German Retail Trade ‘Dramatically Bad’ Because of COVID Pass Rules

Peter Caddle28 Dec 2021

An industry group has said that German retail trade over the Christmas period has been ‘dramatically bad’ due to the country’s COVID Pass rules.

Retail trade in Germany over the Christmas period was ‘dramatically bad’ this year due to COVID pass restrictions currently in place, according to claims made by one industry group.

The German Trade Organisation has claimed that the new 2G rules in the country — which prevent those who are unvaccinated from entering certain shops — has stalled the sector’s recovery post-lockdown.

“We had some catching up to do with the spring lockdown months by November, but the positive trend was stopped abruptly by the introduction of the 2G rules,” group managing director Stefan Genth told Der Spiegel.

Genth went on to tell the publication that business had been “dramatically bad” as a result, with retail seeing a 40 per cent reduction in footfall, translating to a one-third contraction in sales overall.

“Some retailers, especially in the textile sector, have of course been hit even harder when you consider that online trading continues to boom with another plus of 20 per cent and the food sector continues to function well,” Genth also said.

Regarding Germany’s 2G rules, Genth said that the measures were “not a medically sensible measure, but was mainly used by politicians to put pressure on the unvaccinated” and that it has “long been clear that the shops do not contribute in any way to the infection”.

“A normal mask requirement is enough again,” he claimed.

Genth also criticised the 2G rules as representing “a clear unequal treatment [of individuals], against which many of our members are taking legal action”.

This echoes a ruling made in the German state of Lower Saxony, which suspended the rules preventing unvaccinated people from accessing certain areas of society.

The court criticised the level of evidence in place for the effectiveness of the 2G rules in regards to retail, before concluding that the rule was ultimately not compatible with the general principle of equality.

Despite this, the Head of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, criticised the court’s decision.

“I bump into the fact that little judges stand up and, like in Lower Saxony, 2G in the retail trade because they don’t consider it proportionate,” Montgomery said. “I have big problems there. There are situations in which it is right to rank the rights of freedom after the right to physical health – not just for yourself, but for everyone. And that’s the kind of situation we have.”

Germany has also been weighing up the possibility of implementing mandatory vaccination against the Chinese Coronavirus, similar to the controversial mandate which will soon come into effect in Austria.

Those in Austria who remain unvaccinated by February will soon face unending lockdown, hefty fines, and even the possibility of imprisonment.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/12/28/german-retail-trade-dramatically-bad-because-of-covid-pass-rules/

Report: 150+ Killed by Suspects on Bond in Harris County, TX

AWR Hawkins28 Dec 2021

It’s simply inexplicable that murderers murder again when released on bond for murder…fucking idiots that did this should be personally sued

A report by Houston’s FOX26 claims over 150 people have been killed by suspects whom Democrat judges have released on bond in Harris County, Texas.

Moreover, FOX26 points out that a number of the suspects doing the killing were charged with “capital murder,” described as “the most egregious offense in the criminal code.”

They note “no fewer than 113 defendants charged with capital murder have been inexplicably granted bond and released back onto our streets pending trial.”

KHOU-11 found the same trend when they looked at “407 capital murder charges filed in Harris County between September 2016 and September 2021.” They discovered that “records show 113 or 28 percent” of those suspects were released on bond.

An example of the violence perpetrated by the freed suspects was seen in the slaying of 71-year-old Martha Medina. She “was robbed of her purse, then run over and killed in September outside a McDonald’s in northeast Houston.”

The suspect in the killing is Andrew Rehernard Williams. He was “out on the street after making bond on a previous capital murder charge.”

Houston Police Sergeant Larry Gibson expressed concern over the bond release for the suspects, saying, “It’s very concerning, it’s concerning for everybody involved…Guys out on capital murder bonds, they just don’t have the fear. So they’re like, ‘I’m out on this. If I get caught, well, I’m already on bond for murder, what do I have to lose?'”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/12/28/report-150-killed-by-suspects-on-bond-in-harris-county-tx/

Poll Shows Black Americans Reject Transgender Claim by 10 to One

Neil Munro28 Dec 2021

(Blacks are not afraid of criticism from others, whites are stupid)

Nine out of ten black Americans reject the claim there are more “genders” than the two male and female sexes, according to a December 20-21 poll by Rasmussen Reports.

Just three of the roughly 150 blacks interviewed “strongly” agreed that there are more “genders” than female and male. But roughly 102 black respondents strongly denied that claim — which is a core element of the transgender ideology.

Overall, only eight percent of the roughly 150 black Americans in the poll they disagreed “strongly” or “somewhat” with the claim “there are [only] two genders, male and female.”

But 82 percent of black respondents agreed with the two-sex option — 14 percent somewhat, and 68 percent strongly.

The respondents — nearly all of whom vote Democrat — were sharply different from the pro-transgender views of progressives who direct much of the party’s policies. Overall, 31 percent of Democrats embraced the claim that there are multiple genders — although 61 percent of Democrats disagreed with that transgender claim.

This intra-party split is a problem for top Democrats because they have rallied behind the transgender claim amid growing public opposition. Some of that growing opposition is caused by sports scandals where men — who claim they are transgender — are able to push women athletes off of the prize podiums while their womens’ parents and friends watch.

Republican voters overwhelmingly oppose the transgender ideology, as do swing-voting independents, according to the Rasmussen poll. The poll showed that 60 percent of independents strongly agree people are either male or female, while just 7 percent strongly disagree.

Many black voters — and Latinos — also oppose the federal economic policy of importing migrant workers, consumers, and renters.

So far, few GOP leaders have endorsed the rising opposition to the transgender claimor used it to win more black voters from the Democratic Party.

But some with mainstream views are joining the GOP. On December 27, the New York Times profiled Winsome Sears, Virginia’s lieutenant governor-elect, who was elected in November alongside the incoming GOP governor Glenn Youngkin:

Republicans, she said, rarely even tried to sever the old ties between Black voters and the Democratic Party. This is partly why she decided to run this year.

“I just took a look at the field, and said, ‘My God, we’re gonna lose again,’” she said. “Nobody was going to reach out to the various communities that needed to be heard from: women, immigrants, you know, Latinos, Asians, Blacks, etc.”

She stood to the right of much of the field and was arguably the furthest right of the three Republicans nominated for statewide office. She favors strict limits on abortion, calling Democratic abortion policies “wicked”; she is an advocate of vouchers to help students pay for private school tuition and of tighter restrictions on voting; and she insists that gun control laws do not deter crime — gun ownership does.

In polls, the “strongly’ numbers are far more useful to campaign strategists than the “somewhat” numbers, but they are better guides to the voters’ final choices amid the chaos and complexity of political campaigns.

https://www.breitbart.com/health/2021/12/28/poll-shows-black-americans-reject-transgender-claim-by-10-to-1/

Bernie Sanders: ‘Congress Must Demand the Mass Production’ of N95 Masks

Paul Bois27 Dec 2021

We have the stupidest senators and congressmen of all time, more masks are always the answer! And Bernie is the biggest fraud of all time a useless, money launderer

Even though President Joe Biden admitted “no federal solution” will halt the coronavirus, socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has called upon Congress to order the mass production of N95 masks.

In a tweet on Sunday, Bernie Sanders said the “rapidly spreading omicron” variant posed a threat so great that only N95 masks could save people.

“As we face the rapidly spreading omicron variant, we should remember that not all face masks are created equal,” he tweeted. “Congress must demand the mass production and distribution of N-95 masks, the most effective way to stop the spread of the Covid virus.”

In another tweet on Sunday, Bernie used the pandemic to plug Medicare for All.

“This pandemic makes it clear how dysfunctional our healthcare system is. Not only do we pay the highest prices in the world, we can’t even produce the number of doctors and nurses that we desperately need,” he said. “Let us not give up the struggle for Medicare for All.”

Bernie Sanders made his passionate plea for Congress to legislate the mass production of N95 masks just one day prior to President Joe Biden telling governors on a video call that “no federal solution” will stop the pandemic. The president said this just before taking off for his beach vacation.

“Thank you very much. Look, there is no federal solution,” Biden said. “This gets solved at a state level.”

Contrast the president’s statement on Monday to his previous vow to “shut down the virus” in 2020.

Despite vaccines and increased therapeutics, the coronavirus death toll under President Biden has surpassed the death toll under President Trump, who had limited therapeutics and no vaccine. The Washington Post even went as far to refer to the coronavirus as “Biden’s pandemic.”

“President Biden’s competent, ‘adult in the room’ approach to the pandemic has now killed nearly as many Americans as President Donald Trump’s pandemic infantilism,” noted Richard Morgan in early December.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/12/27/bernie-sanders-congress-must-demand-mass-production-n95-masks/

Poll: 75% of Americans Agree There Are Only Two Genders

Hannah Bleau27 Dec 2021

Thats pretty sad and disgusting only 75% believe in two genders! So 25% are programmed or activists

The vast majority of Americans agree that there are only two genders — that an individual is either biologically female or biologically male, a Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday found.

The survey bluntly asked, “Do you agree or disagree with this statement: There are two genders, male and female.”

Overall, 75 percent either strongly or somewhat agree that there are only two genders, male and female. Another 18 percent said they either somewhat or strongly disagree, and seven percent remain unsure. Notably, a majority across the board — Republicans (92 percent), Democrats (61 percent), and independents (73 percent) — agree that male and female are the only two genders.

However, the survey took the question a step further and asked about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has been accused by radical transgender activists of engaging in “hate speech” for asserting that there are only two biological sexes — male and female.

“Do you agree with J.K. Rowling, or is it ‘hate speech’ to say there are only two genders?” the survey asked.

Overall, 58 percent said they agree with Rowling, while 17 percent said they consider it to be “hate speech.” While a majority of Republicans, 78 percent, and independents, 60 percent, agree with Rowling, Democrats are more split; a plurality, 41 percent, agree with Rowling. Thirty percent, however, remain unsure, while 29 percent consider it hate speech.

The survey also found that most Americans, 69 percent, do not believe that schools and teachers should be “allowed to counsel students on their sexual and gender identities without parental knowledge or consent.”

The survey, taken December 21-22, 2021, among 1,000 U.S. adults, has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.

It comes as transgender activists attempt to muddy the waters, denying the reality of biological sex and thereby essentially denying the reality of biological women by asserting that biological men, too, can be females — an emerging issue in women’s sports.

Nevertheless, the radical left continues to promote the radical ideology. In October, for example, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went full woke, using the phrase “2SLGBTQQIA+ people” (two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual) in a social media post, generating significant mockery:

Justin Trudeau

@JustinTrudeau

Officiel du gouvernement - Canada

People across the country are lighting candles to honour Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people who are missing or have been murdered. We must continue to work together, raise awareness, and advocate to end this ongoing national tragedy. #SistersInSpirit

I feel sorry for Canadians, almost more than i feel sorry for the US, our leaders are retarded

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/12/27/poll-75-americans-agree-only-two-genders/

>>15266724

Same thing I thought

Colin Kaepernick’s Acquisition Company Loses Business Deal, Casting Doubt on Former Player’s Market Value

Warner Todd Huston27 Dec 2021

Making a marxist a brand is not a good idea! They are finally getting it

Former NFL player Colin Kaepernick’s scotched multimillion-dollar business deal is raising doubts about his ability to sell his name, according to the company who parted ways with the protest leader.

Kaepernick, who hasn’t played football since the end of the 2016 season which capped his year-long protest against the United States during the playing of the national anthem, has spent the last five years banking millions of dollars partnering with companies by simply lending his name to their causes and products. But this practice may be delivering diminished returns after financial services corporation, The Change Company, canceled its deal with the former player because he refused to engage in interviews to promote the collaboration, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Kaepernick has made millions with his SPAC group by partnering with companies that only want to use his name to enhance their standing in the business world. An SPCA, or a special-purpose acquisition company, is an operation that has no specific product except a celebrity name. The purpose of the SPAC is to merge with a company that has an actual service or product line so that the celebrity name can help grow the business with which the SPAC merges. In this age of social justice activism, SPACs have proliferated at an accelerated rate as celebrities and athletes have sold their names for stacks of cash to businesses that then go out and use the celebrity as a sales tool.

But according to the Journal, Kaepernick refused to go through with interviews with several print media outlets nor would he do an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America so he could promote the business deal.

Kaepernick’s SPAC could have made as much as $80 million if the deal with The Change Company had been consummated.

The whole mess spurred Change Company CEO Steve Sugarman to wonder if Kaepernick’s name was worth spending millions to acquire.

“There is a real question about whether there is [a] halo effect that translates into investor dollars,” Sugarman wrote in an email. “We need to question that assumption.”

The question of whether or not there is mounting Kaepernick fatigue out there is an interesting one. As each year passes, the former player becomes more radical in his proclamations about American culture. In November, for instance, he called the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhosue a “validation of the terrorist acts of a white supremacist.” That same month, he claimed that playing for the NFL was somehow “just like” slavery. And in his recent TV miniseries, he suggested that all whites are racists who seek to keep black men down.

Meanwhile, as Kaepernick continues his near daily onslaught against the U.S.A. and accuses our country of racism and slavery, he has been studiously silent on the very real racism and slavery going on in China, a country where many of the products he sells for Nike are manufactured.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/12/27/colin-kaepernicks-acquisition-company-loses-business-deal-casting-doubt-former-players-market-value/

California is a neo-Confederate state with a “sick fixation” on ethnicity and race, historian and professor Victor Davis Hansonsaid in an interview with Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow.

California’s hemorrhaging of residents to states with more freedom and prosperity is exacerbating the state’s social stratification in terms of wealth, Hanson stated. He said the state’s volume of illegal aliens further amplifies the wealth divide.

“The middle class has left,” he said. “About ten million people left California in the last 40 years, and we know where they went. They went to Nevada, Idaho, Texas, Florida, Tennessee. We have half of all the undocumented illegal aliens in the country. Twenty-seven percent of Californians were not born in United States, whether they’re legally [here], or residents, or citizens.”

Hanson characterized California’s polarization based on wealth as resembling the Antebellum South’s racial segregation.

“That is the nexus: great wealth, great poverty. But the way I look at it is — they would not want to hear this — but just think of the old Confederacy or the Antebellum South — one party, Democratic — this is a one-party state. They had Big Cotton. We have Big Tech. Big Tech runs the whole state, just like Big Cotton [ran the Antebellum South].”

He continued, “The Old South, we had the plantationist class. [Today], these are the people that live in Woodside or Berkeley Hills or Palo Alto, then you had everybody else: black slaves, and you had the poor, what they called ‘white trash.'” There was no middle class. When I go to Stanford, I see all these wealthy kids there, and then I go along El Camino, everybody’s living in a trailer.”

“I go to the Apple or Google or Facebook campuses, and people are living in the streets that work there,” he added.

Contemporary racial agitation pushed by Big Tech’s management and the broader left is reminiscent of racial segregation in the Old South, Hanson said. He noted how today’s left-wing fetishization and commodification of imaginary victimhood based on ethnicity and race resemble the focus on racial designations within the Confederate States of America.

He remarked, “The other thing about the Old Confederacy, they were obsessed with race, and it was the one-drop rule. Everybody was trying to figure out, when a baby was born, what the precise percentages [were], and then they were a ranked society. When I get my email in the morning, it’s all about one thing: race — race, race, race, race, race. I turn on the television: ‘white privilege.'”

“Can Elizabeth Warren pass as a minority? Can Ward Churchill pass? Rachel Dolezal? It’s like African Americans in the South trying to pass as white people.”

He concluded, “It’s just a sick fixation on our superficial appearance. It’s a very Confederate society, California.It’s medieval, feudal. There is no middle class anymore.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/12/27/exclusive-victor-davis-hanson-california-is-a-confederate-society-with-sick-fixation-on-race/

X Strategies LLC

@XStrategiesLLC

The Democrats spent Christmas Day doxxing the father who got Biden to say “Let’s Go Brandon, I agree.”

It is not Jared Schmeck’s fault that the occupant of the Oval Office is a dementia ridden fool.

We stand with #JaredSchmeck & will provide him support if they “cancel” him.

10:41 AM · Dec 26, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

https://twitter.com/XStrategiesLLC/status/1475129724112359430?s=20

Rand Paul’s 2021 ‘Festivus Report’ Uncovers $52 Billion Of Government Waste

Ian HaworthDec 22, 2021

He forgot the trillions on BBB

On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) released his 2021 “Festivus” Report, which detailed a total of $52,598,515,585 in government waste.

Paul is chairman of the Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight (ETSO) Subcommittee for the Homeland Security and is on the Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC).

This marks Dr. Paul’s and the subcommittee’s seventh edition of the Festivus Report, which the Senator described as a way to “alert the American people to how their federal government uses their hard-earned money.”

Areas of spending are broken down into various sections, including COVID-related spending, Afghanistan, and miscellaneous expenditure. Examples include $11.3 million spent by the USAID on telling the people of Vietnam “to stop burning their trash,” Congress giving the Wilson Center — which “throws swanky parties for members of congress” — $14 million, and over $465,000 granted by the NIH to Reed College of Portland, Oregon, to “create a token-based economy where pigeons are taught to gamble with slot machines.”

“Happy Festivus! How can 2021 already be coming to a close? What a year it’s been,” the report begins. “And, it’s safe to say that some big changes have occurred since last year’s Festivus Report. Mask mandates, travel restrictions and lock-downs were lifted across many parts of the country. President Biden was inaugurated. Inflation has skyrocketed. The Kardashians finally ended their TV show after 14 years. ‘Dad bod’ was officially added to Webster’s Dictionary. And how about the Federal government? Well, unsurprisingly, it managed to keep spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need.”

“It seems like just yesterday the national debt was $20 trillion, but now the U.S. has managed to breeze past $28 trillion, spending and wasting more than we ever have,” Sen. Paul told The Daily Wire. “While some in Washington insist on recklessly spending your taxpayer dollars, I will continue to shed light on some of the most egregious examples of government waste, and fight against excessive federal spending.”

Based on the reported government waste of $52,598,515,585, Sen. Paul pointed out that, with an average taxpayer bill of $15,332, the federal government “wasted the taxes of 3,430,636 people.”

“That is roughly the population of Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; or 50.74 times the size of Senator Paul’s hometown of Bowling Green, KY,” the report noted.

The report stated that $40,316,270,000 (and counting) was wasted on COVID-19, including $4.29 billion in “bad loans out of the Paycheck Protection Program,” as much as $36 billion in “wasted unemployment insurance payments,” and $1.27 million in “COVID relief funds for students who actually weren’t enrolled” in one Baltimore school.

Miscellaneous wastage amounting to more than $8 billion included $250 million to “build border walls in the Middle East and North Africa,” $179 million for the State Department to “fund green energy programs in Africa,” and $200,000 to teach “France about U.S. culture.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/rand-pauls-2021-festivus-report-uncovers-52-billion-of-government-waste

FBI And Other Agencies Paid Informants $548 Million In Recent Years With Many Committing Authorized Crimes

Adam Andrzejewski07:59am EST

Court Blocks Release Of Jan. 6 Documents After Trump Appeal

A D.C. appeals court temporarily barred the federal government on Thursday from releasing a trove of Trump-era documents to a House committee investigating the Capitol riot, as former President Donald Trump fights to keep the records secret.

Federal agencies paid out at least $548 million to informants working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), in recent years, according to government audits.

A few informants became millionaires, with some Amtrak and “parcel” delivery workers making nearly $1 million or more.

Many informants were authorized to commit “crimes” with the permission of their federal handlers. In a four-year period, there were 22,800 crime authorizations (2011-2014).

The FBI paid approximately $294 million (FY2012-2018), the DEA paid at least $237 million (FY2011-2015), and ATF paid approximately $17.2 million total (FY2012-2015) to informants.

Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com compiled this information by reviewing federal reports. While some of the data is several-years old; it’s apparently the most recent available.

The FBI spent an average of $42 million a year on confidential human sources between fiscal years 2012 and 2018. “Long term” informants comprised 20 percent of its intelligence relationships (source: DOJ IG 2019 report).

The ATF employed 1,855 informants who were paid $4.3 million annually (FY2012-2015). Therefore, on average, each informant made $2,318 for the year. (source: DOJ IG report 2017).

DEA Employed 18,000 Informants, Some Earning Up To $1 Million

Each year, thousands of confidential human sources are on the payroll.

“One federal agency, the DEA, had over 18,000 active confidential sources assigned to its domestic offices, with over 9,000 of those sources receiving approximately $237 million in payments for information or services they provided to the DEA” (between Oct. 1, 2010 and Sept. 30, 2015, source: 2016 DOJ IG report).

High-earning informants included an “airline employee who received more than $600,000 in less than four-years, and a parcel employee who received over $1 million in five-years.” The Inspector General at Justice who scrutinized DEA informants reported the findings.

“During this audit, we found that, between FYs 2011 and 2015, the DEA actually used at least 33 Amtrak employees and eight TSA employees as sources, paying the Amtrak employees over $1.5 million and the TSA employees over $94,000.”

One Amtrak employee was paid $962,615 between 2010 and 2015 to be a confidential source, which the IG called “a substantial waste of government funds.” The information provided “could have been obtained by DEA at no cost through a joint task force with the Amtrak Police.”

While certain informants were becoming federally-minted millionaires, the average DEA informant made much less – approximately $26,333 over a recent five-year period.

And it appears there may be corruption, in addition to crime, in the system. In 2017, during a Congressional Oversight Committee hearing on confidential informants, then-Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) noted:

“a court released the testimony of one confidential informant in Atlanta who received $212,000 from the DEA from 2011 to 2013. She testified she wasn’t sure why she was paid. That was her testimony. She also testified to a sexual relationship with the DEA group supervisor, who allegedly convinced the subordinates to falsify reports to justify the payments. That case is currently under review by the inspector general.”

Authorizing “Crimes” by Informants— The DOJ Guidelines

Federal informants often commit crimes, and often do it with the permission of their federal handlers, according to a 2015 audit by the General Accountability Office (GAO). In fact, the GAO reports:

“Since 1980, the Guidelines have permitted agencies to authorize informants to engage in activities that would otherwise constitute crimes under federal, state, or local law if someone without such authorization engaged in these same activities. For example, in the appropriate circumstance, an agency could authorize an informant to purchase illegal drugs from someone who is the target of a drug-trafficking investigation. Such conduct is termed “otherwise illegal activity.”

Here are two examples of where the FBI has employed confidential human sources in controversial roles:…

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/11/18/fbi-and-other-agencies-paid-informants-548-million-in-recent-years-with-many-committing-authorized-crimes/?sh=402cd39f4dd1

Biden Signs Defense Bill that Backs 2.7% Pay Raise for Troops

President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law the sweeping annual defense policy bill that supports a 2.7% base pay raise for service members in 2022, a slight decrease from the 3% raise troops got this year.

The $768 billion National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, also changes the way the military justice system will prosecute sexual assault and related crimes, launches an independent commission to review the 20-year war in Afghanistan, allows troops to take 12 weeks of parental leave and specifies that service members discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine can get no less than a general discharge under honorable conditions.

"There's a lot to be proud of in this bill," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a statement Monday hailing the bill being signed into law for the 61st straight year.

"The FY22 NDAA supports a well-deserved pay raise for our service members, diversity and inclusion initiatives across our military, and the Department of Defense's role in the Biden-Harris Administration's whole-of-government response to the climate crisis," Smith continued. "Ultimately, this year's NDAA focuses on what makes our country strong: our economy, diversity, innovation, allies and partners, democratic values, and our troops."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/12/27/biden-signs-defense-bill-backs-27-pay-raise-troops.html

US Military Strikes Fell 54% in Biden's First Year Compared to Trump's Last

President Joe Biden's decision to end the US war in Afghanistan ended in disaster: a drone strike that killed 10 innocent civilians, including children. But a new report finds that such airstrikes, overall, have dramatically fallen in Biden's first year.

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"The biggest take-home is that Biden has significantly decreased US military action across the globe," the monitoring group Airwars said in the report released Wednesday. That, in turn, has resulted in "far lower numbers of civilians allegedly killed by the US strikes."

The US military has, overall, carried out 439 aerial attacks in 2021, a 54% drop from the year before under former President Donald Trump, Airwars data showed.

The group said the biggest drop came in Yemen, where there were no officially declared strikes in 2021, compared to 18 in 2020. Airstrikes also fell by 88% in Somalia, where the US has for years fought an al-Qaeda linked insurgency, as well as 71% in Iraq and Syria, reflecting the military defeat of the Islamic State.

The vast majority of military strikes under Biden happened in Afghanistan before US forces left in August. Excluding those attacks, the US declared just 67 airstrikes, Airwars said, citing official US military data.

The caveat is that this is official data — it does not include, for example, clandestine CIA strikes. But it does reflect what has been reported as a broad reconsideration of US military actions around the world.

A month into Biden's presidency, Insider reported that there had been no apparent drone strikes or otherwise high-profile military actions, a stark contrast from his predecessor, who began his administration with a botched raid in Yemen that killed an 8-year-old US citizen.

The New York Times later revealed that the White House had curtailed drone strikes as part of a broad policy review.

Drones had been one of the most controversial aspects of former President Barack Obama's administration, killing scores of civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of the US war on the Taliban. Before leaving office, Obama imposed new restrictions on when and where such strikes could be carried out. He also signed an executive order requiring civilian deaths to be reported to Congress, a move that Trump reversed.

Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International's director of security with human rights, told Insider the reduction in airstrikes "is a very hopeful sign that the Biden administration is trying to reduce the catastrophic impact of war on civilians."

But she cautioned that it was too early to say whether it reflects a definitive change in policy. And, she said, we can't forget the past.

"We sadly saw a huge uptick in air strikes and civilian casualties under the Trump administration, and the US government can't just turn a blind eye to what happened," Eviatar said. "Part of moving forward will require looking back, learning from the past, and making amends."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/12/27/us-military-strikes-fell-54-bidens-first-year-compared-trumps-last.html

Ukraine Requires Women to Register for Military Conscription as Russia Threat Looms

That should strike fear in the Russians! Kek

KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine's Ministry of Defense has significantly expanded the pool of Ukrainian women who are required to register for possible military conscription in the event of a major war.

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According to an updated regulation that went into effect Friday, Dec. 17, women between 18 and 60 who are "fit for military service" and work in a broad range of professions are required to register with Ukraine's armed forces. In the event of a major war, this expanded reserve of women can be mobilized as part of the national reserve to serve in a broad range of military specialties.

"This is not about conscription after reaching some age, as it is for men. It is about conscription in the wartime. And considering more than 122,000 Russian troops are at our borders, the decision seems logical, timely, and sensible," said Oleksandra Ustinova, 36, a member of Ukraine's national parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.

"This sends a powerful signal to Moscow that Ukrainians are ready to resist," Ustinova told Coffee or Die Magazine. "Although we strive for introduction of the contract army, in current situation, the decision to educate as many people as possible to hold arms and to be ready to serve seems a good one."

Russia invaded Ukraine's eastern Donbas region in 2014, and the fighting is ongoing along a static, entrenched front line. A recent Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border has spurred concerns about a full-scale Russian re-invasion this winter. Despite the looming threat, Ukraine has not yet mobilized its operational reserves, which include some 430,000 combat veterans of the Donbas war.

Women in certain professions were already eligible for military conscription, according to earlier legislation. However, the recent revision of the law regulating Ukraine's military reserves dramatically expanded the number of professions that qualify for mandatory registration with the armed forces. Now women who are librarians, journalists, musicians, veterinarians, and psychologists among many other varied professions are required to register for possible military service.

"I believe that military service for women is a perfectly logical initiative, given Russia's constant aggression," said Natalka Barsuk, 46, an economist who lives in Kyiv and is now eligible for the draft.

"It is very good that women have started to be taken into account," said Liudmyla Bileka, a 31-year-old volunteer combat medic who, besides serving in the war zone, has helped train Ukrainian soldiers in combat first aid.

"I have a positive attitude – I registered myself voluntarily in 2014. The only issue is the education and training of these women," Bileka told Coffee or Die.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/12/27/ukraine-requires-women-register-military-conscription-russia-threat-looms.html

Navy Relieves Commander of Ohio Reserve Center for ‘Loss of Confidence’

Cmdr. Jennifer Reid, the officer in charge of the Navy Reserve Center in Toledo, Ohio, was relieved of command because of a loss of confidence.

Cmdr. Jennifer Reid, the officer in charge of the Navy Reserve Center in Toledo, Ohio, was relieved of command because of a loss of confidence. (LinkedIn)

21 Dec 2021

Stars and Stripes | By Frank Andrews

The officer in charge of the Navy Reserve Center in Toledo, Ohio, was relieved of command Monday due to a loss of confidence in her ability to perform her duties, according to statement from Navy Reserve Forces.

Cmdr. Jennifer Reid was relieved by Capt. Billy Franklin, the commander of the Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Reserve Component Command Great Lakes. A spokeswoman for the Navy Reserve Forces did not respond to an email from Stars and Stripes seeking further comment after business hours Monday in Ohio.

Cmdr. Lee Ann Singleton was assigned to replace Reid until a permanent replacement is identified, according to the statement. Reid will be reassigned within the Great Lakes command.

Navy Reserve Centers, formerly known as Navy Operational Support Centers, ensure Reserve sailors are ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. The centers provide training, equipment and other resources to help Reserve sailors and their families meet the challenges and obligations of military service, according to the statement.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/12/21/navy-relieves-commander-of-ohio-reserve-center-loss-of-confidence.html

New Reforms Target US Military's Missing Weapons Problem

The Department of Defense is overhauling how it keeps track of its guns and explosives, and Congress is requiring more accountability from the Pentagon – responses to an Associated Press investigation that showed lost or stolen military weapons were reaching America's streets.

The missing weaponry includes assault rifles, machine guns, handguns, armor-piercing grenades, artillery shells, mortars, grenade launchers and plastic explosives.

The Pentagon will now have to give lawmakers an annual report on weapons loss and security under the National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress approved this month and President Joe Biden is expected to sign. As AP's AWOL Weapons investigation showed, military officials weren't advising Congress even as guns and explosives continued to disappear.

To meet those reporting requirements, the military is modernizing how it accounts for its millions of firearms and mountains of explosives.

"Clearly the accountability on this issue was stopping at too low of a level," said U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colorado, a U.S. Army veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee who supported the reforms. With the new requirements, "if there are hundreds of missing weapons in that report, members of Congress are going to see it and they are going to be asked about it publicly and held accountable for it."

Pentagon officials have said that they can account for more than 99.9% of firearms, and take weapons security very seriously. Still, when AP published its first report on missing firearms in June, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he would consider a "systematic fix."

In response, the Army, the largest branch with the most firearms, took on a major overhaul of how units report missing, lost or stolen weapons. Paper records are giving way to a digital form, and a central logistics operations center is collecting and verifying serious incident reports that as with other armed services didn't always go all the way up the chain of command.

The new system uses an existing software system called Vantage to give commanders a real-time look at what is unaccounted for, Scott Forster, an operations research analyst at the Army, said in a briefing with AP.

Other changes will affect how the military responds to law enforcement investigations.

When a gun is recovered or sought during a criminal case, the Defense Department's Small Arms and Light Weapons Registry is supposed to determine the last known location or unit responsible. But the registry's information was inaccurate and responses to law enforcement weren't timely, according to internal Army documents obtained by the AP. (The Army runs the registry for the Pentagon.)

The Army is now developing an app that would search each service's own property record databases, according to Army spokesman Lt. Col. Brandon Kelley.

The new law also requires the Defense Secretary to report confirmed thefts or recovery of weapons to the National Crime Information Center, which the FBI runs. Military regulations had required the services and units to self-report losses; the onus will now be on the highest level of the Pentagon.

The other armed services also are implementing reforms…

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/12/21/new-reforms-target-us-militarys-missing-weapons-problem.html

At Least 15 Lawmakers Who Shape US Defense Policy Have Investments in Military Contractors

13 Dec 2021

At least 15 lawmakers who hold powerful positions on a pair of House and Senate committees that control US military policy have financial ties to prominent defense contractors that together were worth nearly $1 million in 2020, according to an Insider analysis of federal financial records.

And throughout 2021, both Democrats and Republicans serving on the congressional Armed Services committees have continued to invest in or cash out of the most important players in the military and defense industry.

Some of the world-renowned weapons makers and defense-technology developers peppered across the committee members' financial disclosures were Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Raytheon Technologies Corp., Honeywell, and General Electric. All are companies that also annually spend millions of dollars lobbying the federal government to prod elected officials, shape policy, and win lucrative government contracts.

Lawmakers with investments riding on defense contractors' well-being some worth upward of five figures include seasoned Capitol Hill veterans and Washington newcomers, Insider found when analyzing documents disclosing their personal financial holdings for 2020.

The tally is part of the exhaustive Conflicted Congress project, in which Insider reviewed nearly 9,000 financial-disclosure reports for every sitting lawmaker and their top-ranking staffers…

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/12/13/least-15-lawmakers-who-shape-us-defense-policy-have-investments-military-contractors.html

Can this nightmare be over yet, I want Trump back

Raheem J. Kassam@RaheemKassam

REPORT:U.S. Immigration Authorities Chartered Christmas Night Jets to Carry Illegal Migrants into Pennsylvania.

thenationalpulse.com

REPORT: U.S. Immigration Authorities Chartered Christmas Night Jets to Carry Illegal Migrants into…

1:06 PM · Dec 27, 2021·Twitter Web App

https://twitter.com/RaheemKassam/status/1475528511947522049?s=20

Patrick Howley

@HowleyReporter

Is Ghislaine still in possession of her blackmail tapes? Because world politics would currently suggest that she still has those tapes

8:10 PM · Dec 27, 2021·Twitter Web App

https://twitter.com/HowleyReporter/status/1475635311493279747?s=20

boonaroo

@boonaroo2

Now this is how to stir up a #ChristmasParty Raising hands

Quote Tweet

Patrick Howley@HowleyReporter · Dec 26

How did Israel convince many Americans that it's God's chosen country while Zionists push for ethnic genocide of the white race, the end of Western countries, abortion, war, and the continuation of Israeli agent Jeff Epstein's kiddie trafficking.

Now THAT is an effective PR team

10:21 PM · Dec 26, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

https://twitter.com/boonaroo2/status/1475305781436325896?s=20

Patrick Howley@HowleyReporter

As pure blood becomes more exclusive and rare, it would not surprise me at all to seethe government increase its hunting of Pureblood humans and children because we purebloods still have the life force they covet

Quote Tweet

Esmerelda Pinchbuns 🇺🇲Flag of Israel

@bellevue1970

· Dec 21

Replying to @HowleyReporter and @Beard_Vet

They will put the purebloods in camps- not as punishment, but to keep us caged- easier to farm our blood supply.

8:57 PM · Dec 26, 2021·Twitter Web App

https://twitter.com/HowleyReporter/status/1475284572921229319?s=20

Watch the video on link below

Patrick Howley@HowleyReporter

It's happening

Quote Tweet

Carmy t@Carmyt1T

· Dec 15

Doctors being kidnapped and drugged in Canada… stay alert.. share this for the man!!

EyesDown pointing backhand index Say What ????

https://twitter.com/HowleyReporter/status/1472727611943972868?s=20