Sometimes it's important to step away from a problem in order to better understand it. I recently went on a trip across the Pacific Northwest to revisit some old stomping grounds and to take a break from the often disconcerting developments of today's world, at least for a little while. We all need a vacation from the information war at times, and though I was happy for the rest, I am also happy to be back. After traveling on the road across four states I was able to gauge the general condition of the US in terms of the social and economic effects of the pandemic mandates and covid propaganda. I have some good news, and some bad news...

The good news is that the propaganda has not been all that effective in most places. The overall picture looks something like this:

In the majority of rural and semi-rural areas, as well as cities in red counties regardless of the state, the majority of people were NOT wearing masks and the bulk of businesses were not demanding that people wear them. The vaccine ads and propaganda were also at a minimum. This includes Washington State and Oregon, which have been notorious lately for their draconian restrictions. While Washington has technically lifted mandates (starting only a couple days ago), the pressure to vaccinate is ever present there. Oregon was the worst state I passed through in terms of business pressure and mob pressure, but even in most towns I visited the ratio of masked cultists to normal unmasked people was around 50/50.

Most of the businesses I entered said nothing to me about not wearing a mask. And, so far there doesn't seem to be any major push for vaccine passports, though, I suspect this will come soon enough.

Pakistan's national security advisor has accused India of orchestrating last month's deadly car bombing in the eastern city of Lahore, saying Sunday that an investigation has shown it was organized by an Indian intelligence operative.

In a news conference in Islamabad, Moeed Yousuf said the probe showed that the man was an Indian citizen living in India who works for that country's RAW intelligence agency. He did not name the alleged mastermind.

We wrote in May about the infamous law firm Perkins Coie (PC) trying to parachute into Georgia, again, in an attempt to stop the lawsuit that has the potential to turn the U.S. Senate red.

In his motion filed on May 5th, contestant Michael Daugherty of TheJusticeSociety.com cited three reasons why this should not happen.

1. Attorneys in the PC firm are likely to be called as witnesses and asked to produce evidence in their possession concerning the reliability of Dominion election systems, thus creating an unavoidable conflict of interest...
2. PC has threatened independent, third party service providers with criminal prosecution for participating in an ongoing civil investigation conducted by the Arizona State Senate...
3. The Fifth Circuit recently sanctioned PC for burdening the court and opposing counsel in another election case...

For the past three years, the Brighton Trust, the charity of which I am a trustee, together with activists from the National Education Union in Britain, have been raising funds for Al-Tafawk Children's Centre in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The centre, which is run by local volunteers, is the only one of its kind in the camp, which hosts around 14,000 Palestinian refugees made homeless by the establishment of Israel in 1948. It provides around 120 children aged three to 16 with play, education and food, as well as a warm welcome.

It is the only source of amusement they have to turn to in the bleak surroundings of the camp, which in 2002 during the Second Intifada lost dozens of residents in an Israeli army massacre and more than 400 homes in a brutal bulldozing campaign in yet another act of Israeli collective punishment of Palestinian civilians. The camp has been subjected to regular military incursions ever since.

A pensioner who opted not to receive the Covid-19 vaccine is to go on trial next Monday for allegedly flouting government pandemic guidelines by not wearing a face mask whilst shopping in west Cork.


Margaret Buttimer, aged 66, of The Cottage, St Fintan's Road, Bandon, Co Cork, spent the weekend in Limerick Prison after she failed to keep the terms of her bail which involved her staying away from shops and other premises frequented by members of the public.

Today at Bandon District Court Ms Buttimer pleaded not guilty to her two most recent alleged breaches of the Public Health Act. She opted to go on trial for the offences with the case being heard next Monday.

Every July 4th weekend police in Chicago brace for an uptick in violence - even more than is usual when typical weekends average about 40 shootings - and this holiday weekend was no different, easily registering as the deadliest and most violent this year given the total death count. New York City has also been witnessing a steady uptick in seemingly random shootings and violence, including brazen acts committed in broad daylight in heavily trafficked areas, such as the recent Times Square wounding of a US Marine.

On Monday the Chicago Sun-Times has tallied 92 people shot over the long July 4th weekend, with 16 killed. The Sun-Times database shows the numbers killed to be a weekend high for all of 2021 so far.

Among the 92 shooting incidents, 76 were considered serious enough to receive hospital treatment, including six children and teenagers, according to Chicago police.

As CNN's Brian Stelter flounders in the ratings next to Fox News' Tucker Carlson, he's brought out the serious accusations against the Fox host: that Carlson is working "in cahoots" with notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

As CNN's chief media critic, Stelter regularly focuses his attention on Carlson, who he's branded an icon of "white male rage and resentment," a "conspiracy theorist," and "the new Donald Trump." Audiences don't seem to care, however, and Tucker Carlson Tonight pulled in around 2.8 million viewers every night in June, compared to the 786,000 who tuned in to Stelter's Reliable Sources, which has lost viewers every month since President Joe Biden took office. Though the two host shows at different times, they are both seen as representatives of their networks' political stances.

Several King County, Washington, activist teachers revealed to Crosscut how they inject race and "equity" lessons into their elementary classrooms.

Kent teacher Joanne Barber took advantage of violent Black Lives Matter protests last year "to teach more about race" in her second grade class. She said:

"I am willing to be that teacher that has those hard conversations. I would be doing a huge disservice to my students if I didn't give them information that they could see themselves in. Racial history is just as important as reading or math."

Barber teaches children 7- and 8-year-olds that slavery "led to institutional racism and implicit bias." She also "weaves race and equity into every subject" and "every day in her class is filled with race education."

Patricia Shelton, a curriculum developer in the Bellevue School District, told Crosscut,

"In Bellevue, we have been working very hard in grades 5, 8 and 11 to de-center the traditional 'white' perspective and to center the voices of people of color."

Shelton's colleague, equity specialist Shomari Jones, said he successfully removed works such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird because they contained the N-word.

A New Zealand academic says Twitter temporarily restricted her account after she mocked Chinese President Xi Jinping.

University of Canterbury Professor Anne-Marie Brady is an expert on China's attempts to exert political influence around the world and has been an outspoken critic of its ruling Communist Party. Last week, she sent tweets poking fun at the party's 100th anniversary celebrations.

She said two of those tweets were temporarily marked "unavailable" by Twitter and her account was temporarily restricted over the weekend, before it was restored on Monday.

Twitter did not say what prompted its actions.

Big Brother turns out to be Big Sister - and her name is Alexa.

Her outsized image isn't plastered to every telephone pole and billboard, all-seeing eyes watching your every move. But her ears are always open - and increasingly, everywhere.

In the kitchens.

In TVs.

In a large and growing number of new cars, including almost all Audis, several Toyota/Lexus models, most new Cadillacs and Chevys, Lincolns, Chryslers and the just-redesigned 2022 Acura MDX I'm test driving this week.

You can't see her, but she can hear you.

Like so many things electronic, in-car Alexa is marketed as a convenience. You can ask her about the weather, how many feet in a meter - almost anything - and without taking your hands off the wheel.

But she's also something else.

Just as your smartphone conveniently lets you snap cute pictures and send them to friends - and then sends data about where and when you took that cute picture and quite possibly that cute picture itself to Google or Apple - so also Alexa, the disembodied voice of Amazon - conveniently answers your questions while taking note of what you asked.

And not just that.

We are assured that what we ask Alexa is anonymized - and that what Alexa hears us say is dependent upon our giving her permission to listen.

Such assurances should be taken with the same confidence a woman might accept a cocktail from Bill Cosby.