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Explosive German child abuse investigation reveals 200+ perpetrators, 300+ victims in Catholic Diocese of Cologne

After five months of investigation, hundreds of alleged child abusers and victims have been identified in an 800-page independent report on abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany, spanning decades.

According to the investigation, as many as 243 members of the clergy and laity were identified as abusers of minors, with around 50% of the incidents – between 1946 and 2018 – involving sexual violence and 55% involving children under the age of 14. Over 300 victims – the majority male and abused before 1975 – were also identified.

At least two clergymen will be dismissed from their positions following the report and several “high-up church figures” are accused of breaching their duty and attempting to cover up the allegations.

The Archdiocese of Cologne commissioned German law firm Gercke Wollschläger for the report, which was compiled over 5 months through interviews with those involved, after being accused of suppressing previous reports on historical child abuse.

Cardinal Rainer Woelki said the incidents reported “affect” him “deeply,” and added, “Clergymen are guilty of inflicting violence on people entrusted to them, and in many cases without being punished for it.”

He said that it was “even worse” that many of “those affected by this violence” had struggled to be “taken seriously and protected,” before calling the initial handling of allegations a “cover-up.”

The first results and official “consequences of the report” will be formally presented on March 23rd.

Back in February, German nuns belonging apparently to the same Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne were accused of having “rented” orphan boys to businessmen and clergymen in the ’60s and ’70s for “gang bangs and orgies”, according to a report seen by media that was withheld from the public.

WATCH: News anchor resigns: “I don’t like the direction the media is going”

Eighth Cuomo Accuser Comes Forward

An eighth woman has come forward with accusations of sexual harassment against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, reports The New York Times.

Alyssa McGrath, 33, a current aide who works for Cuomo, said the governor once looked down her shirt and told her she was “beautiful” in Italian. She said he also engaged in flirtatious behavior.

McGrath is the first current aide to speak in public about the allegations. Another current female aide, McGrath’s co-worker, says Cuomo groped her in the governor’s residence. The Times Union of Albany reported that the woman, who it did not name, was alone with Cuomo late last year when he closed the door, reached under her shirt and fondled her.

“She froze when he started doing that stuff to her,” McGrath told the Times, adding, “But who are you going to tell?”

McGrath said Cuomo told the woman “specifically not to tell me.”

Cuomo, a Democrat, has denied any wrongdoing and said he will not resign. He apologized earlier this month after two women accused of him of sexual harassment and another alleged an unwanted advane, saying he didn’t know he was “making anyone feel uncomfortable.”

“I never touched anyone inappropriately. I never touched anyone inappropriately,” Cuomo said in his first public remarks addressing the scandal. “I never knew at the time that I was making anyone feel uncomfortable. I never knew at the time I was making anyone feel uncomfortable.”

At least six accusers — Charlotte Bennett, Lindsey Boylan, Ana Liss, Karen Hinton, McGrath and McGrath’s friend — worked for the governor in Albany or during his time in President Bill Clinton’s Cabinet. Another, Anna Ruch, told The New York Times that she met Cuomo at a friend’s wedding.

Rita Glavin, a lawyer for Cuomo, responded to McGrath’s allegations.

“The governor has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead, or hand. Yes, he has posed for photographs with his arm around them. Yes, he uses Italian phrases like ‘ciao bella,” she told the Times.

“None of this is remarkable, although it may be old-fashioned. He has made clear that he has never made inappropriate advances or inappropriately touched anyone.”

Dr. Fauci can’t point to scientific data showing vaccinated people need to wear masks, asked by Sen. Rand Paul

“You’re making policy based on conjecture,” said the Kentucky Senator.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul sparred with top White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday.

During the Senate hearing, Paul and Fauci argued over the need for Americans to wear masks if they’ve already been infected with the COVID-19 virus or if they’ve already received the vaccine.

Dr. Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He has recommended Americans continue to wear face masks and practice social distancing through 2022 even if they’ve had COVID or received the COVID jab.

Sen. Paul questioned Fauci’s reasoning, asking for evidence:

“No scientific studies have shown significant numbers of reinfections of patients previously infected or previously vaccinated, what specific studies do you cite to argue that the public should be wearing masks well into 2022?” Paul asked.

“You’re telling everybody to wear a mask whether they’ve had an infection or a vaccine, what I’m saying is they have immunity and everybody agrees they have immunity,” Sen. Paul added. “What studies do you have that people who have had the vaccine or have had the infection are spreading the infection?”

“If we’re not spreading the infection, isn’t it just theater?” asked Paul.

“Here we go again with the theater,” Fauci shot back. “Let’s get down to facts.”

Pointing to studies in South Africa, Fauci argued that coronavirus variants still do pose a risk for people who have already been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19.

Since Fauci didn’t answer the question, Sen. Paul doubled down:

“What study shows significant reinfection, hospitalization, and death after either natural infection or the vaccine?” Paul asked. “It doesn’t exist. There is no evidence that there are significant reinfections after [taking the] vaccine.”

Fauci brought up variants again but was not able to cite specific, scientific evidence for continuing to wear a mask after infection or vaccination.

FBI Crime Stats Prove “White Supremacy” Not Responsible For Hate Crime Threat to Asians

Media narrative collapses upon a modicum of scrutiny.

FBI crime statistics debunk the media’s narrative that white people represent the biggest violent crime threat to Asians, with figures showing whites significantly underrepresented in crime stats compared to their per capita population.

Since the killing of six Asian women who worked in massage parlors in Atlanta, the media has amplified the false narrative that “white supremacy” is to blame.

They hyped this explanation despite the fact that the attack had nothing whatsoever to do with race and despite two white women also being killed during the shooting.

Despite admitting the attack had no racial motive, CNN still blamed it on “white nationalism and domestic extremism” in an article titled ‘White supremacy and hate are haunting Asian Americans’.

However, official crime stats show that white people are significantly underrepresented in terms of the violent crime threat they pose to Asians.

As the Washington Examiner highlights, citing FBI statistics, whereas whites comprise 62% of the population, they committed 24% of crimes against Asians in 2018.

In comparison, blacks, who comprise 13% of the population, committed 27.5% of all violent crimes against Asian Americans in 2018.

So clearly, white people do not represent the biggest crime threat to Asian Americans.

The figures once again underscore how the media has contrived another hysterical moral panic in order to bolster what can no longer be seen as anything other than institutional racism and hatred towards white people.

Full Article

Twitter Claims Suspension Of Congresswoman MTG Was “Automated Systems Error”.

Twitter claimed its suspension of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene was a result of an “automated systems error.”

The suspension of Greene’s account also coincided with House Democrats attempting to expel the Georgia representative from Congress.

A Twitter spokesperson, however, attributed the suspension to the platform’s “automated systems” making an “error”:

“We use a combination of technology and human review to enforce the Twitter Rules across the service. In this case, our automated systems took enforcement action on the account referenced in error. This action has been reversed, and access to the account has been reinstated.”

Greene’s office told The National Pulse they attempted to raise the flag with Twitter at 1 am, and again on Friday morning, but did not hear back until early Friday afternoon when the account was reinstated.

Full Article

Justice Department Investigating Visa Over Debit-Card Practices

New civil antitrust probe follows recent government challenge to Visa’s proposed acquisition of fintech company

The Justice Department is investigating whether Visa Inc. V -4.65% is engaging in anticompetitive practices in the debit-card market, according to people familiar with the matter.

The department’s antitrust division has been gathering information and asking whether Visa, the largest U.S. card network, has limited merchants’ ability to route debit-card transactions over card networks that are often less expensive, the people said. Many of the department’s questions have focused on online debit-card transactions, but investigators have asked about in-store issues as well, the people said.

The probe highlights the important role of the so-called network fees that are invisible to consumers, lucrative for card companies, but a weight on merchants, who often pass on the fees in the form of higher prices to customers.

It comes as Justice Department antitrust enforcers across administrations have placed an emphasis on scrutinizing digital-marketplace activities, including in the financial sector, and on investigating the business practices of dominant firms.

In the new probe, the department is considering whether Visa’s practices are allowing it to maintain a dominant market share unlawfully, the people said.

Read the full article here

The Biden Administration Is Imposing A Media Blackout At The Border

The Biden administration is trying to hide the border crisis, issuing an unofficial gag order on Border Patrol agents and withholding information.

On Wednesday, NBC News reported the Biden administration has imposed what amounts to a media blackout at the southwest border amid a worsening crisis.

Border Patrol agents, including sector chiefs and press officers, are under an unofficial gag order not to answer questions from the press, according to four current and two former Customs and Border Protection officials who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity.

Federal officials along the border, they say, have been verbally instructed—there is no official memo, no paper-trail—to deny all press requests for ride-alongs and refer all media inquiries, even from local reporters, to Washington. Officials responsible for gathering data about the number of illegal immigrants in federal custody, they say, have been told not to share that information with anyone to prevent possible leaks.

The blackout comes as the Biden administration continues to deny there’s a crisis at the border, even as the number of migrant children detained by CBP soars, overwhelming federal facilities ill-equipped to house and care for minors. As of Sunday, CBP had more than 4,200 minors in custody along the border, a record.

The Department of Homeland Security has not conducted any media tours of several hastily opened shelters for minors, included one in Donna, Texas, that was 729 percent over capacity earlier this month. Lawyers who have been inside these facilities and interviewed migrant children housed there report there is not enough food, bed space, or showers. Many of these minors are being held for much longer than allowed under federal law.

This stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration, which gave press access to these facilities during its controversial family separation policy in June 2018. Likewise, CBP routinely approved press requests for ride-alongs with Border Patrol agents during the Trump administration. But there has not been “a single one since January 20,” when Biden was inaugurated, one federal official told NBC News.

Read the full article here

Dropping off migrants with unchecked health & criminal history ‘like opening Pandora’s box’: AZ mayor

The mayor of a small border town in Arizona has told RT that federal agents did not provide crucial information about the migrants that are being released in the US after the White House relaxed border policies.

“The number of migrants that come across on foot has ramped up substantially in just the last few weeks,” Chris Riggs, the mayor of Gila Bend, an Arizona border town of 2,000, told RT.

Mayor Riggs said he began worrying after the town was notified that border control officials will be releasing migrants in the local community after processing them quickly. At the same time, federal agencies did not provide enough information about the expected arrivals, he said.

Riggs is mostly concerned that people dropped off by border agents might slip past the process of being vetted for criminal history, or might not get checked for the coronavirus and other diseases, which can then spread “through a small community like wildfire.”

“I have a large number of seniors and elders. We’re hoping that Border Patrol will start testing before they release people,” Riggs said.

We want to see what their health records are so we can ensure that our citizens are protected. We have asked for that documentation, [and] we are yet to be provided with any documentation. Until we start seeing that – this is really opening up a Pandora’s box in our community.

The mayor further said that the rural town has no resources to host migrants or help them travel to a shelter.

US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said earlier this week that the country is set to see the biggest surge of migrants coming from poor Central American countries through the US southern border in 20 years. Border agents detained some 100,000 people last month.

Read the full article here

Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine Could Become Most Lucrative Drug in the World

Pfizer’s vaccine is already the second-highest revenue-generating drug in the world. Once the pandemic ends, the vaccine maker plans to hike prices.

Pfizer’s COVID vaccine is already the second-highest revenue-generating drug in the world — but the company plans to turn the vaccine into an even bigger cash cow once the pandemic ends, according to news reports.

Citing comments made by Pfizer CFO Frank D’Amelio, Forbes and FiercePharma reported that the company “is going to get more on price” once the pandemic wanes and “we are no longer in a pandemic pricing environment,” D’Amelio said.

The vaccine maker expects 2021 sales of about $15 billion based on current contracts for its COVID vaccine, but that number could double as Pfizer says it can potentially deliver 2 billion doses this year, according to The Guardian.

One analyst speculated that Pfizer could be targeting a price 3 to 4 times higher than the $19.50 the company currently charges the U.S. government — or even up to $156 per dose.

Pfizer based the vaccines’ current price on the need for governments to secure doses and get the virus under control. The company splits the profits 50-50 with German partner, BioNTech.

Under Operation Warp Speed, Pfizer agreed to supply the U.S. government with 100 million doses of its vaccine for $1.95 billion, so Americans can receive the vaccine for free.

Pfizer’s initial contract included an option for the government to buy up to 500 million more doses at $19.50 per dose. That’s well below the $150 or $175 per dose the drugmaker typically pulls in for a vaccine, D’Amelio said during the February earnings call.

In comparison, the Moderna vaccine is priced at $15 per dose, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is $10 and AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine is $4 per dose, reported Fierce Pharma.

Pfizer executives unveiled the company’s $15 billion sales estimate as part of the company’s 2021 guidance, based on doses set to be delivered in 2021 under existing contracts.

To put $15 billion into perspective, Pfizer also markets the bestselling vaccine outside of COVID –– pneumococcal shot Prevnar 13. In 2020, Prevnar 13 revenues were $5.85 billion. Pfizer’s entire vaccine franchise pulled in $6.56 billion in 2020, reported Fierce Pharma.

As initial demand for its COVID vaccine subsides, the company could make significant profits by charging higher prices and implementing routine booster doses for new variants of the virus, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told analysts, big banks and investors during the February earnings call.

Read the full article here

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