Most Portland rioters have charges DISMISSED by US Attorney: 58 suspects of the 97 arrested have cases scrapped, while 32 more are left pending

The majority of the people facing federal charges over last summer's protests in Portland, Oregon will not be prosecuted or spend any time at all behind bars, it haas been revealed.

Although 97 people were arrested and had charges filed against them in connection to protests that took place between May and October of last year, 58 cases have either been dismissed completely or will be scrapped under deferred resolution agreements.

A further 32 cases are also pending with many also likely to be dismissed, Fox News reports.

Just seven people have entered guilty pleas, and just one is heading to prison having been caught red-handed setting fire to the city's Justice Center.

Edward Schinzing was caught on video setting fire to the building. He had his shirt off and, helpfully for police, had his name tattooed on his back.

Among those who have had charges dismissed are David Bouchard and Charles Comfort, who were both accused of attacking law enforcement officers.

The decision not to prosecute many of the accused rioters federally echoes the decision made last year by Portland's newly elected district attorney who stipulated under a new policy, his office would not prosecute people who have been arrested since late May on non-violent misdemeanor charges.

The policy recognizes the outrage and frustration over a history of racial injustice that led to more than 100 nights of sustained, often violent protest in Portland as well as the more practical realities of the court system, which is running more than several months behind in processing cases because of COVID-19.

'The protesters are angry … and deeply frustrated with what they perceive to be structural inequities in our basic social fabric. And this frustration can escalate to levels that violate the law,' Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said.

http://www.cuzzblue.com/2021/05/most-portland-rioters-have-charges.html

Hunter cashes in on crack again: President's son reveals he's writing SEQUEL to his flop autobiography 'Beautiful Things' which sold just 10,600 copies in his first week despite '$2million advance'

Hunter Biden has revealed that he is considering writing a sequel to his autobiography, despite the heavily-promoted book only selling 10,600 copies in its first week.

Biden's memoir, Beautiful Things, went on sale on April 6, with the 51-year-old paid what some believe could be a $2 million advance.

Despite a media blitz, with appearances on CBS, Jimmy Kimmel, CNN and the BBC, the book was not a hit - ranking 12th in its first week in the non-fiction hardcover list category.

Yet Biden said he was considering a sequel which would focus on his whirlwind romance with wife Melissa Cohen.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph's Bryony Gordon, for the Mad World podcast, Biden was asked about how South African filmmaker Cohen had saved him.

Biden met Cohen in Los Angeles in May 2019, and told her he was a crack addict. She replied that he wasn't any more, and then took him home to get him clean.

'That's book two,' he said.

'That's where the book ends, but the one thing I really do feel almost an obligation to speak about or write about in the future is where the real hard work begins.'

Biden and Cohen married immediately: not even a week had passed from the day they met when Biden asked her to be his wife. The ceremony was held a day later.

'I got incredibly lucky,' Biden said.

'I grabbed hold in that instant, in that chance, in that moment of a life raft, of someone to save me.

'The real hard work - not just for the addict, but even more the person who is caring for them.'

Biden said that Cohen confiscated his wallet, car keys and even his clothes so he could not escape and buy drugs.

He said he was incredibly grateful to her for doing so.

'You had to have someone there who was willing to make sure 24/7 you would not give in to those urges,' he said.

'That was a full-time job, and I'm forever grateful that she was willing to do that hard work.' Biden told Gordon that he was in a very good place mentally, describing how he wakes at 6am to look in on their son Beau, named after his late brother, and to paint.

He said he wrote his first book to tell others who are struggling: 'you're not unique, you're not alone.'

He admitted, however, that his situation was surreal, as the son of the vice president, now president.

Hunter's business dealings, particularly in Ukraine, where he sat on the board of a gas company for $50,000 a month while his father was vice president, raised eyebrows.

Some accused Joe Biden of corruption, although he always insisted he had no idea what his son was up to.

Last week it emerged that Hunter still has a stake in a Chinese private equity firm, according to a report - despite a campaign pledge that neither he nor his family would maintain any foreign business interests.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2021/05/hunter-cashes-in-on-crack-again.html

4,700 Amazon employees had unauthorized access to private seller data

Shoddy security allowed various employees to use info to their advantage.

Thousands of Amazon employees, including those who developed private-label goods for the e-commerce giant, enjoyed years of access to sensitive third-party seller data, according to a new report.

An internal audit in 2015 traced the issue to lax security protocols, including the use of a tool called “spoofer access,” which allowed Amazon employees to view and edit accounts as sellers. The employees had access to profile information, inventory levels, product pricing, and even the ability to cancel orders. The audit, obtained by Politico, says that spoofer access was available to employees from around the world and persisted until at least 2018.

At least one employee used the security lapses to their advantage. “We identified one Vendor Manager who inappropriately reviewed a Seller’s on-hand inventory to improve the likelihood and timing of the Vendor Manager winning buy-box,” the audit said. The "buy box" is the main “Buy” button that appears on a product page on Amazon. Various sellers compete for opportunities to “win” the buy box, giving them access to easy sales by making it more likely that orders will be fulfilled from their inventory.

“There was an access control system that allowed people who had the motivation to be good at their job to take data they weren’t supposed to have,” one Amazon IT security professional told Politico. Compliance, the person said, was not high on Amazon’s list of priorities unless there was a strong business case supporting it.

Amazon's slipshod security and compliance practices appear to explain a Wall Street Journal report saying that Amazon employees used third-party seller data to inform the development of Amazon’s own private-label products. In one case, Amazon employees pored over details about a third-party car trunk organizer that topped the bestseller list. They studied sales figures, marketing and shipping costs, and Amazon’s cut of each sale. Later, Amazon introduced an organizer of its own that competed directly with the third-party product. Amazon told the WSJ that such acts were violations of an internal policy.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told Congress about the policy last year, though he made sure to qualify his statement, saying, “I can’t guarantee you that that policy has never been violated.” Though in testimony to Congress, Nate Sutton, the company’s associate general counsel, was less equivocal. “We don’t use individual seller data directly to compete” with third-party sellers, he said.

Amazon is not the only retailer to sell its own products alongside competitors. Grocery stores and big-box retailers frequently do the same, since profits are fatter on those sales compared with sales of others’ products. Amazon, though, reportedly has far greater amounts of data about third-party sales at its disposal. When developing new products or refining existing ones, other private-label businesses do not enjoy the same advantages.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/05/4700-amazon-employees-had-unauthorized-access-to-private-seller-data/

America’s Plan to Spend $17.7 Billion on Just 31 Surface-to-Air Missiles

The fantasy missile to destroy incoming ICBMs in space

The Pentagon plans to spend almost $18 billion to develop, produce and support its new interceptor to stop incoming nuclear missiles from North Korea or Iran, the first major defense procurement award of the Biden administration, according to newly released figures.

Teams led by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. will receive between them as much as $13.1 billion in the development phase of the Next Generation Interceptor. Their competition will culminate in a winner-take-all selection process following a “critical design review” — possibly by 2026 — leading to the construction of as many as 31 new interceptors, including 10 for testing.

The production phase is estimated to cost $2.3 billion, with long-term support costs totaling another $2.3 billion, according to estimates prepared by the Pentagon’s independent cost assessment unit.

“We’re focusing on the technology development phase at this time,” Missile Defense Agency spokesman Mark Wright said in a statement. The agency intends to begin fielding the Next Generation Interceptor “no later than 2028,” he said.

Such cost estimates are intended to give civilian officials a reality check on the pricetag of a major weapons system. They also give analysts and investors in Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman a sense for the size and scope of potential revenue from the new program.

The interceptors are designed to crash into and destroy incoming missiles from an adversary such as North Korea or Iran. They would be installed on missiles based in Alaska. Each of the 31 interceptors is estimated to cost about $498 million.

The new interceptor is intended to correct the mistakes of a failed warhead program that spanned the Obama and Trump administrations before it was canceled in August 2019 after $1.2 billion was spent on a project meant for deployment in 2023.

https://anti-empire.com/americas-plan-to-spend-17-7-billion-on-just-31-surface-to-air-missiles/

GENOCIDE in the U.S. Continues: 3,848 DEATHS 118,902 Injuries Following COVID Injections – Children Now being Reported as Dying Also

The mass murder of Americans through the experimental COVID injections continues, as the CDC is now reporting that 3,848 people have died and 118,902 adverse reactions have now been logged into their Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

Many believe there is solid evidence that the CDC is holding back much of the data, and that the number of deaths and injuries reported is much higher (see below).

This is in addition to the fact that many deaths and injuries following the injections are not even reported, because the propaganda put out by the U.S. Government and reinforced through the pharma-funded corporate media, continues to claim that NONE of these deaths are linked to the COVID injections, and are just “coincidences.”

So those who foolishly believe this and later become sick, or see a loved one die, will not even consider the fact that the COVID injections may have caused this, and will not bother reporting it to the CDC.

To give some perspective to these recorded numbers, and show how criminally evil it is to claim that none of these deaths or injuries are caused by the injections, the total deaths now recorded following experimental COVID injections since December, 2020, is more than the recorded deaths following vaccines for the previous 15 and a half years (source) before the experimental COVID shots were unleashed against the public.

https://healthimpactnews.com/2021/genocide-in-the-u-s-continues-3848-deaths-118902-injuries-following-covid-injections-children-now-being-reported-as-dying-also/

Computer Programmer Harri Hursti Is Second Investigator Selected for Windham, NH Elections Audit — Who Is Advisory Board Member to Unscrupulous Verified Voting

Bruce Breton, one of Windham’s Selectman, is the only city Selectman who did not vote for Mark Lindeman for the upcoming forensic audit. Bruce voted for computer expert Jovan Pulitzer to be Windham’s forensic analyst.

Last Monday night, the Windham Board of Selectmen held a public meeting to discuss their choice of an analyst for the forensic audit team that will investigate the largest discrepancy between machine and hand counts for any election in the history of New Hampshire. At the meeting, 3 of the 4 selectmen announced their support for the team of Dr. Andrew Appel and Mark Lindeman’s Verified Voting.

It was discovered the next morning that New Hampshire officials selected an operative who alleged the election fraud claims were fake and worked to try to get the Maricopa County audit shut down earlier this month!

So the local officials in Windham picked Mark Lindeman who is a far-left operative who has NO RESPECT for the auditing process at all and believes it is unnecessary!

On Saturday a reader tipped us off to another indictment of Mark Lindeman and Verified Voting.

According to an article at Fast Company back in December 2019, a year before the 2020 election, two experts working with Mark Lindeman and Verified Voting quit the organization over claims it was untrustworthy and was providing cover for the companies that make and sell the voting machines.

This was public knowledge and the Windham Selectmen obviously knew about this before they picked the allegedly corrupt organization to audit the 2020 Windham election results.

Mark Lindeman has also been accused of being a toady for the voting machine companies.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/05/awful-computer-programmer-harri-hursti-second-investigator-selected-windham-nh-elections-audit-advisory-board-member-unscrupulous-verified-voting/

Psaki Blames Trump for Border Crisis, Says Biden is Cleaning Up the Mess and “Taking the Challenge Head On”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday blamed Trump for the border crisis and then absurdly claimed Joe Biden is “taking the challenge head on.”

Joe Biden hasn’t even visited the southern border.

Biden’s “border czar” Kamala Harris hasn’t visited the southern border either.

“After four years of an immigration system rooted in destructive and chaotic policies, Biden is taking the challenge head on,” Psaki said.

“After coming into office, our administration immediately jumped into action to address the influx of migrants at the border – something that began during and was something that was exacerbated by the Trump administration,” she said.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/05/psaki-blames-trump-border-crisis-says-biden-cleaning-mess-taking-challenge-head-video/

Ukrainian President to Baltic NATO Allies: This Is War in Europe

On May 3 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met in Warsaw with his counterparts from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, NATO’s member states on the Baltic Sea. The five heads of state signed a joint declaration on cooperation, including on what was termed common security.

The statement includes the phrase “Mindful of the historical experiences,” which is certainly a reference to domination by Czarist Russia and the Soviet Union in the past. It’s that common history that has united the political leaders of the Baltic states and Poland in the post-Cold War period, many of them American and Canadian nationals or married to such. (E.g., the former President Valdas Adamkus in Lithuania, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in Estonia, President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga in Latvia, Foreign Minister and Defense Minister Radosław Sikorski’s wife Anne Applebaum in Poland as well as President Viktor Yushchenko’s’s wife Kateryna in Ukraine, etc., etc.)

The legacy of Russian and Soviet conquest and domination has been used to corral the four nations into NATO, though the 21st century is not the 18th, nor is the year 2021 the year 1945. Neither is contemporary Russia that of Catherine the Great, much less the Soviet Union of Joseph Stalin.

Poland joined NATO in the first round of post-Cold War enlargement in 1999; Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined five years later in the second. In the interim the U.S. and NATO have acquired and established air bases, anti-ballistic missile installations, a cyber warfare center, a Joint Force Training Centre for the NATO Response Force, NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Groups (in all four nations), U.S. Atlantic Resolve deployments (to all four nations), etc.

The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is surrounded on land by Poland and Lithuania. Russia’s last remaining ally in Europe, Belarus, is bordered by Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Estonia and Latvia border the main body of Russia.

Zelensky was speaking with the four nations whose support he would most need in any armed conflict with Russia, the involvement of one or more of which would automatically trigger a NATO Article 5 collective military response.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/05/03/ukrainian-president-to-baltic-nato-allies-this-is-war-in-europe/

Judge orders release of Trump obstruction memo, accuses Barr of being 'disingenuous'

A federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice to release a March 2019 legal memo that advised then-Attorney General William Barr that the special counsel's investigation did not support prosecuting former President Trump, issuing a scathing decision that accused Barr and department lawyers of deceiving the public.

District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Monday ordered the DOJ to release the legal memo in two weeks in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW).

The DOJ had argued in court that the full memo, portions of which have already been released, should be withheld because it fell under exceptions to the public records law for attorney-client privilege and deliberative government decision making.

But Jackson said on Monday that those claims were not consistent with her own review of the unredacted memo nor the timeline revealed by internal emails among top Justice Department officials.

A federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice to release a March 2019 legal memo that advised then-Attorney General William Barr that the special counsel's investigation did not support prosecuting former President Trump, issuing a scathing decision that accused Barr and department lawyers of deceiving the public.

District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Monday ordered the DOJ to release the legal memo in two weeks in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW).

The DOJ had argued in court that the full memo, portions of which have already been released, should be withheld because it fell under exceptions to the public records law for attorney-client privilege and deliberative government decision making.

But Jackson said on Monday that those claims were not consistent with her own review of the unredacted memo nor the timeline revealed by internal emails among top Justice Department officials.

Judge orders Tesla to turn over documents on Musk compensation plan

The Memo: Trump's critics face wrath of GOP base

Jackson, who was appointed to the federal district court in D.C. by former President Obama, wrote in a 41-page decision that "not only was the Attorney General being disingenuous then, but DOJ has been disingenuous to this Court with respect to the existence of a decision-making process that should be shielded by the deliberative process privilege."

"The agency’s redactions and incomplete explanations obfuscate the true purpose of the memorandum, and the excised portions belie the notion that it fell to the Attorney General to make a prosecution decision or that any such decision was on the table at any time," she added.

https://thehill.com/regulation/551755-judge-orders-release-of-trump-obstruction-memo-accuses-barr-of-being-disingenuous

Ex-Walla CEO: We removed news about bereaved families because PM didn’t like it

Ilan Yeshua says editors were told to take down stories about families of soldiers killed in 2014 Gaza war; says was made to fawn over Sara Netanyahu as if in ‘Byzantine court’

On the first day of the cross-examination of Ilan Yeshua in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s graft trial on Tuesday, the former Walla news CEO told the court that editors were ordered to remove stories from the site about families bereaved in the 2014 Gaza war because the premier didn’t like them.

Yeshua, who previously told the court how close associates of Netanyahu were directly involved in shaping the content of the news site to the premier’s liking, made the statement by way of explanation for his publicly stated feelings about the prime minister.

During questioning about his own political views, Yeshua admitted he told staff members that “Bibi is destroying the Zionist enterprise” and had said that the prime minister was “a disaster for the country.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-walla-ceo-we-removed-news-about-bereaved-families-because-pm-didnt-like-it/

Jordan, Biggs demand answers from FBI on 'widespread' FISA violations after declassified FISC opinion

House Republicans call FBI activities 'illegal spying'

House Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Andy Biggs are demanding answers from FBI Director Christopher Wray after a newly declassified opinion from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court revealed "widespread" FISA violations.

Republicans, throughout the Trump administration, were vocal about abuses of FISA after the FBI obtained a FISA warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Wray last year called the actions taken to obtain that FISA warrant "unacceptable" and told Congress they "cannot be repeated."

But, last week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declassified an opinion from the FISC – the court with oversight of the FISA system – which Jordan and Biggs said revealed the FBI "has been seriously and systematically abusing its warrantless electronic surveillance authority."

The opinion, from November 2020, detailed the FBI's "apparent widespread violations" of privacy rules in conducting surveillance under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but was not related to the controversial FISA warrant against Page.

"We write to request information about the FBI's illegal spying activities," Jordan, of Ohio, and Biggs, of Arizona, wrote to Wray Tuesday.

Section 702 authorizes the attorney general and the director of National Intelligence to jointly authorize warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States, subject to limitations.

The section requires the adoption of "targeting procedures" to ensure that acquired information is limited to non-U.S. persons to prevent the "intentional acquisition" of U.S. domestic communications, according to U.S. Code. The section also requires the use of minimization and querying procedures, specifically requiring that the government obtain a FISC order for any review of Section 702 query results in criminal investigations unrelated to national security.

But, the opinion revealed that the FBI "violated the querying standard" after the Justice Department audited the government’s compliance with Section 702 querying safeguards. The FISC determined that the "FBI’s failure to properly apply its querying standard when searching section 702-acquired information was more pervasive than was previously believed."

The opinion further documented that "the government has reported numerous incidents regarding searches of section 702 FISA information without first obtaining court permission." Pointing to the discovery of 40 queries in which the FBI accessed information for investigations involving "healthcare fraud, transnational organized crime, violent gangs, domestic terrorism involving racially motivated violent extremists, as well as investigations relating to public corruption and bribery" — all unrelated to foreign surveillance.

The FISC opinion noted that "none of these queries was related to national security and they returned numerous Section 702-acquired products in response."

Judge James E. Boasberg, the chief judge of the FISC, concluded that the court is "concerned about the apparent widespread violations."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/jordan-biggs-fbi-answers-fisa-violations-declassified-fisc-opinion

Wisconsin Dem’s Campaign Treasurer, Donor Mount Defense of Alleged ‘Rub-and-Tug’

Business tied to Ron Kind advertised on 'RubMaps,' other alleged sex marketplace sites

Attorneys at the law firm defending an alleged "rub-and-tug" massage parlor operating on property owned by Rep. Ron Kind include the Wisconsin Democrat's campaign treasurer as well as multiple campaign donors, financial disclosures show.

After reports emerged Wednesday that Asian Sunny Massage—a La Crosse-based parlor that rents office space from Kind—advertised on "RubMaps" and other sex marketplace sites, attorney Joe Veenstra of Johns, Flaherty & Collins released a statement defending the business. But the law firm's interest in clearing Asian Sunny Massage's name may go beyond its role as counsel for the establishment.

The firm's managing partner, Brent Smith, has served as Kind's campaign treasurer since August 2020, according to campaign finance disclosures. The campaign's website also lists Smith as treasurer, and Kind's most recent statement of organization includes the address of Johns, Flaherty & Collins. Smith has contributed roughly $7,600 to Kind's campaign since the Democrat's inaugural run in 1997.

Veenstra, the attorney specifically tasked with defending Asian Sunny Massage, has also donated repeatedly to Democratic candidates over the last decade, including $250 to Kind, his single largest contribution. Other attorneys at Johns, Flaherty & Collins, meanwhile, have combined to contribute $900 to Kind's campaign since 1999.

Veenstra's statement alluded to Kind's relationship with Asian Sunny Massage, which the attorney called a "perfectly legitimate business" subject to "political hit pieces." Veenstra went on to threaten "serious legal action" toward "anyone in the press or politics saying otherwise." Kind also attributed the ongoing scrutiny facing Asian Sunny Massage to his Republican opponent, retired Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden, whom he accused of pushing a "baseless smear rooted in racism."

Veenstra, however, did not address Asian Sunny Massage's numerous advertisements on websites that connect users with "happy ending" massages. The business featured a posting on RubMaps—described by USA Today as "Yelp for sex spas"—shortly after opening in 2018. Asian Sunny Massage also ran a 2018 ad on BodyRubsMap, which describes itself as "the best alternative to Backpage," an online sex trafficking marketplace shut down by U.S. authorities. The ad features photos of young Asian women and is still live today, amassing thousands of views.

Veenstra, Smith, and Kind did not return requests for comment on whether Kind steered Asian Sunny Massage to employ Johns, Flaherty & Collins.

During a Friday interview, Kind blamed the suggestive advertisements on Google, saying that "because of Google's algorithms, [the ads] get attached to various sites that the small business has no control over." But a Google spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon such suggestive ads "are not Google-placed ads." He said the company specifically "does not run Google ads" on any of the illicit massage sites in question and said its publisher policies "prohibit content that promotes compensated sex acts."

In addition to the sex marketplace spots, Asian Sunny Massage ran since-deleted Facebook posts obtained by the Washington Free Beacon that touted a "new young massager" and "beautiful young ladies" offering to "relieve work stress." The posts also contained suggestive photos of Asian women.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/ron-kind-rubs-elbows-with-law-firm-for-alleged-prostitution-ring/

Inspector general: EPA 'did not fully comply with federal laws' in handling CARES Act funding

"Our evaluation … determined that the Agency did not fully comply with federal laws," the OIG report says

A federal watchdog said Tuesday the Environmental Protection Agency failed to institute adequate risk-assessment procedures – and "did not fully comply with federal laws" – regarding appropriation funding in the recently enacted CARES Act.

The agency's inspector general report states the shortcoming on the high-risk emergency supplemental appropriation created "a risk of fraud, waste, abuse."

The 14-page report detailed, in one example, how the agency failed to properly distribute three supplemental funds for cleaning separate facilities. The report found that each facility had different needs, therefore the funds should have been divide among the facilities to maximize their use, avoiding potentially waste, fraud or abuse.

n March 2020, the agency received $7.23 million in supplemental funds to "prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally."

The CARES Act was passed in March 2020 as a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief stimulus bill, including unemployment compensations.

The report also found that the agency did not properly disclose monthly expenditures of the funds as the CARES Act requires.

All CARES Act funds expire in September, and the EPA has 39% of its fund unspent, leaving the agency with $2.81 million as of last month.

The inspector general's office recommend the EPA document when the funds are received by agency divisions and how it will mitigate the risks of fund mismanagement and abuse.

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/inspector-general-says-epa-did-not-properly-report-cares-act

EPA Did Not Conduct Agencywide Risk Assessment of CARES Act Appropriations, Increasing Risk of Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2021-05/documents/_epaoig_20210504-21-e-0128report.pdf

Judicial Watch: Records Show Iowa State Officials Coordinated with Big Tech to Censor Election Posts

The records show communications between the Secretary of State’s office and representatives of Facebook and Twitter to Target Judicial Watch Posts.

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it received 624 pages of records from the office of the Secretary of State of Iowa, revealing how state officials pressured social media companies (Twitter and Facebook) to censor posts about the 2020 election. Included in these records were emails from Iowa state officials to representatives of Big Tech pressuring these companies to remove Judicial Watch’s posts. The emails show how the state agency successfully pressured Facebook to censor Judicial Watch’s post about Iowa’s management of its voter rolls.

Judicial Watch received the records as a result of a June 2020 Iowa Open Records lawsuit that was filed after the Iowa Secretary of State failed to comply with a February 2020 request for records and communications about a Judicial Watch report regarding the accuracy of the state’s voter registration rolls (Judicial Watch v. Iowa Secretary of State (No. 05771 EQCE085973)). Judicial Watch was represented by Iowa lawyer Alan R. Ostergren of Des Moines, Iowa.

The records show that officials in the Iowa Secretary of State office on multiple occasions contacted officials from Facebook and Twitter to try to have these companies remove Judicial Watch posts that raised concerns about Iowa’s failure to maintain accurate election rolls.

On February 3, 2020, at 5:19 p.m., Kevin Hall, the communications director for the Iowa Secretary of State, wrote in a February 3, 2020, email to Facebook official Rachel Holland:

Rachel,

We’ve been playing whack-a-mole with this false story all day. Is there anything you can do to help: [likely https://www.facebook.com/JudicialWatch/posts/10157583458431943]

We’ve told them is fake. They have it PINNED to the top of their page.

Here’s our rebuttal: https://sos.iowa.gov/news/2020_02_02.html

Holland responded at 6:11p.m., writing:

Hi Kevin,

Circling back with an update regarding the content posted by Judicial Watch. Our third-party fact checkers have rated this content false, and we have applied a filter over the content warning users before they click to see it that the content has been rated false by independent fact checkers.

Please continue to report violating content to us by emailing reports@content.facebook.com, and copying me (RachelHolland@fb.com), as I will be on an airplane for the next couple hours. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding this or any other matters.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-releases/big-tech-iowa-officials/

Pelosi allocates $1 million for ‘Courage Museum’ that lauds Blasey Ford

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) proposed funding $1 million towards a “Courage Museum” with plans to laud Dr. Christine Blasey Ford to the House Appropriations Committee. All proposals were due to the committee on Friday but made public on Monday.

The organization behind the museum is Futures Without Violence, an organization dedicated to social justice. FWV has previously released statements to express their “strong support and appreciation of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford for her willingness to speak out” regarding her sexual assault allegations against Justice Brent Kavanaugh. On their website, it reads “we believe that it is both Dr. Ford’s right and a public service for her to tell her story in a public forum and have it heard and judged on its merits.”

In February, FWV gave Ford a “Courage Award.” Ford also spoke at a fundraiser for the organization and was met with a standing ovation. Since the Kavanaugh hearings, Ford has rarely made public appearances. In a press release, she said she stepped into the spotlight because she believed in FWV’s mission.

“There are some organizations with values that align with mine,” Ford said. “I learned about the work of Futures and the Courage Museum, I am very honored to be here.”

Since FWV proposed the museum to the city of San Fransisco in February, the organization has promised to “honor” Ford.

Jake Barton, who designed the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum and Legacy Museum, will design Futures Without Violence’s latest project. It would be his first project on the West Coast.

The committee will review all proposals after the Biden administration publishes its budget.

https://saraacarter.com/pelosi-allocates-1-million-for-courage-museum-that-lauds-blasey-ford/

Muslim Brotherhood Tries To Rebrand As NGO In Libya

The Muslim Brotherhood organization in Libya said in a written statement that it had changed its name to the “Revival and Renewal Society”.

It is also now officially a Non-governmental organization (NGO).

The decision was taken by the group at its 11th convention and the group said it will spread its its message by working in various public areas in Libya

In a report, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, it quoted Abdurrezzak Sergen who was a former member of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood and a member of its political wing, the Justice and Construction Party, who said “that the group had decided that its work should only be within Libya, so it had turned into a non-governmental organization.”

The statement claimed that the reason behind this change was due to the intensification of the group’s efforts to prepare for the upcoming elections and taking into account the changes in reality that require wisdom and the logic of reason. It stressed that the group dealt with each stage and phase with what was required given the demands of diligence and renewal.

Essentially, this is another rebranding scam, not too dissimilar from attempts to rebrand Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Syria’s Idlib as no longer allied to al-Qaeda, and as such no longer terrorist.

As Libyans overwhelmingly demand direct Presidential and Parliamentary elections this December, in order to end the scourge of appointed governments with an executive authority that is based on the legitimacy of the Libyan people, this comes as terrible news for Islamist parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

The recent efforts by the Muslim Brotherhood to undermine direct Presidential elections is a sign of their anxiety on their future in Libya.

Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood feel threatened by direct Presidential elections and many are concerned that it could herald the demise of their party.

It would also mean a reduction in Turkish influence, which Ankara, obviously, wishes to avoid.

This is unlikely to improve their situation too much, since the interim Libyan government, as well as Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and his forces demand for all foreign forces and mercenaries to leave the country, including the Turkish forces and their Syrian mercenaries.

As such, without the protection and with an elected, and not imposed government, the Muslim Brotherhood appears to be at a grave disadvantage.

https://southfront.org/muslim-brotherhood-tries-to-rebrand-as-ngo-in-libya/

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy Says Liz Cheney Leadership Ouster Likely Before the End of The Month – Perhaps Tucker Carlson Attacks on McCarthy Are Connected

f you are into the political weeds, specifically the Machiavellian aspects to the deepest political weeds, there’s an interesting article in The Hill today with quotes from people very close to GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Essentially, the nub of it is that GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney is about to get removed from her leadership position due to her continued antagonism of the MAGA supporters and President Trump.

After Cheney’s latest round of attacks against Trump and his supporters McCarthy is no longer going to defend Cheney from a frustrated republican caucus ready to get rid of her.

Cheney is likely to be voted out of leadership by the end of the month, depending on the timing of the next GOP conference assembly.

WASHINGTON – Top allies of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are vowing to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of the harshest critics of former President Trump in either party, from her leadership post by the end of the month.

They argue that the No. 3 Republican has repeatedly contradicted McCarthy and his team, undermining the party’s message and its efforts to take back the House majority in next year’s midterm elections.

“There is no way that Liz will be conference chair by month’s end,” one key McCarthy ally told The Hill on Monday. “When there is a vote, it won’t be a long conference; it will be fast. Everyone knows the outcome.” (read more)

The list of possible replacements for Liz Cheney includes Elise Stefanik (NY) and Jackie Walorski (Ind); both would be good replacements. Walorski was a wolverine against the Obama administration during the VA scandal, and Stefanik was a loyal MAGA ally during the impeachment effort. However, due to the depth of the swamp I would emphasize the need to keep a close eye on either.

All of that said…. Now I get into the Machiavellian angle of this DC swamp.

This is where the attack against Frank Luntz by Tucker Carlson starts to make sense.

I know Tucker Carlson is valued by many people in the MAGA community, but a DC leopard doesn’t change his spots (and often relies on short memories). If you have followed the deep weeds for a long time THIS REFRESHER will remind you of the issues with Tucker Carlson. My hunch is the attack on Luntz was not really an attack on Luntz, but really was cover for a presumptive attack on McCarthy. That’s how the Machiavellian DC swamp rolls.

I’m no fan of McCarthy, but his thirst for political wind-chasing is actually an asset when it comes to these creatures. With McCarthy you know what his priorities are… He is predictable. That is why he aligned with President Trump; and Donald Trump knows a person who wants advancement, even if that person is not trustworthy, can be an asset in DC because Trump holds the leverage -the raw political power- that is valuable to the GOP leader.

From the Machiavellian angle Carlson could likely have been positioning against McCarthy in order to assist Liz Cheney and that tribe of DeceptiCons. Tucker has a history here {Go Deep} that unfortunately people have forgotten. Maybe I’m wrong, but the most recent timing of the MAGA attack by Cheney and the McCarthy attack by Tucker are too coincidental to be dismissed.

Getting Liz Cheney out of a position of GOP influence prior to the 2022 primary races is a good thing in the same way that eliminating Eric Cantor was a good thing in 2014. However, we must be cautious as the DeceptiCon wing starts to make their moves now in an effort to have influence over those 2022 house races.

Keep your eyes wide open and trust no-one.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2021/05/04/house-gop-leader-kevin-mccarthy-says-liz-cheney-leadership-ouster-likely-before-the-end-of-the-month-perhaps-tucker-carlson-attacks-on-mccarthy-are-connected/

Facebook’s Zuckerberg donated hundreds of millions to help Democrats steal the election for Joe Biden

When it overtook its social media rival, MySpace, even then few could have predicted that Facebook would grow into the big tech behemoth that it is today.

Moreover, who would have thought that a geeky billionaire named Mark Zuckerberg would become powerful enough to literally decide the outcome of presidential elections?

And yet, that’s what he did last fall.

Zuckerberg donated more than $400 million in “election grants” to counties mostly in key battleground states where D.C. establishment lawyers, PACs, lobbyists and operatives from both sides of the aisle stole Donald Trump’s shoo-in reelection.

Trump was sure to have some difficulties, we believed, because Democratic mayors and governors helped destroy his massively successful economy and blamed a Chinese-borne virus on him. But given the massive outpouring of support everywhere the former president went — and places he didn’t go that still saw massive Trump vehicle and boat parades — his reelection looked certain.

Biden, by comparison, along with his VP pick Kamala Harris, couldn’t draw flies to a BS contest. Virtually no one came out to see them at the limited rallies they did. Harris was so unimpressive to Democratic voters she was one of the first to drop out of the crowded Democratic presidential field. And Biden stayed in his basement for much of the campaign, limiting his exposure to gaffes, forgetful moments and times when he clearly couldn’t think straight or enunciate clearly.

https://www.dcclothesline.com/2021/05/04/facebooks-zuckerberg-donated-hundreds-of-millions-to-help-democrats-steal-the-election-for-joe-biden/

Pfizer Vaccine Could Be Authorized For Kids By Early Next Week

Teenagers aged 12 to 15 may soon be able to get their COVID-19 vaccination with authorization of the Pfizer (PFE) vaccine anticipated to come sooner than previously thought.

Federal officials told CBS News that the Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID vaccine for use in teens aged 12 to 15 as early as next week.

This would mean that children aged 12 and upwards would have access to the Pfizer vaccine prior to the start of the next school year.

The FDA is currently in the review process of the Pfizer vaccine for adolescents, following a clinical trial of 2,260 12 to 15-year-olds, CNN reported.

But before emergency use authorization would be granted, the FDA typically holds an independent Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, thoughit is not expected to occur in this case, CNN said.

"While the FDA cannot predict how long its evaluation of the data and information will take, the agency will review the request as expeditiously as possible using its thorough and science-based approach," the FDA said in an email to CNN last week.

"Based on an initial evaluation of the information submitted, at this time, the agency does not plan to hold a meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) on this request to amend the EUA for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, which was discussed and recommended for authorization at a VRBPAC meeting in December 2020. As with all FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines, we are committed to transparency with this EUA review process.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee will hold an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting following the FDA’s decision on the Pfizer vaccine, where CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will determine the agency’s recommendation on the vaccine’s use, according to CNN.

Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is authorized for use in those aged 16 and up, while the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines are authorized for use in individuals aged 18 and older. Both Pfizer and Moderna are also testing their vaccines in children as young as six months and are looking to receive authorization from the FDA later this year, CNN reported.

According to Pfizer, the vaccine has shown 100% efficacy in children as young as 12 years old during clinical trials with side effects that are similar to those that have been experienced in young adults. This would be the first COVID vaccine authorized for adolescents in the U.S.

https://www.ibtimes.com/your-teenager-could-get-pfizer-covid-vaccine-sooner-you-think-3192904

Bill Gates' Freudian Slip - "Producing Childhood Death"

Pfizer Raises 2021 Sales Forecast For Covid Vaccines To $26 Bn

Pfizer sharply increased its projections for 2021 revenues and profits on Tuesday, citing much higher Covid-19 vaccine sales as it targets the inoculations as a "durable" revenue stream.

The drugmaker, which has a number of projects to expand vaccinations to additional populations and to provide booster doses, now estimates 2021 revenues of $26 billion from the vaccine, up from $15 billion previously.

Pfizer now sees profits of between $3.55 and $3.65 a share for the year, an increase of 45 cents from the previous estimate.

Chief Executive Albert Bourla expects "durable demand" for Covid-19 vaccines, similar to that of the flu vaccine.

The company is ramping up capacity for the shots, which were developed with German company BioNTech.

"It is our hope that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will continue to have a global impact by helping to get the devastating pandemic under control and helping economies around the world not only open – but stay open," Bourla said in prepared remarks ahead of a conference call later Tuesday.

He said that would create "a scenario in which Pfizer can continue to be both a leader and a beneficiary."

Pfizer reported net income of $4.9 billion, up 45 percent from the same period of the prior year.

Revenues also jumped 45 percent to $14.6 billion, including $3.5 billion in Covid-19 vaccine sales.

Pfizer expects to deliver 1.6 billion doses this year under contracts signed through mid-April.

https://www.ibtimes.com/pfizer-raises-2021-sales-forecast-covid-vaccines-26-bn-3192882

Billionaire-Backed Operative Kept Funding Steele and Fusion GPS in 2019, Even After Dossier Credibility Crumbled

A former staffer for Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) continued to pay large sums of money in 2019 to former British spy Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS, the American firm that retained him for work on a Clinton-funded misinformation dossier, even as the credibility of both Steele and the claims in his dossier evaporated.

The Democracy Integrity Project (TDIP), a non-profit operated by former Feinstein staffer Daniel Jones, paid $1,222,714 in 2019 to Bean LLC., the shell company that controls Fusion GPS, and $700,000 to Walsingham Partners Ltd., a British company co-owned by Steele, according to a tax filing.

Jones kept on funding the firms despite revelations in 2018 and 2019 that severely undermined the credibility of the dossier and its author. The dossier, compiled in 2016, contained bombastic allegations about then-candidate Donald Trump and Russia—none of which remain proven to this day, and some of which have been outright debunked.

In mid-to-late 2019, the Department of Justice began to turn the tables on the operatives involved with the dossier, expanding its investigation of spying on the Trump campaign to include foreign intelligence agencies and later converting the inquiry into a criminal investigation.

As the year progressed, evidence mounted to suggest that the dossier was part of a disinformation campaign rather than a conventional, evidence-based opposition research document. In December 2019, The New York Times exposed another Jones-funded group, New Knowledge, for its involvement in a self-proclaimed “false-flag” operation to influence the 2017 U.S. Senate election in Alabama by sowing discord among Republicans.

The New Knowledge revelations were particularly notable because the Senate Intelligence Committee had weeks earlier identified it as one of the firms it retained to peruse the data it obtained from social media companies concerning Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.

Despite its hard-hitting report on New Knowledge, The New York Times itself fell for a Jones disinformation operation earlier this year, publishing an article about The Epoch Times sourced solely to Advance Democracy Inc., another U.S. non-profit operated by Jones that had also funded New Knowledge, of Alabama false-flag fame, in 2018 and 2019. Jones used two of his non-profits to pay New Knowledge $665,000 in 2018 and 2019, according to tax filings. The legal name for New Knowledge is Popily Inc. The company has since rebranded itself as Yonder.

In 2017 and 2018, Jones used his two non-profits to funnel more than $5.3 million to Fusion GPS and almost $1 million to Steele. He had told the FBI in March 2017 that billionaire financier George Soros and a group of 7-10 Silicon Valley billionaires funded his Trump-Russia operation to the tune of $50 million. He offered to give his findings to the bureau and “planned to share the information he obtained with policymakers … and with the press.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/billionaire-backed-operative-kept-funding-steele-and-fusion-gps-in-2019-even-after-dossier-credibility-crumbled_3801994.html

US Intelligence Report Claims Taliban Would ‘Roll Back’ Afghan Women's Rights After Troop Pullout

The report comes in the wake of the start of US efforts to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in order to end the 20-year war. The decision, pushed for by President Joe Biden, met with criticism from some US lawmakers, who suggested, among other things, that Afghan women's rights might suffer as a result.

The US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban* taking power in Kabul "would roll back much" of the progress that has been achieved in the area of women's rights in the country over the past years, a US National Intelligence Council assessment claims. The intelligence report further suggests that these gains were achieved largely due to foreign pressure on the government in Kabul, rather than being the result of support for such changes inside Afghanistan.

The report stresses that prior to the US toppling of the Taliban* in Afghanistan, the group had imposed rules that greatly limited the rights of the country's female population – banning girls from attending schools and prohibiting women from working anywhere outside their home. Women could also not go outside their homes without a male relative or wear clothes other than burqas.

The NIC assessment further says that progress in the introduction of women's rights in Afghanistan, especially in rural areas, was slow even with pressure from the international community. At the same time, the council does not expect a complete rollback on women's rights in the country even if the group were to seize power in Kabul.

The report explains that this could be the case in Afghan regions where relatively lenient rules existed even before Taliban rule. The document further elaborates that in some areas where the group is currently in control, it has occasionally allowed girls to receive a limited education. The NIC’s assessment furthermore indicates that the number of people in the country with cell phone accounts has reached 27 million in recent years, thereby enabling many Afghans to develop a view of the broader world. The authors of the report also expressed hope that over time, pressure from the international community would force the Taliban to moderate its position on the matter of women’s rights.

Taliban Advances as US Pulls Out Its Troops

The NIC report on the potential consequences of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan comes amid reports of the Taliban* launching a major offensive in the southern Helmand province. Local sources claim that similar offensives have been observed across the country since the US missed the 1 May deadline for withdrawing its troops as per the 2020 peace agreement between the group and the US.

Two days ago, US forces abandoned a base in Helmand province as part of the withdrawal process, which is between 2% and 6% complete, according to US Central Command estimates. Washington previously set a new deadline for the complete withdrawal on 11 September – over four months later than the original time limit negotiated by ex-POTUS Donald Trump. Afghanistan’s Tolo News previously reported that the Taliban* and the US are currently engaged in talks on moving the date to July, with the militant group promising to reduce violence and resume talks with Kabul in exchange.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/202105041082799316-us-intelligence-report-claims-taliban-would-roll-back-afghan-womens-rights-after-troop-pullout/

Ezra – Expect C19 Vaccines to Kill 60-70% of World Population

"The role of underground cities is to serve as a refuge for them when billions of people drop dead. By escaping to their subterranean lairs, they can shield themselves from the ghastly unfolding horrors on the surface. They'll emerge from hiding after the decomposition or disposal of the billions of corpses."

Disclaimer- This is either fear mongering or prescience. You decide. If the latter, there is still time to avert the catastrophe, or prepare for it.

Ezra "was working on a PhD thesis in a physical science but dropped out due to spiritual reasons - the gains accrued in the mystical sense far outweigh anything I would've acquired by sticking to scientific research. I have no regrets about truncating my academic career. Mystical experiences have shown me via direct perception the deeper layers of existence far exceeding what science knows or will ever know about the reality."

Non-m-RNA vaccines are just as deadly as the mRNA ones.

Whatever be the type of the C19 vax, it should be noted that the primary mechanism is synthetic spike protein generation.

This leads to cytokine storms with the concomitant horrific end result - maiming and death. The vaxxed population serves as "super spreaders" of spike proteins and/or toxins through their skin, breath, perspiration and touch. They infect and kill non-vaxxed people.

https://henrymakow.com/2021/05/ezra-expect-mssive-world-die-off.html

>>13581780

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