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Wikipedia Suppresses Basketball Player’s Post-Vaccine Blood Clot Troubles

BY ROBERT KOGON | THE DAILY SCEPTIC | AUGUST 10, 2023

In spring 2021, the American basketball player Brandon Goodwin, then of the Atlanta Hawks, developed severe fatigue and back pain, which would force him to miss that year’s NBA playoffs. Several months later, in September, Goodwin revealed in a Twitch stream that he had been diagnosed with blood clots and that his problems began in the immediate aftermath of being vaccinated against COVID-19.

“I was fine… until I took the vaccine,” Goodwin said. “I was fine… Yes, the vaccine ended my season, one thousand percent.”

Astonishingly, however, Brandon Goodwin’s post-vaccine troubles with blood clots have been entirely purged from his Wikipedia entry. The current version of his Wikipedia entry simply reads “Goodwin missed the 2021 NBA playoffs due to a respiratory condition”, without any source being given.

It was in fact his employer, the Atlanta Hawks, that had announced in May that Goodwin would miss the playoffs due to a “minor” respiratory condition, as reported by the Associated Press. In his September 29th Twitch stream, however, Goodwin revealed not only that he had in fact been suffering from post-vaccine blood clots, but also that a Hawks official called him while in the hospital and told him, “Don’t say anything about it, don’t tell nobody”.

For an account of the episode, see Megan Redshaw’s article at Children’s Health Defence. The Twitch stream is no longer available, but relevant excerpts have been preserved by the Daily Caller.

Despite back-and-forth among Wikipedia editors about whether blood clots should be described as a ‘known’, ‘rare’ or ‘common’ side effect of COVID-19 vaccines, as of February 26th 2022, Goodwin’s Wikipedia entry still included the following passage:

On October 3rd 2021, with his season having ended early, Goodwin reported severe fatigue coupled with extreme back pain, and a formal diagnosis of blood clots followed. Blood clots is a common side-effect connected to COVID-19 vaccination. Goodwin has made public he had received a vaccination shot just prior to his blood clot diagnosis.

By two days later, there was no longer any mention of his blood clots or the vaccine.

A Wikipedia editor attempted to justify an earlier deletion of reference to Goodwin’s post-vaccine blood clots by noting that Goodwin had “recanted” his claims. The term is well chosen.

By the time of his Twitch stream, Goodwin had been let go by the Atlanta Hawks. In an apparent attempt to get back in the good graces of the NBA, on October 14th – the very day he signed a non-guaranteed contract with the New York Knicks and just before the start of the NBA season – Goodwin posted an exculpatory tweet insisting:

I don’t have a story. That wasn’t something I wanted to get out there. I got sick. Maybe it was the vaccine maybe it was Covid [I don’t know] I’m not a expert. But I’m fine, and I’m healthy and about to play.

It was presumably also around this time that Goodwin made his Twitch stream private. He is presently out of the league.

Have other NBA players likewise been put under pressure to cover up adverse reactions to a COVID-19 vaccine? Well, on the same day that Brandon Goodwin posted his exculpatory tweet, Brooklyn Nets centre Nic Claxton revealed after a pre-season game that he was feeling unwell with what the New York Post would later call a “mystery illness“. Claxton would not play again for the next month-and-a-half.

News reports described symptoms of fatigue reminiscent of the problems Goodwin was having earlier in the year. On October 31st, the Brooklyn Nets announced that Claxton was suffering from an otherwise unspecified “non-Covid-related illness”.

“Nic is going to be out a little bit,” then Net coach Steve Nash explained:

He’s not feeling well. Nothing to be concerned with but I don’t think he’s going to be back in the next week or 10 days. Just an illness, but it’s nothing major or nothing we’re overly concerned with. It’s just a little more severe illness than we thought initially and I think he’ll miss a little more time.

Mysterious indeed. “Don’t say anything about it, don’t tell nobody”?

Robert Kogon is the pen name of a widely-published journalist covering European affairs. Subscribe to his Substack and follow him on Twitter.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Deception | | 1 Comment

X CEO Linda Yaccarino: “Lawful But Awful” Content To Be Hidden

Who gets to decide what’s awful?

By Christina Maas | Reclaim The Net | August 10, 2023

Linda Yaccarino, X CEO and a former NBC advertising executive, underscored her autonomy in managing the day-to-day operations of X, previously known as Twitter, and shed some light on the shadowbanning operation at Twitter.

Appointed CEO by Elon Musk, she reasserted her independence from the entrepreneur, placing him firmly in a tech-based role. Her remarks have reignited debates surrounding freedom of speech and the direction online platforms should take in moderating content.

During a CNBC interview, Yaccarino discussed the demarcation of duties between herself and Musk, with the latter focusing on “product design” and leading “a team of extraordinary engineers [focusing] on new technology.”

However, it is her stance on the website’s content policies that has raised eyebrows among free speech enthusiasts.

In clarifying X’s approach to moderation, Yaccarino introduced the concept of “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach,” a policy where users, when posting narratives that are not in line with approved standards, are labeled, possibly demonetized for that content, and have their visibility reduced on the platform.

“If it is lawful but it’s awful, it’s extraordinarily difficult for you to see it,” she remarked, insinuating that even legally permissible content might be obscured if deemed undesirable by the company.

Some free speech advocates are concerned that this strategy of content labeling and demotion can quickly escalate into censorship. They argue that the distinction between “awful” and “lawful” is often a subjective one and fear the potential for misuse.

The decisions and comments made by Yaccarino might seem like a strict stance against divisive or hurtful rhetoric but critics may see it as an alarming move away from the ethos of open dialogue and free speech.

Video interview

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | | Leave a comment

FBI Memo Linking Catholic Faith to ‘Extremists’ Drafted by Several Offices – GOP Lawmakers

By Fantine Gardinier – Sputnik – 10.08.2023

House GOP lawmakers have blasted the FBI director for “inconsistencies” in his testimony after he claimed that a report from the bureau’s Richmond, Virginia, field office identifying “radical traditionalist Catholic ideology” as a potential source of “violent extremism” was an isolated incident. They say that new evidence suggests otherwise.

In a Wednesday letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray that was published by US media, US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), who chairs the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, requested a slew of bureau documents related to communications between FBI field offices in Richmond, Virginia; Portland, Oregon; and Los Angeles, California.

“From information recently produced to the Committee, we now know that the FBI relied on information from around the country – including a liaison contact in the FBI’s Portland Field Office and reporting from the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office – to develop its assessment,” they wrote.

“This new information suggests that the FBI’s use of its law enforcement capabilities to intrude on American’s First Amendment rights is more widespread than initially suspected and reveals inconsistencies with your previous testimony before the Committee,” they lawmakers said. “Given this startling new information, we write to request additional information to advance our oversight.”

They noted that in his testimony before the committee last month, Wray claimed that a January 2023 memo on the potential of right-wing activists motivated by “radical traditionalist Catholic ideology” to pose a violent threat to certain minority groups had been the sole product of the field office in Richmond, the Virginia state capital.

The memo, which was leaked to the press in February, said the office had received a tip from a local informant leading them to believe in an “increasingly observed interest of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) in radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology.” This, they said, was especially associated with the sect of Catholics who rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and with “white supremacist ideology.”

This threat, they said, “presents opportunities for threat mitigation through the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development.”

Notably, the unredacted parts of the document do not contain the words “potential terrorists,” as reported in some parts of the American press.

In response to the lawmakers’ letter, the FBI gave a statement to US media on Wednesday doubling down on Wray’s testimony, saying the lawmakers had become confused by similar terminologies used by multiple FBI field offices.
“Director Wray’s testimony on this matter has been accurate and consistent. While the document referred to information from other field office investigations of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist (RMVE) subjects, that does not change the fact the product was produced by a single office,” the statement said.

“To be clear, the document was a domain perspective which is an intelligence product designed to address potential threats in a particular area – in this case, the Richmond Field Office’s area of responsibility,” the bureau continued. “Because the product failed to meet FBI standards, it was quickly removed from all FBI systems and a review was launched to determine how it was produced in the first place.”

The situation has revived anger at the FBI for its wiretapping activities and profiling of religious groups, for which the bureau became notorious after spying on American Muslims in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

However, conservatives especially have accused the FBI of political bias for years, pointing to its investigation of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the months preceding the 2016 presidential election and its August 2022 raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to serve a search and seizure warrant for hundreds of classified files Trump did not return to the National Archives after leaving office. The former president is facing dozens of criminal charges related to alleged mishandling of the secret files.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Islamophobia | , , | 1 Comment

Biden Asks Congress for $13 Billion in New Ukraine Military Aid as Opposition Grows

Sputnik – 10.08.2023

WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden in a letter to Congress has asked for an additional $13 billion in supplemental funding to continue military assistance to Ukraine next year.

“$9.5 billion for equipment for Ukraine and replenishment of [US Department of Defense] stocks; and $3.6 billion for continued military, intelligence, and other defense support,” the document said.

Biden is also asking for $7.3 billion for economic, humanitarian, and security assistance to Ukraine.

The proposal for additional Ukraine aid totals some $24 billion, including some $2.3 billion intended as leverage to gain more aid from other donors via the World Bank.

However, combined with an additional $2.65 billion in funding for border security, $12 billion in disaster relief efforts, and $416 million in combatting the fentanyl crisis, among other domestic matters, the congressional request totals upwards of $40 billion in supplemental aid.

The Thursday filing marks the first such request by the Biden White House since Republicans claimed control of the House of Representatives at the start of the year. While previous requests had been largely met with Congress’ backing, GOP members have grown increasingly hesitant toward continued aid.

In fact, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed in early June that any requests for supplemental Ukraine aid would not be taken up in the lower chamber – regardless of bipartisan efforts taken up in the Senate.

At the time, McCarthy explained that any additional funds would need to be cleared as part of an annual appropriations process, underscoring finances would have to be shifted elsewhere from the Pentagon’s funds.

“I think what we really need to do, we need to get the efficiencies in the Pentagon,” the House speaker told US media in June when referring to the Pentagon’s budget. “Think about it, $886 billion. You don’t think there’s waste? … I consider myself a hawk, but I don’t want to waste money. So I think we’ve got to find efficiencies.”

Shortly after the Thursday request was issued, US Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) told Sputnik that US President Joe Biden must focus on supporting efforts to improve security within the United States, rather than on spending more funding on a proxy war in Ukraine.

“Rather than spending a single penny more fighting a proxy war in Ukraine and killing more people, a more worthwhile effort would be if Biden would put America first by allocating resources in our country to secure the southern border,” Gosar said, touching on the US’ continued fight to combat illegal immigration.

He added that resources could also be better spent on “funding law enforcement efforts to combat the violent crime and drugs destroying cities across America, or aiding our homeless population, including countless veterans, who are sleeping on sidewalks.”

The hefty request also comes as the US public has grown increasingly cold toward such military aid.

A recent poll determined that 55% of surveyed Americans opposed Congress approving Ukraine aid, with only 45% disagreeing. Earlier Wednesday, the White House attempted to shoot down the sentiment, telling reporters that continued efforts were paramount to the “national security of the American people.”

US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby touched on the polling on Thursday and opted to reiterate the White House’s stance that the American people understand why Biden requested billions more in aid for Ukraine.

“The polls notwithstanding, I think the American people understand what is at stake here,” Kirby said.

To date, the US has provided Ukraine with more than $100 billion in aid since the start of the conflict, with the majority of the funds being designated specifically for military equipment.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Corruption, Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

Why military intervention in Niger could be catastrophic for everyone

Coup supporters protest the decision of the ECOWAS countries to sanction Niger, in Niamey, Niger on August 3, 2023 [Balima Boureima/Anadolu Agency]
By Dr Mustafa Fetouri | MEMO | August 10, 2023

The 26 July military takeover in Niger appears to be part of a trend sweeping through the African Sahel that started a few years ago in Mali before spreading through the region. What is unique about it is the speedy response of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Instead of giving diplomacy a chance to solve the problem, the organisation miscalculated and took a hardline approach by issuing an ultimatum to the new military leaders in Niger to immediately restore the President Mohamed Bazoum or face military intervention to return him to power by force.

Most observers believe ECOWAS, unwisely, jumped into the unknown and put itself in a difficult position which might not even be negotiable on its merits since it offers nothing to the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland (CNSP).

Many believe ECOWAS took such a position, among other reasons, because its current head happened to be President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Tinubu appeared to have rushed into action with little consideration for the consequences. He has recently done the same when, in his inaugural speech last May, he announced the end of fuel subsidies in a country where millions of people cannot afford the cost of unsubsidised fuel. His decision caused shockwaves to millions of people as prices of almost everything immediately shot up.

However, rushing to action in Niger, could prove a long term costly decision. It might restore the deposed president but will certainly have detrimental outcomes for Niger and the entire Sahel region which already lacks stability and faces serious security challenges.

Burkina Faso and Mali, two of Niger’s neighbours and ECOWAS members, rejected the organisation’s threats, aligning themselves with the newly formed CNSP in Niamey and threatening the very unity of the group. Algeria and Chad, which are not ECOWAS members but remain important regional countries, have already rejected any military intervention in Niger.

Nigeria, the biggest country in ECOWAS with the most resourceful military establishment, is expected to furnish the bulk of any military action in Niger including manpower. However, for President Tinubu to deploy troops into his northern neighbour, he needs legislative backing. On 6 August, his Senate rejected the move with its leader, Godswill Akpabio, throwing the hot potato back into ECOWAS’ parliament asking it to find a solution to “resolve this logjam as soon as possible”. ECOWAS parliamentarians are yet to meet to debate the matter and it is very unlikely they will do so any time soon. Also, each individual Member State will also require some kind of legislation to participate in any military action. None have done so yet, making the one week deadline, which has already passed, unrealistic.

The legality of any military intervention, under international law, is also questionable. While the United Nations chief has condemned the coup in Niger, it does not mean all member states agree with him. If the UN is to authorise the use of force; such authorisation will have to come from the Security Council where permanent members Russia and China are likely to veto such a resolution.

President Tinubu as well as ECOWAS have both goofed on this one. Northern Nigeria’s influential Muslim clerics accused the president of acting at the “behest of global politicking.” The clerics are clearly referring to the Western-Russian competition in Africa as both sides are vying for influence in light of the war in Ukraine. Russia’s Wagner group is already operating in Mali, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Libya. Marching on Niger will make Wagner, now under full Moscow control, an attractive partner for the new authorities in Niger as manifested by the appearance of Russian flags in mass rallies supporting CNSP in Niamey.

The prospect of Russia gaining a foothold in Niger is terrifying to the West which, partly, explains why the Europeans and Americans are rallying behind ECOWAS’ confrontational position.

Niger is not just any neighbour to Nigeria, it is considered an extension of its northern region which is facing its own unrest and terror threats. Nigeria’s Kanem Bomu, Adamawa, Bauchi and Sardauna regions share ethnicity, religion and deep cultural ties with Niger to the north. Any military action across the borders will certainly backfire within Nigeria itself with potentials for far reaching repercussions in the wider region while sanctions, for example, will hurt the common man and help  increase smuggling.

Landlocked Niger is situated almost in the middle of the Sahel region neighbouring already unstable Libya, Mali and Burkina Faso. Any military action there will lead to further disturbances in those countries and likely create across border mass migration of civilians fueling people trafficking towards Libya as a gateway to Europe. Such an environment is perfect for terror organisations already active in the Sahel including Daesh and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Many Sahel countries still blame the Western intervention in Libya in 2011 that killed their long time ally the late Colonel Gaddafi, plunging Libya into chaos and making it a weapons smuggling hub and safe haven for terrorists. Mali faced its first armed conflict, eventually leading to the military coup of 2012, as a direct consequence of what happened in Libya.

The Europeans in general, and France in particular, as well as the United States all seem to support ECOWAS out of fear of a greater Russian presence in the area despite camouflaging that support as a matter of principle in support of democracy in Africa—remember that intervention in Libya was also disguised as support for democracy.

Military coups in Africa, historically, have never been reversed but are removed by counter coups which do not always guarantee the return of deposed presidents nor smooth transition to an honest constitutional based multi party system open to fair competition; Niger will not be the exception.

ECOWAS is to meet in Nigeria today but disagreements exist, making any consensus less likely. The US, too, appears to be softening its language after its envoy, Victoria Nuland, visited Niger but failed to convince CNSP to give up power. She told reporters that the leaders in Niamey are adamant in proceeding with their plans and restoring former President Buazom is out of the question. Her boss, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, reiterated his, now, classical line about the situation by saying that the US will suspend all financial assistance while his spokesman said that a “window” of opportunity is still open to reverse the situation.

Any military action in Niger will be counterproductive and will cause more harm than good. Military coups in Africa are certainly a problem but reversing them by force is more problematic.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

White House Steamrolls Over Poll Showing Americans Don’t Want to Fund Ukraine

By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 10.08.2023

The US has sent over $113 billion in military and economic support to Ukraine over the past 18 months, with NATO allies sending tens of billions more. The assistance, which includes nearly $100 billion in military aid, did not endow Kiev with the firepower necessary to mount a successful counteroffensive against Russia.

The White House has dismissed polling showing that a majority of Americans don’t want to send any more money to Ukraine to fund NATO’s proxy war against Russia, ruling out that assistance would stop in spite of public wishes.

“We have seen throughout this war solid support from the American people, solid support from the Congress in a bipartisan and bicameral way for continuing to support Ukraine and we’re going to stay focused on that,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

“It’s not just important to people of Ukraine, but it’s important to our European allies and partners, particularly our NATO allies, given that this fighting is on the doorstep of many of those NATO allies,” and to the “national security of the American people,” Kirby added.

The White House spokesman inserted the traditional ‘Vladimir Putin the bogeyman’ scare tactic, telling the Americans who don’t want to continue funding the proxy war that “if we just sit back and we let Putin win, we let him take Ukraine, where does it stop next?”

The White House is seeking Congressional approval to sneak tens of billions of dollars more in additional “supplemental funding” into next year’s defense budget, with the Pentagon coming up with new creative ways to scrounge additional cash from already approved outlays by using accounting tricks.

While most US media and most of the US political class in Washington continue to support funding Ukraine (apart from a handful of MAGA-leaning Republicans), a bombshell poll published last week revealed that 55 percent of Americans don’t want Congress to authorize any more funds for Ukraine. 51 percent said the US has already done enough to help. Nearly 8 in ten expressed concerns about the conflict dragging on, with 59 percent fearing that the Ukrainian crisis could unleash a wider war in Europe. 56 percent of respondents said they continue to see the Ukrainian conflict as a national security threat – down from 72 percent in February of 2022.

Ordinary Americans’ shifting attitudes toward the Ukrainian crisis have been picked up on by presidential candidates from both major parties, as well as independents, with major candidates calling for an end to the conflict, and pointing to the West’s role in starting it.

Former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate among Republicans by a long shot, has promised to end the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours of winning the 2024 election. Democratic Party hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promises to talk to Russia and has emphasized that the West has “no business putting NATO in Ukraine.” Leading independent candidate Cornel West has also called for a negotiated settlement to the crisis.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Militarism | , , | 1 Comment

The Sino-Russo Naval Patrol Near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands Flipped The Tables On The US

BY ANDREW KORYBKO | AUGUST 10, 2023

Alaskan Senators were apoplectic after Russia and China just carried out a previously unreported joint naval patrol near their state’s Aleutian Islands last week. Those officials condemned what they claimed was an “incursion”, though the US Northern Command confirmed that the patrol “remained in international waters and was not considered a threat.” In any case, this was an interesting turn of events since it’s usually the US that conducts such exercises near those two’s borders.

The Sino-Russo Entente isn’t an alliance, but rather an unprecedentedly close strategic partnership focused on coordinating efforts to accelerate the global systemic transition to multipolarity. To that end and in the context of last week’s joint naval patrols, these Great Powers decided to signal to the world that they’ll reciprocally respond to similar such exercises by the US. Up until now, each reacted separately and largely restricted this to rhetoric, but now they’re reacting jointly in a tangible way.

Several of their interests were served in this way. First, the US now knows that the Sino-Russo Entente isn’t reluctant to sail flotillas as close to American shores as is legally possible. Second, they voluntarily complied with the terms laid out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) regarding where foreign warships are allowed to sail despite the US not recognizing that framework. Third, this example demonstrated the sharp contrast between them and the US on the issue of international maritime law.

The fourth interest that was advanced through their joint naval patrol near the Aleutian Islands is that it made locals in that state, and likely also Americans elsewhere, experience how it feels when their geopolitical rivals conduct such exercises near their borders. Those drills won’t influence the formulation of US policy, but they can help shape some voters’ opinions about the wisdom of their leaders’ policies towards Russia and China considering that those two are merely responding to the US’ own such moves.

And finally, these drills importantly remained below the threshold of triggering an escalation, thus proving that it’s indeed possible to reciprocally respond to American provocations after both Great Powers were hitherto reluctant to do so. About that last-mentioned observation, they previously reacted separately and largely restricted this to rhetoric except on those rare occasions that they were accused by the US of flying or sailing their respective units too close to the latter’s.

Even so, those incidents took place near their own borders and not the US’, but this time they jointly sailed their warships near the Aleutian Islands in order to give America a taste of its own medicine. These plans were likely agreed to long ago but weren’t implemented until now since they each wanted to give the US the opportunity to stop making them feel uncomfortable by operating so closely to their shores. Russia and China’s patience has clearly run out, however, hence why they’re now jointly reacting.

This wasn’t their first joint naval exercise, but it’s the largest one near American shores thus far, which makes it a milestone. The Mainstream Media will predictably try to spin it as so-called “unprovoked illegal aggression” despite those two strictly abiding by international law per UNCLOS and carrying out their drills in response to the US’ earlier countless ones near their borders. By finally turning the tables on the US, the Sino-Russo Entente wants to show the world that the era of military unipolarity is over.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Aletho News | , , | 2 Comments

Is America behind the massive surge in Kiev regime’s child trafficking?

By Drago Bosnic | August 10, 2023

Human trafficking is certainly one of the most monstrous mass criminal activities ever undertaken by other humans (although calling them “humans” is a bit of a stretch). And yet, there’s a special kind of this deeply repulsive crime that pushes it to diabolical proportions – child trafficking. Underage kids, particularly those who were abandoned, sold or have very poor/abusive family backgrounds, are by far the most vulnerable group. The depraved criminals who engage in such illicit activities specifically target unfortunate children and given there are millions of them all around the globe, particularly in war-torn areas, the “recruitment pool” is effectively endless. Unfortunately, the demand on the black market also seems to be constant and growing, making it a very lucrative and appealing prospect for criminals.

Children are usually forced into literal slavery that includes forced labor, sexual exploitation or prostitution, drug smuggling, forced begging, organ harvesting, etc. Many terrorist groups and narco-traffickers even use them as child soldiers, forcing them into dangerous firefights with rival groups or even official security forces such as the police and/or military. Although estimates vary significantly, as the exact data is incomplete at best, expectedly, the world’s most populous countries have the highest number of child trafficking victims. And yet, it seems the United States is the most profitable market for such criminal activities. Back in 2018, Tim Swarens of USA Today calculated that adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the US alone. Worse yet, this is only based on available data.

In reality, this truly appalling number might be several times higher. It is estimated that up to half a million children are trafficked in the US every year, with another 300,000 at risk. Some are abducted, others are runaways, while some are sold by relatives, acquaintances and even closest family members. This is a massive business in America and it’s not only present in big cities and core urban areas, but virtually everywhere, around the entire country. Everyone from regular people to those in the highest positions of power take part in it. As recounted by authors John and Nisha Whitehead in a report published by the Rutherford Institute in late January this year, “sex trafficking (and the sexualization of young people) is a cultural disease that is rooted in the American police state’s heart of darkness”.

“It speaks to a sordid, far-reaching corruption that stretches from the highest seats of power (governmental and corporate) down to the most hidden corners and relies on our silence and our complicity to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing,” authors posit, further describing several deeply disturbing instances where American police were involved in horrendous sex crimes against underage children (including 4-year-olds) and teenagers.

In 2016, the US State of California, infamous for its extremist ultra-liberal policies, passed SB1322 which decriminalized prostitution for “sex workers under the age of 18” (i.e. children). This law, coupled with SB203 (passed in 2020), makes it virtually impossible for police officers to approach, arrest or engage in any way with “underage sex workers” (i.e. children forced into prostitution), meaning there’s nothing even law enforcement can do to prevent clearly evident child trafficking and sexual exploitation. Worse yet, in 2021, California passed SB357 that “repealed the law that makes it a crime to loiter with intent to commit prostitution and applicable evidence is no longer enforceable, including dress and geographical location as a reason to investigate acts of prostitution”.

In other words, police officers are effectively banned from investigating underage prostitution taking place in plain sight, as their expertise and experience in positively identifying children forced into sex slavery simply by observing their behavior is rendered obsolete. This strongly implies that the US political establishment is directly involved in soliciting child trafficking. In late April, whistleblower Tara Lee Rodas testified to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, revealing shocking details about this and warning that “the US government has become the middleman in a large-scale multibillion dollar child trafficking operation… … run by bad actors who are seeking to profit on the lives of children”.

In 2022, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 31.9 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation — up from 29.3 million reports in 2021 and 21.7 million in 2020. This further implies that the black market has grown exponentially in recent years, meaning that more and more children are being trafficked into the country. And while kids from all over the world enter the US this way, recent reports indicate there’s a massive surge of Ukrainian child trafficking victims. However, what’s happening in Ukraine is even more astonishingly evil, as the traffickers are now trying to smuggle even infants to sell them for organ harvesting. Namely, in late June, the Daily Mail reported that an employee of a charity organization was detained for trying to take an 11-month-old baby out of Ukraine.

According to the British daily, the 43-year-old perpetrator was planning to sell the child for organ harvesting after paying $1,000 to the infant’s mother, a woman from Zhytomyr, while falsely claiming that the little boy would be adopted. In total, the mother was promised $5,000 for the baby, who the trafficker then intended to resell for $25,000. He is also suspected of trafficking at least three other infants under the same pretext. And yet, in late July, South Front reported that the same child trafficker, identified as Denis Varodi, a former teacher from the city of Uzhgorod in the Transcarpathian region of western Ukraine, was released only several weeks later. The decision was made by the judge of the Uzhgorod interdistrict court Natalya Shumilo after Varodi posted a 1,000,000 hryvnia (₴) bail.

The court could’ve easily denied this possibility to Varodi, but decided otherwise. Worse yet, Shumilo even reduced bail from ₴3,000,000 to ₴1,000,000 or approximately $27,000, which is just a bit more than the amount Varodi would’ve made had he succeeded in his diabolical intentions. Still, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to organized child trafficking from NATO-occupied Ukraine. Another group of perpetrators was recently detained while trying to smuggle newborns. According to reports by local media, the criminal group consisted of 12 child traffickers and included the heads of several medical institutions. They were looking for women who agreed to become surrogate mothers and sell their babies for €12,000, who would then be resold for up to €70,000.

Although the child traffickers are reportedly facing up to 15 years in prison, given how easily Varodi got away with his criminal activities, they have nothing to worry about. The complicity of the Neo-Nazi junta in this truly Mephistophelian scheme is implicit (no pun intended). And yet, as if the Kiev regime’s involvement wasn’t bad enough, the US Department of Justice (although its relation to actual justice is purely lexical) recently removed child sex trafficking information from its website. According to the Epoch Times, the updated version of the webpage completely erased all three sections that previously showed the data which was added during Donald Trump’s presidency. This was done quietly and without any explanation as to why such important information would be hidden from the public.

It’s worth noting that the crackdown on child trafficking awareness in the US is not only limited to corrupt officials and government institutions (as evidenced by numerous “unresolved mysteries”, both in the cases of Jeffrey Epstein and the Biden crime family’s illicit activities). Namely, the mainstream propaganda machine is now also looking to suppress any information about mass crimes against children, including through a witch-hunt aimed against movies and other media dealing with this issue. The case of “The Sound of Freedom” illustrates this perfectly, as even some formerly reputable media have joined the chorus of those trying to push a sort of crawling smear campaign against the movie. Luckily, there’s significant pushback against this, as proven by the film’s remarkable box-office success.

On the other hand, those attacking “The Sound of Freedom” should definitely have their hard drives investigated, albeit not by the people who were supposed to inspect the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, but “somehow” managed to “lose” it, obviously, in a similar manner to how the Neo-Nazi junta judge Shumilo “lost” her moral compass and credibility by releasing a child trafficker and murderer.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Corruption, War Crimes | , | 2 Comments

Judith Curry: How Climate “Science” Got Hijacked by Alarmists

John Stossel | August 8, 2023

Climate alarmists insist there’s a “scientific consensus” that says climate change is a crisis, and man causes it! Researcher Judith Curry tells me, “it’s a manufactured consensus.”

Curry was a department chair at Georgia Tech when she spread alarm about climate change.

The media loved her then. She claimed there was an increase in hurricane intensity.

But then some researchers pointed out gaps in her research: years with low levels of hurricanes.

“Like a good scientist, I went in and investigated.”

When she acknowledged a lack of evidence that hurricane intensity had increased, she was ruthlessly attacked by climate alarmists. Her career suffered.

Now Curry reveals nefarious ways “the science” about climate change has been corrupted.


John Stossel:

We are told climate change is a crisis, and that there is an “overwhelming scientific consensus”.

“It’s a manufactured consensus,” says climate scientist Judith Curry in my new video. She says scientists have an incentive to exaggerate risk to pursue “fame and fortune”.

She knows about that because she once spread alarm about climate change.

Media loved her when she published a study that seemed to show a dramatic increase in hurricane intensity.

“We found that the percent of Category Four and Five hurricanes had doubled,” says Curry. “This was picked up by the media,” and then climate alarmists realised, “Oh, here is the way to do it. Tie extreme weather events to global warming!” …

“I was adopted by the environmental advocacy groups and the alarmists and I was treated like a rock star,” Curry recounts. “Flown all over the place to meet with politicians.”

But then some researchers pointed out gaps in her research – years with low levels of hurricanes.

“Like a good scientist, I investigated,” says Curry. She realised that the critics were right. “Part of it was bad data. Part of it is natural climate variability.”

Curry was the unusual researcher who looked at criticism of her work and actually concluded “they had a point”.

Then the Climategate scandal taught her that other climate researchers weren’t so open-minded. Alarmist scientists’ aggressive attempts to hide data suggesting climate change is not a crisis were revealed in leaked emails.

“Ugly things,” says Curry. “Avoiding Freedom of Information Act requests. Trying to get journal editors fired.”

It made Curry realise that there is a “climate change industry” set up to reward alarmism.

“The origins go back to the… U.N. environmental programme,” says Curry. Some U.N. officials were motivated by “anti-capitalism. They hated the oil companies and seized on the climate change issue to move their policies along.”

The U.N. created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“The IPCC wasn’t supposed to focus on any benefits of warming. The IPCC’s mandate was to look for dangerous human-caused climate change.” …

The researchers quickly figured out that the way to get funded was to make alarmist claims about “man-made climate change”.

August 10, 2023 Posted by | Corruption, Science and Pseudo-Science, Video | | 1 Comment