Washington Post Op-ed: ‘Give the Elites a Bigger Say in Choosing the President’

The Washington Post is taking criticism for an op-ed published Tuesday by Marquette University political science professor Julia Azari, titled: “It’s time to give the elites a bigger say in choosing the president.”

Citing the “rocky start” to the Democratic Party’s presidential primary, Azari suggests that the process of choosing the nominee be taken from the people and returned to the politicians:

The current process is clearly flawed, but what would be better? … A better primary system would empower elites to bargain and make decisions, instructed by voters.

One lesson from the 2020 and 2016 election cycles is that a lot of candidates, many of whom are highly qualified and attract substantial followings, will inevitably enter the race. The system as it works now — with a long informal primary, lots of attention to early contests and sequential primary season that unfolds over several months — is great at testing candidates to see whether they have the skills to run for president. What it’s not great at is choosing among the many candidates who clear that bar, or bringing their different ideological factions together, or reconciling competing priorities. A process in which intermediate representatives — elected delegates who understand the priorities of their constituents — can bargain without being bound to specific candidates might actually produce nominees that better reflect what voters want.

Azari suggests that the parties should use what she calls “preference primaries,” which would “allow voters to rank their choices among candidates, as well as to register opinions about their issue priorities.”

After a perfunctory voting process, wlites would be able to choose a nominee based on information about what the voters want.

She acknowledges that the idea is “labor-intensive and a little risky.”

The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who is the world’s richest man. The paper’s slogan, adopted as an intended rebuke to President Donald Trump, is “Democracy dies in darkness.”

That phrase was trending on Twitter on Wednesday morning as readers reacted ironically to the op-ed.

Azari’s article appears to anticipate the possibility of a “brokered convention” among Democrats this summer. Currently, no candidate is projected to win a majority of delegates before they gather in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — near Professor Azari’s university — at the Democratic National Convention.

If no candidate wins on the first ballot, there will be a second — at which point committed delegates will be free to choose other candidates, and the party elites, known as “superdelegates,” will be able to vote.

Also on Tuesday, billionaire oligarch Mike Bloomberg, who once changed the rules to run for a third term as mayor of New York City, qualified for the Democrat debate in Nevada on Wednesday evening.

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/02/19/washington-post-op-ed-give-the-elites-a-bigger-say-in-choosing-the-president/

Hackers trick Tesla into breaking speed limit by 50mph using two inches of tape

Researchers at cybersecurity firm McAfee have shown that two inches can make all the difference, fooling two types of Tesla car into speeding up by 50mph (80.5kph).

Using a small, almost imperceptible sticker on a speed limit sign, the McAfee scientists were able to trick the cars’ MobilEye EyeQ3 camera system into thinking the sign read ‘85’ and not ‘35,’ confirming that autonomous driving systems and the machine learning algorithms that power them still have a long way to go.

Both the 2016 Model X and Model S both sped up during the testing of the adversarial machine learning attacks carried out by Steve Povolny and Shivangee Trivedi from McAfee’s Advanced Threat Research team.

“If we are not very prescient about what the attacks are and very careful about how the systems are designed, you then have a rolling fleet of interconnected computers which are one of the most impactful and enticing attack surfaces out there,” Povolny said.

Tesla acknowledged the research but said it will not be updating the 2016 generation of hardware.

Meanwhile MobilEye insisted that the sign would fool even a human driver while adding that the camera is designed for Tesla’s cruise control function, not its much-touted self-driving capabilities.

“Autonomous vehicle technology will not rely on sensing alone, but will also be supported by various other technologies and data, such as crowdsourced mapping, to ensure the reliability of the information received from the camera sensors and offer more robust redundancies and safety,” the Mobileye spokesperson said in a statement.

Previously, UC Berkeley professor Dawn Song previously tricked a Tesla into thinking a stop sign was actually a 45mph speed limit sign. Hackers have also tricked Teslas into veering into the oncoming lane with strategically placed stickers on the road surface.

Both companies have moved beyond the 2016 versions of the hardware and improved their techniques, but there are still many vehicles on the roads that are susceptible to such attacks.

https://www.rt.com/news/481194-hackers-trick-tesla-speed-limit/

Billionaire Allegedly Behind A False Flag Operation In Alabama Helped Finance The Group Behind Iowa Caucus Chaos

Billionaire Reid Hoffman played a role in backing ACRONYM, a nonprofit group behind the app that botched the Iowa caucus vote count.

Hoffman is also partially responsible for financing a Democratic operation in 2017 that was allegedly designed to troll conservative voters in Alabama.

Hoffman’s chief consultant, Dmitri Mehlhorn, provided grants to ACRONYM through a group created to help foster resistance to President Donald Trump.

A billionaire Democratic donor who was partially responsible for financing a false flag operation targeting Republicans provided critical grants to an organization that funded the nonprofit group behind the Iowa caucus chaos.

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman helped support ACRONYM, a group that funded an app that was supposed to simplify the process of counting votes in Iowa ahead of that state’s caucus. The consultant who directed Hoffman’s funds once praised Russian hackers for their digital prowess.

Instead of helping, the app ACRONYM helped kickstart — Shadow — was responsible for causing massive delays in reporting the results of the Feb. 6 Democratic caucuses. The Iowa Democratic Party did not begin awarding delegates until several days after the initial results flooded in.

Hoffman’s consultant, Dmitri Mehlhorn, directed funds to ACRONYM through a group called Investing in US. Mehlhorn explained in a Medium post in 2018 that Investing in US is designed to help foster “resistance” to President Donald Trump who he said is undermining elections and press freedoms.

Investing in US is a group composed of several wealthy operatives who finance various organizations in 2017.

Mehlhorn said the digital world is the best place to rebut Trump. He told The Washington Post in January 2019 that Democrats can learn a lot from the success of Russia’s Internet Research Agency, which gained notoriety after trolling American voters ahead of the 2016 election.

“The Internet Research Agency engaged in many, many tactics, some of which I think it is appropriate for us to mirror and some of which I think we should disavow,” he said before excoriating some of the agency’s more deceptive tactics, namely its decision to promote “racial hatred.”

Mehlhorn added: “The tactics we need to mirror are really good social microtargeting.”

https://dailycaller.com/2020/02/18/acronym-iowa-caucus-barack-obama/

China Claims Boris Johnson Has Committed to Xi’s ‘Belt and Road’ Global Commerce Project

Boris Johnson “loves China” and is on board with its imperialist Belt and Road initiative, according to extensive details about a phone call between him and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping released by a Chinese-government controlled news outlet.

The British prime minister spoke to Xi Jinping by telephone on Tuesday morning, discussing the Coronavirus outbreak and trade. While the tone of the official account of the call from Boris Johnson’s office gives little away, reports from Beijing emphasised Mr Johnson’s support for Xi and the Belt and Road economic project, a global push by China to distinctly tip the geopolitical landscape in their own favour.

Downing Street confirmed the call had taken place on Wednesday morning, in a vague readout that gave significantly less detail on the conversation and made no mention of the controversial Belt and Road initiative. While the prime minister’s office stated he “offered his sympathies for those affected by the outbreak of coronavirus in China”, a report by the Communist Party-controlled Global Times reports Mr Johnson expressed “on behalf of the British government and people… admiration” of the Chinese government’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak.

According to the Global Times, the British leader particularly praised China’s “speed and efficiency” in dealing with Coronavirus, despite claims by global health experts criticising the regime for reacting too slowly to the outbreak, and its insular and secretive instincts hampering a faster global response.

While the remarks on Coronavirus may be contested as compliment inflation meant to boost the damaged domestic public standing of Chairman Xi over the Coronavirus epidemic, or even a mistranslation, Boris Johnson’s alleged comments on economic integration with China through the One Belt One Road initiative may trigger more concern.

The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based newspaper owned by Jack Ma, the richest man in China and a member of the Chinese Communist Party, reports Mr Johnson said: “Britain welcomes investment from Chinese companies… We would like to strengthen our cooperation with China under the Belt and Road Initiative.”

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/19/china-reports-boris-johnson-commits-belt-road-call-xi/

A 'passionate Zionist': Boris Johnson is UK's prime minister

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/A-passionate-Zionist-596689

China and Israel in the Belt and Road Initiative

https://thediplomat.com/2018/09/china-and-israel-in-the-belt-and-road-initiative/

Prosecutor Expects ‘Asian’ Groomer Rapist Sentenced to Seven Years Will Be Out in Three

An ‘Asian’ heritage child rapist, who was convicted and sentenced to over seven years in prison, will likely spend less than four years actually behind bars, Breitbart London can report.

Samiral Choudhury, 30, was sentenced Monday to a prison term of seven years and two months after being found guilty of the assault of a child under 13 by penetration.

Choudhury was also found guilty of the sexual assault of a child under 13, which carries a sentence of two years and two months, and voyeurism with a sentence of two months. However the court ruled that the two later convictions will be served concurrently, rendering the counts meaningless, as they will be served during the same time as his first conviction.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told Breitbart London that the child rapist will likely only serve half of his prison term before being released on licence — after just three years and seven months.

“We expect he will be released at the halfway point in the usual way and then serve the remainder of his custodial sentence plus one year on licence,” said a Service spokesman.

The CPS also noted Choudhury was given a one-year extended sentence in addition to the others, yet that will likely be served while he is free to walk the streets.

In common with all convicted criminals who serve portions of their sentences on licence out in the community, Choudhury would be sent back to prison if he were found to have broken the terms of his release. Yet the system does nothing to protect potential victims from criminals who might re-offend, as has happened in other unrelated cases.

Choudhury was arrested in 2017 for intent to distribute a class A drug after police found a kilo of cocaine in his car. A key was discovered in a search of his car that officers were able to use to unlock a metal cabinet in his home, which contained ten child-sized bras and a USB drive containing obscene images of young girls, who are believed to have been as young as seven years old.

In Britain many criminals do not serve their full sentence while in custody, often being released on licence automatically halfway through their prison sentences.

The United Kingdom is currently considering emergency legislation that would abolish the automatic release of those convicted of terror-related crimes. The new legislation was introduced following the Stretham terror attack, that was committed by Sudesh Amman, a terrorist who had been released on licence just days before committing the attack that left two wounded.

The proposed emergency legislation would mandate that convicted terrorists serve at least two-thirds of their sentences and go before a parole board before being released. Yet the new law would not prevent the early release of convicted child rapists like Samiral Choudhury from prison.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/19/prosecutor-expects-asian-groomer-rapist-sentenced-to-seven-years-will-be-out-in-three/

Puerto Rico’s Government Lost More Than $4 Million In Email Phishing Scams

The government of Puerto Rico, suffering through a debt crisis and strapped for cash after enduring two major natural disasters, reportedly lost more than $2 million in an email phishing scam directed at one of its finance directors, according to the Associated Press.

“Puerto Rico’s government has lost more than $2.6 million after falling for an email phishing scam,” the AP reported, citing an unnamed government official. “The finance director of the island’s Industrial Development Company, Rubén Rivera, said in a complaint filed to police Wednesday that the agency sent the money to a fraudulent account.”

The island’s “Industrial Development” agency received an email from an account purporting to manage remittance payments. The government apparently transferred $2.6 million directly into the fake account, then realized what they’d done and informed the FBI.

“It’s still unclear how officials discovered the scam, if anyone has been dismissed or if the agency’s operations have been affected because of the missing funds,” tech news site, Engaget, added. The FBI is reportedly trying to help the struggling island recover the much-needed money, though it’s not clear how successful those efforts will be.

This is also the second such incident in two months. NBC News reported that the island’s “Tourism Company sent $1.5 million in January to fraudulent accounts on the U.S. mainland.”

The news comes amid reports that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is demanding better financial oversight in Puerto Rico, and major anti-corruption measures, targeting the island’s government officials who have an intense reputation for fiscal mismanagement.

https://postnewsd2.blogspot.com/2020/02/puerto-ricos-government-lost-more-than.html

EU Tells UK: No Canada Trade Deal, But We’ll Have Your Fish

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said that the UK cannot have the same trading arrangements as Canada because Britain is a major economy on Europe’s doorstep and poses a competitive threat.

Speaking to journalists outside of the European Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Barnier said the country “has a very particular proximity — a unique territorial and economic closeness — which is why it can’t be compared to Canada or South Korea or Japan”.

For that reason, Eurocrats and EU leaders will only agree to a “partnership” that includes “in particular fishing” and “a level playing field”.

The remarks came in response to British Brexit negotiator David Frost’s speech on Monday night where he said that the UK will not accept the EU’s “level playing field”, saying signing up to continued obeisance to EU rules would defeat the point of Brexit and that the UK must be able to set its own laws after the transition period.

“We only want what other independent countries have,” Mr Frost had said.

Asked whether the EU demands would be undemocratic, Mr Barnier said on Tuesday: “Truly not. It is a sovereign decision of the EU, it is a sovereign decision of the UK to cooperate.”

“That is what Boris Johnson wrote in the political declaration,” he added.

Barnier has before proposed that it would ransom a trade deal for continued access to the UK’s lucrative fishing waters, but the EU may also demand the Elgin marbles be returns to the Parthenon in Greece.

A leaked draft document on the negotiating position seen by The Guardian calls for the UK and EU to “address issues relating to the return or restitution of unlawfully removed cultural objects to their countries of origin” — interpreted by Downing Street to mean the ancient Greek sculptures taken with the consent of the Ottoman Empire and in the care of the British Museum for over two centuries.

“This is just not happening,” a Downing Street source said of the artwork, adding: “And it shows a troubling lack of seriousness about negotiations on the EU side.” EU and Greek officials claimed the clause did not relate to the marbles — rather to the trade in illegal antiquities — despite the ongoing diplomatic row over the works.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced in his first Brexit speech since winning the election that he was pursuing a Canada-style deal, where 98 per cent of tariffs are lifted. He stated in early February that he would rather the UK leave the bloc’s institutions after the transition period in December 2020 — trading with the EU-27 on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms, accepting tariffs — rather than continue to restrict the country by abiding by EU regulations.

The EU’s position is certain to drive the UK to a ‘No Deal 2.0’, which even Remainer Tony Blair said last year is the “likely outcome” of negotiations, given the UK’s stated desire to diverge from Brussels’ regulations.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/19/eu-tells-uk-no-canada-trade-deal-but-well-have-your-fish/

Feds Arrest Crooked State Democrat David Nangle in Massachusetts — He Was Sitting on House Ethics Committee

Federal authorities arrested Massachusetts state Democrat David Nangle Tuesday on several corruption charges.

Home / News / Feds Arrest Crooked State Democrat David Nangle in Massachusetts — He Was Sitting on House Ethics Committee

Feds Arrest Crooked State Democrat David Nangle in Massachusetts — He Was Sitting on House Ethics Committee

03:08 - News

Federal authorities arrested Massachusetts state Democrat David Nangle Tuesday on several corruption charges.

Nangle was sitting on the House Ethics Committee.

Here is the DOJ announcement.

Nangle is a compulsive gambler.

MassLive reported:

Massachusetts State Rep. David Nangle, who is accused of using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, had “regular cash flow problems as a result of extensive gambling,” federal prosecutors said in court records.

The Democratic state representative was arrested Tuesday on several charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, filing false tax returns and making false statements to a bank…

…“Despite his salary and perks, Nangle was heavily in debt, had poor credit (with a credit score reported as low as 593), and had regular cash flow problems as a result of extensive gambling at various casinos…,” federal prosecutors said.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2020/02/feds-arrest-crooked-state-democrat.html

How incredibly easily your brain is being subconsciously influenced by something so plain in sight, so completely upfront and transparent, and yet so effective, that should scare the sh*t out of you.

Software dev here who specializes in AI, adsense, web design, etc.

It’s actually much much simpler, and yet much more sinister.

There is no fancy tricks. There is no mind reading or anything like, that, its actually way scarier how this works and knowing how it works should terrify you.

The thing is, the reason you “see ads for stuff you were just talking about”, is actually because you saw the ad earlier, forgot about it, then talked about it, then saw the ad again

Basically, adverts that are successful are the ones you don’t even realize you took in. They are sitting there in absolute plain view, not pulling any fancy tricks, but your brain is so good at filtering them from your conscious mind, you don’t realize your subconscious mind is constantly taking them in.

So, basically:

Be on facebook, there are ads for, I dunno, fancy new pillows that are on sale on amazon or whatever. You don’t even really notice the ads, your eyes flick over them, but you dont really process that you just took in ads about pillows. Your subconcious mind processes it instantly, filters it off, you laugh at Aunty Jean’s post about her kid on your facebook feed and have already forgotten about the advert.

A few hours later, you lie down in bed, and suddenly you think, “Hmm, I could use a new pillow”, you think that idea was 100% your own, but in reality the advert planted the thought in your head hours ago, because that’s how ads work. You have completely forgotten about the ad at this point, but you now mention aloud to your SO beside you, “Hey, Im thinking we should maybe get some new pillows!” and they are like “Yeah, you think so?” and you talk about buying new pillows for a minute.

You pop open your phone to do some late night internet browsing before bed and WHATS THIS?! Adverts?! For Pillows?! In reality… these are actually just the exact same ads you literally saw a few hours ago… But… you just don’t remember it. You now are 100% convinced your phone is reading your mind.

Okay now, here’s the thing. This process happens hundreds of times a day. When you are at the store and deciding what drink to grab off the shelf? Your brain chooses the most familiar, the one you have seen ads for.

When you feel like you need a new pair of pants? Etc etc. Nearly every single time you think “Hm, I could go for buying x” its probably because earlier an ad planted that idea in your head.

You only notice this though when you speak it out loud, to, say a spouse or family member.

You simply just don’t notice the hundreds of other times it happens a day, because you’ve just subconsciously filtered it out.

And I hope, realizing how incredibly easily your brain is being subconsciously influenced by something so plain in sight, so completely upfront and transparent, and yet so effective, that should scare the shit out of you.

Because if ads, which are not remotely disguising their intent and are very transparent about exactly what they want from you, if those ads are still able to so easily manipulate your subconscious mind with little effort…

Then can you imagine how you are being manipulated by all the less transparent things that happen? The stuff that isn’t being up front, and is much more hidden?

Something to keep you awake tonight. Cheers.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/how-incredibly-easily-your-brain-is-being-subconsciously-influenced-by-something-so-plain-in-sight-so-completely-upfront-and-transparent-and-yet-so-effective-that-should-scare-the-sht-out-of-you/

Mexican Scientist Spied for Russia in Florida, Says DOJ

A Mexican scientist faces espionage charges after U.S. authorities arrested him in Florida for allegedly trying to get information on behalf of Russian agents.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, a Mexican national, is accused of acting as an agent of Russia without notifying the federal government–a type of charge used for espionage cases. Cabrera Fuentes is a biochemist and a researcher who lived in Singapore before his trip to Florida.

While court documents remain sealed, the DOJ claims that in 2019, a Russian agent recruited Cabrera Fuentes and asked him to rent a specific apartment in Miami. The agent reportedly told Cabrera Fuentes to keep their meeting secret. After renting the apartment, Cabrera Fuentes traveled to Russia to meet with the agent and spoke about future plans, according to authorities.

In February, the Mexican national traveled to Moscow where he was given the physical description of a vehicle being used by a “U.S. government source.” The Russian agent asked Cabrera Fuentes to find the vehicle, get the license plate number, and a location. He was to travel to Moscow in April or May to deliver the information, say authorities.

On February 13, the DOJ says Cabrera Fuentes and his wife traveled from Mexico City to Miami to track down the vehicle. A security guard at an apartment complex spotted him as he tailgated a car while entering the property. The guard saw Cabrera Fuentes’ wife get out of the car and take a photograph of a license plate. The guard confronted the two and ordered them to leave the property, according to federal reports.

On February 16, Cabrera Fuentes and his wife arrived at the Miami airport to fly back to Mexico City but were stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection who checked his phone and found photographs of license plates. During questioning, Cabrera Fuentes reportedly said he was following directions from a Russian official.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/02/19/mexican-scientist-spied-for-russia-in-florida-says-doj/

Global Centralization Is The Cause Of Crisis – Not The Cure

Once you understand the globalist mindset, almost everything they do becomes rather robotic and predictable. It should not be surprising that the World Health Organization (WHO), a branch of the United Nations, has been so aggressive in cheerleading for the Chinese government and its response to the coronavirus outbreak. After all, China’s communist surveillance state model is a beta test for the type of centralization that the UN wants for the entire planet. They certainly aren’t going to point out that it was China’s totalitarian system that allowed the outbreak to spread from the very beginning.

Even now Xi Jinping is trying to rewrite history, claiming that he had been swift in responding to the crisis more than a month before he actually did. The lie that the coronavirus mutated naturally in a food and animal market in Wuhan continues to be peddled by the mainstream media even though no evidence supporting this claim exists. And China is still releasing rigged death and infection numbers while they have over 600 million people under martial law lockdown and their crematoriums continue pumping out the fumes of the dead 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Brave health workers like Li Wenliang, who was punished by the government for warning about the virus in December, have died in the process of trying to fight against the centralized behemoth just to get vital information to the world, but that never happened, right? It was actually president Xi and the CPC that saved the day. The WHO and the CPC say so. You’ll never hear the UN praise the efforts of Li Wenliang; they want his name to disappear down the memory hole as much as the Chinese government does.

The developing narrative is a familiar one – Local officials “stifled” the response to the outbreak while the centralized national leadership put things back on track with extreme control measures that have turned the Hubei province into a veritable internment camp. Whatever you do, don’t point out that it was the national government’s habit of imprisoning health officials that release “false information” that led to the delayed reaction on the coronavirus. Also, don’t point out that ground zero for the outbreak is just down the road from the largest Level 4 Biohazard Lab in Asia, because that would make you a “conspiracy theorist”.

The message being pounded into the public consciousness is clear: “Shut up and accept that Centralization works”. Even when it fails miserably, it is still the answer to all our problems. All we have to do is “adjust” the historical record a little bit every time the system breaks and then institute even MORE centralization in response.

In other words, if the interdependent and draconian top-down structure of the globalist state leads to crisis, then it is because it was not centralized ENOUGH. Centralization always begets more centralization.

The financial fascist system of central banking and corporate oligarchy leads to the socialist welfare state, and the socialist welfare state leads to the surveillance state, the surveillance state leads to the martial law state, and the martial law state leads to full-on global governance; an endless elitist empire.

The failings of centralization have caused numerous problems long before it led to a potential pandemic. The pandemic simply clarifies the issue. For example, the breakdown in the global supply chain is becoming a bigger threat by the day. The Baltic Dry Index a measure of shipping rates as well as global demand for goods, has essentially collapsed. This should have been the first warning sign that the supply chain was in trouble, but the mainstream doesn’t pay attention to the fundamentals, only stock markets. Enter Apple, one of the largest companies in the world, which has now abandoned its projections for 2020 and finally admitted that the shutdown of Chinese factories may just be a problem.

Some mentally challenged people out there are scoffing sarcastically at this issue, saying “Oh no, whatever will we do without i-Phones…?”. They don’t grasp the wider implications. If Apple’s production is going down because of the supply chain disruption then this is a signal that multiple companies and most of the economy are also going down because of supply chain disruptions. It’s not about i-Phones, it’s about the bigger picture.

https://governmentslaves.news/2020/02/19/global-centralization-is-the-cause-of-crisis-not-the-cure/

>>8184949

>FBI if you are here

kek

Everyone's here

Adidas' China Business Activity Crashes 85% Due To Virus Shock

Under Armour was the first apparel company to warn the Covid-19 outbreak in China would have a negative impact on sales in 1Q. The Baltimore-based apparel company said last week that the industry as a whole would be damaged.

One week later, German sportswear maker Adidas has warned the virus outbreak across China, forcing dozens of cities to close with 400-700 million people in quarantine would severely impact sales in 1Q.

Adidas generates more than a third of its sales in Asia, which has been a significant growth market for the apparel company in the last decade. The region is also home to factories of the company that could still be shuttered.

Adidas expects lower shopping traffic for mainland China, South Korea, Japan, and other Asia Pacific countries, reported Reuters.

It said mainland China sales dropped 85% year-on-year over the Lunar New Year holiday as many of its 12,000 franchise and 500 corporate stores were closed for virus containment purposes. There's no word on the status of the stores until next month.

"The magnitude of the overall impact on our business for the full-year 2020 cannot be quantified reliably at this point in time," it said, adding that additional details of the disruption will be published when it reports 2019 results on March 11.

Adidas said the virus outbreak in China had hurt its other key markets in Asia. The sales slump in 1Q could force the apparel company to revise earnings estimates on the year. It said, "the virus made it difficult to forecast, but it is working under the assumption that the situation will normalize in the short-term."

Hoping for normalization in the "short-term" could be a pipe dream as China's economy is crashing, and stimulus is struggling to stabilize the economy.

The company is likely to provide a more in-depth update next month on its factories and if product shortages will develop.

As for now, many companies have left investors in a twilight phase of uncertainly as it appears Apple's warning on Monday on revenue guidance and production delays could be the start of a flurry of devastating headlines that detail how the virus "shock" has already transformed into a "black swan" event for the global economy.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/adidas-china-business-activity-crashes-85-due-virus-shock

>>8184970

WTF skips so many that have been called

Hi Rabbi MOS has the dough

>>8184726 Protecting Bezos

>>8184818 Protectin g corrupt billionaire

>>8184836 Protecting China Israel BJ

>>8184844 Protecting pedos

>>8184933 Protecting Mexican spy

Senior White House Official Calls California “Occupied Territory” as Trump Lands in Los Angeles at Start of Four Day West Coast Swing

Joe Grogan, Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council, set off a firestorm of criticism when he called California “occupied territory” in a tweet Tuesday night about President Trump’s trip to the Golden State.

Trump landed in Los Angeles Tuesday to kickoff a four day, four state West Coast swing that will see him appear at a mix of official events and fundraisers in California on Tuesday and Wednesday and campaign rallies in Phoenix on Wednesday, Colorado Springs on Thursday and Las Vegas on Friday and other official events and fundraisers in those states. Trump is scheduled to overnight in Las Vegas each night before his expected return to Washington Friday

Grogan tweeted Tuesday evening, “Just landed in California. POTUS power swing through occupied territory."

http://www.tathasta.com/2020/02/senior-white-house-official-calls.html

Israeli court orders Facebook to unblock account of NSO Group employee

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - A Tel Aviv court ordered Facebook Inc to unblock the private account of a worker at Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, and similar rulings are expected for other employees in the coming days, an NSO spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

A group of NSO employees filed a suit against Facebook in November, saying the social media group had unfairly blocked their private accounts when it sued NSO in October.

Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp accused the Israeli firm of helping government spies break into the phones of about 1,400 users in a hacking spree targeting diplomats, political dissidents, journalists and senior government officials across the world.

The NSO employees said their Facebook and Instagram accounts, and also those of former workers and family members, had been blocked.

Ruling on their complaint, Tel Aviv District Court ordered the account of one employee to be restored by Wednesday afternoon.

“We are certain that following the court’s unequivocal statements, Facebook will reverse the action it took against other employees,” the NSO spokeswoman said.

Facebook said in a statement: “NSO Group has conducted cyber attacks against human rights activists, journalists, and diplomats. We will continue to take appropriate action to defend our users and we look forward to participating in open court to document how NSO threatens the safety and security of users and needs to be held accountable.”

The company said in November it had disabled “relevant accounts” after attributing a “sophisticated cyber attack” to the NSO Group and its employees, saying the measure was necessary for security reasons.

WhatsApp accused NSO of facilitating government hacking sprees in 20 countries. Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were the only countries identified. NSO, founded in 2009, denies the allegations.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-nso-group-court/israeli-court-orders-facebook-to-unblock-account-of-nso-group-employee-idUKKBN20C22F

China Expels 3 WSJ Reporters Over "Racist" Opinion Piece

Update (0720ET): CNBC's Eunice Yoon, who has also been a reliable source of information out of Beijing since the outbreak began, has published a statement from Beijing about the expulsions: "Chinese people do not welcome media that publish racially discriminatory and malicious slander on China. In light of this, China has decided to revoke the press cards of the three Wall Street Journal correspondents in Beijing starting today."

Why do we have the feeling that this will be the first of many?

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Beijing's propaganda campaign to paper over the depredations of its heavy handed quarantines and other outbreak-suppression efforts was launched into hyperspeed earlier this month as the international community - including the WHO - started questioning everything - from whether Beijing deliberately hid information about the outbreak in the early days (looks like it did), to whether the virus was originally developed in a bioweapons lab in Wuhan before being unleashed on the public (…), to whether Beijng was actually capable of resolving this issue without some kind of intervention.

These doubts likely played some role in Beijing's decision to refuse to allow foreign experts into the country - though it gladly accepted shipments of facemasks and medicine - as the most important thing is that the Communist Party project an image of strength upon the global stage.

Which is probably why this editorial annoyed them so much.

From time to time, China expels foreign journalists. In recent years, reporters from Bloomberg, WSJ and the New York Times have been booted from the country. But early Wednesday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that three of its reporters - Deputy Beijing Bureau Chief Josh Chin and reporter Chao Deng, as well as reporter Philip Wen have been ordered to leave China in five days, according to Jonathan Cheng, WSJ's Beijing bureau chief and a formidable foreign correspondent in his own right.

Amid the chaos of the breakout's early days, WSJ's Beijing bureau was responsible for some seriously ambitious pieces, and Deng's reporting in particular distinguished him as one of the first western reporters to convey serious doubts about the accuracy of China's tests.

Although expulsions of reporters are relatively common, WSJ's editors noted that this is the first time Beijing has expelled multiple reporters from the same foreign news organization in the post-Mao era.

In a strange twist, Beijing didn't mention any of these pieces in its communications with WSJ. According to the paper, an Opinion Section piece titled "China Is The Real Sick Man of Asia." was cited as the reason all three reporters were given five days to leave the country.

The piece was written by Walter Russel Mead for WSJ's "Global View" column. None of the reporters targeted by Beijing had a hand in writing the piece, according to WSJ.

However, Beijing said it wanted to punish the news organization because it felt the column was "racist". This isn't the first time we've heard this excuse from Beijing: the Chinese media have been beating the racism drum for a while to try and discredit criticisms of Beijing's virus response.

As WSJ reminds us:

The phrase “sick man of Asia” was used by both outsiders and Chinese intellectuals to refer to a weakened China’s exploitation by European powers and Japan in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a period now described in Chinese history textbooks as the “century of humiliation.”

It seems Beijing has taken a page out of the American SJW's playbook: Once somebody's accused of racism, logical inquiry ends. We wonder if the Chinese people feel the same way?

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-expels-3-wsj-reporters-over-racist-opinion-piece

Elite's Plan to Destroy America in Mind Blowing 1958 Speech by Robert Welch

Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars

http://www.stopthecrime.net/docs/SILENT%20WEAPONS%20for%20QUIET%20WARS.pdf

South Korea says it’s successfully treating coronavirus patient with natural oxygen therapy

In a breakthrough for eradicating the Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19), South Korean officials have successfully treated a patient using all-natural oxygen therapy.

Unlike our own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which only advocates for pharmaceuticals and vaccines, Korea’s CDC effectively cured, dare we use that word, a patient by delivering oxygen through a face mask, according to the local news service Newsis.

Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of Korea’s CDC, announced that only one of South Korea’s 21 remaining Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19) patients is still in critical condition, while the rest have been released.

As for the oxygen therapy, Jeong explained that it effectively saturates a patient’s body with oxygen by delivering high doses of it. And as we’ve reported in the past, diseases of all kinds hate oxygen and simply can’t survive in its presence.

With this successful treatment, South Korea is confident that there are no additional “critically ill” patients within its border, despite earlier concerns that the virus might ravage high-risk patients.

Listen below as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, talks about how the Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19) is a dream come true for the globalists, who never let a good crisis go to waste:

South Korea announces end to quarantine after successfully treating all known coronavirus cases

The situation is not as bright in nearby Japan, however, where an elderly woman who resided in the Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo died not long after testing positive for the Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19).

With Japan reporting the highest number of Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19) cases outside of China – there are now more than 250 confirmed cases – South Korea was worried that the same would happen there. But its use of effective therapies like oxygen has apparently stemmed the tide, at least for now.

For nearly a week, South Korea had not reported any new confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19), but did announce that a total of seven former patients are now “fully recovered” and have been released.

All of this good news for South Korea led authorities to announce the end of a massive quarantine there where 700 South Korean nationals who had previously been evacuated from Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus, were being held.

Those who were in this quarantine reportedly thanked the residents of nearby Asan for supporting them during this difficult period of isolation. Park Jong-cheon, a South Korean basketball coach for a youth team in the Hubei Province of China, wrote in a message that he would “never forget the love” he was shown while in quarantine, and that all residents of Asan are welcome to visit him in Wuhan at any time.

Not so fast: South Korea reports one new coronavirus case on Sunday

It all seemed so great until yet another confirmed coronavirus case emerged in South Korea at the same time that the quarantine was set to end. The Yonhap News Agency is reporting that an 82-year-old man with no record of overseas travel tested positive for the disease, and is now being held in quarantine at the Korea University Anam Hospital in Seoul.

This new case, which brings South Korea’s total number of cases to 29, is the first since the previous Tuesday, dashing hopes that perhaps the Wuhan coronavirus (CoVid-19) was no longer going to be an issue in South Korea.

As for the condition of this new patient, authorities have yet to make his status public. It also remains unclear whether he, too, will be receiving oxygen therapy.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-02-18-south-korea-successfully-treating-coronavirus-oxygen-therapy.html

US neocons, Zionist lobby losing war in Syria: Commentator

The United States government, neoconservatives and the Zionist lobby in Washington are losing the war in Syria, according to Edward Corrigan, an international lawyer and political commentator.

US President Donald Trump has called for an end to Russia’s support for the Syrian government, engaged in efforts to liberate the whole country.

Trump "expressed concern over the violence in Idlib, Syria, and conveyed the United States' desire to see an end to Russia's support,” in a call with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Sunday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu expressed a similar sentiment among journalists at the Munich Security Conference after he talked with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

US President Donald Trump is calling for an end to Russia’s support for the Syrian government, engaged in efforts to liberate the whole country.

Commenting on this, Corrigan said, “They're losing the war. Before they did not want to engage in any sort of political process, they still thought that they could accomplish some of their goals by military means. Now, they realize that they can't do that. So now they're in public about this switching gears and talking about politics only because they're trying to save the remnants of Daesh and other extremist groups in the hope of destabilizing Syria.”

“And it's only because they're losing. And I don't think the Russians would do that because it's purely hypocritical as the Americans have been providing weapons to Saudi Arabia, to the United Arab Emirates to the Islamic militants in the south, and, of course, even the Pentagon has been arming the Kurds. So, you know, this is an example of hypocrisy and say do it we say don't do as we do,” he said.

“The Americans are up to their neck, in providing arms to the various groups in order to destabilize and try to destroy Syria, as are the Israelis. The Israelis are supplying American weapons and paying salaries. And you know, for the most part, providing American war materials to the extremist groups in Syria to support Israel's objectives,” he stated.

“And these are not the same as Turkey's objectives. And Turkey is trying to reassert itself as a player in the area. Some people call this, you know, reasserting itself as the Ottoman Empire. But the Turks also have a lot of problems with the Americans. There is strong support for the Palestinians inside Turkey. There will be next to zero support for the American move of their embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. There is no support in Turkey for the so-called “deal of the century”, which is basically the total capitulation of the Palestinians, and enforcing Israeli hegemony over the West Bank and creating, even more of an apartheid state than it is,” he noted.

“They want to take away the Arabs in Israel and put them into the West Bank but also take the West Bank and deport the Arabs. They don't want the Arab population. They only want Jewish only settlements,” he said.

“So there's a lot of problems between Turkey and the United States, and we have seen evidence of this because Turkey buying the Russian S-4 defense system. Also, the Americans are threatening to not allowing Turkey to get the F-35 stealth fighters and there are other problems,” he said.

“But basically Americans are doing whatever they want to their domestic agenda and for Israel and for the Zionist lobby, the neocons and Christian fundamentalists in the United States. They don't care about Turkey which has the second-largest army in NATO, and they should be treating it with much more respect and not by jamming down policies, that are totally hated by the Turkish population and the Turkish government, down their throat. The Trump administration has a single-minded one-dimensional view of things which is nowhere near the reality of it,” the analyst concluded.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/02/18/618960/%E2%80%98US-neocons,-Zionist-lobby-losing-the-war-in-Syria%E2%80%99

Israel: parliament grants immunity to former minister facing corruption charges

The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, granted immunity on Monday to former Labour, Social Affairs and Social Services Minister Haim Katz who is facing a trial over corruption charges, Quds Press has reported.

Katz is a member of the Likud, the party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has himself been indicted on fraud and corruption charges.

MKs voted by 62 to 43 in favour of Katz’s immunity request, claiming that he carried out the misconduct in “good faith” as part of his work as a member of the Knesset.

This immunity prevents Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit from filing an indictment against him over charges of fraud and breach of trust.

Katz resigned as a minister after he was accused of promoting legislation that would have benefited him personally while concealing apparent conflicts of interest.

The law in question allegedly benefited Katz’s friend, businessman Mordechai Ben Ari, media reports said.

They added that it benefited him personally as he owns payment bonds for companies suffering from financial crises.

Katz’s immunity is only valid during the period of the current Knesset.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200219-israel-parliament-grants-immunity-to-former-minister-facing-corruption-charges/

Libyan Govt Suspends Peace Talks After Tripoli Port Attack

Hafter forces targeted a Turkish ship bringing in weapons

Gen. Khalifa Hafter and his Libyan National Army (LNA) attacked the Tripoli sea port on Tuesday, along with a Turkish military ship that was heading into the port with a delivery of weapons and other equipment for their military mission backing the Government of National Accord (GNA).

The GNA responded by pulling out of the ongoing ceasefire talks in Geneva. They threatened further measures against the LNA and warned that if the attack had damaged a gas tanker in the port they could’ve caused a humanitarian disaster.

The LNA has been trying to conquer Tripoli since April, the latest in a line of Hafter-led coup attempts. This is by far the longest-lasting coup bid, and the LNA is controlling a lot of the country at this point.

The LNA is being backed internationally by a number of nations, primarily Egypt and the UAE, while the GNA’s only major backer, beyond nominal UN recognition, is Turkey. Turkey has committed to sending military force to aid them, and so far has dispatched Syrian rebels to the country.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/02/18/libyan-govt-suspends-peace-talks-after-tripoli-port-attack/