2021-04-04 | ANONYMOUS - OUR VOICE

6 Killed After Earthquake Hits Indonesia

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="6 Killed After Earthquake Hits Indonesia" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-04/3tjc0k3_indonesia-earthquake_625x300_10_April_21.jpg" title="6 Killed After Earthquake Hits Indonesia" /></div>
<p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">At least six people have been killed after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia.</p>
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<b class="place_cont">Jakarta, Indonesia:</b>
<p>At least six people have been killed after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's main Java island, the country's disaster agency said Saturday.</p>
<p>"The agency has recorded six dead and one person who sustained serious injuries," said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Raditya Jati, adding that several villages in East Java had been evacuated.</p>
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source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/indonesia-earthquake-6-killed-after-earthquake-hits-indonesia-2410738">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/indonesia-earthquake-6-killed-after-earthquake-hits-indonesia-2410738</a>

6 Killed After Earthquake Hits Indonesia

news world 6 Killed After Earthquake Hits Indonesia

At least six people have been killed after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia. Jakarta, Indonesia: At least six people have been killed after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's main Java island, the country's disast…

Watch: Gun Salutes Fired Across UK In Tribute To Prince Philip

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Watch: Gun Salutes Fired Across UK In Tribute To Prince Philip" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-04/g6sjulv_prince-philip_625x300_10_April_21.jpg" title="Watch: Gun Salutes Fired Across UK In Tribute To Prince Philip" /></div>
<p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Gun salutes took place to honour Prince Philip today.</p>
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<b class="place_cont">London, United Kingdom:</b>
<p>Gun salutes echoed around the United Kingdom on Saturday as the military paid solemn tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, after his death aged 99.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">To mark the death of His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, at 12pm BST today a gun salute began firing from the Tower of London.</p>
<p>In total 41 rounds are being fired, with 1 round every minute, in unison with other saluting batteries across the UK. <a href="https://t.co/0j3lmRwQ8u">pic.twitter.com/0j3lmRwQ8u</a></p>
— The Tower of London (@TowerOfLondon) <a href="https://twitter.com/TowerOfLondon/status/1380842219377156102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
<p>Coordinated 41-round salutes to the former Royal Navy commander were fired at one round per minute from 12:00 pm (1100 GMT) in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, as well as at naval bases, from ships at sea and in the British territory Gibraltar.</p>
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source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/watch-gun-salutes-fired-across-uk-in-tribute-to-prince-philip-2410678">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/watch-gun-salutes-fired-across-uk-in-tribute-to-prince-philip-2410678</a>

Watch: Gun Salutes Fired Across UK In Tribute To Prince Philip

news world Watch: Gun Salutes Fired Across UK In Tribute To Prince Philip

Gun salutes took place to honour Prince Philip today. London, United Kingdom: Gun salutes echoed around the United Kingdom on Saturday as the military paid solemn tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, after his death aged 99. To ma…

Will There Eventually Be A Racially Biased System Of Taxation In The US?

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<p><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b.png"><img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143313 jetpack-lazy-image" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 443px) 100vw, 443px" data-lazy-srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b.png 1200w" height="232" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b-300x157.png?is-pending-load=1" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" width="443" /></a></p>
<img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143313" height="232" sizes="(max-width: 443px) 100vw, 443px" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b-300x157.png" srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021b.png 1200w" width="443" />
<p>There is a lot of talk right now about race, and far from the vision of Martin King, where men would be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin, far too many of said people’s descendants are for all practical purpose asking for a reversal. Indeed, the revival of the term “POC” as a form or respect is ironic, considering that “colored” was used by many as an insult not even three-quarters of a century ago.</p>
<p>Now according the New York Sun, there is discussion among some about a potential “race” category for IRS taxation review, that in the name of “justice”, some people would be taxed more on the basis of race.</p>
<blockquote readability="74.835285505124">
<p>“Prediction: By tax year 2024, Americans will be asked to indicate their race on the Form 1040,” tweeted Scott Greenberg, a former analyst at the Tax Foundation who now writes about tax policy in a Substack newsletter called “No Withholding.”</p>
<p>Greenberg was reacting to a tax-policy reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Richard Rubin, who had flagged the news that the Biden administration had put the Treasury department’s top tax-policy official on an “equitable data working group.”</p>
<p>According to the Biden executive order, “Many Federal datasets are not disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, disability, income, veteran status, or other key demographic variables. This lack of data has cascading effects and impedes efforts to measure and advance equity. A first step to promoting equity in Government action is to gather the data necessary to inform that effort.”</p>
<p>The Census provides plenty of race-based income and poverty data, but the IRS has not done so. That surprises even some savvy observers. Kai Ryssdal, of the public radio show “Marketplace,” devoted a recent segment to an interview with Dorothy Brown. A law professor at Emory, Ms. Brown is the author of “The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans — And How We Can Fix It.”</p>
<p>Ms. Brown said, “The IRS doesn’t collect or publish statistics by race.”</p>
<p>Mr. Ryssdal stopped her: “That to me, when I read it, was mind boggling. I need you to say it again.”</p>
<p>Ms. Brown repeated the point: “The IRS does not collect or publish statistics by race.”</p>
<p>As the Biden executive order and Ms. Brown’s book both make clear, though, collecting and reporting the information is merely, as the executive order puts it, “a first step.”</p>
<p>What’s the next step?</p>
<p>Ms. Brown’s book, just out from Crown, has a suggestion: “A reparations credit is the final piece of closing the black-white wealth gap. The reasoning is simple. The overtly racist policies of the past aren’t truly behind us, and not just because the taxpayers held back and victimized by them are still part of our society and members of our families. Our racist tax policies disadvantage black Americans who were born after Jim Crow was legally invalidated, too. Today, black taxpayers are still paying too much …The victims need to be compensated.”</p>
<p>Ms. Brown’s book goes on, “My first choice for race-based reform would be a refundable tax credit … Under this plan, Congress would assign a single fixed credit to all black taxpayers.”</p>
<p>She concedes, “this, or any tax reform designed to compensate black Americans for years of higher taxes, is unlikely to be found constitutional under our current Supreme Court.” (<a href="https://www.nysun.com/new-york/could-tax-code-be-used-to-make-us-reparations/91467/">source</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is an interesting concern, especially if one views the developments today.</p>
<p>For example, in California, <a href="https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/04/09/la-county-supervisor-seeks-to-return-bruces-beach-property-which-was-seized-from-black-family/">Los Angeles County is considering the return of a property</a> based on charges of ‘discrimination’ over a century ago to the descendants of those from whom it was purchased (NOT taken). Some have raised concerns if, perhaps if this concept was to be taken to private property, it could result in eminent domain laws applied to strip people of their properties and give them others in the name of ‘racial justice’.</p>
<p>There are black people in positions of or <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/video-i-hate-white-people-black-law-student-leader-says/">coming into positions of a professional nature</a> openly expressing <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/help-me-hate-white-people-entry-bestselling-prayer-book-stokes-controversy-1582043">hatred of “white people.”</a> Is this not open racism?</p>
<p>These are just a few example, but the reality is that while racism exists on all sides, that among the white bloc seems to be over-reported and even exaggerated many times now, while that among the black and other blocs is ignored or attributed to other causes to render criticism irrelevant.</p>
<p>Racism is racism no matter who does it. It is wrong because of the concept, not social convention. However, it has become now politically fashionable to condemn certain forms of racism while promoting others, and given that such seems to overlap with political strategies of tension, it is possible that the current situation will be allowed to continue until public chaos becomes even worse. Remember that BLM and other well-funded groups were allowed to burn down American cities with practically no opposition while the Capitol protests, which were clearly permitted and the Capitol Police veritably allowed protesters to enter, have been viciously prosecuted. It is not an accident.</p>
<p>If some are willing to go this far, what is not to say that even more old-world style tactics, such as land seizure and outright violence, would not be potentially entertained?</p>
<h3 class="p1"><span class="s1"><a><b>Donate now to help support the work of this site. When you donate, you are not donating to just any commentary group, but one that is endlessly observing the news, reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality. In shoebat.com, we are working every day, tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to tell you what lies for the future.</b></a></span></h3>
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source <a href="http://shoebat.com/2021/04/10/will-there-eventually-be-a-racially-biased-system-of-taxation-in-the-us/">http://shoebat.com/2021/04/10/will-there-eventually-be-a-racially-biased-system-of-taxation-in-the-us/</a>

Will There Eventually Be A Racially Biased System Of Taxation In The US?

armageddon Will There Eventually Be A Racially Biased System Of Taxation In The US?

There is a lot of talk right now about race, and far from the vision of Martin King, where men would be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin, far too many of said people’s descendants are for all practical purpose…

Report: Millennials Suffering Elevated Levels Of Stroke, Heart Failure

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<p><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a.png"><img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143311 jetpack-lazy-image" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" data-lazy-srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a.png 1200w" height="226" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a-300x157.png?is-pending-load=1" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" width="432" /></a></p>
<img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143311" height="226" sizes="(max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a-300x157.png" srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04102021a.png 1200w" width="432" />
<p>Millennials have been under a lot of stress for a long time. Between two of the worst recessions in history, approaching two decades of horrendous economic conditions, the decline of family life, no real future, and a large amount of hopelessness, many are not sure what is going to happen to them. I have predicted there may be a suicide epidemic, especially among the women, that starts to take shape with them. However, an interesting report may show signs of self-destruction already taking place among Millennials, as they are now suffering elevated levels of stroke and heart failure.</p>
<blockquote readability="37.833211411851">
<p>Generally, heart failure and stroke is much more common in older adults than younger individuals. However, an unsettling new study reports more and more younger adult men under 40 are experiencing both.</p>
<p>Conducted by researchers from the University of Gothenberg, this research also discovered a link between these higher rates of cardiovascular disease and obesity or low fitness levels as a teenager.</p>
<p>This was a large study, encompassing 1,258,432 men with an average age of 18 who served in Sweden’s military between 1971 and 1995. Each participant’s weight, height, and fitness level upon enlistment was merged with data from Sweden’s national health records between 1991 and 2016. This allowed study authors to effectively monitor the group’s health outcomes for more than 20 years.</p>
<p>Between 1971 and 1995, the percentage of new military recruits with a BMI between 25 and 30 increased from 6.6 percent to 11.2 percent. During that same period, obese enlistees (with a BMI over 30) also increased from one percent to 2.6 percent. Overall fitness levels also declined somewhat during those two-plus decades.</p>
<p>“These factors — that is, overweight, obesity and low fitness — partly explain the large increase in heart failure we see in the study, and the rise in stroke as well,” states first study author David Åberg in a university release. (<a href="https://www.studyfinds.org/heart-failure-stroke-men-under-40/">source</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given the increased financial stress that one sees people under, it may be that this trend continues to increase, and people start rather literally dropping dead from the stress of life, work, and their increasing inability to service their debts and deal with the other stresses of life.</p>
<h3 class="p1"><span class="s1"><a><b>Donate now to help support the work of this site. When you donate, you are not donating to just any commentary group, but one that is endlessly observing the news, reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality. In shoebat.com, we are working every day, tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to tell you what lies for the future.</b></a></span></h3>
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source <a href="http://shoebat.com/2021/04/10/report-millennials-suffering-elevated-levels-of-stroke-heart-failure/">http://shoebat.com/2021/04/10/report-millennials-suffering-elevated-levels-of-stroke-heart-failure/</a>

Report: Millennials Suffering Elevated Levels Of Stroke, Heart Failure

armageddon Report: Millennials Suffering Elevated Levels Of Stroke, Heart Failure

Millennials have been under a lot of stress for a long time. Between two of the worst recessions in history, approaching two decades of horrendous economic conditions, the decline of family life, no real future, and a large amount of hopelessness, m…

The Amazon union vote is over. Here’s what happens now.

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<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JqaubiibVU5YqLSWIglcTz898wo=/0x287:4000x2381/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22433446/GettyImages_1231457370.jpg" /></div>
<p>Amazon <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/4/8/22362911/amazon-union-legal-challenge-alabama-vote-results-bessemer">has come out on top in the largest US union election</a> in the company’s history. But the labor battle appears far from over.</p>
<p>The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced on Friday that it planned to file unfair labor practice charges against Amazon over allegations of employee intimidation and manipulation. The union also requested a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to go over its objections.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, activists who’ve worked for Amazon said the election outcome will not stop more organizing efforts at other Amazon facilities in the US. And reports in recent months point to the Teamsters Union trying to organize other Amazon warehouses and delivery drivers.</p>
<p>In short, the Amazon union conversation is entering a new phase. Here’s what to expect next.</p>
<p>Out of 2,536 workers who voted in the union election at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama facility (known as BHM1), 1,798 voted against unionization compared to 738 who voted to unionize. Ballots from another 505 workers were challenged by either Amazon or the union, but those votes won’t change the outcome, so the election is over.</p>
<p>In a virtual press event organized by Amazon after the vote count ended, four Bessemer warehouse workers who voted against unionizing said they believe the union lost because most colleagues appreciate the benefits they already have at Amazon and didn’t think they need a union to make changes.</p>
<p>“The union said that we would never have a seat at the table on our own, but we actually have a seat at the table,” said an Amazon worker named William Stokes. “Now we’re talking with senior management. … Over the next 100 days, we are going to talk about things that we want to change. So change will come out of this.”</p>
<p>Stokes did not provide details of the changes sought.</p>
<p>Around the same time, pro-union Amazon workers appeared with union officials at a separate virtual press event. The message they tried to get across was that they are not done speaking up or fighting for what they feel they deserve.</p>
<p>“Bezos, you are wrong, you are wrong all the way around,” one Amazon worker, Linda Burns, said, referencing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. “You misled a lot of our people.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22311708/amazon-union-alabama-vote-explained">Amazon pushed hard to convince workers to vote against unionization</a>. The company set up an anti-union website that harped on the fact that union dues would cost full-time workers close to $500 a year. What the company didn’t say on the website is that, in Alabama, unions can’t require workers to pay union dues. So a union at Amazon’s BHM1 wouldn’t be able to force workers to become members and pay dues or fees. Even in such a situation, these employees would still be covered by a union contract and would be represented by the union in a case in which the company violated the agreement in a way that harmed the worker.</p>
<p>Amazon also convened mandatory in-person meetings during worker shifts to stress the downsides of unions, sending frequent texts to workers with anti-union messages and encouraging them to vote no. The company went so far as to post anti-union flyers on employee bathroom stall doors.</p>
<p>The retail giant also did something else that appears to be even more controversial. Amazon pressed the United States Postal Service to install a mailbox on the grounds of the Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse right before voting started — and after the NLRB denied the company’s request to place a ballot drop box on the property. Some <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3anw9k/amazon-sends-vote-no-instructions-to-unionizing-employees-tells-them-to-use-new-mailbox">workers have said they were intimidated by the installation of the mailbox</a>, as well as the messages from Amazon to use it, and believe that the company wanted to monitor who voted.</p>
<p>Amazon spokesperson Heather Knox previously told the Washington Post that “the RWDSU ... pushed for a mail-only election, which the NLRB’s own data showed would reduce turnout. This mailbox — which only the USPS had access to — was a simple, secure, and completely optional way to make it easy for employees to vote, no more and no less.”</p>
<p>The mailbox and the anti-union messaging around dues will both likely come up in the union’s complaints. The NLRB said that the parties “have five business days to file objections contesting the conduct or results of the election,” and RWDSU has already said it will file unfair labor practice charges against Amazon for certain behavior during the campaign and election. The NLRB could choose to hold a hearing to find out more about the union’s claims if an investigation deems them credible. The labor board could then choose to throw out the results and call for a new election if it sided with the union.</p>
<p>The Bessemer union election, whether or not the results are upheld, will likely not be the last union drive at an Amazon facility in the US.</p>
<p>Christian Smalls, a former Amazon assistant warehouse manager who the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/2/17/22287439/new-york-amazon-lawsuit-letitia-james-christian-smalls">New York Attorney General says was unlawfully fired for his labor activism</a>, told Recode he is in the process of organizing workers at the Staten Island warehouse where he worked before Amazon dismissed him.</p>
<p>“Although we may not have gotten the results we wanted this time around, this doesn’t discourage the workers of Amazon,” he wrote in a text message to Recode. “If anything, it motivates. We believe it’s possible even more so than before, so I still consider this a victory for Bessemer to spark the fuse which ignited us all to be talking about unions again in this country.”</p>
<p>Smalls and others have created their own union, the Amazon Labor Union, that they hope will eventually represent workers not just in Staten Island but, if successful, at other Amazon facilities too.</p>
<p>There have been signs of labor organizing activity at other Amazon facilities in recent months of well. In Iowa, for example, a local chapter of the Teamsters Union has been working on organizing Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers. But a representative for the union said the group is trying to take a different tack than the RWDSU.</p>
<p>“We’re focused on building a new type of labor movement where we don’t rely on the election process to raise standards,” Jesse Case, secretary-treasurer of a Teamsters local in Iowa, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/business/economy/amazon-labor-unions.html">told the New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>In the US, union organizers typically need to win an election at each individual facility of a company like Amazon’s. Organizers first have to get 30 percent of workers to sign a card saying they are interested in a union. After that, the NLRB will hold an election, in which a majority of voters have to vote to unionize in order for the union to take hold. What Case, of the Teamsters, is describing is a more informal approach, using protests and other forms of public pressure to get a company like Amazon to make changes in line with what workers want. An Amazon worker group called Amazonians United Chicagoland has also held protests and walkouts throughout the pandemic.</p>
<p>As for the RWDSU, the union’s president said on Friday that the organization has heard from more than 1,000 Amazon workers at other facilities who are interested in unionizing. But the union would not say for sure whether, or where, they might push for an election at other Amazon sites should the Bessemer appeal fail.</p>
<p>“I think it will be a moment to reflect and think about the best strategy moving forward,” Rebecca Givan, a labor professor at Rutgers University, told Recode of whether the RWDSU might consider giving up on Amazon should their Bessemer challenge fail. “We might see other kinds of organizing in other Amazon warehouses, rather than formal union drives under the NLRB process.”</p>
<p><em>Shirin Ghaffary contributed reporting to this story.</em></p>
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source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22375964/amazon-union-vote-results-what-happens-next">https://www.vox.com/recode/22375964/amazon-union-vote-results-what-happens-next</a>

The Amazon union vote is over. Here’s what happens now.

vox The Amazon union vote is over. Here’s what happens now.

Amazon has come out on top in the largest US union election in the company’s history. But the labor battle appears far from over. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced on Friday that it planned to file unfair labor pract…

Biden’s Border Czar Abruptly Quits Despite ‘No Crisis’

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<p><strong>While the Biden-Harris administration continues to insist there’s ‘<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/george-w-bush-declares-mission-accomplished-video">no border crisis</a>‘ (as they take over seven hotels near the US-Mexico border), the departure of ‘Border Czar’ Roberta Jacobson, suggests otherwise.</strong></p>
<p>Jacobson, a former US ambassador to Mexico who criticized the White House for sending ‘<a href="https://nypost.com/2021/03/10/us-sending-mixed-messages-amid-crisis-border-czar-says/">mixed messages</a>‘ to asylum seekers over whether they should head for the border (which Biden absolutely implied during the 2020 election), is stepping down after less than three months on the job.</p>
<p>Suggesting her services were no longer needed (as ICE commandeers <strong><a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ice-takes-over-seven-hotels-house-illegal-immigrants-dubs-them-casas">seven border-area hotels</a> </strong>because government facilities have run out of space)<strong>, </strong>National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday that Jacobson’s departure was “consistent with her commitment at the outset to serve in the Administration’s first 100 days,” according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/04/09/biden-border-czar-roberta-jacobson-stepping-down-amid-crisis/"><em>New York Post</em></a>.</p>
<p><em>Alex Jones breaks down the exclusive footage of a child trafficker caught on camera covered in cartel related ‘death’ tattoos at the southern border in Texas.</em></p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote" readability="13.515527950311">
<p><em>The move comes as the Biden administration is reportedly <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/04/09/wh-considers-cash-payments-to-central-americans-to-stem-migration/">considering <strong>sending cash payments</strong></a> to Central Americans in a bid to prevent them from making the trek north and as Vice President Kamala Harris, tapped by Biden to handle the crisis, still has <strong><a href="https://nypost.com/2021/04/09/kamala-harris-hasnt-responded-to-arizona-ags-border-invite/">yet to visit the border</a></strong>. </em></p>
<p><em>Meanwhile, migrant parents already in the United States say they are <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/04/09/migrant-parents-in-us-cant-reach-kids-in-federal-custody-report/">not being given regular</a> — if any — updates about the location or well-being of their children in federal custody. And <strong>it’s reportedly <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/04/08/white-house-spending-60-million-a-week-to-house-border-minors-report/">costing US taxpayers</a>more than $60 million a week to care for 16,500 unaccompanied migrant teenagers and children now in federally run shelters</strong>. -NY Post</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite thousands of migrant children sitting in US Border Patrol detention facilities – White House officials have maintained that there’s no crisis – because to do so would mean Biden sparked the crisis when he presented himself as an immigrant-friendly antithesis to President Trump – who he now blames for the border surge.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"></figure>
<p>Last month White House press secretary Jen Psaki accidentally referred to the “<a href="https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/psaki-says-crisis-on-the-border-after-biden-officials-rejected-term/">crisis at the border</a>,” only to correct herself when pressed – calling them “challenges on the border.”</p>
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/bidens-border-czar-abruptly-quits-despite-no-crisis">https://www.infowars.com/posts/bidens-border-czar-abruptly-quits-despite-no-crisis</a>

Biden’s Border Czar Abruptly Quits Despite ‘No Crisis’

news Biden’s Border Czar Abruptly Quits Despite ‘No Crisis’

While the Biden-Harris administration continues to insist there’s ‘no border crisis‘ (as they take over seven hotels near the US-Mexico border), the departure of ‘Border Czar’ Roberta Jacobson, suggests otherwise. Jacobson, a former US ambassador to…

U.S. Spends $6 Million Per Day to House Unaccompanied Migrant Children

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<p><strong>According to Health and Human Services, the federal government is detaining more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children nationwide.</strong></p>
<p>To accommodate the latest surge, HHS opened 13 new detention facilities since March 1 and are designed to house the children until sponsors receive them.</p>
<p>According to the latest HHS data, they hold 16,000 unaccompanied children and another 4,000 are about to be transferred from Border Patrol custody. The HHS estimates the cost to detain a child in the newest facilities, which they refer to as Emergency Intake Sites (EIS), is $775 per day. In other long-term facilities, they indicate that cost to be approximately $275 per day. The temporary shelter numbers are those in excess of 13,500 permanent facility beds, meaning the agency is spending nearly $4 million a day on long-term UACs and nearly $2 million per day on EIS shelters. This does not account for the expenditures by the Border Patrol to detain the additional 4,000 UACs.</p>
<p><em>Owen covers the latest consequences at the southern border due to Joe Biden’s policies.</em></p>
<p>According to HHS, the <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/04/06/feds-open-two-more-unaccompanied-migrant-child-detention-centers-in-west-texas/">EIS shelters</a> being brought into service will provide required standards of care for children, such as providing clean and comfortable sleeping quarters, meals, toiletries, laundry, and access to medical services. A COVID-19 health screening protocol for all children will reportedly be implemented to follow CDC guidelines for preventing and controlling communicable diseases. Services will be provided by a combination of contractors and federal staff – including teams from the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/04/09/watch-u-s-spends-6-million-per-day-to-house-unaccompanied-migrant-children/">Read more</a></p>
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/u-s-spends-6-million-per-day-to-house-unaccompanied-migrant-children">https://www.infowars.com/posts/u-s-spends-6-million-per-day-to-house-unaccompanied-migrant-children</a>

U.S. Spends $6 Million Per Day to House Unaccompanied Migrant Children

news U.S. Spends $6 Million Per Day to House Unaccompanied Migrant Children

According to Health and Human Services, the federal government is detaining more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children nationwide. To accommodate the latest surge, HHS opened 13 new detention facilities since March 1 and are designed to house th…

Keeping us masked forever? The Davos set’s dystopian ambitions are very clear

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<p><strong>The WEF’s promotion of a Chinese ‘smart face mask’ that tracks every breath its wearer takes is further evidence that the changes to Western society over the last 12 months of Covid are intended to be permanent.</strong></p>
<p><em>“It’s only for when you pop into Tesco’s to do your weekly shop, what‘s your problem with that, you selfish ‘right-wing’ libertarian?”</em> That’s how the introduction of mandatory face-masks was sold to us in Britain last summer, by its virtue-signalling, <em>“Look at me, I’m such a good citizen”</em> supporters.   </p>
<p>Masks would be temporary – restricted to shops – and as soon as the Covid threat had passed they would be dispensed with, like social distancing. Anyone who said these measures were designed to be permanent – and were part of the global elite’s plan to keep the plebs muzzled up forever – was dismissed as a ‘crank’ and ‘a conspiracy theorist’.</p>
<p>Well, nine months on, and where are we?</p>
<p>The UK government has issued a ‘road map’ for taking us – with the speed of a 150-year-old Galapagos Island tortoise on sleeping tablets – out of lockdown. But there’s no mention of when masks and social distancing will be dispensed with.</p>
<p><em>New Hampshire track coach Brad Keyes of https://ift.tt/3dUW53B joins The Alex Jones Show to break down how refusing the medical tyranny takeover has affected his life.</em></p>
<p>Could that be because there’s no intention of masks and social distancing ever being dispensed with? It certainly appears that way.</p>
<div class="XmbvlEnw"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/winter-sun-vitamin-d?ims=bilsq&utm_campaign=WinterSunBIS40&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=Banner&utm_content=WinterSunBIS40Hero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/WS-hero-385.png" /></a></div>
<p>Since last July, we’ve seen the mask mandate expanded. You are now asked to wear them not just in shops, but in all indoor areas, unless exempt. Even school children have to wear them in class. That decision was supposed to be reviewed at Easter, and, guess what, the government has just extended the school mask mandate until the summer. In addition, football fans will be expected to wear masks when they’re finally allowed back into grounds this spring at ‘trial’ events.</p>
<p>‘Following the science’? Hardly. We shouldn’t forget that in the week that masks were first introduced last summer, deaths with Covid literally reached zero.</p>
<p>The BBC’s Health Correspondent Deborah Cohen asked the World Health Organisation if their change of advice on masks had been due to political lobbying, and they did not deny.</p>
<p>Why, if masks were so important in preventing transmission, weren’t we told to wear them last March and April? In fact, government scientists advised us <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-uk-news-professor-chris-whitty-no-masks-advice-a9374086" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">not</a> to wear them.</p>
<p>Now, it seems not only must we wear them, but we need to get used to them being a permanent part of daily life in the ‘New Abnormal’. In their recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/imperial-college-london-evaluating-englands-roadmap-out-of-lockdown-30-march-2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a>, ‘Evaluating England’s Road Map out of Lockdown‘, published on the UK government’s website, the Imperial College Covid-19 Response team state: <em>“Whilst the impact of Test Trace Isolate, mask wearing, hand hygiene and COVID security on ‘R‘ is difficult to quantify it will be vital to emphasise the importance of normalising and ensuring adherence to all measures even after ‘full lifting’ is achieved.”</em> Got that? Masks need to stay even after Boris Johnson says ‘Lockdown is over‘.</p>
<p>It’s in this context that the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) enthusiastic <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.rt.com/news/520379-wef-smart-mask-future/" target="_blank">promotion</a> of the Chinese ‘smart face mask’ needs to be seen. It apparently reminds users when to wash it and checks if they’re wearing it properly. If too much carbon dioxide builds up inside, a phone alert reminds the wearer to catch a few breaths of fresh air. If the user forgets to put it on, the same phone app sends them a reminder to mask up.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"></figure>
<p>This is not about public health, but all about making sure that measures introduced ostensibly to stop the spread of Covid-19 become permanent. Yes, once again the much-derided ‘crackpot conspiracy theorists’ of 2020 have been proved right. </p>
<p>Remember how last summer, the WEF was promoting a ‘Common Pass‘ health passport scheme, not just for international travel but for access to domestic events too? It would never happen, we were told. That’s ‘David Icke stuff’, was the condescending brush-off. Well, that too has come to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.rt.com/op-ed/497272-clear-health-pass-covid-dystopian/" target="_blank">pass</a> – no pun intended.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"></figure>
<p>To find out why all this is happening, all we have to do is to follow the money trail. All the way to Davos. What does the pro-permanent mask Imperial College have in common with the pro-permanent mask WEF? Answer: the pro-permanent mask Bill Gates.</p>
<p>Last month, Gates himself likened <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1409627/bill-gates-late-show-seth-meyers-wearing-face-masks-like-donning-trousers-covid-19-ont" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">putting</a> on a face mask to putting on a pair of trousers. <em>“I just don’t think wearing a mask is such a deep inconvenience. I mean we ask people to wear pants. You know, why was this politicised?”</em> Back in November, he made the same <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bill-gates-masks-nudists_n_5fb42806c5b6a4664671bd1b?ri18n=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">comparison</a>. <em>“We ask you to wear pants and, you know, no American says — or very few Americans say — that that’s, like, some terrible thing.”</em></p>
<p>But is masking up whenever we go out really the same as putting on a pair of trousers, to use the English term?</p>
<p>Of course it isn’t. Unless you’re Batman or The Lone Ranger, or another Saturday morning cinema superhero, or indeed a bank-robber, wearing a mask in public isn’t normal, and no amount of WEF-spin makes it so. But what walking about with pieces of black cloth over our mouths and noses does do, is maintain the levels of fear in the community. </p>
<p>If cases and deaths with Covid have plummeted to zero, but we want to make people live as if there is a permanent pandemic, to keep control over them, and to introduce ‘Covid-certification’ to restrict where they can and cannot go, how else can we keep Project Fear going without masks? It’s the only way we’d know that these were not ‘normal’ times. Which is, of course, precisely why they were introduced when deaths had dwindled to very low numbers.  </p>
<p>Smart masks? The really smart thing is to get wise to the WEF’s dystopian agenda.</p>
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/keeping-us-masked-forever-the-davos-sets-dystopian-ambitions-are-very-clear">https://www.infowars.com/posts/keeping-us-masked-forever-the-davos-sets-dystopian-ambitions-are-very-clear</a>

Keeping us masked forever? The Davos set’s dystopian ambitions are very clear

news Keeping us masked forever? The Davos set’s dystopian ambitions are very clear

The WEF’s promotion of a Chinese ‘smart face mask’ that tracks every breath its wearer takes is further evidence that the changes to Western society over the last 12 months of Covid are intended to be permanent. “It’s only for when you pop into Tesco…

Google accused of allowing advertisers to search for ‘white supremacist’ keywords on YouTube – including ‘All lives matter’

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<p><strong>Google has updated its YouTube ad targeting terms after a media report revealed that people could search for phrases allegedly associated with white supremacy.</strong></p>
<p>An investigation by the Markup found that advertisers could find relevant videos for their ads by using terms like <em>“white lives matter,”</em> <em>“all lives matter”</em> and <em>“white power.”</em> Citing the Southern Poverty Law Center, the outlet noted that some of these phrases are popular with white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups. Anyone interested in using the term “white power” to place an ad would be able to choose among 100 million YouTube videos and channels linked to the phrase, the Markup discovered.</p>
<p>At the same time, social justice terms such as <em>“Black Lives Matter”</em> and <em>“black power”</em> returned no results. </p>
<p>Google reportedly didn’t dispute any of the Markup’s findings when contacted by the outlet. However, after reviewing the matter, the company scrubbed the offensive terms from its ad targeting system. </p>
<p><em>The Headbangers react to the newest fake hate crime at a college campus that sparked protests.</em></p>
<p><em>“We fully acknowledge that the terms identified are offensive and harmful and should not have been searchable. Our teams have addressed the issue and blocked terms that violate our enforcement policies,”</em> Google later told the Verge when asked for comment.</p>
<p>The tech giant also insisted that the search terms had never been used to facilitate problematic adverts, explaining that it takes “hate and harassment very seriously” and that it has a “multi-layered enforcement strategy” to guard against unsavory content. </p>
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<p>But the ban on <em>“Black Lives Matter”</em> as an ad keyword reportedly remains, and Google has even allegedly expanded its list of prohibited terms to include <em>“black excellence”</em> and <em>“civil rights.” </em></p>
<p>Google’s advertising policy bars people from using <em>“identity and belief”</em> to place targeted ads over concerns that such content could be used to <em>“stigmatize”</em> others.</p>
<p>While Google may aim for neutrality when it comes to advertisements, it has been accused of heavy bias when it comes to its search engine and curating content on YouTube. In September, the company was accused of hiding search suggestions that cast Black Lives Matter in a negative light, even after the protest movement was linked to riots and looting across the United States. </p>
<p>More recently, in January, Google came under fire for booting Donald Trump from YouTube, after claiming that the president could potentially use the platform to incite violence. The move was condemned by many as a vast overreach of Silicon Valley’s power over public dialogue. </p>
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/google-accused-of-allowing-advertisers-to-search-for-white-supremacist-keywords-on-youtube-including-all-lives-matter">https://www.infowars.com/posts/google-accused-of-allowing-advertisers-to-search-for-white-supremacist-keywords-on-youtube-including-all-lives-matter</a>

Google accused of allowing advertisers to search for ‘white supremacist’ keywords on YouTube – including ‘All lives matter’

news Google accused of allowing advertisers to search for ‘white supremacist’ keywords on YouTube – including ‘All lives matter’

Google has updated its YouTube ad targeting terms after a media report revealed that people could search for phrases allegedly associated with white supremacy. An investigation by the Markup found that advertisers could find relevant videos for their…

Anti-War Activist Harassed By Plainclothes Cops For Tweet Exposing AOC’s Foreign Policy Incompetence

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<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2021/04/GettyImages-1231877218.jpg" /></div>
<h4>A leftist anti-war activist was visited by the California Highway Patrol for a tweet he made that lightly criticized Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) pandering and bumbling comments about a “two-state solution” in the Middle East. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s office has denied contacing police about the tweet.</h4>
<p>On April 7, activist Ryan Wentz tweeted, “On April 1, @AOC did a livestream with Michael Miller, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. She was asked about ‘peace between Israelis and Palestinians.’ Her response was incredibly underwhelming, to say the very least:”</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="9.5964391691395">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">On April 1, <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AOC</a> did a livestream with Michael Miller, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. She was asked about “peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”</p>
<p>Her response was incredibly underwhelming, to say the very least: <a href="https://t.co/qHdwTy5pVO">pic.twitter.com/qHdwTy5pVO</a></p>
— Human Rights Watch Watcher (@queeralamode) <a href="https://twitter.com/queeralamode/status/1379879392642408448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<p>The next day, Wentz was visited in Los Angeles by two plainclothes members of the California Highway Patrol, who reportedly accused him of “threatening” Ocasio-Cortez.</p>
<p><em>Owen describes the genius of the Bill of Rights.</em></p>
<p>Wentz posted a picture of a business card provided by one of the officers, with the caption, “I’m really shaken up right now. I was just visited by two plainclothes police officers from California Highway Patrol at my home. They said they came here on behalf of the Capitol Police and accused me of threatening @AOC on Twitter yesterday. This is provably false.”</p>
<p>The activist added, “I felt scared, intimidated, and violated. They knew my name and where I live. It was done on behalf of a congresswoman who advocates against police state tactics.”</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">(1/X) I’m really shaken up right now. I was just visited by two plainclothes police officers from California Highway Patrol at my home. They said they came here on behalf of the Capitol Police and accused me of threatening <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AOC</a> on Twitter yesterday. This is provably false. <a href="https://t.co/NGR8KViy93">pic.twitter.com/NGR8KViy93</a></p>
— Human Rights Watch Watcher (@queeralamode) <a href="https://twitter.com/queeralamode/status/1380284997785948162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">(4/X) I’d really appreciate it if <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AOC</a> could look into this. I recognize she probably receives a lot of threats, but I shouldn’t be harassed by police for critiquing her politics. I frankly feel very unsafe in my home right now.</p>
— Human Rights Watch Watcher (@queeralamode) <a href="https://twitter.com/queeralamode/status/1380285002357776385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<p>Ocasio-Cortez’s office <a href="https://thegrayzone.com/2021/04/09/anti-war-activist-police-aoc-video/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has denied</a> asking the police to harass Wentz over the tweets.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://nationalfile.com/meltdown-aoc-begs-supporters-to-mass-report-alexandriaocasiosmollet-hashtag-in-new-email/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National File previously reported,</a> Ocasio-Cortez has begged supporters to mass reports social media posts that mock her or expose her hypocrisy:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote" readability="24">
<p>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) begged supporters to mass report the viral #AlexandriaOcasioSmollett hashtag on Facebook and Twitter this week, signalling that she is not handling the fallout from her debunked tales of fearing for her life and hiding from pro-Trump protesters who were “trying to kill” her on Jan. 6 all that well.</p>
<p>In an email sent from Team AOC, supporters of Ocasio-Cortez are asked for their help in forcing “Facebook and Twitter to take action and enforce their own rules.”</p>
<p>“We need your help,” the email reads. “Here’s what you can do… scan your social media to find posts with this misleading information, especially those using the trending hashtag. Don’t tweet any hashtags yourself, because we don’t want to spread them further!”</p>
<p>Supporters are then commanded to “Identify any posts that are threatening or harassing and use the built-in report features to flag them for moderators. Facebook and Twitter both have built-in tools for reporting posts and tweets that break the rules.”</p>
</blockquote>
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/anti-war-activist-harassed-by-plainclothes-cops-for-tweet-exposing-aocs-foreign-policy-incompetence-2">https://www.infowars.com/posts/anti-war-activist-harassed-by-plainclothes-cops-for-tweet-exposing-aocs-foreign-policy-incompetence-2</a>

Anti-War Activist Harassed By Plainclothes Cops For Tweet Exposing AOC’s Foreign Policy Incompetence

news Anti-War Activist Harassed By Plainclothes Cops For Tweet Exposing AOC’s Foreign Policy Incompetence

A leftist anti-war activist was visited by the California Highway Patrol for a tweet he made that lightly criticized Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) pandering and bumbling comments about a “two-state solution” in the Middle East. Rep. Ocasio-…

Brazil's Bolsonaro Blames "Judicial Activism" For Covid Probe

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<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Brazil's Bolsonaro Blames 'Judicial Activism' For Covid Probe" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-07/qck12e3o_brazil-president-jair-bolsonaro-coviidpositive_625x300_07_July_20.jpg" title="Brazil's Bolsonaro Blames 'Judicial Activism' For Covid Probe" /></div>
<p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Brazil is suffering through a new, deadly surge of COVID-19 (File)</p>
</div>
<p>Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday he was the victim of "judicial activism" after a Supreme Court judge ordered the Senate to launch an inquiry into his government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>The comment came a day after Justice Luis Roberto Barroso's ruling set up a potentially damaging inquiry into Bolsonaro's response to Covid-19, which the far-right leader has repeatedly downplayed even as it has claimed 345,000 lives in Brazil.</p>
<p>"Barroso suffers from a lack of moral courage and an excess of judicial activism," Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia.</p>
<p>"That's not what Brazil needs. We're at a critical moment in the pandemic, there are people dying, and a Supreme Court justice is playing politics along with the Senate."</p>
<p>Brazil is suffering through a new, deadly surge of Covid-19 that is pushing hospitals to the breaking point across most of the country.</p>
<p>It already has the second-highest death count worldwide in the pandemic, after the United States, and is struggling to secure enough vaccines for its 212 million people.</p>
<p>The Senate commission will be tasked with investigating "the actions and omissions of the federal government... particularly with regard to the worsening of the health crisis in the state of Amazonas, after the lack of oxygen for hospitalized patients," the judge's ruling stated.</p>
<p>In January, dozens of people died in Manaus, the state's capital, when hospitals ran out of oxygen to treat Covid-19 patients.</p>
<p>In another blow to Bolsonaro, the Supreme Court also ruled Thursday that regional authorities can prohibit in-person religious services under Covid-19 restrictions, something he had strongly opposed.</p>
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source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/brazils-bolsonaro-blames-judicial-activism-for-covid-probe-2410431">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/brazils-bolsonaro-blames-judicial-activism-for-covid-probe-2410431</a>

Brazil's Bolsonaro Blames

news world Brazil's Bolsonaro Blames "Judicial Activism" For Covid Probe

Brazil is suffering through a new, deadly surge of COVID-19 (File) Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday he was the victim of "judicial activism" after a Supreme Court judge ordered the Senate to launch an inquiry into his government's hand…

Judge Hands Amazon A Setback In New York Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Shortfalls

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<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Judge Hands Amazon A Setback In New York Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Shortfalls" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-04/ge98cqb_amazon-generic-_625x300_06_April_21.jpg" title="Judge Hands Amazon A Setback In New York Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Shortfalls" /></div>
<p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">James sued Amazon on Feb. 16, four days after Amazon sued her. (File)</p>
</div>
<b class="place_cont">New York:</b>
<p>A federal judge on Friday ruled against Amazon.com Inc as the company defends against New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit claiming it prioritized profit over worker safety during the COVID-19 pandemic at two New York City warehouses.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan granted James' request to return her lawsuit to a New York state court, and rejected Amazon's bid to move it to Brooklyn federal court, where the online retailer had sued James to stop her from suing.</p>
<p>James accused Amazon of ignoring its duty to take reasonable steps to protect workers from the coronavirus at a Staten Island fulfillment center and a Queens distribution center, and retaliating against workers who complained.</p>
<p>An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment. Rakoff said he will explain the reasoning behind his two-paragraph order later.</p>
<p>"Amazon has forced its employees to work in unsafe conditions throughout this pandemic," James said in welcoming her lawsuit's move back to state court, "where it belongs."</p>
<p>While the ruling did not address the dispute's merits, it is a setback for Seattle-based Amazon, which accused James of overstepping her authority and said federal laws rather than New York's should govern workplace safety.</p>
<p>Amazon said both lawsuits belonged in the Brooklyn court because Queens and Staten Island are in that jurisdiction, and suing in different courts was wasteful.</p>
<p>James said Amazon had "cut corners" in protecting workers because doing more could threaten productivity, sales volume and profitability.</p>
<p>She said she had authority to enforce New York state law "to promote proper business conduct and ensure that current and future Amazon employees have a safe and honest workplace."</p>
<p>Her lawsuit seeks improved worker protections, and damages for two Amazon workers who allegedly faced retaliation.</p>
<p>One, Christian Smalls, was fired one year ago, purportedly for violating a paid quarantine when leading a protest over conditions at the Staten Island warehouse.</p>
<p>James sued Amazon on Feb. 16, four days after Amazon sued her. Amazon then moved James' lawsuit to federal court.</p>
<p><i>(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)</i></p>
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source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/judge-hands-amazon-a-setback-in-new-york-lawsuit-over-covid-19-shortfalls-2410427">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/judge-hands-amazon-a-setback-in-new-york-lawsuit-over-covid-19-shortfalls-2410427</a>

Judge Hands Amazon A Setback In New York Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Shortfalls

news world Judge Hands Amazon A Setback In New York Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Shortfalls

James sued Amazon on Feb. 16, four days after Amazon sued her. (File) New York: A federal judge on Friday ruled against Amazon.com Inc as the company defends against New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit claiming it prioritized profit ove…

Next Stop, Space: All-Civilian Spaceflight Crew Ready With Tickets, Training

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<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Next Stop, Space: All-Civilian Spaceflight Crew Ready With Tickets, Training" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-04/aonu5big_jared-isaacman-reuters-650_625x300_10_April_21.jpg" title="Next Stop, Space: All-Civilian Spaceflight Crew Ready With Tickets, Training" /></div>
<p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor and Chris Sembroski pose for a photo.</p>
</div>
<b class="place_cont">Washington, United States:</b>
<p>Several hundred people have already booked their tickets and begun training for a spectacular voyage: a few minutes, or perhaps days, in the weightlessness of space.</p>
<p>The mainly wealthy first-time space travellers are getting ready to take part in one of several private missions which are preparing to launch.</p>
<p>The era of space tourism is on the horizon 60 years after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space.</p>
<p>Two companies, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, are building spacecraft capable of sending private clients on suborbital flights to the edge of space lasting several minutes.</p>
<p>Glenn King is the director of spaceflight training at the National Aerospace Training and Research Center, a private company based in Pennsylvania which has already trained nearly 400 future Virgin Galactic passengers for their trips.</p>
<p>"The oldest person I trained was 88 years old," King told AFP.</p>
<p>The training program lasts two days -- a morning of classroom instruction and tests in a centrifuge.</p>
<p>This involves putting the trainee in a single-seat cockpit at the end of a 25-foot-long (eight-meter-long) arm and spinning them around to simulate gravitational force, or G force.</p>
<p>A medical team is on hand at all times.</p>
<p><strong>"Enjoy the view"</strong></p>
<p>NASA's training for shuttle crew members lasted two years but the duration has been drastically reduced by the commercial space industry because of the "numbers of people that want to get up in space," King said.</p>
<p>"We can't take two years to train these people," he said. "We've got to get this down to a matter of days to get these people up.</p>
<p>"These people aren't crews, just strictly passengers," he noted.</p>
<p>"For a passenger, there isn't a lot of work for you to do other than just relax, endure the G forces of launch or reentry.</p>
<p>"And then once you're orbital, enjoy the view out the window."</p>
<p>King said the pass rate for the training course has been "99.9 percent."</p>
<p>The cost ranges from several thousand dollars to as much as $10,000 if special care or medical monitoring is needed.</p>
<p>The single biggest barrier to "spaceflight for all" remains the price tag.</p>
<p>Some 600 people have booked flights on Virgin Galactic, the company owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, and thousands more are on a waiting list.</p>
<p>The cost per flight? $200,000 to $250,000.</p>
<p>Virgin Galactic hopes to take its first private astronaut on a suborbital flight in early 2022, with eventual plans for 400 trips a year.</p>
<p>Blue Origin, owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, has not yet published prices or a calendar.</p>
<p>Money aside, pretty much anybody could go on a spaceflight.</p>
<p>"You don't have to be in perfect physical health now to be able to go to space," King said. "I've trained people with prosthetic devices. I've trained people with pacemakers.</p>
<p>"All kinds of people."</p>
<p>The US Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees the aviation industry, recommended in 2006 that future "commercial passengers" on suborbital flights fill out a "simple medical history questionnaire."</p>
<p>Orbital flights which go further and last longer would require a more detailed form and blood tests, X-rays and urine specimens.</p>
<p>Such flights, which cost millions of dollars each, are envisioned by SpaceX, the company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, which has at least four planned over the coming years.</p>
<p><strong>"Inspiration4"</strong></p>
<p>The first launch of only civilians, baptized "Inspiration4," is scheduled to take place in September.</p>
<p>The American billionaire Jared Isaacman has fully paid for a trip powered by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will take him and three passengers on a three-day flight in low Earth orbit.</p>
<p>In January 2022, the company Axiom Space plans to send a former astronaut and three newcomers to the International Space Station.</p>
<p>It eventually plans trips to the ISS every six months.</p>
<p>Seven "space tourists" visited the space station between 2001 and 2009.</p>
<p>A company called Space Adventures served as the intermediary for those flights and has partnered with SpaceX to send four customers in orbit around the Earth next year.</p>
<p>A Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, has reserved a flight on SpaceX's "Starship" in 2023 and is inviting eight other people to come along for the ride.</p>
<p>So when can we expect space tourism to become commonplace?</p>
<p>Difficult to say, said Robert Goehlich, an adjunct assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide.</p>
<p>"Suborbital and orbital tourist flights are currently near to happen," Goehlich said. "The exact forecast is a challenge for each scenario.</p>
<p>"A new investor might accelerate any schedule," he said, "while an accident might decelerate any planning."</p>
<p>Three major factors will need to come together: flights will have to be safe, profitable and environmentally friendly.</p>
<p>"In the long run, thinking about a mass space tourism market, surely sustainability aspects will play a more dominant role," Goehlich said.</p>
<br />
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source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/next-stop-space-all-civilian-spaceflight-crew-ready-with-tickets-training-2410426">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/next-stop-space-all-civilian-spaceflight-crew-ready-with-tickets-training-2410426</a>

Next Stop, Space: All-Civilian Spaceflight Crew Ready With Tickets, Training

news world Next Stop, Space: All-Civilian Spaceflight Crew Ready With Tickets, Training

Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor and Chris Sembroski pose for a photo. Washington, United States: Several hundred people have already booked their tickets and begun training for a spectacular voyage: a few minutes, or perhaps days, in …

Decades After His Wife Vanished, US Man Sentenced To 40 Years In Her Murder

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<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Decades After His Wife Vanished, US Man Sentenced To 40 Years In Her Murder" src="https://i.ndtvimg.com/i/2016-09/judge-court-generic-istock_650x400_81473483517.jpg" title="Decades After His Wife Vanished, US Man Sentenced To 40 Years In Her Murder" /></div>
<p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Jose Rodriguez-Cruz is already serving a 12-year term in the D.C. killing. (Representational)</p>
</div>
<p>Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, who admitted strangling his girlfriend in the District of Columbia and disposing of her still-missing body in 2009, was sentenced to 40 years in prison Thursday for murdering his estranged wife in Virginia in 1989 and also hiding her remains.</p>
<p>Ending a tortuous case that bedeviled investigators in several jurisdictions for years, Circuit Court Judge Michael Levy in Stafford County, Va., imposed the maximum sentence on Rodriguez-Cruz, 55, after he pleaded guilty in November to second-degree murder. He already is serving a 12-year term in the D.C. killing.</p>
<p>His estranged wife, Marta Rodriguez, 26, was last seen alive in May 1989. Her remains, concealed on a highway median strip in Stafford, were found in 1991 but not identified until 2018, after Rodriguez-Cruz had been charged with murder in Washington.</p>
<p>Thursday's sentencing followed two related investigations involving multiple police departments and a suspect described by authorities as having an explosive temper toward women who spurned him.</p>
<p>About a decade after Marta Rodriguez's 1989 disappearance from Arlington County, Va., Rodriguez-Cruz became romantically involved with a D.C. woman, Pamela Butler, a 47-year-old computer specialist for the Environmental Protection Agency. In February 2009, she also mysteriously vanished.</p>
<p>Although Butler's body has not been found, Rodriguez-Cruz, a clerical workers who had been living in northern Virginia, was arrested in 2017 by D.C. police based largely on circumstantial evidence. He eventually admitted he had strangled her. Butler's family said she was in the process of breaking up with him when she disappeared.</p>
<p>He led investigators to a spot along Interstate 95 in Stafford, but the area had since been dug up for construction, and Butler's bones were not found.</p>
<p>While searching that area, police learned that different remains, still held in storage, had been found there in 1991. DNA tests confirmed that the remains were those of Marta Rodriguez, and Rodriguez-Cruz was charged with killing her. An autopsy report lists the cause and manner of Marta Rodriguez's death as undetermined.</p>
<p>In March 1989, two months before Marta Rodriguez vanished, Rodriguez-Cruz, a former military police officer, was charged with abducting and assaulting her. In that incident, an Arlington County police officer saw him dragging her along a street, bound and gagged, authorities said.</p>
<p>"When asked by the investigator why he would commit such acts against his wife, Rodriguez-Cruz responded that 'if I can't have her, no one else will. She's mine,'" according to the Stafford County commonwealth's attorney.</p>
<p>However, the case against him began to fall apart on May 18, 1989, when Marta Rodriguez failed to appear in an Arlington courtroom for a preliminary hearing. She was not seen alive again after that, authorities said.</p>
<p>Although Rodriguez-Cruz, in pleading guilty, conceded in court that Stafford County prosecutors had enough circumstantial evidence to convict of him of second-degree murder, he did not offer details on the killing.</p>
<p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p>
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source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/decades-after-his-wife-vanished-us-man-sentenced-to-40-years-in-her-murder-2410393">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/decades-after-his-wife-vanished-us-man-sentenced-to-40-years-in-her-murder-2410393</a>

Decades After His Wife Vanished, US Man Sentenced To 40 Years In Her Murder

news world Decades After His Wife Vanished, US Man Sentenced To 40 Years In Her Murder

Jose Rodriguez-Cruz is already serving a 12-year term in the D.C. killing. (Representational) Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, who admitted strangling his girlfriend in the District of Columbia and disposing of her still-missing body in 2009, was sentenced to 4…

US Congress To Probe Trump Ally Over Sex-Trafficking Allegations

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<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="US Congress To Probe Trump Ally Over Sex-Trafficking Allegations" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-04/gkvo8kis_matt-gaetz_625x300_10_April_21.jpg" title="US Congress To Probe Trump Ally Over Sex-Trafficking Allegations" /></div>
<p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">With the scandal swirling, some Democrats have called on Gaetz to step down.</p>
</div>
<b class="place_cont">Washington:</b>
<p>A US congressional ethics panel said Friday it has opened an investigation into the actions of Matt Gaetz, a Republican lawmaker who faces allegations of sex trafficking and having sex with a minor.</p>
<p>The House Ethics Committee said in a statement it was aware of allegations Gaetz "may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct."</p>
<p>Gaetz, one of the House members most loyal to Donald Trump during his presidency, has not been charged with a crime.</p>
<p>He has denied the allegations and claims he is the victim of an extortion scheme.</p>
<p>The committee also announced in an unrelated statement that it was investigating another Republican congressman, Tom Reed, amid sexual misconduct allegations.</p>
<p>For Gaetz, the ethics probe is a ramping up of legal exposure for the 38-year-old, a third-term congressman from Florida who until recently was seen as a rising star in the Republican Party.</p>
<p>In recent weeks US media reported that the Department of Justice -- during Trump's presidency -- had opened its own investigation into accusations that Gaetz may have broken federal sex trafficking laws and been involved in a scheme to recruit and pay women for sex.</p>
<p>That probe centers on Gaetz and fellow Floridian Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Seminole County who was indicted last year on a federal child sex trafficking charge.</p>
<p>According to the New York Times, people close to the investigation said they believe Greenberg met women through websites and introduced them to Gaetz, who had sex with them.</p>
<p>The DOJ is also investigating whether Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old.</p>
<p>With the scandal swirling, some Democrats have called on Gaetz to step down.</p>
<p>"End the disgrace now, @RepMattGaetz. Resign." tweeted House Democrat Gerry Connolly on Friday.</p>
<p>A group of female Gaetz staffers meanwhile has come to his defense, writing a statement Thursday saying they experienced "no hint of impropriety" by the lawmaker.</p>
<p>"On every occasion he has treated each and every one of us with respect," they wrote. "Thus, we uniformly reject these allegations as false."</p>
<p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p>
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<br />
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-congress-to-probe-trump-ally-matt-gaetz-over-sex-trafficking-allegations-2410378">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-congress-to-probe-trump-ally-matt-gaetz-over-sex-trafficking-allegations-2410378</a>

US Congress To Probe Trump Ally Over Sex-Trafficking Allegations

news world US Congress To Probe Trump Ally Over Sex-Trafficking Allegations

With the scandal swirling, some Democrats have called on Gaetz to step down. Washington: A US congressional ethics panel said Friday it has opened an investigation into the actions of Matt Gaetz, a Republican lawmaker who faces allegations of sex tr…

US Navy Quietly Conducts Exercises Off The Coast Of Southwestern India

0

<p><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e.png"><img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143305 jetpack-lazy-image" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 441px) 100vw, 441px" data-lazy-srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e.png 1200w" height="231" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e-300x157.png?is-pending-load=1" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" width="441" /></a></p>
<img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143305" height="231" sizes="(max-width: 441px) 100vw, 441px" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e-300x157.png" srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021e.png 1200w" width="441" />
<p>While the world is paying attention to larger events, a small story that has received little discussion is a recent series of US Naval exercises conducted off the southwestern coast of India in the Lakshadweep Islands.</p>
<blockquote readability="52.863166953528">
<p>In a highly unusual move, the publicly declared it conducted “freedom of navigation operations” in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) near Lakshadweep earlier this week, without deliberately seeking New Delhi’s prior consent, drawing an Indian response that the American warship was “continuously monitored” and concerns were conveyed to the Biden administration.</p>
<p>The strongly-worded nature of the US Seventh Fleet statement was evident as it said India’s requirement of prior consent is inconsistent with international laws and the “freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs)” was intended to challenge its “excessive maritime claims”.</p>
<p>Coming close on the heels of a Quad summit hosted by President Joe Biden, which was seen as strong strategic convergence among the US, India, Japan and Australia, the American naval deployment raised more than a few eyebrows.</p>
<p>“India requires prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its EEZ or continental shelf, a claim inconsistent with international law. This FONOP upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging India’s excessive maritime claims,” the US Navy statement said.</p>
<p>Responding to the provocative statement issued by the US Seventh Fleet, which incidentally undertook gunboat<br />
diplomacy against India during the 1971 war, the external affairs ministry on Friday said, “India’s stated position on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is that the convention does not authorise other States to carry out in the EEZ and on the continental shelf, military exercises or manoeuvres, in particular those involving the use of weapons or explosives, without the consent of the coastal state.”</p>
<p>“The USS John Paul Jones (US guided missile destroyer) was continuously monitored transiting from the Persian Gulf<br />
towards the Malacca Straits. We have conveyed our concerns regarding this passage through our EEZ to the US government through diplomatic channels,” added the MEA.</p>
<p>The US — which has not ratified the UNCLOS unlike India, China and many other countries — does regularly conduct FONOPs in the contentious South China Sea to challenge China’s aggressive territorial claims as well as in other areas including the Indian Ocean Region. (<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/us-navy-conducts-freedom-of-navigation-patrol-within-indias-exclusive-economic-zone/articleshow/81983624.cms">source</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is impossible that India did not know about this well before. Likewise, it is also very likely that, while the Indian government will not publicly admit this, she fully consented to these exercises.</p>
<p>The US has been building close alliances with India for over a decade due to the threat of a coming global conflict that most likely, among other issues, will put the US against China in the Asian theater. It seems that a part of US strategy is going to be to use the Indians against the Chinese, and is why she is backing them as well as conveniently ignoring real Christian persecution in India, but will talk about it in China, because the latter is politically exploitable while the former is not.</p>
<p>Whether or not India will become a stronger naval power is something yet to be seen. She already has a long naval history, and so she could potentially, with some development, build up her presence in the Indian Ocean more than what it already is.</p>
<p>Also, notice the important emphasis on freedom of economic movement. This is a point I have said before that is a cornerstone of US as opposed to Russian policy and power grabs. The US prefers to conquer by economic influence, so that people on all sides make money and have better lives, and in doing so can better win public approval and long-term support. The Russian approach tends to be to grab power first, but not do a lot of economic development, and in doing this, tends to make people angry, because if one is going to be dominated by another country, at least with the US, one becomes wealthier, more comfortable, and has more fun things to use, as opposed to becoming poorer, less comfortable, and with fewer fun things.</p>
<p>The move here might be seen as a ‘three-in-one’ approach- maintain US hegemony over the seas, build up her influence with India, and maintain the economic machine that she uses to keep the global power balance shifted to her favor.</p>
<h3 class="p1"><span class="s1"><a><b>Donate now to help support the work of this site. When you donate, you are not donating to just any commentary group, but one that is endlessly observing the news, reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality. In shoebat.com, we are working every day, tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to tell you what lies for the future.</b></a></span></h3>
<br />
<br />
source <a href="http://shoebat.com/2021/04/09/us-navy-quietly-conducts-exercises-off-the-coast-of-southwestern-india/">http://shoebat.com/2021/04/09/us-navy-quietly-conducts-exercises-off-the-coast-of-southwestern-india/</a>

US Navy Quietly Conducts Exercises Off The Coast Of Southwestern India

armageddon US Navy Quietly Conducts Exercises Off The Coast Of Southwestern India

While the world is paying attention to larger events, a small story that has received little discussion is a recent series of US Naval exercises conducted off the southwestern coast of India in the Lakshadweep Islands. In a highly unusual move, the …

Hindu Terrorists Accused Of Harassing Catholics Nuns Let Free On Bail

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<p><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d.png"><img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143303 jetpack-lazy-image" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px" data-lazy-srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d.png 1200w" height="258" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d-300x157.png?is-pending-load=1" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" width="493" /></a></p>
<img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143303" height="258" sizes="(max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d-300x157.png" srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021d.png 1200w" width="493" />
<p>While the world watches China with horror, far too many continue to ignore the growing crisis in South Asia, where Hindu nationalist terrorists, with the direct consent and even assistance of the Indian government, are harassing Christians and engaging in open persecution.</p>
<p>In a story out of northern India and reported on by UCA News, three Hindu nationalist terrorist have been released on bail following accusations of harassing several Catholic nuns.</p>
<blockquote readability="33.845571536715">
<p>A court in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has granted bail to three Hindu activists accused of harassing two Catholic nuns and their students.</p>
<p>Railway police arrested student leader Ajay Shankar Tiwari, Anchal Arjaria, president of Rashtra Bhakt Sangathan, and Purgesh Amaria, secretary of Hindu Jagran Manch, on April 2 in connection with the incident.</p>
<p>They were granted bail on April 7 by Jhansi District Court and must attend another hearing on April 22.</p>
<p>Two nuns of the indigenous Sacred Heart Congregation and two postulants were forced to get off a train in Jhansi on March 19 after the nuns were accused of conducting religious conversion.</p>
<p>According to officials in Jhansi, they were detained after right-wing Hindu activists gave a written complaint that two women were being taken forcibly for religious conversion. Uttar Pradesh has a law that aims to curb religious conversions done by force and fraudulent means.</p>
<p>However, the nuns were allowed to continue their journey after an inquiry at the railway station established that there was no conversion involved. Police said there was no basis for the complaint and all four women took the next train to their destination in Odisha.</p>
<p>The decision to grant bail to the the three Hindu activists brought a mixed reaction from Catholic figures. (<a href="https://www.ucanews.com/news/bail-for-hindus-accused-of-harassing-indian-nuns/92052">source</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>An unfortunate story, but not a surprise.</p>
<p>Based on current trends, India is plowing full speed ahead towards a genocide of her Christian population. The warnings have been around for years, and so few have paid attention to them. The fact is, the government of India largely gives full support to Hindu terrorism against Christians, and they are using it to build their own clout as part of a philosophical-religious-political vision they have for India’s future, a part of which means ‘purging’ out those considered ‘undesirable’, and Christians are one of the first peoples on the block to be targeted.</p>
<h3 class="p1"><span class="s1"><a><b>Donate now to help support the work of this site. When you donate, you are not donating to just any commentary group, but one that is endlessly observing the news, reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality. In shoebat.com, we are working every day, tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to tell you what lies for the future.</b></a></span></h3>
<br />
<br />
source <a href="http://shoebat.com/2021/04/09/hindu-terrorists-accused-of-harassing-catholics-nuns-let-free-on-bail/">http://shoebat.com/2021/04/09/hindu-terrorists-accused-of-harassing-catholics-nuns-let-free-on-bail/</a>

Hindu Terrorists Accused Of Harassing Catholics Nuns Let Free On Bail

armageddon Hindu Terrorists Accused Of Harassing Catholics Nuns Let Free On Bail

While the world watches China with horror, far too many continue to ignore the growing crisis in South Asia, where Hindu nationalist terrorists, with the direct consent and even assistance of the Indian government, are harassing Christians and engag…

Convicted Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard Declares In Shocking Interview “If We’re Jews, We Will Always Have Dual Loyalty”, “Loyalty To Your Fellow Jews ...

0

<p><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c.png"><img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143298 jetpack-lazy-image" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 477px) 100vw, 477px" data-lazy-srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c.png 1200w" height="250" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c-300x157.png?is-pending-load=1" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" width="477" /></a></p>
<img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143298" height="250" sizes="(max-width: 477px) 100vw, 477px" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c-300x157.png" srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04092021c.png 1200w" width="477" />
<p>Sometimes there are interviews or discussions with people that are so direct, so candid, so frank, that they are surprising. They are uncommon, but they do exist.</p>
<p>Such recently happened with convicted Israeli spy against the US <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard">Jonathan Pollard</a>, who after being deported to Israel recently gave a shocking interview reported by the Jerusalem Post in which he said that Jews “will always have dual loyalty”, and that “loyalty to your fellow Jews is more important than your life.”</p>
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<p>Jonathan Pollard, the convicted spy for Israel whose story haunted the American Jewish community’s relations with the US government for decades, is unrepentant.</p>
<p>“The bottom line on this charge of dual loyalty is, I’m sorry, we’re Jews, and if we’re Jews, we will always have dual loyalty,” Pollard said in an interview published Thursday in Israel Hayom, his first extensive remarks since his release from prison in 2015.</p>
<p>Pollard recalled how much of the Jewish leadership did not stand up for him following his 1985 arrest, when he was a civilian analyst for the US Navy who was found to be spying for Israel.</p>
<p>“If you’re outside Israel, then you live in a society in which you are basically considered unreliable,” he said.<br />
The US Jewish leadership eventually softened in its outlook, and some Jewish leaders lobbied for Pollard’s release, saying his life sentence was excessive.</p>
<p>Pollard’s full interview will be published Friday. In an earlier excerpt published by Israel Hayom, he said he knew he “crossed a line” when he relayed the information to Israel, but added that he believed the United States was withholding from Israel intelligence critical to its security.</p>
<p>Pollard’s arrest and eventual conviction complicated ties between US Jews and sectors of the government. Jews seeking entry into or advancement in the national security apparatus were often rebuffed, with Pollard cited as the reason. The Pollard narrative in part drove the espionage charges brought in 2004 against two top staffers for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — a case that fell apart but drastically changed how AIPAC operated.</p>
<p>Pollard suggested that Jews were deluding themselves if they thought of America as a home and suggested he would counsel a young US Jew working in the American security apparatus to spy for Israel.</p>
<p>“I’d tell him, not doing anything is unacceptable. So simply going home [to Israel] is not acceptable. Making aliyah is not acceptable,” Pollard said. “You have to make a decision whether your concern for Israel and loyalty to Israel and loyalty to your fellow Jews is more important than your life.”</p>
<p>Pollard was paroled from his life sentence in 2015. The terms of his parole were not renewed last year and he flew to Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted him at the airport. Sheldon Adelson, the late owner of Israel Hayom, provided a private plane for Pollard to fly to Israel. (<a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/pollard-jews-will-always-have-dual-loyalty-and-should-consider-spying-for-israel-663285">source</a>)</p>
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<p>One of the points that Ted, Walid, and I have tried to emphasize is balance. Loyalty is a good thing, but it cannot come at the cost of truth or moral right. This is the grave error that resulted in the murder of Christ- this concept of “loyalty” to “the tribe” was valued as being more important than Truth itself, which resulted in the Jewish leaders choosing to murder the Messiah and release in his place a known criminal and revolutionary, Barabbas, because Christ said that to be a Jew is not a blood tie to a certain group, or the belief in the supremacy of a certain group, but to accept the teachings that God revealed through the groups but which are meant for the whole world. Thus a Jew in the true sense is not just members of the tribe of Judah by blood, but it could be a Roman named Cornelius, an African named Bachos (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_eunuch">Ethiopian Eunuch</a> in Acts 8), or a man of any race, tribe, and tongue, for God came to save the human race, and the true chosen people are those who choose to love God and serve Him as He desires that He is to be served. While nations, races, and tribes are good, God does not favor them except to the extent they obey His commands as above, for God did not create some men to be the playthings of other men in a darwinistic struggle between groups lasting forever, but rather He came to put an end to the darwinistic cycle of revolution caused by Original Sins. Thus there would be many peoples, many races, many differences, but bound by one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism under the Empire of Christ over which Christ is Lord and King, Who bows to no one and to Whom all bow to Him. This is the true march to freedom, prefigured by the return from the Babylonian exile of Judah, and perfected by Christ.</p>
<p>Thus to be a Jew, in the fullest sense, is to embrace the end purpose for which Judaism existed, and that is the Messiah, who came and will come again not as a baby, but in full power and regal glory to give justice to the wicked and succor to the suffering.</p>
<p>Thus it is the reason why such a conflict exists still in what is called Judaism today, for if Christ truly is the Messiah, and He is, and one does not recognize being a Jew as anything more than a common ethnic designation (in the sense that one might say one is “American”, “German”, “Chinese”, or so on, then it necessarily must embrace something of the moral or philosophical errors of post-crucifixion Judaism, which instead of marching out of Babylon with Christ, rejects Him, and necessarily claims the trial and crucifixion was just and thus marches right back into Babylon and crowns oneself king of the city.</p>
<p>If one calls such a statement “anti-semitic”- somehow equivocating parasitic, evil behavior that must be called out in any group with racial animosity in an attempt to reframe an argument in order to nullify discussion of the matter -then what is one to say of the many passages in the Old Testament where God Himself expresses rage at the Hebrews and later, tribe of Judah for endless sins without repentance until disaster strikes, and even then having only some repent? One might venture to say that under such terms, the very Creator is an “anti-semite” because of the criticism He gives.</p>
<p>This concept that Pollard is expressing in this interview is not something new. It is something that is as ancient as the Old Testament, it was hated by the prophets and holy men of old who suffered and died for sake of opposing it, and finally was the reason why God Himself, when sent to save His people, was murdered by them, because this idea of ‘racial solidarity’ was even more important than God Himself.</p>
<p>For all the criticism that one can give Pollard, one must thank him for his honesty, as his words may be painful for many, but are also the truth.</p>
<h3 class="p1"><span class="s1"><a><b>Donate now to help support the work of this site. When you donate, you are not donating to just any commentary group, but one that is endlessly observing the news, reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality. In shoebat.com, we are working every day, tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to tell you what lies for the future.</b></a></span></h3>
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source <a href="http://shoebat.com/2021/04/09/convicted-israeli-spy-jonathan-pollard-declares-in-shocking-interview-if-were-jews-we-will-always-have-dual-loyalty-loyalty-to-your-fellow-jews-is-more-important-than-your-life/">http://shoebat.com/2021/04/09/convicted-israeli-spy-jonathan-pollard-declares-in-shocking-interview-if-were-jews-we-will-always-have-dual-loyalty-loyalty-to-your-fellow-jews-is-more-important-than-your-life/</a>

Convicted Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard Declares In Shocking Interview “If We’re Jews, We Will Always Have Dual Loyalty”, “Loyalty To Your Fellow Jews ...

armageddon Convicted Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard Declares In Shocking Interview “If We’re Jews, We Will Always Have Dual Loyalty”, “Loyalty To Your Fellow Jews ...

Sometimes there are interviews or discussions with people that are so direct, so candid, so frank, that they are surprising. They are uncommon, but they do exist. Such recently happened with convicted Israeli spy against the US Jonathan Pollard, who…

The controversial autopsy at the heart of the Chauvin trial, explained

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<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VH3rpTomyLeaP5g0t4VeS1G4FII=/0x289:4048x2408/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22429335/GettyImages_1232132203.jpg" /></div>
<p>On May 25, 2020, the world witnessed the final moments leading up to George Floyd’s death: Police officer Derek Chauvin pinned a handcuffed Floyd to the ground with his knee for more than nine minutes until he became unresponsive. The bystander video of the incident, with Floyd muttering his last words, “I can’t breathe,” sparked racial justice protests around the globe. Now, nearly a year later, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/3/27/22350040/derek-chauvin-murder-trial-george-floyd">Chauvin is on trial</a> facing charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.</p>
<p>But despite what people saw, both virtually and in person last May, at the center of the trial is the question: What ultimately killed Floyd? The prosecution has argued that it was Chauvin’s knee, constricting Floyd’s neck and airway, that ultimately led to his death. Meanwhile, the defense has argued that it was Floyd’s history of drug use and underlying conditions that caused his death.</p>
<p>Two autopsy reports — one by a private medical examiner commissioned by Floyd’s family and another by the <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MNHENNE/2020/06/01/file_attachments/1464238/2020-3700%20Floyd,%20George%20Perry%20Update%206.1.2020.pdf?referringSource=articleShare">Hennepin County Medical Examiner</a> — reached the same conclusion: that Floyd died of homicide, meaning death at the hands of someone else. But the <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/05/read-george-floyd-autopsy-report-with-cause-of-death-and-other-factors/">medical examiner report also highlighted</a> that Floyd suffered from other “significant conditions,” such as fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use. These latter conditions are what the defense is using to argue that Chauvin is not responsible for Floyd’s death.</p>
<p>On Friday, Hennepin County chief medical examiner Andrew Baker, who performed the county autopsy, took the stand. In documents last year, Baker described the “<a href="https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/george-floyd/new-court-docs-say-george-floyd-had-fatal-level-of-fentanyl-in-his-system/89-ed69d09d-a9ec-481c-90fe-7acd4ead3d04">fatal level of fentanyl</a>” in Floyd’s system and told federal investigators that if the victim was “found dead at home alone and no other apparent causes, this could be an acceptable overdose.” Baker also cautioned, “I am not saying this killed him.”</p>
<p>During cross examination, Baker clarified further. When the defense asked Baker whether fentanyl could have caused the abrasions on Floyd’s lung that were revealed during the autopsy, Baker said that underlying health conditions were “contributing” and not “direct causes” of Floyd’s death.</p>
<p>“In my opinion, the law enforcement, subdual restraint, and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions,” Baker said.</p>
<p>Floyd’s history of drug use is expected to be the most contentious part of the trial. So far, the prosecution had Floyd’s girlfriend take the stand to preemptively humanize his addiction. “Our story is a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids,” Courtney Ross said during her testimony. “We both had prescriptions but ... we got addicted and tried really hard to break that addiction many times.”</p>
<p>The prosecution also brought in witnesses, such as the paramedics and the doctor who treated Floyd as well as a police surgeon and national breathing expert, who have said Floyd died due to a lack of oxygen. Even Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, the city’s first Black chief, testified that Chauvin pinned Floyd for too long and that restraints should have stopped “once Mr. Floyd stopped resisting.”</p>
<p>To get a conviction, prosecutors don’t have to prove that Chauvin’s actions were the sole cause of Floyd’s death, according to the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/cause-of-death-at-issue-in-chauvin-trial-as-prosecution-questions-medical-examiner-s-findings/600041966/?refresh=true">state’s jury instruction guidelines</a>. “The fact that other causes contribute to the death does not relieve the defendant of criminal liability,” the guidelines note. By emphasizing Floyd’s drug use, the defense is just trying to muddy the waters, john powell, a law professor at the University of California Berkeley and civil rights scholar, told Vox.</p>
<p>“The prosecutors shouldn’t have to make the case that Floyd didn’t have drugs in his body or that drugs were a contributing factor,” powell said. “All they have to do is make the case that Chauvin’s knee on the neck for nine minutes and 20 seconds substantially contributed to Floyd’s death.”</p>
<p>Despite similar conclusions ruling Floyd’s death a homicide, there is a key difference in accounts of what caused it. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office states that the cause of death was a “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” — which means physical restraint (handcuffs and Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck) was a significant factor in Floyd’s cardiac arrest. But the private autopsy report found the cause was actually “mechanical asphyxia” that made Floyd’s heart stop, implying that there were no underlying conditions that may have played a role.</p>
<p>In their opening statement, prosecutors said they would make the case that Floyd died of asphyxia, or insufficient oxygen, which was not mentioned in the county report. On Monday, the prosecution brought to the stand Bradford Wankhede Langenfeld, a senior resident at the Hennepin County Medical Center who worked to recover Floyd but eventually pronounced him dead. Langenfeld said that based on the information he had, asphyxia was “more likely than other possibilities” to have caused Floyd’s cardiac arrest. But under cross-examination by the defense, Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson stuck with questioning Floyd’s use of drugs and asked if high levels of fentanyl and methamphetamine could also cause insufficient oxygen. The doctor agreed.</p>
<p>Martin J. Tobin, a pulmonologist and breathing expert, offered perhaps the most striking medical testimony in the prosecution’s case. On Thursday, Tobin took the stand and provided a detailed account of how Floyd died — including that Chauvin had placed more than 90 pounds on Floyd’s neck and that 85 percent of Floyd’s airways were restricted. Ultimately, Tobin said, Floyd died from “a low level of oxygen” caused by police restraint. “A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died,” he said.</p>
<p>Tobin pushed back against Nelson’s questioning about Floyd’s drug use, saying he saw no evidence of an overdose in the footage, as Floyd seemed to be breathing fine before police restrained him. Seven medical experts who spoke to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/george-floyd-fentanyl/2021/03/10/c3d4f328-76ec-11eb-9537-496158cc5fd9_story.html">Washington Post</a> last month also warned against calling the situation an overdose, arguing that Floyd wouldn’t have had the same energy or behavior interacting with the police as he did if he were on his way to an overdose.</p>
<p>In his testimony Friday, Baker clarified why he ruled Floyd’s death a homicide. According to Baker, Floyd had severe underlying heart disease and hypertensive heart disease, meaning his heart weighed more than it should. But these conditions didn’t cause Floyd’s death. What caused Floyd’s death were conditions created by Chauvin and other officers that caused Floyd’s heart to work harder to provide oxygen during the encounter. He also explained the language he used on Floyd’s death certificate — “complicating” means “in the setting of.” In other words, Floyd’s heart stopped because of Chauvin’s neck restraint.</p>
<p>So far, the defense’s argument has relied largely on Floyd’s history of drug use and the result of the Hennepin County toxicology report. But Baker’s testimony — that drugs were “not a direct cause” — has hindered this argument.</p>
<p>The defense’s strategy of focusing on Floyd’s drug use has drawn parallels to <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/22373806/george-floyd-trial-derek-chauvin-minneapolis-black-lives-matter">a long history of painting Black men killed by police as criminals and drug addicts</a>. “Part of the [defense’s] argument is really just saying Floyd is not worthy of our concern and respect, and you saw this on Fox News like ‘why are people so upset this guy has a criminal record, he was on drugs, he was trying to pass off a fake dollar bill, he’s not a hero,’” powell said. “It’s like immediately Floyd became on trial. It’s not the police on trial; it’s the person who has been killed who is on trial. It’s Michael Brown. It’s Eric Garner. … It’s Rodney King.”</p>
<p>While the prosecution has called a handful of medical experts to the stand so far, the defense has 15 medical experts queued up as potential witnesses when it presents its case next week — though it is unknown how many will testify. Multiple medical testimonies, notes powell, may confuse and overwhelm the jury.</p>
<p>“The defense has to prove that there’s reasonable or some doubt,” powell said. “Sometimes, what lawyers do is that if you have good facts, you try to confuse people, so any contradiction or anything to make the jury question like, ‘When you look at all these things are you sure this is what caused his death?’”</p>
<p>The trial’s outcome may hinge on whether the prosecution has built a strong enough case with medical and police testimony to erase doubt that Chauvin played “a substantial causal factor in causing” Floyd’s death. The proceedings are expected to last another two weeks.</p>
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source <a href="https://www.vox.com/22373351/george-floyd-autopsy-medical-examiner-report">https://www.vox.com/22373351/george-floyd-autopsy-medical-examiner-report</a>

The controversial autopsy at the heart of the Chauvin trial, explained

vox The controversial autopsy at the heart of the Chauvin trial, explained

On May 25, 2020, the world witnessed the final moments leading up to George Floyd’s death: Police officer Derek Chauvin pinned a handcuffed Floyd to the ground with his knee for more than nine minutes until he became unresponsive. The bystander vide…

Why the author of Girl, Stop Apologizing had to apologize twice in a week

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<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Tj_N4St-KQp48U-QNHbcQ0Az0yA=/892x835:5132x3055/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22433299/1129475700.jpg" /></div>
<p>Earlier this week, influencer and bestselling self-help author Rachel Hollis apologized for appearing to compare herself to Harriet Tubman. “I know I’ve caused tremendous pain by mentioning prominent women — including several women of color — whose struggles and achievements I couldn’t possibly understand,” the author of <em>Girl, Wash Your Face</em> and <em>Girl, Stop Apologizing</em> wrote <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNTwpjNBU3B/">in an Instagram post</a>. The post served as her second apology over the controversy, which has been roiling on social media for nearly two weeks.</p>
<p>Hollis’s ill-fated Harriet Tubman comparison emerged in a now-deleted TikTok video posted in late March, in which she responded to charges that when she talks about “this sweet woman” in her employ who “cleans the toilets,” she sounds “unrelatable.”</p>
<p>“What is it about me that made you think I want to be relatable?” Hollis asked rhetorically. “No, sis. Literally everything I do in my life is to live a life that most people can’t relate to.”</p>
<p>After outlining some of the ways in which she sees herself as exceptional, including her willingness to wake up at 4 am and fail publicly when she has to, Hollis comes to her conclusion: “Literally every woman that I look up to is unrelatable,” she says. “If my life is relatable to most people, I’m doing it wrong.”</p>
<p>The video’s caption reads, “Harriet Tubman, RBG, Marie Curie, Oprah Winfrey, Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo, Malala Yousafzai, Wu Zetian … all Unrelatable AF. Happy Women’s History Month.”</p>
<p>For many observers, the post appeared clumsy at best and racist at worst. Was Hollis really saying that her struggles to build a brand as a lifestyle guru — a brand built on the sense she has created that she is just like her fans — was the same as Harriet Tubman escaping slavery and then going back to help other enslaved people escape? And was she really trying to tell her followers that she never wanted to be relatable after selling thousands of books telling them all the ways in which <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/how-rachel-hollis--a-texas-mom-of-four--ended-up-writing-one-of-the-years-biggest-books/2018/11/10/59d3e89e-d9e1-11e8-a10f-b51546b10756_story.html">she was the same kind of person they were</a>? And was she really doing it while simultaneously referring to her housekeeper as the “woman who cleans her toilets”?</p>
<p>“EVERYONE works as hard as you do,” <a href="https://twitter.com/bittergertrude/status/1378560835602157572">wrote one Twitter responder</a>, “especially the woman on her hands and knees scrubbing your toilet while you prance around making videos abt how much better you are than she is & call it ‘work.’”</p>
<p>“The privilege to fail so majorly so often is one I, or any Black woman, do not have,” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNQAcvqMlQ0/">said the self-help author Luvvie Ajayi Jones on Instagram</a>. “People try to destroy us for much less. Meanwhile, she goes to sell 2 million books without effort while saying appalling things. She still has 1.7 million followers. That is privilege.”</p>
<p>On April 4, Hollis made her first apology — but it was an apology that displaced all blame for what happened onto those who, Hollis said, had misinterpreted her, and a “team” that had failed to do its job correctly. In a now-deleted Instagram post, she maintained that <a href="https://twitter.com/irenemcho/status/1378727101700796424?s=20">she had not actually been comparing herself</a> to any of the women that she had mentioned, and that “to believe that because I mentioned them, I am comparing myself to them is ludicrous.”</p>
<p>She added that she had waited so long to respond to the backlash over her original video because she believed her “team” when they said they could handle things, and instead, “I should have listened to my gut.”</p>
<p>In the face of widespread criticism, Hollis would eventually delete this apology and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNTwpjNBU3B/">replace it with another</a>. “I am so deeply sorry for the things I said in my recent posts and the hurt I have caused in the past few days,” she wrote, adding, “By talking about my own success, I diminished the struggles and hard work of many people who work tirelessly every day.”</p>
<p>The Rachel Hollis controversy has had legs for a few reasons. There’s the hypocrisy of an influencer claiming that her goal has never been to be relatable, when relatability is at the core of her brand. There’s the implication that her achievements as a self-help author are on the same level as the achievements of women like Harriet Tubman. There’s the casual dehumanization involved in referring to a housecleaner as someone who “cleans the toilets.” There’s Hollis’s insistence that the reason other people are not as successful as she is — including, we would have to presume, her housecleaner — is that they are not working as hard as Hollis is at her job as a lifestyle and self-help influencer.</p>
<p>But the controversy is also lasting as long as it has because it is in certain ways unsurprising.</p>
<p>It has become bizarrely common in recent years for prominent figures in the quasi-feminist “lean in, girl” corporate white women’s empowerment movement to compare their own struggles to the much higher-stakes obstacles faced by famous women of color.</p>
<p>Hollis herself has cycled through variations of this controversy before. In 2019, she <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemcneal/rachel-hollis-girl-wash-face-accused-plagiarizing-quotes">appeared to plagiarize multiple inspirational quotes on her Instagram</a>, mostly quotes from women of color. She’s fond of sassy white lady use of African-American Vernacular English, from her choice to call her imagined interlocutor “sis” in the Harriet Tubman video to the title of the <em>Girl, Wash Your Face</em> franchise.</p>
<p>But Hollis is not the only white figure who has appropriated the struggles of women of color to dress up her own. Ivanka Trump’s 2017 self-help book <em>Women Who Work</em> used a quote from Toni Morrison’s <em>Beloved</em>, about an enslaved woman who killed her baby in order to prevent the child from being taken into slavery, to introduce the idea that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ivanka-trump-quotes-toni-morrison-on-slavery-2017-5">women who work are sometimes slaves to their schedules</a>.</p>
<p>And this sense of appropriation goes all the way to the roots of the self-help movement Hollis champions. Hollis’s <em>Girl, Wash Your Face</em> brand is based on the idea of wellness and self-care, on the notion that putting in the work to care for one’s self is a brave and radical act, and that it can look as simple as, well, washing your face.</p>
<p>But when self-care was invented, it was an explicitly political act. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence,” wrote Audre Lorde in <em>A Burst of Light and Other Essays</em> in 1988, in a phrase that has now been reproduced on inspirational Instagrams across the internet. “It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”</p>
<p>Lorde’s self-care was different from the bath bombs and yoga classes today’s wellness influencers prescribe. Lorde was a Black lesbian poet who got a single mastectomy after she was diagnosed with cancer. She was someone who our culture treated as disposable, and she was trying to love herself and care for herself anyway, with honesty, in the best way that she could.</p>
<p>So self-care for Lorde meant refusing to get a breast implant or wear a false breast after her mastectomy. It meant insisting on dressing and grooming herself well, even single-breasted, as a sign that she valued herself when the world refused to value her. That insistence on self-care was genuinely subversive and anti-capitalist — and it was part of how Lorde readied herself to engage in political activism. She took care of herself so that she could find the strength to change the world.</p>
<p>The wellness and self-care at the center of Hollis’s brand is not about changing the world, and it is not anti-capitalist. It is about buying stuff, and specifically about buying Hollis’s books and tickets to her retreats ($65 a ticket for the virtual version).</p>
<p>“Wellness is being commodified,” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNNVrYnnz1P/">wrote the influencer Rachel Cargle on Instagram</a> in response to the Hollis controversy, urging her followers to “meditate AND call your senator. Go to yoga AND vote.”</p>
<p>In the caption of her text post, Cargle added, “The issue I have with many celebrated white wellness spaces and women’s empowerment influencer or brands is that they oddly seem to equate ‘success’ to getting what white men have and wielding that power in the exact same oppressive inhumane way that white men have been doing for generations.”</p>
<p>The issue Cargle identifies is, in the end, the biggest act of appropriation in the entire corporate white feminist enterprise, the whole project that Hollis is selling. It’s the decision to take a political movement built to deconstruct our existing systems of power — and use it to do nothing but support the status quo.</p>
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source <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22373865/rachel-hollis-controversy-harriet-tubman-girl-wash-your-face-stop-apologizing-unrelatable">https://www.vox.com/culture/22373865/rachel-hollis-controversy-harriet-tubman-girl-wash-your-face-stop-apologizing-unrelatable</a>

Why the author of Girl, Stop Apologizing had to apologize twice in a week

vox Why the author of Girl, Stop Apologizing had to apologize twice in a week

Earlier this week, influencer and bestselling self-help author Rachel Hollis apologized for appearing to compare herself to Harriet Tubman. “I know I’ve caused tremendous pain by mentioning prominent women — including several women of color — whose …

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