December 30, 2021

Oath Keepers leader who allegedly incited crowd to storm the U.S. Capitol is discovered by journalists living openly on his ranch in Arizona. “… [Ray Epps] was named Suspect 16 when the FBI published images in its Capitol Violence Most Wanted list of people to identify two days after the insurrection…. Suspicion has fallen on him from some right-wing quarters speculating a fringe theory that he was sent out to help incite the riot on behalf of the federal government…. Epps – who was quickly identified from the January wanted list – was highlighted again in October’s House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing of the Department of Justice…. U.S Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) showed video clips of Epps repeatedly encouraging protestors on the streets of DC to ‘go into’ the Capitol.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10347577/Ex-Marine-accused-FBI-plant-sent-incite-Jan-6-riot-pictured-ranch.html

Death of Kansas teen in juvenile detention ruled a homicide. “Authorities arrested [Cedric] Lofton in Wichita on Sept. 24 after he began ‘exhibiting erratic and aggressive behavior toward his foster family’…. After Lofton reportedly began fighting with staff at the juvenile center in the early morning hours, the teen’s ankles were shackled, he was rolled onto his abdomen, and his wrists were handcuffed behind his back at 5:08 a.m….. four minutes later, staff members couldn’t find a pulse, began chest compressions, and called for emergency medical assistance.”   https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxdxqq/cedric-lofton-death-ruled-homicide

Far-right party in Guatemala seeking amnesties for war criminals. “… an estimated 45,000 people who disappeared during the civil war that raged between the Guatemalan military and leftist guerrilla forces between 1960 and 1996…. An estimated 200,000 people were killed during Guatemala’s armed conflict, including in more than 600 documented massacres around the country. More than 80 percent of the victims were Indigenous Maya civilians, and the military was responsible for more than 90 percent of atrocities, according to a United Nations-backed truth commission, which also concluded that state actors committed acts of genocide…. nine legislators from the ultra-conservative Valor Party presented a bill that would free all ex-military personnel and paramilitary patrolmen convicted or accused of [war] crimes during the armed conflict.”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/29/guatemalans-still-seek-justice-25-years-after-civil-wars-end

Los Angeles police kill five people in nine days. “This year, the LAPD killed more than double the number of civilians than in 2020. And while it’s unclear what’s driving the increase, activists argue that LAPD officers have been emboldened to use lethal force in careless and unwarranted ways after seeing their colleagues face little, if any, repercussions…. During the past week and a half, [Los Angeles police officers] shot six people, including [bystander Valentina] Orellana-Peralta. Five of the people shot by LAPD around the Christmas holiday have died, and none were armed with guns, according to official accounts.”  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/30/los-angeles-police-department-killings-lapd-valentina-orellana-peralta

Comet comedy Don’t Look Up spoofs climate crisis. “By now, the imminent collision with comet Diabasky is confirmed by scientists around the world. After political winds shift, the president initiates a mission to divert the comet, but changes her mind at the last moment when urged to do so by a billionaire donor (Mark Rylance) with his own plan to guide it to a safe landing, using unproven technology, in order to claim its precious metals…. After 15 years of working to raise climate urgency, I’ve concluded that the public in general, and world leaders in particular, underestimate how rapid, serious and permanent climate and ecological breakdown will be if humanity fails to mobilize…. [The movie is] funny and terrifying because it conveys a certain cold truth that climate scientists and others who understand the full depth of the climate emergency are living every day.”   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/29/climate-scientist-dont-look-up-madness

Research consortium receives approval for unpatented coronavirus vaccine. “An unpatented Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, and the pharmaceutical firm Biological E. Limited received emergency-use authorization from Indian regulators on Tuesday—news that the jab’s creators hailed as a potential turning point in the push to broaden global vaccine access…. Formally known as Corbevax, the protein-based vaccine has been nicknamed ‘The World’s Covid-19 Vaccine’ because it is not patented, meaning that manufacturers across the globe can produce the shot without fear of legal retribution from governments or private companies.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/12/28/unpatented-shot-dubbed-worlds-covid-19-vaccine-wins-emergency-approval-india

December 29, 2021

Hong Kong news website to be taken down after police raid. “Police raided Stand News’ office earlier in the day after arresting the six [current and former editors and board members], including popular singer and activist Denise Ho, a former board member, on charges of conspiracy to publish a seditious publication. More than 200 officers were involved in the search, police said.”   https://apnews.com/article/business-media-crime-arrests-hong-kong-2315777ace6e85c58eeb876c6c66feba

Man who killed five unarmed people in Denver shooting spree was a ‘toxic masculinity’ author, was killed by a female police officer – after he shot her. “[Lyndon] McLeod… lived in a shipping container up a mountain, glorifying in a life free of women and full of ‘books, guns and meat’…. ‘Our entire society is made up of shitty little f**ks who insult badasses & get away with it because law enforcement & social norms protect the WEAK from the STRONG,’ he tweeted. ‘I’m over it. The weak better buckle up… s*** is about to get real.’…. Mcleod had a business or personal relationship with the victims, authorities said.”   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10351893/The-weak-better-buckle-Denver-gunman-espoused-alt-right-masculine-supremacy-theories.html   Quien es mas macho? (Who is more macho?)

Kodiak, Alaska records highest December temperature in the state’s history. “The temperature readings in Kodiak did not merely edge out some previous record by a degree or two; the 65 degrees reported at the airport was 20 degrees higher than the previous high temperature record of 45 degrees set on Dec. 26, 1984, the National Weather Service reported…. ‘It is the warmest temperature on record for anytime between October 5th and April 21st…meaning this would’ve set monthly records in Nov, Jan, Feb, and Mar as well.'”   https://news.yahoo.com/67-degrees-in-alaska-climate-change-continues-to-topple-temperature-records-193405514.html

Lawyer who co-represented ‘Jane Roe’ dies at 76. “Roe v. Wade, which [Linda] Coffee and [Sarah] Weddington filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, was not the only abortion rights case winding its way through the federal courts at the time. But it became by far the most consequential when it reached the Supreme Court. Coffee had prepared the original lawsuit, but Ms. Weddington argued the case before the Supreme Court justices. Coffee was ‘brilliant’ but ‘bedraggled’, Prager wrote. Ms. Weddington, by contrast, was polished and more comfortable in the spotlight.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2021/12/28/roe-wade-sarah-weddington-dead/

Pittsburgh officials ban police traffic stops for violations that don’t involve traffic violations. “City council members approved a bill, 8-1, that would stop officers from pulling drivers over for secondary violations…. [which are] low-level offenses, such as tinted windows, burnt-out tail lights or a lack of inspection stickers. The legislation will be implemented in 120 days, so it won’t be in effect for around another four months.”   https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2021/12/28/traffic-stops-bill-pittsburgh/

Save the Children employees confirmed dead in government attack in rural Myanmar. “[The relief group] said the two staff members were caught up in the attack in Kayah state as they were traveling back to their office after conducting humanitarian activities in a nearby community…. photos show the charred bodies of over 30 people in three burned-out vehicles who were reportedly shot by government troops as they were fleeing combat.”   https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/save-children-staff-confirmed-dead-myanmar-massacre-81969311

More than 1,400 Afghan children were reportedly airlifted out of the country without their parents. “According to numbers from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement obtained by the outlet, 1,450 children have been brought to the US without their parents or guardians. Many were released to live with sponsors, such as family members they traveled with or relatives already in the US. Around 250, however, are still in government custody and many of them have no family in America, according to the report.”   https://nypost.com/2021/12/28/afghanistans-orphans-1400-kids-evacuated-without-parents/

Almost 3,000 Afghans stranded abroad while awaiting resettlement. “… approximately 2,900 people… are at lily pad locations overseas that the United States used to process evacuees prior to their arrival to the US…. [Aminullah] Hotaki does not have his passport with him because he dropped it at the US embassy in Kabul just days before the Taliban took over, he told CNN…. the Afghan, who worked doing IT for US forces in Kandahar for years, never got his passport back because the US [embassy employees] had to flee the embassy.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/29/politics/afghan-refugees-wait/index.html   Reminds me of the time U.S. consulate staffers fled Wuhan, China, leaving behind a large number of stranded U.S. citizens.

Moscow court orders human rights group to disband. “A court in Moscow ordered the closure of the Memorial Human Rights Center on Wednesday, in the latest blow to Russian civil society groups…. The Memorial Human Rights Center and Memorial International are separate legal entities. The first focuses on oppression in modern Russia, while the second [which has also been ordered to close] works to expose the abuses and atrocities of the Stalinist era.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/29/europe/memorial-human-right-moscow-court-intl/index.html

Novel version of Bambi was allegedly about anti-semitism. “[Felix] Salten’s novel, Bambi, a Life in the Woods, is completely different [than the Disney movie]…. From the moment he is born, Bambi is under constant threat from hunters who invade the forest and attack indiscriminately. ‘They kill whatever animal they want.’ …. It soon becomes apparent that the forest animals are living out their lives in fear…”   https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/dec/25/bambi-cute-lovable-vulnerable-or-a-dark-parable-of-antisemitic-terror

Radio Denmark documentary looks into possible CIA funded research project that allegedly used orphaned children to investigate schizophrenia and psychopathic personality traits. “The research experiments have come to light in connection with a new DR One documentary series, ‘The hunt for myself‘, which premieres today. Here, director Per Wennick digs into the mysterious tests he participated in as a child without knowing the background to them…. The studies involved 311 Danish children. They began in the early 1960s and were to investigate the link between heredity and environment in the development of schizophrenia…. In 1977, it became [an unpublished] doctoral dissertation by the Danish psychiatrist Fini Schulsinger with the title ‘Some studies to shed light on the connection between heredity and environment in psychiatry’.… In a former freezer room in the basement under Psychiatric Center Glostrup in their ward in Hvidovre…. [Wennick found] 36 boxes of material about the research project. But before Per Wennick has time to apply [for] access to the boxes, which have been stored for more than 60 years, the center begins to shred the papers.”   https://www-dr-dk.translate.goog/nyheder/indland/danske-boernehjemsboern-brugt-i-hemmelig-undersoegelse-stoettet-af-cia   Translated from Danish using Google translate. RT is also covering this story, but I thought it would be safer to go to the Danish source.

Journalist claims U.S. and Saudi Arabia tried to use al Qaeda and other Sunni extremist groups to bring down the Syrian government. “According to a U.S. government consultant, ‘[Saudi intelligence chief Prince] Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House that ‘they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was ‘We’ve created this movement, and we can control it.’ …. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) were dispatched to Syria from neighboring Iraq starting in late 2010. Starting in March 2011, they began attacking Syrian security forces, police, and soldiers under the cover of anti-government protests. Militants from Fatah al-Islam were dispatched from Lebanon to Syria for the same purpose as early as April 2011. Militants from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) began fighting in Syria in October 2011, after successfully toppling the Libyan government under the cover of NATO airpower.”   https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/salafis-throwing-bombs-how-american-and-british-planners-partnered-with-al-qaeda-affiliated-groups-at-the-start-of-the-syrian-civil-war/   “A second and little-regarded theme of [Seymour] Hersh’s article is what the CIA called the rat line, the supply chain for the Syrian rebels overseen by the US in covert cooperation with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The information about this comes from a highly classified and hitherto secret annex to the report by the US Senate Intelligence Committee on the attack by Libyan militiamen on the US consulate in Benghazi on 11 September 2012 in which US ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed. The annex deals with an operation in which the CIA, in cooperation with MI6, arranged the dispatch of arms from Mu’ammer Gaddafi’s arsenals to Turkey and then across the 500-mile long Turkish southern frontier with Syria.”   https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/mi6-the-cia-and-turkey-s-rogue-game-in-syria-9256551.html

December 28, 2021

President Biden signs off on $768 billion defense spending bill. “The bill rejects Biden’s $715 billion Pentagon budget request and instead calls for $740 billion for the Defense Department…. But the defense policy bill only authorizes spending, and doesn’t actually allocate any money. Lawmakers must still strike a deal to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year for the defense increase to become reality.”   https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/27/biden-signs-defense-policy-bill-526171   Or maybe that’s $778 billion. “The bill authorizes $740.3 billion for the Pentagon, $27.8 billion for the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons program, and $9.9 billion for ‘Defense-related Activities Outside NDAA Jurisdiction’. Many media outlets are reporting the NDAA as a $768 billion bill, ignoring the additional $9.9 billion.”   https://news.antiwar.com/2021/12/27/biden-signs-778-billion-ndaa-into-law/

Men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor claim they were set up by FBI informants. “‘In this case, the undisputed evidence… establishes that government agents and informants concocted, hatched, and pushed this ‘kidnapping plan’ from the beginning, doing so against defendants who explicitly repudiated the plan,’ attorneys Scott Graham, Christopher Gibbons, Joshua Blanchard, Julia Kelly and Michael Hills wrote in the motion to dismiss. They said that a government informant – among a dozen involved in the case – first brought up the idea of kidnapping…. They said that federal agents told ‘Dan’, [an] informant, to propose property crimes after the defendants rejected violence.”   https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2021/12/fbi-informants-drove-plot-to-kidnap-gov-whitmer-charges-should-be-dropped-defendants-say.html

Islamic State killed hundreds of people in 2021. “In the first 11 months of the year ‘ISIS militants conducted 229 attacks in disputed territories, as result of which 356 people were martyred, 480 were injured and 33 were kidnapped,’ the Secretary-General of the Ministry of [Defense] Jabar Yawar told Rudaw. ISIS seized control of swaths of land in Iraq in 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017, but it remains a serious security threat.”   https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/27122021

Syria accuses Israel of airstrike on major port. “Israeli warplanes fired a number of missiles at the port of the coastal city of Latakia early Tuesday morning, causing large explosions and fires, in the second alleged Israeli strike in a month on the key facility. For years, Israel avoided conducting strikes against the Latakia port due to the large presence of Russian forces nearby, despite Iran allegedly using the terminal to transport advanced munitions through it to its proxies in the region, notably the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group.”   https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-airstrikes-said-to-hit-key-syrian-port-of-latakia-causing-massive-damage/

Committee to Protect Journalists snubs imprisoned journalist Julian Assange for third consecutive year. “The chair of CPJ’s board of directors is Kathleen Carroll, who was the executive editor of the Associated Press when WikiLeaks obtained [leaked] documents from [Chelsea] Manning. AP objected to the terms of the arrangement offered by WikiLeaks and chose not to work on the documents with WikiLeaks.”   https://thedissenter.org/cpj-still-excludes-assange-jailed-journalist-index/

Russian court shuts down the country’s oldest human rights group, calling it a ‘foreign agent’. “Memorial was founded in the late 1980s to document political repressions carried out under the Soviet Union, building a database of victims of the Great Terror and gulag camps. It has also grown into an important advocate for the cause of human rights in Russia, spawning branches and initiatives in many of Russia’s more than 80 regions…. The Russian prosecutor portrayed the organisation as a geopolitical weapon used by foreign governments to deprive modern Russians of taking pride in the achievements of the Soviet Union.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/28/russian-court-memorial-human-rights-group-closure

The ten worst climate disasters of 2021 caused $170 billion in damage. “In the United States, the Texas Winter Storm earlier this year that cost $23 billion came in as the third most destructive event worldwide in 2021 while the devastation of Hurricane Ida, totaling $65 billion across numerous states, took the number one spot. At $43 billion, extreme floods that hit European nations over the summer collectively represented the second-most costly disaster of the year.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/12/27/worlds-top-2021-climate-disasters-cost-nearly-200-billion-study

Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Newark, New Jersey planning to require city permits to share food in public. “The [Murfeesboro] rule would require a permit each time someone hands out food, and requires people to take food safety classes before they can qualify for a permit…. in Newark, the city changed its tune slightly ‘and said that groups who give out food would need a permit and that the new rule would be specifically targeted at those who give food to the homeless.'”   https://reason.com/2021/12/25/cities-undermine-the-holiday-spirit-with-unconstitutional-bans-on-sharing-food-with-the-homeless/   Sharing food at a family reunion, club or company party, or church picnic held in a public park is apparently still ok, just as long as you don’t feed any homeless people!

December 27, 2021

Unusually high Christmas Day temperatures in parts of southern U.S. “Christmas 2021 was the hottest Christmas on record in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. A weather service observation station in Rio Grande Village in Texas recorded a high temperature of 94 degrees on Saturday, Christmas Day.”   https://www.al.com/news/2021/12/christmas-2021-hottest-on-record-in-the-us-national-weather-service-says.html

UFO sightings and ‘close encounters’ in Northern Ireland not being investigated by police. “Police received eight sightings in Northern Ireland during 2021…. In July there was a report of ‘strange images’ on CCTV in a house in the Newtownabbey area and a dome-shaped object with eight lights in the sky reported in the Saintfield area. In September a report was received in the Lisburn area of ‘aliens in bedroom’, while in October a detained patient reported having been abducted by aliens…. A [police] spokesperson said no investigations had been carried out in relation to these incidents.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/26/aliens-in-bedroom-ufo-sightings-on-the-rise-in-northern-ireland

178 protesters injured in clashes with Sudanese security forces. “The Sudanese Doctors Committee revealed on Sunday that nearly 180 people were injured during demonstrations a day earlier, [eight] with live bullets…. Thousands of Sudanese protesters rallied on Saturday two months on since a military coup, calling for a transition to civilian rule…. At least 48 people have died in crackdowns during weeks of protests…”   https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/sudan-medial-committee-says-178-injured-saturday-protests

Edward Snowden describes his decision to blow the whistle on the government’s mass, warrantless surveillance programs. “… when you first enter on duty at the CIA…. You raise your hand and say, you know, ‘I,’ — state your name, whatever — ‘do solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’ …. On one hand, you’re supposed to keep these secrets of government, because this is all classified information that we’re discussing. The fact that the government is breaking the law is itself a secret. But when the government’s lawbreaking is a violation of the Constitution that you entered into duty to uphold, what then do you do?”   https://www.democracynow.org/2021/12/24/edward_snowden_glenn_greenwald_chris_hedges

Russian historian sentenced to 15 years in prison. “Supporters say [Yuri] Dmitriyev, 65, is being targeted because of his efforts to expose the horrors of the Soviet era under Joseph Stalin. Dmitriyev is also the local head of Memorial, the country’s most prominent rights group, which may be shut down by the courts this week…. Dmitriyev spent decades locating and exhuming mass graves of people killed under Stalin’s rule and set up a memorial to them in the Karelia region of the north-west of Russia. In recent years he has faced a series of trials on a number of charges including sexually abusing his adopted daughter. He has pleaded not guilty.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/27/russian-court-increases-jail-sentence-for-gulag-historian   Dmitriyev has apparently been charged previously with producing child pornography and possession of shotgun parts, but was found not guilty of those charges.

December 26, 2021

On 30th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union, most living there feel the former socialist economic system was better. “A poll published in September by the independent Levada Center demonstrated that some 49% of respondents said they ‘would prefer the Soviet political system’, by far the most of any option, and ‘the highest number since the early 2000s’. Only 18% chose the current political system, while just 16% favored ‘the Western model of democracy’. The Soviet economic system was even more popular, with 62% preferring policies of ‘state planning and distribution’, marking a record high that is the ‘maximum in the entire history of observations’. Some 24% opted for ‘a system based on private property and market relations’.”   https://www.newsweek.com/russia-impossible-revive-ussr-us-concerns-rising-popularity-1657409   I wouldn’t want to live in a one-party police state (or a two-party police state), but socialism does seem to be a more rational economic system.

Anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu dies at 90. “Talking and traveling tirelessly throughout the 1980s, Tutu became the face of the anti-apartheid movement abroad while many of the leaders of the rebel African National Congress (ANC), such as Nelson Mandela, were behind bars. ‘Our land is burning and bleeding and so I call on the international community to apply punitive sanctions against this government,’ he said in 1986…. While Mandela introduced South Africa to democracy, Tutu headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that laid bare the terrible truths of the war against white rule.”   https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africas-tutu-anti-apartheid-hero-who-never-stopped-fighting-rainbow-nation-2021-12-26/   I think that last sentence should be, “… of the war against black South Africans seeking equality.” No doubt crimes were committed by both sides, but the apartheid regime was, by far, responsible for most of the violence.

Black bicyclist sues Norfolk, Virginia police over his violent arrest in 2018 for riding without a headlight. “… the first two minutes of the video… show [Officer Aaron] Christie exit his police cruiser and chase and tackle [Derrick] Rountree. Rountree’s right leg was broken in three places when the officer fell on him, according to the lawsuit…. Rountree was charged afterward with the headlight infraction, as well as obstruction of justice. The obstruction charge was later dismissed, and Rountree was fined $15 for not having a headlight, court records show.”   https://www.pilotonline.com/news/crime/vp-nw-bike-injury-lawsuit-20211219-a5ymjmwyrvanbnab73nxvly3ey-story.html

Los Angeles police say no firearm found in fatal shooting of assault suspect and 14 year-old bystander at clothing store. “‘While conducting that search for a suspect, the officers encountered an individual who was in the process of assaulting another and an officer-involved shooting occurred.’ The suspect was fatally shot in the chest, police said. He was identified by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office as 24-year-old Daniel Elena Lopez…. during a subsequent search, police found a hole in a stretch of drywall that was in front of the officer or officers who opened fire at the suspect…. a 14-year-old female… was found deceased in that dressing room…. ‘We did not find a gun.'”   https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/12/25/daniel-elena-lopez-24-year-old-assault-suspect-killed-thursday-by-lapd-in-north-hollywood-had-extensive-criminal-history/

Wright county, Minnesota sheriff’s deputy hits and kills 84 year-old pedestrian. “The circumstances of the crash are unclear. Troopers say the deputy was on his way to the call when he struck 84-year-old Harold Welter in a driveway. Troopers did not provide further detail on how the squad ended up in the driveway, but the incident report noted snowy and icy conditions on the road.”   https://www.fox9.com/news/84-year-old-st-michael-man-dies-after-being-struck-by-deputy-responding-to-call

Three women in El Salvador serving 30 year prison sentences for having abortions are released. “The three are among at least 17 Salvadoran women activists consider unjustly convicted and imprisoned following obstetric emergencies and who have been at the center of a campaign against El Salvador’s absolute law against abortions.”   https://www.npr.org/2021/12/25/1068020235/el-salvador-abortion-women-freed

At least 30 killed in another military attack on civilians in Myanmar. “At least 30 people, including women and children, were killed in the eastern Myanmar state of Kayah on Friday, according to the Karenni Human Rights Group, with two members of the international humanitarian group Save the Children still missing…. The people were in seven vehicles and did not stop for the military, [government media] said.”   https://www.eastidahonews.com/2021/12/more-than-30-reported-killed-save-the-children-staff-missing-in-myanmar-attack/

Political prisoner support group in Russia has its website blocked. “OVD-Info reported that Russia’s internet and communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, blocked the group’s website. The organization said in a tweet that it wasn’t formally notified about the decision and doesn’t know the reason for the action beyond that it was ordered by a court outside Moscow on Monday…. [it] urged supporters to follow its pages on a number of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Russian social network VK and messaging app Telegram.”   https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russia-blocks-website-group-tracks-political-arrests-81937491

More Tiananmen Square massacre memorials removed from Hong Kong college campuses. “On Friday, the Chinese University of Hong Kong removed a 20-foot bronze statue titled Goddess of Democracy…. Meanwhile, Lingnan University also said it took down a Tiananmen Massacre wall relief, citing ‘legal and safety risks to the university community’.”   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hong-kong-universities-remove-tiananmen-square-monuments/

Russia fines Google $98 million and Meta $27 million for not blocking banned content inside the country. “Russia has ordered companies to delete posts promoting drug abuse and dangerous pastimes, information about homemade weapons and explosives, as well as ones by groups it designates as extremist or ‘terrorist’.”   https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/12/24/russian-court-fines-alphabet-google-meta-platform

China allegedly helping Saudi Arabia acquire long-range missiles. “The assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies is that the kingdom, which is long thought to have acquired missiles from Beijing, is now manufacturing its own, according to a source familiar with the matter and a U.S. official…. [Mark] Fitzpatrick, a former State Department official, said at the time that other than a general desire to keep pace with Iran, Riyadh’s motivations for acquiring ballistic missiles were not entirely clear.”   https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/26/saudi-arabia-appears-to-be-building-its-own-ballistic-missiles-with-chinas-help.html

Hindu extremists accused of advocating genocide against Muslims. “Indian police said on Friday they had launched a hate-speech investigation into last week’s event in Haridwar, in northern Uttarakhand state, in which participants called for the mass killings and use of weapons against Muslims…. ‘Even if just a hundred of us become soldiers and kill two million of them, we will be victorious…'”   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/24/india-hindu-event-calling-for-genocide-of-muslims-sparks-outrage

In JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass, Oliver Stone delves into the JFK assassination again, but this time in a documentary format. “No matter how skeptical one might choose to be about conspiracy theories, there is simply too much evidence to ignore, too many suspicious details that undermine the lone gunman theory, too many credible reasons to believe that bigger players and masterminds than Lee Harvey Oswald were behind the act that changed the tenor of the country and arguably sent the United States in a more lamentable historical direction.”   https://deadline.com/2021/07/cannes-film-review-oliver-stone-jfk-revisited-through-the-looking-glass-1234793104/

December 24, 2021

Former Minnesota police officer found guilty of manslaughter in accidental fatal shooting of traffic stop suspect. “[Kimberly] Potter and another police officer pulled [Daunte] Wright over because there was an air freshener illegally hanging from his rearview mirror and his vehicle’s license tabs were expired. They then learned of a warrant for his arrest on a misdemeanor weapons charge and sought to detain him. Wright resisted, breaking free from the second officer. Potter then shouted, ‘Taser, Taser, Taser’ and fired [her service pistol] into Wright’s car…”   https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ex-minnesota-police-officer-found-guilty-manslaughter-shooting-daunte-wright-2021-12-23/

New law bans imports from Chinese province accused of using ethnic minority for forced labor. “The legislation bans imports from Xinjiang and imposes sanctions on individuals responsible for forced labor in the region. The measure marks Washington’s latest effort to curb the harsh treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in China.”   https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/23/us-bans-imports-from-chinas-xinjiang-region-citing-uyghur-forced-labor.html

Miami real estate agent suspected of killing multiple homeless people. “Physical evidence on the scene of both crimes quickly were matched by our ballistics experts, and we were able to identify a vehicle and a person of interest,” said [Interim Miami Police Chief Manuel] Morales…. “One of the lead investigators noticed a resemblance that the suspect of this incident had to a crime that took place where another homeless individual was horrifically murdered.”   https://wsvn.com/news/local/police-arrest-serial-killer-who-targeted-homeless-people-in-miami/

Julian Assange appeals his extradition to the U.S. “The assurances [given by the U.S. to the U.K. court] contain an error, perhaps by design, saying that ‘pre-trial’ Assange would not be held at [Florence, Colorado supermax prison] ADX, which is only a post-conviction facility. So at this point it is up to the High Court judges Lord Chief Justice Ian Duncan Burnett and Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde to find that their own judgment raised a point of ‘law of general public importance’ for Assange’s application to appeal to the Supreme Court to go ahead…. If the High Court refuses [to approve the appeal], Assange can then apply directly to the [U.K.’s] Supreme Court.”   https://consortiumnews.com/2021/12/23/assange-applies-for-appeal-to-uk-supreme-court/

Report outlines Republican Party efforts to undermine fair elections. “As we look toward 2022, we anticipate the anti-democratic strategy will consist of four key pillars: (i) changing the rules to make it easier to undermine the will of the voters; (ii) changing the people who defend our democratic system by sidelining, replacing, or attacking professional election officials; (iii) promoting controversial constitutional theories about our elections to justify partisan takeovers; and (iv) eroding public confidence and trust in elections,” the analysis notes. “These four pillars are the foundation for election sabotage, contrary to the will of the voters.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/12/24/report-spotlights-massive-gop-push-hijack-elections-country

December 23, 2021

University of Hong Kong removes statue commemorating Tiananmen Square massacre. “… it made the decision to remove the statue during a Wednesday meeting, ‘based on external legal advice and risk assessment for the best interest of the University.’ …. China has never provided a full account of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Officials gave a death toll of about 300, but rights groups and witnesses say thousands may have been killed.”   https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hong-kong-university-fences-off-tiananmen-statue-campus-2021-12-22/

Student loan payment pause extended until end of May. “Since March 2020, tens of millions of Americans have been able to hold off making regular payments on their federal student loans thanks to a pause, put in place first by the Trump administration, in response to the pandemic. When he became president, Biden extended the pause through September, and in August, he extended it again until Jan. 31, 2022, calling that a ‘final extension’. But Democrats on Capitol Hill pressured Biden to extend the pause again as the pandemic stretched on.”   https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-extends-student-loan-payment-pause/story?id=81897906

Fairfax county, Virginia police officers accused of obstructing sex trafficking investigation in return for sex. “An unidentified woman, referred to as “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit, alleges that 13 officers at the Fairfax County Police Department, including a captain and the former chief, berated, threatened, and coerced a detective who began looking into the trafficking ring until he dropped the investigation altogether. During that time, Doe and other victims of the operation were forced to provide free services to some of the officers, according to the suit.”   https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vbnx/fairfax-county-virginia-police-sex-trafficking-cover-up-lawasuit

Six employees at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama warehouse have allegedly died, activists claim some may have been ‘worked to death’. “Labor journalist Kim Kelly interviewed Amazon workers Isaiah Thomas and Perry Connelly for [the video] More Perfect Union. They discussed the deaths, including two people who died within hours of each other in late November…. The video notes that according to workers, at least two of the six employees who died were denied leave by managers.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/12/22/amazon-workers-speak-out-about-deaths-alabama-warehouse

Former Milwaukee County judge sentenced on child porn charges. “[U.S. District Judge James] Peterson… highlighted the egregious nature of the material [Brett] Blomme distributed, describing it as the ‘worst of the worst’, and considered Blomme’s illegal conduct while sitting as a judge as an aggravating factor in support of a nine-year prison sentence…. Blomme worked in children’s court at the Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa.”   https://www.courthousenews.com/milwaukee-judge-sentenced-to-9-years-in-prison-on-child-pornography-charges/

December 22, 2021

Popular ‘safety’ app accused of selling users’ precise location data. “Through interviews with two former employees of the company, along with two individuals who formerly worked at location data brokers Cuebiq and X-Mode, The Markup discovered that the [Life360] app acts as a firehose of data for a controversial industry that has operated in the shadows with few safeguards to prevent the misuse of this sensitive information.”   https://themarkup.org/privacy/2021/12/06/the-popular-family-safety-app-life360-is-selling-precise-location-data-on-its-tens-of-millions-of-user

Fox News host solicits Fauci ‘kill shot’ interview videos. “Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said that Fox News host Jesse Watters should be fired for using violent language at a conservative conference to encourage attendees to conduct an ambush interview with him in hopes of creating a viral moment…. ‘Now you go in for the kill shot. The kill shot? With an ambush? Deadly. Because he doesn’t see it coming,’ Watters said…. Watters’ comments come just weeks after Lara Logan, another Fox News personality who hosts a show on the channel’s streaming network, compared Fauci to a Nazi doctor infamous for experimenting on prisoners at the Auschwitz death camp.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/21/media/fauci-fox-jesse-watters/index.html

Almost $100 billion in pandemic relief allegedly stolen by scammers. “Most of that figure comes from unemployment fraud. The Labor Department reported about $87 billion in unemployment benefits could have been paid improperly, with a significant portion attributable to fraud.”   https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-pandemics-us-secret-service-9d5c43814ef2c1ffb45c2a6f4e13faa9

U.S. population growth hits all-time low. “The year from July 2020 to July 2021 was… the first time since 1937 that the population of the US grew by fewer than 1 million people. Only 392,665 people were added to the count, growth of barely 0.1%…. According to the census bureau, slower population growth has been a trend partly because of decreasing fertility and [immigration], combined with increasing mortality due to the aging population.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/22/us-population-growth-covid-lowest-in-history

U.S. life expectancy falls by 1.8 years. “Mortality data released by the National Center for Health Statistics calculated the life expectancy in 2020 at 77 years…. COVID-19 ranked as the third leading cause of death with more than 350,000 fatalities, behind heart disease and cancer deaths, which both surpassed 600,000…. Overall, the age-adjusted death rate for the whole population increased by 16.8 percent to 835.4 deaths per 100,000 people last year.”   https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/586844-life-expectancy-fell-almost-2-years-in-2020-cdc

Remaining 12 Anabaptist missionaries ‘escape’ Haitian kidnappers. “[Christian Aid Ministries], based in the US, describes itself as a channel for Amish, Mennonite, and other Anabaptist groups to minister to physical and spiritual needs around the world.”   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59736726   Almost sounds like they were ‘let go’.

Man who shot three Kenosha, Wisconsin Black Lives Matter protesters gets standing ovation at conservative conference. “You’re a hero to millions,” Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk told [Kyle] Rittenhouse during the group’s AmericaFest gathering in Phoenix. “It’s an honor to be able to have you.”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/12/21/kyle-rittenhouse-standing-sue-media/

81 year-old Pennsylvania man gets home detention, fine and probation for participating in Capitol riot. “According to the prosecution, [Gary] Wickersham entered the Capitol within 60 seconds of the initial breach and was captured on video confronting law enforcement officers. Wickersham would remain at the Capitol for about 22 minutes and showed little remorse for his actions when the FBI interviewed him on Jan. 15.”   https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/gary-wickersham-capitol-attack-sentenced-home-detention-20211221.html

China, Russia, Turkey and U.S. accused of developing autonomous ‘slaughterbots’. “Major powers are investing billions to create advanced AI weapons that can hunt and strike targets with no input from controllers. Last year a Turkish-made kamikaze drone made the world’s first autonomous kill on human targets in Libya, a UN report revealed.”   https://nypost.com/2021/12/21/terrifying-rise-of-ai-slaughterbots-programmed-to-kill/

Opposition activists in Poland allegedly targeted by Pegasus cell phone spyware. “Citizen Lab could not say who ordered the hacks and NSO does not identify its clients, beyond saying it works only with legitimate government agencies vetted by Israel’s Defense Ministry. But both victims believe Poland’s increasingly illiberal government is responsible. A Polish state security spokesman, Stanislaw Zaryn, would neither confirm nor deny whether the government ordered the hacks or is an NSO customer.”   https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-poland-hacking-warsaw-8b52e16d1af60f9c324cf9f5099b687e

Life in a developed market economy: Salad products recalled in 19 states due to possible Listeria contamination. “Fresh Express announced in a press release that products from its Streamwood, Ill., factory have the potential to be contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, shortly after the Michigan Department of Agriculture conducted a random sample and found one packaged salad containing the bacteria…. Ten people infected with the outbreak strain have been reported from eight states while one person has died, said Frank Yiannas, the FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response, in a statement.”   https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/586838-packaged-salad-products-recalled-in-19-states

FBI agents reportedly infiltrated Portland Black Lives Matter protests. “An F.B.I. special agent who reported being ‘in a plainclothes surveillance capacity’ described witnessing one of the demonstrators break out a Starbucks window with a tire iron before placing the tire iron back inside his backpack, according to a written Portland Police Bureau summary of the federal agent’s account… The following week, according to an email between an F.B.I. agent and a Portland police officer, F.B.I. agents were again in the crowd conducting surveillance. One of the F.B.I. agents captured a 30-minute video of the scene as he appeared to stand next to a crowd of demonstrators while others smashed windows at a Democratic Party building. The video shows the agent then joining the crowd as it marched down the street. One of the agents later reported in records seeing an agent from the Department of Homeland Security also on the scene.”   https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/us/portland-protests-fbi-surveillance.html

Whistleblower Daniel Hale broke the drone strike civilian deaths story first. “Many journalists will, rightfully, praise the New York Times for its reporting on U.S. airstrikes and the civilian cost. Far fewer will point out how the inhumanity of U.S. airstrikes were first revealed in 2013 by whistleblower Daniel Hale…. While Hale’s documents were not as comprehensive as the trove recently published by the New York Times, they did provide much of the same core revelations, particularly the faulty nature of how intelligence is gathered and the high civilian-toll of air campaigns. Most notably, Hale’s documents revealed that 90% of the drone program’s victims were not the intended targets.”   https://original.antiwar.com/Sam_Carliner/2021/12/21/new-york-times-reporting-on-airstrikes-should-give-daniel-hale-more-credit/

December 21, 2021

Donald Trump booed by supporters in Dallas after admitting he received a coronavirus booster. “Trump… received his first Covid-19 vaccination out of view of the press before leaving office…. his vaccination was not recorded by official photographers or videographers, according to a person familiar with the matter. And Trump did not participate in a Covid-19 public service announcement that featured all other living former presidents…. This is not the first time Trump has been met with boos when speaking about vaccines.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/20/politics/donald-trump-booster-shot-boos/index.html

Department of Defense believes only about 100 members of the armed forces are engaged in political extremism. “The officials said they counted approximately 100 cases of extremism within military ranks in 2021, with each of the services having ‘low double digits’ [of participants]. The total represents an increase, the officials said, but it was unclear whether that was a result of better awareness within the military or [a sign] of the spread of extremism within the services.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/20/politics/pentagon-defines-extremist-behavior-military-extremism/index.html

Washington, D.C. police officer who was attacked by Capitol rioters resigns. “‘Clearly there are some members of our department who feel their oath is to Donald Trump and not to the Constitution,’ [Michael] Fanone said Monday. He said there are just two current D.C. police officers he still counts as friends. ‘I no longer felt like I could trust my fellow officers and decided it was time to make a change.’ …. [Fanone] was dragged off the West Terrace, pummeled unconscious with fists and poles and repeatedly stunned with a Taser on his neck. He suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury…. one person tried to yank the gun from his holster. ‘We got one! We got one!,’ a rioter [allegedly] yelled, ‘Kill him with his own gun!’”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/20/fanone-resigns-police-capitol-riot/

Pro-democracy activists sentence to prison in Egypt. “An emergency court on Monday sentenced activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah to five years in prison on charges of “spreading false news”. Human rights lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer, formerly Abd El-Fattah’s counsel, and blogger Mohamed ‘Oxygen’ Ibrahim were both sentenced to four years in detention on the same charges…. Observers had hoped that the lifting of the emergency law could provide a small step towards mitigating draconian laws governing protest, free expression and civil society imposed since President Sisi swept to power in a 2013 military coup. Yet the emergency law has been largely replaced by a sweeping anti-terrorism legislation used primarily to target peaceful dissidents.”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/20/leading-activist-in-egypts-2011-uprising-and-two-others-jailed

Wyoming joins South Dakota as one of the top places for rich people to hide their wealth. “Wyoming is now among the 10 least restrictive, most customer-friendly trust jurisdictions in the world, according to a study last year by Adam Hofri-Winogradow, a law professor and trust expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem…. Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska, Delaware and Nevada were named in October by the European Parliament as hubs of ‘financial and corporate secrecy’…. ‘For some time now, the U.S. has been the weak link in the international anti-money-laundering regime,’ said Josh Rudolph, a member of the National Security Council staff in the Obama and Trump administrations. ‘The European Parliament is absolutely right — we are the enablers.'”   https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/the-cowboy-cocktail-how-wyoming-became-one-of-the-worlds-top-tax-havens/

Human Rights Watch urges Japan to stop training Myanmar’s military cadets. “It’s mind boggling that Japan is providing military training to Myanmar cadets at the same time as its armed forces are committing crimes against humanity against Myanmar’s people.”   https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/human-rights-watch-calls-japan-suspend-military-exchange-with-myanmar-2021-12-20/

California accuses Walmart of dumping hazardous waste in landfills – again. “Walmart illegally dumps more than 1 million batteries, aerosol cans of insect killer and other products, toxic cleaning supplies, electronic waste, latex paints and other hazardous waste into California landfills each year, state prosecutors have alleged…. The attorney general’s office settled a similar lawsuit in 2010 in which Walmart, which operates more than 300 stores in California, paid $25m and agreed to stop the dumping into local landfills that are not equipped to contain the hazardous products.”   https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/20/walmart-waste-california-lawsuit-dumping

December 20, 2021

Candidate in 2020 Libertarian Party presidential primary reportedly suffered broken arm during traffic stop drug arrest. “On Saturday, December 11th, Adam Kokesh was driving down [Colorado Highway 285]… on his way home following a protest demanding Justice for Johnny Hurley – a close friend and fellow activist recently gunned down by Colorado Police…. He was then stopped by officer Cristian Guaderrama of the Center Colorado police department for not having license plates on his vehicle…. His alleged crime? The possession of psilocybin mushrooms.”   https://thefreethoughtproject.com/adam-kokesh-unjustly-jailed-calls-out-drug-war-and-police-state/

Joe Manchin says he won’t support Build Back Better, Bernie Sanders dares him to vote against it. “I think he’s gonna have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia,” Sanders told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union…. if he doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing for the working families of West Virginia and America, let him vote no in front of the whole world.”   https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/586456-sanders-let-manchin-vote-no-on-build-back-better-in-front-of-the

Leftist candidate Gabriel Boric wins presidential election in Chile. “Official results gave Mr Boric 56% of the votes against Mr Kast’s 44%….Chile has one of the world’s largest income gaps, with 1% of the population owning 25% of the country’s wealth, according to the United Nations. Mr Boric has promised to address this inequality by expanding social rights and reforming Chile’s pension and healthcare systems, as well as reducing the work week from 45 to 40 hours, and boosting green investment.”   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-59715941

Political science professor warns U.S. is at risk of civil war. “… if you were an analyst in a foreign country looking at events in America – the same way you’d look at events in Ukraine or Ivory Coast or Venezuela – you would go down a checklist, assessing each of the conditions that make civil war likely. And what you would find is that the United States, a democracy founded more than two centuries ago, has entered very dangerous territory.”   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/20/us-closer-to-civil-war-new-book-barbara-walter-trump-capitol-attack

Voter turnout in Hong Kong legislative council election drops by almost half after opposition candidates are excluded. “Voter turnout fell to a record low of 30.2% in Sunday’s polls, according to Hong Kong’s Electoral Affairs Commission, compared with about 58% in the last election in 2016…. Previously, half the Council’s representatives were directly elected by regular Hong Kongers. Under the new rules, about a fifth of them will be.”   https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/20/hong-kong-legislative-council-election-reveals-citys-new-politics.html

Myanmar military accused of torturing villagers to death. “The witnesses in Yin – whose names we have withheld to protect their identities – told the BBC the men were tied up with ropes and beaten before they were killed…. A man who managed to escape the killings said that soldiers inflicted horrifying abuse on the men for hours before they died.”   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59699556

Progressive Democrats disillusioned by lack of progress under Joe Biden. “On every issue — voting rights, student debt, climate — he lets the bad actors set the terms of the debate.”   https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/586170-liberals-disappointed-after-bidens-first-year

Economic forecast downgraded over blocked Build Back Better budget bill. “‘A failure to pass BBB has negative growth implications,’ Goldman Sachs economists, led by Jan Hatzius, said in the research report. Citing the ‘apparent demise’ of Build Back Better, Goldman Sachs now expects GDP to grow at an annualized pace of 2% in the first quarter, down from 3% previously.”   https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/19/economy/goldman-sachs-joe-manchin-build-back-better/index.html

Defeat of BBB means climate spending also gets killed. “The legislation earmarked $555 billion for renewable energy and clean transportation incentives over a decade, the country’s largest climate change investment ever. The policies are crucial for President Biden’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 50-52% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.”   https://www.npr.org/2021/12/20/1065695953/build-back-better-climate-change

EU drug regulator rules Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm’s effectiveness still unproven. “The European Medicines Agency noted that although Aduhelm reduced amyloid beta in studies, the link between this effect and clinical improvement in the disease had not been established.”   https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-regulator-not-favour-approving-biogens-alzheimers-drug-2021-12-17/

House member introduces bill to investigate withholding of evidence by FBI. “The exoneration of Malcolm X’s falsely accused killers underscores just how long the FBI has operated without transparency and effective oversight to impede justice and destroy lives. Forcing innocent men to serve decades in prison by withholding exculpatory evidence that would have set them free has never been acceptable. Now is the time for a thorough re-assessment of the FBI’s legacy from COINTELPRO to the war on terror. One step towards accountability would be through the passage of [Rep. Bobby] Rush’s bill, the COINTELPRO Full Disclosure Act, which would compel the FBI and other government agencies to release all records related to the COINTELPRO operation.”   https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/12/19/it-is-time-to-hold-the-fbi-accountable-for-its-crimes

Nancy Pelosi dubbed ‘Queen of Stonks’. “’Every single stock she has bought in the last two years has gone up significantly,’ Christopher Josephs, cofounder of Iris, told Yahoo…. Since last year, she and her husband Paul Pelosi traded over $50 million in assets, with annualized returns at 69 percent as of October, according to an estimate from the Nancy Pelosi Portfolio Tracker. That’s higher than Buffett, George Soros, Cathie Wood, and other star investors of the past. Members of Congress aren’t required to provide an exact figure for the value of their assets, but Pelosi’s wealth grew by an estimated $16.7 million in 2020, just as millions of Americans fell into poverty and struggled to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic.”   https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/12/house-speaker-paul-stocks-insider-trading-wealth