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India to propose cryptocurrency ban, penalising miners, traders - source

Aftab Ahmed and Nupur Anand
Reuters
Mon, 15 Mar 2021 00:39 UTC
bitcoin
© REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
A representation of virtual currency Bitcoin is seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration taken January 8, 2021.
India will propose a law banning cryptocurrencies, fining anyone trading in the country or even holding such digital assets, a senior government official told Reuters in a potential blow to millions of investors piling into the red-hot asset class.

The bill, one of the world's strictest policies against cryptocurrencies, would criminalise possession, issuance, mining, trading and transferring crypto-assets, said the official, who has direct knowledge of the plan.

The measure is in line with a January government agenda that called for banning private virtual currencies such as bitcoin while building a framework for an official digital currency. But recent government comments had raised investors' hopes that the authorities might go easier on the booming market.

Instead, the bill would give holders of cryptocurrencies up to six months to liquidate, after which penalties will be levied, said the official, who asked not to be named as the contents of the bill are not public.

Comment: See also:

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Syringe

When it comes to vaccines, suddenly "from vs with" matters again

Kit Knightly
OffGuardian
Mon, 15 Mar 2021 06:43 UTC
vaccine
In the last few weeks the media has demonstrated one of the clearest, most concise displays of true-life doublethink I've ever seen. It truly is the perfect exemplar.

The dichotomy is in "covid deaths" vs "vaccine related injuries".

As we all know by now, countries all around the world define "Covid deaths" as "people who die, of any cause, within 30 days of a positive test result" (the number of days changes by country, it's usually between 28 and 60). This trend was started in Italy last spring, and spread all around the world.

Globally, with a few notable exceptions, a "covid death" is a death "from any cause" following a positive test.

And when they say "any cause", they mean it. Up to, and including, shooting yourself in the head.

In one blackly hilarious case, a man "died of coronavirus" after being shot by the police, with his 7 gunshot wounds being listed as "complications".

Comment: See also:

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Handcuffs

We willingly gave up liberty, yet are shocked to find out we are less free

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Sun, 14 Mar 2021 18:53 UTC
police brutality clapham protest evarard
© James Veysey/Rex
Patsy Stevenson is held down by two male officers at the vigil in Clapham, south London, on Saturday.
Many have been shocked by the scenes in Clapham on Saturday night, where the Metropolitan Police used extremely heavy-handed tactics to break up what appears to have been a peaceful protest and vigil, held in memory of Sarah Everard, who was brutally murdered just days earlier. The reason they did this was because the protest contravened the rules on public gatherings, introduced by the Government and supported by almost all Parliamentarians, as part of apparent efforts to keep us all "safe".

I confess I am not especially shocked by these scenes. It was clear to me that we gave up on being a free country in March last year when millions of people supinely accepted the apparent need for the curtailment of liberties, ostensibly (but absurdly) aimed at "controlling a virus". Together with a very few other voices, I warned many times that Lockdowns, and their wide acceptance as an appropriate policy, marked another nail in the coffin of the free Britain we knew, and would likely herald the start of a slide into a far more despotic society and police state.
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Handcuffs

Police round up women mourning London kidnapping-murder victim in crackdown on VIGIL held despite Covid ban


RT
Sat, 13 Mar 2021 23:21 UTC
Cressida Dick
© Reuters/Gareth Fuller
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick
A London vigil for murder victim Sarah Everard -- held in defiance of a police order amid the Covid-19 pandemic - turned ugly after large numbers of officers arrived and tried to clear people from the area.

Several organizers of Saturday's vigil at Clapham Common were reportedly arrested, and footage from the scene showed clashes with police. One clip posted on Twitter shows several women standing on the edge of a bandstand where police congregated, including one holding a sign that says, "We aren't safe in our homes." Four women are then grabbed from behind by officers, pulled back and arrested after several people in the crowd try unsuccessfully to pull them back.

Comment: Resignations may follow, including the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police:
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has been urged to resign after officers forcefully broke up a vigil for Sarah Everard, a woman recently killed in London.

In a letter addressed to Dick, Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey described the Met's decision to intervene as a"complete abject tactical and moral failure on the part of the police." He asked the police commissioner to consider whether she is able to "continue to have the confidence of the millions of women in London that you have a duty to safeguard and protect."
Green mayoral candidate for London, Sian Berry, claimed that the Met had "failed on every level" and that the Home Office is almost certainly "considering" Dick's position.

The commissioner still enjoys support from some politicians, however. Tory MP and former women's minister Maria Miller argued that demanding Dick's resignation was "too simplistic a response" and that London would need her expertise as it moves forward.

Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins said separately that the Met would have to "explain" itself to the home secretary.


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Arrow Up

Victory for BDS as judge SLAPPS down Zionist attempt to stifle free speech

Yvonne Ridley
Middle East Monitor
Mon, 08 Mar 2021 09:30 UTC
Suhair Nafal
© @SNafal/Twitter
Suhair Nafal
An Israeli soldier who launched a $6 million defamation action in America against a Palestinian Christian has seen her legal efforts backfire spectacularly. Although her lawyer urged the US judge to apply Israeli defamation law, which punishes criticism of the Zionist State by up to one year in prison, Rebecca Rumshiskaya lost her case.

Californian Judge Craig Griffin rejected and dismissed the lawsuit as well as the attempt to apply Israeli laws in his Orange County Superior Court. In his ruling, the judge also granted Palestinian Suhair Nafal's anti-SLAPP motion and said that Rumshiskaya must pay the defendant's legal costs. The anti-SLAPP laws are designed to deter people from using the US courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate people who are exercising their First Amendment rights to free speech. A "strategic lawsuit against public participation" (SLAPP) is one intended to deter freedom of speech, and which the plaintiff usually doesn't really expect to win.

The outcome of this particular lawsuit is a major blow to Israel's ongoing efforts around the world to silence the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, especially on social networks. It is also a major victory for Nafal and her supporters. She insisted, however, that this was a victory for all pro-Palestinian activists, both on social media and on the ground. "We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are tireless and will not give up until we see justice served."

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Scotland's anti-free speech law has passed, making it one of the West's most oppressive countries for speech

Didi Rankovic
Reclaim the Net
Fri, 12 Mar 2021 12:00 UTC
Scotland flag/icon
© Unknown
Scotland's highly controversial Hate Crime and Public Order Bill has passed with 82 votes in favor, 32 against, and four abstained.

The bill, that has been hotly contested by freedom of speech advocates, builds on the already existing legislation criminalizing what's termed as "stirring up" hatred against people based on race. But this time, Scotland has made it a crime to "stir up hatred against protected groups."

Reports say that few laws adopted by the Scottish Parliament in the 20 years of its existence have been more disputed. According to them, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf from the ruling SNP, who tabled the bill, had to make several concessions and introduce changes to the original draft in order to try to reassure those who think freedom of speech is now in serious jeopardy in Scotland.
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Bulb

'Our kids have thrived': The Texas school district that never required masks or social distancing

Jason Allen
CBS DFW
Mon, 08 Mar 2021 22:14 UTC
kids in school
There were no social media posts, emails to parents or hastily scheduled school board meetings at the Peaster Independent School District after Governor Greg Abbott announced the end to state mask orders last week.

The rural school district in Parker County, northwest of Weatherford, never made masks an issue for students or staff this school year. Wear one, or don't.

It has not distanced students inside classroom. No one has been placed into a mandatory quarantine. Homecoming happened on schedule. The pancake dinner, fall festival, sports and concerts all took place as planned.

The result, according to Superintendent Lance Johnson, has been a higher enrollment and average daily attendance numbers ahead of last year.
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Bizarro Earth

Germany may enforce ANOTHER lockdown amid claims of a 'third wave'


Channel News Asia
Mon, 15 Mar 2021 18:26 UTC
lockdown germany
© REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
FILE PHOTO: Picture shows a "to let" advertisement of an estate agent at the windows of a given up store due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in downtown Essen, Germany, on Mar 11, 2021.
Intensive care doctors in Germany warned on Monday (Mar 15) that the country would need to make an "immediate return" to partial lockdown if it is to avoid stumbling into a dangerous third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

"From the data we currently have and with the spread of the British mutation, we would argue strongly to return immediately into a lockdown to avoid a strong third wave," Christian Karagiannidis, director of Germany's intensive care register, told broadcaster RBB.

"We won't gain much from staying open for the next one or two weeks, because that will quickly bring us to a high level and make it twice as hard to push the numbers down again," said Karagiannidis, who works for the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), which tracks intensive care capacities in German hospitals.

Comment: Previous lockdowns clearly didn't work in the way they thought they would, why would this time be any different? Note that many countries have barely been out of lockdown, because numerous restrictions, distancing and mask-wearing are still being enforced. Also, aren't doctors supposed to be aware of a cost-benefit analysis? Surely they realise that lockdowns can only go on for so long before any deluded perception of benefits are outweighed by the much more obvious damage being done? When will government reject the failed lockdown models?

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Attention

'Regular coronavirus booster vaccines are the future' UK's top genome expert warns

Guy Faulconbridge
Reuters
Mon, 15 Mar 2021 19:00 UTC
south korea vaccine deaths
© Reuters / Jung Yeon-je
A nursing home worker in Seoul is shown last week receiving South Korea's first Covid-19 vaccination shot.
Regular booster vaccines against the novel coronavirus will be needed because of mutations that make it more transmissible and better able to evade human immunity, the head of Britain's effort to sequence the virus's genomes told Reuters.

The novel coronavirus, which has killed 2.65 million people globally since it emerged in China in late 2019, mutates around once every two weeks, slower than influenza or HIV, but enough to require tweaks to vaccines.

Sharon Peacock, who heads COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) which has sequenced nearly half of all the novel coronavirus genomes so far mapped globally, said international cooperation was needed in the "cat and mouse" battle with the virus.

Comment: Indeed, after a year of lockdown and a massive, experimental vaccination campaign, the immune systems of usually health people will be seriously compromised meaning that even normally innocuous viruses could pose a threat: British Covid modellers predict 'severe flu next winter because lockdowns prevented usual herd immunity'

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Handcuffs

Two men charged in assault on police officer Sicknick, who died after Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Joseph Weber
Just the News
Mon, 15 Mar 2021 19:11 UTC
sicknick
Two men have been arrested and charged with assaulting U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building. The men allegedly sprayed Sicknick with bear spray, but authorities have not determined whether the assault led to Sicknick's death.

The men charged have been identified a Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, of Morgantown, W.V., according to The Washington Post.

Sicknick purportedly collapsed in a command station after the riot.

The Post reports the men were arrested Sunday.

Comment: Allegedly the video evidence shows Tanios providing the 'bear' spray to Khater, who sprays three officers.

Authorities have still not released a cause of death for Sicknick. Why not?

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