Tag Archives: america

News, Observation, Politics

‘Love to Afghanistan’ Vigils to Demand Return of $7 Billion Stolen by US

Above: Photo by Johannes Müller

“This money belongs to the people of Afghanistan, not to the United States,” said an Afghan protest organizer in Kabul over the weekend.

With the people of Afghanistan facing one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world, U.S.-based peace activists—who largely blame the policies of their own government for inflicting pain on millions of innocent Afghans—are using Valentine’s Day on Monday to demand the Biden administration return billions of dollars of seized assets to the war-torn country before more lasting harm and “cruelty” is done.

Under the banner of “Love to Afghanistan,” nationwide actions were scheduled for the weekend and localized vigils organized set for Monday (Feb. 14) by Peace Action, World Beyond War, and other humanitarian groups who argue that $7 billion frozen by the U.S. government and subsequently seized by an executive order issued Friday by President Joe Biden rightfully belongs to the Afghan people, who without it face an economy on the brink of collapse and a healthcare system and federal infrastructure without adequate support amid the Covid-19 pandemic and a worsening food crisis.

Thus far vigils for Valentine’s Day are taking place in Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, New York, and other states.

According to a call to action by organizers:

After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, Peace Action welcomed the withdrawal of troops from the country and an end to the war.

Yet when the United States military pulled out of Afghanistan, the Biden administration also responded by choking off assets to Afghan banks and the economy by freezing the reserves of the Afghan Central Bank held in the U.S. They also imposed sanctions on those doing business with Afghanistan and cut aid. Jobs and income disappeared, people cannot afford to buy food and mass starvation is now occurring.

The Afghan people are suffering now more than ever. Hunger could kill more now than in two decades of war. This humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is in the words of the International Red Cross a “human-made catastrophe.” “Human-made” largely by coercive U.S. economic policies.

In Decemebr, 46 members of Congress wrote a letter demanding the U.S. unfreeze assets that had been locked following the U.S. military withdrawal earlier in 2021. But instead of heeding that call, Biden on Friday took the step of more permanently seizing the funds that otherwise would be under control of Afghanistan’s central bank, the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), which now operates under the authority of the Taliban government.

Biden’s executive order includes setting aside half of the funds, $3.5 billion, for possible settlement claims by families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks of 2001, but critics have said the Afghan people—who had nothing to do with the crimes of that day twenty years ago—should not be punished for the acts of Al Qaeda jihadists, most them Saudis and Egyptians.

Promoting the “Love to Afghanistan” events in an op-ed for Common Dreamslast week, peace activist Jean Athey, coordinator of the Montgomery County Peace Action group in Maryland, said the economic war against the Afghan has the potential to be just as deadly as the 20 years of war and occupation they have just endured. Explaining the current situation and the “liquidity crisis” gripping the country, she wrote:

The government has almost no money and cannot pay workers, who cannot buy food for their families. Most have received no payment for months. In addition, Afghans have limited access to their own funds in banks. International commerce has halted. 

Given U.S. sanctions and the liquidity crisis, even international humanitarian relief organizations have great difficulty operating in Afghanistan, despite U.S. government assurances. Relief efforts designed to stave off starvation—although critically important right now—cannot endure for long since no one is willing to provide assistance indefinitely to a country of almost 40 million people. The country needs a functioning government and economy, and needs access to the international financial system.

“Political backbone” is now required of the Biden administration, argued Athey, who said the president should not be scared of predictable GOP attacks or media hit pieces about somehow appeasing the Taliban by giving the everyday people back money the money that rightfully belongs to them. “The lives of one million children are more important than a negative headline in a tabloid. The U.S. should unfreeze Afghan government assets and lift sanctions hindering the recovery of the Afghan economy and humanitarian relief efforts. We must end the U.S. economic war on Afghanistan.”

On Saturday, the DAB demanded the funds ostensibly stolen by the U.S. government be returned and called the move by Biden an “injustice against the people of Afghanistan.”

Also in Saturday, protests in Kabul decried the theft of the money.

“This money belongs to the people of Afghanistan, not to the United States. This is the right of Afghans,” Abdul Rahman, a civil society activist and the demonstration’s organizer, told the Dawn newsaper.

A spokesperson for the Taliban government, Mohammad Naeem, also decriedthe move in a post on social media Saturday.

“The theft and seizure of money held by the United States of the Afghan people represent the lowest level of human and moral decay of a country and a nation,” Naeem tweeted, added that while victory and defeat are evident throughout history, “the greatest and most shameful defeat is when moral defeat combines with military defeat.”

Originally published on Common Dreams by JON QUEALLY and republished under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.

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Climate Solutions, News, Observation, Politics

Climate Crisis Has Made Western US Megadrought Worst in 1,200 Years

Above: Photo / Lynxotic / Adobe Stock

“Climate change is here and now,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal. “If a 1,200 year mega-drought isn’t enough to make people realize that, I don’t know what is.”

The megadrought which has gripped western U.S. states including California and Arizona over the past two decades has been made substantially worse by the human-caused climate crisis, new research shows, resulting in the region’s driest period in about 1,200 years.

Scientists at University of California-Los Angeles, NASA, and Columbia University found that extreme heat and dryness in the West over the past two years have pushed the drought that began in 2000 past the conditions seen during a megadrought in the late 1500s.

“We’re sort of shifting into basically unprecedented times relative to anything we’ve seen in the last several hundred years.”

The authors of the new study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, followed up on research they had conducted in 2020, when they found the current drought was the second-worst on record in the region after the one that lasted for several years in the 16th century.

Since that study was published, the American West has seen a heatwave so extreme it sparked dozens of wildfires and killed hundreds of people and droughtconditions which affected more than 90% of the area as of last summer, pushing the region’s conditions past “that extreme mark,” according to the Los Angeles Times.   

The scientists examined wood cores extracted from thousands of trees at about 1,600 sites across the West, using the data from growth rings in ancient trees to determine soil moisture levels going back to the 800s.

They then compared current conditions to seven other megadroughts—which are defined as droughts that are both severe and generally last a number of decades—that happened between the 800s and 1500s.

The researchers estimated that the extreme dry conditions facing tens of millions of people across the western U.S. have been made about 42% more severe by the climate crisis being driven by fossil fuel extraction and emissions.

“The results are really concerning, because it’s showing that the drought conditions we are facing now are substantially worse because of climate change,” Park Williams, a climate scientist at UCLA and the study’s lead author, told the Los Angeles Times.

In the region Williams and his colleagues examined, the average temperature since the drought began in 2000 was 1.6° Fahrenheit warmer than the average in the previous 50 years. Without the climate crisis driving global temperatures up, the West would still have faced drought conditions, but based on climate models studied by the researchers, there would have been a reprieve from the drought in 2005 and 2006.

“Without climate change, the past 22 years would have probably still been the driest period in 300 years,” Williams said in a statement. “But it wouldn’t be holding a candle to the megadroughts of the 1500s, 1200s, or 1100s.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said the new research must push the U.S. Congress to take far-reaching action to mitigate the climate crisis, as legislation containing measures to shift away from fossil fuel extraction and toward renewable energy is stalled largely due to objections from Republicans and right-wing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

“It’s time for Congress to act by making meaningful investments into climate action—before it’s too late,” she said.

The drought has had a variety of effects on the West, including declining water supplies in the largest reservoirs of the Colorado River—Lake Mead and Lake Powell— as well as reservoirs across California and the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 96% of the Western U.S. is now “abnormally dry” and 88% of the region is in a drought.

“We’re experiencing this variability now within this long-term aridification due to anthropogenic climate change, which is going to make the events more severe,” Isla Simpson, a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who was not involved in the study released Monday, told the Los Angeles Times.

The researchers also created simulations of other droughts they examined between 800 and 1500, superimposing the same amount of drying driven by climate change. In 94% of the simulations, the drought persisted for at least 23 years, and in 75% of the simulations, it lasted for at least three decades—suggesting that the current drought will continue for a number of years.

Williams said it is “extremely unlikely that this drought can be ended in one wet year.”

“We’re sort of shifting into basically unprecedented times relative to anything we’ve seen in the last several hundred years,” Samantha Stevenson, a climate modeler at the University of California, Santa Barbara who was not involved in the study, told the New York Times.

Originally published on Common Dreams by JULIA CONLEY and republished under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license

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Observation, Politics

After the insurrection, America’s far-right groups get more extreme

As right-wing groups reorganize after the Capitol riot, scholars of the movement foresee increased polarization

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

As the U.S. grapples with domestic extremism in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, warnings about more violence are coming from the FBI Director Chris Wray and others. The Conversation asked Matthew Valasik, a sociologist at Louisiana State University, and Shannon E. Reid, a criminologist at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte, to explain what right-wing extremist groups in the U.S. are doing. The scholars are co-authors of “Alt-Right Gangs: A Hazy Shade of White,” published in September 2020; they track the activities of far-right groups like the Proud Boys.

What are U.S. extremist groups doing since the Jan. 6 riot?

Local chapters of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Groypers and others are breaking away from their groups’ national figureheads. For instance, some local Proud Boys chapters have been explicitly cutting ties with national leader Enrique Tarrio, the group’s chairman.

Tarrio was arrested on federal weapons charges in the days before the insurrection, but he has also been revealed as a longtime FBI informant. He reportedly aided authorities in a variety of criminal cases, including those involving drug sales, gambling and human smuggling – though he has not yet been connected with cases against Proud Boys members.

When a leader of a far-right group or street gang leaves, regardless of the reason, it is common for a struggle to emerge among remaining members who seek to consolidate power. That can result in violence spilling over into the community as groups attempt to reshape themselves.

While some of the splinter Proud Boys chapters will likely maintain the Proud Boys brand, at least for the time being, others may evolve and become more radicalized. The Base, a neo-Nazi terror group, has recruited from among the ranks of Proud Boys. As the Proud Boys sheds affiliates, it would not be surprising for those with more enthusiasm about hateful activism to seek out more extreme groups. Less committed groups will wither away.

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How does that response compare with what happened after 2017’s ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville?

Neither the Capitol insurrection nor the Charlottesville rally produced the response from mainstream America that far-right groups had hoped for. Rather than rising up in a groundswell of support, most Americans were appalled – some so much that they have abandoned the Republican Party.

Additionally, right-wingers have been hit hard by the post-insurrection actions by large technology companies like Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google and Amazon. They took down far-right group members’ accounts and removed right-wing social media platforms, including permanently blacklisting Donald Trump’s Twitter account and temporarily blocking all traffic to Parler, a conservative social media platform. Those steps are more significant than earlier moderation and algorithm changes those companies had undertaken in previous efforts to curb online extremism.

Another major difference is the lack of regret. Nobody on the right wanted to be associated with Charlottesville after it happened. Figureheads of the far right who had initially promoted that rally saw the negative public reaction and distanced themselves, even condemning the “Unite the Right” rally.

After the insurrection at the Capitol, their response was different. They did not split and blame other right-wing groups. Instead, conservative and extreme-right circles have united behind a false claim that they did nothing wrong, and alleged, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that left-wing activists assaulted the Capitol – while disguised as right-wingers.

Are extremist groups attracting new members?

Some members have left extremist groups in the wake of the Jan. 6 violence. The members who remain, and the new members they are attracting, are increasing the radicalization of far-right groups. As the less committed members abandon these far-right groups, only the more devout remain. Such a shift is going to alter the subculture of these groups, driving them farther to the right. We expect this polarization will only accelerate the reactionary behaviors and extremist tendencies of these far-right groups.

Right-wing pundits and conservative media are continuing to stoke fears about the Biden administration. We and other observers of right-wing groups expect that extremists will come to see the events of Jan. 6 as just the opening skirmish in a modern civil war. We anticipate they will continue to seek an end to American democracy and the beginning of a new society free – or even purged – of groups the right wing fears, including immigrants, Jewish people, nonwhites, LGBTQ people and those who value multiculturalism.

We expect that these groups will continue to shift more and more to the extreme right, posing risks for acts of violence both large and small.

Have far-right extremists’ views toward the police changed?

With a Democratic administration and attorney general, the far right will no longer view federal law enforcement agencies as friendly, the way they did under the Trump administration. Rather, they view the police as the enemy.

Even before Joe Biden took office and the Republicans officially lost control of the U.S. Senate, the Capitol riot showed this divide between right-wing extremists and police. A Capitol Police officer was assaulted with a flagpole bearing an American flag, and some members of the mob were police officers and military personnel. Many more were military veterans.

It’s not clear what this different view of law enforcement means for police officers, active-duty military and veterans who are members of right-wing groups. But we anticipate that only those who are most zealously committed to far-right causes will remain active. That, in turn, will push those groups even farther to the extreme right.

Has anything changed for militias since Biden has become president?

In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning about the growing membership in far-right groups, including their active recruitment of military veterans. Shortly after the report was released, Republicans in Congress pushed for the report to be retracted and for dramatically reducing the federal effort to monitor far-right groups in the U.S. This permissive atmosphere allowed far-right groups to grow and spread nationwide.

The Trump administration further served far-right groups by failing to pay out federal grants for grassroots counterviolence programs, by refusing to help local law enforcement agencies with equipment or training to deal with these groups, and by routinely downplaying the violence perpetrated by these white power groups. Essentially, far-right groups were unpoliced for the past decade or more.

But that approach has ended. Merrick Garland’s appointment as Biden’s attorney general is a big signal: In his career at the Department of Justice before becoming a federal judge, Garland supervised the investigations of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing.

These were two of the most noteworthy acts of far-right domestic terrorism in the nation’s history. Garland has said that he will make fighting right-wing violence and attacks on democracy major priorities of his tenure at the head of the Justice Department.

In January, Canada designated the Proud Boys and other right-wing groups as terrorist organizations, which puts pressure on U.S. law enforcement to reconsider how they evaluate, investigate and prosecute these extremist groups. Beyond law enforcement’s treating these far-right groups like street gangs, there are also laws in place to combat violence associated with domestic terrorism.

It appears that U.S. prosecutors may finally begin to take seriously the violent actions of Proud Boys, especially as more and more members are being charged with coordinating the breach of the U.S. Capitol Building.

But as police power comes to bear on these violent right-wing groups, many of their members remain at least as radicalized as they were on Jan. 6 — if not more so. Some may feel that more extreme measures are needed to resist the Biden administration.

Matthew Valasik, Associate Professor of Sociology, Louisiana State University and Shannon Reid, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, University of North Carolina – Charlotte

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

Entertainment, Esoteric, Lifestyle, Memes

Bernie Sanders Memes Conquer Earth Internet, set sights on Cosmos

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

The end-all and be-all of memes emerged out of the inauguration…

In a move that transcends the presidential, Bernie Sanders now owns the internet. All he needed was the right mittens and a countenance of equanimity, rising above to see into the center of all being and nothingness.

Like a zen monk or Yoda on steroids, he accomplishes all by doing little, even nothing, beyond his mind bending position and posture. Ever modest and with a meaningful invisible wink, he disavows any knowledge of his splendor or any plan to conquer all:

“I was just sitting there trying to keep warm, trying to pay attention to what was going on,” 

-Bernie Sanders / Interview Late Night With Seth Meyers

Meanwhile, there has been a meaningful and valid response to the triumph, and it all gets back to a t-shirt and mittens.

Read More: Lady Gaga Wows with her Voice and Style at Biden-Harris Inauguration

Now that there has been an endless stream of replication and iteration based on the genius moment, we best begin at the beginning and trace this new species of viral wonderfulness back to its humble source: the photo:

https://twitter.com/rachsyme/status/1351924607465496582?s=20

Read More: James Corden’s Les Misérables send-up a fitting Comedy Tour-de-force

https://twitter.com/rubycramer/status/1351915535647330306?s=20

Now: see the propagation into the world of movies, TV and more…

https://twitter.com/jamieleecurtis/status/1352624224330899456?s=20
https://twitter.com/AlfBergan/status/1352219458430005248?s=20

Of course there must be: Bernie as Art

https://twitter.com/_maura_callahan/status/1352067489405001732?s=20

And to you, Amazon, you can not have this meme for your endless self-aggrandizement, and here is the obvious reason why:

Then in closing: a live action TikTok cut-out-creation:

@mikebennettart

BRRRR-nie! #berniesanders #inauguration #inauguration2021 #art #2021 #painting #portland #bernie

♬ Disney Pictures Intro – Disney Pictures
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Breaking News, Observation, Politics

Trump is Permanently Banned from Twitter

After close review of recent tweets

This is a breaking news story

Suffice it to say for the moment: He deserved it and it’s about time. The fact that his account was re-activated after a short pause was a strange choice by the platform. At least they made the right one in the end. Here’s the official tweet

Read more: Finally: Shopify, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram freeze Trump accounts

Read more: Trump Overseas Flight Plan Timed to Avoid Inauguration Ceremony

Read more: Trump’s Mystery Companion Revealed

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1347684878574366721?s=20
https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1347684880403066881?s=20
https://twitter.com/CrypticNotAlone/status/1347686710877057031?s=20

Below the full text from the official Twitter bog explaining, in detail the action taken and why:

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence. 

In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open. 

However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement. 

The below is a comprehensive analysis of our policy enforcement approach in this case.

Overview

On January 8, 2021, President Donald J. Trump tweeted:

“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

Shortly thereafter, the President tweeted:

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks. After assessing the language in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy, we have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service. 

Assessment

We assessed the two Tweets referenced above under our Glorification of Violence policy, which aims to prevent the glorification of violence that could inspire others to replicate violent acts and determined that they were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

This determination is based on a number of factors, including:

  • President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the Inauguration is being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate and is seen as him disavowing his previous claim made via two Tweets (1, 2) by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Scavino, that there would be an “orderly transition” on January 20th.
  • The second Tweet may also serve as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a “safe” target, as he will not be attending. 
  • The use of the words “American Patriots” to describe some of his supporters is also being interpreted as support for those committing violent acts at the US Capitol.
  • The mention of his supporters having a “GIANT VOICE long into the future” and that “They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an “orderly transition” and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election. 
  • Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021. 

As such, our determination is that the two Tweets above are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as encouragement to do so.

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Politics, Tech

Finally: Shopify, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram freeze Trump accounts

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic / Adobe Stock

The day after it would have helped, better late than never

After more than four years of tyrannical abuse of social media and the eCommerce hawking of propaganda trinkets, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even Shopify have put blocks on Trump accounts.

Particularly in the case of Facebook, the timing is somewhat unsatisfying. Facebook, as many can recall, has supported Trump “fake” and misleading advertising since before the 2016 election. Those ads were, according to many, a very big reason that he was elected at all. This was a huge mistake of history, one might say, and the mistake started at Facebook.

Naturally, being “arbiter of the truth” or not, is an entirely different issue, because it is the warlord-like raking-in of millions upon millions, if not billions of dollars, by blindly allowing lies, hate, racism and worse be propagated as political advertising, that has been the clear “wrong” that Facebook allowed and profited from.

So, it’s ,at least somehow, a belated comfort that, at least for the moment, ads fomenting violent overthrow of the imaginary “deep state” or sales of MAGA hats that finance said ads, are no longer running in tandem like some kind of dystopian fascist nightmare machine.

At least the media, much of the government and now a lot of big tech and social media are united in one simple thought: Trump is simply a criminal and aiding him in any way make you and your company one also. So, yes, shut it down, now.

Shopify

Shopify, the multinational e-commerce company that hosted shops that relate to Trump’s campaign products as well as Trump’s personal brand have both been taken down. Those who attempt to go to TrumpStore.com or shop.donaldjtrump.com, known for selling the official Trump MAGA merchandise will be meet with error messages as the sites were taken down Thursday morning.  

A spokesperson for the company released the following statement following the terminated stores affiliated with Trump: 

“Shopify does not tolerate actions that incite violence. Based on recent events, we have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause,”

-Spokesperson for shopify

Twitter

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1346970431039934464?s=20

Twitter also added that “Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”

Trump has since deleted the three tweets that led to the temporary suspension of his account.  Trump’s account will remain locked for an additional 12 hours after the deletion.  It is not clear the exact timing of when the tweets were deleted and when Trump will be allowed to post again, he has yet to tweet. According to CNBC,  the lock could be removed around 3 p.m. ET.

Facebook

Trump’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts have both been locked due to policy violations. Facebook Newsroom released a statement via Twitter starting on January 6 at 8:36 p.m. ET, stating that Trump’s account would be blocked for 24 hours. On January 7th, they updated its statement to explain the extent of the block would be “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

CEO and founder, Mark Zuckerberg also released his own statement on the matter:  

“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden.

His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence.

Following the certification of the election results by Congress, the priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.

Over the last several years, we have allowed President Trump to use our platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violate our policies. We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech. But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.

We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

Instagram

Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri also took to Twitter to confirm that Trump’s account for the platform had also been placed on a hold.

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Observation, Politics

#TrumpStink will be with us all for a long time: Republicans more so

Video
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1341515294204784640/pu/vid/1280x720/_FypgHsrPFcM8aHG.mp4?tag=10

Above: Video Snippet from MSNBC / Photo Collage / Lynxotic

The host of MSNBC, Nicolle Wallace confronted Republican former NJ Gov. Chris Christie surrounding his more recent break from Trump. 

Wallace pressed Christie on his past enabling of Trump’s behaviors and election conspiracies, never once speaking out.  She then asked if his motives were more of the strategic sort, as its been implied that Christie may be thinking about running for president come 2024. 

I didn’t hear you, after he called African nations ‘bleep-hole nations.’ I didn’t hear you distance yourself from this president at any point until the target for his ire and lawlessness was the democracy you haven’t ruled out leading in four years. 

Are you simply making a political calculation that you can clean the Trump stink off you faster than Marco Rubio or some of your other competitors?”

Look up Trump Boot-licker in Wikipedia and probably you’ll see photos of Chris Christie

The post-Trump white-washing is already starting, apparently. Getting the Trump-Stink won’t be so easy though. There’s just so much of it. And the enablers, assuming they avoid prison themselves, will have a lot of radio-active debris to remove for a very long time. Particularly when there are still two weeks of the, most likely, most extreme stink still to be added. 

What an opportunity for Christie ! When Trump declares martial law (if he goes that far) Christie can meekly point out that he was not around when Trump pulled the trigger. Hooray, that must make him presidential material. Please. 

The next four years will see even more massive and unexpected changes than even Donald the menace was a part of in the last four. The problems that will need to be unwound will be so extensive that new problems will arise from the trajectory that has already been set in motion.

And then there are the 70 million toxic delusional, fake-news loving conspiracy swallowing folks that will start pining away for an even worse “solutions” at 12:01 am on January 21st. Let’s hope we can all start at that same moment to wash the stink of the last four years (and beyond) off and find a way to some kind of less disgusting beginning. One, most certainly, without the likes of Chris Christie. 

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Celebrities, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Movies

Trailer for ‘Coming 2 America’ welcomes Eddie Murphy back as Prince Akeem

Video
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1340090238522118144/vid/720x720/6Bmc2PRFT7DRM1Pc.mp4?tag=13

Above: Official Trailer for “Coming 2 America”

A journey from Zamunda to America – Again

It has been well over 30 years since the original 1988 classic “Coming to America” first hit the big screen. In the anticipated sequel,  we’ll see some of the same actors reprise their role, especially stars  Eddie Murphy as Akeem, Arsenio Hall as Semmi and James Earl Jones as King Jaffe.  

Fans of the original will be happy to see familiar faces for the 80’s movie, as well as see some newcomers for the sequel, including: Wesley Snipes, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones, and Teyana Taylor. 

At the wish of his dying father, King Jaffe, Prince Akeem of Zamunda who will soon take over the thrown needs a male heir. However new information arises about the prince’s past that he already has a son back in the United States, so as the trailer teases:

“Prepare the royal jet. We are going back to America.” 

“Oh hell no, your majesty!”. 

-Eddie Murphy as Akeem, Arsenio Hall as Semmi

“Coming 2 America ” was written by creator of “Black-ish” Kenya Barris.  This film was originally slated to be released late 2020,  but has now been scheduled for release on March 5, 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.  

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Breaking News, Observation, Politics

NBC Data might show that PPP Loans were Given to Trump & Kushner affiliated firms

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Nixon once asserted: “Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal”. The implication was not lost on Trump who has seemingly flaunted the law throughout his life and then appeared to shift into overdrive once in the White House. 

Naturally, as has been evident as well, also even boasted “I don’t pay taxes because I’m smart”, and when money, especially free money gained at the expense of the less fortunate, it seems Trump and his “Jr. partner Jared Kushner might indeed pull out all the stops. 

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that, once details on who received pandemic relief loans were revealed by the Small Business Administration, including the PPP or Paycheck Protection Program, multiple businesses linked to both were allegedly present.

NBC news: Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, paying rent to those owners. Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs, or did not report a number at all.

—NBC News

While there have been many reports of fraud and abuse related to this and other pandemic relief programs, most stories on these were slanted towards shaming various individuals who had engaged in fraud to obtain the loans. 

There were also numerous accounts of, in some cases, public companies with access to billions in capital applying for and receiving $100s of millions of dollars in forgivable loans. Names like Shake Shack, Ruth’s Chris, Potbelly Corp. and others were embroiled in controversy when some information leaked, and in some cases the companies, fearing public boycott or backlash, returned funds. While these examples show no specific wrongdoing on any particular company, the appearance of impropriety is nevertheless in question.

Now with more data the headlines are expanding to include potential impropriety , if not possible criminal action of Trump and Kushner seen as bilking the program at will, as well as massive and tragically-comical mismanagement of the “relief” funds with 100s of examples such as loans payed to companies that did not supply a name and many larger companies using multiple subsidiaries to gang together groups of smaller loans into sums totally tens of millions or more. 

According to NBC, All these tricks and potentially more were employed (surprise!) by Trump and Kushner affiliated firms. 

NBC: Sweeping [analysis of] data released by the Small Business Administration…found that properties owned by the Trump Organization as well as the Kushner Companies, owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, profited from the program.

NBC News

The potential abuses, beyond the obvious one that this money was meant to relieve business not connected to government officials, and those who’s business were damaged by the pandemic in general, followed a pattern where the money flowed to those that needed it least (due to massive wealth, such as stories that have circulated about Kanye West) or due to already having existing access to nearly unlimited capital (such as the public companies that lined up to access relief funds rather than use billions they had in reserve).

Other examples of Trump allegedly using and exploiting the presidency are so common as to make it almost redundant to cite these massive, and if true, unethical and potentially criminal abuses. So many have already been noted and cited in the press – from the profits flowing into his properties directly from taxpayer dollars or by diverting foreign officials to them, tax cheating, dirtying money to his daughter and son-in-law, on and on it goes. 

The only question that remains is why there appears to be “no-one home” when it comes to holding Trump and his family of abusers accountable. Much has been made of his soon-to-be gone immunity from federal prosecution, but what about the family? Pardons and tra-la-la? 

That can’t be the way this ends. Otherwise the rest of us are just as corrupt by letting it happen without a response of appropriate magnitude. 

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Politics

Infected: Rose-Garden Super-Spreader White House Massacre – these are the covid positive Republicans (so far)

Video

As additional new cases appear daily, the event will go down in infamy

Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, is the latest Republican official to test positive for Covid-19, which was revealed Monday, October 5, 2020 on her Twitter page. Two of her deputies, Karolina Keavitt, assistant press secretary and Chad Gilmartin, principal assistant press secretary also tested positive.

Read More: Covid-19 Documentary Exposes still more inside details of Trump’s failure to contain the Pandemic

The positive tests are mounting; to date, eleven people tied to Trump have contracted the virus, as well as three Republican Senators, for a total of fourteen cases.

The three US senators that have been diagnosed with coronavirus potentially threatens the plan for a desperately accelerated confirmation of Supreme Court justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett tentatively scheduled for approximately 14 days from now.

Celebrate too soon and hubris will announce your demise(?)

Ironically, it was clear to all who have seen the video of the recent celebration for Barrett, held at the Rose Garden of the White House, that arrogant people with no-masks, tightly packed together and kissing is a recipe for infection.

Read More: Tweets Reacting to Trump-Covid are Evolving at Warp Speed

So, now it appears that that very event, gleefully celebrating the opportunity to shove through the right leaning jurist, might just jeopardize the nomination itself, at least until after the election. Of course, many on the list are older and the irresponsible behavior reeking of hubris may lead to a more grave outcome than the simple delay of a questionable nomination.

Senate Majority leader (Moscow) Mitch McConnell announced on Saturday, that the Senate would halt any floor action for the next two weeks, which presumably means that no votes will happen this week or next week. While any floor action will be suspended, the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to meet the week of October 12 for Barrett’s confirmation hearings, unless more are infected or the cases become more serious.

  • Melania Trump (First Lady)
  • Ronna McDaniel (Republican National Committee chairwoman)
  • Hope Hicks (White House communications aide)
  • Kellyanne Conway (Former White House counselor)
  • Bill Stepien (Trump campaign manager)
  • John Jenkins (University of Notre Dame president)
  • Chris Christie (Former New Jersey Gov.)
  • Nick Luna (Director of Oval Office operations)
  • Karoline Leavitt (White house assistant press secretary) 
  • Chad Gilmartin (White House press office staffer)
  • Kayleigh McEnany (White House press secretary)
  • Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
  • Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
  • Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)

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Politics

The economy is experiencing the ‘Trump Depression’- new ad by MeidasTouch

Video

The one time that Trump told the truth

Trump’s lies are legion. By one count he has lied 273,693,849 times since 2016. This is well known. The anti-Trump group of brothers known as The MeidasTouch (who are similar to The Lincoln Project but not Republican) has uncovered a rarity: Trump actually telling the truth.

In a world where millions suddenly find themselves unemployed, desperate, even searching for ways to make ends meet – it would be nice to get some help from the Federal Government. Fix the problems so people can fend for themselves again. Unfortunately it will require a new administration for that to happen.

Read More: Trump is the Fear-Monger in-Chief and the New Panic-Man who lied to Woodward in two-way deceit

When basic human needs are not being met, as the video implies, its time for a Democrat to take control. Therefore: Vote Biden-Harris is the true message from Trump. When he tells the truth that is.

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