Day: December 11, 2020

The legacy and social media uniting to suppress a scandal involving Joe Biden’s son before the US election, and cheering censorship of a newspaper founded by Alexander Hamilton, isn’t hypocrisy; it’s their raison d’etre.

Folks who’ve been relying on the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN or NPR, may need catching up at this point, so here’s the short version: Joe Biden’s surviving son left a laptop in a Delaware repair shop with all sorts of emails about his business deals in Ukraine, China and elsewhere, banking on the family name. The shop owner turned it over to the FBI but heard nothing back, so he gave it to the press. The New York Post ran the story, only to be locked by Twitter and throttled by Facebook, as Democrats denounced it as “Russian disinformation.” 

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/509410-media-hunter-joe-biden/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawsuits filed against Facebook Inc by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and nearly every U.S. state on Wednesday were assigned to two U.S. judges in Washington appointed by former President Barack Obama, federal court records released Friday show.

The antitrust complaint from 46 states the District of Columbia and Guam was assigned to Judge James E. Boasberg who has been on the court since 2011, while the FTC complaint was assigned to Judge Christopher Cooper, who has been on the court since 2014.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tech-antitrust-facebook/facebook-antitrust-cases-assigned-to-u-s-judges-named-by-obama-idUSKBN28L2FT?il=0

The Senate on Friday passed the National Defense Authorization Act with a veto-proof majority following weeks of veto threats from President Trump over language to rename military bases that honor former Confederate leaders and lack of a provision to end legal protections for social media companies.

The massive, $740.5 billion legislation was approved by an 84-13 margin and needed a two-thirds majority to avoid a presidential veto, serving a major blow to Mr. Trump in his final weeks in office.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/11/senate-approves-7405b-defense-policy-bill-veto-pro/?utm_source=onesignal&utm_campaign=pushnotify&utm_medium=push

A colossal military drill supervised by President Vladimir Putin has sent Western commentators scrambling to their underground bunkers. But as the fiery footage is beamed around the globe, US & UK rocket tests have gone unnoticed.

Britain’s Daily Mail reported on Thursday that Moscow was “practising for nuclear war,” while the Daily Express told its readers that Russian “sabre-rattling risked reigniting World War 3 fears as global tensions remain high.”

However, some observers took to the internet to point out that they must have missed the reports of imminent annihilation in response to similar Western exercises, such as when the UK launched a Trident D5 missile in 2016.

https://www.rt.com/russia/509423-western-media-russian-missile-tests/

The Vatican has said it will partner with Fortune 500 companies to address various economic grievances, including inequality and environmental degradation. But is it really incumbent upon the Bishop of Rome to virtue-signal?

Anyone who may have entertained hopes that planet Earth might escape the insanity of 2020 without any more mind-blowing stories may wish to fasten their seatbelts for a hard landing. 

At a time when a global pandemic has swept away millions of jobs, and transformed a handful of global capitalists from ‘merely wealthy’ to fantastically wealthy overnight, Pope Francis has decided to take sides in this epic battle. Any hunches what side that might be? Hint: much like the Vatican, it is immensely wealthy, influential, and acts like a government unto itself.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/509405-pope-vatican-global-capitalism/

The annual Department of Defense funding bill passed the Senate on Friday despite facing Republican-led opposition. It includes sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and on Turkey, for its acquisition of S-400 missiles.

The $740-billion legislation previously passed the House of Representatives, with 40 Republicans opposing the effort.

✓ PASSED: The 60th annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has passed the Senate.

This bipartisan legislation is crucial to keeping our military strong and our homeland safe.

🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/iqQjMJnfGw

— Senate Republicans (@SenateGOP) December 11, 2020

“Stalin” and “Save the USA” aren’t terms often used together, but on Friday they trended on Twitter neck and neck. Rather than being a plea for a communist intervention, the trends were sparked by the US’ raging political war.

Even during the life and rule of Joseph Stalin, few in the US would have appealed to the Soviet ruler to save their country. Yet, when “Stalin” and “Save the USA” trended alongside each other on Friday, people checking their Twitter feeds would be forgiven for thinking that Americans had turned to radical solutions amid a bitterly contested election and widening political divide.

https://www.rt.com/usa/509419-stalin-save-usa-twitter/

Democrat outsider Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has found herself at the center of another attack this week after introducing a bill that would limit participation in women’s sports to biological women.

The Protect Women’s Sports Act, which Gabbard introduced with Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) on Thursday, seeks to level the playing field in women’s sports by recognizing that different sexes are born with different physical abilities.

https://www.rt.com/usa/509357-tulsi-gabbard-female-sport-transgender/