DeepDotWeb Administrator Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Conspiracy
DeepDotWeb received over $8 million in kickbacks from purchases of fentanyl, firearms, and other contraband on Darknet marketplaces
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/deepdotweb-administrator-pleads-guilty-money-laundering-conspiracy
Joe Biden Displays Transgender Flags at the White House to Celebrate ‘Day of Visibility’
President Joe Biden will display transgender flags at the White House on Wednesday to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility, according to an official.
White House Director of Political Strategy and Outreach Emmy Ruiz announced Biden would display the pastel pink and blue and transgender flag at the White House.
“Imagine being a trans kid and feeling seen by the highest office in the land. And not just seen, but loved and cared for,” she wrote on social media.
Biden also released a statement Wednesday to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility.
“Transgender Day of Visibility recognizes the generations of struggle, activism, and courage that have brought our country closer to full equality for transgender and gender non-binary people in the United States and around the world,” Biden’s statement read.
The president recognized the “trailblazing” and “hard-fought” efforts of activists to give transgender people “the bravery to live openly and authentically.”
“This hard-fought progress is also shaping an increasingly accepting world in which peers at school, teammates and coaches on the playing field, colleagues at work, and allies in every corner of society are standing in support and solidarity with the transgender community,” the statement read.
But Biden warned of ongoing violence, harassment, discrimination, and systemic barriers, affecting the transgender community.
“The crisis of violence against transgender women, especially transgender women of color, is a stain on our Nation’s conscience,” the statement read.
Biden reminded transgender activists of the important gains for transgender individuals including the Senate confirmation of Rachel Levine as assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Vice President Harris and I affirm that transgender Americans make our Nation more prosperous, vibrant, and strong,” the statement concluded. “I urge my fellow Americans to join us in uplifting the worth and dignity of every transgender person.”
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/03/31/joe-biden-displays-transgender-flags-white-house-celebrate-day-visibility/
Italy’s Salvini, Hungary’s Orban, and Polish Prime Minister to Discuss Alliance in EU
Italian populist Senator Matteo Salvini and the conservative Central European premiers Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, of Hungary and Poland, will meet to discuss a conservative alliance within the European Union.
Salvini, the populist leader of the League (Lega, formerly Lega Nord) party, confirmed the meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday in Budapest.
Salvini stated that his end goal was to see his Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament merge with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and form a supergroup within the assembly, Il Giornale reports.
“The two groups that are divided today, ID and ECR, will merge into a single large group, which would be the second group in the European Parliament,” Salvini said during a press conference to international media on Tuesday.
The former Italian deputy prime minister added that migration would also be discussed during the meeting, and claimed that current Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, “acknowledges that the current system does not work”.
Hungarian Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations Zoltan Kovacs also confirmed the meeting, writing: “The topic of EU level political cooperation between [Orbán’s Fidesz party], Lega Nord, and [Morawiecki’s Law and Justice party] will feature prominently on the agenda.”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/03/31/salvini-meet-orban-polish-pm-discuss-eu-alliance/
Court Rules It’s Not Rape If Woman Gets Voluntarily Drunk Before Sex Assault Happens
St. Paul, MN — In one of the most ridiculous, yet atrocious decisions by a court we’ve ever seen, the Minnesota Supreme Court threw out a rape conviction this month because the woman who was raped had voluntarily consumed alcohol prior to being raped. This case paves the way for legal rape so long as a woman voluntarily consumes alcohol or drugs with her rapist before the assault occurs.
The court’s unanimous 6-0 decision is plain and simple — “a person can’t be found guilty of sexually assaulting someone, who is mentally incapacitated due to intoxication, if that person became intoxicated by voluntarily ingesting drugs or alcohol.”
Read that again if you need to, it is true.
The court’s decision stems from the case of Francois Monulu Khalil. Khalil was convicted of rape and sentenced to prison in 2019 but challenged his case all the way to the state’s highest court.
According to the details of the case, Khalil met his victim in 2017 when she was just 20. The two went on a date and the bouncer denied her entry into the bar because he deemed her too intoxicated. Khalil and another man then invited her back to “a party” that turned out to be non-existent.
The victim testified that she blacked out and woke up on the couch to find Khalil raping her. She told him to stop but Khalil refused, telling her, “But you’re so hot and you turn me on.”
Khalil has been in jail since 2019, but thanks to a highly controversial state law and the court’s ridiculous decision, he could soon be a free man.
The court overturned Khalil’s conviction because state law dictates that a person cannot be considered “mentally incapacitated” and incapable of consenting to sex if they are intoxicated on which were substances “administered to that person without the person’s agreement.”
This law is not just in Minnesota either. According to The Washington Post, a majority of US states – 40 states, as of 2016 – have similar laws which treat intoxication as a barrier to consent only if victims became drunk against their will.
“Victims who are intoxicated to the degree that they are unable to give consent are entitled to justice. Minnesotans who experience unthinkable trauma deserve to see the Legislature take action on this immediately,” Democratic state representative Kelly Moller said, according to USA Today.
Moller introduced legislation in an attempt to put an end to this ridiculous law. Her legislation states that anyone who is intoxicated, for any reason, is unable to give consent.
“It makes it very clear that this issue needs to be fixed at the legislature,” Lindsay Brice, the law and policy director of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said of the state Supreme Court’s ruling.
Marion O’Neill, a Republican state representative and co-sponsor of Moller’s bill, said that “it is time now to pass these solutions so that no victim ever has to be denied justice over a technicality,” in a statement.
While this case is shocking, there are a number of laws on the books of other states which are equally horrific. Take North Carolina for instance. It is a matter of state law that a woman can be violently raped so long as she initially consented to sex.
If actual sexual penetration occurs under the banner of consent, that agreement to have sex cannot — according to North Carolina law for decades — be suddenly revoked, even if a man turns violent.
“If the actual penetration is accomplished with the woman’s consent, the accused is not guilty of rape, although he may be guilty of another crime because of his subsequent actions,” the North Carolina Supreme Court wrote in its decades-old decision in State v. Way.
As TFTP reported at the time, a bill proposed in 2017, sought to jolt the fraught Southern state into the 21st Century — making legal rape illegal again.
However, the General Assembly never acted on the measure.
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/court-rules-its-not-rape-if-woman-gets-voluntarily-drunk-before-sex-assault-happens/
Daszak Admits Long-Standing CCP Links… on China State Media.
World Health Organization COVID-19 investigator Peter Daszak admitted to his long-standing “collaboration” with a host of Chinese Communist Party entities while speaking with China Global Television Network.
On the same day the World Health Organization’s (WHO) highly controversial was released, Daszak appeared on China Global Television Network (CGTN), a state-run outlet that has aired forced confessions, to hype the findings.
Daszak, who has repeatedly praised Chinese state-run media outlets, admitted to having collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party and its scientific groups in the interview.
“Everybody knows that I have strong collaboration with the Wuhan Insitute of Virology for many years,” he noted after attempting to explain why the lab leak theory was improbable:
“When it came to the lab leak hypothesis, we just didn’t see significant information that suggests that that happened. I mean as a scientist you can only deal with the evidence you see in front of your eyes and if it’s not there then you can only come to the conclusion that it’s extremely unlikely.”
“Of course, I have collaborations with many, many Chinese organizations and institutes because we all work on these viruses, and let’s not forget SARS, the original important coronavirus emerged in Guangdong. And that’s why we’re working in China collaboratively with China CDC, Wuhan Insitute of Virology, and many, many other organizations because we want to stop this from happening,” he added again.
The CGTN interviewer also pressed Daszak on ties fellow WHO researchers had with China, referencing a National Pulse report on Marion Koopmans:
“I know that some Western media also talked about your association with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and they also referred to Madam Marion Koopmans who had really good cooperation with Chinese institutes.”
The interviewer concludes by saying he “hopes that next time when you are visiting Wuhan or visiting China I could be around,” to which Daszak replies: “I look forward to that.”
The interview follows extensive National Pulse reporting highlighting Daszak’s financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party, including authoring studies funded by the regime and hosting conferences alongside state-run entities.
https://thenationalpulse.com/breaking/daszak-admits-ccp-links-on-cgtn/
Businessman Nets 47M for Belgrade Airport Land, then Partners With Lawyer Whose Firm Advised on Deal
New information raises questions about the relationship between a Serbian businessman who earned millions from selling land around Belgrade’s airport, and a Portuguese ex-minister whose law firm advised on the airport deal.
Key Findings
After winning the concession to expand Belgrade’s airport, French construction giant Vinci bought nearby land from controversial Serbian businessman Stanko Subotić for 47 million euros — over four times more than projected by an internal government assessment.
The following year, Subotić became business partners in a newly founded real estate company with a former Portuguese government minister, José Luís Arnaut, whose law firm had advised the Serbian government on the airport deal.
Arnaut initially denied any dealings with Subotić, who has been linked to organized crime, but later admitted to holding a minority position in the company, which he said was for “opportunistic investments in real estate.”
When French construction giant Vinci won the rights to operate Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport in early 2018, President Aleksandar Vučić called it a “big deal for Serbia.”
“This is a thing that will strengthen our creditworthiness and bring us more investors,” he said at a press conference to tout the deal, which was backed by a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
“The airport will look much better than it looks now.”
Vinci paid just over half a billion euros for the rights to run the busiest airport in the Western Balkans for 25 years. The French firm also promised to spend another 732 million euros to upgrade the facility, including a major expansion to more than double its passengers to 15 million annually by the end of the concession period.
But the “big deal for Serbia” was also a big deal for wealthy businessman Stanko Subotić, who profited handsomely from land he owned near the airport.
openlux/Stanko-Subotic-2.jpg
Stanko Subotić, pictured, went into business with Portuguese lawyer José Luís Arnaut.
KRIK and OCCRP previously reported that Subotić was poised to reap benefits from the new construction, but new information obtained by reporters shows that he earned far more than initially projected. Vinci paid 47 million euros for two parcels of land owned by a Subotić firm — more than four times higher than projected in a secret internal government report.
What’s more, within a year of selling the land, Subotić went into business with a former Portuguese politician whose law firm advised Serbia’s government on the airport deal, KRIK and OCCRP have learned. That firm, CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut, had also been an adviser to Vinci in Portugal.
In 2016, when the Serbian government was still deciding what to do with the state-run airport in Belgrade, it hired CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut as part of an advisory team led by a French consulting company. The group recommended that the Serbian government seek a concession deal, and drafted a feasibility study for the agreement. Vinci signed the concession agreement in March 2018, and set about arranging to buy Subotić’s land.
The land sale was finalized in December 2018. Then, at some point in 2019, Subotić became partners in a real-estate company with one of the law firm’s managing partners, José Luís Fazenda Arnaut, a former deputy prime minister of Portugal, newly available corporate ownership data from Luxembourg reveals. It is unclear how the two men knew each other.
More
https://www.occrp.org/en/openlux/businessman-nets-47m-for-belgrade-airport-land-then-partners-with-lawyer-whose-firm-advised-on-deal
Huawei posts record profit in 2020 despite mounting US pressure
Chinese tech giant Huawei achieved a record profit last year despite pandemic headwinds and US blacklisting. However, those factors still took a toll on the pace of the company’s growth.
Huawei’s net profit was up 3.2% and reached 64.6 billion yuan ($9.9 billion), the company said as it presented its 2020 financial results on Wednesday. Meanwhile, its revenue rose by 3.8% year-on-year to hit 891.4 billion yuan ($136.7 billion).
The annual revenue growth was modest compared to the previous year when it amounted to 19%. Year-on-year net profit growth was also slower compared to 5.6% a year earlier, and the contrast is even more staggering compared to 2018, when it amounted to 25.1%.
“Over the past year we've held strong in the face of adversity,” Huawei's rotating chairman, Ken Hu, said in a statement. “Because of the unfair sanctions placed on us by the US, our mobile phone business saw a revenue decline.”
While the company’s statement says that overall financial results were in line with its forecasts, Ken said the performance of the consumer business “fell short” of the company’s expectations due to a fall in smartphone revenue.
Last year’s growth was mainly driven by the company’s success at home, while Huawei’s business declined in its overseas markets. Sales in China jumped over 15% to total 584.9 billion yuan ($89.7 billion), accounting for over 65% of total revenue. Revenue in the Americas plunged by nearly a quarter, while it was down 12% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and 9% in Asia-Pacific. However, Huawei still feels “more optimistic” about next year’s performance beyond the domestic market.
Last year marked the first full year under the US sanctions for Huawei. Washington placed the company on its infamous Entity List in May 2019, essentially prohibiting American companies from doing business with the tech giant and making it difficult, or impossible, to export vital technologies to Huawei. Additionally, the US moved to block global chip supplies to Huawei and pressured its allies to ditch Huawei equipment, especially in the rollout of 5G networks.
https://www.rt.com/business/519691-huawei-record-profit-sanctions/
New York Times Commissions Research from Extreme-Left ‘Media Matters’ Group.
A New York Times article entitled “Why Transgender Girls Are Suddenly the G.O.P.’s New Target” uses Media Matters reporting to back up its claims.
In reality, the “GOP” is not “targeting” transgender girls. Conservatives are actually defending girls against the encroachment of biological men in their sports and in their locker rooms. Opponents of the conservative position should, rather, be said to be targeting young girls.
And that’s the line NYT writer Jeremy Peters takes in his March 29th article, which cites Media Matters – a far-left organization founded in 2004 by Clinton crony David Brock.
Media Matters has solicited seven-figure donations from anti-American financiers like George Soros, and even grifted up to $2 million from the Paycheck Protection Program during the CCP virus pandemic.
Peters reported (emphasis added):
According to a review of social media content conducted for The New York Times by Media Matters, a left-leaning watchdog, seven of the 10 most popular stories about the proposed laws targeting transgender people so far this year were from the Daily Wire, a website founded by Mr. Shapiro. Two others were from Fox News. Combined, the articles were read, shared and commented on six million times, Media Matters said.
The New York Times does not solicit research from right-leaning organizations or Media Matters’ equivalents on the right such as Newsbusters.
The National Pulse has previously reported on how the New York Times was actually founded by a pro-slavery family, railed against the enfranchisement of black voters in America, and uncritically published from Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
The New York Times also helps to run a “Marxist journalism school” for the Chinese Communist Party, and their staff members have urged “collaboration” with the Chinese Communist Party.
https://thenationalpulse.com/breaking/new-york-times-commissions-research-from-extreme-left-media-matters-group/
Democrat Elissa Slotkin Claims Antifa Are ‘Boogeymen Who Aren’t There’
Democrat Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said Tuesday Antifa are “boogeymen who aren’t there,” adding it is “an ideology… not an organized group.”
“What you will hear, both in private and in public, the FBI will tell you right now there is not one open case of domestic terrorism, of violent extemism, against the group called Antifa,” the chair of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism said to on WDET-FM.
“It’s an ideology. It’s not an organized group with leaders and money and organization.” Slotkin added, “It’s very very different, and there’s no equivalence between Antifa and a group like the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers who were instrumental in coming into the Capitol on the sixth.”
Slotkin regurgitated Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray’s talking point when he famously said in a congressional hearing that Antifa is “not a group or an organization. It’s a movement, or an ideology may be one way of thinking of it.”
Slotkin continued, “I spend a lot of time trying to make sure my colleagues have full access to that data, and I’ve been clear with them that we’re not going to have a circus in this committee and focus on boogeymen who aren’t there. I understand it’s a political talking point for people, but you cannot misstate facts.”
Meanwhile, Antifa and Black Lives Matter are responsible for accomplishing the most costly riots in the history of our country, while CNN insisted the civil unrest was “fiery but mostly peaceful protests.”
“Property Claim Services, a company that tracks insurance claims filed due to riots and the like, found that the left-wing riots that occurred between May 26 and June 8 of this year could reach $2 billion in insurance claims,” Breitbart News reported.
https://www.breitbart.com/law-and-order/2021/03/31/democrat-elissa-slotkin-claims-antifa-are-boogeymen-who-arent-there/
*they work to BE free
Mother's face, arms, chest, back and legs erupt in agonising red rash after getting AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine - as 41-year-old claims she is still in unbearable pain two weeks later
Leigh King, 41, hairdresser, said her skin flared up after she got AstraZeneca jab
Mother said she was unable to look after 13-year-old autistic son due to the pain
Britain's drug regulator lists rashes as a possible reaction to AstraZeneca's jab
It says they are uncommon - affecting one in 100 people - following clinical trials A mother's face, arms, chest, back and legs erupted into an agonising red rash after getting the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.
Leigh King, from North Lanarkshire in Scotland, claimed her skin flared up almost immediately after she got her first dose two weeks ago — and is still sore now.
'My skin was so sore and constantly hot,' she said. 'I have never felt pain like this… and to say it's been the worst time of my life is an absolute understatement.'The hairdresser, 41, was invited for the jab because she is the sole carer of her autistic son, Aidan, 13. Ms King said she has been unable to look after the teenager since because of her burning rashes.
She claimed she visited hospital for help three times but was turned away by doctors despite the pain being so bad she could 'barely walk out' on the final visit.
Britain's drug regulator lists rashes as an 'uncommon' side-effect of the AstraZeneca jab — affecting up to one in 100 people — and has recorded 3,795 cases so far. It is not clear whether she suffered an allergic reaction to the jab, or whether her rash was because of her immune system's natural overreaction to the jab.
It does not list them as a possible reaction to the Pfizer vaccine but a few thousand Britons have also reported suffering rashes after getting that jab.
More than 34million jabs have been administered in the UK so far, with the majority supplied by AstraZeneca.
British dermatologists said the rashes appeared hive-like in nature and could have been triggered by 'a number of other causes rather than the vaccine itself'. The NHS website says hives can be sparked by food allergies, insect bites, and cold exposure.
NHS England said it could not comment on individual cases, but insisted the jabs approved for use in the UK met 'strict standards' on quality, safety and efficacy.
http://www.mr-mehra.com/2021/03/mothers-face-arms-chest-back-and-legs.html
Pfizer Says Vaccine Is 100% Efficacy In Adolescents Ages 12-15
On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their vaccine has 100% efficacy in children ages 12-15.
The companies conducted a study on the topic that has not yet been published but involved 2,260 adolescents in the United States who varied in age from 12-15 years old. The study included participants who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 beforehand and those who had not been infected prior to the study.In the trial, the companies state that there were 18 cases of COVID-19 seen in the placebo group, but none in the group of people that were given the vaccine. It also says that the vaccine showed “robust antibody responses, exceeding those reported in a trial of vaccinated 16-25-year-old participants in an earlier analysis, and was well tolerated” by the participants aged 12 to 15 years old. The company also stated that the side effects were “generally consistent with those observed in participants 16 to 25 years of age.”
Pfizer and BioNTech plan to provide the information for scientific peer review and will also give it to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency in order to expand the use of the vaccine in children 12-15 years of age “as quickly as possible.” All of the people who participated in the trial will be examined “for long-term protection and safety for an additional two years after their second dose.”
“We share the urgency to expand the authorization of our vaccine to use in younger populations and are encouraged by the clinical trial data from adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15,” said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer in a press release. “We plan to submit these data to FDA as a proposed amendment to our Emergency Use Authorization in the coming weeks and to other regulators around the world, with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year.”CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, said, “Across the globe, we are longing for a normal life. This is especially true for our children. The initial results we have seen in the adolescent studies suggest that children are particularly well protected by vaccination, which is very encouraging given the trends we have seen in recent weeks regarding the spread of the B.1.1.7 UK variant. It is very important to enable them to get back to everyday school life and to meet friends and family while protecting them and their loved ones.”
The report on the findings included:
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine is authorized for use under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for active immunization to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals 16 years of age and older. The emergency use of this product is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of the medical product under Section 564 (b) (1) of the FD&C Act unless the declaration is terminated or authorization revoked sooner.
The FDA granted emergency use authorization to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in December for individuals who are over the age of 16. The vaccine is part of a two-dose regimen, spaced three weeks apart, and has been shown to be 95% effective at preventing COVID-19. It was the first COVID-19 vaccine authorized by the FDA. It has not been licensed or approved by the FDA past the emergency use authorization.
The American Academy of Pediatrics released a report with the Children’s Hospital Association in early February that included the cumulative number of child COVID-19 cases. It stated, “3,033,370 total child COVID-19 cases reported, and children represented 13.0% (3,033,370/23,284,471) of all cases.”
The mortality rate was also included from reporting of 43 states, New York City, and Guam, saying, “0.00%-0.05% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death.” It also said, “Children were 0.00%-0.25% of all COVID-19 deaths, and 10 states reported zero child deaths.”
http://www.scoopyweb.com/2021/03/pfizer-says-vaccine-is-100-efficacy-in.html
Man, 38, on lifetime parole for stabbing his mother to death in 2002 is charged with beating up Filipina, 65, on her way to church in NYC - as she remains in hospital with broken pelvis
The man who viciously assaulted a 65-year-old Filipina woman by kicking her head in a savage attack in New York has been arrested, police said.
Brandon Elliot, 38, was detained by NYPD cops at 2am on Wednesday after CCTV footage of the horrific beating drew widespread condemnation and sparked a police manhunt.
Elliot is currently on lifetime parole after murdering his own mother in 2002 and was released from prison in 2019, according to NBC New York.
He lives in a Manhattan hotel serving as a homeless shelter near where Monday's attack took place and has been charged with felony assault as a hate crime.
The victim was on her way to church in Midtown when she was pushed to the ground and kicked in the head.
She had been walking towards the suspect in the moments before he attacked her when he reportedly told her: 'F*** you, you don't belong here.'
The damning footage also shows two security guards watch the attack unfold and fail to intervene.
The pair have been suspended from work, the Brodsky Organization, the management company for the building, announced on Tuesday.
NYPD officers had blanketed Manhattan with wanted posters and offered a $2,500 reward for any information on the suspect.
http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2021/03/man-38-on-lifetime-parole-for-stabbing.html
WTF: Justin Trudeau: “You’ll need to immediately quarantine in designated government facilities. This is not optional.”
Now is not the time to travel. If you have plans to head somewhere for the long weekend, cancel them. There are other, safer ways for you to connect with your family and friends. For those who need to travel, take note of the measures that are in place when you return to Canada:
f you’re flying back into the country, you’ll need to show a negative PCR test result before you board the plane. When you land, you’ll need to take another PCR test. You’ll then have to wait at an approved hotel, and at your own expense, for your results to come back.
If your results come back negative for COVID-19, you’ll be able to head home and finish your mandatory quarantine there. If your test results come back positive, you’ll need to immediately quarantine in designated government facilities. This is not optional.
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/wtf-justin-trudeau-youll-need-to-immediately-quarantine-in-designated-government-facilities-this-is-not-optional/
Report: US Asks Taliban to Extend May 1 Withdrawal Deadline
Tolo News cited sources who said the US asked for a deadline extension of three or six months
Citing sources close to the Taliban, Afghanistan’s Tolo News reported that the Biden administration has asked the Taliban to agree to a continued US presence in Afghanistan for three or six months past May 1st.
The May 1st withdrawal deadline was set by the US-Taliban peace deal that was signed in Doha last year. While the Biden administration has yet to make an official announcement, it’s clear the US is looking to stay.
Tolo News said the Taliban has not yet made a decision on the US request and is asking that first their 7,000 prisoners should be released and that the group’s officials are removed from a UN blacklist.
The report quoted Faiz Mohammad Zaland, a university lecturer in Kabul, who said the Taliban is not likely to agree to the US request. “The Americans have asked for the extension of their troops for another three or six months, but the Taliban insist on the implementation of the Doha agreement,” he said.
The report lines up with what US officials have been saying about the deadline. Last week, President Biden said it would be “hard” to pull out by May 1st but also said he couldn’t “picture” US troops still being in the country by 2022.
After Biden’s comments, the Taliban responded and warned if US troops remain in the country past May 1st that they would be targeted, a sign that the group has no interest in extending the deadline. Since the Doha agreement was signed, the Taliban has lived up to its commitment not to attack US forces. February 8th marked the first full year that no US troops died in combat in Afghanistan since the war started.
The question is if Biden will choose to stay past May 1st without the approval of the Taliban, which would likely mean an escalation of the almost 20-year-old war.
https://news.antiwar.com/2021/03/30/report-us-asks-taliban-to-extend-may-1-withdrawal-deadline/
DoD Spent Hundreds of Millions on Air Transport in Afghanistan – But Didn't Ask Allies for Repayment
The Defense Department lost out on an unknown amount in reimbursement costs by failing to ask coalition partners to repay the United States for air transportation in Afghanistan over a three-year period, an audit found this month.
And because U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Multinational Logistics failed to collect or track flight data on how much coalition partners used these contracted rotary-wing air transportation services, the exact cost of what partners owe may never be known, the DoD's inspector general said in an audit dated March 22.
From September 2017 through September 2020, the U.S. military paid $773 million for air transportation provided to U.S. personnel and other coalition partners, the audit found. The contract helicopters are used to move personnel, cargo or both between bases in Afghanistan.
The audit said there are 17 "pay-to-play" coalition partner nations, such as Australia, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, which reimburse the Pentagon for logistics support, supplies and services. Another 21 nations, known as "lift and sustain" coalition partners and including Poland, Romania and Ukraine, have their logistics tab picked up by the United States, because they otherwise would not be able to take part in the Afghanistan mission.
Under these kinds of arrangements, called Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreements, the Pentagon acquires or provides logistics support, supplies and services in exchange for reimbursement from a foreign country. The military then is supposed to record details, terms and conditions on order forms, to be entered into an automated tracking and reporting system.
But that didn't happen. The U.S. failed to obtain flight data, determine per-person rates for the cost of each flight or set up an agreement with coalition partners for reimbursement costs and billing methods before providing the air transportation services, the IG said. The U.S. Army Central, or ARCENT, Logistics Directorate didn't have controls in place to make sure orders were entered into that automated reporting system, the report said.
U.S. Forces Afghanistan agreed with the IG's recommendation to take all those steps in the future, to make sure the military can be reimbursed for future air transportation costs. The military also plans to collect a monthly report of air transportation services and bill "pay-to-play" coalition partners, beginning in the second quarter of fiscal 2021, the report said.
ARCENT also agreed to set up internal controls, including monthly reviews of its tracking system's transactions to make sure billing is taking place at the correct rate.
U.S. Transportation Command awarded three fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts for these services in May 2017. The base contracts, which are set to end this August, originally were valued at about $485 million, but the actual amount increased as option years were exercised, the report said.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/03/31/dod-spent-hundreds-of-millions-air-transport-afghanistan-didnt-ask-allies-repayment.html
Illegal Aliens Released by BP Commit Home Invasion Robberies, Store Burglaries in U.S. Town
Violence sparked by the illegal immigrant crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border has spilled over into a sleepy little town unaccustomed to the devastating impact large influxes have on bigger cities near major crossings. A series of crimes committed by illegal aliens and human smugglers (coyotes) has left the usually tranquil Arizona town of Sonoita, population of about 800, in shock. Veteran ranchers and business owners in the area interviewed by Judicial Watch say that in the last few days there have been two home invasion robberies and two local stores were burglarized by a group of illegal immigrants who had just been released into their community by the U.S. Border Patrol in the predawn hours.
Additionally, armed illegal immigrants were stopped by authorities just south of Sonoita on private property, according to local sources. “Keep in mind that our area is rural, and the large majority of illegal immigrants are crossing in Nogales, Naco, and Douglas in Santa Cruz and Cochise County,” said one area rancher. Another said the sparsely populated region, located about two dozen miles from the Mexican border, is a large grazing area that is “not accustomed to this type of invasion of illegal activity.” The ranchers, all lifetime Sonoita-area residents, asked not to be identified because the situation is getting increasingly heated. Judicial Watch reached out to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff, which has jurisdiction in the area, for more detailed information about the crimes. However, the agency never responded. Local sources with firsthand knowledge of the recent crime spree say one of the homeowners recently robbed was beaten quite badly by the illegal alien perpetrators. The other was the family home of an area pastor’s son, the sources said.
Judicial Watch spoke to the owner of one of the Sonoita stores recently burglarized by illegal immigrants sometime before dawn. The business, Cowgirl Flare Boutique, sits at the intersection of Arizona State Route 82 and 83 in the middle of town. Next to it is a convenience store that also got burglarized by the same group. “The Border Patrol processed and released two men and a woman for human smuggling at around 4:30 a.m. and my store is very close to the Sonoita Border Patrol station,” said Stephanie Hubbell, who opened Cowgirl Flare Boutique nearly a decade ago. “They broke in and took all the money in the cash register and several pairs of men’s jeans and shirts.” The illegal immigrants also smoked crack cocaine in her store, Hubbell said, and used the pages of a book nook stationed outside her business to start a fire. Besides also burglarizing the convenience store next to her, Hubbell said the illegal immigrants stole all the cash donations in a shrine that the owner has in honor of her deceased mother.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/illegal-aliens-released-by-bp-commit-home-invasion-robberies-store-burglaries-in-u-s-town/
Large Convoy Of Russian PMCs Spotted On Central African Republic Border With Sudan (Photos)
On March 29, a large convoy transporting Russian private military contractors (PMS) arrived at the Central African Republic (CAR).
The convoy entered the country through the Amdafock border crossing with Sudan. It was last spotted in the town of Birao. The convoy’s final destination is reportedly the northern town of Bamingui.
The Briao Info Facebook page shared several photos of the convoy, which consists of more than 50 pickups, trucks, armored personnel carriers and engineering vehicles.
Russian forces have been present in the CAR for a few years. Military advisors are currently training the Central African Armed Forces. Meanwhile, the PMCs are supporting government forces and guarding the country’s top officials.
A coalition of major rebel groups in the CAR, dubbed the Coalition of Patriots for Change, is now engaged in a rebellion against the country’s legitimate authorities. The rebels have been attempting to capture the capital, Bangui, in order to overthrow President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who was re-elected last December.
In spite of the efforts of Russia and a number of regional and international powers, the situation in the CAR remains far from being stable. The country’s civil war, which has been ongoing since 2012, will not likely end soon.
https://southfront.org/large-convoy-of-russian-pmcs-spotted-on-central-african-republic-border-with-sudan-photos/
U.S. Olympic committee will allow athletes to kneel during anthem at trials, outlines other acceptable forms of protest
The U.S. Olympic Committee has bowed to wokeness by determining which forms of protest will be considered “acceptable” at this year’s Olympic trials. The move to delineate acceptable forms of protest follows a December decision to allow Olympic athletes to “peacefully and respectfully” engage in public demonstrations for racial and social justice while competing.
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) released guidelines on Tuesday allowing Olympic athletes to engage in protest, but they come with severe limits to the options athletes have for public demonstrations.
In a nine-page document, the USOPC offered guidance on the types of “racial and social demonstrations” that are allowed for hundreds of competitors vying for spots on the U.S. national team. The document was produced after the Olympic Committee listened to input from athletes who demanded that it no longer enforce its longstanding rules that ban protests at Olympic events.
According to the rules, athletes will be allowed to kneel during the national anthem or raise their fists. Athletes will also be allowed to wear hats or face masks with political phrases like “Black Lives Matter,” or words like “equality,” or “justice.” Athletes are prohibited from wearing any hate symbols as defined by the Anti-Defamation League, and from performing actions that would prevent others from competing, such as laying down in the middle of a track to protest.
The document defines as much as it can in explicit detail, including stating clearly that acceptable demonstrations should involve “advancing racial and social justice; or promoting the human dignity of individuals or groups that have historically been underrepresented, minoritized, or marginalized in their respective societal context.”
The document provides a process by which cases that step outside the rules can be decided. It also makes clear that the organization does not sanction athletes for a variety of actions, stating it cannot “prevent … third parties from making statements or taking actions of their own, and that each Participant must make their own personal decision about the risks and benefits that may be involved.
The guidelines state that the USOPC will not be responsible if sponsors drop their athletes or refuse to endorse participants who engage in protests, even if the organization itself does not punish them.
https://www.rebelnews.com/us_olympic_committee_will_allow_athletes_to_kneel_during_anthem_at_trials_outlines_other_acceptable_forms_of_protest
Biden Administration Open to Creating 'Road Map' Back to Full Iran Nuclear Deal
Iran continues to clandestinely develop its nuclear program as they have since the early 1990s. Sanctions haven’t stopped them. The nuclear deal with the U.S. and other Western countries only encouraged them.
But the Biden administration appears willing to go to any lengths to entice Iran back into full “compliance” with the agreement begun during the Obama administration. Instead of taking small steps to build trust that Iran would keep its word, the U.S. now appears willing to lift all remaining sanctions on Iran in exchange for the promise of later negotiations.
One can understand Biden’s eagerness to renegotiate President Obama’s signature achievement — even though it did absolutely nothing to slow Iran’s drive to develop a weapons program. Obama was Biden’s boss and the deal was very popular on the radical left.
But do we need a deal so badly that we should unilaterally lift sanctions on Iran?
Reuters:
Biden aides originally said that if Iran resumed compliance, the United States would too – a stance taken to mean Washington wanted Tehran to resume compliance first – but have since made clear that who goes first is not an issue.
While the Biden administration has also sought to project that it is in no hurry, it faces the reality that if there is no progress in April toward reviving the deal, Iranian officials in May will begin intense politicking for the June 18 presidential election.
Iran was on the economic ropes in 2011 when the U.S. first approached its leaders to negotiate a nuclear deal. It’s an open question how long the government could have survived given the massive unemployment, double-digit inflation, and food shortages. Obama saved the Iranian regime in 2015 and gave them license to bolster its allies and attack its enemies in the region.
Tehran rejected a report in the U.S. publication Politico saying Washington planned this week to put forth a new proposal that would ask Iran to halt work on advanced centrifuges and the enrichment of uranium to 20% purity in return for undefined U.S. sanctions relief.
“No proposal is needed for the US to rejoin the JCPOA,” the Iranian mission to the United Nations said on Twitter, referring to the deal formally named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “It only requires a political decision by the US to fully and immediately implement all of its obligations.”
Implementing U.S. obligations means lifting all sanctions. This is vital for Iran’s crippled oil industry that’s in dire need of spare parts and proper maintenance. Lifting sanctions would also give Iran access to international lending authorities and loans from Western countries.
What could they give us of comparable value? Absolutely nothing. In effect, we’d be doing the terrorists in Tehran a favor.
The main reason there was a nuclear deal in the first place was to give Western politicians an “out” from their commitment to preventing Iran from getting the bomb. In the end, no U.S. president — Republican or Democratic — carried through with threats to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.
If Iran doesn’t have the bomb yet, they will soon. And nothing in any nuclear deal will prevent that.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/03/31/biden-administration-open-to-creating-road-map-back-to-full-iran-nuclear-deal-n1436426
=Convicted Sex Offender Charged with Molesting 3 More Girls he Met while Teaching Elementary School Literacy Program
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A registered sex offender convicted of molesting an elementary school student he met through a literacy program has been charged with molesting three more children in the program. Authorities are asking for anyone who information about additional potential victims to contact the Santa Ana Police Department.
Miguel Angel Pineda, 25, of Huntington Beach, has been charged with nine felony counts of a lewd and lascivious act on a child under the age of 14. The nine felonies involve three girls between the ages of 7 and 8 years old who he met while working for the Boys and Girls Club.
Pineda is accused of meeting the three new accusers at Washington Elementary School in Santa Ana when he read to them through the Boys and Girls Club Literacy Program in 2017 and 2018.
Pineda was required to register as a sex offender after he pleaded guilty in 2019 to molesting another student he met through a literacy program run by the Boys and Girls Club, which has since been renamed the Boys and Girls Club of Central Orange Coast.
On March 23, 2021, Santa Ana Police arrested Pineda after three additional girls came forward to report they had been molested by Pineda after meeting him through the literacy program.
Pineda is currently being held at the Orange County Jail on $1 million bail.
“Children are the most vulnerable of victims,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “They trust without question because they have no reason not to trust. But that trust can be manipulated by predators who use it to select and prey on the most innocent of victims. And now these children must live the rest of their lives with the fear that someone who should have been there to help them instead robbed them of their innocence.”
Pineda had access to children through this employment with the Boys and Girls Club of Central Orange Coast and authorities believe there may be additional victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact Santa Ana Police Detective Nick Vega at 714-245-8368 or nvega@santa-ana.org or to call Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.
https://breaking911.com/convicted-sex-offender-charged-with-molesting-3-more-girls-he-met-while-teaching-elementary-school-literacy-program/
Awful! Little Migrant Girl Lost Her Voice After Brutal Gang Rape While Answering Biden’s Open Borders Invitation: Border Patrol Report
“I make no apologies for ending programs that did not exist before Trump became President that have an incredibly negative impact on the law, international law, as well as on human dignity. And so, I make no apologies for that.” Joe Biden, at a press conference commenting on rolling back President Trump’s border rules that dramatically slowed illegal immigration, March 25, 2021.
Since Biden took office and opened the border to migrant children, at least three have drowned in the Rio Grande and numerous other children have been brutally raped or sexually assaulted.
On Tuesday, Reuters posted a video interview with Border Patrol official Oscar Escamilla in which he spoke about the hardships child migrants go through to reach the U.S. border with Mexico. Escamilla told a story of a “little girl” he encountered at the Donna, Texas child migrant shelter in February who had could not speak.
“About a month-and-a-half ago I was back here talking to one of the little girls, you know, and, and I told the Congressional delegation this, the same thing, right? We were gonna send her to the hospital and as I got close to her I noticed that she couldn’t speak and I asked the medical staff what happened. And she, the reason she was going to the hospital because she had gotten gang raped. And the reason that she couldn’t speak was because she had lost her voice in the process while she was getting raped. Those things hit hard.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/03/awful-little-migrant-girl-lost-voice-brutal-gang-rape-answering-bidens-open-borders-invitation-border-patrol-report/
https://twitter.com/SebGorka/status/1377315430969323527/photo/3
They are in bed together so that will never happen
Israel Election Results: Netanyahu Calls on Right-wing Rivals to 'Return Home'
Israel elections 2021: Arab faction Balad says won't endorse any PM candidate ■ Rivlin calls for 'unconventional' political connections ■ Gantz and Lapid meet for coalition talks
Coalition negotiations are underway following Israel's unprecedented fourth election in two years. President Reuven Rivlin will meet with all the party heads on Monday before deciding which party leader will receive the mandate to form the next government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud emerged as the largest party with the all votes counted. However, Netanyahu still does not have a clear path to a 61-seat majority needed to form a coalition.
The anti-Netanyahu bloc, a patchwork of left, right and centrist factions, is also just shy of a majority. The Islamist United Arab List party, headed by Mansour Abbas, and Naftali Bennett's Yamina have not yet declared their support for either bloc.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/israel-election-results-joint-list-yesh-atid-to-meet-for-coalition-talks-1.9669432