CNN reporter says truckers protesting COVID mandates are “wrapped in this sort of notion, of the guise of freedom, you know, whatever that means to these individuals…"
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1493360834986364934
Maryland Nuclear Engineer Pleads Guilty to Espionage-Related Offense
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/maryland-nuclear-engineer-pleads-guilty-espionage-related-offense
Texas Attorney General Sues Facebook for ‘Billions’ of Violations
Texas Attorney General Paxton has sued Facebook (now known as Meta) for capturing and using the biometric data of millions of Texans without properly obtaining their informed consent to do so, in violation of Texas law.
Paxton alleges Facebook has been storing millions of biometric identifiers (defined by statute as “a retina or iris scan, fingerprint, voiceprint, or record of hand or face geometry”) contained in photos and videos uploaded by friends and family who used the social media app. By this illegal activity, Facebook exploited the personal information of users and non-users alike to grow its empire and reap historic windfall profits. The company repeatedly captured biometric identifiers without consent billions of times, in knowing violation of Texas’ Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
“Facebook will no longer take advantage of people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of one’s safety and well-being,” Attorney General Paxton said. “This is yet another example of Big Tech’s deceitful business practices and it must stop. I will continue to fight for Texans’ privacy and security.”
https://breaking911.com/texas-attorney-general-sues-facebook-for-billions-of-violations/
29 pages
https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/child-support/State%20of%20Texas%20v.%20Meta%20Platforms%20Inc..pdf
https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/1493217733474983941
Pfizer Trial Whistleblower Presses Forward With Lawsuit Without US Government’s Help
A former clinical trial overseer for a contractor holding trials of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is pressing forward with a lawsuit against Pfizer and her former company despite the U.S. government declining to side with her.
Brook Jackson was fired by the contractor, Ventavia Research Group, in 2020. She came forward as a whistleblower in 2021.
Jackson filed a False Claims Act suit against Pfizer, Ventavia, and another company involved in the trial, ICON. It has been under seal for over a year, but is now public after the U.S. Department of Justice declined to intervene on behalf of Jackson.
Government lawyers did not explain the choice not to intervene and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which investigates alleged clinical trial fraud, did not respond to a request for comment.
The choice, though, has not deterred the whistleblower.
“We’re going to pursue the case without the help of the government,” Jackson told The Epoch Times.
She said she wasn’t surprised but felt “total disappointment” when, after over a year of putting off a decision, the government declined to intervene.
The odds of success aren’t good but “it’s just a chance I have to take,” Jackson said. “I just feel like somebody has to be held accountable.”
Jackson set off a firestorm when the British Medical Journal in November 2021 published a piece, based on documents, recordings, and other materials from Jackson, that outlined repeated failures by Ventavia to properly run sites for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine trial before it received emergency clearance from U.S. drug regulators.
While the article did not include any of the materials, many were filed with the court and obtained by The Epoch Times, including emails that detail problems observed not just by Jackson, but other Ventavia workers.
For instance, Lovica Downs wrote on Sept. 18, 2020, to Jackson and another employee that she observed boxes containing patient information left on the counter “full[y] exposed to anyone that entered the room could see.”
Other missives described other problems. Marnie Fisher, Ventavia’s director of operations at the time, said on Sept. 21, 2020, that an investigation found multiple sites had left documents exposed, including a schedule with patient names on it; adverse events either “not being reported correctly or at all”; the vaccine and placebo “not being kept locked” in “disorganized” rooms; and informed consent errors.
The documents show that Ventavia employees were aware of serious problems arising during the trial, including vaccine administrators who who were either described as having “no training” and “very little oversight” or lacking medical certifications or background. A Pfizer official was copied on, and answered some, of the emails.
https://www.ntd.com/pfizer-trial-whistleblower-presses-forward-with-lawsuit-without-us-governments-help_740039.html
81 page lawsuit
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21206071-brook-jackson-lawsuit
Ex-DNI Ratcliffe expects ‘more indictments’ in Durham’s Russiagate probe
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Monday that he expects to see “quite a few more indictments” come out of special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the FBI probe of claims that former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.
Ratcliffe also revealed that he’d seen intelligence that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign “was creating a plan to vilify Donald Trump [and] to falsely accuse him of ties to Russia,” and further alleged that the intelligence community, the FBI — as well as then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden — were all briefed on the matter.
“[Then-Attorney General] Bill Barr, John Durham, and I, all looking at this intelligence, agreed there was not a proper predicate to open a criminal investigation into the Trump campaign, yet that happened,” Ratcliffe said.
“So, those are the issues that John Durham is looking at, and I think there’ll be many more — I would expect there to be quite a few more indictments because of that. There was not a proper predicate to begin that investigation. John Durham has said that publicly already.”
Also Monday, Fox News reported that Durham’s investigation has “accelerated,” with more people “cooperating” and testifying before a grand jury than previously revealed.
A source familiar with the probe told Fox there’s been “much more activity” behind the scenes “than has been visible to the public,” adding: “Durham does this right and keeps it a secret.”
Ratcliffe’s comments came during an appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” in the wake of Durham’s blockbuster Friday court filing.
That document alleged Clinton’s campaign paid an Internet company to extract data from servers at Trump Tower and the White House to try to tie Trump president to a Russian bank.
Ratcliffe declined to say who he expected to wind up in the dock but recounted a discussion he had with Durham in the fall of 2020, around the time Ratcliffe ordered the declassification of documents related to the FBI probe in the fall of 2020.
“We talked about [then-CIA Director] John Brennan’s notes, talked about, you know, Hillary Clinton’s campaign advisers,” Ratcliffe recalled. “Obviously the pleadings talk about Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyers, now you’re talking about consultants.”
Among the documents Ratcliffe released were handwritten notes by then-CIA Director John Brennan, who briefed President Barack Obama of “alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016 of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.”
“He [Brennan] briefed President Obama and Vice President Biden and other members of the national security team about this specific intelligence, that John Durham now has, about a Hillary Clinton plan to falsely accuse and vilify Donald Trump with a scandal, and the discussion around that and whether or not it was good intelligence,” Ratcliffe said. “So everything that happened after that … is one of the reasons that John Durham is investigating.
https://nypost.com/2022/02/14/ratcliffe-expects-a-few-more-indictments-in-durham-probe/
NSW nurses defy strike ban and walk off the job
Thousands of nurses and midwives are defying a strike ban to walk off the job this morning in New South Wales, with fears of resulting chaos in the state's health system.
The staggered strikes will include workers from more than 150 public hospitals across the state.
Nurses are calling for better pay and improved staffing conditions, with the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association saying the pandemic had taken the already-stretched sector to breakout point.
However, talks between the union and Health Minister Brad Hazzard failed to reach an agreement yesterday.
The Industrial Relations Commission last night threatened the union with fines if it went ahead with its first strike for more than a decade.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told 2GB's Ben Fordham it was "disappointing" nurses decided to go ahead with their strike action, in defiance of a decision from the industrial watchdog.
But the union says it is determined for thousands of nurses and midwives to gather in Sydney today and march towards State Parliament at 10am to have their voices heard.
Despite concerns about disruptions to hospitals, the union has said life-preserving services will be maintained today.
NSW Nurses and Midwives Association member organiser Mark Murphy said workers were "beyond breaking point".
"What we're hoping for today is for the NSW government to listen to our claims for safer patient care through nurse-to-patient and midwife-to-patient ratios, to commit to a pay rise greater than 2.5 per cent, and to abandon any plans they have to change the current workers' compensation legislation," he told Today.
Mr Murphy said currently, in order to claim COVID-19 compensation, nurses and midwives did not have to prove they contracted the virus in the workplace.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/nsw-nurses-strike-walk-off-set-for-tuesday-despite-strike-ban/e03340ee-d7bc-4f3d-bc5e-2895d3c71ab6
Ohio mayor quits after going viral for saying ice fishing leads to prostitution
The mayor of a small town in Ohio has resigned after making national headlines last week for saying that allowing ice fishing would lead to prostitution.
Craig Shubert, the mayor of Hudson, which lies about 30 miles southeast of Cleveland, tendered his resignation from the largely ceremonial post.
Last week, Shubert suggested during a city council meeting that allowing ice fishing at a local park could lead to prostitution.
“Does someone come back next year and say I want an ice shanty on Hudson Springs Park for X amount of time?” Shubert said during the meeting.
“And if you then allow ice fishing with shanties, then that leads to another problem. Prostitution. Now you’ve got the police chief and the police department involved.”
Shubert, whose comments went viral and led to him being ridiculed on social media, later issued a clarification, saying that his statements “were made out of concern for our community; what could become of unintended consequences of new legislation, based on my prior television news reporting experience.”
He added: “My attempt to inject a bit of dry humor to make a point about this, in the midst of a cold, snowy February, was grossly misunderstood.”
“When I entered the race for mayor in 2019, my objective was to bring about change,” Shubert said in a statement.
“To shake up city council and our city administration, to return Hudson to its core conservative values, and to focus on the needs of our community; not the wants of a few.”
Shubert, 65, said that he had planned to retire, especially after the death of his wife in September.
He wrote in his statement that “my role as a change agent is complete.”
Shubert had been known to make outlandish statements in the past. Last fall, he claimed that a high school creative writing class used a textbook that contained child pornography.
His statements led to threats being made against school board members even though there was no child pornography used in the class.
https://nypost.com/2022/02/14/ohio-mayor-quits-after-saying-ice-fishing-leads-to-prostitution/
Eight duck-hunters, including 4 teens, feared dead in NC plane crash
Eight people — including four teens — were feared dead Monday after the small plane they were in crashed into the ocean off North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
The group of duck-hunters reportedly included a woman who posted eerie photos on Facebook around 11 a.m. Sunday — before the plane disappeared — including shots from inside an aircraft featuring boys in camouflage and other snaps of the same kids posing in front of dead fowl.
One body had been recovered from a debris field, and, “We have no indication that anyone survived the crash,” said Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck at a press conference Monday, according to a local NBC affiliate.
The seven passengers and pilot were returning from the hunting trip when their single-engine Pilatus PC-12 began acting erratically before disappearing from radar about 4 miles from Drum Inlet, said the Coast Guard and friends.
Tom Harrison, a North Carolina company owner, said business partner Hunter Parks and Parks’ girlfriend Stephanie Fulcher were among the missing, according to the outlet.
“He was one of the most generous people I know, and he had a duck hunting property and he had invited a large number of youth and veterans,” Harrison said of Parks.
“There’s a special duck season, a one-day duck season for youth and veterans, and he had invited them all to his property to duck hunt. And they had hunted there Saturday and were still in Hyde County at lunch time yesterday and flew home yesterday when the accident happened.”
Fulcher’s most recent Facebook post showed a number of men and boys in camo and hunting gear.
“Blessed to have a successful Youth/Veteran duck hunt again this year!” she wrote.
Harrison added in a Facebook post of Fulcher’s beau, a partner in his farm-management company, “Hunter was kind, generous, a good businessman, partner and friend.
“He will be deeply missed. Please pray for his Mom, Janet, his brother Toliver and all the the families effected by this horrible tragedy.”
Four of the eight people on board are believed to be teenagers, the affiliate said.
https://nypost.com/2022/02/14/eight-people-feared-dead-in-nc-plane-crash-after-duck-hunting-trip/
Trinidad and Tobago Opposition MP accuses Government of ignoring human trafficking
Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally has accused the Government of turning a blind eye to human trafficking and said the administration has lost its moorings in good governance.
In a statement on Saturday, Rambally criticised the Prime Minister's statements made in Parliament on Friday where he said there was a high case of sex trafficking and named Chaguanas as one of the areas where there was a high demand.
Rowley was responding to a question on the Coast Guard tragic shooting death of a one-year-old Venezuelan boy in a boat full of illegal migrants and called on the Opposition to "cease and desist" its verbal attacks.
In quoting a report from an independent Latin American publication named Insight Crime, he said “Demand for sex and prostitution in TT is being driven by a high rate of local consumption, especially in the borough of Chaguanas.”
Rowley urged the opposition to tackle the issue of prostitution as the first step in dealing with illegal migration.
Rambally said the PM referred to a report from 2021 yet failed to address it during the past years but was rather “content to politically shame certain areas of this country.”
“If Dr Rowley is himself convinced that the human trafficking situation is somehow dangerously linked to central Trinidad, as head of the National Security Council, how come he has never invited and/or instructed other Members of Parliament, including myself, to join in finding solutions of mitigation measures which would ease or eradicate human trafficking?” Rambally asked.
He said the PM conveniently highlighted other reports to make his administration look good yet continued to neglect the pertinent issue of human trafficking, which was not something new to TT.
Rambally said the Opposition has raised the matter over the years both in and out of Parliament and the situation was at an unacceptable level as he claimed locals were now being smuggled to other countries.
“What has Dr Rowley and his incompetent Government done to contain this plague? Absolutely nothing! Dr Rowley should tell the population what he has done in response to those alarming reports, of which he has noticed, to curb the alleged proliferation of prostitution in Chaguanas? Were any more personnel from the TTPS engaged to investigate and treat this scourge?
“As human trafficking persists (due to high sexual appetites of persons in Chaguanas as alleged by Dr Rowley) criminal networks grow stronger, and the public’s trust in the government grows weaker,” he said.
He called for an all-hands-on-deck approach to finding solutions as the international community watched on.
“While there are several approaches to be discussed moving forward, I wish to refer at this time to just one. There is an obvious nexus between sex trafficking and hotels.
"Recognising the links between this crime and the hotel industry (inclusive of guesthouses etc) is one critical area of concern and one which should be a subject of investigation,” he said.
https://newsday.co.tt/2022/02/13/opposition-mp-accuses-govt-of-ignoring-human-trafficking/
Biden Gang Reportedly Working on Billion Dollar Deal in Ukraine – Eerily Reminiscent of Last Biden Billion Dollar Deal in Ukraine
The corrupt Biden administration is reportedly working on a billion-dollar deal with Ukraine.
The Biden Administration is reportedly working on a billion-dollar economic deal with Ukraine.
Newsmax reports tonight that Biden is working on a billion-dollar deal in Ukraine.
The U.S. is considering offering Ukraine up to $1 billion in sovereign loan guarantees to help Ukraine’s economy amid pressures from the Russian military build-up, a senior Biden administration official said on Monday.
The White House official was confirming what a source familiar with the matter had earlier recounted to Reuters about a conversation by national security adviser Jake Sullivan with congressional leaders.
“Yes it’s something we are considering as part of the additional macroeconomic support we are exploring to help Ukraine’s economy amidst pressure resulting from Russia’s military build-up,” the Biden administration official said.
So Americans are being told that Russia is going to enter Ukraine. Most Americans don’t really care. The Southern border is more important to Americans.
If Russia was going to invade Ukraine why would the US be in talks to give Ukraine a billion dollars? Doesn’t that sound like a waste of money? Also, the last time Biden/Obama offered a billion to Ukraine, Biden halted the deal until a prosecutor was removed who was looking into the company (Burisma) where his son worked.
Something doesn’t pass the smell test here. Russia is going to take over Ukraine so Biden decides to give Ukraine a billion-dollar deal?
What is clear is that no one is protecting this country from thieves both inside and outside the country.
https://youtu.be/S3Ibbq_LG-4
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/02/biden-gang-reportedly-working-billion-dollar-deal-ukraine-eerily-reminiscent-last-biden-billion-dollar-deal-ukraine/