UK doctor suspended over posts praising slain Hamas and Hezbollah leaders as ‘legends’
MEMO | January 1, 2025
Dr Rehiana Ali, a British neurologist, was been suspended last week by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) following complaints about social media posts on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The interim suspension, lasting 18 months and subject to review, prevents her from practising medicine pending a full investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC).
Abductions, extra-judicial killings surge in Syria under HTS rule: Report
Press TV – January 1, 2025
A new report says violence has surged in Syria under the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule, with approximately 400 kidnappings and extra-judicial killings since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government in early December.
Sputnik news agency, citing medical sources, reported on Tuesday that most of the victims who were abducted or killed across Syria were members of the Alawite minority religious group, as acts of revenge continue in the Arab country.
The news agency, citing local sources, also noted that six civilians were kidnapped by unknown gunmen in the Abbasiya neighborhood of the city of Homs on Monday.
“Their bodies were found after they were executed by firing squad” on the outskirts of the city, it said, adding that “five of them were from the same family.”
The sources further stated that the bodies of three people who were abducted by an armed group two weeks ago were found in the coastal city of Jableh.
The fate of four young men who were also kidnapped by masked gunmen riding two four-wheel drive vehicles in Homs is also unknown, the sources added.
According to Sputnik, a further 15 people have also been kidnapped in the western port city of Latakia in the past 48 hours.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported that the HTS militant group has carried out a raid in the town of Ras al-Ma’arra in the Damascus countryside, killing its mayor, and arresting 30 people.
On December 8, militants, led by the HTS, took control of Damascus and declared an end to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule in a surprise offensive that was launched from their stronghold in northwestern Syria, reaching the capital in less than two weeks.
The HTS has repeatedly claimed it would respect the rights of all sects and religions in Syria.
The situation, however, remains very fragile, with a potential risk of further clashes as sectarian sentiments continue to boil over, amid the ongoing political instability and pressure on minority groups.
Over 750 people killed in Syria throughout 2024: Report
Separately on Monday, the UK-based SOHR reported that Daesh terrorists had killed around 753 people during 491 recorded operations in Syria throughout 2024.
The report stated that Daesh continues “executing almost-daily military operations and counter-attacks” in areas controlled by the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), while the terrorist group’s cells “are still able to exploit opportunities to create a security vacuum and carry out assassinations.”
This clearly indicates that the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group “is still alive and kicking,” it added.
According to the report, these operations included ambushes, armed attacks, and bombing which were concentrated in the northern cities of Aleppo, Hama, Raqqa, the central city of Homs and the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, where a total of 646 people were killed.
It further noted that at least 78 of those killed were civilians, including women and children, while 568 were members of defected Syrian Arab Army (SAA).
Furthermore, another 107 people were killed in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led SDF in Dayr al-Zawr, Hasakah, Aleppo, and Raqqah, the report said.
This comes as concerns are growing over the fate of 10,000 Daesh terrorists imprisoned by the SDF in northeast Syria as the terrorist group continues to revitalize its forces.
The HTS leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, has not commented on the crisis since seizing power in December.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-sponsored militancy since March 2011.
The former Damascus government blamed Western states and their regional allies for aiding terrorist groups to wreak havoc in the Arab country.
Ukraine Violates Draft Rights, Restricts Religious Freedom, and Tortures PoWs – UN Report
Sputnik – 01.01.2025
Ukraine has been violating its own constitution by unduly restricting the right to conscientious objection to military service during mobilization, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a report published on Tuesday.
“The right to conscientious objection to military service has continued to be subjected to undue restrictions in law and practice … Domestic law in Ukraine unduly restricts this Constitutional right only to some forms of religion or belief, excluding others, contrary to applicable obligations of equality before the law and non-discrimination under the ICCPR,” the report said.
For example, five men faced arbitrary detention and torture in Ukraine for attempting to exercise their right to conscientious objection to military service, the UN rights watchdog said.
“During the reporting period, OHCHR documented the cases of five men who were assigned to military duty and transferred to a military training facility after attempting to exercise their right of conscientious objection to military service. In all cases, the men were arbitrarily detained between two to four days by military personnel responsible for conscription and subjected to ill-treatment or torture.” the report said.
Religious Freedom Under Attack
The UN report also found that Ukraine’s new legal provisions restricted religious freedoms by prohibiting the Russian Orthodox Church.
“In territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine, new legal provisions regarding religious organizations entered into force; these prohibit the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian religious organizations found to be affiliated with counterparts in the Russian Federation. The law introducing these provisions established disproportionate restrictions on the freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief,” the report read.
Torture of PoWs
Furthermore, almost all Russian PoWs in Ukraine interviewed by the UN from September to November 2024 were subjected to torture, the report said. Fourteen soldiers were subjected to sexual violence.
“During the reporting period, OHCHR interviewed 25 Russian POWs in Ukrainian internment facilities, including in the newly opened camp ‘Zakhid-4’ in Lviv [Lvov] city. All but one reported experiencing torture or ill-treatment in 2024 at one or several stages of captivity,” the OHCHR said.
The UN agency said it verified the killing by first-person-view drones of three Russian and one Ukrainian servicepersons who were “hors de combat” and severely wounded on the battlefield. It cited drone video footage that showed a heavily wounded, unarmed Russian serviceman being killed by a drone while lying on the ground.
Israel’s collateral killing of civilians is finally in the spotlight
The New York Times’ recent “bombshell” presents facts that have been known for a long time – and does its best to sanitize them
By Robert Inlakesh | RT | December 30, 2024
The New York Times recently published a piece admitting that an unprecedented amount of “collateral damage” was permitted by the Israeli military. However, it omits key statistics that were previously revealed in order to sanitize the revelations it claims to be uncovering.
Presented as a bombshell piece, the December 26 article reveals that Israel had sent through an order that permitted killing up to 20 civilians for each low-level Hamas target. “The order, which has not previously been reported, had no precedent in Israeli military history,” the article reads.
However, in early April of 2024, an Israeli media outlet called +972 Magazine had not only published this fact, citing sources within Israel’s military, but uncovered much more damning figures detailing what was to be considered “acceptable” collateral damage.
The +972 article revealed that the Israeli airstrike that killed Hamas’ Shujaiya Battalion Commander, Wisam Farhat, was authorized to kill 100 civilians. Even more shocking was the infamous case of Ayman Nofal, the commander of Hamas’ Central Gaza Brigade, where, according to the sources, “the army authorized the killing of approximately 300 civilians.”
The +972 report was mentioned in passing by The New York Times, with the caveat that Israel’s military had denied it. However, +972 Mag’s investigative work on this topic did not begin in April. In fact, a piece published in November of 2023 cited a source who claimed the following:
“The numbers increased from dozens of civilian deaths [permitted] as collateral damage as part of an attack on a senior official in previous operations, to hundreds of civilian deaths as collateral damage.”
So, while a big deal is made of the fact that such high numbers of collateral damage have “no precedent in Israeli military history,” the IDF has been knowingly writing off civilians as collateral damage for years. One need only look at literally any UN report on Israel’s past military conduct to see it.
It isn’t only in Gaza that such horrendous “collateral damage” has been normalized, it has also been the case in Lebanon. When Israel carried out the assassination of Hezbollah’s Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, it openly announced that it estimated the total death toll to be around 300, as a result of leveling a number of civilian buildings in southern Beirut.
There is literally nothing in the article published by The New York Times that is new; all it does is affirm what has already been reported, yet it is done in a way that works to water the killings down by omitting key facts and repeating old tropes.
For example, it repeats as proven fact the widespread allegation that Hamas purposely embeds itself amongst civilians to use them as human shields, a point that has been found at least questionable before.
What is undeniable however, is that Israel uses Palestinians as human shields, as has been copiously documented throughout the war and used to be an accepted part of Israel’s military doctrine.
“From November 2023 onward, amid a global outcry, Israel began to conserve ammunition and tighten some of its rules of engagement, including by halving the number of civilians who could be endangered when striking low-ranked militants who posed no imminent threat” states the NYT. The question here is, where did this information come from? According to the article itself, the sources are all Israeli soldiers and officials.
The only evidence presented is the words of the Israelis. Was there any analysis done or examples cited to prove that the IDF would only kill ten civilians on average for every low-ranking Hamas fighter? Absolutely not, because not even Israel can present this information to the public, nor the names of the thousands of supposed “Hamas fighters” it has targeted.
If we go by Israel’s official figures for the number of alleged Hamas militants killed, they rise at such a rate that it doesn’t match the death toll figures accepted by the United Nations. While the official death toll in Gaza is nearly 46,000, with 10,000 missing and presumed dead, the only way Israeli “Hamas fighter” figures make sense is if the toll is much higher. However, accepting a higher death toll in order to give Israel’s claims about Hamas fighters more legitimacy would mean that The New York Times would face another issue: they would then have to wrestle with the fact that the killing only escalated in November of 2023.
In addition to this all, the +972 article from April 3 provides a much more in-depth insight into the artificial intelligence systems used by the Israeli army and points out that the targets it generated were highly inaccurate. The investigation discovered that when the Lavender system chose junior Hamas targets, the Israeli army would actually use its more lethal unguided munitions, because “you don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people.”
Furthermore, +972 noted that while a human has to verify targets chosen by the AI before a strike is ordered, eventually this boiled down to simply making sure the target is male – spending about 20 seconds on average before pulling the trigger.
Nowhere in the New York Times article is there any mention of the slaughter of civilians where no military target is located, there is no mention of the mass torture, sexual abuse, or demolition of homes for the pure vanity of soldiers. Everything is framed as a military that went a little overboard after the Hamas-led October 7 attack.
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the Palestinian territories and currently works with Quds News. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’.
Female Palestinian journalist shot dead as PA forces raid Jenin refugee camp
Deceased Palestinian journalist Shaza al-Sabbagh
Press TV – December 29, 2024
A female Palestinian journalist has been killed after she was shot in the head during a raid by the Palestinian Authority (PA) forces at the Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.
The family of Shaza al-Sabbagh said their daughter was on the way to a grocery store when she was directly shot from a PA forces military point located near their house.
A spokesman for the PA’s so-called security forces, Colonel Anwar Rajab, claimed in a statement that the troops were not present in the area at the time of the shooting.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says the death of Shaza al-Sabbagh, who was reportedly studying journalism at al-Quds Open University, has to be investigated.
The group called for an independent committee to be formed “to uncover the truth, hold the killers accountable, and ensure they do not escape punishment.”
Sabbagh is the eleventh person to be killed since PA forces started an offensive in the Jenin refugee camp three weeks ago to root out what it calls “lawless elements.”
Earlier this month, the Hamas resistance movement condemned PA forces for killing a commander of the fellow Islamic Jihad group during a raid in the occupied West Bank, warning that such actions will aggravate the years-long rift among Palestinian factions.
The Gaza-based movement, in a statement released on December 14, expressed its condolences over the shooting death of Yazid Jaya’isa, a leader of the Jenin Brigade, in the Jenin refugee camp.
It said that PA forces’ targeting of resistance figures falls within the framework of the crimes of the occupying Israeli regime.
Hamas called the attack “a disgraceful act” that will deepen internal divisions at a critical moment in the Palestinian struggle.
Hamas also warned that the ongoing pursuit of resistance fighters would only fuel internal conflict at a time when unity is most needed.
Syria’s terrorist rulers committing ethnic cleansing in Christian town: Rights group
Press TV – December 29, 2024
A rights advocacy organization says Christians have been threatened by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group to evacuate the southwestern Syrian town of Maaloula, in what has been decried as an act of ethnic cleansing.
“Syrian Christians in the ancient Christian town of Maaloula, Syria, are being threatened to leave the town by the AlQaeda/ISIS terrorists that have taken over Syria,” the Iraqi Christian Foundation said in a post on X on Sunday.
“An ethnic cleansing is happening in this ancient Christian town where Aramaic is still spoken. Pray for the Christians of Syria,” the rights organization added.
The mission of the Iraqi Christian Foundation is to advocate for the human, legal, and political rights of Iraqi Christians and other Christians across the West Asia region.
The organization also provides humanitarian aid to Iraqi and Syrian Christian genocide victims.
Other rights activists earlier warned about the lack of Internet access or communication and the unfolding of a massacre in Maaloula, the last town in Syria where Aramaic — Jesus Christ’s language — is still spoken.
The HTS administration, which led the onslaught that toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government earlier this month, has repeatedly claimed to respect the beliefs and rights of all sects and religions in Syria.
Tens of thousands took to the streets in Latakia, Tartus, Homs, Hama, and Qardaha in condemnation of the militants’ desecration of an Alawite shrine in Aleppo last week, but the HTS violently attacked them, leading to deadly confrontations.
The HTS is among the militant organizations that have taken on Syria over the past dozen years with massively deadly and devastating effects on the country’s people.
Since March 2011, Syria has been gripped by a campaign of militancy and destruction sponsored by the US and its allies.
The Vindication of William Bay
Health Advisory & Recovery Team | December 27, 2024
Australia was one of the most authoritarian countries in the world from 2020 onward. This week, however, we can celebrate a victory that reflects what Australians used to epitomize – no-nonsense courage and jovial determination.
The story begins in 2018, when Dr. William Bay foresaw the dangers of the Medical Board seeking to regulate doctors’ speech.
Dr. Bay stood firm against COVID restrictions, vaccine mandates, and the limiting of treatment options. But it was in 2022 that he caused quite the stir. At an Australian Medical Association (AMA) Conference he interrupted a lecture, calling out the attending doctors for their silence on vaccine harms. It was a scene to remember: doctors, masked and seated at round white tables, began standing up one by one, walking out in quiet protest. Dr. Bay was then escorted out by security. When asked how he managed to get in, his response was simply: “I’m a doctor!” The footage of his exit remains iconic and worth watching.
As seems to be the theme with dissenters, Dr. Bay was reported anonymously to the regulator. The complaint had nothing to do with his conduct as a doctor – in fact, he had an unblemished professional record. Yet, the Medical Board of Australia, under the supervision of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), suspended him.
Dr. Bay’s case highlights systemic failures within AHPRA and the Medical Board, particularly around free speech, informed consent, and medical autonomy. Under AHPRA’s 2021 position statement, health practitioners were pressured to align strictly with public health messaging, risking regulatory action if they shared views—on or off social media—that contradicted official vaccine campaigns. This created a chilling effect, stifling doctors’ professional independence and undermining their ability to provide balanced information, a cornerstone of free and informed consent for patients. Compounding this issue, AHPRA strongly encouraged — some would say coerced — doctors themselves to be vaccinated, eroding their personal autonomy to make medical decisions. In their overreach, AHPRA not only failed to respect informed consent but also demonstrated a lack of understanding of their own regulations, which are designed to safeguard patient choice and professional integrity. Dr. Bay’s courageous stand not only challenged these failures but reaffirmed the importance of free speech, informed consent, and ethical medical practice in patient care.
In June 2023, he lost his case in the High Court and was ordered to pay costs to AHPRA. Despite these setbacks, Dr. Bay – representing himself throughout – refused to give up.
His story then took a remarkable turn. As a Christian, Dr. Bay recounts a pivotal moment when he felt God instruct him to draft an amended application focusing on procedural fairness and bias and keep it ready, even though it seemed unnecessary at the time. On the final day of the appeal, the judge remarked that Bay had made excellent points on procedural issues but noted they weren’t in his original application. When Dr. Bay asked if he could submit an amendment, the judge agreed – on the condition that it be completed over the lunch break. No problem there – Bay delivered.
The case revealed a significant breach of fairness. Dr. Anne Tonkin, then Chair of the Medical Board of Australia, was present at the Australian Medical Association (AMA) National Conference where Dr. William Bay interrupted proceedings to voice his criticisms. During this event, Dr. Tonkin discussed the possibility of filing a complaint with Associate Professor Julian Rait, the AMA Chair at the time. Subsequently, Associate Professor Rait submitted a complaint regarding Dr. Bay’s conduct. Dr. Tonkin later chaired the Medical Board meeting that decided to suspend Dr. Bay’s medical registration.
On December 13, 2024, the Brisbane Supreme Court overturned the suspension, backdating the decision to when it originally occurred. Justice Thomas Bradley ruled that AHPRA and the Medical Board acted with bias and failed to afford Dr. Bay procedural fairness. The judge went further, condemning the regulators for their “animus” and “combative approach” toward Dr. Bay, noting their inability to prove that he had breached any laws or guidelines.
As a result, Dr. Bay’s suspension was lifted, and he was reinstated with costs awarded against AHPRA and the Medical Board. Notably, Bay’s costs were minimal – he had represented himself.
Now free to speak, he is continuing to voice his concerns in the style of a true Aussie lad, “I think the vaccines are shit, mate. They’re absolute shit.”
Dr. Bay’s triumph is not just personal; it sets a powerful precedent for doctors across Australia, and, we can hope, beyond. This ruling safeguards their right to speak freely, prioritize patient welfare, and challenge overreaching authorities without fear of retribution.
In the spirit of the “Aussie lad,” Dr. William Bay has shown what courage, conviction, and persistence can achieve – a victory for truth, justice, and freedom.
New York Governor Hochul Signs Controversial Online Safety Bill, Renewing Free Speech Concerns
By Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net | December 28, 2024
A controversial legislative package signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul is likely to once again ignite concerns over free speech; as critics argue – just like the last time she tried to enact such legislation – it promotes censorship under the guise of online safety. Among the measures is S895B/A6789B, a bill mandating social media companies disclose their terms of service regarding so-called “hate speech” and submit detailed reports to the state attorney general.
We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.
In a press release, Hochul’s office borrowed a turn from the pro-censorship UK government and touted the legislation as a step toward “Online Safety,” but many see it as a tool for stifling expression. The term “hate speech,” often deployed in ambiguous and subjective ways, has frequently been used to suppress dissenting opinions. This bill empowers both government entities and social media giants to arbitrarily regulate speech.
Assemblymember Grace Lee (D-District 65), a vocal proponent of the legislation, justified the measures by citing the spread of information during the COVID-19 pandemic. She argued that “hate and disinformation” were spreading like “wildfire,” necessitating stricter controls.
Lee further criticized Big Tech for failing to adequately police content, stating, “These companies have a responsibility to protect users from this hate, but have failed to do so.”
Similarly, NY State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-District 47) framed his support for the bill in language emphasizing identity-based violence and discrimination. Hoylman-Sigal asserted that social media companies must act to prevent the spread of “disinformation and hate-fueled violence.”
He even pointed to the events of January 6, 2021, as evidence of the alleged dangers posed by unmoderated online speech, suggesting these platforms bear responsibility for addressing such issues.
Opponents of the legislation view these arguments as a pretext for imposing sweeping censorship measures. They argue that handing more control over speech to government officials and powerful corporations undermines fundamental freedoms.
Critics of this latest measure draw parallels to an earlier law championed by Hochul that was blocked by a federal court. The law, enacted last summer, sought to regulate “hateful conduct” online by requiring social media platforms to implement mechanisms for reporting content deemed “hateful.”
The broad definition of “hateful conduct,” which included content that could “vilify, humiliate, or incite violence” based on various identity categories, raised alarm among free speech advocates.
The legislation faced a legal challenge from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), free speech platform Rumble, and First Amendment scholar Eugene Volokh. Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. of the Southern District of New York struck down the law, citing its chilling effect on constitutionally protected speech.
“The First Amendment protects from state regulation speech that may be deemed ‘hateful,’ and generally disfavors regulation of speech based on its content unless it is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest,” the court ruled. It further emphasized that the law compelled social media networks to adopt speech policies aligned with the state’s definitions, violating their editorial discretion and the First Amendment.
Telegram blocking Russian media in EU
RT | December 28, 2024
The Telegram channels of multiple major Russian news outlets were rendered inaccessible across the EU on Sunday. The affected channels now display a plaque stating that access to them has been restricted over alleged “violation of local laws,” with all the content unavailable.
According to media reports, the affected channels include such Russian majors as RIA Novosti, Izvestia, Rossiya 1, Channel One, NTV and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. While it was not immediately clear whether the bans are EU-wide, the restrictions have been reportedly rolled out in Poland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy and the Czech Republic.
The EU has taken multiple hostile steps against Russian media amid the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev – and even before it. Some of the media affected in the apparent Telegram ban, namely Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Izvestia and RIA Novosti, were slapped with a broadcasting ban in the bloc in May. At the time, the EU Council claimed the outlets were under the “permanent direct or indirect control” of the Russian leadership, and played an “essential and instrumental” role in the hostilities.
No official statements have so far been made on the matter, either by Telegram, the EU as a whole or by individual members of the bloc.
How Speaking Out Against Harmful COVID Policies Can Get You Banned by the NHS
The story of a bizarre punishment
By MJ Sutherland | Health Advisory & Recovery Team | December 27, 2024
It’s been an incredible journey.
At the end of July 2021, I walked out of a well-paid job with Dumfries & Galloway Council. I resigned in protest—against fraudulent COVID testing, child maltreatment through misuse of tests and enforcement of mask mandates, and the complete disregard for their lack of authority to do any of it. What they were doing to Other People’s Children in schools was indefensible, and I wasn’t going to stay silent. Later I forced them to admit, via the Scottish Information Commissioner, that they had no legal authority for any of it. I’d long since left the council by this time.
At first, the threats were thinly veiled: hints that speaking out could jeopardise my job, suggestions that I should “be careful” what I said, because “we don’t want to lose you…” But when I refused to back down, their tactics became more direct. I was accused of spreading misinformation—despite providing mountains of evidence—and warned that my activism could “damage my reputation.” It was clear they wanted me to stop asking questions. I didn’t, and after being warned about my “behaviour” once too often, I walked out – but not before sending a damning email to hundreds, if not thousands, of council workers, accusing the council’s top brass of fraud, misfeasance and child abuse.
By October 2021, I was working with Phil Hyland of PJH Law, and together we sent the council a formal letter warning them of the crimes they’d be complicit in if they continued. It still feels surreal that I got to be part of that. I’d already sent similar notices and detailed evidence to the local health board, but both the council and NHS ignored everything I submitted.
Then, in December 2021, things escalated when an NHS “Consultant in Public Health” closed a local primary school, forcing children into self-isolation until they could produce a negative PCR test before they could return. Knowing the truth about these tests—their inaccuracies, their misuse—I couldn’t stay quiet. This wasn’t just bad policy; it was child abuse. We issued a Notice to Cease and Desist to Dr Regina McDevitt. We attached the PJH Law letter we’d sent to the council, along with the evidence pack detailing the harm these policies were causing.
This time, there was a reaction. But instead of addressing the harm to children or engaging with the evidence, NHS Dumfries & Galloway’s CEO, Jeff Ace, decided instead to ban me from all NHS premises for six months.
This was a bizarre move, especially since I hadn’t set foot in an NHS building for years. I was still entitled to go for medical appointments (although I had none), but presumably not allowed to visit patients, although I didn’t know anyone in hospital at the time, so no difference there. I was still entitled to submit FOI requests as I had been doing, but presumably not allowed to protest by waving placards outside NHS buildings, which I wasn’t doing anyway. But, as pointless and absurd as it may be, banned I was.
I can only suspect Jeff’s motive was to to feel better about himself, like he’d actually achieved something, but here’s the irony: while they were busy “punishing” me, they quietly dropped the requirement for children to produce negative PCR tests before returning to school. So, in the end, something got through. But the message was clear: dissent would not be tolerated.
Since then, I’ve kept busy. I’ve been prodding, poking, and shining a light on the fraud and abuse that fuelled the covid tyranny. This wasn’t just about masks or tests; it was about the false claims of authority that let these institutions get away with it all.
Last year, I had the honour of being interviewed by Dr Ahmad Malik about my activism. We discussed the council’s capitulation on masks, the informed consent documents I created, and how this fight has unfolded. And now, HART have invited me to share my story as someone who chose the difficult path by communicating the truth about covid policies and their effects.
Looking back, I’m pleased to say that the threats didn’t stop me. Neither did losing my career. And while I’ve chosen that difficult path, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Like I said, it’s been an incredible journey.
MJ Sutherland
Founder of Declaration of Dumfries
Global Engagement Center officially shuts down, but censorship efforts likely to persist through State Department offices
By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | December 27, 2024
“The GEC is dead – long live the GEC!” That would be one way to summarize the situation around the US State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) that has formally shut down.
But judging by previous announcements, the move could prove to be by and large symbolic, as there are plans to continue the work by funding it, and assigning the 120 GEC staff to other offices and bureaus.
And the work has included surveilling Americans and flagging their social media posts for censorship in the US, critics have said.
Many Republican lawmakers have been among those critics over the previous years, and so has Elon Musk, who in 2023 did not shy away from branding GEC as “a threat to our democracy” – as the worst among the government entities that engaged in censorship and media manipulation.
Musk, who is now set to become a member of President Trump’s administration, and others raised the alarm when it came to light that the recent spending bill proposal included continued bankrolling of the GEC.
The GEC launched in 2016 and has been repeatedly accused and investigated as essentially an example of a “policy gun” supposedly designed to tackle foreign disinformation challenges, that the outgoing administration turned on its own citizens, threatening their right to free speech online.
The end of GEC as such came with the spending bill passed last week in Congress removing the approximately $61 million in funding that the agency received every year.
When it comes to “the next steps” regarding staff and unfinished GEC projects, the State Department said it was “consulting” with Congress on these issues.
The State Department now on its way out has insisted that the GEC worked to counter Russian, Chinese, etc., disinformation.
But one of the House investigations that looked into the activities of the agency, conducted by the Committee on Small Business, looked into the ways the government funded companies who then damaged competitiveness of small businesses online because of their lawful speech.
The GEC also shows up in an interim report by the House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government as coordinating with third parties to censor Americans ahead of the 2020 election.
Syrians take to streets nationwide against shrine desecration; HTS militants fire on protesters
Press TV – December 26, 2024
Protests have erupted across Syria over militants’ desecration of an Alawite shrine in Aleppo, with armed groups belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) opening fire on protesters.
Tens of thousands took to the streets in Latakia, Tartus, Homs, Hama, and Qardaha on Wednesday, resulting in violent confrontations.
Protesters came out after video was circulated on social networks showing a fire inside the shrine of Sheikh Abu Abdullah al-Hussein al-Khasibi in Aleppo, with armed men walking inside and killing the guards of the shrine, an incident that has drawn strong condemnation from the Alawite minority.
According to reports from local sources, the protests were spread after armed individuals opened fire on protesters in Homs, resulting in the death of one person and injury of five others.
Video footage circulating on social media captured the moment when the armed groups targeted peaceful demonstrators expressing their outrage over the attack on the historical Alawite figure’s shrine.
The violence continued in the coastal city of Tartus, where deadly clashes broke out between members of the HTS administration’s “interior ministry” and protesters.
In addition to the protests against the attack on the shrine, demonstrators in the city of Masyaf, located in the northwestern countryside of Hama, condemned the assassination of three Alawite judges, which occurred just a day before.
Some residents said the demonstrations were linked to pressure and violence in recent days aimed at members of the Alawite minority.
According to Syrian media outlets, a curfew was imposed from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Thursday in Homs while authorities in Jableh and two other cities also announced a nighttime curfew.
The new Syrian “Interior Ministry” claimed on its Telegram account that video footage of the shrine’s destruction was outdated and related to earlier conflicts during the takeover of Aleppo in late November.
However, this assertion has not quelled the public anger, as thousands gathered in protests, demanding justice to be done for the perpetrators of the attacks on their religious heritage.
Alawites are increasingly concerned about potential reprisals against their community, stemming from their status as a minority religious group and their historical ties to the al-Assad family, including ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
Moreover, on Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators protested in Christian areas of Damascus against the burning of a Christmas tree near Syria’s Hama. The HTS promised to restore it promptly.
The country’s new leaders have repeatedly pledged to hold accountable those responsible for the desecration of religious sites, claiming that they will respect the beliefs and rights of all sects and religions in Syria.
The situation remains very fluid and fragile, with potential risk for further clashes as sectarian sentiments continue to boil over amid the ongoing political instability and pressures on minority groups.
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Book Review
The Greatest Threat to World Peace? A Review of Daniele Ganser’s ‘USA: The Ruthless Empire’
Review by Marilyn Langlois | November 10, 2023
If you regard the United States as perhaps flawed but overall a force for good in the world . . .
If you scoff at the notion that the US, a republic founded on principles of freedom and democracy, has morphed into a world empire, perpetrating assassinations, coups d’état, acts of terror and illegal warfare . . .
If you want to promote peace but haven’t yet explored deceptive events that precipitate US warmongering . . .
. . . here is a volume that will clear the air and paint an honest picture of the significant, not-so-rosy impact US foreign policy and actions have had in the world around us.
USA: The Ruthless Empire, by Swiss historian and peace researcher Daniele Ganser, is the newly published English language translation of his book Imperium USA, originally written in German and published in 2020. Here is a summary of key points — including some lesser-known ones — along with remedies for a more peaceful future, that are covered in the book. … continue
Blog Roll
Aletho News- US bill to grant Americans serving in Israeli army same rights as US troops
- What a president, a movie star, a congressman, and a cell phone all dared to say
- ‘An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership’: Merz
- Pakistan Throws Open Its Gates for Iran’s Transit Trade to Third Countries
- Iran to charge ships passing Strait of Hormuz in rial: Lawmaker
- Talks would resume if US accepts 3-phase framework Iran put forward
- Israeli forces raid Syria’s Dara’a, Quneitra countryside, set up checkpoints
- IRGC says to reverse engineer 15 undetonated US missiles uncovered in southern Iran
- Liberation From War
- Major fire erupts at UK base used for US bombers
- If Americans Knew
- Israel escalates in Gaza: killing, torture, hunger – Daily Update
- Six Months into Gaza Ceasefire, Setting the Record Straight About Aid
- ‘Silent suffering’: Why children in Gaza are losing their ability to speak
- In Gaza, 17,000 infections linked to rodents and external parasites – Daily Update
- Lobby group taking journalists on propaganda tours of Israel
- The Shattered Figure of Jesus Is Not an Exception. It’s a Pattern
- Israel’s idea of ceasefire includes killing 21 in one day – Daily Update
- Christians in Israel and Palestine, past and present
- Israel eager to restart Iran war, Gaza genocide – Daily Update
- Meet the Top “Content” Producers Linked to Canary Mission
- No Tricks Zone
- New Study: Extreme Heat Records, Heatwaves, Extreme Cold Records Declining Across US Since 1899
- It’s The Cold, Stupid! Cold 20 Times More Lethal Than Heat, Multiple Studies Show
- European Institute For Climate And Energy: “Climate Debate is Seldom About Science”
- New Study: The Climate May Be 5 Times More Sensitive To Solar Forcing Than Commonly Assumed
- EV Industry Reached $70 Billion In Losses In 2024 Due To Delusional Green Ideologies
- Reality Check: Maldives Have Actually Grown In Size Or Remained Stable Over Recent Decades
- Abrupt Climate Change Also Occurred NATURALLY In The Past …25 Times During Last Ice Age
- Cave Discovery Reveals Today’s Desert Climates Were Recently Far Warmer, Wetter, Teeming With Life
- German Expert: Heat Dome Led To Record Temps In Western USA…Warmer In 1934, 1936
- New Study: No Linear Warming Or Glacier Retreat Along Northern Antarctic Peninsula Since 1980s
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