Bay Area Health Officials Strongly Urge Everyone to Wear Masks Indoors Regardless of Vaccination Status

California – The majority of Bay Area counties are urging people to wear face masks indoors regardless of vaccination status because of rising cases of the ‘Delta variant.’

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties, along with the City of Berkeley all recommended all residents wear face coverings indoors.

This announcement comes after Los Angeles County reimposed its mask mandate because of 400 Covid hospitalizations – out of 10 million people.

Las Vegas health officials are also recommending people wear masks indoors.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/bay-area-health-officials-strongly-urge-everyone-wear-masks-indoors-regardless-vaccination-status/

Mackinac Bridge in Michigan Closed Due to 'Emergency Incident'

The local authorities announced on Sunday that the Mackinac Bridge in Cheboygan County has been closed due to an "emergency situation", urging the public to stay clear of the area.

The Mackinac Bridge in Michigan was closed because of a "bomb threat", local media reported citing Michigan State Police.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

https://sputniknews.com/us/202107181083410086-mackinac-bridge-in-michigan-closed-due-to-emergency-incident/

Bill Gates Visited Epstein at NYC Home Multiple Times Despite Saying They Were Not Friends: Report

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has been desperately trying to distance himself from late financier Jeffrey Epstein, saying that they never had any business together despite meeting on numerous occasions to discuss philanthropy. The meetings took place after Epstein was already convicted as a sex offender.

Disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein welcomed Bill Gates into his Manhattan house at least three times in the early 2010s, according to a forthcoming book by Miami Herald investigative journalist Julie Brown.

In "Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story," she writes that during one of the visits the Microsoft co-founder stayed with Epstein very late into the night, as the banker was trying to secure a deal with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help them get more funds.

"Others who worked for Gates’s foundation also visited Epstein’s mansion several times, and Epstein spoke to both Bill and Melinda Gates about a proposed charitable fund that could generate sizeable fees for Epstein," reads the excerpt, cited by Fox Business.

"Epstein hoped to attract donations from some of his wealthy friends as part of the venture, seeded with Gates Foundation funds, that would be used for global health causes."

The book also adds that Gates boarded Epstein’s private jet in 2013 to fly to Palm Beach, Florida where he owned a mansion which was at the epicentre of the ongoing sex trafficking scandal for which his ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, is awaiting trail.

The New York Times’s bombshell report previously revealed similar details about the two influential men, including their multiple meetings, claiming that they first met face to face on the evening of 31 January 2011 at Epstein’s townhouse on New York's Upper East Side.

At the time, Epstein was a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor back in 2008, just few years before meeting Gates, whose wife was reportedly “furious” over their relationship.

In July 2019, Epstein was arrested again and charged with sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York. However, he died in a prison cell in August 2019 before the trail – his death was a ruled a suicide despite suspicious circumstances.

What Did Bill Have to Say About Their Relationship?

Gates swiftly stated to The Wall Street Journal following the paper investigating Epstein’s connections that he “didn’t have any business relationship or friendship” with the financier. The Microsoft billionaire also said he “didn’t go to New Mexico or Florida or Palm Beach or any of that."

His spokeswoman, Bridgitt Arnold, later added that her boss “regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognises it was an error in judgment to do so.”

“Over time, Gates and his team realised Epstein’s capabilities and ideas were not legitimate and all contact with Epstein was discontinued,” Arnold told The New York Times in October 2019.

She didn’t deny though that Gates had travelled in Epstein’s plane to Palm Beach. However, she said her boss was not aware of who the plane belonged to.

Brown’s book is due to be released on Tuesday

https://sputniknews.com/us/202107181083409144-bill-gates-visited-epstein-at-nyc-home-multiple-times-despite-saying-they-were-not-friends-report/

Mexico's Drug Cartels Are Stealing Oil Again

Fueled by copious sums of drug money, large cartels have taken control of large swathes of Mexico and for over a decade have been challenging the rule of law and the state.

The systemic theft of crude oil and derivative products, most notably the theft of gasoline, has long plagued Mexico’s hydrocarbon sector with it estimated that organized crime groups are earning up to $400 million annually from the theft of petroleum and refined products. The scale of the problem was highlighted by Mexico’s national oil company Pemex, estimating in early 2018 that oil theft was costing it more than $1.6 billion annually. Petroleum theft, including refined products, in the violence-driven Latin American country typically is performed using illegal pipeline taps. Dwindling petroleum output and heavy indebtedness along with rampant fuel theft was severely impacting the national oil company’s performance.

By 2018 the problem was so severe that during that year alone it was estimated that a record number of 14,910 illegal taps were identified on its 10,563-mile-long pipeline network. Mexico’s national oil company estimated that during 2018 it was losing around 74,000 barrels of crude oil daily to petroleum thieves, known locally as huachicoleros. The situation was so severe that police intervention was insufficient and the Mexican army was called upon to confront thieves sporting military-grade automatic weapons in light armored vehicles. Such a substantial volume of petroleum theft was sharply impacting Mexico’s economy where over 2% of gross domestic product and around 6% of export income is generated by the oil industry. The problem was so grave and having such a sharp impact on Pemex’s and ultimately the government's revenues that on gaining Mexico’s top job in December 2018, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador launched a major crackdown on oil theft. That reputedly saw the volume of crude oil being lost by Pemex to theft plunge to around 5,600 barrels per day by the end of 2020 or less than a tenth of what it had been two years earlier. The notable reduction in petroleum theft saw President Obrador declare victory over petroleum theft in early 2019. Despite the significant progress made in stamping out hydrocarbon theft, there are signs that it's rising once again and the declaration of victory by authorities was premature.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a marked impact on Latin America’s second-largest economy causing its gross domestic product to contract by 8.2% during 2020 with poverty and unemployment rising sharply. This coupled with a resurgence in organized criminal activity triggered a marked increase in petroleum theft in Mexico.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Mexicos-Drug-Cartels-Are-Stealing-Oil-Again.html

Senior Military Officers Sign Letter Expressing Concern Over The Direction Of The US! - One American News Network

A group of more than 120 retired military officers sound an alert that there is an influential Marxist movement taking hold in the U.S., which they say poses a threat to the American people. One America’s senior investigative reporter Scott Wheeler has more.

https://www.oann.com/senior-military-officers-sign-letter-expressing-concern-over-the-direction-of-the-u-s/

Israeli-Made Spyware Used to Monitor Journalists and Activists Worldwide

In Hungary, Szabolcs Panyi exposed spy intrigue and murky arms deals. In India, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta probed the ties between business and political interests. In Azerbaijan, Sevinj Vaqifqizi caught vote-rigging on tape.

Separated by thousands of miles, these journalists have one thing in common: their governments considered them a threat.

All three were among dozens of journalists and activists around the world whose smartphones were infected by Pegasus: spyware made by Israeli firm NSO Group that is able to secretly steal personal data, read conversations, and switch on microphones and cameras at will.

The attacks were revealed by The Pegasus Project, an international collaboration of more than 80 journalists from 17 media organizations, including OCCRP, and coordinated by Forbidden Stories.

What does 'Selected for Targeting' mean?

Read more in our "About the Project" explainer.

The phones of Panyi, Thakurta, and Vaqifqizi were analyzed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab and found to be infected after their numbers appeared on a list of over 50,000 numbers that were allegedly selected for targeting by governments using NSO software. Reporters were able to identify the owners of hundreds of those numbers, and Amnesty conducted forensic analysis on as many of their phones as possible, confirming infection in dozens of cases. The reporting was backed up with interviews, documents, and other materials.

https://www.occrp.org/en/the-pegasus-project/israeli-made-spyware-used-to-monitor-journalists-and-activists-worldwide

After Meeting with COVID-Infected Texas Dems, Kamala Harris Goes to Walter Reed

In the wake of her meeting with Texas Democrats, Kamala Harris is visiting Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Three of the Texas lawmakers have tested positive for COVID-19, causing speculation that Kamala Harris’s visit is related to her being exposed to the virus. However, the White House claims she’s going for a “routine doctor’s appointment.”

The White House also claims that Harris was not in close contact with the infected Texas lawmakers.

“Based on the timeline of these positive tests, it was determined that the vice president and her staff present at the meeting were not at risk of exposure because they were not in close contact with those who tested positive and therefore do not need to be tested or quarantined,” Harris’s spokeswoman Symone Sanders said in a statement.

Harris and her staff have been fully vaccinated.

“The House Democratic Caucus is following all CDC guidance and protocols,” the Texas House Democratic Caucus Chairman Chris Turner said in a statement. “This is a sober reminder that COVID is still with us, and though vaccinations offer tremendous protection, we still must take necessary precautions.”

It is unlikely that the White House will ever admit a connection between Harris’s visit to Walter Reed and her meeting with the fugitive Democrats.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/07/18/after-meeting-with-covid-infected-texas-dems-kamala-harris-goes-to-walter-reed-n1462745

Suspicious Details Pile up in Lawsuit Against Montreal Developer Albert Mashaal, President of Yale Properties

This is the second in a series of articles investigating Montreal businessman, Albert Mashaal, who is the defendant in a lawsuit, accused of misappropriating $1 million from the estate of his late friend, Jack Sofaer.

See FR Investigation: Did Bigtime Montreal Developer Swindle a Million From Friend’s Daughter?

The plaintiffs in the case are the Estate of Jack Sofaer and Sofaer’s daughter, Rhonda Sofaer, the principal heir to the estate. The lawsuit is scheduled for trial in December in the Superior Court of Quebec in Montreal.

The lawsuit alleges that Mashaal and four associates conspired to convert assets of the estate. Based on allegations, the trial may be the genesis of a criminal investigation by the Surete du Quebec, or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with possible involvement of the FBI, the latter because certain crimes allegedly occurred in the USA.

When contacted by Frank Report, defendant Mashaal denied the allegations, claiming Rhonda Sofaer is “crazy,” and the lawsuit “frivolous.”

The trial was scheduled for November 2020 but was delayed more than a year after Mashaal chose to retain a new attorney who asked for an adjournment.

Civil lawsuits in Quebec have a burden of proof standard of “a balance of probabilities,” meaning the chances of the allegations being true are more than 50%.

The late Jack Sofaer was a stockbroker and trader. A resident of Montreal, he was wintering in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his girlfriend, Lilliane, when he had a seizure, was rushed to the hospital, and died on Sunday, March 3, 2013. He was 87.

Albert Mashaal is well known in Montreal and in the Iraqi-Jewish community as a successful businessman. As president of Yale Properties Limited, he forged joint-ventures with Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada, and Manulife, where hundreds of millions of dollars in property under his company’s managerial control were developed.

Mashaal’s company developed significant joint ventures in Calgary, Alberta, and Toronto, developing some 3.3 million square feet of office, retail and industrial assets. His company also developed the landmark Jackson Square, an indoor shopping mall, commercial, and entertainment complex in Hamilton, Ontario.

https://frankreport.com/2021/07/17/suspicious-details-pile-up-in-lawsuit-against-montreal-developer-albert-mashaal-president-of-yale-properties/

Reps. Roy, Massie push DOJ for information on Capitol riot prosecutions

"We continue to hear stories of overly aggressive and violent tactics from FBI agents executing arrest warrants on individuals with no risk of violence or who committed mere trespass offenses," Roy and Massie wrote in a letter to DOJ.

Representatives Chip Roy (R-TX) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) sent a follow-up letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday requesting information on the investigations and prosecutions of Americans involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

In the letter, the congressmen wrote that they have not received a response from the DOJ to a May letter asking the same questions on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot prosecutions, and giving a deadline of July 21 to respond.

"We continue to hear stories of overly aggressive and violent tactics from FBI agents executing arrest warrants on individuals with no risk of violence or who committed mere trespass offenses," the letter reads. "And DOJ continues to push for pretrial incarceration of citizens with no history of, or propensity for, violence, only to be rebuffed by judges time and time again. The American people deserve to know why."

Roy and Massie added that while the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was violent, as "140 officers were tragically injured and rioters caused around $30 million in damage," the DOJ is making those prosecutions a priority while not prioritizing prosecutions of the riots from last summer, where "more than 2,000 officers were injured in protests and riots and rioters across the country caused more than $1 billion in damage, the most expensive in insurance history."

The congressmen wrote that Garland has made comments that only confirm the importance of congressional oversight of DOJ activities.

"On May 12, you testified to the Senate Appropriations Committee that, 'if there has to be a hierarchy of things that we prioritize, this would be the one we would prioritize because it is the most dangerous threat to our democracy,' " they wrote.

Roy and Massie pushed back on Garland's testimony, writing: "Respectfully, such a sweeping exaggeration can be viewed as nothing more than political hyperbole and a dangerous politicization of law enforcement activities that may punish those engaging in protected speech by lumping them in with those who committed acts of violence."

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/reps-roy-massie-send-follow-letter-doj-requesting-info-jan-6-capitol-riot

LeBron James Brings A Bottle Of Tequila To Game 5 Of The NBA Finals

https://dailycaller.com/2021/07/18/lebron-james-nba-finals-game-five-tequila-bottle/

Merkel visits areas ravaged by floods, says Germany needs more climate-focused policy

During a visit to Germany's heavily flooded areas, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country will continue to “oppose” the destructive forces of nature, but a policy is needed that would focus more on climate than it did before.

The chancellor arrived in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate on Sunday to get the real picture of what she called surreal “ghostly images” of the territories devastated by the record floods from heavy rains earlier this week.

Merkel promised speedy assistance to all the affected areas and said that the natural disaster has clearly shown that more climate protection is needed. “We stand by your side, at the federal level and that of the state,” the chancellor said, adding that everyone can now see “with what force nature can act.”

The German authorities would “make a stand” against the destructive forces of nature – now and in the future – Merkel said, adding that a new policy is required: one that “takes nature and climate into consideration far more so than we have done over recent years.”

The chancellor also said that the federal government and the state authorities would team up to “bring the world in order step by step in this beautiful place.” On Wednesday, her cabinet is expected to adopt a quick aid program. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz already announced that Berlin would spend €300 million ($354 million) on it.

The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate Malu Dreyer said, however, that a “long-term effort” is needed for the affected areas to recover. “It will be a long time before people can say: I recognize my home country again,” she said, adding that, so far, rescue efforts are top priority.

“We will not rest until the people who are missing are found,” she said. At least 157 people died in Germany because of the flooding, according to the German media. In the small rural area of Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate, the death toll reached 110 while 670 people were injured.

In the neighboring state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the number of confirmed deaths reached 46. At least one person died in the floods in Bavaria, which is the latest German region to be hit by the disaster.

Some 600 kilometers of railway tracks were damaged in Germany, according to Deutsche Bahn – the German railway operator. Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer said that the true extent of the damage can be assessed only after all the clearance works are finished. Yet, even now, the devastation appears to be immense.“Since 20 of the 35 bridges on the Ahr [River] have been destroyed, you can already guess the huge task that lies ahead of us,” Scheuer told the local media.

Some 800 soldiers and around 110 military vehicles were deployed to the affected areas to deal with the consequences of the flooding. Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also traveled to the flooded areas on Sunday to meet with the military engaged in the relief operation.

Even the most experienced soldiers, who had already been deployed on similar missions abroad, said they have never seen anything like this before, the defense minister told the media. “Everyone is deeply affected,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer. Germany is not the only European nation hit by the disaster, though. In Belgium, 31 people died in the floods and 163 are missing. Some 11,000 families were left without power in the Liege area. In Wallonia, some 20 villages were left without drinking water and rail infrastructure was damaged.

In Switzerland, Lake Zurich broke its banks, and there are fears that lakes Lucerne, Biel and Thun will follow suit. In Austria, towns near Salzburg were affected by the flooding.

https://www.rt.com/news/529545-merkel-flooding-climate-focused-policy/

Fox News mocked for blurring pro-government slogans in footage of Havana rally shown alongside fiery Ted Cruz tirade

As Ted Cruz praised the bravery of anti-government protesters in Cuba on Fox News on Tuesday, little did he know that the channel was showing footage from a pro-government rally in Havana alongside his remarks.

After opponents of the Cuban government staged mass protests last week, the unrest became a focus of national news in the US. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who comes from a family of Cuban refugees and counts many Cuban exiles among his supporters who come from Florida, minced no words in denouncing the evils of communism and dunking on the Democrats, who would argue that the US was contributing to the hardships of the Cuban people by maintaining its decades-old blockade of the island nation.

His Tuesday appearance on Fox News, however, included a small detail that went largely unnoticed. As he was speaking about “brutal oppression” by the Cuban government and hailing the protesters, the footage shown by the cable station depicted a rally by Cuban government supporters. Fox News apparently knew exactly what it was airing, since it was careful to blur the slogans that some of the activists were carrying.

https://youtu.be/yXszt5Y-6ps

https://www.rt.com/usa/529531-fox-mocked-blurring-cuba/

Newsmax Reporter Emerald Robinson Questions Dr. Fauci on Wuhan Lab Funding — Watch Him Run

The Gateway Pundit has reported extensively this past year on the effects of hydroxychloroquine in treating the COVID-19 virus.

We knew and reported that Dr. Tony Fauci and the medical elites conspired to ban the use of this very successful drug.

We reported earlier on how Dr. Fauci used bogus studies to disqualify HCQ in treating coronavirus.

We also reported that there is proof that Dr. Fauci and top US medical experts all conspired using obviously false information to disqualify hydroxychloroquine and MILLIONS DIED as a result of their action.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is arguably one of the greatest killers of the 21st Century.

Dr. Fauci also lied about funding the Wuhan Lab where scientists worked on gain of funcion research with the coronavirus.

The media ignores all of this news.

And the Facebook branch of the DNC censored and banned anyone who reported otherwise.

So it was refreshing to see ONE White House reporter Emerald Robinson from Newsmax question Dr. Fauci on the Wuhan lab.

Watch Dr. Fauci run!

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/must-see-newsmax-reporter-emerald-robinson-questions-dr-fauci-wuhan-lab-funding-watch-run-video/

Soros-Linked Group Accuses Hungary’s Orban of Using Spyware to Hack Journalists’ Phones

Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros has a notoriously poor relationship with the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Budapest considers Soros a national security risk, and has accused his foundations of seeking to undermine Hungary’s democratic institutions. Soros’ interference in Hungarian politics goes back to the 1980s.

The Guardian ran a story on Sunday accusing Hungarian authorities of using an advanced Israeli spyware suite known as Pegasus to illegally keep tabs on the communications of journalists, lawyers and at least one opposition figure.

According to the outlet, leaked data and forensic analysis of smartphones by ‘Pegasus Project’, a collaborative investigation operated by the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories, discovered that over a dozen Hungarian opposition figures were targeted in the hack attacks.

What the report didn’t mention, however, is that that George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) is a donor to Forbidden Stories. Soros, 90, is known to have engaged in a decade-long battle with the Orban government as the latter has sought to restrict the liberal philanthropist’s activities on Hungarian territory.

The alleged hack attacks reportedly targeted at least two journalists from Direkt36, a Hungarian partner of Pegasus Project which also receives cash from OSF, as well as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and other ‘philanthropic foundations’.

Szabolcs Panyi, one of the Direkt36 reporters said to have been targeted, said a forensic investigation determined that his phone was infected by Pegasus at least 11 times, each of them taking place several days after he requested government officials to comment on stories he was working on.

According to Forbidden Stories’ analysis of leaked records, at least five Hungarian journalists, an opposition politician and ten lawyers were targeted. The phones of a photographer working for a foreign journalist and a Belgian-Canadian gender studies student was also allegedly hacked.

A Hungarian government spokesman dismissed The Guardian’s reporting, saying Budapest was “not aware of any alleged data collection claimed by the request.”

Pegasus Does Exist

Sputnik has not been able to independently verify the claims made by The Guardian on the Hungarian government’s alleged use of Pegasus, but has reported extensively on the spyware package over the past five years. The powerful spyware’s existence was first revealed in 2016.

In addition to allowing attackers to view all manner of content on a target’s phone, including photos, GPS location data and encrypted messages, the spyware lets hackers turn on the devices’ microphones and cameras, effectively turning users' own property into mobile viewing and listening devices. NSO Group, the Israel-based company behind the software, has long maintained that its programme is designed for use by governments to 'fight terrorism and organized crime'.

However, the software package has reportedly also be used in less than kosher ways, with journalists, opposition figures and other individuals in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Spain, India, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Morocco, the UAE and Rwanda, as well as Amnesty International, accusing governments and malicious actors of using the software to illegally spy on them. NSO Group has also been hit with complaints that its spyware can be used to mine data from Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft servers without notifying users.

Commenting on the Hungarian hacking claims, NSO Group said that it “does not have access to the data of its customers’ targets,” and that it would “continue to investigate all credible claims of misuse and take appropriate action.”

https://sputniknews.com/europe/202107181083409958-soros-linked-group-accuses-hungarys-orban-of-using-spyware-to-hack-journalists-phones/

CDC’s Advice For Hurricanes: ‘Get A COVID-19 Vaccine As Soon As You Can’

The most important part of hurricane preparedness is taking one of the controversial vaccines, according to the CDC

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the most important part of hurricane preparedness is making sure you have received one of the controversial COVID-19 vaccines.

The CDC explains that “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages you to be prepared for hurricane season” and notes that “Planning for hurricane season and other potential disasters may be stressful, and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it may be especially so.” The bureaucratic organization adds, “Your planning may be different this year because of the need to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.”

Then, the CDC offers a bulleted list of advice for Americans living in an area susceptible to hurricanes. Its first piece of advice is simply, “Prepare for a hurricane,” and number two on the list, the first real piece of advice: “Get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as you can. COVID-19 vaccines help protect you from getting sick or severely ill with COVID-19 and may also help protect people around you.” (READ MORE: CDC Advisory Committee Confirms ‘Likely Association’ Between Vaccine and Myocarditis Heart Condition)

The push for Americans in hurricane prone areas to consent to one of the controversial vaccines now ranks above standard hurricane advice that has been ranked highly important for centuries, including stockpiling emergency supplies, creating a family disaster plan, preparing to evacuate, and protecting older adults and pets. However, the last bullet in the list again reminds individuals of COVID-19: “When you check on neighbors and friends, be sure to follow social distancing recommendations (staying at least 6 feet from others) and other CDC recommendations to protect yourself and others.”

https://nationalfile.com/cdcs-advice-for-hurricanes-get-a-covid-19-vaccine-as-soon-as-you-can/