Republican lawmakers have decried the Biden administration for policies that they say are weakening America’s military through leftist indoctrination and “woke” ideological posturing to appease “Ivy League faculty lounges or progressive pundits.”
“Unfortunately, President Joe Biden and his administration are weakening America’s warfighters through a sustained assault fueled by woke virtue signaling,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) in a report titled “Woke Warfighters,” according to Fox News.
“Our military’s singular purpose is to ‘provide for the common defense’ of our nation. It cannot be turned into a left-wing social experiment. It cannot be used as a cudgel against America itself.”
The report cites several examples of the administration’s stance. One example was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s first action after being confirmed by the Senate, which included signing a “racism” memorandum. The message directed all service members and Department of Defense civilian employees to conduct a “one-day stand-down” to discuss extremism within their ranks.
_____
A new report from the electricity and gas utility National Grid (which serves parts of New York and Massachusetts) found a rapid increase in electric vehicles on the city streets and highways will require upgraded power grids to handle all the new demand. By 2035, a charging station could demand as much power as a sports arena or small town.
National Grid expects by 2035, large charging stations serving EVs, from SUVs and pickup trucks to delivery vans and semi-trucks, would require 19 megawatts of peak power -- that's approximately what a small town uses. In 2045, those large charging stations could demand upwards of 30 megawatts of capacity, with peak usage of a large manufacturing plant.
National Grid said current charging stations couldn't serve the EV demand of the future, indicating significant power-grid improvements would be needed. It said expanding the charging infrastructure would take time:
"Building these high-voltage interconnections and upgrades can take years, which is why it's important to take action right now.
"By making 'no-regrets' upgrades at 'no-regrets' sites, we can make sure fast-charging is there when drivers need it—and not a moment too late," the report said.
——
Protests have erupted in Beijing and the far western Xinjiang region over COVID-19 lockdowns and a deadly fire on Thursday in a high-rise building in Urumqi that killed 10 people (with some reports putting the number as high as 40).
Crowds took to the street in Urumqi, the capitol of Xinjiang, with protesters chanting "End the lockdown!" while pumping their fists in the air, following the circulation of videos of the fire on Chinese social media on Friday night.
Protest videos show people in a plaza singing China's national anthem - particularly the line: "Rise up, those who refuse to be slaves!" Others shouted that they did not want lockdowns. In the northern Beijing district of Tiantongyuan, residents tore down signs and took to the streets.
Reuters verified that the footage was published from Urumqi, where many of its 4 million residents have been under some of the country's longest lockdowns, barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.
In the capital of Beijing 2,700 km (1,678 miles) away, some residents under lockdown staged small-scale protests or confronted their local officials over movement restrictions placed on them, with some successfully pressuring them into lifting them ahead of a schedule. -Reuters
——-
It was only a matter of time. The recent Russian pull-back of troops clearly indicated a broad shift in tactics, and the one thing that the Kremlin avoided for several months seemed like the next most logical step - Full spectrum strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure.
Initially, Ukraine's media spin suggested that the precision strikes were "ineffective", with western news outlets showing only a handful of images of craters in streets and some scarred apartment buildings. There were limited admissions of damage to the power and water grids, but Ukraine claimed that these systems would be back and functional within days. This did not happen.
Not surprisingly, Ukraine suffered far more damage to their utilities than the government and media let on. Later estimates ranged from 60% to 80% of the nation's grid destroyed or unusable and the latest satellite photos of active lights at night support this. Below, we can see lights across Ukraine on February 24th at the start of the war.
——
In response to last week's European Parliament vote to designate Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism" - one Kremlin-linked official send a threatening message to the European body.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is the leader of Russia's most well-known and feared private security firm, Wagner mercenary group, says that he sent a bloodied sledgehammer to European parliament.
——-
"Nine months after invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is beginning to fracture the West," Politico observes in a surprising admission which marks a stark reversal from prior mainstream media optimism and cheerleading of the White House's blank check approach to supporting Ukraine. "Top European officials are furious with Joe Biden’s administration and now accuse the Americans of making a fortune from the war, while EU countries suffer."
There's clearly growing frustration among European officials over Washington's refusal to push the Zelensky government to the negotiating table while an unprecedented billions worth of weaponry and defense aid pours in, risking unpredictable escalation between NATO and Russia. Meanwhile European populations will continue being the first to pay the price amid frigid winter temperatures and a simultaneous severe energy supply crisis even as some leaders still spout abstract ideals of "sacrifice".
And all the while Biden has continued rolling out his controversial green subsidies and taxes which are widely perceived as unfairly punishing European industries at this most sensitive juncture.
——-
Heavy snowfall is expected to hit Kyiv – with temperatures dropping below freezingpoint day and night – as millions of people still living in and around the Ukrainian capital struggle with little access to electricity and heat.
Snow is expected on Sunday in Kyiv, a city that had 2.8 million residents before the war, and will continue until midweek with temperatures forecast to stay below freezing.
Ukraine’s power grid operator Ukrenergo said on Saturday that electricity producers were able to cover only three-quarters of consumption needs, necessitating restrictions and blackouts across the country.
——-
Some JetBlue pilots are outraged after the airline hired a violent felon to fly planes even as it refuses to hire people who haven’t taken the COVID vaccine, citing safety.
Two pilots told The Daily Wire that JetBlue has hired John Perrys, who served nine years in prison for breaking into the home of a judge and attacking his daughter as she left the shower. Perrys was released from prison in 2014 and is on felony probation until 2044, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
“Apparently JetBlue won’t hire unvaccinated pilots, but they will hire violent convicted felons to fly their airplanes,” one pilot said, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect his job.
In 2005, The Associated Press reported that Perrys, then an Air Force captain, was charged in Louisiana with burglary and assault with a deadly weapon while wearing a mask, and that he faced up to life in prison. Perrys allegedly entered the home of a judge and beat the judge’s daughter, who was his former fiancée, with a metal baton as she left the shower. Police said that when he was arrested, he was wearing a bulletproof vest and his vehicle contained knives, handcuffs, parachute cord, a shovel, and a mask, according to the AP.
JetBlue’s job applications say, “Every decision JetBlue has made throughout the pandemic has been with our safety value front and center
——
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said Friday that during his seven-hour deposition with Dr. Anthony Fauci, new information revealed that two months after Fauci told a friend masks were "ineffective," he supported mask mandates.
On Friday, the Show-Me State Republican attorney general tweeted a "tidbit" from his deposition with the outgoing head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases:
"Another tidbit from Fauci depo: In Feb ‘20 he emailed a friend advising her masks were ineffective. Confirmed again on Mar 31. On Apr 3he’s adamant masks should be worn even though he couldn’t cite a single study to prove it. Mandates followed—Lives ruined."
——
Sometimes it seems like nothing ever happens, but this seems like it could be a big deal…
Background: The Brazilian people have flooded the streets in protest at an allegedly rigged and stolen election. Truckers are blocking all highways. Farmers have blocked all ports from exporting agriculture. Bolsonaro has exhausted his legal options, with his election appeal being rejected by a corrupt, opposition-appointed Chief Supreme Court justice.
Bolsonaro is now huddling with the military to plot his next moves.
——
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khantold tens of thousands of supporters on Saturday that he would fight until his “last drop of blood” in his first public address since being shot in an assassination attempt this month.
The shooting was the latest twist in months of political turmoil that began in April when Khan was ousted by a vote of no confidence in parliament.
Saturday’s rally was the climax of a so-called “long march” by Khan’s PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to press the government to call a snap election before parliament’s term expires in October next year.
“I have seen death from up close,” said Khan, who hobbled to the stage with a walking frame to speak to supporters from a plush seat behind a panel of bulletproof glass.
“I’m more worried about the freedom of Pakistan than my life,” he told the crowd. “I will fight for this country until my last drop of blood.”
——
he Assault Weapons Ban HR1808 passed the House on July 29, 2022. It’s now on to the Senate, and Chuck Schumer decides if he gets to the floor. The bill bans an enormous number of semi-automatic guns.
HR 1808 makes it unlawful to import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess in or affecting interstate commerce or foreign commerce a so-called semi-automatic assault weapon.
The bill defines an assault weapon as a semi-automatic rifle with a magazine that is not a fixed magazine and has one of the following ascending features, a pistol grip, a forward grip or telescoping stock, a grenade launcher, a barrel shroud, or threaded barrel. It also defines it as a semi-automatic rifle that has a fixed magazine that can accept more than ten rounds.
That’s not all.
It also defines an assault weapon as a semi-automatic pistol that has a magazine that is not fixed and has any of the defending features, including a threaded barrel, a second pistol group, a barrel shroud, and the capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip, a stabilizing brace of if it’s semi-automatic version of an automatic firearm.
Still, again this bill does not just stop there.
It applies to semi-automatic shotguns that have detachable magazines in any of the same features, telescoping stock, a pistol grip, a fixed magazine that can accept more than five rounds, a forward grip, or the ability to accept a detachable magazine.
The definition of assault weapons also lists a variety of models that they are going to try to ban at a federal level.
——
Central banks across the globe have been itching to transition towards a central bank digital currency.
It’s the holy grail the globalist ruling class has been pursuing in the last two decades. These are folks who want to micromanage all private economic activity across the globe.
One of the best ways to achieve this technocratic vision is by establishing CBDCs.
Those who are still stuck on blue pill politics, will think that such a development is innocuous. After all, who doesn’t like technological innovation that makes things more efficient?
However, we must remember that technology is a value-neutral mechanism. It can be used for good or evil.
In this case, CBDCs will be instruments used by governments to exert massive control over millions of people. With such tools at their disposal, governments will be able to more readily snoop on people and harass them.
Moreover, CBDCs will be used as a tool of mass behavioral modification. Imagine being a dissident who spreads uncomfortable truths about the ruling class. Under a digital currency regime, this person could be effectively de-banked and prevented from engaging in basic economic activity.
Cutting edge technology can give governments cutting edge methods of harassing people.
Those are just a few of the dangers of living under a CBDC regime.
And that kind of system could be coming to the United States.