to smuggle 16kg of gold, thousands of packets of cigarettes and tens of thousands of dollars into neighboring Poland, officials said.

A driver for Ukraine’s embassy in Warsaw and an attache for consular affairs were detained by Ukrainian border guards on Sunday after being stopped in an official minibus at a checkpoint on their way to Poland.

Two other officials were also allegedly involved in the attempted smuggling, including the attache’s father, who works at the embassy, Ukraine’s state investigative bureau said in a statement on Monday. Investigators have accused the driver and the attache of attempting to illegally take goods into the European Union (EU) “using diplomatic immunities and privileges, as well as official transport.”

The duo were reportedly caught red-handed with more than $200,000 in euro, Polish zlotys and dollars, as well as the gold and more than 8,000 packs of cigarettes, worth more than $50,000.

On Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Dmytro Kuleba confirmed he had sacked the two staff and said it was “important” that an example is made of them.

“I immediately withdrew both employees from a long-term foreign business trip. Their embassy work is over. In the next couple of hours, all formalities on this issue will be completed,” he said in a statement on Facebook.

“I will never cover villains who think they can use diplomatic status not to serve the state and the people, but for personal illicit enrichment,” he added.

Cigarette smuggling is rife in some Ukrainian border areas, where tobacco prices are lower than in EU nations, such as Poland.

https://www.rt.com/news/516891-ukraine-diplomats-arrested-smuggling/

Gab Hacked; Group Promises "Gold Mine" Of Info On "Militias, Neo-Nazis, QAnon"

The free speech alternative to Twitter, Gab has been hacked, with those behind the action promising to release a treasure trove of information including passwords, private posts, and messages.

The hacking group calling itself ‘DDoSecrets’ says it has obtained 70-gigabytes of data, and has dubbed it “Gableaks”.

Among the “private posts, user profiles, hashed passwords for users, DMs, and plaintext passwords for groups,” is data for an account supposedly belonging to President Trump, as well as an account owned by Gab’s own CEO, Andrew Torba.

DDoSecrets cofounder Emma Best told Wired that the data “contains pretty much everything on Gab, including user data and private posts, everything someone needs to run a nearly complete analysis on Gab users and content.”

“It’s another gold mine of research for people looking at militias, neo-Nazis, the far right, QAnon and everything surrounding January 6,” Best claims.

Gab released a statement Gab announcing that it is “aware of a vulnerability” on its platform, claiming it has fixed it.

Torba charged that Wired is “in direct contact with the hacker and [was] essentially assisting the hacker in his efforts to smear our business and hurt you, our users.”

The Gab CEO labelled those behind the action “mentally ill tranny demon hackers”, further suggesting that they are “The same people” who “targeted law enforcement officers and their family members last summer.”

In addition to Trump, the hackers also claim that they have obtained the passwords of Infowars’ Alex Jones, Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

It is claimed that so far neither Wired nor DDoSecrets has attempted to decrypt the passwords, or gain access to the accounts.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/gab-hacked-group-promises-gold-mine-info-militias-neo-nazis-qanon

President Trump: Capitol Officials Controlled by Pelosi Rejected My Recommendation of 10,000 National Guard for January 6 Because of Optics

President Trump spoke about the January 6 riot at the Capitol during a phone interview with Steve Hilton on the Fox News Channel program the Next Revolution that aired Sunday night, saying he “hated to see it.”

Trump denied reports he was watching the riot on TV and liked what he was seeing, saying, “Well, that’s incorrect reporting. First of all I wasn’t watching TV. I turned it on later on when I heard about it and did a lot of moves. You know, we said to the Department of Defense, the top person, days before we had the rally, cuz that rally was massive…(Trump comments on large rally crowd)…and I said that I think you should have ten thousand, I think I gave the number, I definitely gave the number of ten thousand National Guardsmen, I think you have ten thousand of the National Guard ready. They took that number, from what I understand they gave it to the people at the Capitol which is controlled by Pelosi and I heard they rejected it because they didn’t think it looked good. So, you know, that was a big mistake.”

Hilton pressed Trump on how he feels now about the riot. Trump said, “I hate to see it, I think it’s terrible, I hate to see it” and went on to compare the “double standard” of the reaction to the Capitol riot with the riots last year by Antifa and the radical left in Washington, D.C., Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis.

CNN’s Olive Darcy posted a video clip of the interview with a typical for CNN misleading description.

In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Former Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving recalled to House Admin how previous discussions with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her office factored in to his “blender of decision making,” according to three sources with direct knowledge of Irving’s talk with House Admin.

Pelosi’s office had previously impressed upon Irving that the National Guard was to remain off Capitol Grounds, Irving allegedly told House Admin. The discussions, which centered around “optics,” allegedly occurred in the months prior to the Jan. 6 riot, during a time when deployment of federal resources for civil unrest was unpopular with Democrats and many members of Congress.

The three sources who confirmed the discussion to the Daily Caller did so under the condition of anonymity, citing the fear of putting a chill on further witnesses to how the security situation unfolded Jan. 6. The discussion, if accurate, raises questions as to what role Pelosi’s office had in the security failures that resulted in the resignations of both Irving and former Chief of Capitol Police Steven Sund. Pelosi’s Deputy Chief of Staff Drew Hammill did not deny the allegations in a statement to the Daily Caller.

“The Speaker’s Office has made it clear publicly and repeatedly that our office was not consulted or contacted concerning any request for the National Guard ahead of January 6th. That has been confirmed by former Sergeant at Arms Irving in sworn testimony before Senate committees. The Speaker expects security professionals to make security decisions and to briefed about those decisions,” Hammill said.

“It is our understanding that Committee on House Administration Ranking Republican Member Davis was briefed in advance of January 6th about security preparedness, but took no action to address any security concerns that he might have had,” he concluded.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/president-trump-capitol-officials-controlled-pelosi-rejected-recommendation-10000-national-guard-january-6-optics/

FF?

Arkansas school shooting: Student reportedly shot on first day of in-person learning

A student was reportedly shot at an Arkansas middle school early Monday.

The incident at the Watson Chapel Junior High School in Pine Bluff came on the first day district schools were returning to full-day instruction after months of coronavirus restrictions, KARK-TV reported.

The wounded student was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital by helicopter, according to KATV-TV.

Another youngster was in police custody, the outlet said.

“There has been a shooting at the Watson Chapel Junior High,” the school district said on Facebook. “ALL campuses are on lock down. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and Pine Bluff Police Department are on site to control the situation.”

“This was an isolated incident and all students are safe at this time,” the district said. “The parent of the student hurt has been notified so if you have not been notified by the school your student is safe and secure.”

“The police are not letting anyone in and out of the buildings,” the post said. “You will not be allowed to come get your student at this time.”

According to KATV the lockdown had been lifted by noon.

No further details were immediately available.

https://nypost.com/2021/03/01/arkansas-school-shooting-at-least-one-student-reportedly-shot/

Teachers Union Boss BUSTED Sending Own Child To Private School While Pushing School Closure

Shameless

Berkeley Federation of Teachers president Matt Meyer was busted on camera taking his own child to preschool while also arguing alongside his fellow union apparatchiks to try to keep schools closed for other people.

Teacher unions have been shaking down Joe Biden for dirty COVID cash and pushing extended school closures.

“If you want to do the CDC recommendations around physical distancing, you probably need to hire more educators, and you probably need to pay for doubling the amount of school buses, you might need to double the number of bus drivers. And that costs money,” American Federation of Teachers spokesman Andrew Crook stated.

“State and local leaders cannot pick and choose which guidelines to follow and which students get resources to keep them safe. And too many schools do not have in place the basic protections that the CDC has said are universally required,” National Education Association (NEA) president Beck Pringle stated.

https://nationalfile.com/watch-teachers-union-boss-busted-sending-own-child-to-private-school-while-pushing-school-closure/

California: ‘Rich Get Richer’ During Coronavirus Pandemic

California’s wealthy elite have been doing vey well during the coronavirus pandemic, despite economic shutdowns that have devastated small businesses and caused widespread job losses and disruption.

The Associated Press reported this weekend:

At the end of 2020, California had lost a record 1.6 million jobs during the pandemic. Nearly a half-million people stopped even trying to look for work. Business properties saw their value plummet more than 30%.

But California’s bank account is overflowing. As of January, the state’s tax collections were $10.5 billion ahead of projections. By the end of the fiscal year on July 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature could have a $19 billion surplus to spend.

…

[W]ith the pandemic forcing the closure of bars, restaurants, theme parks, sporting events and small businesses, lower-wage workers bore the brunt of the losses while the wealthier worked from home. The economic losses started at the bottom of the income ladder and so far they haven’t made their way up to the top.

With the rich doing well, thanks to the growing dominance of Silicon Valley, the rising stock market, and the health of Hollywood’s streaming entertainment industry for a stay-at-home nation, state revenues have soared far beyond expectations.

Earlier this year, as Breitbart News and others noted, the state reported so much revenue that it is likely to be required to return some to taxpayers under a provision adopted in 1979 known as the Gann limit.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/03/01/california-rich-get-richer-during-coronavirus-pandemic/

42 Far-Left Terrorist Supporters Arrested After Storming of Greek Ministry

A total of 42 far-left militants were arrested after storming the Greek cultural ministry in support of far-left convicted terrorist Dimitris Koufontinas in the latest acts against Greek officials.

The 42 far-left anarchist extremists were arrested after they attempted to occupy the Greek cultural ministry offices on Thursday at Karytsi Square in the centre of the Greek capital of Athens in support of Koufontinas.

According to a report from the Greek newspaper I Kathimerini, the militants arrested were also charged with violating the country’s Wuhan coronavirus restrictions along with disturbing the peace and were subjected to fines of 300 euros each.

A day after the arrests, the office of the Greek Sports Minister Lefteris Avgenakis on the island of Crete was also broken into and vandalised by suspects who have yet to be identified.

The office was, however, vandalised with slogans supporting terrorist Dimitris Koufontinas who is currently on a hunger strike, indicating the motive behind the incident.

Minister Avgenakis slammed those behind the attack, which he called “an act of political violence” on social media and stated, “The government will not be intimidated or blackmailed. It will remain steadfast in its defence of democracy and the rule of law.”

The two incidents are just the latest from far-left extremist militants over the course of the last several weeks in support of the former hitman of the notorious Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17N) who is believed to have been behind a large number of murders and assassinations from 1975 to 2000.

Earlier this week, anarchist militants attempted to occupy the Greek consulate in Berlin in support of the terrorist and targetted the home of Greek president Katerina Sakellaropoulou, throwing leaflets and flyers outside her residence in Athens.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/03/01/42-far-left-terrorist-supporters-arrested-after-storming-of-greek-ministry/

500 Migrants Apprehended in Single Day in One Texas Border Sector

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 500 migrants in a single day. The apprehensions took place along a small section of the border with Mexico near Mission, Texas.

McAllen Station Border Patrol agents working the border near Mission, Texas, on the night of February 24 encountered a single group of 130 migrants. The majority of the migrants were families and unaccompanied minors, according to information obtained from Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials.

Officials said large groups of migrants crossing the border to surrender to law enforcement have, once again, become commonplace in this small section of the border.

The agents conducted immigration interviews and identified the migrants as having come to the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Earlier that day, agents received information from the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office regarding a suspected human smuggling stash house near Mission. As the agents and deputies arrived at the location, some of the suspected migrants began to flee.

Agents found 36 people inside a small area inside the makeshift residence. During the initial screening, the agents found two of the migrants exhibited flu-like symptoms. Another migrant appeared to be suffering from epilepsy.

Officials reported this group came to the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.

video tweeted by Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Brian Hastings shows the makeshift nature of the stash house utilized by human smugglers to warehouse their “human cargo.”

“Even with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, human smugglers continue to try these brazen attempts with zero regard for the lives they endanger nor to the health of the citizens of our great nation,” Rio Grande Valley Sector officials said in a written statement.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s Sunday-morning talk show,

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/03/01/500-migrants-apprehended-in-single-day-in-one-texas-border-sector/

Biden admin will allow families separated under Trump to remain in US

The Biden administration will allow families separated at the southern border by the Trump administration to reunite and remain in the U.S., the White House announced Monday.

“We are hoping to reunite the families, either here or in their country of origin. We hope to be in a position to give them the election. And if, in fact, they seek to reunite here in the United States, we will explore lawful pathways for them to remain in the United States,” Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said Monday.

Under President Trump’s family separation policy, some 2,800 families were separated in 2018. While some were reunited under Trump, some 550 children were not reconnected with their parents under the prior administration.

Mayorkas, head of the family reunification task force established by Biden, said the Biden administration has thus far reunited 105 families.

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/541004-biden-admin-will-allow-families-separated-under-trump-to-remain-in

The ‘Cancel Culture’ phenomenon: kind of hate-hush all over the world

Who remembers the Herman’s Hermits and their 1967 song ‘There’s a Kind of Hush’? The hush the song speaks of is a hush of love, and it was a world of dreams in the sixties in the West, despite the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights protests in the USA and other global conflicts. The peace movements were strong and vibrant, and there was hope that the peace-loving youth will have their way and make a difference; because they genuinely believed in the slogan that ‘all you need is love’.

Alas, the love-hush seems now to be replaced with a hate-hush, and it is engulfing the world, particularly the West, with unprecedented anger and vile displays of demeanour, and this seems to be part of the ‘New Normal’ that some are pushing down our throats.

Not long ago, inspired by another song of the 1960’s, the article pondered where have all the flowers and peace movements gone. In such a short period since, discord and trouble has steeply risen to unprecedented levels, where we are witnessing now an ominous step forward into the abyss and a huge fall in the trajectory of humanity.

In comparison and as an example, when the Lebanese civil war erupted in 1975, it didn’t really come as a surprise to anyone as the specter of such calamity had always hung in the air and sat on the agendas of opposing political groups, as well as on the narrow minds of religious groups that held back unsettled sectarian scores for decades, even centuries.

In hindsight, it seems unfathomable as to how did the German people become so brainwashed and vulnerable to Nazi propaganda. They incrementally discarded all the humane values they had known before, replacing them with nationalist, exclusionist and supremacist values, eventually engaging, wittingly or unwittingly, in supporting or perpetrating injustices on minority groups including Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, the disabled, just to mention a few. Shockingly, when the civil war began in Lebanon, the Lebanese people actually saw a similar phenomenon happen right in front of their eyes. The world witnessed town turning against town, suburb against suburb, neighbour against neighbour, inflicting the most horrendous crimes of maiming, sniping, torturing and killing each other. The same happened again in Yugoslavia as it fell apart.

In more ways than one, latent hatred was expected to eventually manifest itself. If and when old sentiments are not dealt with and brought to closure, such an outcome of a build-up and explosion is to be expected.

But what we are witnessing today, in the West, is something quite different; a case where many people develop boiling, seething, foaming and frothing rage and hatred against others for no apparent reason or history at all.

In America at least, there are a number of actual issues that cause rage and dismay, such as unresolved racial tensions and injustices, perceptions of stolen elections, mishandling of the Corona Virus, the economy and so on. However, these issues are dealt with so vehemently, often with grave, unjust, illegal and disproportional measures, leaving many wondering if America is teetering on the brink of a civil war.

https://thesaker.is/the-cancel-culture-phenomenon-kind-of-hate-hush-all-over-the-world/

Biden State Department Nominee Is a Defender of China Propaganda Program

Victoria Nuland dismissed Confucius Institute's national security threat

A top State Department nominee is a defender of the Confucius Institute, a Chinese government program that disseminates pro-Beijing propaganda on American college campuses.

Victoria Nuland, President Biden's choice for undersecretary of state for political affairs, voiced support for the expansion of the Chinese government-funded Confucius Institute at American universities in a 2012 press conference. Nuland, then an Obama administration spokeswoman, praised the campus institutes as a crucial part of "people-to-people exchange" between the two superpowers, dismissing concerns about Chinese ambition.

A reporter asked Nuland if the Obama administration was concerned about "the Confucius Institute's expansion in the U.S. as the strongest Chinese soft power?"

"No," Nuland responded. "This [Confucius Institute] is something that we support. It's part of the people-to-people understanding."

The Confucius Institute quickly expanded its influence during the Obama era, establishing itself at more than 100 American universities and colleges during its peak in 2017, despite warnings about the Chinese Communist Party's influence. Several government reports found the Chinese government exercised high degrees of control over campus institutes, barring their instructors from teaching taboo topics such as Tibet or Hong Kong. Frequently, instructors were contractually obligated to follow Chinese law even when teaching on American soil.

Nuland's sympathetic comments about the Confucius Institute could ruffle feathers in the Senate, which will decide whether to confirm the former diplomat to the third-highest position in the State Department. Republican senators have demanded answers from multiple Biden nominees for China-friendly comments or business deals in the authoritarian country.

"Any nominee who has spoken in favor of Confucius Institutes is extremely concerning," said a spokesman for Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.). "We cannot have individuals who are either naïve to—or even sympathize with—the threat that Beijing poses in top national security positions."

Nuland's comments are emblematic of the Obama administration's welcoming approach to the Beijing-backed institutes.

According to a report by the National Association of Scholars, an education watchdog, Obama's Department of Education sponsored a Confucius Institute-backed conference for Chinese teachers in the United States. Several Obama senior officials also served on the conference's advisory board.

Nuland should answer for her support for the Chinese government-backed institute, said Rachelle Peterson, the author of the watchdog's report.

"The Obama administration repeatedly underestimated the Chinese government's soft power campaign, even going so far as to endorse Confucius Institutes," she told the Washington Free Beacon. "Both Nuland and Biden must prove their ability to protect American higher education from CCP interference."

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/biden-state-department-nominee-is-a-defender-of-china-propaganda-program/

Judicial Watch: New Emails Detail WHO/NIH Accommodations to Chinese Confidentiality ‘Terms’

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it and the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) received 301 pages of emails of Dr. Anthony Fauci from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showing that National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials tailored confidentiality forms to China’s terms and that the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted an unreleased, “strictly confidential” COVID-19 epidemiological analysis in January 2020.

Additionally, the emails reveal an independent journalist in China pointing out the inconsistent COVID numbers in China to NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects Cliff Lane.

The emails were obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Judicial Watch on behalf of the DCNF (Daily Caller News Foundation v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 1:20-cv-01149)).

The lawsuit was filed after HHS failed to respond to the DCNF’s April 1, 2020, FOIA request seeking:

Communications between Dr. Fauci and Deputy Director Lane and World Health Organization officials concerning the novel coronavirus.

Communications of Dr. Fauci and Deputy Director Lane concerning WHO, WHO official Bruce Aylward, WHO Director General Tedros Anhanom, and China.

The new emails include a conversation about confidentiality forms on February 14-15, 2020, between Lane and WHO Technical Officer Mansuk Daniel Han. Han writes: “The forms this time are tailored to China’s terms so we cannot use the ones from before.”

A WHO briefing package sent on February 13, 2020, to NIH officials traveling to China as part of the COVID response ask that the officials wait to share information until they have an agreement with China: “IMPORTANT: Please treat this as sensitive and not for public communications until we have agreed communications with China.”

In an email dated January 20, 2020, a WHO official discusses the epidemiological analysis they conducted of COVID-19 earlier that month and states that it is “strictly confidential,” is “only for,” the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Infection Hazards (STAG-IH), and “should not be further disseminated.”

In an email dated March 4, 2020, from Chinese journalist Zeng Jia to Lane, a reporter for Caixin Media, points out to Fauci deputy Cliff Lane that the number of cases reported in the WHO Joint China Mission’s report are inconsistent with the number reported by the Wuhan Public Health Committee:

It says on Page 6 [in the WHO report] that there was at least one clinically diagnosed case of coronavirus on December 2th, 2019, in Wuhan; and from Jan 11th to 17th there were new clinically diagnosed and confirmed cases every day in Wuhan, which is not consistent with Wuhan Public Health Committee’s numbers.

In an email dated February 15, 2020, Gauden Galea, head of the WHO office in China, informs the joint mission members traveling to China that all of their activities in China would be arranged by the Chinese Government’s National Health Commission.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-releases/emails-who-terms/

Bombing Iraq And Syria: A True BFF Moment For U.S. And Israel

On March 1st, the Jerusalem Post reported that the US and Israeli strikes on alleged Iranian targets in Syria could be a bonding moment for both.

According to the outlet, Israel has carried out more than 1,500 airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria.

Israel and the US have targeted Iranian-backed forces in Syria over the last several days, according to reports.

The airstrikes on the evening of February 28th triggered Syrian air defense, according to Iranian regime media. The strikes may have been in response to an attack on an Israeli-owned vessel in the Gulf of Oman.

“Specifically, the strikes destroyed multiple facilities located at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed military groups, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada,” the US said.

This is an unambiguous message, the US says. The US will act to protect American personnel. “It was a deliberate and planned retaliation.”

Israel, on the other hand, allegedly acts out against Iranian targets, but also has little interest in a Syria that’s consolidated under one leadership.

Of course, not everything is running without a hitch.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) said the recent US raid against its forces was conducted on the Iraqi-Syrian border, and not on the Syrian soil as claimed.

In a statement, the PMU warned that the US aggression is a harbinger of “dangerous incidents” in the future.

“Given the seriousness of this issue and its implications for the sovereignty, security and stability of our beloved country of Iraq, Hashd al-Sha’abi waited for a while for the full narrative of this attack to be completed, and to be confirmed that our fighters were not deep in Syria, in contrast to the narrative provided by US aggressive forces,” said the PMU, which is known in Iraq as Hashd al-Sha’abi.

“Glory and honor belong to that great martyr of ours and all the martyrs of Iraq who bravely stood against terrorism,” said the PMU, which has been fighting the remnants of ISIS. It was one of the main driving forces that led to ISIS’ continuing defeat.

Separately, Nujaba: Resistance forces have justified their reasons to attack US targets.

https://southfront.org/bombing-iraq-and-syria-a-true-bff-moment-for-u-s-and-israel/

Legal team wants ‘second Nuremberg tribunal’ to try global lockdown promoters for crimes against humanity

Should the technocrats who pushed governments to lockdown their citizens be tried for crimes against humanity?

One prominent German lawyer, who is also licensed to practice law in America, thinks they should. And he is organizing a team of thousands of participating lawyers who want to prosecute a “second Nuremberg tribunal” against a cadre of international elites responsible for what he calls the “corona fraud scandal.”

Targeting the Davos, Switzerland-based World Economic Forum and its devotees among global political leaders, attorney Reiner Fuellmich says they are guilty of crimes against humanity for their perpetration of COVID-response policies that led to forced shutdowns, destroyed businesses, impoverished families, broken lives and a spike in suicide rates.

He has formed the German Corona Investigative Committee to pursue civil charges against the main perpetrators, among them being the head of the United Nations World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom. He hopes a successful class-action lawsuit will also lead to criminal charges.

Fuellmich was on the legal team that won a major lawsuit against German automaker Volkswagen in a 2015 case involving tampered catalytic converters in the U.S. He also was involved in a lawsuit that exposed one of Germany’s largest banks, Deutsche Bank, as a criminal enterprise. The bank was recently ordered by the U.S. Justice Department to pay $130 million to resolve corrupt practices that included money laundering, bribery and fraud between the years 2009 and 2016.

Fuellmich is licensed to practice law in Germany and the state of California.

He believes the frauds committed by Volkswagen and Deutsche Bank pale in comparison to the damage wrought by those who sold the Covid-19 crisis as the worst viral outbreak to hit the world in more than a century and used it to cause media-driven panic, government overreach and human suffering on a scale still not fully quantified.

The truth is revealed in the numbers, Fuellmich said, citing figures that show COVID-19 has not caused any statistically significant increase in the 2020 death counts over previous years.

The scam perpetrated on humanity hinged on one dirty little secret, he said – the PCR Test.

https://youtu.be/TyfABm1yjkYShould the technocrats who pushed governments to lockdown their citizens be tried for crimes against humanity?

One prominent German lawyer, who is also licensed to practice law in America, thinks they should. And he is organizing a team of thousands of participating lawyers who want to prosecute a “second Nuremberg tribunal” against a cadre of international elites responsible for what he calls the “corona fraud scandal.”

Targeting the Davos, Switzerland-based World Economic Forum and its devotees among global political leaders, attorney Reiner Fuellmich says they are guilty of crimes against humanity for their perpetration of COVID-response policies that led to forced shutdowns, destroyed businesses, impoverished families, broken lives and a spike in suicide rates.

He has formed the German Corona Investigative Committee to pursue civil charges against the main perpetrators, among them being the head of the United Nations World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom. He hopes a successful class-action lawsuit will also lead to criminal charges.

Fuellmich was on the legal team that won a major lawsuit against German automaker Volkswagen in a 2015 case involving tampered catalytic converters in the U.S. He also was involved in a lawsuit that exposed one of Germany’s largest banks, Deutsche Bank, as a criminal enterprise. The bank was recently ordered by the U.S. Justice Department to pay $130 million to resolve corrupt practices that included money laundering, bribery and fraud between the years 2009 and 2016.

Fuellmich is licensed to practice law in Germany and the state of California.

He believes the frauds committed by Volkswagen and Deutsche Bank pale in comparison to the damage wrought by those who sold the Covid-19 crisis as the worst viral outbreak to hit the world in more than a century and used it to cause media-driven panic, government overreach and human suffering on a scale still not fully quantified.

The truth is revealed in the numbers, Fuellmich said, citing figures that show COVID-19 has not caused any statistically significant increase in the 2020 death counts over previous years.

The scam perpetrated on humanity hinged on one dirty little secret, he said – the PCR Test.

More

https://leohohmann.com/2021/02/28/legal-team-wants-second-nuremberg-tribunal-to-try-global-lockdown-promoters-for-crimes-against-humanity/

Ebola United States 13,000 Congo African Refugees Arrive

Ebola infected congo boy dies vomiting blood onto people.

Congo Africa sent 12,500 refugees to the united states

The new ebola outbreak in Congo is spreading fast WHO says

Refugees on Planes, Delta Airlines and United Airlines is paying for flights for African Migrants to arrive on planes in the United States.

refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo Africa has been the number 1 country of origin of refugees seeking admittance to the united states.

Congo has accounted for about 12,500 refugees, followed by Burma (Myanmar) with 4,700, then Ukraine (3,800), Eritrea (1,700) and Afghanistan (1,000).

Congo Africa is currently having a huge Ebola Virus outbreak. Many people are infected with Ebola Virus in Congo Africa several thousands have died already this month.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/ebola-united-states-13000-congo-african-refugees-arrive/

Ron Paul: We live in unprecedented times of governmental, bureaucratic and authoritarian overreach. It is no surprise that The Federal Reserve, with its extreme counterfeiting of money and credit, has also extended itself way beyond what anyone could have imagined.

We live in unprecedented times of governmental, bureaucratic and authoritarian overreach.

It is no surprise that The Federal Reserve, with its extreme counterfeiting of money and credit, has also extended itself way beyond what anyone could have imagined.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/ron-paul-we-live-in-unprecedented-times-of-governmental-bureaucratic-and-authoritarian-overreach-it-is-no-surprise-that-the-federal-reserve-with-its-extreme-counterfeiting-of-money-and-credit-has/

They Have Betrayed the Constitution – Overwhelming Evidence of FBI Corruption

The American people, regardless of political affiliation, should be bellowing a primal scream of outrage in light of the new evidence–overwhelming evidence at that–of the FBI’s corruption. If you have not read John Solomon’s latest revelations about the contents of formerly classified FBI documents that were declassified one week before Donald Trump left Washington, DC, then you need to take the time.

Permit me to point out some background you need to appreciate the appalling gravity of these documents. In theory the FBI is not supposed to be a Secret Police (i.e., a GESTAPO). No FBI Agent or official is supposed to have the ability to wake up in the morning and decide to start investigating an American citizen just because the Agent does not like what someone has written or said. But we now know that world is our reality.

In theory, Special Prosecutor John Durham, could put the brakes on this lawlessness by indicting and convicting James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, James Baker, Bruce Ohr and others. Do not hold your breath. Durham appears to be a fraud and his failure to act will further embolden the FBI to engage in more illegal acts.

The FBI documents use code names for various members of the Trump campaign team. Here’s your cheat sheet:

George Papadopoulos — Crossfire Typhoon (aka CT)

Carter Page — Crossfire Dragron (aka CD)

General Michael Flynn — Crossfire Razor (aka CR)

Campaign chairman Paul Manafort, — Crossfire Fury (aka CF)

But they were not the only ones targeted. These men also were put in the cross-hairs, without knowing the FBI was after them for the mere act of supporting Donald Trump:

Future Attorney General Jeff Sessions,

Foreign policy adviser Sam Clovis,

Economic adviser Peter Navarro

Inspector General Michael Horowitz lied with his claim that Crossfire Hurricane was “properly predicated.” It was not. There was no justification for this massive counter intelligence investigation, which had only one purpose–help Hillary Clinton.

The key informant/spy in this operation is Stefan Halper, an obese bloodsucker whose father-in-law was a top level CIA officer in the 1970s:

Halper is an American foreign policy scholar and retired Senior Fellow at the University of Cambridge where he is a Life Fellow at Magdalene College.[1] He served as a White House official in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations, and was reportedly in charge of the spying operation by the 1980 Ronald Reagan presidential campaign that became known as “Debategate“. Through his decades of work for the CIA, Halper has had extensive ties to the Bush family.[2] Through his work with Sir Richard Billing Dearlove, he had ties to the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6.

Halper is referred to in the FBI documents as Confidential Human Source aka CHS.

Here are the key documents for your own perusal. Do not take my word for it:

Halper Source Documents_final.pdf

04518073623.pdf (FBI interview of FBI Agent William Barnett)

HalperPageIntercept11-2016.pdf

The money quote from Solomon’s article is this:

Former FBI Assistant Director for Intelligence Kevin Brock said the information about Papadopoulos’ foreign lobbying that the bureau used to open the Russia collusion probe failed to meet the bureau’s own legal standards to justify the larger dragnet that encompassed Page and many other Trump officials.

“Normally when the FBI opens an investigation on a U.S. citizen, it has specific facts justifying an investigation of that person,” explained Brock, who led the implementation of many of the bureau’s current rules for informants and intelligence gathering. “But here what the ECs are saying is they don’t know who is involved and they are just conjecturing that someone in the Trump campaign might be in a position to receive help from Russia. You just can’t open a full field investigation on conjecture. . . .

“What they are doing is using preferred definitions,” he said. “When we employ the investigative techniques used against Carter Page to break the laws of another country and steal their secrets, it’s okay to call it spying. When we use those same techniques against a U.S. citizen, it’s called an investigation.”

Let us give the despicable Bill Barr credit for one thing. He told the truth about Obama. The Obama Administration was spying, illegally so, on Donald Trump and his campaign staff. We now know what a dishonored, disgraceful outfit the FBI has become. The FBI has betrayed the Constitution.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2021/03/they-have-betrayed-constitution.html

Lockdowns have killed millions

Sebastian Rushworth M.D.

Over the course of this pandemic I have often wished that Hans Rosling was still alive. For those who are unaware, he was a medical doctor and a professor at Karolinska Institutet who had a particular interest in global health and development. In 2012, Time magazine declared him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

During the last few months of his life, in 2017, he wrote an excellent book called “Factfulness”, that summed up most of his thinking, and described how many of the things people “know” about the world are completely wrong. Hans Rosling is something of a hero of mine, and if he was still alive, I’m sure he would have contributed to bringing som sanity to the current situation. With his global influence, I think people would have listened.

Two of Hans Rosling’s former colleagues at Karolinska Instituet, professor Anna-Mia Ekström and professor Stefan Swartling Peterson, have gone through the data from UNICEF and UNAIDS, and come to the conclusion that least as many people have died as a result of the restrictions to fight covid as have died of covid directly.

And while almost all the people who have died of covid have died in rich countries and been old, the vast majority of people who have died of lockdown have died in poor countries and been young. This means that the number of years of life lost to lockdown is many times greater than the number of years of life lost to covid-19 (as I’ve written about on this blog previously).

The specific causes of death are malnutrition, caused by shutting down the global economy, lack of vaccination, caused by shutting down childhood vaccination programs, and treatable diseases like tuberculosis and HIV, that have been prioritized down as a result of efforts to fight covid-19.

These unintended consequences of the efforts to fight covid have caused the rate of childhood deaths to increase in 2020 for the first time in decades. The two professors also note that rates of childhood marriage and of teen pregnancy and abortion have increased significantly as a result of taking children out of school. They have been interviewed about their findings on SVT, the Swedish public broadcaster. If you speak Swedish, you can watch a documentary that discusses their conclusions here.

https://sebastianrushworth.com/2021/03/01/lockdowns-have-killed-millions/?s=02

Tuscaloosa police: 20 arrested in undercover prostitution, child sex trafficking bust

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WIAT) — The West Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force arrested 20 people in an undercover prostitution sting in Tuscaloosa on Friday and Saturday nights.

Comprised of officers from the Tuscaloosa, Northport, University of Alabama police departments, along with Tuscaloosa County sheriff’s deputies, the task force conducted the operation in an effort to curb illegal sex.

Five people arrested were charged with both traveling to meet a minor for an unlawful sex act and electronic solicitation of a child. Fifteen additional suspects were arrested for soliciting prostitution. Some face additional charges, including unlawful possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and carrying a pistol without a license. The 20 defendants are facing a total of 32 charges.

“The officers working this detail did an outstanding job on these cases,” Tuscaloosa Police Lt. Darren Beams, commander of the West Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force, said in a statement to CBS 42. “Operations like these are crucial in the fight to prevent human trafficking from happening in our area.”

The following suspects were charged during the two-day operation:

Zachary Nathaniel Bradley, 20, of Tuscaloosa.

Traveling to Meet a Minor for an Unlawful Sex Act ( $60,000 Bond)

Electronic Solicitation of a Child ( $30,000 Bond)

John Stephen Shoemaker, 64, of Tuscaloosa

Traveling to Meet a Minor for an Unlawful Sex Act ( $60,000 Bond)

Electronic Solicitation of a Child ( $30,000 Bond)

Terence Xavier Colvin, 23, of Tuscaloosa

Traveling to Meet a Minor for an Unlawful Sex Act ( $60,000 Bond)

Electronic Solicitation of a Child ( $30,000 Bond)

Miguel Angel Garcia-Gonzalez, 29, of Bessemer

Traveling to Meet a Minor for an Unlawful Sex Act ( $60,000 Bond)

Electronic Solicitation of a Child ( $30,000 Bond)

Francisco Marin-Cuevas, 35, of Tuscaloosa

Traveling to Meet a Minor for an Unlawful Sex Act ( $60,000 Bond)

Electronic Solicitation of a Child ( $30,000 Bond)

https://www.cbs42.com/news/crime/tuscaloosa-police-20-arrested-in-undercover-prostitution-child-sex-trafficking-bust/

BPSO assists in human trafficking arrests

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - On Feb. 25 and 26, deputies with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (TX) conducted a joint human trafficking operation aimed at identifying and assisting victims of human trafficking, as well as holding those that traffic and exploit them accountable.

The Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Office assisted in this operation along with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, HSI, Port Arthur P.D., Port Neches P.D., Nederland P.D., Orange P.D., Jefferson County Pct. 1 Constables Office, Chambers County Sheriff’s Office, Orange County Constable Pct. 2, Texas DPS, McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, and DEA. Non-governmental organizations that provided assistance were Garth House, Harvest House, Collective Liberty and St. Elizabeth Forensic Nursing, S.A.N.E..

According to authorities, two human traffickers were identified, resulting in the arrest of one at this time. An investigation into the other trafficker is ongoing.

Five victims of human trafficking were identified and were immediately provided social services to include medical, safe housing and counseling, according to authorities.

In addition, nine men were arrested for attempting to purchase sex from adult females, and three of those men were also charged with attempting to purchase sexual acts with children. And they are as follows:

· Terry Landry, 62: Prostitution.

· Ryan Brooks, 44: Solicitation of person under the age of 18.

· Jose Salinas, 34: Prostitution.

· Bertin Salas, 41: Prostitution.

· Cody Henry, 24: Prostitution and solicitation of person under the age of 18.

· Joshua Mouton, 31: Prostitution.

· Chad Cracknell, 44: Prostitution and solicitation of person under the age of 18.

· David Malonson, 28: Prostitution.

· Troy Gerard, 29: Promotion of prostitution.

If you have suspicion of sex trade operations please report it to your local law enforcement agency immediately. You could be saving a life.

https://www.kplctv.com/2021/02/28/bpso-assists-human-trafficking-arrests/

Multiple agency investigation into child prostitution leads to 6 arrests

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — A multiple agency investigation in El Paso resulted in the arrest of 6 people accused of prostituting children and human trafficking.

Investigators said they used various websites to identify the suspects.

Special agents booked the following people into the El Paso County jail:

Francisco Arturo Colorbio, 23, of El Paso (Prostitution of person under the age of 18)

Peter Bo Ray Serrano, 29, of El Paso (Coercion / Enticement of a Child)

Octavio Saucedo Garavito, 24, of El Paso (Prostitution of person under the age of 18)

Francisco Javier Orozco, 21, of El Paso (Prostitution of person under the age of 18)

Octavio Lugo Aguirre, 50, of El Paso (Adult Prostitution)

Jeffery Lynn Raska, 55, of El Paso (Adult Prostitution).

Agencies that assisted in the bust were El Paso Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, among others.

https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/multiple-agency-investigation-into-child-prostitution-leads-to-6-arrests

Major reforms needed at ‘struggling’ US agency that leads dirty money fight, report says

A tech-driven ‘Manhattan Project’ at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is among significant reforms recommended by an anti-money-laundering group.

To keep from falling further behind in the battle against criminal money and terrorism financing, the United States must remake the federal agency at the center of the fight, according to a new report that draws on the views of top anti-money laundering experts.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — known in shorthand as FinCEN — is underfunded and overstretched in its role as a leading player in the global effort to catch money launderers and other sophisticated financial criminals who use shell companies, cryptocurrencies and other tools to hide their activities, the nonprofit anti-corruption group Global Financial Integrity says.

“It is an agency that is struggling … to meet the nation’s emerging money laundering challenges of the coming decade and beyond,” the report says. But it adds that the U.S. government “should not see these realities as acceptable and impervious to change.”

The report urges the government to boost FinCEN’s funding and to embrace fundamental changes in how the agency operates. It proposes, for example, that FinCEN launch a “Manhattan Project” to develop new ways to use data and cutting-edge technology to fight financial crime.

Anti-money-laundering efforts by the U.S. government and the banks it oversees “are widely seen as inefficient and ineffective,” the report says, citing the FinCEN Files investigation by BuzzFeed News, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media partners worldwide, which revealed that major banks had continued to profit from suspect transactions even after authorities had fined them for compliance failures.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has estimated that authorities detect less than 1% of the world’s dirty money. The Global Financial Integrity report released Monday notes that that estimate is a decade old, but says “there is little evidence to suggest” that the effectiveness of anti-money laundering efforts have substantially improved since then.

FinCEN is well-positioned to crack down on criminal money flows, because American law requires banks and other financial firms with operations in the U.S. to file “suspicious activity reports” whenever they spot transactions that have the hallmarks of illicit activity.

But the agency receives more than 2 million of these alerts each year. That number has zoomed upward over the past decade and FinCEN’s staffing, budgets and technology have failed to keep pace. Many suspicious activity reports simply go uninvestigated or even unread.

At FinCEN, the Global Financial Integrity report says, “innovation is limited and morale is poor.” The report adds that there is “general frustration” among anti-money laundering experts that “the agency’s approach has changed little over the years to the detriment of its ability to fight money laundering or to bolster national security.”

https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/major-reforms-needed-at-struggling-us-agency-that-leads-dirty-money-fight-report-says/

THE FRAUD WILL STAND – Supreme Court Rejects Sidney Powell’s Election Fraud Cases without Comment

Last Monday the United States Supreme Court refused to review the Pennsylvania 2020 Election cases.

The court made the announcement on Monday morning.

Justices Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas dissented from the denial.

On Monday, following their inaction last week, the US Supreme Court rejected without comment or explanation, lingering 2020 election challenges by Attorney Sidney Powell in Arizona and Wisconsin.

Far left Law and Crime reported:

The Supreme Court rejected two mandamus petitions that Sidney Powell and other “Kraken”-aligned lawyers filed in late December. Those cases were stylized as In re Tyler Bowyer, et al. and In Re William Feehan. The cases took issue with the election results in Arizona and Wisconsin, where Trump lost to Joe Biden.

“The petitions for writs of mandamus are denied,” the court said Monday. That’s it, that’s the order.

The matter-of-factness and brevity stands in stark contrast to the urgency and “public importance” that the lawyers communicated in the since-dismissed petitions.

“A submission directly to this Court seeking an extraordinary writ of mandamus is unusual, but it has its foundation. While such relief is rare, this Court will grant it ‘where a question of public importance is involved, or where the question is of such a nature that it is peculiarly appropriate that such action by this Court should be taken,’” each of the mandamus petitions said.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/03/breaking-fraud-will-stand-supreme-court-rejects-sidney-powells-election-fraud-cases-without-comment/

Trudeau denied Defence Production Act while staffers talked amendments for “greater authority”

Shortly before Justin Trudeau publicly denied the need to bring in a Defence Production Act in April of last year, his staffers discussed fast-tracking a briefing on a Defence Production Act that would “give the Minister greater authority to respond to the crisis.”

A similar act was invoked on March 18, 2020 under U.S. President Donald Trump to compel domestic manufacturers to produce emergency supplies needed for the coronavirus pandemic.

On March 19, 2020, Trudeau government staffer Joel Tallerico wrote to David Lord as well as Esther Christensen, Leslie Church and Kelly Murdock to explicitly discuss a possible Defence Production Act.

SUBJECT: Defence Production Act

Hi David,

Can we advance the Defence Production Act briefing to today?

Based off Boris' email, we may want to engage Justice on making amendments to that act to give the Minister greater authority to respond to the crisis.

Thanks,

Joel

On April 1, 2020, Trudeau told reporters during one of his Rideau Cottage addresses that unlike the United States, Canada would not need to institute the “similar action” of passing a Defence Production Act because Canadian companies were “putting their hands up” to help.

Rebel News combs through thousands of pages of government documents every year.

Sometimes we get nothing, but sometimes we get something shocking, and that makes it all worth it. To help us cover the cost of researching the Trudeau government, please help us out at RebelInvestigates.com.

https://www.rebelnews.com/trudeau_denied_defence_production_act_while_staffers_talked_amendments_for_greater_authority

Man Convicted of Human Trafficking by Federal Jury After Five-Day Trial

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/man-convicted-human-trafficking-federal-jury-after-five-day-trial

Doctor Sentenced to Prison for Role in Unlawful Distribution of Controlled Substances

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/doctor-sentenced-prison-role-unlawful-distribution-controlled-substances

>>13080245

>>13080104 Tuscaloosa police: 20 arrested in undercover prostitution, child sex trafficking bust

>>13080109 BPSO assists in human trafficking arrests

Texas Electricity Firm Files for Bankruptcy Citing $1.8 Billion in Claims From Grid Operator

HOUSTON—Texas’s largest and oldest electric power cooperative on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection in federal court in Houston, citing a disputed $1.8 billion bill from the state’s grid operator.

Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc, which supplies electricity to more than 660,000 consumers across the state, is one of dozens of providers facing enormous charges stemming from a severe cold snap last month. The fallout threatens utilities and power marketers, which collectively face billions of dollars in blackout-related charges, executives said.

Unusually frigid temperatures knocked out nearly half of the state’s power plants in mid-February, leaving 4.3 million people without heat or light for days and bursting water pipes that damaged homes and businesses. Brazos and others that committed to provide power to the grid—and could not—were required to buy replacement power at high rates and cover other firms’ unpaid fees.

The state’s grid operator, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), on Friday said $2.1 billion in initial bills went unpaid, underscoring the financial stress on utilities and power marketers. More providers likely will reject the bills in coming days, executives said.

“The municipal power sector is in a real crisis,” said Maulin Patani, a founder of Volt Electricity Provider LP, an independent power marketer that is not a member of the Brazos coop. ERCOT should suspend the service charges to halt further defaults, he said in an interview on Sunday.

An ERCOT spokeswoman did not have an immediate comment. The Public Utility Commission, the state’s regulator that oversees ERCOT, was unavailable for comment.

The city of Denton, in north Texas, last week sued ERCOT in a state court to prevent it from charging it for fees unpaid by other users of the grid. Denton Electric could face tens of millions of dollars for fees that were not collected from others, the suit claimed.

Debt analyst Fitch Ratings last week also warned of potential downgrades to all Texas municipal power firms that use the state’s grid. Costs from the storm “could exceed the liquidity immediately available to these issuers,” Fitch said.

Texas’s attorney general has launched an investigation into the blackout, calling for ERCOT and others to provide documents on the outages, pricing and emergency, saying they mismanaged the crisis.

ERCOT triggered the squeeze when it pushed up spot-market rates to $9,000 per megawatt-hour (MWh) over more than four days and levied huge fees for services. The service fees were 500 times the usual rate, according to industry executives.

Brazos Electric coop executive Clifton Karnei, who sat on ERCOT’s board of directors until last week, signed the Brazos coop’s bankruptcy submissions.

An attorney for Brazos did not reply to a request for comment.

https://www.ntd.com/texas-electricity-firm-files-for-bankruptcy-citing-1-8-billion-in-claims-from-grid-operator_574420.html