Obama's former doctor predicts Biden will resign 'in the near future,' fears the president is a 'national security issue'

Ronny Jackson, who served as physician to the president during the administrations of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, is concerned about President Joe Biden's current cognitive abilities. Jackson, who became the representative for Texas' 13th Congressional District this year, believes that Biden won't finish out his first term in office and will resign or be forced out of the White House via the 25th Amendment.

Jackson, who is a Republican, appeared on "Hannity" Thursday night to provide his opinion of Biden's mental fitness.

"I've been saying this from the very beginning. I've been saying that something's going on here," Jackson told Fox News host Sean Hannity. "I was saying this when he was candidate Joe Biden, and I've been saying that it's only going to get worse."

Jackson asked, "Where are the people in our academic medicine that were out there calling for President Trump to have a cognitive test? Where are these people?"

Last month, Rep. Jackson and 13 other Republican lawmakers called for Biden to take a cognitive test, like the one he administered to Trump when he was in office. Jackson said, "Given the precedent set and President Biden's CLEAR mental struggles, I believe it's past time he take a cognitive test." Trump took the Montreal Cognitive Assessment under Jackson in 2018, and at the time Trump scored a perfect 30 out of 30 on the test that assesses mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

"There's something seriously going on with this man right now," Jackson said of President Biden. "And you know I think that he's either going to – he's either going to resign, they're going to convince him to resign from office at some point in the near future for medical issues or they're going to have to use the 25th Amendment to get rid of this man right now."

Jackson hypothesized that members of the Biden administration are asking themselves, "Can I take direction from this man right now?"

Jackson predicted that "there's going to be some serious pushback from the White House and from the left to do something about what's going on" with Biden.

The former White House doctor stated, "This is a national security issue at this point."

"Our adversaries overseas, they are watching this closely. They are watching every single thing he does," Jackson said of Biden.

Jackson expressed that he fears America's enemies are "looking at what's going on in the Joe Biden administration right now and thinking that it is a perfect time to come after us."

Jackson concluded, "We need somebody who will inspire confidence in the American people and inspire the right level of fear and pause in our adversaries, and we do not have that man in the White House right now."

Stephen Miller, Trump's former senior policy adviser, was also a guest on "Hannity" and referred to Biden's performance during Wednesday's town hall event on CNN.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/biden-cognitive-ronny-jackson-resign

Pfizer Says US Govt Buying 200 Million More Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech said on Friday the U.S. government had purchased an additional 200 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the total number of doses to be supplied to the country to 500 million.

The government has an option to buy an updated version of the vaccine to address potential variants as well as new formulations of the vaccine, if available and authorized, the companies said.

They said 110 million new doses are expected to be delivered by the end of the year, and the remaining by April 30, 2022.

Roughly 86 million people have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the United States as of Thursday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

https://www.ntd.com/pfizer-says-us-govt-buying-200-million-more-doses-of-covid-19-vaccine_648057.html

Sweden: Pregnant Children Found Begging On Street During Police Operation

Swedish police took three minors, two of them pregnant, into custody after they were found begging on the streets during an international operation against human trafficking.

Three girls aged 12, 14, and 16 were taken into police care, with the 14- and 16-year-olds both found to be pregnant.

According to a report from the Swedish broadcaster SVT, the minors are from unspecified European Union member states. The 16-year-old had come to Sweden with her husband. The 14-year-old was in the country with her parents and was allegedly set to be married. The latter told authorities that her parents had arranged the marriage and her future husband’s parents had paid for the marriage to take place.

Detective Inspector Per Englund of the Swedish Police’s National Operation Department (NOA) said all three minors had been transferred to social services, but their case remains under investigation.

While separating the two pregnant children from their present and future husbands to place them into care may seem normal for northern Europe, it is an act not without controversy. In Denmark, the hardline pro-border control immigration minister Inger Støjberg ordered during the height of the Europe Migrant Crisis in 2016 that migrant child brides be housed separately from their adult husbands.

The minister came under massive attack from pro-mass migration activists over the order, including from an Imam in Denmark who argued that because having sex with young girls was part of the migrant’s culture, it was wrong to separate the couples. Eventually, opponents of Støjberg managed to impeach her over the order after claiming the order was against the migrant’s human rights and had been enacted contrary to Danish law. The trial is ongoing.

The custody of the Swedish trio comes as part of an international operation into human trafficking that saw 175 people arrested across Europe who are believed to have participated in the trafficking of people for forced labour, sexual exploitation, or other activities such as begging.

Begging can be a lucrative activity for some migrants. According to an SVT report from March, Romanians could earn three times as much begging on the streets of Sweden as they would doing an ordinary minimum wage job in their home country.

Ligia Englöf, who works in social services in the city of Jönköping, stated that she had met people who had quit their jobs in Romania to come to Sweden to beg on the street.

The anti-human trafficking operation comes five years after the European police agency Europol helped the French and Romanian governments bust a trafficking network that saw a profit of over a million dollars in 2016.

Eighteen people were arrested for allegedly forcing minors to beg on the streets of France, as well as commit pickpocketing in tourist areas and engage in money laundering.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/07/23/sweden-pregnant-children-found-begging-on-street-during-police-operation/

UK Working on Plans for Annual Coronavirus Vaccine, Vaccine Passports Confirmed, Says Minister

Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed that the government will pursue vaccine passports as a condition of entry to nightclubs and is exploring an annual booster strategy against the Chinese coronavirus.

Addressing the House of Commons on Thursday, Mr Zahawi said that the government will be pursuing the co-administration of seasonal flu and coronavirus vaccines, stating: “The operational plan is to go early — in early September — for both the covid boost and the flu campaign. However, he will know that flu is not in the covid category in that it is endemic. We are hoping to transition covid towards where flu is with an annual vaccination programme, but it is a very different virus to deal with.”

Government ministers had said early on in the deployment of vaccines that Britons would be expected to be annually vaccinated, including former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who said it was “highly likely” there would be a dual vaccination programme for both influenza and Covid-19. British scientists advising the government also said in February that annual vaccines might be needed to deal with new variants, with the government then already stockpiling on vaccine supplies in preparation for 2022.

Mr Zahawi also doubled down on the government message that there will be vaccine passports for venues like nightclubs come September, and only proof of vaccination — not of natural immunity or a negative test result — would be accepted.

Outlining the functionality of the NHS’s digital Covid Pass, the vaccine minister said: “This week, after a successful trial, we have rolled out the NHS covid pass, which allows people safely and securely to demonstrate their covid status, whether that is proof of vaccination status, test results or natural immunity.”

Tory Lockdown Sceptic Warns Govt Against Shutting Down UK in Autumn https://t.co/p4klC8WhxO

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 23, 2021

“For proprietors of venues and events where large numbers are likely to gather and mix with people from outside their household for prolonged periods, deploying the pass is the right thing to do. The pass has an important role to play in slowing the spread of the virus, so we reserve the right to mandate its use in future,” Mr Zahawi said, confirming that “at the end of September, we plan to make full vaccination a condition of entry to those high-risk settings where large crowds gather and interact.”

Stipulating: “As a condition of entry to such venues, people will have to show that they are fully vaccinated, and proof of a negative test will no longer be sufficient.”

The remarks come as a rising number of Conservative MPs, the Liberal Democrats, and likely the Labour Party are set to vote against vaccine passports in the House of Commons, possibly defeating the government in its attempts to introduce the first domestic vaccine passports in the UK. The government has already ordered mandatory vaccines for all care home staff.

Earlier this week, chairman of the Conservative Covid Recovery Group (CRG) Mark Harper MP warned that under Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s proposals, the UK was “effectively moving to compulsory vaccination”, and more than 40 Tory MPs have said they would rebel against their government.

Three days after the announcement, Labour stated that it opposed “the use of Covid vaccination status for everyday access to venues and services”, with the Liberal Democrats calling for a “united front against these illiberal and unworkable proposals” and for a “national campaign through the summer to convince the government to change course” before the plans are implemented in late September.

Vaccine Passports Thin End of the Wedge Leading to ID Cards, Warns Reform UK Leader https://t.co/M8kQLKQfpC

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/07/23/uk-working-plans-annual-coronavirus-vaccine-vaccine-passports-confirmed-says-minister/

Biden DOJ Will Not Investigate Gretchen Whitmer Nursing Home Deaths

BlackRock gained attention earlier this year after it was reported the asset manager was pricing middle class buyers out of the housing market, but the Wall Street firm has also become an increasingly influential player in the U.S. government.

Institutional investors, primarily banks and asset managers, have been buying up single-family houses to rent in recent years, a business model that could become a dominant force in the housing market and change the nature of home ownership, The Wall Street Journal reported in early June.

Hunter Housing Economics concluded homes that are built to rent account for around 6% of new homes built in the U.S. every year, a number that is expected to double by 2024. Wall Street has also bet billions on the built-to-rent market by investing in home building companies and are projected to put down an additional $40 billion over the next year, according to the WSJ.

John Burns Real Estate Consulting counted BlackRock among more than 200 companies and investment firms that bought and arranged for the management of rentals on behalf of home builders, according to a separate WSJ report in early April.

The growth in built-to-rent homes comes as homeownership is expected to decline over the next two decades, the think tank Urban Institute reported in January. This decline is especially concentrated among millennials, who are currently in their prime home-buying years.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has become a prime example of the so-called revolving door between Wall Street and Washington, according to Business Insider. At least three former high-ranking employees of the New York-based firm hold prominent roles in President Joe Biden’s administration.

Biden nominated Brian Deese to serve as director of the National Economic Council (NEC). He previously served as deputy director of both the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the NEC under former President Barack Obama. After his stint in the Obama administration, Deese joined BlackRock as global head of sustainable investing, according to the WSJ.

Jeff Hauser, director of the Revolving Door Project, a group that monitors corporate influence in government, told Reuters in November 2020 that BlackRock’s stake in policy decisions could compel Deese to “be absent from big chunks of his job.”

Biden nominated Adewale Adeyemo to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. He also worked in the Obama administration first as a senior international economics advisor in the Treasury Department and then as the former president’s deputy national security advisor for international economics. He later joined BlackRock as a senior advisor, according to WSJ.

https://dailycaller.com/2021/07/23/blackrock-housing-market-biden-administration-federal-reserve-finance/

Biden DOJ Will Not Investigate Gretchen Whitmer Nursing Home Deaths

The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) opted Thursday not to investigate coronavirus-related nursing home deaths in Michigan.

Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania enacted controversial policies to placing coronavirus-infected patients into nursing homes to recuperate, effectively spreading the disease among the most susceptible population.

Last year, the Trump DOJ attempted to get nursing home death data from Whitmer’s administration, and the governor issued a joint statement with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). The pair argued there were partisan motivations for probing the large coronavirus-related percentage of nursing home deaths.

“This is nothing more than a transparent politicization of the Department of Justice in the middle of the Republican National Convention,” Whitmer and Cuomo, who was embroiled in his own nursing home death scandal, said, according to the Daily Gazette.

“It’s no coincidence the moment the Trump administration is caught weakening the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] testing guidelines to artificially lower the number of positive cases, they launched this nakedly partisan deflection,” the duo said.

Now, the Biden-led agency will not investigate the policy of Whitmer, whom he had on his short list for a running mate.

The Detroit News reported:

The Department of Justice joins Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in declining to probe the policies on which Republicans have focused attacks. While GOP lawmakers have pressed to uncover more information about how the orders impacted the virus’ spread among a vulnerable population, the lack of law enforcement inquiries hinders their efforts.

“We have reviewed the information you provided along with additional information available to the department,” wrote Steven Rosenbaum, chief of the special litigation section for the department’s civil rights division, in a letter to Whitmer’s chief legal counsel, Mark Totten, on Thursday.

“Based on that review, we have decided not to open a CRIPA (Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act) investigation of any public nursing facility within Michigan at this time.”

That drew a stinging response from one of Whitmer’s Republican challengers, Tudor Dixon, whose grandmother died alone in a nursing home during Whitmer’s lockdown.

“The Biden Department of Justice has chosen to put partisan politics ahead of accountability in deciding not to investigate Gov. Whitmer’s deadly policy of putting coronavirus-infected patients into nursing homes,” Dixon said in a statement, “and exposing the most vulnerable to the disease.”

“Gov. Whitmer’s actions were unforgivable and will not be forgotten by the thousands of families that needlessly suffered the loss of a loved one,” she continued.

“I’m encouraged that competent law enforcement leaders like Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido are investigating these unnecessary deaths in Gov. Whitmer’s war on nursing homes,” Dixon said. “These many victims deserve justice.”

https://www.breitbart.com/health/2021/07/23/biden-doj-will-not-investigate-gretchen-whitmer-nursing-home-deaths/

China sanctions top Trump official and 6 others – here’s who

China’s foreign ministry announced new sanctions on seven Americans on Friday, including former U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in retaliation for U.S. sanctions on seven Chinese officials last week.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian confirmed the sanctions against Ross along with US-China Economic and Security Review Committee (USCC) chairman Carolyn Bartholomew, Congressional-Executive China Committee (CECC) former director Jonathan Stivers, National Democratic Institute’s Hyungmo Kim, International Republican Institute’s Adam King, Human Rights Watch’s China Department director Sophie Richardson, and Hong Kong’s Democracy Council.

Zhao said the sanctions come in retaliation for U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials in Hong Kong. He called the U.S. sanctions “illegal” and a serious violation of international law and norms.

“Hong Kong is China’s Special Administrative Region and its affairs are an integral part of China’s internal affairs. Any attempt by external forces to interfere in Hong Kong’s affairs would be as futile as an ant trying to shake a big tree,” Zhao added.

The U.S. issued the sanctions last Friday against seven Chinese officials who were deemed behind Hong Kong’s eroding rule of law.

The sanctions targeted Chen Dong, Yang Jianping, Qiu Hong, Lu Xinning, Tan Tieniu, He Jing, and Yin Zonghua, who were described as “Deputy Directors of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LOCPG).”

“In the face of Beijing’s decisions over the past year that have stifled the democratic aspirations of people in Hong Kong, we are taking action. Today we send a clear message that the United States resolutely stands with Hong Kongers,” the U.S. State Department said during a June 16 statement announcing the sanctions.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday that the Biden administration is concerned over “the crackdown on freedom of speech, freedom of media, a crackdown on — on human rights activists in Hong Kong.”

Last week, Psaki said, “The situation in Hong Kong is continuing to deteriorate. … The risks faced in mainland China are now increasingly present in Hong Kong.”

China “must not suppress rights and freedoms,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a tweet last Friday. “We’ll continue to speak out for Hong Kong and promote accountability for Beijing’s broken promises and repressive acts.”

The PRC must not suppress rights and freedoms. Today’s sanctions and @StateDept, @USTreasury, @DHSgov, and @CommerceGov's issuance of the Business Advisory show we'll continue to speak out for Hong Kong and promote accountability for Beijing’s broken promises and repressive acts.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 16, 2021

The U.S State, Treasury, Homeland Security and Commerce departments also issued a joint advisory on July 16 warning Americans about doing business in Hong Kong.

The advisory highlighted “growing risks associated with actions undertaken” by the governments of China and Hong Kong “that could adversely impact U.S. companies that operate in Hong Kong,” adding that there could be “potential reputational, regulatory, financial, and, in certain instances, legal risks” by operating in Hong Kong.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2021/07/china-sanctions-top-trump-official-and-6-others-heres-who/

US State Department shuts down its passport applicant online appointment system after scammers used bots to obtain bookings and sold them on online forums

The U.S. State Department has temporarily shut down its online appointment system for passport applicants claiming scammers scheduled appointments then sold them for thousands of dollars to desperate travelers.

Scammers allegedly used bots to schedule appointments which where were then sold in online forums, including Facebook groups like 'US Passports and Visas,' SFGate reported. The State Department first learned of the scams in June.

The online system had offered the ability to schedule last-minute appointments for travelers, which were often reserved for travelers in life-or-death emergencies.

A message posted to the State Department's website reads: 'We have temporarily removed the online last-minute appointment booking system to ensure our very limited, last-minute in-person passport appointments at one of our agencies or centers go to applicants who need them for urgent travel.'

The State Department noted that the only way to book an appointment currently is to call the National Passport Information Center on a weekday.

'We made this change to address the problem of third parties booking all available appointments using bots, and then selling them to applicants with urgent travel needs,' the message reads.

Officials noted that wait times to reach a customer service representative can be long. Last-minute in-person appointments are still extremely limited.

The State Department noted that appointments that had already been made using online before Wednesday are still valid.

This change only applies to appointments at our passport agencies made through the State Department website, travel.state.gov, a spokesperson for the State Department told DailyMail.com in a statement.

Other online appointment booking systems for passport acceptance facilities have not changed, like the one on the U.S. Postal Service website for in-person appointments at a post office.

http://www.womensystems.com/2021/07/us-state-department-shuts-down-its.html

New ‘Diplomacy’: Why Are Ambassadors of NATO Countries Inspecting Ukrainian Armed Forces at the Front Line?

"That’s generally not the way things are done in what were formerly known as diplomatic circles."

Interfax-Ukraine reported that the Danish ambassador to Ukraine paid a two-day visit to the front line of his host country’s war in the Donbass region. The press report phrased its account of the event like this: “On July 19-20, a delegation of the Kingdom of Denmark, led by Ambassador Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, visited the area of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO), and also met with representatives of Luhansk Regional Military-Civil Administration.” On the latter score, that is the part of Lugansk still under control of the Ukrainian government.

The Danish delegation, for all the world as though its members were military attachés, or military advisors, met with Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces Eduard Moskaliov and toured an observation post of a Ukrainian armed forces unit that is assigned to the Joint Forces Operation, until recently the Anti-Terrorist Operation. (National Anti-Terrorist Operation would have provided a more accurate acronym.)

Somehow it’s difficult to imagine, say, ambassadors to Moscow being taken to the eastern border of the Donbass to meet with Russian commanders and inspect Russian military units. Four days earlier the top American envoy in Ukraine led a similar delegation to the war zone. That’s generally not the way things are done in what were formerly known as diplomatic circles.

The press office of the Joint Forces Operation quoted the head of the delegation of loyal subjects of Queen Margrethe II stating:

“I am very happy to visit the contact line and see everything with my own eyes. This is the front line of peaceful life, the front line of democracy. You protect the security of Europe, so if you are in danger, then we cannot be safe either. I am very glad to meet all of you commanders and soldiers. My sincere gratitude to you for what you are doing.”

[High praise for what amounts to border agents at a checkpoint.]

He might have engaged in a rare moment of candor and acknowledged that plebeian youth drafted into the Ukrainian army to kill and be killed in a fratricidal war with their fellow citizens are in fact preserving the prerogatives, human and divine, of the Transatlantic elites who recognize no sense of obligation to any nation or any people. Self-isolated cosmopolites who only acknowledge other deracinated parasites as their kin and compatriots. The names adopted by the targets of the NATO-supported war, the People’s Republic of Donetsk and the People’s Republic of Lugansk, are doubly anathema to Western monarchists.

https://anti-empire.com/new-diplomacy-why-are-ambassadors-of-nato-countries-inspecting-ukrainian-armed-forces-at-the-front-line/

Covid was only the 26th leading cause of death in England in June and made up fewer than 1% of all fatalities, official data shows

There were 25 diseases that killed more people in England than the coronavirus last month

Covid caused just 344 of the 38,611 deaths in the country in June, which equates to 0.9 per cent of all deaths

Heart disease, Dementia and Alzheimer's and lung cancer killed up to 12 times more people than the virus

In Wales, Covid deaths dropped to just two — such a low number it could not be ranked against other causes

The virus was responsible for just 0.1 per cent of all fatalities in Wales — the lowest proportion so far

But Covid is the biggest killer of 2021 so far, accounting for 17.3 per cent of deaths in England

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9817861/Covid-26th-leading-cause-death-England-June.html

US Launches Airstrikes Against the Taliban

The Pentagon says the US bombed Afghanistan in support of the Afghan government over 'the last several days'

The US launched several airstrikes in Afghanistan against the Taliban this week, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The airstrikes were carried out in support of the Afghan government, which has been losing significant ground to the Taliban since the US started pulling troops out back in May.

“In the last several days we have acted, through airstrikes, to support the ANDSF [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces],” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters. He was asked about alleged airstrikes in Kandahar, but said, “I won’t get into technical details of those strikes.”

Since the US-Taliban peace deal was signed in February 2020, US airstrikes on the Taliban have declined, but they do happen. The US usually frames the airstrikes as being carried out in the “defense” of the Afghan government. For their part, the Taliban has refrained from attacking the US or other foreign troops since the agreement was signed.

This week’s airstrikes mark the first that the US admitted to since Gen. Scott Miller, the former top US commander in Afghanistan, handed his authority to Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of US Central Command. It’s also a sign that the US will continue bombing Afghanistan until at least August 31st, when President Biden said the withdrawal will be complete.

US airstrikes in Afghanistan are now being launched from outside the country, what the Pentagon has dubbed “over the horizon capability.” The US will maintain this capability after the withdrawal, so it’s possible that the US will continue bombing Afghanistan beyond September. The US also has plans to leave about 600 troops in the country that will be in Kabul to guard the embassy and the international airport.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/07/22/us-launches-airstrikes-against-the-taliban/

Protests Erupt In Italy After New “Health Passports” Revealed

Thousands of people flooded the streets of Turin, a city located in northern Italy, Thursday evening to protest harsh government restrictions for unvaccinated citizens, dubbed the “green pass.”

The Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, told a press conference Thursday that the country will need to act and suppress another wave of COVID-19 infections at a time the Delta variant is spreading throughout Europe.

The green pass — a digital certificate containing proof of immunization will be necessary for anyone older than 12 to enter stadiums, museums, theatres, cinemas, exhibition centers, swimming pools, and gyms. The pass is an extension of the EU’s digital Covid certificate and will also be required for restaurants.

The updated version of the vaccine passport will begin on Aug. 5 and didn’t sit well with residents who see their freedoms whittled away by the government. This violation of freedom sparked a massive protest in Turin.

“As soon as the Italian government announced the introduction of the “health passport” people took to the streets to protest. The images below are from Torino just now. The feeling in the streets is one of anger at the government’s decision,” the Twitter user said.

https://www.activistpost.com/2021/07/protests-erupt-in-italy-after-new-health-passports-revealed.html

Alabama governor on rising COVID-19 cases: 'Time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks'

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) declared that it's “time to start blaming the unvaccinated” for the surge in coronavirus infections in her state.

The governor, visibly exasperated while discussing the need to get a COVID-19 vaccination shot, was asked by local reporters Thursday what more can be done to boost vaccination rates.

“I don’t know, you tell me!” Ivey said. “Folks supposed to have common sense.”

“But it's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down,” she continued.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) declared that it's “time to start blaming the unvaccinated” for the surge in coronavirus infections in her state.

The governor, visibly exasperated while discussing the need to get a COVID-19 vaccination shot, was asked by local reporters Thursday what more can be done to boost vaccination rates.

“I don’t know, you tell me!” Ivey said. “Folks supposed to have common sense.”

“But it's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down,” she continued.

Ivey’s comments come as her state grapples with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

Only 48.7 percent of the population age 12 and up has received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 39.6 percent have been fully inoculated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 6,118 vaccine doses administered in Alabama on Wednesday, according to state data, a considerable drop from the more than 45,000 administered at the peak in April.

Ivey was vaccinated in December.

The state has seen a 70 percent increase in daily coronavirus infections over the past week and its highest hospitalization rate, according to The Washington Post.

Ivey said it should be “crystal clear” that the new cases and hospitalizations are being reported among unvaccinated.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/564521-alabama-gop-governor-on-rising-covid-19-cases-time-to-start-blaming-the

U.S. Military Orders Drone Strikes to Destroy American Equipment in Afghanistan

Pentagon officials are confirming that despite the U.S. withdrawal, drone strikes continue to be ordered in support of the Afghan army.

“I can say that in the last several days, we have acted through airstrikes to support the ANDSF, but I won’t get into technical details of those strikes,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said at a briefing on Thursday.

Three of the most recent drone strikes have targeted U.S. equipment that had been transferred to the Afghan army and abandoned when the Taliban approached.

How much of a clusterfark is the withdrawal from Afghanistan becoming? Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley had been assuring the public that the Afghan government could hold against the Taliban despite the enemy’s progress sweeping through the country. He didn’t sound quite so confident at a press briefing on Thursday.

“Strategic momentum appears to sort of be with the Taliban,” Milley said. Isn’t that kind of like a woman being “sort of” pregnant?

CNN:

US Central Command, which is in charge of Afghanistan, said recently that the withdrawal of US forces is more than 95% complete. President Joe Biden has said the withdrawal would be complete by the end of August. Approximately 650 troops are set to remain in the country to secure the US diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, including the embassy, and to assist in securing Kabul’s international airport, which is a necessary facility for the movement of diplomats.

It’s not Milley’s fault. As soon as Joe Biden announced that the U.S. was cutting and running from Afghanistan, the Taliban became emboldened and the Afghan army began to desert.

Related: U.S. Diplomats in Afghanistan Have a Hopeless Task

“There’s a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover or a possibility of any number of other scenarios, breakdown, warlordism, all other kinds of scenarios that are out there. We’re monitoring very closely, I don’t think the end game is yet written,” he said.

The general has nothing to worry about. The Taliban is writing the end game as he speaks.

Associated Press:

The Taliban say they don’t want to monopolize power, but they insist there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, who is also a member of the group’s negotiating team, laid out the insurgents’ stance on what should come next in a country on the precipice.

So they don’t want to “monopolize” power but they want to be able to dictate the makeup of the new government? It’s going to get very bloody in Afghanistan even before the last Americans leave.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/07/23/u-s-military-orders-drone-strikes-to-destroy-american-equipment-in-afghanistan-n1464131

Trump: GOP Lawmaker Blocking Accountability Vote on Arizona Audit a ‘RINO’

A Republican senator, who is stymying efforts to hold election officials in Arizona’s largest county in contempt for refusing to fully comply with subpoenas deemed lawful by a court, was dubbed a fake Republican by former President Donald Trump.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/trump-gop-lawmaker-blocking-accountability-vote-on-arizona-audit-a-rino_3915637.html

Mark Zuckerberg Plans To Make Facebook A Virtual Reality 'Metaverse'

Mark Zuckerberg has plans to make Facebook into a “metaverse company” within the next five years and has spent $2 billion on virtual-reality products to make it happen.

Transforming itself from a social media site into a new way to virtually interact, Facebook acquired Oculus to produce all of its virtual reality head sets and devices that will provide access to Facebook's new metaverse world.

Zuckerberg described the Facebook metaverse as “an embodied internet where instead of just viewing content - you are in it.” Zuckerberg explained. Tech companies are explaining it as the new 3D internet of the future.

People are not meant to only interact through “small, glowing rectangles” the Facebook CEO told the Verge.

“In the future, instead of just doing this over a phone call, you’ll be able to sit as a hologram on my couch, or I’ll be able to sit as a hologram on your couch, and it’ll actually feel like we’re in the same place, even if we’re in different states or hundreds of miles apart. I think that is really powerful.” Zuckerburg said.

Zuckerberg has plans for users to be able to virtually attend concerts and for an “infinite office” feature that would allow users to create their perfect workspace through a virtual reality world.

He says that the new platform will be a world where, “you feel present with other people as if you were in other places, having different experiences that you couldn’t necessarily do on a 2D app or webpage, like dancing, for example, or different types of fitness.”

The metaverse world will be accessible through multiple different platforms that include virtual reality, augmented reality, computers, mobile devices, and game consoles.

Evolution of Facebook

2004: Place to rate hotness

2008: Social network behemoth

2019: Place to remember birthdays

2021: Metaverse? pic.twitter.com/36yZKlS17i

— Morning Brew ☕️ (@MorningBrew) July 23, 2021

https://www.ibtimes.com/mark-zuckerberg-plans-make-facebook-virtual-reality-metaverse-3258483

Spain and Serbia dismantle Serbian marijuana trafficking network

Spanish and Serbian authorities have dismantled a large-scale drug trafficking network through a joint investigation team (JIT). In both countries, 43 members of a Serbian organised crime group have been arrested for their involvement in producing and distributing marijuana and hashish.

During a major action day in Serbia and Spain on 28 June 2021 and during interventions against the organised crime group in January, the Spanish Guardia Civil and the Serbian Police carried out 19 searches and seized over 17 000 marijuana plants, over 880 kilos of marijuana buds, and at least 130 kilos of produced marijuana and hashish resins. Approximately EUR 250 000 in cash was also seized.

Europol’s and Eurojust’s support of Operation Mitikas

Europol, as a platform for European policing solutions, was involved in the case since March 2020. Throughout 2020 and early 2021, European Serious and Organised Crime Centre (ESOCC) of Europol supported Operation MITIKAS through the Drugs Unit by cross-checking information received, providing analytical support, and facilitating the coordination of the information exchange between Spain and Serbia. Two Europol specialists were deployed to Spain and Serbia equipped with a mobile office and a Universal Forensic Extraction Device. Information gathered during the operation was analysed and exchanged in real-time and immediately cross-matched against Europol's databases.

Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation initiated the cross-border judicial cooperation in November 2020, leading to the setting up of the first JIT between Spain and Serbia. It was the first time the Spanish authorities had initiated a JIT with a third country.

Operation Mitikas was developed in the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) and the operational action plan on cross-border drug trafficking sourced by large-scale herbal cannabis production in the EU.

The cannabis market in the European Union

The cannabis market remains the largest drug market in the EU, and cannabis trafficking will remain a significant source of income for a wide range of criminal networks. The trade in cannabis but also in other drugs such as cocaine and synthetic drugs is a key threat to the EU due to the levels of violence associated, the multibillion euro profits generated and the substantial harm caused by it.

Herbal cannabis is extensively produced within the EU, with estimates indicating that at least 20 000 cultivation sites are dismantled each year, and is a major source of income for the criminal economy. Although herbal cannabis is produced in each EU Member State, this may not be sufficient to satisfy local demand; therefore, intra-EU trafficking exists as it has been shown in Operation Mitikas.

https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/spain-and-serbia-dismantle-serbian-marijuana-trafficking-network

Arizona Audit - Estimated 311,000 'Phantom Voters', State Officials Move to Decertify Election

https://rumble.com/vk8bjo-arizona-audit-estimated-311000-phantom-voters-state-officials-move-to-decer.html

Twenty-Seven Defendants Charged in Joint Federal and State Investigation of Drug Trafficking Organization

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdia/pr/twenty-seven-defendants-charged-joint-federal-and-state-investigation-drug-trafficking

Former Member of Latin Kings Massachusetts State Leadership Sentenced for Racketeering Conspiracy

Defendant was Second-in-Command of Massachusetts Latin Kings Leadership

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/former-member-latin-kings-massachusetts-state-leadership-sentenced-racketeering

New Jersey Man Indicted on Child Pornography Charges

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sd/pr/new-jersey-man-indicted-child-pornography-charges

Round Rock Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sexual Abuse of Children

https://www.justice.gov/usao-az/pr/round-rock-man-sentenced-life-prison-sexual-abuse-children

CNN Interviewee – Who Demanded Trump Impeachment – Registers as Lobbyist For China’s Huawei.

Former Whitewater prosecutor Stephen Binhak – who called on Congress to impeach Donald Trump amidst conspiracies over Russian collusion – recently registered to lobby on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party-linked tech firm Huawei.

The news comes as Tony Podesta – brother of Democrat Party bigwig John Podesta – registered to lobby for the same Chinese Communist tech giant.

Binhak registered to lobby for Huawei on issues including “foreign investment, telecommunications, export controls, trade and economic sanctions, and the National Defense Authorization Act” starting July 1st. The registration follows an intense crackdown on the Chinese Communist Party-linked company by the Trump administration, which labeled Huawei a “national security threat” and Chinese military collaborator before banning federal contractors from using its devices.

Binhak and Podesta’s newfound spot on the payroll of the Chinese Communist Party-controlled tech giant, however, follows Binhak arguing in favor of impeaching President Donald Trump amidst the debunked “Russia Collusion” conspiracy.

During Robert Mueller’s investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia, Binhak appeared on CNN and other mainstream media outlets, calling on Congress to impeach Trump.

“Former Whitewater Prosecutor: Congress Should Start Impeachment Proceedings,” summarizes a CNN article detailing his May 2019 appearance on the network.

https://thenationalpulse.com/exclusive/pro-impeachment-lawyer-registers-as-huawei-lobbyist/

COVID Vaccine Maker Johnson & Johnson To Pay $26 Billion As Settlement For Causing Opioid Epidemic

The COVID-19 vaccine maker Johnson & Johnson and others is set to pay $26 billion as settlement for causing the Opioid Epidemic.

US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson and America’s three biggest drug distributors have agreed to pay a combined $26 billion to end the legal liability for their roles in spurring the nation’s opioid crisis.

Attorneys general from seven states announced the deal on Wednesday, saying that Johnson & Johnson would pay $5 billion and distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen about $21 billion combined.

The money will be paid out over time – nine years for Johnson & Johnson and 18 years in the case of the distributors – and will go to states that agree to accept the settlement and forgo pursuing their own lawsuits against the companies.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, whose state will receive more than $500 million, said the agreement fulfilled her promise of making companies that got rich off the opioid epidemic pay a price. The money will help fund programs to prevent and treat opioid addictions.

The companies face thousands of lawsuits over the crisis, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said caused nearly 500,000 deaths between 1999 and 2019.

Johnson & Johnson is accused of pushing painkillers for excessive use and downplaying their addiction risks, while the distributors allegedly failed to do enough to stop the drugs flowing into illegal channels. Johnson & Johnson agreed last month to a $230-million settlement with New York state.

“These companies helped fuel the opioid crisis, which rages in our communities,” Healey said. US overdose deaths rose to a record high last year, she added.

Under the latest agreement, Johnson & Johnson will be banned from making opioids, and the distributors will add new systems to track such products and prevent them ending up in the wrong hands.

States could start receiving the money by early next year, but the settlement is contingent on getting the vast majority of state and local governments to sign on. At least 48 states must join to get the full payout, and 97 to 98% of local governments must agree to drop or forgo their claims, NBC News reported.

Hard-hit states such as West Virginia and Washington may stick with their own lawsuits. A trial in Washington’s lawsuit against McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen is scheduled to begin in September. Its case against Johnson & Johnson is slated to go to trial next January.

“The settlement is, to be blunt, not nearly good enough for Washington,” Bob Ferguson, the state’s attorney general, said in a statement. He added that even if the more than 300 Washington cities and counties join in the deal, a total of $527.5 million would be paid to the state over 18 years. Washington is seeking a “transformative” amount of money in order for state and local governments to address the epidemic, he said.

The US Food and Drug Administration has warned that Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder where the immune system attacks the nervous system and can result in paralysis.

The US CDC and FDA lifted their recommended pause on use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine with a condition that it will now include a safety label warning that its vaccine comes with blood clot risks.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/80454/covid-vaccine-maker-johnson–johnson-to-pay-26-billion-as-settlement-for-causing-opioid.html

Massive Immigrant-Led Protest Shuts Down Manhattan Bridge

At least "1,000 immigrant NYers just shut down the Manhattan Bridge" as they demand "citizenship for essential workers," tweeted Make the Road New York, a progressive grassroots immigrant-led organization.

"Immigrants are here to stay and we're marching across the Manhattan Bridge to demand inclusion in the federal budget reconciliation process," the progressive organization said.

Social media was full of videos from community organizing groups and people participating in what appears to be a planned and highly organized march across the Manhattan Bridge.

Earlier this month, President Biden called for bipartisan action on a pathway to citizenship for immigrants.

"We need an immigration system that both reflects our values and upholds our laws. We can do both," Biden said.

"The president said there should be a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, for foreign-born people who have temporary protected status due to strife in their birth countries and for farm workers. Biden's comments, however, stopped short of the legislative proposal he's endorsed, which includes a much broader option for most immigrants to apply for legal status and then seek citizenship," AP said at the time.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/massive-immigrant-led-protest-shuts-down-manhattan-bridge

More Republicans Are Urging Supporters To Get Vaccinated

Alabama's Republican Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday suddenly changed her tune on vaccinations, urging "the unvaccinated folk" in her state to seek out the vaccine as COVID cases climb in a handful of southern and western states, including Alabama.

But she's not alone. Now that Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging Kentuckyians to get vaccinated as soon as possible, more GOP lawmakers and politicians are jumping on the pro-vax bandwagon.

Apparently, with hospitalizations and deaths starting to climb amid a surge in new infections caused by the delta variant, the fearmongering of health experts like Dr. Anothny Fauci has caused GOP strategists to worry that they risk being blamed if there's another surge in COVID cases (even as scientists warn that the virus will very likely remain endemic to the human population, like the flu).

"We as a Republican party have decided that we have to be all in on the vaccine, even though we’re not sure where our followers are," said John Feehery, a partner at EFB Advocacy and a former Republican congressional aide.

"There’s real political risk in the idea of re-shutting down the country. I think Republicans don’t want to be blamed for it."

Still, a handful of mostly red states has passed laws prohibiting the government and private businesses to make vaccines mandatory in keeping with the GOP's emphasis on personal choice. Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose handling of Florida's outbreak has been widely praised, especially by conservatives, warned this weekend that Floridians should get vaccinated. "These vaccines are saving lives…they are reducing mortality."

In Arkansas, the worst-hit state in the country right now, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has embarked on a tour of the state to try and convince voters to get vaccinated.

Despite the mainstream media's demonizing President Trump for allegedly stoking anti-vaccine fears (in fact, few did more to aid in their development than the former president) a handful of heavily pro-Trump GOP lawmakers tried to broadcast a similar message. The group included Elise Stefanik and Steve Scalise.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/more-republicans-are-urging-supporters-get-vaccinated

Meet Toka, the Most Dangerous Israeli Spyware Firm You’ve Never Heard Of

The mainstream media’s myopic focus on Israel’s Pegasus spyware and the threats it poses means that other companies, like Toka, go uninvestigated, even when their products present an even greater potential for abuse and illegal surveillance.

LONDON – This past Sunday, an investigation into the global abuse of spyware developed by veterans of Israeli intelligence Unit 8200 gained widespread attention, as it was revealed that the software – sold to democratic and authoritarian governments alike – had been used to illegally spy on an estimated 50,000 individuals. Among those who had their communications and devices spied on by the software, known as Pegasus, were journalists, human rights activists, business executives, academics and prominent political leaders. Among those targeted political leaders, per reports, were the current leaders of France, Pakistan, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco and Iraq.

The abuse of Pegasus software in this very way has been known for several years, though these latest revelations appear to have gained such traction in the mainstream owing to the high number of civilians who have reportedly been surveilled through its use. The continuation of the now-years-long scandal surrounding the abuse of Pegasus has also brought considerable controversy and notoriety to the Israeli company that developed it, the NSO Group.

While the NSO Group has become infamous, other Israeli companies with even deeper ties to Israel’s intelligence apparatus have been selling software that not only provides the exact same services to governments and intelligence agencies but purports to go even farther.

Originally founded by former Israeli Prime Minister and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ehud Barak, one of these companies’ wares are being used by countries around the world, including in developing countries with the direct facilitation of global financial institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank. In addition, the software is only made available to governments that are “trusted” by Israel’s government, which “works closely” with the company.

Despite the fact that this firm has been around since 2018 and was covered in detail by this author for MintPress News in January 2020, no mainstream outlet – including those that have extensively covered the NSO Group – has bothered to examine the implications of this story.

Worse than Pegasus

Toka was launched in 2018 with the explicit purpose of selling a “tailored ecosystem of cyber capabilities and software products for governmental, law enforcement, and security agencies.” According to a profile of the company published in Forbes shortly after it launched, Toka advertised itself as “a one-stop hacking shop for governments that require extra capability to fight terrorists and other threats to national security in the digital domain.”

Toka launched with plans to “provide spy tools for whatever device its clients require,” including not only smartphones but a “special focus on the so-called Internet of Things (IoT).” Per the company, this includes devices like Amazon Echo, Google Nest-connected home products, as well as connected fridges, thermostats and alarms. Exploits in these products discovered by Toka, the company said at the time, would not be disclosed to vendors, meaning those flaws would continue to remain vulnerable to any hacker, whether a client of Toka or not.

Today, Toka’s software suite claims to offer its customers in law enforcement, government and intelligence the ability to obtain “targeted intelligence” and to conduct “forensic investigations” as well as “covert operations.” In addition, Toka offers governments its “Cyber Designers” service, which provides “agencies with the full-spectrum strategies, customized projects and technologies needed to keep critical infrastructure, the digital landscape and government institutions secure and durable.”

Given that NSO’s Pegasus targets only smartphones, Toka’s hacking suite – which, like Pegasus, is also classified as a “lawful intercept” product – is capable of targeting any device connected to the internet, including but not limited to smartphones. In addition, its target clientele are the same as those of Pegasus, providing an easy opportunity for governments to gain access to even more surveillance capabilities than Pegasus offers, but without risking notoriety in the media, since Toka has long avoided the limelight.

More

https://www.mintpressnews.com/meet-toka-the-most-dangerous-israeli-spyware-firm-youve-never-heard-of/278020/

>>14183861

Hierarchy in the Church of Satan

https://www.churchofsatan.com/hierarchy/

Algeria Sues Reporters Without Borders Over Defamation in Pegasus Spyware Scandal

The Algerian embassy in Paris said on Friday that it had filed a defamation complaint on behalf of the government of Algeria against Reporters Without Borders (RSF) over allegations that it used the Pegasus software for illicit spying.

The Pegasus scandal unfolded this week as a group of media and rights organizations exposed the spyware's developer, Israeli firm NSO Group, in doing business with government clients who may have used it to spy not on criminals and terrorists, as intended, but politicians, journalists, activists, and business people around the world.

The RSF listed Algeria among such "predator" governments.

"Algerian Ambassador to France, Mohamed Antar Daoud, has filed a complaint on behalf of the State of Algeria with the French judicial authorities against Reporters Without Borders for defamation," the statement read.

The Algerian embassy characterized the RSF accusations as "slanderous" and "false," denying ever having used Pegasus for spying, or even possessing it.

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, three other suspect states, have also denied their use of Pegasus. Morocco said it would lodge a defamation complaint in Paris.

https://sputniknews.com/africa/202107231083449871-algeria-sues-reporters-without-borders-over-defamation-in-pegasus-spyware-scandal/

>>14183908

don't know I just found this when digging a few years back

Trial of Democratic Megadonor Gets Dark as Prosecution Rolls Horrific Video, Judge Warns Traumatized Jury May Need Counseling

It took two years and two dead men for Democratic megadonor Ed Buck to be arrested. For jurors in his case, it could take a lifetime to unsee what allegedly happened inside his apartment.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Buck donated over half a million dollars to politicians — almost all Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Rep. Ted Lieu — and was a member of California’s electoral college delegation in 2016.

He made his money by selling an Arizona courier company for roughly $1 million before moving to the gay-friendly Los Angeles neighborhood of West Hollywood in the early 1990s, according to KCBS-TV, where he became known for his LGBT and animal rights activism.

As KCBS reported, it wasn’t too long ago that Buck “was rubbing elbows with some of the Democratic party’s biggest stars — donating tens of thousands of dollars to various candidates and causes.” Now, when the 66-year-old Buck leaves prison, it’s to go to a courtroom, where he’s on trial for supplying the drugs that killed two black men involved in a sexual game known as “party and play.”

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reported just how sordid “party and play” got — sordid enough the judge warned the prosecution against presenting its evidence against Buck in a way that would traumatize the jury and said they might well have to provide counseling for the men and women who decide Buck’s fate.

Buck’s repeated pattern was to hire black men, almost always homeless or desperately poor, on gay hookup websites to do drugs with him, often to the point where they would lose consciousness or overdose. Two allegedly died from this — Gemmel Moore, 26, and Timothy Dean, 55.

Prosecutors said the men were often unaware of what drugs they were ingesting — and, in some cases, Buck would inject them with drugs against their will while they were sleeping.

The Times reported Buck “usually paid them a few hundred dollars — less if they refused to let him inject meth into their arms, the men told the jury. After hours of partying, they would stagger out the door in what one neighbor watching the daily foot traffic described as a ‘drunken stupor.’

“The sordid details of what took place in the apartment are laid bare in hundreds of videos and photos Buck took of the men smoking or injecting meth naked or in the white underwear that he had them try on for his pleasure.”

Prosecutors called the doors to Buck’s West Hollywood apartment “the gates of hell,” and not without reason.

“Hanging on Buck’s living-room wall was a floor-to-ceiling red cloth, backlit to highlight a pattern of flaming skulls,” the Times reported. “On the floor was a mattress where Buck got the men high on crystal meth — the spot where Moore and Dean died 18 months apart.

“Next to the couch, Buck kept a red Craftsman tool chest packed with drugs and paraphernalia: syringes for shooting up, straws for snorting, glass pipes for smoking, photos presented at the trial show. When he was arrested in September 2019, investigators found Narcan, an overdose treatment, in one of the drawers.”

The outlet reported that in the videos, Buck would often give stage directions to the men: “Stare directly into the camera, flare your nostrils and blow it out slowly,” he told one of the men as he smoked drugs. “Now, if you add wide-open eyes to that, it would be a perfect shot.”

Meanwhile, a series of bizarre videos — stomach-churning to even hear about — involved Buck telling various men to blow meth smoke through plastic tubing that reached down to their underwear, where clouds of it would filter through the cloth.

https://www.westernjournal.com/trial-democratic-megadonor-gets-dark-prosecution-rolls-horrific-video-judge-warns-traumatized-jury-may-need-counseling/

Australia ‘more divided than ever’ courtesy of COVID hysteria

Sky News host Gary Hardgrave says Australia is “divided now more than ever before” due to hysterics from “pollies and health boffins”.

Mr Hardgrave says as the Australian public has been given nothing but “multiple mixed messages, inconsistent decisions, statements and demands” over the past 18 months, it is little wonder “few trust” politicians and health bureaucrats.

“Many fear they really don’t know best and seem to be making stuff up as they go along,” Mr Hardgrave said.

“We are waiting for a plan to recover our economic and social progress.

“We need hope, we need trust, we need integrity.

“We also need a restoration of trust.”

https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/australia-more-divided-than-ever-courtesy-of-covid-hysteria/video/9f6800839a2778ed6c7cac239722c2b5

The anti-vaxxer movement is much bigger than Facebook

Late last week US President Joe Biden achieved something I’d thought impossible: He got me to feel bad for Mark Zuckerberg.

Sure, it was only a little bad, but that’s no small feat. As I spent the weekend brushing up on funereal dirges to play on my tiny violin, I couldn’t help but marvel at the president’s rhetorical shoddiness regarding Facebook’s role in Americans’ refusal to get vaccinated, the most important obstacle to the nation’s full recovery from the pandemic.

By accusing Facebook and other social media companies of “killing people” through what Biden said was their lax policing of vaccine misinformation, the president reduced the complex scourge of runaway vaccine hesitancy into a cartoonishly simple matter of product design: If only Facebook would hit its Quit Killing People button, the world would be healed again.

Worse, Biden fed into the bogus right-wing notion that Facebook and other social media giants now operate as media arms of the Democratic Party, a belief that will only undermine whatever greater action against vaccine nonsense that the companies might take. If Facebook decides tomorrow to ban all criticism of the COVID-19 vaccines, its actions will be instantly undermined as Big Tech censoring “the truth” to satisfy the radical left or some other such reflexive dismissal.

On cue, The Wall Street Journal editorial board declared on Monday that Biden was only criticising Facebook because “Facebook has bent to politicians far too much, inviting this latest assault.”

Finally, in the blundering way he took on the tech giants, Biden illustrated the profound challenges that bedevil calls for stricter regulation of social media. Facebook and Twitter, like The New York Times and Fox News, enjoy a right protected by the First Amendment to post or to amplify — or to not post or not amplify — just about any legal content they care to.

The president reduced the complex scourge of runaway vaccine hesitancy into a cartoonishly simple matter of product design: If only Facebook would hit its Quit Killing People button, the world would be healed again.

In a free society, a president accusing a media company — even one whose chief executive insists it’s not a media company — of mass death simply for disseminating legal content should make us all a little uncomfortable. Sure, Facebook has a right to kick you off its site for lying about vaccines — but if the president fiercely extols Facebook to do so, the argument that you’re being censored by the government becomes a lot more plausible.

You might defend Biden’s passion here on the grounds of public health. But it’s probably past the point of utility. Researchers who study vaccine hesitancy say that social networks play a huge role in the spread of dangerous lies about vaccines. Perhaps there was a time, months or years ago, when Facebook and other social media companies had the power to stop the anti-vaccine movement from swallowing up so many people.

But if that was ever the case, there is little evidence it still is. Polls show that about a fifth of Americans refuse to get a COVID vaccine, and the divide is highly partisan. As The Washington Post’s Philip Bump has noted, states that voted for Donald Trump in the last election are suffering vaccination rates far lower than states that went for Biden. This suggests the anti-vaccine movement has achieved a kind of cultural escape velocity.

Consider, after all, how widely anti-vaccine lies are now echoed on the right — vaccine misinformation has become a staple of Fox News, conservative talk radio, prominent Republican members of Congress and many organs of conservatism.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/the-anti-vaxxer-movement-is-much-bigger-than-facebook-20210723-p58c9j.html

Panic and kek for the writers name

>>14184037

https://www.iatkos.in/2021/07/whackd-second-important-step.html?978ea96f-2740-4ea6-b1d0-288f11a48ff7

>>14184037

https://www.iatkos.in/2021/07/whackd-second-important-step.html?978ea96f-2740-4ea6-b1d0-288f11a48ff7