On January 6, 2021, hundreds of thousands of supporters of President Donald J. Trump came to Washington, DC to rally in support of the President.
Those hundreds of thousands who came to DC represented the 75-plus million Americans who voted to re-elect President Trump.
I was lucky enough to be handling the press that day for the organization who sponsored the rally – Women for America First. I stood just feet from the stage and watched as President Trump spoke to the patriotic Americans in attendance.
The event was entirely peaceful – not a single incident of violence – Hell, despite being crammed into the ellipse like sardines, people didn’t even push or shove as the crowd slowly exited after the President’s speech.
As the hundreds of thousands of patriotic and peaceful Americans left the Ellipse, a few miles away a couple hundred of idiots unlawfully entered the Capitol Building.
As Katie reported earlier today, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), a sitting member of Congress, took to the streets in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where she called on riots to continue. She did so in the dead of the night, knowingly breaking curfew and encouraging others to do the same. As Hannah Nightingale with the Post Millennial reported, sure enough, something came of that. A news release from the Minnesota National Guard alerted that the Minnesota National Guardsmen security team were fired upon at about 4:19am, local time. Fortunately, the injuries two guardsmen sustained were minor.
Hours after Maxine Waters told people to be more confrontational there was a drive-by shooting of the National Guard in Minneapolis
The shooting occurred on or about 4:19 a.m., as a light colored SUV fired several shots at an Operation Safety Net security team providing neighborhood security. No team members were seriously injured. Two National Guard members did sustain minor injuries from the incident. One Guardsman sustain an injury from shattered glass requiring additional care and was taken to a local hospital to receive treatment for injuries sustained. The other Guardsman received only superficial injuries. No further information is available at this time.
Former President Donald Trump is urging another date be selected for the pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that’s now set for the 20th anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
In a statement released by his office, Trump objected to the use of the 9/11 anniversary for the move.
“I wish Joe Biden wouldn’t use September 11th as the date to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, for two reasons,” he wrote.
“First, we can and should get out earlier,” he wrote, noting Biden blew past his own May 1 deadline for the pullout.
“Nineteen years is enough, in fact, far too much and way too long. I made early withdraw possible by already pulling much of our billions of dollars of equipment out and, more importantly, reducing our military presence to less than 2,000 troops from the 16,000 level that was there (likewise in Iraq, and zero troops in Syria except for the area where we KEPT THE OIL).
Trump said the second reason was that Sept. 11 would take away from the “day of reflection.”
“September 11th represents a very sad event and period for our Country and should remain a day of reflection and remembrance honoring those great souls we lost,” he wrote. “Getting out of Afghanistan is a wonderful and positive thing to do. I planned to withdraw on May 1st, and we should keep as close to that schedule as possible.”
Trump’s statement comes as Biden announced recently that he’d pull 2,500 U.S. armed forces from Afghanistan between May 1 and Sept., defying the 14-month period established in February 2020 in a pact signed by Trump, U.S. NATO allies and the Taliban.
“We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result,” Biden said in his speech Wednesday.
Republicans are banking on public congressional hearings to spotlight the violence carried out by left-wing Antifa radicals in the face of what they see as denial by national media, Democrats and the Biden administration.
They are using the tactic as Antifa ramps up violence in Portland, Oregon, and other cities including, Minneapolis and Washington, in the aftermath of police killings of Black suspects. Antifa extremists, in the name of countering fascism, set more fires Saturday in downtown Portland, an area already pockmarked by boarded-up businesses.
Republicans have used three recent House and Senate hearings to counter Democrats’ hands-off approach to Antifa.
(Reclaim the Net) After an unprecedented year of YouTube censorship, the Freedom Forum Institute, a group which states that its mission is “to foster First Amendment freedoms for all,” has given YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki a Free Expression Award.
The homepage for the 2021 Free Expression Awards and Festival states that it recognizes individuals “for their courageous acts of free and fearless expression” and lists YouTube as a “signature sponsor” of the event.
In a video promoting the award, Wojcicki proposed that removing content only becomes censorship when you go “too far”:
“We’re removing content that violates our policies. You can go too far and that can become censorship, and so we have been working really hard to figure out what’s the right way to balance responsibility with freedom of speech.”
During an interview, she then discussed how censorship impacted her personally when her grandfather stayed in Poland after World War Two and was behind the Iron Curtain – a political boundary that divided Europe for more than 45 years and was infamous for the way open contact with those inside the Iron Curtain was heavily censored.
“I saw how difficult it was to communicate with him,” Wojcicki said. “To be able to worry about what you were saying to him and for him to have concerns about what was said or what was even sent to him.”
She added: “I’ve just seen the real benefits that freedom of speech has as well as representing all people of all different backgrounds and all different perspectives and that the freedoms we have, we really can’t take for granted. That we really have to make sure that we’re protecting them in every way possible. And I feel, because of my family history, a deep connection to those freedoms. And I’m very thankful for the freedoms that I have.”
But after giving her personal testimony on the importance of free speech, Wojcicki then answered a question on “needing to try to balance people’s right to free speech with protecting our [YouTube’s] community from content that can be harmful.”
In her answer, Wojcicki insisted that YouTube wants to “represent as many views as possible” but that it needs to “make sure there are limits.”
She added that as YouTube has grown bigger, it has had to increase its “responsibility work” – a phrase that Wojcicki often uses to describe the way YouTube censors content that breaks its far-reaching rules, suppresses content that doesn’t break the rules, and boosts content from mainstream media outlets.
“We removed nine million videos last quarter and almost all of them – over 90% – we removed with machines, which is good because it means if there’s content that’s violative, we find that really quickly,” Wojcicki said.
Audio-chat app Clubhouse closed a new Series C round of financing, the company said during its weekly town hall on Sunday, without disclosing the amount raised.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed to Reuters that the new financing would value the company at $4 billion.
The social media app said the new round of financing was led by Andrew Chen of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz with major investors like DST Global, Tiger Global and Elad Gil.
Clubhouse and Andreessen Horowitz did not respond to requests for how much the funding round raised.
The San Francisco-based company, whose app allows people to discuss varied topics in audio chatrooms, has seen its popularity surge after appearances by billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
The success of the invite-only, year-old platform, which recently reported 10 million weekly active users, has demonstrated the potential of audio chat services, particularly as people stay inside homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bloomberg earlier this month said Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) was in discussions to buy audio app at a $4 billion valuation.
Tech website The Information first reported details on the funding on Friday.
Meanwhile, other states are lifting mask mandates altogether
Many states across the United States have rescinded their pandemic-related mandate requiring residents to wear face masks because the COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be highly effective in combatting the virus.
A top Oregon health official is considering a “permanent rule,” according to the Associated Press, mandating social distancing and the use of face masks inside workplaces indefinitely.
Current regulations expire on May 4, but Michael Wood, administrator of the state’s department of Occupational Safety and Health, reportedly wants to alter state regulations to extend the mandate until “revised or repealed.”
The proposal only promises to repeal the permanent rule once officials no longer deem face masks necessary.
Although the rule must be adopted as a permanent rule, its purpose is to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Oregon OSHA intends to repeal the rule when it is no longer necessary to address that pandemic. Because it is not possible to assign a specific time for that decision, Oregon OSHA will consult with the Oregon OSHA Partnership Committee, the Oregon Health Authority, and other stakeholders as circumstances change to determine when all or part of the rule can be appropriately repealed.
“We are not out of the woods yet,” Wood said, the AP reported.
Wood claimed the proposal is “driven by the pandemic, and it will be repealed,” but admitted “it might not need to go away at exactly the same time the state of emergency is lifted.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Saturday that she won’t back down from promoting “America First” policies as she addressed criticism of a caucus she was helping create.
A document outlining Taylor Greene’s “America First Caucus” was published by a media outlet on Friday, with the document drawing criticism from Democrats and Republicans for phrases such as, “America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”
Critics said some of the language in the document was hateful and racist.
But Taylor Greene on Saturday in a series of tweets said she did not write or say any of the phrases in the posting.
The media “released a staff level draft proposal from an outside group that I hadn’t read,” she wrote.
“The scum and liars in the media are calling me a racist by taking something out of context. This is just a repeat of Jewish Space Lasers. Another term I never used & the media made up. It’s more proof so-called journalists lie and create false narratives. The media are the ones focused on race & use it to divide the American people with hate through identity politics.”
Greene’s spokesperson had told CNN that she was helping create the “America First Caucus,” but later said she was not. Greene’s office has not returned requests for comment.
“The Congresswoman wants to make clear that she is not launching anything. This was an early planning proposal and nothing was agreed to or approved,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who was linked to the group, declined to comment.
Greenpeace said Japan’s plan is a violation of international maritime law that “completely disregards the human rights and interests of the people in Fukushima, wider Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.”
In a decision that sparked condemnation from environmental advocates, fisherfolk and neighboring countries, Japan announced Tuesday a plan to dump over 1.2 million tons of stored contaminated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
The decision made by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet gives Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) the green light to release Fukushima’s wastewater into the sea just over a decade after one of the worst nuclear disasters in history — discharges won’t begin for two years, as TEPCO prepares for a process that is expected to take decades.
Greenpeace said in a statement that the decision, which has long been contemplated but delayed due to strong public opposition, is a violation of international maritime law that “completely disregards the human rights and interests of the people in Fukushima, wider Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.”
“The Japanese government has once again failed the people of Fukushima,” said Kazue Suzuki, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace Japan. “The government has taken the wholly unjustified decision to deliberately contaminate the Pacific Ocean with radioactive wastes.”
“The Cabinet’s decision failed to protect the environment and neglected the large-scale opposition and concerns of the local Fukushima residents, as well as the neighboring citizens around Japan,” Suzuki added. “Greenpeace stands with the people of Fukushima, including fishing communities, in their efforts to stop these plans.”
Today, the Japanese government decided to dump over 1.23 million tons of Fukushima radioactive waste water stored into the Pacific Ocean. This decision completely disregards the human rights and interests of the people in Fukushima, wider Japan, and the Asia-Pacific region. [1/3] pic.twitter.com/ePREo20xup
Thirteen Eritrean Christians remain imprisoned after authorities raided two separate prayer meetings last month where 35 people were taken into custody, including several women.
Twenty-two of the 23 Christians who were arrested at a prayer meeting in the capital of Asmara last month, most of whom were women, were released from the Mai Sarawa prison last Sunday, while of all the 12 Christians who were arrested in the city of Assab, 660 miles southeast from Asmara, remain in Assab prison, where conditions are known to be harsh, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported.
The ICC, which released its report based on information received from Release International and Barnabas Fund, said the arrests were carried out by members of the Eritrean Army late last month.
It’s not yet clear why only one of the 23 arrested in Asmara hasn’t been released, the groups said, adding that they’re also working to find out if those who were freed are in good health.
Since last September, at least 160 Christians have been released from prisons in that country, but the latest arrests “dampened hopes that the government was easing its harsh repressive policy against Christians,” Barnabas Fund said.
“In Eritrea, citizens have a duty to report anything untoward happening in their community,” Release International added. “This can turn ordinary neighbors into spies. In some cases, their own family members have reported Christians.”
Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki is a member of the Eritrean Orthodox Church in Asmara — belonging to the largest among the only three Christian denominations allowed to function in the country.
Afewerki, 75, who’s the leader of the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice Party, also has a reputation of being an alcoholic and a ruthless autocrat. Afewerki’s policy of restrictions is more about his fear that religion will mobilize people as a political force than religion itself.
In February, 70 Christians from evangelical and Orthodox backgrounds, including women, were released from three prisons in Eritrea, some after being held without charge for more than a decade.
