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England may lift lockdown by June 21, warns a return to restrictions possible


ITV
Mon, 22 Feb 2021 22:48 UTC
Boris
© AFP or licensors
Boris said today the nation would have to get used to rolling vaccinations
England is on a "one way road to freedom", Boris Johnson has said as he revealed his four-step route out of lockdown, which could see all aspects of society reopened by June 21.

The prime minister, laying out his roadmap out of lockdown, said he hopes to fully reopen the country and remove all limits on social contact within months, so long as the battle against coronavirus continues to go to plan.


Comment: None of the governments predictions have reflected reality so the chances that it 'will go to plan' now are low, and thus the likelihood the restrictions will remain is high.


He told a Downing Street press conference that the rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations had "shifted the odds in our favour", allowing for a gradual reopening of society.

Comment: Also check out SOTT radio's NewsReal #34: Covid By Numbers:



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Sherlock

Exiled Rwandan opposition politician shot dead in Cape Town


The Guardian
Mon, 22 Feb 2021 18:35 UTC
Bamporiki
© IBICU TV/YouTube
Seif Bamporiki, 49, who was the Rwanda National Congress coordinator in South Africa, was killed as he delivered furniture in the crime-ridden township of Nyanga.
A Rwandan opposition figure exiled in South Africa has been shot dead in Cape Town in what his party described as an "assassination".

Seif Bamporiki, 49, who was the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) coordinator in South Africa, was killed as he delivered furniture in the crime-ridden township of Nyanga.

While the motive for his murder is as yet unclear, an RNC spokesperson, Etienne Mutabazi, said the method mirrored past politically motivated attacks.

Comment: See also:

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Megaphone

Myanmar protesters hold general strike as military warn lethal force possible

Rebecca Ratcliffe
The Guardian
Mon, 22 Feb 2021 14:27 UTC
Myanmar
© Reuters
Demonstrators protest against the military coup in Mandalay, Myanmar.
Protesters across Myanmar have held a general strike, taking to the streets across the country and shutting many businesses, in one of the largest nationwide shows of opposition to the military since it seized power three weeks ago.

Crowds assembled in Yangon, Naypyidaw, Mandalay and elsewhere on Monday, despite an apparent threat from the junta that it would again use deadly violence against demonstrators.

The protests appeared to pass peacefully, though in Naypyidaw reports on social media suggested that 200 people, including many young people, had been detained. If confirmed, this is likely the largest round up of protesters since the coup. Footage showed police chasing protesters on foot, while one man was shoved into the back of a police van.

Comment: For some insight into what's going on in Myanmar, see: Pepe Escobar: Burmese days, revisited

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No Entry

Supreme Court still sees no steal, again declines to hear Trump lawsuit against Pennsylvania's dodgy election rule changes

Calvin Freiburger
Life SiteNews
Mon, 22 Feb 2021 21:19 UTC
us supreme court
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump campaign's challenge to last-minute changes in Pennsylvania, suggesting the election being over renders the issue "moot" and disregarding the ramifications of such rule changes for future elections.

At issue was the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision to allow election officials to count mail ballots that arrived up to three days after Election Day 2020. The U.S. Supreme Court voted 4-4 on whether to issue a stay of that ruling, falling short of the majority needed to block it.

"The Pennsylvania Constitution requires in-person voting, except in narrow and defined circumstances," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued in December. "Late last year, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a law that purported to allow universal mail-in voting, notwithstanding the Pennsylvania Constitution's express prohibition. This appeal argues that Pennsylvania cannot change the rules in the middle of the game."

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch were the only dissenters from the decision. Because only four votes are necessary to grant a writ of certiorari, either of former President Donald Trump's other appointees to the nation's highest court, Brett Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett, would have been enough to make the Court hear the case.

Comment: And thus the Steal is complete.

Someone got to the SC early on, after their initial injunctions to force Pennsylvania state authorities to allow Republican election observers into polling stations in Philadelphia, days into the as-yet-unexplained 'pause' in counting that miraculously saw votes for Biden climb and climb...

Since then, the justices in all decisions have dutifully shown allegiance to the real power controlling the USA. Rubbing it in, the SC also ruled yesterday that Trump's tax returns be released, suggesting the 'former' president is about to face corruption charges and possible jail time.

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Bad Guys

Beijing official signals China-led electoral reforms for Hong Kong to ensure only 'patriots' hold power

Kelly Ho
Hong Kong Free Press
Mon, 22 Feb 2021 19:57 UTC
hong kong flag
© GovHK
A Beijing official has signalled that Hong Kong will undergo a set of electoral reforms under the leadership of the Chinese authorities, with an aim to block "anti-China" opposition forces from the city's governing bodies.

The Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO) Xia Baolong outlined the criteria for "patriots ruling Hong Kong" in a conference held by the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies in Beijing on Monday.

Xia said the power to govern the semi-autonomous region must lie in hands of patriots, as it was the "fundamental principle" of fulfilling One Country, Two Systems. He said people in almost all countries and regions will demonstrate patriotism when running for public office, except for some in Hong Kong.

"Only in Hong Kong would some people show off their rebellion against their motherland... or even use their opposition to the country, the rejection of the [Central Government] and the demonisation of their own ethnic group as election slogans, and make an extremely ugly political performance when they swear into office," Xia said.

The HKMAO head described patriots as individuals who genuinely uphold Chinese sovereignty and respect the constitutional order of the HKSAR. He said people who "smear" the country and city and those "begging for" foreign sanctions would not be seen as patriots.

Comment: The officials later clarified that only "true Scotsmen" will be able to qualify. Said officials will determine how true of a Scotsman each candidate is using flawlessly accurate criteria.

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Sheriff

Report: Arizona Sheriff blames Biden for fivefold spike in illegal border crossings

Ben Wilson
saraacarter.com
Sun, 21 Feb 2021 08:09 UTC
Border wall
Immigration policies being implemented by the Biden White House are responsible for a fivefold increase in illegal immigration, claims an Arizona sheriff.

Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Ariz. told Just the News that the new president's "hasty" immigration policy changes are responsible for the uptick in illegal crossings. Local officials were not given the time to prepare before Biden signaled a lenient view on the southern border, prompting increased crossings.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

If, as the Buddhists suggest, we should 'drive all blames into one,' we may as well blame the Great Reset for our dystopia

Michael Rectenwald
RT
Sun, 21 Feb 2021 19:12 UTC
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab
© REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
A demonstrator holds a sign depicting World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab during a protest amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Zug, Switzerland, February 6, 2021
The Great Reset is on everyone's mind - or should be. It can be blamed for woke madness, cancel culture, Covid lockdowns, Antifa/BLM riots, Big Tech censorship, and the endless propaganda coming out of mainstream media.

There's a Tibetan Buddhist practice called "lojong" (mind-training) that uses short slogans for training the mind to lessen daily suffering. I've found that one of the most useful of the slogans is "drive all blames into one."

We are faced every day with inevitable troubles, and often go about looking for their sources - not only to solve the troubles but also to find likely targets for blaming them on. The point of driving all blames into one is to short-circuit our suffering. Rather than looking for someone or something to blame for each and every problem, this slogan suggests that we blame one thing for all of them. Tibetan Buddhists might blame suffering itself. In our contemporary dystopian predicament, I suggest blaming everything on the Great Reset.

And why not? Focusing on the Great Reset really can be good mental training for dealing with the political and social malaise that afflicts us. Therefore, if we can define this one target, we will go a long way toward lessening our suffering. My job here is to convince you of the horrors of the Great Reset so that it can become the sole object of all your blaming.
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NPC

Repressive tolerance: White supremacy a 'transnational threat', UN chief warns


Reuters
Mon, 22 Feb 2021 19:02 UTC
U.N. chief Antonio Guterres
© Omar Messinger-Pool/Getty
U.N. chief Antonio Guterres
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that white supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are becoming a "transnational threat" and have exploited the coronavirus pandemic to boost their support.


Comment: Right...


Addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council, Guterres said the danger of hate-driven groups was growing daily.

"White supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are more than domestic terror threats. They are becoming a transnational threat," he told the Geneva forum. Without naming states, Guterres added: "Today, these extremist movements represent the number one internal security threat in several countries."


Comment: White supremacy doesn't mean what you think it means. It used to mean white supremacy - KKK-type ethnonationalist freaks. Now it just means everyone who isn't a critical race theory true believer, which is the majority of the human population.


In the United States, racial tensions simmered during the turbulent four-year presidency of Donald Trump. His successor Joe Biden has said the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters was carried out by "thugs, insurrectionists, political extremists and white supremacists".


Comment: It's called a lie.


"Far too often, these hate groups are cheered on by people in positions of responsibility in ways that were considered unimaginable not long ago," Guterres said. "We need global coordinated action to defeat this grave and growing danger."


Comment: We live in the fantasy world of Herbert Marcuse's "repressive tolerance." Since when have people in positions of responsibility supported actual white supremacy? We've seen plenty of them support Marxist-anarchist extremists like antifa and BLM... But that's the point: repressive tolerance.

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Vader

Ex-ambassador McFaul scores own goal by challenging Twitter to show him Putin lamenting USSR collapse in 1992


RT
Mon, 22 Feb 2021 11:34 UTC
T-shirts depicting images of Russia's President Vladimir Putin
© REUTERS / Gleb Garanich
T-shirts depicting images of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and former USSR coat of arms sold in Moldova.
Vladimir Putin could not have openly lamented the demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, before his accession to power, former US ambassador Michael McFaul claimed - only to be instantly served an example to the contrary.

The factually inaccurate claims came as McFaul challenged his Twitter audience on Monday to provide evidence of a younger Putin going against the Russian political system under President Boris Yeltsin. "Post for me that Putin speech in 1992 when he lamented the collapse of the USSR," he asked, before confidently asserting that one didn't exist, followed by the hashtag #FactsMatter.


Comment: It would seem that McFaul's mission in life is to use whatever positions he's attained to come out and publicly lie about Putin and Russia - as loudly and as often as possible. Why? To help justify any and all acts of aggression the US plans to inflict on the great nation to the East.

See also:

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Nuke

Iran strikes deal with UN nuclear watchdog to allow temporary access to program


ABC Australia
Mon, 22 Feb 2021 17:41 UTC
radioactive
© Shamil Zhumatov
The United Nations nuclear watchdog said it had struck a deal with Iran to cushion the blow of Tehran's plans to end snap site inspections, with both sides agreeing to keep "necessary" monitoring for up to three months.

The announcement by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi, made at Vienna airport after a weekend trip to Iran, confirmed that Tehran would go ahead with its plan to slash cooperation with the agency.

Iran has been gradually breaching terms of a 2015 nuclear pact with world powers since the United States, under former president Donald Trump, withdrew in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

The pact aims to keep Iran at arm's length from being able to make nuclear arms, which Tehran has said it never wanted to build.

US President Joe Biden has said he is ready to talk about both nations returning to the accord, although the two sides have been at odds about who makes the first step.

Comment: The Iranian parliament is calling for Rouhani to be prosecuted for this "illegal" agreement:
Legislators opposed Rouhani's move as they believe it is a "clear violation" of a bill that was passed on December 2 that required the country to increase its nuclear activities if the Iran nuclear deal was not fully reinstated and sanctions imposed by the Trump administration were not removed.

Despite the legal requirement that the government strip away the broad authority the IAEA inspectors have thus far enjoyed if the deadline of 23 February is not met, Rouhani's deal with the UN bypasses that for the next few months.

As the inspectors won't be able to gather information themselves, Iran has agreed to record the monitoring data the UN would normally collect itself. If the US returns to the Iran nuclear deal, this will be handed over to UN inspectors. If US sanctions have not been removed within three months, however, all the data retained over that period by Iran will be destroyed.

With Iran's Supreme National Security Council claiming the deal with the IAEA is compliant with the law, and Iranian lawmakers arguing it's a violation of that law, the judiciary will now be asked to decide which is the correct legal position.

While it's not yet clear what punishment the legislature believes Rouhani should face, the MPs claim that, as "the aforementioned law recognizes the president as the person in charge of implementing it," he should face criminal charges if the judiciary agrees the new deal is illegal.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested Iran may continue enriching uranium up to 60%:
While the Ayatollah stressed that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons, he argued "no one" could stop the country from having them if it wanted to - certainly not the US or "the Zionist clown" (i.e. Israel). Only "Islamic principles" prevent such an outcome, he continued, adding that Iran will not limit its uranium enrichment to 20 percent.


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