This is going to be a long fight and everyone needs to be ready for anything and everything.
These billionaires have more money than God and are going to throw everything they can at citizens around the world, they're out in the open now it's too late for them to turn everything around and admit what they did.
Kinda strange coincidence when hospitals in different countries are all of a sudden catching on fire.
Flight records show an Italian military plane landed and Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on January 11, partially confirming intelligence received by Maria Zack of Nations in Action regarding the whereabouts of ItalyGate whistleblower Arturo D’Elia.
Zack and NIA have been investigating allegations of interference in the U.S. election since mid-November. They allege a D’Elia came forward with information confirming votes in the presidential election were switched from President Trump to Joe Biden electronically using military-grade satellites owned and operated by Italian defense contractor Leonardo SpA.
D’Elia, a former employee of Leonardo, says he is in possession of actual vote data from Election Day that shows President Trump won by “huge margins,” according to Zack.
Zack says the latest intelligence provided to NIA by individuals in Italy working to bring the evidence to light says D’Elia may have been transported to the U.S.
“What our latest intel shows is that he was potentially moved here to the United States,” Zack says mentioning an Italian military plane that landed in the U.S. in recent weeks. “It is our suspicion, now that Arturo has been moved again, that he most likely was on that plane that landed at Andrews.”
Data from Flightaware.com shows Italian Air Force flight 1433 landed at Andrews on Monday, January 11, at 2:44pm EST.
The plane then flew to Oklahoma City, OK, the following day before returning to Italy.
The second plane IAM1438 landed at Andrews on Monday, January 11, at 2:22pm EST and also flew to Oklahoma the following day. According to Italmilradar.com, a website that tracks Italian military aircraft, the plane will remain in Oklahoma for a few months testing some new fuel transfer equipment.
The aircraft are KC-767 tanker planes manufactured by U.S.-based Boeing. They can be configured for passenger transport, as refueling tankers/freighters or a combination of the two. The Italian Air Force ordered four total tanker transports in the combination variant in 2001. They were delivered in 2011.
A request for comment from former Secretary of State Pompeo was not immediately returned.
This is a developing story.
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Article Link: https://www.theepochtimes.com/half-of-gop-senators-back-bill-to-block-biden-energy-ban_3678168.html
Dozens of Senate Republicans are supporting a bill introduced by Sen. Cyntha Lummis (R-Wyo.) that would prohibit the president and certain other federal departments from blocking energy or mineral leasing permits on federal lands without congressional scrutiny.
The Protecting our Wealth of Energy Resources (POWER) Act of 2021 (pdf), supported by at least half of Senate Republicans, would stop the president or the secretaries of the interior, agriculture, and energy departments from blocking energy or mineral leasing and permitting on federal lands and waters without congressional approval.
“As America continues to recover from a global pandemic, our energy industry desperately needs the Biden administration’s support, not its scorn. We must work to prevent any administration from crippling our energy industry without approval from Congress,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a statement.
“I am proud to support this legislation that will fight back against the Biden administration’s radical environmental agenda and help our energy industry thrive by supporting hundreds of thousands of blue-collar jobs, keeping household energy costs low for American families, and maintaining our energy independence.”
Another 23 GOP Republicans backed the measure, which comes after President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that, in part, puts a halt on new mining and energy leasing on federal lands.
The Department of the Interior had on Jan. 21, just a day after Biden assumed office, moved to suspend new leases for oil and gas drilling on federal lands for 60 days, but Biden’s Wednesday executive order means the suspension will remain until a review is completed by the secretary of agriculture, the secretary of commerce, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the secretary of energy.
That review will “consider whether to adjust royalties associated with coal, oil, and gas resources extracted from public lands and offshore waters, or take other appropriate action, to account for corresponding climate costs,” the order states.
Lummis, prior to releasing the bill in response to Biden’s order, had criticized the president’s action as destructive for jobs and the economy in her home state and in the nation. In a statement Friday, she reiterated her message.
“The Biden Ban would be nothing short of catastrophic for western states that are already reeling from the decline in energy usage brought on by the pandemic and continued volatility in energy markets,” she said in a statement. “It’s a one-two punch that means disaster for energy jobs, families, and communities. Through the POWER Act, Congress would reiterate that federal lands should serve not the whims of a radical progressive minority, but the needs of all Americans.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said in a statement that the proposed POWER Act of 2021 “creates a needed check on the Executive Branch, and makes certain that decisions like this are subject to debate in Congress and not rashly signed into action.”
“We must continue to advocate for the families across America who are at risk of losing their livelihood and income in the middle of a pandemic,” she added.
Biden said on Wednesday that his administration has a “concrete” plan to address the impending job losses looming for the industry by creating “more than a quarter million jobs to do things like plug the millions of abandoned oil and gas wells” that pose a health and safety threat to communities.
“They’re abandoned wells that are open now, and we’re going to put people to work. They’re not going to lose jobs in these areas; they’re going to create jobs,” Biden said. It is unclear from his remarks how the government plans to pay for the proposed health and safety works.
While both Republicans and Democrats from fossil fuel-dependent states have been critical of Biden’s pledges to limit or halt the use of fossil fuels, other mostly Democratic lawmakers and progressives have praised the president’s actions, which they believe are in the name of helping save the planet from an impending crisis posed by climate change.
John Kerry, former secretary of state under the Obama-Biden administration and now Biden’s top environmental policy adviser, said on Wednesday that Biden wants to make sure workers in the energy industry “have better choices” in jobs that “pay better” and are “cleaner,” giving the example of being a solar power technician instead of being a miner.
Kerry also asserted that it’s a false notion that “dealing with climate” comes at the expense of energy workers. He added that there is “a lot of money to be made” in the creation of new “healthier” jobs in sectors such as green hydrogen, geothermal heat, and other renewables.
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) noted on Thursday that a study (pdf) by energy consulting firm OnLocation concluded that a leasing and development ban on federal land and waters would mean the loss of nearly 1 million jobs by 2022. The decision could also mean that U.S. households could spend a cumulative $19 billion more on energy by 2030, according to the study.
Biden’s decision on halt oil and natural gas development on public lands has received other forms of backlash since Wednesday.
The administration has been sued by Western Energy Alliance, a group representing fossil fuel producers on federal lands. The group said that the president has exceeded his authority in signing the order.
Top House Republican leaders as well as four House Democrats from Texas have called on the Biden administration to revoke his order.
Since assuming office, Biden has also suspended the Keystone XL oil pipeline and rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, decisions he says are in the best interest of the nation to care for the environment and tackle climate change.
Article Link: https://www.theepochtimes.com/apple-ceo-escalates-battle-with-facebook-over-online-privacy_3677031.html
SAN RAMON, California—Apple CEO Tim Cook fired off a series of thinly veiled shots at Facebook and other social media companies Thursday, escalating an online privacy battle pitting the iPhone maker against digital services that depend on tracking people to help sell ads.
“Too many are still asking the question ‘how much can we get away with?’ when we should be asking ‘what are the consequences?'” Cook said.
Speaking at a virtually held International Conference on Computers, Privacy & Data Protection, Cook said it’s “time to stop pretending that this approach doesn’t come with a cost—of polarization, lost trust and yes, of violence.”
Cook never specifically named Facebook or any other company. But his remarks left little doubt that his missives were aimed at the social media sites.
“A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe,” Cook added, referring to a Netflix documentary about technology’s—and especially social media’s—corrosive effects on society. That film took square aim at Facebook and how its algorithms manipulate its nearly 3 billion users to get them to look at the ads that generate most of its revenue.
Cook’s broadside came as Apple prepares to roll out a new privacy control in the early spring to prevent iPhone apps from secretly shadowing people. That puts the feature on course to come out after a more than six-month delay aimed at placating Facebook and other digital services that depend on such data surveillance to help sell ads.
Although Apple didn’t provide a specific date, the general timetable disclosed Thursday means the long-awaited safeguard known as App Tracking Transparency will be part of an iPhone software update likely to arrive in late March or some point in April.
After delaying the planned September introduction of the safeguard amid a Facebook-led outcry, Apple had previously said it would come out early this year. Apple released the latest schedule update as part of Data Privacy Day.
Apple has been holding off to give Facebook and other app makers more time to adjust to a feature that will require iPhone users to give their explicit consent to being tracked. Analysts expect a significant number of users to deny that permission once it requires their assent. Currently, iPhone users are frequently tracked by apps they install unless they take the extra step of going into iPhone settings to prevent it.
“Technology does not need vast troves of personal data, stitched together across dozens of websites and apps, in order to succeed,” Cook said. “Advertising existed and thrived for decades without it.”
As a supplement to Cook’s remarks, Apple also released an 11-page report to illustrate how much apps can learn about their users in daily life.
Facebook stepped up its attacks on Apple’s new privacy control last month in a series of full-page ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other national newspapers. That campaign suggested some free digital services will be hobbled if they can’t compile personal information to customize ads. On Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg questioned Apple’s motives for the changes, saying the iPhone maker “has every incentive” to use its own mobile platform to interfere with rivals to its own messaging app.
“Apple may say that they are doing this to help people, but the moves clearly track their competitive interests,” Zuckerberg said.
Google, which also relies on personal data to power the internet’s biggest ad network, hasn’t joined Facebook in its criticism of Apple’s forthcoming controls on tracking. Google profits from being the default search engine on the iPhone, a prized position for which it pays Apple an estimated $9 billion to $12 billion annually.
But Google warned in a Wednesday blog post that Apple’s new controls will have a significant impact on the iPhone ad revenue of other apps in its digital network. Google said a “handful” of its own iPhone apps will be affected by the new requirement, but plans to make changes to them so they won’t be affected by Apple’s new controls. It did not identify which apps.
“We remain committed to preserving a vibrant and open app ecosystem where people can access a broad range of ad-supported content with confidence that their privacy and choices are respected,” wrote Christophe Combette, group product manager for Google Ads.
Former Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski’s new political action committee will target the 10 Republicans who joined the Democrats in voting to impeach President Donald Trump.
Lewandowski told WMUR that he is focused on finding and supporting primary challengers to the 10 Republicans, starting with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) Cheney issued a scathing statement announcing her intention to vote for impeachment, drawing a broad backlash from her constituents. A poll commissioned by Trump’s political operation showed that 73 percent of Cheney’s constituents having an unfavorable opinion of her.
“These 10 House members have to have accountability at the end of the day, I believe,” Lewandowski told WMUR. “The one big vote is obviously the vote to impeach the president.”
“You have to look at individual districts,” he added. “I’ve had a number of conversations with candidates who want to run against these individuals to hold them accountable for their vote against the president.”
Lewandowski said he intends to be a key player in the 2022 election by supporting who he called “America First” candidates. The political action committee he is heading, Fight Back Now America, was formed in November last year, Federal Election Commission records show.
“Our PAC is designed to focus on districts that will allow to us obtain and expand our majority in Congress and also focus on those candidates who, if you win a Republican primary, will ensure that the likelihood of losing the district is very slim,” , Lewandowski said.
New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District seat could be among those districts next year, he added.
Lewandowski said he is still interested in running for governor but noted that he would not challenge Republican Gov. Chris Sununu if he ran for re-election. Lewandowski also said he has “zero interest” in running for the U.S. Senate.
“Until Gov. Sununu makes his decision on what he’s going to do, I’m going to continue to focus on raising money and helping people around the country,” Lewandowski said. “If and when the governor decides he’s going to do something different, I would look at that.”
Would Lewandowski run for the U.S. Senate?
“I have no interest in serving in federal elective office in Washington, D.C. None – zero,” he said.
Lewandowski said that former President Donald Trump is likely “a little disheartened” by President Joe Biden’s flurry of executive orders dismantling Trump’s agenda.
“I think the president is concerned about seeing all of the work he’s been able to do over the past four years to rebuild our economy, rebuild our military and put America first being undone,” Lewandowski said.
“I don’t speak for the president, but I speak with him. I think it is a massive transition from being the leader of the free world to being a private citizen.”
Article Link: https://thepostmillennial.com/right-leaning-county-seeks-to-secede-from-colorado-to-join-wyoming
A group of disenfranchised Colorado residents want to secede from their home state and change the county boundary lines so that their right-leaning county is absorbed by Wyoming.
Weld County, Wyoming, is working to place a measure on the November 2021 ballot that would instruct county commissioners to "engage and explore the annexation of Weld County with the State of Wyoming's Legislature."
The measure intends to "get out from under the thumb" of Colorado's more liberal government, according to the group's Facebook page created to gauge interest that has since garnered nearly 5,000 likes.
"Denver and Boulder have declared war not only on Weld County, but common sense itself with regulations designed to kill energy jobs," one November post declared. "Putting radical animal rights activists in positions of power over the ranching industry, two of Weld's key economic drivers. They are also at war with small businesses. People who hold traditional values are vilified as racist homophobic (misogynist) bigots."
An online petition with over 8,500 signatures also cites concerns about 2nd Amendment rights. "Denver/Boulder have drove weapons manufacturers out of the state," the petition states, noting that the two counties have chased oil and gas out of the state and caused the loss of local jobs and tax dollars. "Rural schools, hospitals and all rural communities are getting ignored. Denver/Boulder only care about Denver/Boulder."
"Now they are assaulting Weld County agriculture," the Change.org description continues. "From chickens to cattle, to placing a vegan on the veterinarian state board." The petition concluded that "Weld County's values align more with Wyoming then Denver/Boulder."
Over 74,000 registered Republicans reside in the county compared to the 44,000 registered Democrats, according to voter statistics reported on the Weld County elections department page.
"I'd rather my beloved county become part of Wyoming than live in my once beloved state that has been so californicated that we cannot even live by our constitutional rights and freedoms," commented Fort Lupton resident Christina Azua who received almost two dozen upvotes.
Political committee leader Christopher "Todd" Richards acknowledged that the process would be "long" and "daunting." Richards registered Weld County Wyoming last February, according to Colorado's campaign finance disclosure website. The idea came to him in 2019 after he read an op-ed in the Denver Post. He admitted that he considered the prospect the "funniest thing" he's ever heard.
The initiative will re-draw state lines to exclude Weld County from Colorado and include the jurisdiction within Wyoming's borders instead.
"Can this be done? Yes, it can be done. Is it going to be easy? No," remarked Richards at the Destiny Christian Center during the Nov. 10 meeting posted to YouTube.
Video Link: https://youtu.be/X4Zc0CG80ic
"This has never been done before, so we're not here to tell you this can be done," pastor Geoffery Broughton insisted at the meeting. "We're telling you this is a hard thing that we think is worth trying to do." Broughton reiterated that Colorado is "at war with three major economic drivers for Weld County: small businesses, agriculture, and oil and gas."
The mayor of Erie, a town between Boulder and Weld counties, told Fox31 that there are numerous considerations Weld County voters must take into account.
Mayor Jennifer Carroll pointed to issues such as "income tax, personal property tax, corporate state income tax, retirement income tax, gas tax, severance taxes on oil and gas, and water rights to name a few." However, she acknowledged that she respects the "cornerstone of voting."
"Ultimately, the people will choose the outcome. In my role, I can help residents discover the risks and benefits of such a measure. This measure will undoubtedly require a great deal of pre-education for voters," Carroll stated.
USA Today reported that the reallocation of any county, would require votes in both state legislatures in addition to Congress. Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican, represents Colorado's 4th congressional district which consists of Weld County.
Weld County, east of Fort Collins, holds more than 324,000 residents. Wyoming, with approximately 579,000 inhabitants, has been the nation's least populated state for more than three decades. If the grassroots Weld County movement were successful, it would boost Wyoming's population by more than 50%, making Vermont the nation's least populated state.
Given the large population, not everyone in Weld County agrees with the technical move. "I absolutely love living in Colorado. For those that don't love living here, there are certainly less ridiculous ways of moving to Wyoming," Greeley City Council member Tommy Butler told FOX31.
One radio station in the Cowboy State even compiled "10 Reasons NOT to Move to Wyoming" that includes too much fresh air and not enough traffic.
However, US News & World Report showed recent census data that named Wyoming as the top state travelers are trekking to. Nearly 5.6 percent of Wyoming residents lived elsewhere in 2018. More than 3,000 residents moved from California and Colorado each.
A similar movement was proposed in 2013 under the failed "51st State Initiative," which attempted to form a new state with several northern Colorado counties. The motion passed in five of the 11 Colorado counties where the initiative appeared on the ballot.
Article Link: https://www.theepochtimes.com/police-in-washington-clear-homeless-camp-after-antifa-made-calls-for-disruption_3676916.html
Law enforcement in Washington state on Thursday cleared a homeless camp that was dubbed an “occupation,” after the far-left Antifa network called for members to descend on the camp and confront officers.
Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood gave permission to police to clear the camp a day earlier than was previously announced because of information indicating calls to action were made to activists in the Pacific Northwest to try to stop the clearance.
“We took urgent, emergency action this morning outside Bellingham City Hall to protect the safety of all. … We acted today to reduce the risk of further injury, violence, and vandalism by those who are using the plight of our community’s most vulnerable to further their own agenda,” Fleetwood told reporters during a press conference.
“Some of the groups that came up here claimed to be from Antifa, and they were calling for groups all the way from Portland to come to Bellingham and disrupt the cleanup that was to occur,” added Interim Bellingham Police Chief Flo Simon.
“Some of the groups are just various extremist groups that wanted to be part of this protest,” she added, including people who had been at previous Black Lives Matter protests. Several people had traveled to the area on Thursday donning gear typically worn by Antifa members.
Bellingham is a city of some 88,000 about 88 miles north of Seattle, a primary hub of Antifa groups.
Antifa stands for anti-fascist but groups in the anarcho-communist network use fascist tactics and have repeatedly utilized violence to accomplish their goals.
The encampment sprung up outside City Hall in November 2020, ostensibly to protest a lack of housing in the area.
While officials gave a deadline of 4 p.m. on Friday to clear out, they moved in early because they received information that “certain groups known to have a history of confrontation” called for people to descend on Bellingham and disrupt the operation, the mayor said. He didn’t name the groups.
In a statement to the Bellingham Herald, the Bellingham Occupied Protest Mutual Aid Collective, which was assisting in resisting clearance of the encampment, said: “Claims of ‘outside agitators’ and denouncement of graffiti only serve to erase the very real and very valid anger and frustration that many community members feel. No amount of ‘playing by the rules’ of this current system will result in housing for all, because the current system is exactly what enables 1,500+ people in Whatcom County to live on the streets and in the forests in the first place.”
Officials tried moving on the collection of approximately 100 tents on Jan. 22 but were confronted by a group that the mayor described as including “intentional agitators” who were “far more intent on conflict than working towards any social good.” The group broke into City Hall as part of the effort to stop the clearance.
That was a clear “show of force,” Simon said.
City officials were negotiating with people in the encampment but reports of incidents greatly escalated in recent weeks. The city received multiple calls for assistance from the camp. Reports included people being assaulted with hatchets and baseball bats, and a fire started on the site last month after a propane tank exploded.
People at the encampment were conducting crimes such as drug deals, threatening city employees, and constructing a fortified wooden structure, from which someone recently hurled a rock through windows at City Hall.
The range of incidents prompted the closing of City Hall and a nearby library.
Officials said at least four arrests were made as they cleared the camp, primarily people who assaulted officers during the clearance.
Article Link: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-lobbying-miami-david-rivera-venezuela-4cd0228c46c014a774fed0f4ea8a0deb
MIAMI (AP) — Newly filed lobbying records show Venezuela’s socialist government previously hired a longtime Democratic Party donor for $6 million at the same time it was lobbying to discourage the U.S. from imposing sanctions on the oil-rich nation.
The documents, which were disclosed Thursday, show a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil giant PDVSA agreed to hire Marcia Wiss’ Washington law firm in March 2017. That’s the same month it signed a consulting deal for $50 million with scandal-tainted former Congressman David Rivera.
Wiss, an international trade lawyer with a history of donations to the Democratic Party, including a $1,500 contribution to Joe Biden last year, denies she did any lobbying work.
Her former client — now under new management — said it was unaware of the full extent of her work to determine if it constituted political activities benefitting Nicolás Maduro’s government. The PDVSA subsidiary also took the unusual step of registering retroactively as a foreign agent, disclosing the contracts with Rivera, Wiss and a third vendor.
The contracts have come to light as allies of opposition leader Juan Guaidó work with the Justice Department to uncover any corrupt dealings at another wholly owned PDVSA subsidiary, Houston-based Citgo, which for years operated as a cash cow for Venezuela’s ruling party. A Guaidó-appointed board wrested control of Citgo, the sixth-largest independent U.S. refiner, after the Trump administration recognized him as Venezuela’s rightful leader in 2019.
The same Guaidó-appointed officials behind the new foreign lobby filings last year sued Rivera for allegedly breaking his consulting contract. Federal prosecutors in Miami are also investigating whether the Republican broke foreign lobbying rules.
At the time both Wiss and Rivera were retained, Maduro was trying to curry favor with the Trump administration, avoiding outright criticism of the new U.S. president while funneling $500,000 to his inaugural committee through Citgo.
The contracts with Rivera and Wiss were part of an effort to discourage the then-new Trump administration and other governments from imposing sanctions on Venezuela, according to three people familiar with the deals who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the politically sensitive matter. Payments came from a little-known, Delaware-registered subsidiary, PDV USA, which provided shareholder services to PDVSA independent of Citgo’s oil operations.
The three people said the holding company was regularly used by Maduro’s government for political activities in the U.S.
The charm offensive failed. Backed by exiles in Miami, Trump in the early days of his presidency hosted the wife of a prominent jailed Venezuelan activist and in August 2017 imposed the first of gradually more restrictive sanctions on PDVSA. Democrats cheered the hardline stance and the European Union began targeting Maduro allies with restrictions of its own.
But in a similarly tactful approach now being tried again with the Biden administration, Maduro for a while sought to ease hostilities with the U.S., which had been Venezuela’s biggest trading partner for decades before sanctions drove him closer to U.S. adversaries like Russia, China and Iran. Also in the mix was U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, who PDVSA tried to recruit to set up a meeting with the head of Exxon at the same time the oil giant’s former CEO, Rex Tillerson, was serving as Trump’s secretary of state.
Wiss collected around half of the $6 million in monthly installments of $250,000 before being instructed, like Rivera, to bill PDVSA back in Caracas in April 2018, according to the filings. On one occasion, she traveled to Caracas to meet with then Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez, who was a PDVSA board member in charge of international relations, according to two of the three people familiar with the deal. Rodríguez is now Venezuela’s vice president.
Wiss said her law firm does not and never has provided lobbying services, She added that the firm never invoiced or ever received payment from PDVSA or any non-U.S. related party — suggesting that half of the contract went unpaid.
“Wiss was engaged to provide PDV USA and its affiliates with legal services only,” she wrote in an e-mailed response to questions.
But the Guaido-appointed board of PDV USA deemed that the hiring of Wiss, Rivera and a third company, Caribbean Style Inc., required it to register under foreign lobbying rules. The Texas-based Caribbean Style was paid $625,000 to place four full-page advertisements in the New York Times and Washington Post.
“The pro-Venezuelan and anti-U.S. sanctions content of these advertisements suggests they were intended to influence the U.S. government or the U.S. public’s perspective of the U.S. sanctions regime rating to Venezuela,” PDV USA said in its filing, which is dated. Dec. 31.
In total, PDVSA sent $89 million to PDV USA between 2015 and March 2017 to pay U.S.-based vendors, according to the filing, which was first reported by Foreign Lobby Report, an online news service that tracks the influence industry.
PDV USA said Wiss provided updates on disputes involving PDVSA and advice on immigration, insurance, and cryptocurrency.
But it added that “PDV USA is unaware of the full extent of the legal work that Wiss may have been performing under the retainer,” suggesting that what Guaidó-appointed officials consider a high fee may have covered additional services for which it has no record. The AP could find no record of Wiss appearing on behalf of PDV USA or PDVSA in federal court or in the large number of commercial claims against Venezuela before a World Bank arbitration panel.
Wiss wouldn’t say what legal services she performed, or whether she had traveled to Caracas as part of her work, citing lawyer-client privilege. “Your information is false and you are being again misled,” she added.
Lawyers for Citgo’s new board sued a consulting firm owned by Rivera last year for allegedly not fulfilling its obligations under the contract. According to the lawsuit, Rivera, the former roommate of fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, failed to describe any work that his firm, Interamerican Consulting, had actually performed, preparing just two of seven promised bi-weekly progress reports while collecting the first $15 million of the agreed-to $50 million.
The goal of the contract was to improve PDVSA’s “long-term reputation” and “standing” among “targeted stakeholders” in the U.S., according to a copy seen by the AP.
Rivera’s political career unraveled amid several election-related controversies, including orchestrating the stealth funding of an unknown Democratic candidate to take on his main rival in a South Florida congressional race and a state investigation into whether he hid a $1 million contract with a gambling company. He has never been charged with a crime.
Rivera’s business deal is also under federal criminal investigation in Miami because Rivera never registered with the Justice Department, which would be required when lobbying U.S. officials on behalf of a foreign government.
Wiss also never registered as a foreign agent and there is no indication that she herself is under investigation.
Wiss was a longtime lawyer at Hogan Lovells, where PDVSA was a client, before starting her own boutique firm, Wiss & Partners, in 2016.
Article Link: https://apnews.com/article/basketball-atlantic-city-theft-youth-basketball-c6ddd5725bf12f88b3e854c828d70b33
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A tearful former mayor of Atlantic City was sentenced Thursday to 30 days in prison and 11 months of house arrest for stealing $87,000 from a youth basketball program he founded.
Frank Gilliam, a Democrat, is the latest in a line of corrupt Atlantic City officials so long that it spawned a hit HBO TV series.
He could have been sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison following his October 2019 guilty plea to wire fraud.
“I stand before this court as a fractured human being, one seeking to do better,” a sobbing Gilliam told the judge over a video link. “It’s something I wish never happened. But it did. The mistake I made is not something I’m proud of.
“I’m ashamed, I’m embarrassed,” said Gilliam, 49. “I’ve hurt people who love me, I’ve hurt people who depended on me.”
Federal prosecutors sought a prison term of 15 to 21 months for Gilliam, who resigned as mayor on the day he pleaded guilty.
He acknowledged stealing $87,000 from a youth basketball program he had set up, using some of the money for personal items including expensive clothing, trips and meals.
Prosecutors said Gilliam solicited donations while a member of the City Council and then as mayor under the false pretense that they were for the youth basketball team or for school supplies for poor children.
U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Rodriguez noted that Gilliam committed a serious crime that needed to be punished. But he also took into effect evidence of Gilliam’s years of work with young people.
“This defendant stole more money than many U.S. residents earn in a year,” the judge said. “The defendant also took money from the very underprivileged children in Atlantic City that he tried to encourage and prepare for a better life.”
In a letter to the court in December, Gilliam himself asked to be sentenced to probation and 500 hours of community service.
The judge ordered that Gilliam carry out 200 hours of community service within three years.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Farrell objected to the sentence, saying it should have been more lengthy to deter others in a similar situation.
“He defrauded the community, and he did it on the backs of kids,” Farrell said.
Gilliam’s lawyer, Harry Rimm, said the former mayor has expressed remorse, is making restitution, and is the primary caregiver for his 4-year-old grandson. The lawyer also noted an early tragedy in Gilliam’s life when his father killed his mother when Gilliam was 3 years old.
Rimm stressed that Gilliam admitted to taking private money, not public funds. That sets him somewhat apart from a long line of his predecessors accused of corruption, dating back to the turn-of-the-century Atlantic City officials whose malfeasance was chronicled in the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire.”
As recently as 2007, four of the city’s last eight mayors had been arrested on corruption charges and one-third of the nine-member City Council was either in prison or under house arrest.
Gilliam is ineligible to hold public office again. A date has not yet been set for him to report to prison.
After spending the better part of last year cheering on big tech as it systematically censored and deplatformed conservative personalities from social media websites, many prominent leftist accounts on Twitter and YouTube are now getting suspended.
Facebook and Twitter have gone on a deplatforming spree, suspending many accounts of prominent left-wing groups and personalities. This includes socialist student organizations and several accounts used by the radical anarcho-communist group Antifa. Many of these pages had thousands or tens of thousands of followers.
According to OANN, there has been speculation that the wave of suspensions is a consequence of the violent riots that erupted in Portland following the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Independent journalist and Antifa expert Andy Ngo called the move by Twitter “too little too late.”
“I wonder why they didn’t act when we were at the height of the violent riots across the U.S. that lasted for months,” he added. (Related: Google data suggests Black Lives Matter is terrorism, a violent election tool, BLM/Antifa useful idiots get buyer’s remorse.)
According to Ngo, some of the other radical leftist Twitter accounts that have been suspended include The Base, an “Antifa extremist center” and far-left bookstore based out of Brooklyn; the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement – and its Twitter account for its cell in New York City, an organization that calls for the release of all prisoners and the dismantling of the criminal justice system; and Jewish Worker, a far-left Jewish man who identifies as a socialist and an anti-Zionist.
Facebook turns on the left, shutting down socialist pages Facebook has also suspended multiple accounts and pages belonging to far-left groups and personalities in the U.S. as well as overseas. One of the latter is the page of the Socialist Workers Party, a “revolutionary socialist” and communist political party in the United Kingdom, along with its student wing, the Socialist Workers’ Student Society.
The pages of the World Socialist Web Site, a far-left “Trotskyist” news site based out of Michigan, and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality chapter based out of Michigan were also banned. The account of Genevieve Leigh, the national secretary of the IYSSE in the United States, was also suspended.
Unfortunately, these accounts have since been restored, with a spokesperson from Facebook saying that the pages were accidentally removed from the website due to an “automation error.”
Facebook did not provide any further details other than saying that it apologizes for the error. The big tech company has also not responded to any media requests for clarifications regarding what the automation error was, how it occurred and why it only affected the accounts and pages of several notable left-wing groups and personalities.
The socialists who run the pages are furious at the supposed “bias against left-wing voices.” Far-left activists said that Facebook has a pattern of deliberately trying to undermine their voices. The Socialist Workers Party’s evidence for this supposed bias is that several accounts belonging to activists affiliated with the party were shut down “in error” last December.
Some of the accounts that were suspended include the personal account of Niles Niemuth, the World Socialist Web Site’s managing editor and the 2016 vice presidential candidate of the revolutionary socialist and Trotskyist Socialist Equality Party.
“They don’t even provide means by which you can recover your account,” said David North, chairman of the World Socialist Web Site’s editorial board. “It’s like the police storming in and seizing everything you have.”
North is uncertain of how many accounts were affected. He is further concerned that this wave of suspensions may not be the last that he and other socialists on Facebook have to deal with.
“Even though this particular ban has been [reversed], it’s a warning we don’t know what might come next.”
Chris Marsden, national secretary of the British Socialist Equality Party believes that Facebook has far too much influence for them to be deplatforming anyone they wish.
“Social media … is privately owned but to all intents and purposes it’s what used to be the market square,” he said. “They’re using their power in a way that’s completely undemocratic.”
This is one of the first times leftists have raised concerns regarding bias in Facebook. On the contrary, Facebook is usually accused of anti-conservative bias, most recently after it followed Twitter’s footsteps and suspended the account of former president Donald Trump “indefinitely.”
Facebook justified this by arguing, without evidence, that Trump attempted to use his supporters to incite an insurrection, and that his continued presence on the website may lead to further violence.
Learn more about the latest actions of far-left organizations like those listed above and their allies in Antifa by reading the latest articles at AntifaWatch.news.
According to Facebook,
Sources include:
OANN.com
Twitter.com
FT.com
Article Link: https://www.ifamnews.com/en/breaking-first-ever-lawsuit-against-critical-race-theory-indoctrination-filed-in-nevada/
Filed last month in Dec 2020:
An apparent first-in-the-nation lawsuit was filed yesterday in Clark County, Nevada as a result of the intentional constitutional violations inflicted on students who are subjected to instruction in “critical race theory” in public school. The lawsuit supported by Schoolhouserights.org, a project of the International Organization for the Family (IOF) and publisher of iFamNews.com, was filed on behalf of a student and his single mother. The lawsuit details the absurdity of the instruction that students are forced to endure, and the real consequences they suffer to their future if they refuse to participate in this indoctrination.
William Clark is a high school senior who aspires to a career in musicology. He’s worked hard to overcome difficult circumstances. His father passed away when he was young, and his mother is unemployed and disabled. William works 35 hours per week at night at a local Taco Bell to help support his family. The family lives in transitional housing.
Despite her own troubles, William’s mother has worked hard to ensure her children receive a top-quality education, securing coveted positions for them as students at top public charter schools in Las Vegas. William has been attending the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, now known as Democracy Prep AC, since sixth grade. He has excelled throughout his academic career – until he was confronted, unexpectedly and without warning, at the beginning of his senior year by a purported “civic class” called “Sociology of Change.” The underlying theoretical basis for the class is known as “intersectionality” and is inspired by a political activist and “critical race theory” proponent. The class teacher describes her students as “social justice warriors.”
In this class, students are told that possessing certain characteristics inherently designates them as either being “privileged” or “oppressed.” The class has a strict understanding of what constitutes “privilege” and “oppression.” Those who identify as white, male, heterosexual, or Christian are intrinsically privileged and oppressive, which is defined as “malicious or unjust” and “wrong.”
It’s impossible for someone to disagree with their characterization as being privileged or oppressive because of their race, gender, sexuality or religious beliefs. Students were instructed that any denial of these characterizations amounts to unjust privilege “expressed as denial.” Class materials further instruct students that it is impossible for a person of color to be racist.
Once students understand and profess acceptance of the underlying premises of inherent “privilege” and “oppression,” they are required to “unlearn” and “fight back” against the “oppressive structures” implicit in their family arrangements, religious beliefs and practices, and racial, sexual and gender identities, all of which they are required to divulge and be subjected to interrogation.
William immediately understood that assigning moral attributes to a person based on inherent characteristics was wrong. He had a unique perspective from which to know this. As a Christian, he was raised according to the prescript of Dr. Martin Luther King, that people should be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. By all outward appearances, William is white. He has green eyes and white skin. But William’s mother is black; his late father was white. William was the only student in the class who appeared to be white.
William was entirely uncomfortable divulging information to his “civics” teacher about his gender, sexuality, race or religious beliefs, since he knew that doing so would immediately result in him being characterized as privileged and oppressive. His black mother was furious to learn of the instruction he was being subjected to, particularly the idea that William would have to “unlearn” and “fight back” about the Judeo-Christian principles she had instilled in her son. William’s mom repeatedly approached the school administration seeking some sort of accommodation or alternative, and suggested several options such as taking a different civics class at another high school or even a community college.
No accommodation was forthcoming; no alternative was acceptable. In fact, the school declared that participation in this class was mandatory and required for graduation. No exceptions, period. If William did not comply, he would not graduate and his college dreams would be over.
When the possibility of litigation became apparent, school officials presented William and his mother with a sort of triple Hobson’s choice: he could apply himself diligently to the coursework and obtain a good grade and thus maintain his excellent college prospects; or he could do the minimal amount of work and obtain a C- grade, the lowest grade this school allows, dashing his hopes to attend a top college but at least he’d graduate; or he could continue his resistance and not graduate from high school.
When William and his mother continued to object, the school forced their hand, giving him a D- failing grade (below the so-called minimum grade allowed by their operating documents), and then a week ago suspended him indefinitely from school.
Yesterday William and his mother filed a lawsuit in federal court against the school, its officials, the teachers and administrators, the public charter school network and numerous others for violating their civil rights with this mandatory indoctrination of an entirely offensive, odious and outrageous curriculum. They seek a temporary and permanent injunction against this instruction, as well as monetary damages and attorney fees. They demand a jury trial so that the public can learn about what is going on in this, and many other, public schools.
As far as iFamNews.com can determine, this is a first-in-the-nation lawsuit of this type. It has already attracted a huge degree of attention. The journalist Megyn Kelly @megynkelly tweeted this morning, “This is the answer to this nonsense. The law. It doesn’t allow racial discrimination – against blacks, whites or anyone based on skin color. If your company, or school, or anyone else tells you otherwise, get a lawyer. This has to stop.”
