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Sat, 16 Oct 2021
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Eye 1

UK gov's lockdown easing is setting us up for a fall

coronavirus london
© AFP / TOLGA AKMEN
Amid clear signs of a resurgence in Covid-19, governments are easing lockdown restrictions. But don't you worry - they've found a way to make sure they can point the finger of blame at the public.

Good news, everyone! Covid-19 is over! It's gone, buggered off back to its lab or bat cave or wherever, defeated by a mighty, amicable and cohesive effort from governments across the globe.

That's all I can infer from the way some governments are acting. Lockdowns are loosening faster than badly tied shoelaces. Here in the UK, our government is so confident that it has even stopped holding its daily press briefings.

Comment: The factions controlling governments appear to be testing the waters by reimposing lockdown in some regions whilst elsewhere they're setting the situation up for their next possible move:


Sherlock

How many govt. demands for data? Zoom backtracks on promise to release privacy report

Zoom
© Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
How many government demands for user data has Zoom received? We won't know until "later this year," an updated Zoom blog post now says.

The video conferencing giant previously said it would release the number of government demands it has received by June 30. But the company said it's missed that target and has given no firm new date for releasing the figures.

It comes amid heightened scrutiny of the service after a number of security issues and privacy concerns came to light following a massive spike in its user base, thanks to millions working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a blog post today reflecting on the company's turnaround efforts, chief executive Eric Yuan said the company has "made significant progress defining the framework and approach for a transparency report that details information related to requests Zoom receives for data, records or content."

Comment:


NPC

How we end racism? Twitterati mocks Portland mob for torching a statue of an elk

elk statue portland oregon
© FILE PHOTO Wikipedia / EncMstr
A mob in Portland, Oregon, has torched a statue of an elk, prompting observers to theorize that perhaps the animal was a "slave owner" or a "white supremacist".

Demonstrators on Wednesday night lit fires around the downtown landmark, quickly engulfing the horned effigy in flames. Videos show a small inferno wrapped around the base of the landmark.


Comment: Still think these 'protests' are about George Floyd or racism?


Bug

Ghislane Maxwell Finally Arrested by FBI. Is She The Center of The Entire Epstein Case?

ghislaine Maxwell
Two senior law enforcement officials say that Ghislane Maxwell was arrested on charges that she conspired with Jeffery Epstein to sexually abuse minors and is expected to appear in federal court later Thursday. The six-count indictment in Manhattan federal court alleges that Maxwell helped Epstein groom girls as young as 14 years old, going back as far as 1994. "In some instances, Maxwell was present for and participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims," the indictment says.


Comment: As of 2 July 2020, at 22:30 CET, Maxwell remains unsuicided, and has been taken into custody by US Marshals.

'Q' followers are all excited about this, apparently believing it heralds sweeping imminent mass arrests of Swamp creatures the whole Empire over.

If only.

More likely, it's taken an entire year to follow up on Maxwell because LOTS of backroom deals had to be worked out first. For instance, also reported today is a ruling by the judge in the defamation case Alan Dershowitz brought against Virginia Giuffre that her legal team must "destroy all files" they have on Epstein - over 1,000 of them - because her lawyers allegedly "came into possession of them improperly."

We do wonder, however, if some action finally took place today because of last week's sacking of Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), by US Attorney General William Barr, apparently at Trump's insistence.

The fact remains, however, that everyone who's anyone is either implicated in this scandal, or stands to lose a lot from it 'going wrong'. For one thing, former FBI director James Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, remains one of the SDNY prosecutors handling the Epstein case, and Maxwell has just been transferred from New Hampshire to that jurisdiction to face criminal charges...

Update (July 3): The details of the charges against Maxwell have been released by acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss, and they are revolting:
Strauss described in detail how Maxwell "played a critical role in helping Epstein to identify, befriend and groom minor victims for abuse," pretending to take an interest in the girls' lives, taking them shopping and to the movies, and convincing them to let Epstein pay for their schooling and travel, thus placing them in his debt.

"Maxwell then tried to normalize sexual abuse" by discussing sexual topics, undressing in front of the girls, even being physically present while the girls gave Epstein massages, the prosecutor explained, thereby putting the victims at ease and leaving them "susceptible to sexual abuse."

As for her false testimony, "Maxwell lied because the truth as alleged was almost unspeakable," Strauss stated. "Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into the trap that she and Epstein had set for them."
Former Israeli spy Ari Ben-Menashe has claimed Maxwell was a Mossad agent like her father and that the pair used underage girls as bait to blackmail world leaders. This would hardly be the first time an intel agency used the "honeypot" trap to gain leverage on politicians. That particular spy operation is most well-known for having entrapped Mordechai Vanunu after he blew the whistle on Israel producing nuclear weapons at the Dimona plant. He was arrested in Rome by the Mossad, drugged and taken back to Israel where he served 18 years in prison for "treason," 11 of those years in solitary confinement.

Another piece of damning info on Maxwell is that she apparently inquired to her realtor in New Hampshire about the flight patterns over the property she would eventually purchase. The realtor described the inquiry as "very strange." It's only strange if you're not wanted by the FBI!


Bizarro Earth

24 killed in armed attack on Mexican drug rehab clinic, second deadly attack in a month

Mexican soldiers
© Reuters / Luis Cortes
FILE PHOTO: Mexican National Guard soldiers protect a crime scene, June 3, 2020.
Twenty-four people were shot dead after a group of gunmen stormed a drug rehab center in Central Mexico and opened fire on patients and employees. It was the second deadly attack on the facility since last month.

The alleged mass shooting in the city of Irapuato on Wednesday was first reported in local media and later confirmed by Pedro Zavala, secretary of Municipal Citizen Security, who said the armed assailants entered the rehab clinic and started shooting, wounding seven in addition to the 24 killed. Graphic images have emerged on social media purporting to show the aftermath of the attack.

Pills

Record 15 tons of Daesh-linked 'Jihadi drugs' seized from ship, caught on video by Italian authorities

drugs isis
© Twitter/Guardia di Finanza
Around 15 tons (14 tonnes) of the amphetamine captagon were recently seized from a ship that Italian authorities believe was en route to supply the black market for synthetic drugs in Europe - which has been suffering amid the COVID-19 novel coronavirus lockdowns.

"We know that [Daesh] finances its terrorist activities mainly by trafficking drugs made in Syria, which in the past few years has become the world's largest producer of amphetamines," Italian police said on Wednesday, as reported by CBS News.
According to Italy's Guardia di Finanza military police force, an estimated 84 million tablets were seized after authorities became suspicious of three containers that were expected to arrive at the Italian port of Salerno, around 32 miles south of Naples. The drugs are estimated to be worth some $1.12 billion.



Comment: Syria is apparently the world's largest producer, which is similar to how after the West wrought destruction in Afghanistan it saw poppy production soar, but were these drugs initially Made in America?


Comment: See also: 'Jihadist drug': 137kg of Captagon seized at French airport, partly bound for Saudi Arabia


Yoda

The trans ideology of less than 1% of the UK population is bullying the other 99%

real women transgender ideology protest
© Getty Images / nito100
Here's why I, as a real woman, reject it

We're repeatedly told that males, replete with penises and beards, can become the opposite sex simply by saying: "I am a woman." This is simply wrong, dangerous and is stifling free speech. I'm determined it shall not triumph.

Transgenderism has taken root in our institutions and is eroding women's rights, putting children at risk, and stifling free speech. This is the damning conclusion I reach in a new report, The Corrosive Impact of Transgender Ideology, published by the think tank Civitas this week. I explore how, in under two decades, the term "transgender" went from describing a tiny number of individuals to representing a powerful political agenda, embraced by activists and campaigning organizations, and driving significant social change.

The total number of transgender people remains small (government estimates are 200,000-500,000 trans people in the UK, way less than one percent of the population), but - as a social movement - transgenderism punches way, way, way above its weight. The belief that sex, as inscribed in our bodies and chromosomes, is irrelevant and, instead, we all need to reveal our inbuilt sense of "gender identity" to a readily-accepting world, is now taken for granted by those in charge of our schools, prisons, police force, media and health service.

Comment:


Attention

Police investigating 'it's okay to be white' posters put up in town centre

okay to be white

Posters with the message 'it's okay to be white' have been put up in Nailsea town centre
An investigation has been launched by police after a number of "it's okay to be white" posters were put up in a town centre.

Trainee train driver Shane Jones, 40, tore down five posters bearing the message in the underpass of Crown Glass Shopping Centre in Nailsea yesterday morning (June 28).

"It's okay to be white" is a statement which has been linked to far-right groups in recent years after being popularised by right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos.


Comment: "Has been linked." It's also simply a benign statement of fact. "Black lives matter" is a statement that "has been linked" to far-left groups who have advocated for the destruction of western civilization. That doesn't make the statement any less true. Even staunch conservatives will agree that black lives matter, even if they don't agree with the movement itself and its ideological underpinnings. But good luck getting the same number of people to agree that it's okay to be white. Because it isn't, apparently.


Mr Jones was "at first shocked, then very angry" when he saw they had been displayed and reported the posters to police after he was left "disgusted" by the slogan.


Comment: It must be difficult to be so sensitive to such insignificant slights. Statements are only as hurtful as you let them be.


He told Bristol Live: "I have no time for this kind of intolerance to people who are suffering and fighting for equality, not just in the UK but worldwide.

"I've been living in Nailsea for four years now and I've found it a very friendly and open town. I'm actually quite embarrassed to see that this kind of racism exists here."


Comment: Get a grip on yourself, Mr. Jones.


Comment: An important use of police resources, apparently.

Modern progressive morality: telling 'people of color' (i.e. people) how to think. Can we stop pretending that woke warriors have anything interesting to say?


Star of David

Palestinian civil society calls for immediate targeted sanctions against Israel to stop annexation and Apartheid

protest palestinians annexation Israel
© Mahmoud Ajjour/APA Images
Palestinians take part in a protest against Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied territory and against US President Donald Trump’s Deal of the Century.
Editor's Note: The following statement was released today by a broad coalition of Palestinian civil society organizations. Mondoweiss occasionally publishes press releases and statements from organizations in an effort to draw attention to overlooked issues.
Israel's extremist government decided today to keep everyone in the dark about if and how it will make use of the "golden opportunity" offered by the Trump administration to embark on de jure annexation of large swathes of the occupied Palestinian West Bank. No one should be misled, however. Israel will continue to quietly de facto annex occupied Palestinian territory, as it has done for decades, while trying to appease its Western allies. But as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said, "Annexation is illegal. Period. Any annexation."

Hundreds of international law scholars agree. They write that Israeli annexations of occupied territory are "null and void, entail consequences of international wrongfulness, and - under certain circumstances - lead to individual international criminal liability," regardless whether such annexations are effected "through 'extension of sovereignty,' 'extension of law, jurisdiction, and administration,' or explicit annexation." They concluded, "de facto annexation entails the same legal consequences as de jure annexation."

Comment: The pressure on Israel is gradually getting stronger. Will Netanyahu feel the backing of the U.S. is enough cover to complete his goal?


Blackbox

Princeton prof proves current civil rights campaigns are nothing like abolition of slavery with one simple question

blm uk
© REUTERS/Toby Melville
A participant takes part in a Black Trans Lives Matter rally in London, UK.
A Princeton professor has deftly highlighted how modern social justice movements and their proponents are not comparable to their historic counterparts, and may, in fact, be the polar opposite.

In a time of mass protest against systemic racism, coupled with 'woke capitalists' cashing in on social justice for the sake of a quick buck, activism and opportunity seemingly go hand in hand, with those taking a stand, or a knee, often being rewarding both socially and financially.

The risk-to-reward ratio is highly skewed in their favor in this era of online 'slacktivism,' where posting a black square on Instagram can win you brownie points that can, and often do, turn into greenbacks.

But this was not always the case, as Robert P. George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University points out in an enlightening Twitter thread.

George explains how, as expected, his students insist that they would have risked it all to abolish slavery if they were white and living in the South before abolition.


"Of course, this is nonsense... Most of them - and us - would have gone along. Many would have supported the slave system and happily benefited from it," George continues.


He then unveils his gambit, offering to credit his students' claims if they can show that, "in leading their lives today they have stood up for the rights of unpopular victims of injustice whose very humanity is denied, and where they have done so knowing" that they would be abandoned by their friends, loathed and attacked by the powerful, and denied professional opportunities.


Comment: This is why many of the recent protests across the western world are nothing but empty virtue signalling. There is no risk involved, because they are largely protesting against something which doesn't exist. They are espousing official morality, and patting each other on the back for doing so. No courage required. But there is nothing easy about virtue.