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Meet The Company Who Created More Than 500 Police Snitching Apps

MassPrivateI | June 16, 2020

The company responsible for creating a network of police snitching apps in the U.S. and Canada is trying to convince the public to use a new app.

Want to report your neighbor for not social distancing, report them for being a George Floyd protester, or perhaps you have seen something suspicious? Chances are pretty good that OCV, LLC has created that app.

OCV has created a mind-boggling 500 law enforcement apps.

“With over nine years of experience serving public safety agencies, OCV, LLC. has developed over 500 custom mobile apps and proudly serves over 40 states and Canada.”

As The Daily Globe explains, OCV’s latest app allows users to “lookup jail inmates and wanted lists, as well as submit anonymous tips about crime.”

In Rock County, Minnesota, the Sheriff’s department has already received a tip from a concerned citizen. Because who doesn’t want to send police an anonymous tip about their neighbors?

OCV’s “TheSheriffApp.com” is particularly good at masking its real purpose.

“TheSheriffApp.com will help your office brand itself as innovative leaders in law enforcement within your community and provide easy access to important information to your citizens.”

Want to help re-brand law enforcement’s image? OCV has at least 500 apps that will help convince the public that law enforcement is here to help.

OCV is so good at masking what TheSheriff App’s real purpose is, it is easy to miss.

“App users have the ability to receive instant push notifications from your sheriff’s office, submit a tip, view the most wanted page, see a map of sex offenders in their area and more – all from an app!”

TheSherrifApp is specifically designed to allow users to send anonymous tips to law enforcement. The first thing they mention in their “Common Features” section is submitting a tip.

“Submit tips right from your smartphone. Use your smartphone capabilities to include pictures, GPS location and more in your tip.”

TheSherrifApp has taken public snitching to a whole new level by combining real-time social media accounts.

“Combine all social media accounts into one continuous stream within the app. Updated in real time.”

Would anyone like to guess what the “Main Feature” of TheSheriffApp is? If you guessed public snitching, congratulations.

“Submit a tip with a tap by using our tip submission feature! Users can easily submit tips directly from their smartphone. Take advantage of a mobile app and use your smartphone to be as detailed as possible with your submission: upload pictures, videos… even include the GPS location of an incident! Users also have the option to submit a tip anonymously.”

During the coronavirus outbreak, the news has been littered with stories of neighbors snitching on each other. Private companies like, NextDoor have even gone so far as to shower law enforcement with gifts so they can spread public snitching to every neighborhood in America.

 “As part of the chosen group, Charles Husted, the chief of police in Sedona, Arizona would be flown to San Francisco on President’s Day, along with seven other community engagement staffers from police departments and city offices across the country. Over two days, they’d meet at Nextdoor’s headquarters to discuss the social network’s public agency strategy. Together, the plan was, they’d stay at  the Hilton Union Square, eat and drink at Cultivar, share a tour of Chinatown, and receive matching Uniqlo jackets. All costs — a projected $16,900 for the group, according to a schedule sent to participants — were covered by Nextdoor.”

Hasn’t law enforcement learned anything about the recent slew of “Karen’s” calling police on black people? The last thing American’s need or want is a “Karen” police app disguised as “TheSherrifApp.” (To find out more about NextDoor’s “Karen” problem, click here.)

If there is to be any hope of police reform, then we must demand an end to the culture of police surveillance, and the corporations who profit from it.

June 16, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

Russian court finds ex-US marine Paul Whelan guilty of espionage, sentences him to 16 years in prison

By Bryan MacDonald | RT | June 15, 2020

Eighteen months after he was arrested in a Moscow hotel room and accusing of spying, a Russian court has handed down a 16 year jail term to Paul Whelan, a national of four western countries: Canada, Ireland, the US and the UK.

The 50-year-old defendant, who has described the trial, partly held behind closed doors, as a “sham,” protested his innocence throughout the process. After Monday morning’s verdict, he immediately stated that he intends to appeal. There have been suggestions that Whelan could be returned to the US in a prisoner swap.

His lawyer has named Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko – two Russians jailed in the US – as potential candidates. Bout, who Russia considers a ‘political prisoner,’ is serving a 25-year term for arms dealing. Meanwhile, Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in 2010 in what the Russian Foreign Ministry described as a “kidnapping” and brought to the US. He had never set foot in the country before. Russian authorities have repeatedly complained about the harsh conditions and lack of medical care he has received in US prison.

In December 2018, former US marine Whelan was detained in the Russian capital’s five-star Metropol Hotel after he accepted a USB device from an undercover FSB officer. Prosecutors said the flash drive included information related to active-duty members of Russia’s secret service. Whelan’s defense said he was the victim of a sting.

His legal team insisted Whelan believed he was receiving a flash drive containing photos of a joint event he set up with a Russian friend, rather than highly classified information.

Whelan has been a frequent visitor to Russia since the mid-2000s, and he reportedly appeared on the security service’s radar as a possible intelligence threat several years before his arrest.

His family have rubbished claims he’s involved in espionage, describing him as a travel enthusiast and visited Moscow for a wedding. Whelan maintained an account on Russian Facebook-clone VKontakte where in January 2019, according to ABC News, his 55 “friends” were almost exclusively young men, most of whom seemed to have some sort of connection to the armed forces posted on their page. Only three were women.

Following the illegal American and British-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Whelan served in the US Marine Corps Reserve for five years, holding the rank of staff sergeant. In January 2008, he was court-martialled for “larceny” and later given a “bad conduct” discharge. Until 2016, he was senior manager of global security and operations at Kelly Services, an American office staffing company. Whelan has also worked as a police officer in the US. Born in Canada, he was living in Michigan before his arrest in Russia.

The US Ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan spoke outside the court building. “The United States demands that US citizen Paul Whelan be released immediately,” he said. “His conviction is a mockery of justice, the world is watching.”

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov indicated on Monday that Moscow might be open to a prisoner swap deal. “We have repeatedly proposed options where it would be possible for those US citizens who are serving sentences in Russia to be exchanged for Russian citizens who are serving sentences on far-fetched and unlawful charges (in the US),” he told Ria Novosti. “I have no reason to speculate on what may happen next, these ideas have been offered to the Americans many times.”

Sullivan said that the US was not looking for an exchange, but rather “justice” for Whelan.

A notable feature of the saga has been restrained reporting from the US press, which typically would give a case of this nature massive coverage. For example, at lunchtime on Monday, the New York Times buried the story in its “other news” section under the neutral headline “Russian Court Sentences Paul Whelan, an American, to 16 Years on Spy Charges.” This has raised eyebrows in Moscow media circles.

June 15, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

Iran to react if US prevents lifting arms embargo as per nuclear deal: President Rouhani

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani addresses a cabinet session in Tehran on June 14, 2020. (Photo by IRNA )
Press TV | June 14, 2020

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says the country will not remain indifferent and will show suitable reaction if the US tries to prevent lifting of arms embargo against the Islamic Republic, which will end this year in accordance with the landmark nuclear deal that Tehran clinched with six world powers back in 2015.

During past months, Washington has stepped up calls for the extension of a UN arms embargo on Iran, which will expire in October under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened that it may seek to trigger a snapback of all sanctions on Iran if its attempts to extend the arms embargo fail.

The landmark nuclear deal was reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany — in 2015. However, in May 2018, US President Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the JCPOA and re-imposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran and began unleashing the “toughest ever” fresh sanctions.

While the US is no longer a party to the JCPOA, it has launched a campaign to renew the Iran arms ban — in place since 2006/2007 — through a resolution at the Security Council, but Russia and China are most likely to veto it.

Addressing a cabinet session on Sunday, Rouhani said, “The termination of the arms ban [on Iran] … is one of the important achievements of the JCPOA and if Americans want to question this achievement, other big countries know what our reaction will be.”

The Iranian president also expressed hope that “all countries who are members of the United Nations Security Council and the Board of Governors” of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), would be aware of “the US planning with regard to these plots.”

“We, for our part, will be successful in this regard and will weather these plans that the United States has made for Iran,” he noted.

Posting a tweet in early June, Iran’s UN ambassador said the US’ call for an extension of the UN Security Council’s arms embargo on Tehran lacked legal standing in international law.

Majid Takht-e Ravanchi said the US ambassador to the UN “wrongly” believes the US retains the right to initiate snapback of sanctions under the UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

“WRONG: US cannot be a JCPOA ‘Participant’, since Donald Trump ceased US participation,” the Iranian ambassador noted, referring to Trump’s 2018 decision to withdraw his country from the Iran nuclear deal in violation of the Resolution 2231.

In the middle of May, China and Russia also rejected US plans to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran along with a probable push to trigger a return of all sanctions on Tehran at the UN Security Council.

The “US has no right to extend an arms embargo on Iran, let alone to trigger snapback,” China’s UN mission wrote in a tweet.

“Maintaining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the only right way moving forward,” he added.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov vehemently rejected the plan as a “cynical” measure plunging the UN Security Council into crisis.

“The conclusion is that the next crisis in the UN Security Council and the UN as a whole is imminent, taking into account this US stubbornness,” he said, adding, “Washington will not have an easy road here in any case.”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that the US has already pulled out of the international nuclear agreement and cannot currently use its former membership of the deal to seek a permanent arms embargo on Tehran.

“The United States has withdrawn from the JCPOA, and now they cannot claim that they are still part of the JCPOA in order to deal with this issue from the JCPOA agreement. They withdraw. It’s clear. They withdraw,” Borrell said.

The EU believes that the JCPOA plays a key role in maintaining regional and international security and has made efforts to keep the pact alive despite US pressure.

Borrell is tasked with supervising the circumstances surrounding the implementation of the nuclear deal so he can help resolve disputes between its signatories.

June 14, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , , | Leave a comment

What Went Wrong in Massachusetts?

By Donna Laframboise | Big Picture News | June 10, 2020

Last week the Boston Globe published an impressive, 12,000-word account of COVID-19’s rampage through Massachusetts. Titled The Virus’s Tale, it asks how a state “famous for health care excellence” could have experienced “such a vast loss of human life?”

That isn’t media exaggeration. 7 million people reside there. So far, 7,408 have died of the virus.

California, with 5.5 times the population, has lost only 4,775 people. Canada, with five times the population, has lost 7,897.

So what went wrong in Massachusetts? The full answer won’t be known for some time. But the news article describes how a doctor in a town near the New York state border had to make three telephone calls, three days in a row, to a hotline operated by the Department of Public Health before she was allowed to test a highly symptomatic patient for the virus.

By January, everyone knew an infectious disease characterized by particular symptoms was wreaking havoc in China. Yet during the first week of March, this doctor was told she must be mistaken. It wasn’t possible for her patient, who hadn’t traveled outside the country, to have caught it. She was told this by a government hotline whose purpose is to monitor precisely these kinds of health threats. Twice.

In fact, the patient did test positive. Which meant the coronavirus was on the loose – spreading from person to person, even in small communities of 1,700 people. It also meant that hospital staff had been caring for this patient without proper safety equipment. In the words of the Boston Globe:

the hospital rushed to determine how many of its staff had been exposed as they had waited for permission to test patients. Within a few days, as more patients tested positive, almost 70 workers would be quarantined.

This failure to take the virus seriously, on the part of those who should have known better, is echoed by the events connected to a corporate leadership conference held in a Boston hotel on February 26 and 27.

Biogen, whose headquarters are in nearby Cambridge, describes itself as “one of the world’s first global biotechnology companies.” Its personnel, it says, are “pioneers in neuroscience.”

Yet the Boston Globe reports that these medically sophisticated individuals, who had flown in from other countries (including from Italy) as well as from elsewhere in the US, apparently behaved as if the virus was nothing more than a fairy tale:

The conference spanned two days. Attendees packed into the hotel elevators and onto its escalators, handed tongs and serving spoons back and forth at every buffet meal, gripped the levers of the self-serve coffee dispensers that got a workout during every break.

On Wednesday night, the action moved to a [restaurant] dinner…Afterward, a group of eight Biogen colleagues took the long way back to [their hotel], stopping at a bar that boasted an extensive collection of fine whiskeys.

“You have to try this one,” one executive told another, holding his glass aloft to offer a sip.

Attendees began running fevers soon afterward. One went to an emergency department on March 1st, but was told they didn’t meet testing criteria. On March 3rd, Biogen reportedly advised government public health officials that approximately 50 attendees were now suffering symptoms. But no testing occurred then, either.

The newspaper says that, after learning that two European conference attendees had received positive test results in their own countries, many Boston-area Biogen employees became alarmed. It was at that point a company official instructed them to stay away from Massachusetts General Hospital:

“You will not be tested,” the e-mail read, adding that such demands by Biogen employees “are overwhelming the emergency room.” Ominously, the company’s warning concluded with this sentence: “Hospital leaders have warned Biogen that they may need to have the Hospital Police Department intervene to prevent Biogen employees from entering the emergency room.”

This solid piece of journalism makes it clear numerous officials, from the governor on down, repeatedly assured everyone there was no cause for alarm.

They said the public health system was reliable. They said it was prepared for this virus.

They were wrong.

Read The Virus’s Tale here.

June 10, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

Anarchists & ‘antifa’ occupy Seattle police station abandoned by ‘regime’ forces, set up ‘Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone’

File photo
RT – June 9, 2020

Six blocks of downtown Seattle have been declared the ‘Free Capitol Hill Zone’ or ‘Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone’ (CHAZ), according to area activists that have taken control of Seattle PD’s East Precinct, on 12th Avenue and E. Pine Street.

Journalist Julio Rosas tweeted out photos from the ‘Zone,’ including flyers demanding that Seattle PD be defunded, and declaring that police “will always be racist because capitalism requires inequality.”

Journalist Andy Ngo described the group in control of the area as “Antifa,” and cited tweets to suggest there were armed guards among them.

The report of armed personnel seems to have been confirmed by another activist, who said that members of the John Brown Gun Club – a leftist militia also known as Redneck Revolt – “showed up to offer help, some armed.”

Sympathizers have described the atmosphere inside the zone as “wonderful” and peaceful, more like a concert than anything else.

“Police want you to think that without them there will be chaos. But what if without them there was peace?” mused Resistance activist Joshua Potash, holding up Seattle as an example of what Democrat demands to ‘defund police’ might result in.

Police Chief Carmen Best confirmed that her department evacuated the precinct on Monday evening as an exercise in “trust and deescalation.”

Two days earlier, Seattle PD used flash-bangs and pepper spray to push back demonstrators at 11th Avenue and Pine Street, just a block away, after they had moved a security barricade and allegedly threw objects at the officers. Protesters insisted that tear gas had been used, but police denied it, saying they had not violated the 30-day moratorium on the substance declared by Mayor Jenny Durkan, a Democrat.

City authorities may be expecting the activists to disperse, but the barricades and the content of their social media suggest they intend to stay. Local businesses and residents have “agreed to disaffiliate from Seattle basically,” in the words of one activist, who called it a “flux state in the making” – a reference to an anarchist commune from the fiction series Shadowrun.

Maps of the zone apparently made by the activists refer to ‘Captured Regime East Precinct’ and also use ‘regime’ to refer to reported police positions.

Democrats have ruled Seattle for almost 50 years. The current city council has eight Democrats and one socialist.

June 9, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | | Leave a comment

UK Rates ‘Worst’ National COVID-19 Response, Vietnam Best

By Tyler Durden – Zero Hedge – 06/09/2020

The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries varies vastly, connected in part to the respective government’s handling of the situation. As Statista’s Martin Armstrong shows below, these national responses can be worlds apart – both in terms of efficacy and as survey data from YouGov shows, the subsequent level of public approval, too.

Infographic: The Best and Worst Rated National COVID-19 Responses | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

In the UK, where the government’s response has been heavily criticised, the net approval rating (calculated by subtracting ‘handling badly’ from ‘handling well’ responses) is the joint-lowest of all countries surveyed.

Also with a rating of -15 is Mexico, where President López Obrador originally downplayed the severity of the pandemic and is now struggling to find the right balance between prioritizing public health and protecting the economy.

At the other end of the scale, Vietnam has so far recorded just over 300 cases and zero deaths.

In contrast to Mexico, Vietnam’s ‘overreaction’ to the crisis is thought to be the reason for the astonishing results achieved so far.

To compare to the countries at the bottom of the ranking, Our World in Data figures have the number of deaths per million people for the UK and Mexico at 596.07 and 104.79, respectively.

Countries included in the survey were: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK, USA, Vietnam.

June 9, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | , , | Leave a comment

Iranian scientist jailed in US returns home

By Ghanbar Naderi – Press TV – June 8, 2020

Iranian scientist Majid Taheri, who was imprisoned in the US for more than 16 months, finally returned home on Monday. Upon arrival, Taheri was received by his family as well as high-ranking Iranian officials at the Imam Khomeini International Airport.

The Iranian national who was a longtime resident of the US state of Florida, spent 16 months in prison for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran. Speaking to Press TV, he denied all allegations.

The development came days after another Iranian scientist Sirous Asgari, a professor of material sciences at Sharif University of Technology, also returned home.

He spent about three years in US detention on trumped-up charges of fraud and theft of information relating to his work with a university in Ohio. The case however, was dismissed by a US district judge and he managed to return to his country.

Iran has called on Washington to release all other Iranian citizens taken hostage. The country says the US must make up for the damages caused by detaining Iranian scientists.

June 8, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | , , | Leave a comment

4 or more hydroxychloroquine doses reduced risk of coronavirus in healthcare workers: Indian Council of Medical Research study

A sustained intake of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has shown positive results in reducing the risk of coronavirus in the healthcare workers, the ICMR study says. However, HCQ prophylaxis should be taken in tandem with wearing the personal protective equipment (PPE) to minimise risk exposure.

India Today | June 1, 2020

The Lancet study and the World Health Organization (WHO) solidarity trials may have put a pause on the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as prophylaxis or treatment to reduce the risk of the novel coronavirus. However, a case-control study by the Indian research body, the ICMR continues to rally for its usage in the healthcare workers (HCWs) who are at an elevated risk of contracting Covid-19.

The case-control investigation of the ICMR reveals that consumption of four or more maintenance doses of hydroxychloroquine led to a significant decline in the odds of healthcare workers getting infected with the coronavirus infection.

The ICMR study indicates that “simply initiating HCQ prophylaxis did not reduce the odds of acquiring Covid-19 infection among HCWs. However, with the intake of four or more maintenance doses of HCQ, the protective effect started emerging. A significant reduction of about 80 per cent in the odds of Covid-19 infection in the HCWs was identified with the intake of six or more doses of HCQ prophylaxis. This dose-response relationship added strength to the study outcomes.”

“Biologically, it appears plausible that HCQ prophylaxis, before the onset of infection, may inhibit the virus from gaining a foothold,” researchers said in the study.

The National Task Force for coronavirus in India recommended once a week maintenance dose for seven weeks i.e., 400 mg once every week, following the loading dose of 400 mg. Adherence to this recommended regimen is underlined by the findings of the study, researchers said.

Scientists who co-authored the study said, “It has been noticed that 4th week onwards there is a risk reduction of contracting the Covid-19 virus if the maintenance dosage is being taken as prescribed for seven weeks. Of course, this doesn’t rule out the risk minimisation of those frontline workers who are treating Covid-19 patients while wearing PPEs and taking further precautions.”

Data were collected from May 8 to May 23, 2020. Doctors, nurses, housekeeping staff, security guards as well as laboratory technicians and operation theatre technicians, tested between the first week of April 2020 and in the first week of May 2020, formed the sample pool from which cases and controls were drawn.

The sample size consisted of 378 symptomatic healthcare workers who tested positive for coronavirus. They were defined as cases. 373 symptomatic healthcare workers who tested negative were part of the control group. A total of 751 people formed the sample size for the study.

Of these, 58 per cent of the cases and about half of the controls were males.

“Of the 172 cases and 193 controls reporting HCQ intake, no significant difference in the occurrence of adverse drug reactions was noted,” the study noted.

The three most common side effects of HCQ as reported by the cases and controls were nausea (8 per cent), headache (5 per cent), and diarrhea (4 per cent). While none of the controls on HCQ complained of palpitations, only one case (1/172, 0.6 per cent) reported the same.

The study also revealed that gastrointestinal symptoms such as acidity and vomiting following HCQ intake ranged from 0.6 per cent in cases to about two per cent in controls. Very few cases (0.6%) and controls (1.4%) had skin rashes after consuming hydroxychloroquine.

The study also mentions how the international medical research looks at the use of hydroxychloroquine for treatment, like the Lancet Study that stated intake of the HCQ could lead to increased risk of mortality in coronavirus patients.

“While the observational study involving registry-analysis focussed on the treatment of hospitalised Covid-19 patients, our emphasis was on the prevention of infections among healthcare workers. In treatment settings, severe Covid-19 patients are likely to have a very high viral load and cytokine levels, which may not be improved by HCQ therapy. The registry-based analysis further recorded higher frequencies of ventricular arrhythmias in patients receiving HCQ. The toxicities of HCQ are likely to be infrequent in healthy groups undergoing prophylactic therapy as observed in our study participants. Biologically, it appears plausible that HCQ prophylaxis, before the onset of infection, may inhibit the virus from gaining a foothold.” it stated.

The study comes as a reckoner for the medical fraternity until the clinical trials on HCQ yield definitive results. “Until the results of clinical trials for HCQ prophylaxis become available, this study provides actionable information for policymakers to protect HCWs at the forefront of coronavirus response. The public health message of sustained intake of HCQ prophylaxis as well as appropriate PPE use need to be considered in conjunction with risk homeostasis operating at individual levels.” ICMR study stated.

June 5, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | | Leave a comment

Staggering Death Rate in 7 US States

American deaths per million equal or exceed Europe’s worst-hit nations in several locales

click to enlarge
By Donna Laframboise | Big Picture News | June 3, 2020

At first glance, the United States appears to have fared reasonably well during this pandemic. So far, 327 Americans have died of the coronavirus out of every one million in the population.

That’s according to official numbers. Which are all we have to work with at the moment. (There are solid reasons why official numbers should be viewed as provisional and inexact. See the bottom of the page here.)

If we compare its overall rate of 327 deaths per million to the hardest hit nations in Europe, America looks blessed. Belgium has experienced 820 deaths per million. Spain and the UK, 580.  Italy, 555.

But peer a bit closer, and another story emerges. America’s number is low because many parts of that country have (so far) been spared a serious outbreak. In places where the virus gained a foothold in the wider community, the death rate exceeds even the worst countries in Europe:

New York state: 1,546

New Jersey: 1,327

Connecticut: 1,114

Massachusetts: 1028

Rhode Island: 691

District of Columbia: 666

Louisiana: 611

Michigan: 556

This being an election year, some people are blaming US President Donald Trump, a Republican, for the lives lost. It’s worth observing, therefore, that the governor is a Democrat in six of the seven US states is which the death per million rate equals or surpasses Italy.

Likewise, the mayor of the District of Columbia is a Democrat. Only in Massachusetts is a Republican in charge.

June 4, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

As Trump vows to declare Antifa a ‘Terrorist Group,’ AG Barr equates rioting to domestic terrorism

RT | May 31, 2020

The US “will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” President Donald Trump has said. The move comes amid anti-police-brutality protests and riots gripping the country, which he has blamed on the “radical left.”

“The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” Trump tweeted on Sunday, offering no further explanation. One day earlier, Trump, as well as Attorney General William Barr, accused the loose-knit group of orchestrating rioting and looting across the country, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Monday.

If designated as a terrorist group, Antifa would join international groups like Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, as well as domestic organizations like the Aryan Nations and Black LIberation Army, on the government’s blacklist. Before the 9/11 attacks, the list was populated exclusively by foreign groups. However, the post-9/11 Patriot Act expanded the definition of “terrorism” to cover home-grown organizations.

Antifa – whose name is short for ‘antifascist’ – models itself on the European left-wing militias of the 1920s and 1930s. Rising to prominence since Trump’s election in 2016, the group is now known for attacking right-wing demonstrations and speeches, and instigating violence at rallies.

With riots gripping America’s major cities for the last five nights, reports of Antifa organizers directing rioters and providing them with weapons began to surface. Conservatives clamored for Trump to crack down on the militants, and Sunday’s tweet is the first indication that the president intends to do just that.

Immediately after Trump’s statement, Attorney General Barr announced that the Justice Department would use its network of 56 regional Joint Terrorism Task Forces to investigate “the violent radical agitators who have hijacked peaceful protest and are engaged in violations of federal law.”

“The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly,” a statement from Barr read.

While any forthcoming designation would make it easier to use counterterrorism legislation against violent protesters, targeting Antifa as a group would be a difficult proposition. The organization has no clearly-defined hierarchy or membership, and many disparate groups of leftist militants have used its imagery and slogans.

Some left-wing commenters accused the Trump administration of attempting to “criminalize dissent.” However, the alleged militants have come under scrutiny before, and in countries more liberal than the US. In Germany, where the ‘antifascist’ movement began in the 20th century, intelligence agencies closely monitor Antifa groups, and police union head Ranier Wendt has described their actions as “the basic definition of terrorism.”

May 31, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | , , | Leave a comment

Kabul ready to start intra-Afghan peace talks with Taliban: Abdullah

Press TV – May 30, 2020

A senior Afghan official tasked with leading the much-awaited intra-Afghan peace negotiations with the Taliban militant group says his team is ready to commence talks “at any moment” with the militants.

Abdullah Abdullah, the head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), made the comment on Saturday at his first press conference since taking the role, saying the lull in violence created by an unexpected truce offered by the Taliban had set the tone for starting the peace talks.

“The announcement of the ceasefire, a reduction in violence and the exchange of prisoners have all paved the way for a good beginning,” Abdullah said, adding, “The negotiating team is ready to begin the talks at any moment.”

After months of political crisis over the outcome of a disputed September presidential election, which declared Ashraf Ghani as the president for a second term, Abdullah, Ghani’s bitter rival, agreed to ink a power-sharing deal with the incumbent president.

Part of the agreement is that Abdullah henceforth heads Kabul’s negotiating team in its intra-Afghan peace talks with the Taliban militant group, which has already controls large parts of the war-torn country.

Kabul responded to the ceasefire by releasing some 1,000 Taliban inmates this week, and plans to further free an equal number of prisoners in the coming days.

The militant group, for its part, has said that it plans to release another group of government prisoners. The Taliban have so far freed around 300 Afghan security force personnel.

The Taliban-proposed three-day ceasefire was held over the Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Although the truce, in effect from Sunday through Tuesday, maintained relative peace across the country, it was soon followed by deadly attacks on security forces.

Afghan officials blamed the attacks on the Taliban.

A peace deal inked between the United States and the Taliban on February 28 stipulated that the Taliban stop their attacks on foreign forces in return for the US military’s phased withdrawal from Afghanistan and also a prisoner exchange between the group and the government in Kabul, which was excluded from the talks.

The prisoner swap is regarded as a confidence-building move ahead of long-awaited peace talks between Kabul and the militant group, which rejected a government offer of truce for the duration of Ramadan and continued its attacks.

Nearly 14,000 US troops and 17,000 troops from NATO allies and partner countries remain stationed in Afghanistan years after the invasion of the country that toppled a Taliban regime in 2001.

May 30, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | | Leave a comment

How the U.S. response to COVID-19 failed and caused thousands of deaths

CGTN | May 25, 2020

There have been over 1.6 million #coronavirus cases and nearly 100,000 deaths in the U.S. While many countries are gradually recovering, no turning point for the pandemic in America is on the sight.

Lots of people are shocked at how America, the largest economy in the world, and a great country in the eyes of many, has got to this point. So to find out what led to this mess, let’s back up a little and take a look at the timeline.

May 25, 2020 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

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