The System Is Rigged: Qualified Immunity Is How the Police State Stays in Power

Lawyers tend to offer complicated, convoluted explanations for the doctrine of qualified immunity, which was intended to insulate police from frivolous lawsuits, but its real purpose, writes constitutional attorney John Whitehead, is to rig the system,

CHARLOTTESVILLE (Rutherford) –– The system is rigged, the government is corrupt, and “we the people” continue to waste our strength by fighting each other rather than standing against the tyrant in our midst.

Because the system is rigged, because the government is corrupt, and because “we the people” remain polarized and divided, the police state will keep winning and “we the people” will keep losing.

Because the system is rigged and the U.S. Supreme Court—the so-called “people’s court”—has exchanged its appointed role as a gatekeeper of justice for its new role as maintainer of the status quo, there will be little if no consequences for the cops who brutalize and no justice for the victims of police brutality.

Because the system is rigged, there will be no consequences for police who destroyed a private home by bombarding it with tear gas grenades during a SWAT team raid gone awry, or for the cop who mistakenly shot a 10-year-old boy after aiming for and missing the non-threatening family dog, or for the arresting officer who sicced a police dog on a suspect who had already surrendered.

This is how unarmed Americans keep dying at the hands of militarized police.

By refusing to accept any of the eight or so qualified immunity cases before it this term that strove to hold police accountable for official misconduct, the Supreme Court delivered a chilling reminder that in the American police state, ‘we the people’ are at the mercy of law enforcement officers who have almost absolute discretion to decide who is a threat, what constitutes resistance, and how harshly they can deal with the citizens they were appointed to ‘serve and protect.”

This is how qualified immunity keeps the police state in power.

Lawyers tend to offer a lot of complicated, convoluted explanations for the doctrine of qualified immunity, which was intended to insulate government officials from frivolous lawsuits, but the real purpose of qualified immunity is to rig the system, ensuring that abusive agents of the government almost always win and the victims of government abuse almost always lose.

How else do you explain a doctrine that requires victims of police violence to prove that their abusers knew their behavior was illegal because it had been deemed so in a nearly identical case at some prior time: it’s a setup for failure.

Do you know how many different ways a cop can kill, maim, torture and abuse someone without being held liable?

The cops know: in large part due to training classes that drill them on the art of sidestepping the Fourth Amendment, which protects us from being bullied, badgered, beaten, broken and spied on by government agents.

This is how “we the people” keep losing.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/system-is-rigged-qualified-immunity-is-how-police-stay-in-power/268628/

Fort Hood Families Sue, Claiming Life-Threatening Mold in On-Base Housing

Nine Army families are suing their privatized base housing landlords at Fort Hood, Texas, over what they say were life-threatening levels of mold and "deplorable" conditions in their homes that ruined their belongings.

The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Antonio, charges that the problems occurred during and after a scandal erupted in 2018 and 2019 over living conditions in military housing communities nationwide.

Complaints from military families following a Reuters report detailing the disrepair and hazardous conditions in privately managed on-base housing prompted promises from the companies and pledges from military officials and lawmakers to fix the problems.

But the issues have not gone away, according to the families at Fort Hood. In an 83-page lawsuit, they charged that Fort Hood Family Housing LP, FHFH, Inc., and Lend Lease US Public Partnerships, LLC, failed to properly address issues in their homes, including hazardous states of disrepair, persistent dampness and high levels of mold.

The families reported developing asthma, skin rashes, nosebleeds, blurred vision, chronic respiratory issues and mental distress while living on base. One family said their oldest child is coughing up blood and has attempted suicide before being diagnosed with severe depression. That depression, the child said, started "when he had to throw out all of his mold-contaminated toys."

"Fort Hood is nicknamed 'The Great Place,' but service members and their families have discovered that living there is anything but 'great.' Instead, many service members' time living there has been marred by neglected, filthy living conditions in on-post housing that has caused the service members and their families injury, personal property damage, illness,

heartache, and insult," said Ryan Reed, an attorney with Pulman, Cappuccio & Pullen, LLP., one of the law firms representing the group.

The suit is the latest in a series of legal actions taken by military families alleging that the companies that manage military housing have breached contracts, committed fraud, engaged in deceptive trade practices and are guilty of gross negligence.

Last September, a Marine family was awarded $2 million in a suit against San Diego Family Housing and parent company, Lincoln Military Housing, alleging that water damage, mold and dilapidated conditions in their home at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego caused health problems and damage to their property. But a federal judge ordered a new trial in December, saying the award was excessive.

Similar lawsuits have been filed over housing at Fort Meade, Maryland, and San Antonio.

In the Fort Hood suit, the families described attempts to have the issues resolved. But the post housing office, they said, brushed off the concerns, took shortcuts in making repairs or simply didn't fix the problems.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/06/17/fort-hood-families-sue-claiming-life-threatening-mold-base-housing.html

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Cell Phone Surveillance at Protests

As uprisings over police brutality and institutionalized racism have swept over the country, many people are facing the full might of law enforcement weaponry and surveillance for the first time. Whenever protesters, cell phones, and police are in the same place, protesters should worry about cell phone surveillance. Often, security practitioners or other protesters respond to that worry with advice about the use of cell-site simulators (also known as a CSS, IMSI catcher, Stingray, Dirtbox, Hailstorm, fake base station, or Crossbow) by local law enforcement. But often this advice is misguided or rooted in a fundamental lack of understanding of what a cell-site simulator is, what it does, and how often they are used.

The bottom line is this: there is very little concrete evidence of cell site simulators being used against protesters in the U.S. The threat of cell site simulators should not stop activists from voicing their dissent or using their phones. On the other hand, given that more than 85 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies around the country have some type of CSS (some of which are used upwards of 1000 times per year), it’s not unreasonable to include cell site simulators in your security plan if you are going to a protest and take some simple steps to protect yourself.

A CSS is a device that mimics a legitimate cellular tower. Police around the world use this technology primarily to locate a phone (and therefore a person) with a high degree of accuracy, or determine who is at a specific location. There have been reports in the past that advanced CSSs can intercept and record contents and metadata of phone calls and text messages using 2G networks, there are no publicly known ways to listen to text messages and calls on 4G networks however. Cell-site simulators can also disrupt cellular service in a specific area. However, it is very hard to confirm conclusively that a government is using a CSS because many of the observable signs of CSS use—battery drain, service interruption, or network downgrades— can happen for other reasons, such as a malfunctioning cellular network.

For more details on how cell-site simulators work, read our in-depth white paper “Gotta Catch ‘em All.”

Interception of phone calls and text messages is the most scary potential capability of a CSS, but also perhaps the least likely. Content interception is technically unlikely because, as far as we know based on current security research (that is, research around 2G and LTE/4G networks that does not take into account any security flaws or fixes that might occur in the 5G standard), content interception can only be performed when the target is connected over 2G, rendering it somewhat “noisy” and easy for the user to become aware of content interception also can’t read the contents of encrypted messages such as Signal, Whatsapp, Wire, Telegram, or Keybase.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/06/a-quick-and-dirty-guide-to-cell-phone-surveillance-at-protests.html

HSBC Resumes Plan To Cut 35,000 Jobs, Faces Criticism Over Hong Kong Security Law

HSBC has a global workforce of 235,000

Job cuts are part of a broader restructuring program to cut annual costs by $4.5 billion by 2022

In the first quarter, HSBC set aside some $3 billion in bad loan provisions

HSBC (HSBC), the largest bank in the U.K., said it will carry on with a plan to cut 35,000 jobs. The restructuring was originally announced in February but was postponed due to the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.

The London-based lender has a global workforce of 235,000. At its peak, HSBC once boasted some 300,000 employees.

HSBC will also freeze almost all external hiring and seek to fill available vacancies internally.

“We could not pause the job losses indefinitely - it was always a question of ‘not if, but when’,” said Chief Executive Noel Quinn.

“I know that this will not be welcome news and that it will create understandable concern and uncertainty, but I want to be open with you about the reality of the current situation,” Quinn added in an internal memo.

Quinn said the job cuts were necessary now in light of falling profits and challenging economic forecasts. The chief executive has also ordered senior executives to identify more ways to cut costs in the second half of 2020.

The majority of the cuts will likely take place in the back offices at Global Banking and Markets, which includes HSBC’s investment banking and trading segments.

https://www.ibtimes.com/hsbc-resumes-plan-cut-35000-jobs-faces-criticism-over-hong-kong-security-law-2995718

Air France Preparing For 8,300 Voluntary Job Cuts Following Huge State Bailout

Air France will seek to eliminate 300 pilots, 2,000 cabin crew and 6,000 ground staff

The French government alone is providing 7 billion euros in bailout to Air France

Air France lost 200 million euros in 2019

Air France, a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group, is preparing to cut 8,300 jobs by offering staff incentives to leave the airline voluntarily.

Bloomberg reported that the measure was designed to prevent a political backlash since Air France-KLM received a massive 11 billion euro ($12.4 billion) taxpayer-funded bailout from the French and Dutch governments.

Air France will reportedly seek to eliminate 300 pilots, 2,000 cabin crew and 6,000 ground staff – amounting to 17% of its workforce.

The restructuring is part of a strategic review ordered by Air France Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith and will come in the wake of thousands of job cuts announced by other major European air carriers, including British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa.

However, job cuts at Air France could be politically risky since the French government alone is providing 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) of the aforementioned state bailouts. By offering “voluntary” terminations and avoiding enforced firings, Smith hopes to pacify unions and French government officials.

Junior Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said on Wednesday that any changes at the airline should be achieved “without social suffering.”

Under terms of the bailout, Air France, which employs about 46,000 people, also agreed to cut domestic capacity by 40% by the end of next year and to reduce its carbon emissions.

https://www.ibtimes.com/air-france-preparing-8300-voluntary-job-cuts-following-huge-state-bailout-2995851

>>9647518

Blind freddy could prove it!

FFS delays delays

CNN calls for violence against white children, says they “don’t deserve innocence”

Should children with white skin be allowed to grow up happy, healthy and shielded from the horrors of this wicked world? Not according to activist and self-proclaimed “anti-racist” Tim Wise, who recently told CNN‘s Poppy Harlow that white kids do not “deserve innocence.”

Instead of being allowed to play with their friends, ride their bicycles, and color, white children should be exposed to social justice warrior propaganda and made to feel guilty about their “white privilege” at as young of an age as possible, Wise says.

“I think the important thing for white parents to keep in the front of our mind is that if black children in this country are not allowed innocence and childhood without fear of being killed by police or marginalized in some other way, then our children don’t deserve innocence,” Wise declared during the segment.

“If Tamir Rice can be shot dead in a public park playing with a toy gun, something white children do all over this country every day without the same fear of being shot, if Tamir Rice can be killed, then white children need to be told at least at the same age, if they can’t be innocent, we don’t get to be innocent.”

Since he loves his airtime, Wise also recently appeared on CBS to talk about the same subject. He declared during this one that Americans have “been taught to have contempt for black life,” and thus need to have their white children mentally and even physically damaged to level the playing field.

“If we could keep that in the front of our minds, then perhaps we would be able to hear what black and brown folks are telling us every day and have been for many years,” Wise said.

These are amazingly racist claims for someone who claims to be anti-racist, though we know that only white people are racist, according to liberals like Wise. Everyone else is merely a victim of racism, even when they target white people with discrimination or violence.

https://dcdirtylaundry.com/cnn-calls-for-violence-against-white-children-says-they-dont-deserve-innocence/

Mexico: The Evolution Of The Drug Wars And The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación

Amidst the escalating violence and chaos of the drug wars in Mexico over the last two decades, one group has emerged as the dominant force amongst the numerous cartels and other organized crime and illegal armed groups – the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generaciòn.

Notwithstanding some important differences, there are also many parallels between the situation with respect the emergence and proliferation of powerful drug cartels and the explosion of related violence, crime and corruption in Mexico and Colombia. From relatively humble beginnings, both countries saw the emergence of a small number of centralized cartels which came to control the lion’s share of the drug trade within a short period of time.

During the 1980s, most of the drug trade in Mexico (mainly marijuana, cocaine and opium at that time), and from there to the US, was controlled by the Guadalajara Cartel under the leadership of Miguel Angel Felix Quintero, who managed to arrange a pact with other groups to avoid competition and disputes. In Colombia the burgeoning cocaine production was almost entirely under the control of the cartels based in Medellin (ostensibly under the leadership of Pablo Escobar) and Cali (headed by the Orejuela brothers) respectively. Towards the end of the decade Mexico became the main transport corridor for cocaine from Colombia to the US, and cooperation between the cartels in each country increased.

Following violent disputes and increasingly successful joint operations against the leadership of the cartels in both countries, from the early 1990s the main cartels were broken up and fragmented into smaller groups which were more difficult to identify and confront. Despite the widely acclaimed successes in capturing or killing the most prominent figures, the overall volume of production and trade of illegal drugs was not significantly affected.

Over time, the main cartels once again grew in size and capacity due to the vast revenues generated, sometimes cooperating to allocate market share, specific activities and regions, sometimes engaging in extremely violent and destructive feuds to take over or eliminate their rivals. In Colombia, the paramilitary groups and insurgent groups came to dominate the drug trade during the 1990s.

Irrespective of whether illicit drug production and distribution has been controlled by a small number of large ‘cartels’ or illegal armed groups or a large number of smaller gangs, overall levels of production and supply have not been significantly affected notwithstanding the vast quantities of resources dedicated to the drug wars by the US and other countries in the region.

https://southfront.org/mexico-the-evolution-of-the-drug-wars-and-the-cartel-jalisco-nueva-generacion/

Part 1

>>9647667

The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación has been well placed to adopt this strategy, its superior firepower enabling it to annihilate smaller groups in many areas and assume responsibility for imposing social order and control in areas where State security forces are unable or unwilling to do so, its vast revenues enabling it to provide employment, fund community projects and run extensive propaganda campaigns.

In areas where their presence is strongest, cartels and other illegal armed groups have moved beyond controlling the illegal markets as such to controlling every aspect of the lives of the residents in the area, imposing ‘taxes’ on businesses and specific social or economic sectors or transactions and supporting politicians willing to collaborate with them (and brutally murdering those who refuse to collaborate). Their rule is achieved primarily through terror and exemplary punishments or, alternatively, random massacres demonstrating incredible acts of cruelty and brutality to demonstrate their power and impunity and dissuade any thought of resistance or non-collaboration.

In Colombia, the antecedents of such events can be traced directly to the counter-insurgency doctrine, practiced by the Colombian ruling classes in rudimentary form over many years and ‘perfected’ by the US as its direct and indirect participation in Colombia’s social and armed conflict increased, particularly during and since the 1960s. LINK

As with the cartels and paramilitary groups in Colombia, their counterparts in Mexico have also benefited enormously by recruiting extensively from the security forces and infiltrating them directly. Although the links between local and national political and economic elites, landlords and ‘public security forces’ (or private security companies and militias) are not as direct and explicit in Mexico as in Colombia, and tend to be obfuscated by the high levels of more generalized violence, illegality and corruption, in many cases similar trends can be discerned in the sense that acts of exemplary brutality by illegal armed groups designed to terrorize and forcibly displace or control particular communities in rural and remote zones often benefit local and national elites, rarely oppose or confront them, and often take place without the slightest interference by the police or military even in zones where they have been deployed in force.

According to an April 2019 report of the University of San Diego’s Justice in Mexico project:

“The ability of organized crime groups to thrive hinges critically on the acquiescence, protection, and even active involvement of corrupt government officials, as well as corrupt private sector elites, who share the benefits of illicit economic activities.”

In this way, the violence associated with the drug trade (and in Colombia with the long-running armed conflict) overlaps with many traditional sources of disputes, such as over land (typically between landlords and small holders) and natural resources (between companies and rural and Indigenous communities). Invariably the illegal armed groups end up serving the interests of the landlords and agribusiness corporations, usually with cover provided by politicians, police and military personnel.

https://youtu.be/U1xwbbd3b3k

Part 2

>>9647710

The most recent splintering of the large DTOs into competing factions and gangs of different sizes began around 2017 and continues today. The proliferation of smaller and more specialized crime groups has made the crime situation even more diffuse and the groups’ criminal behaviour harder to eradicate. Moreover, often the various smaller organizations resist the imposition of agreements to limit violence. The growth of rivalries among a greater number of organized crime and illegal armed groups has produced continued violence, notwithstanding that these smaller and more fragmented groups are “less able to threaten the State and less endowed with impunity.”

The older, large DTOs tended to be hierarchical, often bound by familial ties and led by high profile cartel kingpins. In many cases however they have been replaced by flatter, more nimble organizations that tend to be loosely networked. The larger groups that remain, of which the Cartel Jalisco-Nueva Generación (CJNG) is currently widely reported to be the largest and most powerful, are also increasingly resorting to the outsourcing of certain aspects of production, trafficking and other activities. The ascendency of the CJNG in recent times has been facilitated by the relative decline of the once all-powerful Sinaloa cartel whose notorious chief, Joaquin Guzmán Loera (“El Chapo”), received a life sentence in a maximum-security US prison in July 2019.

https://youtu.be/EcjRXcVqnOY

The Cartel Jalisco-New Generation

The report completed by the Congressional Research Service in 2019 (Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations) describes the emergence and subsequent expansion of the Cartel Jalisco-New Generation:

Originally known as the Zeta Killers, the CJNG made its first appearance in 2011 with a roadside display of the bodies of 35 alleged members of Los Zetas. The group is based in Jalisco state with operations in central Mexico, including the states of Colima, Michoacán, Mexico State, Guerrero, and Guanajuato. It has grown into a dominant force in the states of the Tierra Caliente, including Guerrero and Michoacán. Reportedly, it has been led by many former associates of slain Sinaloa DTO leader Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel, who operated his faction in Jalisco until he was killed by Mexico’s security forces in July 2010. CJNG has early roots in the Milenio Cartel, which was active in the tierra caliente region of southern Mexico before it disintegrated in 2009. The group is a by-product of the Milenio Cartel’s collapse and was allied with the Sinaloa federation until 2014.

Cartel Jalisco-New Generation reportedly served as an enforcement group for the Sinaloa DTO until summer 2013. Analysts and Mexican authorities have suggested the split between Sinaloa and CJNG is one of the many indications of a general fragmentation of crime groups. Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” a top wanted fugitive by the DEA, is the group’s current leader. The Mexican military delivered a blow to the CJNG with the July 2013 capture of its leader’s deputy, Victor Hugo “El Tornado” Delgado Renteria. In January 2014, the Mexican government arrested the leader’s son, Rubén Oseguera González (also known as “El Menchito”), believed to be CJNG’s second-in-command. However, El Menchito, who has dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship, was released in December 2014 due to lack of evidence in a federal case. Captured again in late June 2015, El Menchito was again released by a judge. On July 3, 2015, he was rearrested by Mexican authorities; he is being held in the Miahutlan, Oaxaca, maximum-security prison. (He was finally extradited to the US early in 2020.)

In 2015, the Mexican government declared CJNG one of the most dangerous cartels in the country and one of two with the most extensive reach. In October 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury echoed the Mexican government when it described the group as one of the world’s “most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations.” According to some analysts, CJNG has operations throughout the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The group allegedly is responsible for distributing cocaine and methamphetamine along “10,000 kilometers of the Pacific coast in a route that extends from the Southern Cone to the border of the United States and Canada.”

Part 3

End

Northrop Grumman Accused Of Fueling False ‘Revenge Porn’ Allegations Against CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou

Northrop Grumman, the third largest military contractor in the world, was allegedly involved in falsely accusing CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou of “revenge porn.”

The false accusation allegedly resulted in his arrest, improper charges, and a police raid that violated his privacy rights.

A civil lawsuit further claims the false accusation contributed to the “loss of contact” with his three children, who are eight, 13, and 15 years old.

He seeks damages from Northrop, John Bamford, an Arlington County police detective, and his ex-wife Heather Kiriakou.

In 2007, Kiriakou was one of the first CIA officers to publicly acknowledge that torture was official United States policy under President George W. Bush. His outspokenness on torture led the government to target him with a leak prosecution under the Espionage Act.

He pled guilty in 2012 to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA), when he confirmed the name of an officer involved in the CIA’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogation (RDI) program to a reporter.

Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. He was incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Loretto in Pennsylvania, nearly 200 miles away from his children.

He is currently a co-host of the “Loud and Clear” radio program on Sputnik, a writer whose work is regularly featured at Consortium News, and an author of four books, including his most recent book, The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis.

Much of his commentary involves advocacy that is critical of United States foreign policy, which may directly challenge Northrop’s business interests.

According to the complaint [PDF], Heather was allegedly involved in an affair with a Northrop executive. John contacted Northrop’s ethics office in July 2018 to inform them that he “possessed documents” showing Heather, a director of global business development at Northrop, and an executive “fraudulently billed” the company for “business travel.” However, they were engaged in “tens of thousands of dollars” of “personal travel” that involved cheating on him.

The ethics office allegedly “instructed” John to transmit the documents he claimed he possessed, but subsequently, Northrop shared the documents with Heather and engaged in retaliation.

On August 9, 2019, John Bamford, a detective with the Arlington County Police Department, arrested and charged John Kiriakou with “two counts of illegal dissemination of photographs.”

Bamford obtained search warrants on October 11 for John’s person, vehicles, and home to investigate accusations of “revenge porn” that were apparently false.

The lawsuit contends Bamford knew the search warrants violated the Fourth Amendment because they were not supported by evidence of “revenge porn.”

https://shadowproof.com/2020/06/16/northrop-grumman-false-revenge-porn-accusations-cia-whistleblower/

Bolton's Book Revealed In Coordinated Leaks, Claims Trump Asked Xi Favor, Dems Fumbled Impeachment

An anti-Trump book written by Former National Security Adviser John Bolton has leaked to the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

In it, the disappointed Iran war hawk says that House Democrats should have conducted a broader probe into President Trump beyond Ukraine, "for a variety of instances when he sought to intervene in law enforcement matters for political reasons."

Mr. Bolton describes several episodes where the president expressed willingness to halt criminal investigations “to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked,” citing cases involving major firms in China and Turkey. “The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life, which we couldn’t accept,” Mr. Bolton writes, adding that he reported his concerns to Attorney General William P. Barr.

Mr. Bolton also adds a striking new allegation by saying that Mr. Trump overtly linked trade negotiations to his own political fortunes by asking President Xi Jinping of China to buy a lot of American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year’s election. Mr. Trump, he writes, was “pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome.” -NYT

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/boltons-book-revealed-coordinated-leaks-claims-trump-asked-xi-favor-dems-fumbled

UK House of Lords votes to force nearly-unlimited abortion on Northern Ireland

The country's own assembly had rejected the regulations.

The United Kingdom’s House of Lords voted overwhelmingly Monday to impose abortion-on-demand onto Northern Ireland, despite the will of her people and elected representatives.

Last year, the UK Parliament voted to repeal Sections 58 and 59 of Northern Ireland’s 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which forbid both women and doctors from committing abortions. Complicating the issue was the fact that Northern Ireland’s assembly had been suspended for more than two years.

But the assembly has since reconvened, and on June 2 voted to reject the proposed replacement regulations, which would allow abortion up to 24 weeks and abortions up to birth on the basis of “disability.”

That didn’t matter to the House of Lords, however, which voted 355-77 approve the regulations, Catholic News Agency reported. The issue must now be voted on by the House of Commons, which is slated for Wednesday.

“We now have a functioning Northern Ireland Assembly. Abortion is a devolved matter. The assembly voted to reject these regulations on June 2,” argued independent Lords member Nuala O’Loan. “I ask you to listen to the people of Northern Ireland. Listen to our assembly. Do not approve these regulations."

Monday’s vote “made a mockery of democracy,” added independent Lords member David Alton. “The political elites wonder why people have become so alienated and disillusioned with them – this evening’s proceedings should give them the answer.”

Faithwire’s Will Maule noted that Northern Ireland saw just 13 abortions from 2016 to 2017, whereas England and Wales saw an estimated 200,000. In just two months after repeal taking effect, March 31 to May 22, Northern Ireland saw 129 abortions.

“Seventy-nine percent of the people in Northern Ireland who responded to the public consultation rejected the government’s proposals regarding the abortion regime,” says the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/uk-house-of-lords-votes-to-force-nearly-unlimited-abortion-on-northern-ireland

China Pledges to Cancel African Debt Amid COVID-19 Outbreak, President Says

China will cancel the debt of several African countries in the form of interest-free government loans and will accelerate the construction of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) headquarters, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, amid the global coronavirus disease epidemic.

"China will start ahead of schedule the construction of the Africa CDC headquarters this year. China will work with Africa to fully deliver the health care initiative adopted at the FOCAC Beijing Summit, and speed up the construction of China-Africa Friendship Hospitals and the cooperation between paired-up Chinese and African hospitals," president Xi said during the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19 in Beijing.

He also outlined the process of debt cancellation for a number of African countries.

"Within the FOCAC [Forum on China-Africa Cooperation] framework, China will cancel the debt of relevant African countries in the form of interest-free government loans that are due to mature by the end of 2020. For those African countries that are hardest hit by the coronavirus and are under heavy financial stress, China will work with the global community to give them greater support, by such means as further extending the period of debt suspension, to help them tide over the current difficulty," Xi promised, adding that Beijing hopes other countries and financial institutions follow suit.

China and Africa have been enjoying a mutually beneficial partnership in various areas for decades, with the FOCAC serving as the main platform for facilitating cooperation between Beijing and its partners on the continent.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/202006171079644282-china-pledges-to-cancel-african-debt-amid-covid-19-outbreak-president-says/