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Treasury imposes sanctions on Chinese national over fentanyl trafficking

Kaelan Deese
The Hill
Tue, 25 Aug 2020 20:04 UTC
Zhang Taotao
© US Treasury Department
An image released by the US Treasury Department identifying Chinese national Zhang Taotao and his drug network.
The Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a Chinese national over allegations of trafficking fentanyl into the U.S.

The department said in a statement that chemist and chemical supplier Taotao Zhang shipped illegal synthetic opioids into the U.S. The Treasury also blacklisted Hong Kong-based Allyrise Technology Group Co., of which Zhang is director, alleging it was a front for his transactions.

The measures imposed a freeze on the U.S. assets of Zhang and the Hong Kong company while barring Americans from doing business with them.

U.S. intelligence says China is the primary source for illicit fentanyl entering the country. President Trump has targeted Chinese President Xi Jinping in accusations that Beijing has failed to meet promises to stop the flow of the drug into the U.S., which the Communist government denies.

"The United States remains committed to protecting vulnerable Americans by targeting individuals peddling this deadly drug," Treasury Deputy Secretary Justin Muzinich said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a separate statement that the U.S. seeks continued cooperation with China to end the supply chain threat, calling on Beijing to "regulate its chemical industry and reduce the diversion of precursors into the international black market."

Comment: See also:

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X

Money for 'dead souls': Echoing the Gogol-era, Russia's pension fund pays out billions of rubles to deceased citizens every year

Jonny Tickle
RT
Tue, 25 Aug 2020 21:18 UTC
Russian money
© Getty Images/ArtemSam
What would Nikolai Gogol make of this? The Pension Fund of Russia is paying out billions of rubles in pensions to the dead, enabling their relatives to withdraw and use the funds, according to the National Accounting Chamber.

In the famous 19th century novel, chronicling the wanderings of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, the plot relies on "dead souls" (or deceased serfs) which are still accounted for in property registers. Now almost two centuries on, something similar continues in modern Russia.

The Chamber revealed that the pension fund is often late to receive notice of a citizen's death, leading to payments still being made. Some relatives are then able to withdraw the money, and spend the wrongly-awarded cash.

The audit for 2017-2019 revealed that it had overpaid 377 million rubles ($5 million) in just two regions of Russia - each region in the country has it's own branch, and there are 85 in total.
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NPC

Al Gore isn't sure Trump would concede election to Biden, because orange man bad

Lloyd Grove
Yahoo! News
Tue, 25 Aug 2020 17:44 UTC
Al Gore
© Reuters/Edited by The Daily Beast
When Al Gore won the popular vote by more than half a million, but lost the Supreme Court vote by 5 to 4, he gracefully conceded the 2000 election to George W. Bush — something Donald Trump would apparently be loath to do this time around even if Joe Biden beats him decisively in both the Electoral College and raw ballots on November 3.

Gore insisted Tuesday — in an online interview with Reuters Editor in Chief Stephen J. Adler, introduced by Reuters Editor at Large Sir Harold Evans — that he's had no second thoughts about his concession speech two decades ago because there was zero alternative.

"When you say there were potentially some other moves," he told Adler, "I researched them, and it turns out there's no intermediate step between a final Supreme Court decision and violent revolution."

But what if Trump declares the results illegitimate, Adler asked, and demands to stay on as president? Or does Gore believe the former reality star would concede defeat in the same spirit that he did?

"I don't know," Bill Clinton's former vice president — these days a fit-looking, silver-haired 72-year-old mega-millionaire — answered with a mirthless chuckle. "But it's important to say that it's really not up to him. I hear people saying, 'Well, would he accept that decision?' Well, it doesn't matter because it's not up to him. Because at noon on January 20th, if a new president is elected... the police force, the Secret Service, the military, all of the executive branch officers, will respond to the command and the direction of the new president."

Comment: Trends are running in Trump's favor as presidential race tightens

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Propaganda

'You proved his point': Fake news CNN analyst mocked for calling Nick Sandmann 'snot nosed' & 'entitled' after he rips media bias at RNC


RT
Wed, 26 Aug 2020 17:39 UTC
Nick Sandmann

Former Covington Catholic High School Student Nicholas Sandmann speaks by video feed at the 2020 Republican National Convention, broadcast from Washington, DC, August 25, 2020.
A CNN analyst was ridiculed online after taking aim at Nicholas Sandmann, the high school student who sued the network for defamation over mangled coverage, following the youth's address at the Republican National Convention.

"I'm watching tonight because it's important. But I don't have to watch this snot nose entitled kid from Kentucky," tweeted CNN political analyst Joe Lockhart, referring to Sandmann's appearance at the RNC on Tuesday night.


The teen sued a number of mainstream media outlets last year over their coverage of an incident in the nation's capital in January 2019, where Sandmann and fellow Covington High School students had a standoff with Native American activist Nathan Phillips during a dispute with a group of protesters at the Lincoln Memorial.
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TV

Doves not in style? CNN & Fox cut Rand Paul's anti-war speech at RNC as he calls out Biden for backing wars in M. East, Serbia


RT
Wed, 26 Aug 2020 17:30 UTC
Rand Paul
© Reuters / Republican National Convention
U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks during the largely virtual 2020 Republican National Convention broadcast from Washington, U.S. August 25, 2020. 2020
Senator Rand Paul's (R-Kentucky) speech at the Republican National Convention was butchered by major cable networks, with CNN cutting it completely and Fox replacing the anti-war part with an interview.

Senator Paul, who frequently crossed swords with Donald Trump when both were vying to become the Republican presidential candidate in the 2016 race, admitted during his speech that he did not always agree with the president, but said that Trump's desire to put an end to the "endless wars" far outweighs their differences.

"I'm supporting President Trump because he believes as I do, that a strong America cannot fight endless wars, we must not leave our blood and treasure in the Middle East quagmire," Paul said.

Calling Trump "the first president in a generation to seek to end war rather than to start one," Paul went on to attack what he called the "disastrous record of Joe Biden," pointing out that as a senator, Biden voted to give then-President George W. Bush the authority to use force in Iraq.
I fear Biden will choose war again. He supported the war in Serbia, Syria, Libya. Joe Biden will continue to spill our blood and treasure.
Paul's anti-war message, however, did not reach CNN viewers, with the cable network instead airing an interview with CNN political contributor and host Van Jones.
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Black Cat

BLM mob forces DC restaurant patrons to raise fists in 'black power' salute

Mia Cathell
The Post Millennial
Wed, 26 Aug 2020 16:49 UTC
blm mob intimidate woman resturant

Black Lives Matter protesters demanded restaurant patrons to raise their fists against "white supremacy" in the nation's capital.
In an outdoor venue, BLM protestors surrounded a masked woman who appeared to be enjoying a peaceful meal alone.

One man crouched down to eye-level, shaking his head as he stated something in her face.

As they leaned in, the sheer numbers forced her to recline in her seat, shrinking away from the pouncing mob. Her diplomatic voice was drowned out by chants of "No Justice! No Peace!"

Comment: Good for the woman who wouldn't buckle to the shrieking mob, even asking "Are you a Christian?". Unfortunately, this appears to be the latest tactic put into play by the woke mob (language warnings):





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X

Ibram X. Kendi's 'anti-racist' constitutional amendment would lead to racial discrimination on a massive scale

Noah Carl
RT
Tue, 25 Aug 2020 17:06 UTC
Ibram X Kendi
© Getty Images / Simone Padovani/Awakening
American author and historian Ibram X Kendi attends a photocall during Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019 on August 10, 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland
Ibram X. Kendi's most ambitious policy proposal - that Americans should "pass an anti-racist amendment to the US constitution" - illustrates the problem with treating all racial inequality as evidence of unjust discrimination.

It's been a good week for Ibram X. Kendi, professor of history, best-selling author, and founder of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. On August 20, his nascent research center came into possession of a not-inconsequential sum of money - $10 million to be exact - thanks to the largesse of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. The research center's mission is "to figure out novel and practical ways to understand, explain, and solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice." Or, as the bold message on the website's homepage reads, "BE ANTIRACIST."

Kendi has been interested in racism, and of course its antithesis, "anti-racism" for some time. He is the author of five books: 'The Black Campus Movement', 'Stamped from the Beginning', 'How to Be an Antiracist', 'STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism and You', and - most recently - 'Antiracist Baby'.

Comment: Identity ideologues like Kendi rely upon the presumption that an individual's place in society is strictly determined by society. This is a backward and juvenile assumption that has little to no understanding of the nature of people, growth, or responsibility. As such, there can be no depth of understanding when it comes to ideas or instances regarding justice and injustice. At it's core, identity politics is dependent on the continuation of a coddled child-parent relationship expanded to the citizens dependent role toward their government and the 'authorities'. That doesn't leave room for real ways to move forward in life that provide meaning or value for both the individual and the larger society.

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Megaphone

'You're shameful': Donna Brazile scolds Tammy Bruce while Brian Kilmeade struggles to maintain control

Virginia Kruta
Daily Caller
Tue, 25 Aug 2020 13:43 UTC
Donna Brazile Tammy Bruce Brian Kilmeade
© Screenshot/Fox News
Former DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile and commentator Tammy Bruce got into a heated exchange Tuesday during a segment with "Fox & Friends" host Brian Kilmeade.

What was supposed to be a response to Monday's events at the kickoff of the Republican National Convention quickly spiraled, as Brazile called Bruce "shameful" and insisted that she had ignored "400 years" and refused to "recognize" her existence.

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Attention

The pressing dangers of technocracy

Dr. Joseph Mercola
Mercola.com
Sun, 09 Aug 2020 10:43 UTC
Patrick Wood — an economist, financial analyst and American constitutionalist — has devoted a lifetime to uncovering the mystery of what is controlling most of the craziness we're currently seeing, and which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He's written two books on this topic: "Technocracy Rising: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation" and "Technocracy: The Hard Road to World Order." I was intrigued by his work as my own approach is to seek to understand the foundational cause of any given problem.


"I think that's a really important takeaway for listeners," Wood says. "Don't just confine your view to the microcosm, like what's in front of you. Always try and look for the big picture ... Once you have the big picture, it's hard to unsee it. Once you see it, it's hard to not see it. It guides everything else you do within your life at that point, and that's really important.

It's certainly important in medicine, because if a doctor or researcher doesn't really understand the whole picture, how can he understand a little part of the picture when you get right down into some nitty-gritty detail? It's very difficult."

Comment: See also:

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Map

China's ninth consecutive day with no locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, life returning to normal


Reuters
Tue, 25 Aug 2020 02:11 UTC
China mask
© REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
FILE PHOTO: People wearing face masks walk down steps near a subway station, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China August 18, 2020.
China reported its ninth consecutive day with no new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, as a major university in the city of Wuhan opened for face-to-face classes on Tuesday for the first time in eight months.

The daily update from national health officials, which provided data for Monday, showed the recent streak without any new locally transmitted cases stretched into another day.

There were 14 new imported cases, involving travellers returning from overseas, down from 16 the previous day. There were also 16 new asymptomatic cases - patients who are infected with the coronavirus but not exhibiting any symptoms - compared with 27 a day earlier.

In the central city where the virus was first detected, Wuhan University opened its doors to more than 9,100 students on Monday.

Comment: China is returning to normal life while in the West a 'new normal' is coming into force amidst unsupported claims of a 'second wave': And check out SOTT radio's:

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