PayPal bans account belonging to journalist Ian Miles Cheong

The online financial company PayPal has permanently banned journalist Ian Miles Cheong from using its services. Cheong, a writer for the Post Millennial, reported the ban on Twitter Tuesday, writing that he was not given a specific reason why his account was shut down.

"PayPal just informed me that they have permanently banned my account," Cheong wrote. "Without giving an explicit reason why, the supervisor was extremely rude and implied that it had everything to do with my politics."

In follow-up tweets, Cheong said PayPal would not tell him which specific rules his account violated.

"They gave me a lecture on how they can’t reveal which rule I broke and they mentioned how I was a journalist and how it’s the same as not revealing sources," Cheong wrote. "When I asked if it was about my politics, they implied that it was and how they 'remain neutral' on such things."

After some Twitter users accused him of lying about the ban, Cheong posted a screenshot of a message he received from PayPal, informing him that his account was "permanently limited" for allegedly violating the company's Acceptable Use Policy.

"After a review of your account activity, we've determined that you're in violation of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy. As a result, your account has been permanently limited and you won't be able to conduct any further business using PayPal," the notice said.

The message said that any funds he held in his PayPal account are frozen and will be held by PayPal for up to 180 days.

PayPal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company's Acceptable Use Policy prohibits transactions that relate to "the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory," as well as any sort of illegal transactions.

Following the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, PayPal took action against several accounts belonging to individuals alleged to have participated in the riot. At a virtual event hosted by Fortune magazine last year, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said that these individuals violated the company's "acceptable use policy," which means "they can't advocate violence, hatred, or racial intolerance."

Schulman said that navigating "the fine line between what is hatred and what is free speech and who do we allow to fundraise using PayPal or Venmo, and who don’t we …” is “one of the hardest things that we have to do.”

He also emphasized his commitment to enforcing that policy.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/paypal-bans-account-belonging-to-journalist-ian-miles-cheong

36-Year-Old Brazilian Reporter Collapses and Suffers Cardiac Arrest During Live TV Broadcast

A Brazilian TV reporter from Alterosa Alerta Sul de Minas was hospitalized after suffering a cardiac arrest on a live news broadcast on Monday. The incident happened one week after he took his booster shot.

Rafael Silva, 36-years-old and is the presenter of Jornal das 7, fainted and collapsed while covering a news story. He was quickly attended by the Mobile Emergency Care Service (Samu) and taken to the nearest hospital. According to the report, he suffered five cardiac arrests on the way to the hospital.

Silva has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Humanitas Hospital in Varginha since Monday. According to a report from a local news site, the journalist was extubated, is conscious, and started talking.

“He talked to his mother, his brother, even asked to go to the bathroom. His recovery is the best possible. We are very happy with this news,” Kadu Lopes said during the Alterosa Alerta show on Tuesday.

Last December 28, Silva went on Twitter and bragged about his booster shot and said he felt sorry for people who are not vaccinated.

Here’s the translation: “Long live the third dose. I’m sorry for the people who didn’t have this opportunity. Vaccines save lives.”

According to experts who are evaluating Silva’s sudden illness, the COVID-19 vaccine has nothing to do with his cardiac arrest. Their lame suspicion is that Silva has a genetic congenital heart disease that he was born with it and no one knows.

More from Metropoles (translated):

The presenter also commented on the fake news that ran on social networks about a possible reaction of the third dose of Covid. “Many people doing politics about vaccination said he had had this sudden illness because of the third dose. According to experts, it has already been discarded. The suspicion, according to the doctor who is attending him, is that Rafael has a congenital heart disease, the suspicion is that he was born with this heart problem, that no one knows and no one had identified. From now on, he is having all the service in the world,” he concluded.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/36-year-old-brazilian-reporter-collapses-suffers-cardiac-arrest-live-tv-broadcast-video/

Facebook Is Taking Over Local News the Way It Took Over Local Voting Offices

You’ve heard that journalism is dead. Conservative talk host Sean Hannity has been saying it for years. But now, the Left, led by Mark Zuckerberg, is plotting with activists to take over local newsrooms across America, similar to the way the Facebook founder took over elections offices to tip the 2020 election to Democrats. The multi-million-dollar program is called Report for America (RFA).

Local news is in trouble. This is largely due to social media tech platforms like Zuckerberg’s and smartphones changing the way we receive news. Ad revenues cratered for local papers. They had to adapt to new economic realities. Lay-offs ensued. Reporters grew weary of serving multiple masters, including editors, local readers, and tedious social media responsibilities, instead of focusing on the collecting and writing of news.

The Democrats made a play for the newsrooms in their “Build Back Better” bill by proposing tax credits and government funding to newspapers. It was a move suggested by the founders of Report for America.

But are Mark Zuckerberg and the U.S. government the answer? Would their influence make local news better — or beholden? We know the answer.

When Hannity declaims the death of journalism, he isn’t talking about a dearth of journalists; he’s saying that mainstream journalism is filled with Leftist activists who report stories from their point of view, with a lack of objectivity and hewn to a specific conclusion or outcome.

Unfairness in the treatment of a story, the stories that are selected vs. spiked, the lazy lack of follow-through, bent sources, and no curiosity about another side of a story are what Hannity’s talking about. Sometimes he alludes to something worse, a mendacious bending of the news to suit a political point of view. These are the kinds of reporters being churned out by the nation’s journalism schools — just the kind of people RFA is looking for.

Now, Big Tech is doubling down on it all by embedding its like-minded children in local papers to do to journalism what Big Tech is doing to free speech and what Zuckerberg did to elections.

Since 2018, Big Tech, specifically the Facebook founder and others he’s brought along with him, has been paying for newsrooms to hire green reporters in a plan to seed America’s small-town papers with “volunteer” “corps members” doing “service” work to write “underreported” stories. You know, like the “volunteers” in Bill Clinton’s national service program, and Teach for America, and the food corps food police program in Portland, Ore. schools.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2022/01/05/facebook-is-taking-over-local-news-the-way-it-took-over-local-voting-offices-n1545284

Georgia Governor Unveils Push to Allow Concealed Carry Without Permit

Georgia’s governor, battling primary challengers, on Wednesday said he’d push to would allow Georgians to conceal carry firearms without a permit.

Gov. Brian Kemp announced the effort at a gun store near Atlanta alongside state lawmakers and gun owners.

“In the face of rising violent crime across the country, law abiding citizens should have their constitutional rights protected, not undermined,” Kemp, a Republican, said. “And while this position has recently become popular for others as we enter the campaign season, my position has remained the same. I believe the United States constitution grants the citizens of our state the right to carry a firearm without state government approval.”

Kemp referenced multiple bills, including some already introduced, that would make so-called constitutional carry legal and said he’d throw his weight behind them and work together with Republican lawmakers and groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) to “perfect” the proposals.

Kemp is facing multiple primary challengers, including former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), as he seeks a second term.

Perdue claimed credit for Kemp’s constitutional carry push, writing on social media this week that the governor was “answering my call.”

“But real leaders lead from the start—and it’s time Georgia had a Governor who shows principled leadership when it matters most. That’s exactly what I’ll deliver on day one,” Perdue said.

The campaign of Stacey Abrams, a major Democrat gubernatorial candidate, also panned Kemp.

“The same guy who pointed a gun at a teenager on TV now panders with reckless proposals threatening Georgia lives. As her opponents run to dangerous extremes and fight desperately to salvage their political careers, @staceyabrams is fighting for Georgians and their safety,” Lauren Groh-Wargo, Abrams’s campaign manager, wrote on Twitter.

She was referring to Kemp’s wielding firearms during ads that aired previously.

Kemp campaigned in 2018 on constitutional carry but hasn’t devoted much time to the issue before now.

Kemp touted his accomplishments when asked about the delay and indicated legislative support may not have been present earlier in his term.

Republicans have controlled both state chambers throughout the term, though lawmakers have not yet passed any of the bills in question.

Col. Willis Lee, vice president of the NRA, said Georgia should become the 22nd state to enact constitutional carry.

“The Second Amendment is most important in the face of leftist policies, foisted by leftist politicians and judges. And as long as there are anti-American anti-gun zealots who try to take our civil rights, NRA members will stand and fight this year next year and into the future,” he said.

https://www.ntd.com/georgia-governor-unveils-push-to-allow-concealed-carry-without-permit_723267.html

Northeastern NC Drug Trafficking Organization Leader Sentenced to 25 Years

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/northeastern-nc-drug-trafficking-organization-leader-sentenced-25-years

Laurel Man Pleads Guilty to Enticement of a Minor

The Defendant Possessed Videos of the Sexual Abuse of an Infant and Admitted to Engaging in Sexual Relations with Two Minor Victims

Operator of Illegal Pharmacy Pleads Guilty

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndia/pr/operator-illegal-pharmacy-pleads-guilty

California Man Admits Role in $50 Million Wire and Securities Fraud Scheme

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/california-man-admits-role-50-million-wire-and-securities-fraud-scheme

Maxwell’s defense team push for new trial after juror interviews

Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorneys appear to have requested a new trial for the convicted sex predator after a juror revealed in a number of recent interviews that he was the victim of childhood sexual abuse.

In a redacted letter to Manhattan federal court Judge Alison Nathan, defense attorneys said the juror’s interviews were an “issue of pressing importance” because he told a reporter that sharing his history of sexual abuse helped convince the panel to convict Maxwell.

Portions of the letter are redacted, with the defense appearing to say the juror’s disclosure “presents incontrovertible grounds for a new trial.”

“Should the defense prevail on this motion—and we believe the law and facts are clearly on our side—it would render all other post-trial motions moot. Ms. Maxwell should not have to expend precious time and resources briefing other motions when this motion can and should be dispositive,” they added.

During jury selection, some 230 prospective jurors were given questionnaires, which included a question on whether they or anyone in their families had been the victim of sexual abuse.

The juror who spoke to the media, Scotty David, told Reuters that he “flew through” the questionnaire and cannot remember being asked about personal experiences with sexual abuse. He could only say he would have answered honestly.

Earlier Wednesday, prosecutors in the case requested Nathan to conduct an inquiry and schedule a hearing about the juror’s responses.

The four federal prosecutors who tried the case requested Judge Alison Nathan take the extra measures in light of the interviews.

“The Government believes the court should conduct an inquiry. The Government proposes that the Court schedule a hearing in approximately one month, along with an appropriate schedule for pre-hearing briefing regarding the applicable law and the scope of the hearing,” they wrote.

They added that if Nathan does decide to hold a hearing, she should inform the juror and ask him if he would like legal counsel appointed for it.

The juror, identified by his first and middle names, Scotty David, told British newspaper the Independent that he raised his past sexual abuse during jury deliberations as the panel discussed whether to convict Maxwell.

“I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the color of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video,” he told the newspaper. “But I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together.”

He added in an interview with Reuters that him sharing his experience helped convince other panelists to convict Maxwell.

“When I shared that, they were able to sort of come around on, they were able to come around on the memory aspect of the sexual abuse,” he told the news agency.

Maxwell was convicted on five of six counts against her after a month-long trial in Manhattan federal court. She faces up to 65 years in prison at her sentencing.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/05/ghislaine-maxwell-prosecutors-want-inquiry-after-juror-claims-sex-abuse-past-swayed-panel/

Mistrial with prejudice - she walks

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I made this claim a few weeks ago, looking more likely

exposes the corrupt judicial system to the world