An announcement by US President Donald Trump that he is shutting down video app TikTok has sent netizens into panic mode, with some going as far as predicting that the move, bound to enrage Generation Z, will cost him an election.
Trump announced his decision to ban the popular Chinese video-sharing app in the US while talking to reporters on board Air Force One on Friday.
The Trump administration has previously hinted that it was mulling the ban, with the US president repeatedly voicing alarm about TikTok and other Chinese entities harvesting American data. However, it was unclear if he would go through with the move until the very last moment in light of reports earlier on Friday that Microsoft was eyeing to buy the video app from Chinese firm ByteDance.
The decision has therefore sent shockwaves across Twitter, with online pundits predicting huge blowback for Trump from incensed teenagers – the principal users of the platform which is especially popular with young people.
As the hashtag #GenZ shot to the top of Twitter's trends, some suggested the move might even cost him reelection in November.
“Trump banning TikTok would be the best gift he can give the Democrats this election,” political activist Linda Sarsour, who was the co-chair of the 2019 Women's March, tweeted.
Trump banning TikTok would be the best gift he can give the Democrats this election.
“Gen Z and TikTok stans should retaliate by organizing the biggest Get Out The Vote campaign ever,” said the founder of Voters of Tomorrow, a self-described non-partisan, non-profit and youth-led organization “inspired by movements such as March For Our Lives and Fridays For Futures.”
Gen Z and TikTok stans should retaliate by organizing the biggest Get Out The Vote campaign ever. pic.twitter.com/IqrgHibx0J
California Rep. Karen Bass, thought to be on the shortlist of potential running mates for Joe Biden, has appeared in a resurfaced clip giving a glowing speech to a new Scientology church – a group widely deemed a predatory “cult.”
Dated from the 2010 ribbon-cutting ceremony at a newly renovated Scientology church in Los Angeles, Bass is seen lavishing praise on the group’s founder L. Ron Hubbard, who parlayed a faltering career as a science fiction writer into a successful new religious movement, starting with his 1950 work ‘Dianetics.’
“As both a leader in our state legislature, and a representative of Los Angeles, my goal has been a simple one: To actually make a difference,” Bass tells a teeming crowd in the video, set to a cheesy soundtrack befitting a 1990s informercial.
That is why the words are exciting, of your founder L. Ron Hubbard, in the creed of Scientology, that all people of whatever race, color or creed are created with equal rights.
This video was obviously leaked by somebody suffering from Xenuphobia. https://t.co/yRHAoniuXs
Bass, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, is now one of the top candidates for Biden’s VP pick, CNN reported, citing dozens of interviews with Biden allies, lawmakers and Democratic Party insiders. California Senator Kamala Harris and former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice are also thought to be high on the list.
The church of Scientology has come under intense criticism in the decades since its founding in 1953, not long after the publication of ‘Dianetics.’ While the group offers a range of community services, including counseling and drug rehab, former members have described a cult-like atmosphere in the movement, including organized harassment of those deemed “suppressive” or critics of the church, which retains a veritable army of aggressive lawyers. The church is also known for a heavily money-driven approach to ‘worship,’ in which adherents are asked to shell out thousands of dollars on therapy-like “auditing” sessions, which are required to advance to higher stages in the organization.
Among a long series of controversies spanning decades, the church has been implicated in criminal activities including a plot to infiltrate the US government to destroy unflattering records on Hubbard, who spent years of his life evading the Internal Revenue Service. Dubbed “Operation Snow White,” it has been described as one of the largest domestic spying operations in US history, involving thousands of church members.
US President Donald Trump has vowed to prohibit the Chinese-owned video sharing platform TikTok in the United States, saying that he might do this via an executive order the next day, amid allegations of IP theft by Beijing.
“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One on Friday, according to NBC News, adding that he may do so as early as Saturday. Trump indicated that he might use an executive order or invoke emergency powers to effect the ban.
I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order or that.
The proposal comes just hours after reports earlier on Friday that Microsoft was involved in talks to acquire the video app from Chinese firm ByteDance, a purchase Trump has reportedly opposed. Both Microsoft and ByteDance declined to comment on the matter, however.
The news of Trump banning the app, which is especially popular with teenagers, has sparked a meme fest on Twitter.
US President Donald Trump has said that “it would be great” if Moscow and Washington agreed on a new nuclear non-proliferation deal. The admission comes after rare phone talks between the Russian and US leaders last week.
Trump has not provided any details as to the current state of the negotiations, which have been underway for quite some time.
Last Thursday, Trump held a rare phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which the two touched on a range of issues, among them the New Start Treaty, the last standing pillar upholding the nuclear arms control framework in the post-Cold War era.
The treaty, which came into force in 2011, was aimed at curbing the nuclear arsenals of the US and Russia by a third and limiting each side to having no more than 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and strategic bombers. The number of deployed warheads was capped at 1,550, while the countries pledged to maintain no more than 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers.
The fate of the crucial arms control agreement has been hanging in the balance, with the Trump administration previously indicating that it wants the existing deal, which expires next year, to be replaced by a three-way agreement between US, Russia and China.
Hopes that the bilateral agreement could be salvaged despite the US stance resurfaced back in June, when the US and Russia agreed to hold arms control consultations in Vienna. However, the marathon talks that took place in the Austrian capital on June 22 largely fell through, and saw Washington bashing China while at the same time trying to persuade Moscow to bring Beijing on board.
Moscow said that while it believes that the revival of the talks after a year-and-a-half-long hiatus was a positive sign in itself, it would not pressure China into joining the negotiations, calling that expectation “unrealistic.”
The landmark treaty is the only remaining pillar of the global nuclear-proliferation system after the US dismantled two key arms control pacts, withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 2002 and quitting 1987 the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty last year.
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A young man in Portland faces up to 20 years in prison on arson charges, accused of hurling a bomb at a courthouse amid ongoing police brutality protests. He was identified by a tactical vest gifted to him by his grandmother.
Gabriel Agard-Berryhill, 18, was charged with arson on Friday, the US Attorney’s Office in Oregon announced in a statement. The man is said to have thrown “a large explosive device” at a federal courthouse in Portland during a protest on Tuesday, which prosecutors argue could have “gravely injured law enforcement officers positioned near the courthouse, other protesters standing nearby, or himself.”
“The violent opportunists engaged in dangerous acts of violence, such as arson, need to realize there will be grave consequences,” said Russel Burger, a US Marshal.
Serious crimes of this nature go beyond mere property damage to the courthouse and endanger people’s lives.
Agard-Berryhill maintains he was not aware of the device’s explosive power, believing it was a small firework when it was given to him by another protester. But while he said the bomb’s “concussive” blast surprised him, footage of the incident captured by Ruptly appears to show him celebrating after the detonation.
You can clearly see the suspect who threw this device here. Green vest. He celebrates the success, collects some evidence and runs away. I bet there is plenty of other footage where he is visible.pic.twitter.com/kr2uOTtjMy
In a bizarre twist, according to prosecutors, Agard-Berryhill’s identity was discovered thanks to an internet review for a military-style tactical vest penned by the accused’s grandmother, who wrote: “I got this for my grandson who’s a protester downtown, he uses it every night and says it does the job,” leaving a five-star rating and a photo of a young man wearing the vest, alleged to be the bomb-thrower.
“Investigators later found the same photo on a Facebook page and, using law enforcement databases, were able to positively identify Agard-Berryhill,” Oregon prosecutors said, citing a joint probe by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the US Marshals Service.
Agard-Berryhill made his first appearance in federal court on Friday, and has since been ordered released “pending further court proceedings.” He faces up to two decades behind bars for the arson charge, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years.
Protests have raged in Portland for some two months straight, kicked off amid a wave of similar demonstrations nationwide following the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man. The protests have frequently descended into violence, seeing activists clash with law enforcement on a nightly basis for weeks on end as they besiege the city's federal courthouse. Federal agents were deployed to Portland earlier in July to protect historical monuments and other government property, which have become common targets for activists in recent months. Though the agents have struck a withdrawal deal with local authorities, US President Donald Trump has vowed to deploy National Guard troops to the city should the unrest continue, recently slamming the protests as a “beehive of terrorists.”
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A man who killed an AK-47-toting protester in Austin, Texas, after the latter approached his vehicle, was identified as a US Army sergeant. The man insists he fired at Garret Foster after he threatened him with the rifle.
The shooter’s lawyer, Attorney F. Clinton Broden, identified his client as Daniel Perry, a soldier that has been with the military for eight years and has a tour in Afghanistan under his belt, in a statement to the media on Friday.
Broden said that Perry was working for a rideshare company on the night when the incident took place last Saturday, and was scouting for new clients when he veered into the corner of Fourth Street And Congress Avenue, where a BLM rally was taking place.
Perry said he was unaware of the protest and first thought a man, later identified as Foster, brandishing an assault rifle in the street was with law enforcement. So he slid open his window as Foster instructed him to do.
Only then he realised that it was no officer. Citing Perry’s account of the event, Broden said that it was only when “this individual with the assault rifle began to raise the assault rifle” towards him, he discharged his handgun “to protect his own life.”
Broden dismissed the notion that Perry fled the scene in a bid to escape responsibility, arguing that he dashed away to save his own life since “a member of the crowd began firing on Sgt. Perry’s vehicle” after the showdown.
As soon as Perry reached safety, the lawyer said, he “immediately called the police.”
The exact circumstances of the incident, which set off an intense blame game online, are murky. A still shot from a video has since emerged purporting to show the victim with his gun drawn and pointed at the vehicle, seemingly confirming Perry’s account.
Some, however, claimed that it appeared as Perry was intent on moving down the crowd, which caused Foster to confront him in the first place.
Browden, meanwhile, argued that Perry bore no ill will and was “devastated” by the incident, extending his condolences to the slain protester’s family.
In its latest update on the incident on Friday, the Austin Police Department, which has not itself identified the suspect, said investigators are still combing the evidence, asking the public to provide additional footage that may help to shed light on what had transpired that day.
Twitter has revealed that over 100 accounts, including those of famous people, were targeted earlier this month because its staff were tricked into giving away their support credentials to online scammers.
The intruders “targeted a small number of employees through a phone spear phishing attack,” Twitter reported in its security update.
Spear phishing is a popular method used by cyber criminals to steal personal information. The scammers send emails, masquerading as a legit entity – usually an existing company, agency or NGO – to dupe the victims into surrendering their passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive data.
The phishing attack on Twitter allowed the hackers to steal the “credentials” of employees with access to “account support tools,” the company said. From there, the criminals targeted 130 Twitter accounts. They tweeted from 45 hijacked profiles, accessed the DMs of 36, and downloaded the data from seven.
On July 15, the scammers hijacked the accounts of former US President Barack Obama, US presidential candidate Joe Biden, billionaires Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, rapper Kanye West and his wife, model Kim Kardashian, among others. The hackers posted tweets advertising a cryptocurrency scheme, and reportedly managed to collect more than $100,000 in bitcoin donations.
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A monument to Soviet Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky has been decapitated by vandals after it was stolen from a cemetery in the Polish city of Legnica.
The statue of Rokossovsky, who commanded the Soviet troops which liberated Poland in 1944-45, was stolen from its pedestal within a local exposition in a military cemetery on Thursday night. A day later, the 600kg bronze statue was found in a field outside of the town with its head missing.
Shameful Polish war against #WWII memorials continues. Even cemeteries are not a safe place for relocated monuments.
Another act vandalism has been committed in 🇵🇱Legnica against sculpture of Soviet, Polish Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky, Chief Commander of the 🇺🇸Legion of Merit. pic.twitter.com/oca2Aj9gtb
According to local media, police are now searching for the perpetrators.
The monument to Warsaw-born Rokossovsky was first erected in Legnica in 1978 and renovated in 1998. The reasons behind the act of vandalism are yet to be established.
Soviet monuments often become a target for mistreatment in the countries of the former Soviet bloc. On several occasions, they have suffered not at the hands of vandals, but of the local authorities themselves.
In April 2020, a monument to Marshal Ivan Konev, who commanded Soviet troops liberating Prague from the Nazis in May 1945, was removed from its pedestal in the Czech capital.
No one seems to be worried about the falling dollar, veteran stockbroker Peter Schiff writes on Twitter, as the US currency continues to slide versus major rivals amid gold and silver record growth.
According to Schiff the ignorance is “likely to remain the case until the fall becomes a crash, which I don't think will begin until the Dollar Index breaks 80. At its current rate of decline that level could be breached before year end, perhaps by election day.”
No one seems worried about the falling dollar. That's likely to remain the case until the fall becomes a crash, which I don't think will begin until the Dollar Index breaks 80. At its current rate of decline that level could be breached before year end, perhaps by election day.
The decline of the US dollar accelerated in recent weeks on a rise in coronavirus cases in the United States and indications of a pickup in global economic activity. The ICE US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, fell 0.4 percent on Friday to 92.635 and traded at its lowest since July 2018. Meanwhile, gold continued its rally to hit fresh all-time highs.
“Coronavirus just accelerated the process of the dollar’s fall and there’s nothing that the Federal Reserve could do right now to preserve the dollar from falling,” Schiff said on his podcast.
He explained that the negative interest rates are actually far more negative because the US government is using the CPI (Consumer Price Index) “which barely scratches the surface on how high inflation is.”
According to Schiff, gold will supplant the dollar because the euro and other currencies are not ready to take its place. “No other currency will take the dollar’s place, real money will take its place, particularly gold, because gold was there before the dollar,” he said, noting that the greenback “did a lousy job, and now gold is taking its spot back.”
Schiff said: “The entire house of cards economy that has been erected over the years, and the Federal Reserve has been the architect of this house of cards economy, is rested on the foundation of the dollar’s reserve currency status. If the dollar loses that status then the foundation crumbles and the whole house of cards topples.”
The German defense minister said on Friday that she would hold talks after the summer with the premiers of states affected by US plans to withdraw about 12,000 troops from the country. The talks’ aim is to see how the national armed forces can help those regions, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in a statement.
The politicians will discuss “how the Bundeswehr can support the affected regions,” the minister said.
“We’re bearing German and European interests in mind. The truth is that a good life in Germany and Europe increasingly depends on how we ensure our own security,” Reuters quoted her as saying.
The US military on Wednesday unveiled the troop withdrawal plans, saying, however, it will keep nearly half of those forces in Europe.
A monument to Soviet Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky has been decapitated by vandals after it was stolen from a cemetery in the Polish city of Legnica.
The statue of Rokossovsky, who commanded the Soviet troops which liberated Poland in 1944-45, was stolen from its pedestal within a local exposition in a military cemetery on Thursday night. A day later, the 600kg bronze statue was found in a field outside of the town with its head missing.
Shameful Polish war against #WWII memorials continues. Even cemeteries are not a safe place for relocated monuments.
Another act vandalism has been committed in 🇵🇱Legnica against sculpture of Soviet, Polish Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky, Chief Commander of the 🇺🇸Legion of Merit. pic.twitter.com/oca2Aj9gtb
According to local media, police are now searching for the perpetrators.
The monument to Warsaw-born Rokossovsky was first erected in Legnica in 1978 and renovated in 1998. The reasons behind the act of vandalism are yet to be established.
Soviet monuments often become a target for mistreatment in the countries of the former Soviet bloc. On several occasions, they have suffered not at the hands of vandals, but of the local authorities themselves.
In April 2020, a monument to Marshal Ivan Konev, who commanded Soviet troops liberating Prague from the Nazis in May 1945, was removed from its pedestal in the Czech capital.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said his country won't cave in to US demands to stop developing ballistic missiles and a nuclear industry, saying Tehran is capable to stand up to Washington's "bullying."
The sanctions that the US imposed against Iran are meant to destroy its economy and reduce Tehran's regional influence, but they are only making Iran more resilient, Khamenei said on Friday, in a televised address on the occasion of the Islamic holy day of Eid al-Adha.
"The sanctions are a crime against the Iranian nation," he said. "They may seem to target the establishment, but in fact they hurt the entire nation."
🔴 LIVE: Leader of Iran delivers televised speech onoccasion of Eid al-Adha https://t.co/1ECfAB41Im
Khamenei said despite all the US effort, Iran won't stop producing ballistic missiles for its defense or develop its nuclear industry. He also promised that Iran will continue “resistance forces” in the region “as much as it can”.
"Relying on national capabilities and cutting our dependence on oil exports will help us to resist America's pressure," he assured viewers.
The US is pursuing a "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, saying it is necessary to force it to behave "like a normal country." The policy was adopted by the Donald Trump administration in a U-turn from what his predecessor, Barack Obama, had done.
The change required Washington to withdraw from a 2015 agreement, which was signed by Iran, five world leading nations and the EU, and promised Iran relief from sanctions, as well as business opportunities, in exchange for accepting restrictions on its nuclear program. The Obama administration touted it as a way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, an ambition that Tehran denies ever having.
In the speech, Khamenei blamed European signatories of the nuclear deal, for giving Tehran “hollow promises” to salvage it while failing to take the necessary steps to shield the Iranian economy from US sanctions.
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said his country won't cave in to US demands to stop developing ballistic missiles and a nuclear industry, saying Tehran is capable to stand up to Washington's "bullying."
The sanctions that the US imposed against Iran are meant to destroy its economy and reduce Tehran's regional influence, but they are only making Iran more resilient, Khamenei said on Friday, in a televised address on the occasion of the Islamic holy day of Eid al-Adha.
"The sanctions are a crime against the Iranian nation," he said. "They may seem to target the establishment, but in fact they hurt the entire nation."
🔴 LIVE: Leader of Iran delivers televised speech onoccasion of Eid al-Adha https://t.co/1ECfAB41Im
Khamenei said despite all the US effort, Iran won't stop producing ballistic missiles for its defense or develop its nuclear industry. He also promised that Iran will continue “resistance forces” in the region “as much as it can”.
"Relying on national capabilities and cutting our dependence on oil exports will help us to resist America's pressure," he assured viewers.
The US is pursuing a "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, saying it is necessary to force it to behave "like a normal country." The policy was adopted by the Donald Trump administration in a U-turn from what his predecessor, Barack Obama, had done.
The change required Washington to withdraw from a 2015 agreement, which was signed by Iran, five world leading nations and the EU, and promised Iran relief from sanctions, as well as business opportunities, in exchange for accepting restrictions on its nuclear program. The Obama administration touted it as a way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, an ambition that Tehran denies ever having.
In the speech, Khamenei blamed European signatories of the nuclear deal, for giving Tehran “hollow promises” to salvage it while failing to take the necessary steps to shield the Iranian economy from US sanctions.
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CNN was ridiculed online for using the term “individuals with a cervix” when reporting new healthcare recommendations released by the American Cancer Society (ACS).
The story on Thursday was about how often people should undergo screening for cervical cancers and test for primary human papillomavirus (HPV) has drawn attention for all the wrong reasons. Many readers were baffled to see the piece of advice directed at “individuals with a cervix” and assumed that CNN was peddling a transgender agenda. Disparaging and angry comments flooded its Twitter account.
"Individuals with a cervix???" What a moronic PC statement. The word is WOMEN.
"Individuals with a cervix"
Apparently "woman" is a dogwhistle now... https://t.co/zaywPbvpJk
— God I hate twit-twat :) 🇩🇪🇭🇰 (@arafat_292) July 31, 2020
Those emotions may be somewhat misplaced since CNN didn’t invent the awkwardly-sounding expression. Apparently cancer and HPV don’t care if a person identifies themselves as a woman or someone else, only that they have a cervix to affect. So the ACS did address its guidelines to “individuals with a cervix”. The same words pop up in some other medical articles published in previous years, and not only in the US.
But unlike CNN, the American Cancer Society doesn’t avoid using the words “woman” and “female”, which are absent from the news story altogether.
Appearing to be disrespectful to transgender people may draw an avalanche of online harassment today, as can be attested to by ‘Harry Potter’ author JK Rowling. She put herself in the crosshairs by lashing out at a healthcare story that used the words “people who menstruate” in its headline.
Chinese factory activity has beaten expectations once again, expanding for the fifth straight month and recovering at a faster pace, new data shows.
China’s closely watched manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 51.1 in July from 50.9 in June, hitting its highest level since March. This is higher than analysts predicted – those polled by Bloomberg had forecast it to remain at June’s level, while economists polled by Reuters expected it to ease to 50.7.
The PMI is a key gauge of manufacturing activity measured through a survey of factory owners and purchasing managers. Any reading above 50 signals growth in factory output, while a reading below signals contraction. It is the fifth month in a row that the key figure topped the 50 mark.
The official non-manufacturing PMI, also released on Friday, was 54.2 for July, down from 54.4 in June.
“Policies of balancing epidemic control and economic development further yield tangible fruit, as economic vitality continues recovering and enterprises keep registering better operational outcomes,” said Zhao Qinghe, senior statistician at China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), a body that publishes the PMI data.
While the NBS says that businesses are optimistic about future recovery, analysts warn that further headwinds lie ahead for the country’s factories. They say that pent-up demand is set to wane, while floods in Chinese provinces, considered the worst in decades, may disrupt economic activity.
A resurgence of coronavirus in the country could create another hurdle. Chinese health authorities reported 127 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, up from 105 the previous day. This is the highest daily number since March.
The recovery of the world's second largest economy comes as some leading nations are reporting sharp contractions. US gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 32.9 percent in the second quarter, marking the sharpest decline on record. During the same period, Germany’s economy contracted by 10 percent and France’s economy shrank by 13.8 percent.
China said that its BeiDou-3 global satellite navigation system is now fully operational and ready to provide high-precision positioning services across the globe. The system is set to compete with GPS.
BeiDou-3 was inaugurated after its final satellite completed in-orbit tests and joined the network earlier this week. This means that China now has its own independent global navigation system, similar to GPS, Russia's GLONASS and EU's Galileo.
China has been developing BeiDou since the mid-1990s. Its network gradually grew to 35 operational satellites, with the last one launched on June 23.
According to Xinhua, the system has already been in use in various fields, including transportation and agriculture. The news agency said that BeiDou-based services are used in more than 100 countries and regions.
China said that its BeiDou-3 global satellite navigation system is now fully operational and ready to provide high-precision positioning services across the globe. The system is set to compete with GPS.
BeiDou-3 was inaugurated after its final satellite completed in-orbit tests and joined the network earlier this week. This means that China now has its own independent global navigation system, similar to GPS, Russia's GLONASS and EU's Galileo.
China has been developing BeiDou since the mid-1990s. Its network gradually grew to 35 operational satellites, with the last one launched on June 23.
According to Xinhua, the system has already been in use in various fields, including transportation and agriculture. The news agency said that BeiDou-based services are used in more than 100 countries and regions.
Newly unsealed files tied to the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking case imply that former US President Bill Clinton visited the investor’s private island along with “young girls,” and that the FBI knew well about the minors’ abuse.
Comprising hundreds of pages of documents, the trove was released on Thursday night following a judge’s order last week to have it unsealed, over the objections of Ghislaine Maxwell, a former girlfriend to Epstein who has recently been charged as an accomplice in his alleged sex-trafficking operation.
The records stem from a 2015 defamation suit filed by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, which was placed under lock and key after the case was settled in 2017, but was recently unsealed, as a result of a lawsuit brought last year by conservative blogger Mike Cernovich and the Miami Herald newspaper.
Among other revelations, the documents indicate that former US president Bill Clinton consorted with “young girls” during at least one visit to Epstein’s private resort in the Virgin Islands, where the billionaire was said to host regular “sex orgies.”
“When you were present with Jeffery Epstein and Bill Clinton on the island, who else was there?” one witness – presumably Giuffre – was asked during an interview, to which she replied that Epstein, Maxwell, an unidentified woman named “Emmy” and “2 young girls” had been on the island with the former POTUS. The witness did not elaborate on Clinton’s interactions with the girls, however.
Witness interview:
Bill Clinton was at Epstein's island with Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and "2 young girls." pic.twitter.com/NG8PbaZLNt
The same witness also told her attorney in 2011 that she had overheard Epstein saying that Clinton owed him “favors,” but noted she couldn't tell whether he was joking.
“He would laugh it off. You know, I remember asking Jeffrey ‘What’s Bill Clinton doing here?’… and he laughed it off and said ‘well he owes me a favor,’” she said. “He never told me what favors they were. I never knew. I didn’t know if he was serious.”
He told me a long time ago that everyone owes him favors. They’re all in each other’s pockets.
Six references to Bill Clinton in Virginia Roberts' chat with her lawyers on April 7, 2011:
Asked about Epstein boasting "Bill Clinton owes me favors," Giuffe said:
"Yes. I do. It was a laugh though. He would laugh it off... I didn't know if he was serious. It was just a joke." pic.twitter.com/InugMgHOz5
Just watching blue check after blue check completely ignore the fact that a Jeffrey Epstein victim identified Bill Clinton as a resident of pedophile island.
How do you ignore what is objectively of the highest news value?
— Epstein Files Unsealed by Cernovich (@Cernovich) July 31, 2020
One of America’s top law enforcement agencies was also apparently aware that underage girls were still being abused at Epstein’s properties as far back as 2011 – years after he was sentenced for similar crimes in his first criminal case. During her defamation suit, Giuffre said she had provided the FBI a now widely circulated photo of herself and the UK’s Prince Andrew – where he is pictured smiling with an arm around her bare waist.
Remember that famous Prince Andrew photo with Ghislaine Maxwell and the victim?
The FBI had their own copy for years - even before the victim's 2011 FBI interview.
In 2014, moreover, Giuffre contacted the FBI to request evidence they had previously seized from Epstein’s residences to aid her civil case, suggesting the bureau had for long been informed of her allegations regarding Epstein and his continued involvement with minor girls.
Heartbreaking -
The minor victim was asking the FBI for the evidence (photos and videos) they seized from Epstein.
President Donald Trump also made an appearance in the unsealed papers. However, an associate of Epstein, Juan Alessi, said in an interview that Trump “never” stayed overnight while visiting Epstein’s Palm Beach estate, and that he did not receive any “massages” there, as “he’s got his own spa.” An alleged victim also maintained that while Trump and Epstein were “good friends,” Trump made no attempts to “flirt” with her.
Despite repeatedly insisting he had no ties to Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, legal scholar and former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz is directly accused in the documents of having “sexual relations” with an underage girl. He is also said to have witnessed “the sexual abuse of many other minors by Epstein and several of Epstein’s co-conspirators,” and would later help to negotiate an undisclosed immunity deal for himself during Epstein’s first criminal case.
The Ghislaine Maxwell (Epstein) documents have been unsealed.
Will be posting excerpts here -
Starting with allegations of minor being trafficked to Maxwell, Prince Andrew, and Alan Dershowitz (as prev. alleged).
More than 1,000 pages of documents from Giuffre’s civil defamation case had previously been released in August 2019, indicating that a long list of wealthy and powerful figures regularly spent time with Epstein at his lavish properties. One day after that trove was unsealed, Epstein was found hanging in his Manhattan prison cell, dead from an apparent suicide after being charged with sex trafficking and imprisoned some weeks previously.
Maxwell was arrested and charged with procuring minors for sexual abuse earlier this month, after keeping a low profile in the period following Epstein’s death. She has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts and remains in custody without bail, after prosecutors had labeled her an “extreme” flight risk.
The head of the US agency for Global Media has announced an investigation into state-funded Voice of America (VOA) for possible election meddling, after its service in Urdu promoted a clip of Joe Biden courting Muslim votes.
The probe, announced by the newly-appointed agency CEO Michael Pack on Thursday, aims to determine whether federal employees of the broadcaster, funded exclusively through taxpayer money, “transgressed the VOA Charter, VOA’s Best Practices Guide, VOA’s Journalistic Code,” and whether they committed US election interference and a federal offence by airing a video “that can only be described as an apparent election advertisement for [the] presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.”
The clip, which was branded with a VOA logo, shows Biden addressing the Million Muslim Votes Summit earlier this month and citing a hadith (saying of Islam’s Prohet Mohammed), while making a series of election pledges such as the ending of travel restrictions to countries with substantial Muslim populations, labeled by US President Donald Trump’s detractors as a “Muslim ban.”
“Your voice is your vote. Muslim American voices matter. I’ll be a president who seeks out and incorporates the ideas and concerns of Muslim Americans on everyday issues that matter most to our communities,” Biden says in the clip.
The ad, which also features the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, sees Biden’s promise of “having Muslim American voices as part of my administration.”
The video urges American Muslims to go out and vote, calling the effort “the largest Muslim voter mobliziation in America.”
The clip was shared on the VOA’s Urdu website as well as across its social media, before it was scrapped.
In his statement, Pack said that the agency is seeking to find those behind “this significant content and editorial breakdown.”
USAGM staff members who attempt to influence American elections will be held accountable
Ever since Pack was confirmed by the Senate in early June to lead the agency, mainstream media and Democrats have been sounding alarms over the VOA, initially set up in 1942 as a propaganda arm of the US government, potentially becoming an outlet for the wrong kind of propaganda – that is, a mouthpiece for the Trump campaign. However, that does not seem to be the case, at least, for now.
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Tropical cyclone Isaias, which is moving towards the Florida coast, has morphed into a category-1 hurricane, National Hurricane Center reported. The storm initially formed south of Puerto Rico.
#Isaias is now a hurricane based on data from the Air Force Hurricane Hunters. The intensity forecast shows a stronger storm than before, but the track forecast is unchanged. Go to https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB for details. pic.twitter.com/tXraiehHMX
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 31, 2020
Congress has voted to kill an amendment that would have blocked the military from recruiting through streaming platforms like Twitch, with nearly half of Democrats in the House joining the effort to strike down the measure.
A House vote of 196-292 easily quashed the appropriations bill amendment on Thursday, a measure introduced by New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to bar military funding for outreach to young gamers. While Republicans opposed the amendment unanimously, Democrats were split down the middle, with 103 joining the GOP and only a narrow majority of 126 voting in favor.
“War is not a game,” Ocasio-Cortez said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “This amendment is specifically to block funding for recruitment practices on services such as Twitch, which are live streaming platforms largely populated by children well under the age of military recruitment rules.”
Children as young as 13… are targeted for recruitment forms that can be filled online.
The self-avowed democratic socialist took to Twitter after the vote to vent frustration about tech-illiterate colleagues, asking followers to “imagine trying to explain… what Twitch is” to elderly lawmakers, observing that “Congress can’t keep up” with the pace of technology. Despite scores of fellow Democrats shooting down her amendment, Ocasio-Cortez nonetheless deemed the failed vote a “really solid start.”
When our legislative bodies aren’t sufficiently responsive to tech, then that means we don’t have the tools required to protect people.
This is partially why companies know way more about you than you may even be aware of - bc it’s legal, and Congress is struggling to keep up.
Among Democrats to vote no on the AOC amendment was Ted Lieu of California, an Air Force veteran and former military prosecutor. His opposition prompted a wave of criticism online, some deeming the rep a reliable “supporter of the military industrial complex.”
@tedlieu you've got some explaining to do. You support the military recruiting young teens on Twitch?
According to how @tedlieu votes, it seems he supports the military using predatory tactics to recruit 13 year olds on gaming platforms
— ✿ #1 BNA Stan | 1312 ✿ (@dudeineedto) July 30, 2020
He’s a military man and a supporter of the industrial military complex. America doesn’t have a liberal party.
— The 6-King Prophecy (@6King_Prophecy) July 30, 2020
At 51-years-old, Lieu is slightly younger than the average representative – just over 57, according to the Congressional Research Service – a fact House candidate Richard Thripp said played into Thursday’s vote, citing a lack of “technological literacy” among older lawmakers.
The Senate is even older, at 61.8 years old on average. If your reps aren't well-versed in the workings of modern technology, how can we trust them to protect us from online consumer predation? Especially for the sake of our seniors, the most statistically vulnerable to scams.
— Richard Thripp for Congress 🍊 🧢 🌊 (@Thripp2020) July 31, 2020
Though the US Army paused its “e-sports” activities on Twitch earlier this month on the heels of several critical press reports, the practice has been condemned as an effort to draw impressionable children as young as 13 for future military service, with soldiers streaming war-themed games such as Call of Duty while chatting with teenage viewers for hours on end. The Pentagon was also found to use deceptive giveaways to generate interest, which ultimately directed participants to recruitment forms.
A sea of people has filled a park for a rally in support of Svetlana Tikhanovskya, opposition candidate in the Belarussian election set for next week, in what is reported to be the biggest anti-government protest in a decade.
Thousands of people flocked to the ‘Druzhba’ [Friendship] park in the Belarussian capital, Minsk, on Thursday to voice support for Tikhanovskya, who has emerged as a top challenger to the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko after several prominent opposition candidates were disqualified from the race.
According to estimates by Belarusian human rights group ‘Viasna,’ at least 63,000 people joined the rally-slash-concert. Attendees sang along in Russian, while flashing cell phone lights and waving balloons, red-and-green state banners as well as historical white-red-white flags.
The latest data from @viasna96: at least 63,000 rallied tonight in #Minsk. It’s one of the largest rallies in #Belarus then. Also,the site is not popular in the city. Security measure were increased,too. Usually,pre-election rallies were not popular at all pic.twitter.com/6l2xEuqdxR
Tikhanovskya first addressed the rally in Belarussian, and then switched to Russian. She said that she rejects revolution, and wants “peaceful changes” through “fair elections.”
The rally proceeded incident-free, with no arrests or disruptions reported.
Я был на концерте Макса Коржа на стадионе динамо в Минске, но это даже близко не сравнится по атмосфере с тем, что я видел сегодня. pic.twitter.com/t98NpIXIA7
Tikhanovskya’s husband, YouTuber Sergei Tikhanovsky, remains in jail on charges of obstructing elections and interfering with the work of the Central Electoral Commission. On Thursday, he faced additional charges of inciting mass riots which were tied by the country’s investigative committee to the case of 33 suspected Russian mercenaries arrested in Minsk earlier this week.
The Belarussin security chief identified them as the members of the ‘Wagner Group’ – a shady company providing mercenary services throughout the world said to be operating from Russia.
While speculation has been rife as to how the arrest of alleged Wagner-linked contractors might impact the looming vote, Lukashenko himself did not point any fingers, ordering a thorough probe into the incident and saying that he has “no intention of smearing an allied nation” without getting to the bottom of the case.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Thursday that 33 Russian citizens were arrested in Belarus, and that another warrant had been issued for 200 more. He said that Moscow is so far unaware of any illegal activities incriminating the Russian citizens, adding he expects their rights to be respected during the investigation.
Presidential elections in Belarus will be held on August 9, and the results are likely to hand reelection to Lukashenko, who is polling high at 72.3 percent, with Tikhanovskya lagging far behind at 7.5 percent, according to the latest Ecoom's survey poll.
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A sea of people has filled a park for a rally in support of Svetlana Tikhanovskya, opposition candidate in the Belarussian election set for next week, in what is reported to be the biggest anti-government protest in a decade.
Thousands of people flocked to the ‘Druzhba’ [Friendship] park in the Belarussian capital, Minsk, on Thursday to voice support for Tikhanovskya, who has emerged as a top challenger to the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko after several prominent opposition candidates were disqualified from the race.
According to estimates by Belarusian human rights group ‘Viasna,’ at least 63,000 people joined the rally-slash-concert. Attendees sang along in Russian, while flashing cell phone lights and waving balloons, red-and-green state banners as well as historical white-red-white flags.
The latest data from @viasna96: at least 63,000 rallied tonight in #Minsk. It’s one of the largest rallies in #Belarus then. Also,the site is not popular in the city. Security measure were increased,too. Usually,pre-election rallies were not popular at all pic.twitter.com/6l2xEuqdxR
Tikhanovskya first addressed the rally in Belarussian, and then switched to Russian. She said that she rejects revolution, and wants “peaceful changes” through “fair elections.”
The rally proceeded incident-free, with no arrests or disruptions reported.
Я был на концерте Макса Коржа на стадионе динамо в Минске, но это даже близко не сравнится по атмосфере с тем, что я видел сегодня. pic.twitter.com/t98NpIXIA7
Tikhanovskya’s husband, YouTuber Sergei Tikhanovsky, remains in jail on charges of obstructing elections and interfering with the work of the Central Electoral Commission. On Thursday, he faced additional charges of inciting mass riots which were tied by the country’s investigative committee to the case of 33 suspected Russian mercenaries arrested in Minsk earlier this week.
The Belarussin security chief identified them as the members of the ‘Wagner Group’ – a shady company providing mercenary services throughout the world said to be operating from Russia.
While speculation has been rife as to how the arrest of alleged Wagner-linked contractors might impact the looming vote, Lukashenko himself did not point any fingers, ordering a thorough probe into the incident and saying that he has “no intention of smearing an allied nation” without getting to the bottom of the case.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Thursday that 33 Russian citizens were arrested in Belarus, and that another warrant had been issued for 200 more. He said that Moscow is so far unaware of any illegal activities incriminating the Russian citizens, adding he expects their rights to be respected during the investigation.
Presidential elections in Belarus will be held on August 9, and the results are likely to hand reelection to Lukashenko, who is polling high at 72.3 percent, with Tikhanovskya lagging far behind at 7.5 percent, according to the latest Ecoom's survey poll.
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US President Donald Trump said he would send National Guard troops to quell chaotic protests in Portland, condemning activists as a “beehive of terrorists” as federal units deployed to the city prepare to withdraw.
Trump warned of the new Guard deployment during a Thursday press conference, one day after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) struck a deal with Oregon Governor Kate Brown to phase out federal police stationed in Portland, where they’ve worked with local authorities to defend a federal courthouse and other government property. Though the withdrawal was set to begin on Thursday, the president said National Guard troops would effectively replace the federal agents should the unrest continue.
“Our people are staying there to see whether they can do it today and tomorrow, and if they don’t do it we will send in the National Guard, and we’ll take care of it,” Trump said, labeling the protesters “professional anarchists” and “people who hate our country.”
We’re telling them right now, that we’re coming in very soon, the National Guard… So [federal agencies are] working today and probably tomorrow to clean out this beehive of terrorists.
“These are people that hate our country.”
Trump says if local law enforcement in Portland doesn’t disperse “this beehive of terrorists," he will send in the National Guard pic.twitter.com/DHjLiR019T
As part of the federal withdrawal deal, Portland law enforcement cleared out two large protester encampments set up in city parks on Thursday morning, as the spaces are located near federal properties that have been under siege by demonstrators for more than two consecutive months, including the courthouse. The protests have frequently become violent, seeing regular clashes between activists and police, with some demonstrators arming themselves with improvised weapons and smallexplosives. Police have also come under fire for heavy-handed tactics, with federal agents accused of wielding excessive force and “kidnapping” protesters off the street in unmarked vehicles.
Despite the agreement, DHS chief Chad Wolf said the withdrawal would only proceed once the agency is confident federal properties will be secure, leaving some question as to when the draw-down will actually take place. Wolf noted that “we anticipate the ability to change our force posture” in Portland once conditions on the ground “significantly improve.”
Federal agents were deployed to Portland earlier this month as part of a new multi-agency task force created by executive order in June, which aims to protect statues, historical monuments and other federal buildings. Such government properties have become common targets for anti-police brutality activists in recent months, amid a wave of mass protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in May.
After a Russian TV channel loosely inspired by America's Fox News was blocked by video-streaming service YouTube earlier this week, Vladimir Putin's spokesman says Western web giants should be treated with a “low degree of trust.”
Dmitry Peskov emphasized that the companies are completely unaccountable and can do as they please. He said the public needs to be aware that they can be “thrown out of there along with their account” at any moment.
Tsargrad TV – launched with the help of ex-Fox producer Jack Hanick in 2015 – announced that the Google subsidiary blocked its account on July 28 over an apparent violation of the law on sanctions and trade rules.
Its owner, religious conservative Konstantin Malofeev, is under EU sanctions for his alleged involvement in the war in Eastern Ukraine.
“There is a solution – not to depend on the Western platforms,” Peskov added. “Any Western platform is a private platform... there are no rules there – neither rules nor guarantees.”
Olympic champion gymnast Karolina Sevastyanova, who sent the internet wild after being snapped with UFC's Conor McGrgeor, says she “wouldn’t look” at a man with any social media account... an announcement she made on Instagram.
Sevastyanova, who bizarrely made the comment while addressing her followers on the photo and video sharing social networking service, said she thinks it’s “just not right” for any normal man to have any kind of presence on social media.
“How would I react if a guy was present on social media? Was liking and commenting on everything… I wouldn’t even look at such a guy,” Sevastyanova told her 421,000 Insta followers.
“I think that normal men shouldn’t even have a page on Instagram. Or a private account just for friends. All the rest for me is just not right.”
The 25-year-old former athlete now full-time attention-seeker grabbed a snap with two-time UFC champ McGregor at a recent bash in Monaco, where she now lives and with pictures of which she floods her Instagram page and stories.
After posting the snap with McGregor, Sevastyanova had to bat off a backlash from suspicious fans who accused the pair of sneaking a snap with the beautiful brunette behind the back of the Irishman's partner and mother of his two children Dee Devlin.
Sevastyanova however insisted his long-time girlfriend was in fact present at the party, and pleaded with social media users to "stop asking her questions".
McGregor is one of the most watched sports stars in the world whether in the octagon or on the internet, but fails to break in the top ten most followed sports stars on Instagram with a mere 36.7million followers, trailing AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic in number 10, who has amassed 41.4 million.
Kiev-born Sevastyanova retired from professional sport after the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where she and Team Russia snatched the Group All-around gold alongside Uliana Donskova, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Alina Makarenko, Anastasia Nazarenko, and Ksenia Dudkina.
Unlike serially-retired comeback king McGregor, whose comeback count Michael Myers would be proud of, Sevastyanova has stayed true to her word and hasn’t been tempted by a return to the spotlight.
Aside from her Olympic gold, Sevastyanova has two European championship golds to her name, both won in her native Russia, as well as a Youth Olympic Games gold medal and, aged 19, appeared on the cover of Russian Maxim.
