They are making an example of Novak Djokovic. Here's why.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic is being deported from Australia, after losing his final appeal the WTA's top-ranked player will not be allowed to defend his Australian Open title. It was reported this morning that an Australian court had refused Djokovic's appeal against the cancellation of his visa, and as such he's being put on a plane and flown out of the country. To be clear: This is all because he's not "vaccinated" against Covid19, and vocally speaks out against the practice. The government have clearly and publicly admitted as much...but we'll get to that. The rejection of Djokovic's medical exemption and subsequent deportation has been accompanied by a wave of vitriol in the press the likes of which we have rarely seen. One Australian sports presenter was "accidentally" recorded calling him a "lying, sneaky arsehole" in a video that was later "leaked" to the press.

Pentagon Fails Trillion Dollar Audit (Again!)

That's what should have been the biggest news of 2021. Instead, the story, which broke on November 17, was largely ignored or buried. The nation's two main newspapers, the Washington Post and the New York Times, have simply ignored it. Other news organizations stenographically quoted Pentagon officials as admitting that they "failed again" but saw "progress," and as promising that they would achieve a "clean" audit by... get this ... 2027. The Pentagon, with some $3 trillion (give or take a trillion but who's counting?) in assets and a record current 2021 budget of $738 billion, has for the third year in a row failed its audit. An army of 1400 auditors hired by us taxpayers for $230 million and borrowed from some of the biggest auditing firms in the country, spent the past year poring through the books and visiting hundreds of operations of the government's largest and geographically vastest single agency, and came back with word that they couldn't give it a pass. They couldn't...

Biden Administration quietly making lists of religious vaccine objectors

A tiny administrative agency in the District of Columbia announced a new policy Tuesday that will likely serve as a model for a whole-of-government push to assemble lists of Americans who object on religious grounds to a COVID-19 vaccine. The Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia — a federal independent entity that assists officers in the District of Columbia courts in formulating release recommendations and providing supervision and services to defendants awaiting trial — announced a new records system that will store the names and "personal religious information" of all employees who make "religious accommodation requests for religious exception from the federally mandated vaccination requirement." The announcement does not explain why the agency needs to create this list except to say that it will "assist the Agency in the collecting, storing, dissemination, and disposal of employee religious exemption request information collected and maintained by the Agency."...

Brace yourself for impact: Elite launch 'Great Collapse' of Western civilization

You know time is running out on the false reality in which most Americans live when the corporate-owned mainstream media starts to report some of the things that we in the alternative media have been reporting for years. I've been warning since 2018: America is heading toward civil war. For the last six months or so many of us have been warning about the creaky supply chain. That chain is getting ready to buckle and break like a water pipe in the dead of winter, when frigid air sneaks in from the north. It usually happens in the middle of the night, while everyone is sleeping in their warm beds. Under the stress of steadily dropping temperatures, the pipe starts to expand. Now compromised, the pipe starts to drip, then suddenly it pops. Water gushes out and into the house. At that point, you have a big mess on your hands. If only you'd seen the cold weather coming, you would have wrapped your pipes and protected them from the damage. That's how I see the U.S. supply chain right...

BEST OF THE WEB: Mass Formation Psychosis: Deployed on You by Elites After Over 200 Years of Study

Junior academics cited by "Forbes", AP, Reuters and "The Independent" have not done their homework Today in "factchecking the factcheckers", junior academics cited by Forbes, Associated Press, Reuters and The Independent have just not done their homework concerning the work of Professor Dr. Mattias Desmet of the University of Ghent in Belgum. All I can say about this is that I hope that their naive, ignorant, grandstanding statements to the press are brought up during their future Academic Tenure and Advancement reviews. But there has been an amazingly coordinated effort to shoot the messenger and actively character assassinate (or "defenstrate") me as a surrogate while avoiding any reference to the highly credentialed academic Professor Dr. Mattias Desmet who actually developed the theory and has documented the extensive evidence in an upcoming academic book. So, what can we learn from this in the short term? Clearly, Google was not the only corporation triggered by Joe Rogan...

BEST OF THE WEB: Tennis star Novak Djokovic deported from Australia after losing final visa battle

Comment: The Aussie pathocrats sure milked this for all it's worth... Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic was deported Sunday after losing an 11th-hour bid in an Australian federal court to save his chances to compete in the Australian Open after refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Australian federal court unanimously found that Immigration Minister Alex Hawke was within his legal rights to cancel Djokovic's visa for the second time Friday on the grounds that the tennis star's views on vaccines posed a risk to the public health and "good order" of the country. Djokovic has won nine Australian Open titles, including the past three, and was seeking a record 21st Grand Slam title. He is tied with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Metal plate inserted into 2,000 year-old Peruvian warrior's skull may be oldest evidence of surgery

The 2,000 year old skull of a Peruvian warrior was found to have been fused together with metal in one of the world's oldest examples of advanced surgery, according to a museum. The Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma says the skull, which is in its collection, is reported to have been that of a man who was injured during battle before having some of the earliest forms of surgery to implant a piece of metal in his head to repair the fracture. Experts told the Daily Star that the man survived the surgery, with the skull now a key piece of evidence in proving that ancient peoples were capable of performing advanced surgeries.

Montevideo in Uruguay under water following unprecedented heavy rains, a month's worth of rain in 2 hours

Some areas in the city of Montevideo dawned Monday literally under water following unprecedented heavy rains which caused damages to various homes and a traffic chaos, in addition to power outages, which reportedly affected some 12,000 users. The storm reached its fiercest moment at around 6am, although social media users had been reporting all night that the situation was getting critical in different areas. Sources from Uruguay's weather agency Inumet quoted by local media reported unofficially that in two hours more than 100 millimeters of rain had fallen in Montevideo. In two hours Montevideo experienced what usually takes a whole month to fall, it was reported.

If Biden backtracked any faster from Tuesday's speech, he'd be moonwalking

If you want a barometer of how well Biden's disastrously ill-considered speech in Georgia on Tuesday went over, look at how the White House is now spinning it: President Joe Biden was not making a "human" comparison between opponents of pending voting rights bills and historical racists and segregationists in his address in Atlanta this week, the White House says. In his speech calling for new voter protections, Biden asked whether lawmakers wanted "to be the side of Dr. King or George Wallace," "John Lewis or Bull Connor" or "Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis." The comparison generated some blowback afterward, but press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was not drawing a personal link between current lawmakers and notorious southern segregationists and the president of the Confederacy. "I think everybody listening to that speech who's speaking on the level, as my mother would say, would note that he was not comparing them as humans, he was comparing the choice to those figures in...

SOTT FOCUS: NewsReal: Collapsing Narratives: Medical Misinformation Now Indistinguishable From The Science!

There has been an extraordinary amount of backpedaling of late on 'The Science', with official positions morphing into those held by 'conspiracy theorists' for the last two years. At the same time, however, there is as yet no rollback of the 'crowd control measures' introduced on the basis of said 'Science'. On this NewsReal, Joe and Niall cover the glaring contrast between official pronouncements about how mild the virus has become, and the increasingly extreme measures governments are nevertheless forcing on populations. In the second hour, they switch gears to discuss the increasing geopolitical tension between the US and Russia over 'who controls Europe', and the highly explosive Tonga volcano eruption that literally shook the world... Running Time: 01:55:24 Download: MP3 — 79.2 MB

Brilliant, Neil Oliver goes there

Neil Oliver goes there, directly to the epicenter of "build back better." In this monologue not only does Oliver highlight the connective tissue and motives of the elite, but he also references their words to point out the bigger leftist agenda at work. Point One - The "Build Back Better" agenda (in every nation) was never about anything except radical climate change legislation. Once you accept that baseline, things start to become much clearer. Point Two - The "Build Back Better" phrase came from the World Economic Forum and was promoted by a multitude of international leaders and left-wing organizations. That reality then brings up the most important point. To get to "building back better", you first need to destroy something. That thing they needed to destroy was the global economic dependency on carbon-based fuel supplies (oil, gas, coal, etc.). Point Three - In order to destroy the 'something of that scale', the energy program for the entire world, something massive is needed...

Absurd 'antisemitism' charge against Emma Watson has exposed witchhunt strategy of Israel supporters

It's an obvious point, but the obvious bears repeating. The absurd accusations of antisemitism against actress Emma Watson last week for expressing solidarity for Palestinians have backfired against Israeli leaders and in one bright flash helped to discredit an ancient tried-and-true strategy of the Israel lobby: maligning critics of Israel's policies as antisemites. Israel's supporters have been effective for years at muzzling critics by doing just that. The good news of the Emma Watson's smearing is that this time even establishment types raised an eyebrow over the strategy- and may even have noticed the anti-Palestinian bigotry that animates it. So we should embrace the Emma Watson moment, as another landmark in the march to the mainstream of Palestinian solidarity. Back to the episode: On January 2, Watson published a rather anodyne declaration of Solidarity with Palestinians with an image of a demonstration from last May, and Israeli ambassador Gilan Erdan lectured her about...

Israel should repeat 1948 military operation in Negev against Palestinians, says general

A top Israeli reserve general had called for a repeat of the 1948 military operation that led to Israel's control over the Negev ("Naqab") Desert and the displacement of thousands of Palestinians. The general was commenting on protests by Palestinians in the Negev against Israeli razing of their lands. Major General Yom-Tov Samiah, who served as commander of the Southern Zone in the Israeli Army during the Second Intifada, said in a tweet: "Operation 'Yoav' will soon return to liberate the Negev. Luckily General Shaike Gavish [who led the operation at the time] is alive. He will pass on some lessons. If we continue at this rate of loss of control we will have to retake the Negev and Galilee. Civil war is on the doorstep." Operation 'Yoav' was launched by Israeli forces in October 1948 to capture the Negev Desert, when 23 Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed and their populations made refugees in Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza.

Myocarditis tops list of COVID vaccine injuries among 12-17 year olds, VAERS data show

VAERS data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention included a total of 1,033,994 reports of adverse events from all age groups following COVID vaccines, including 21,745 deaths and 170,446 serious injuries between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 7, 2022. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released new data showing a total of 1,033,994 reports of adverse events following COVID vaccines were submitted between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2022, to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). VAERS is the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. The data included a total of 21,745 reports of deaths — an increase of 363 over the previous week — and 170,446 reports of serious injuries, including deaths, during the same time period — up 3,840 compared with the previous week. Excluding "foreign reports" to VAERS, 723,042 adverse events, including 9,936 deaths and 64,406 serious injuries, were...

Tonga eruption likely the world's largest in 30 years - scientist

Early data from Tonga's violent volcanic eruption suggests it is the biggest since Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines 30 years ago, volcanologist Shane Cronin says. The eruption of the underwater Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano, about 65km north of Nuku'alofa, on Saturday shot thick ash and steam 20km skywards. University of Auckland volcanologist Professor Shane Cronin said scenes on the ground would have appeared apocalyptic after the eruption: ash clouds blotting out the sun, thunderclaps of booming shockwaves and thousands of lightening strikes. "The clouds that people could see in the distance, the booming noises and then the waves coming from the first tsunami...The next step is when the ash clouds spread across Tongatapu, and that ash cloud is so dense with fine ash particles that it blocks the sun completely, so it gets really dark." Cronin said rain, small pebbles and many centimetres of ash would have rained down. "This is an eruption best witnessed from space," he said.

When art transports us, where do we actually go?

An old Chinese legend tells of the painter Wu Daozi (680-c760), who learned to paint so vividly that he was finally able to step inside his work and vanish into the landscape. Magical though it sounds, this legend iterates the common intuition that artworks are more like portals than ordinary objects: they can transport us into other worlds. When I look at Pieter Bruegel's The Hunters in the Snow (1565), I feel like I was there in the frost-bitten village, rather than the galleries of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. When reading Crime and Punishment (1866), the letters on the page conjure a whole world, and in some sense I am no longer in my living room but right there in Dostoevsky's Russia; the cinema, too, is a gateway to faraway galaxies and past centuries.

SOTT FOCUS: SARS-CoV-2 is a Real Virus And it HAS Been Isolated on Numerous Occasions

While some still claim SARS-CoV-2 doesn't actually exist, this seems to fly in the face of several well-established facts. The virus has actually been photomicrographed,1,2 whole-genome sequences of the various strains are available,3,4 and with the appropriate credentials anyone can obtain the live virus to conduct research. While I am absolutely no fan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they do grow the virus in cell culture to ensure widespread availability for researchers who want to study it.5 Examples of research where you need the actual virus include antiviral research, vaccine development, virus stability research and pathogenesis research.6 What's the Confusion? At least part of the confusion appears to be rooted in how the term "isolated" is defined. Some insist a virus is not isolated unless it's also purified, while others say a virus doesn't have to be purified in order to be "isolated."

Sir Keir Starmer says he did nothing wrong after photo emerges of him drinking beer with staff during lockdown

Sir Keir Starmer has said he did not break any rules after being photographed drinking a beer with his staff during the spring lockdown. The Labour leader defended the photo, which re-emerged over the weekend, saying he was working on the Hartlepool by-election campaign and stopped to eat a takeaway with colleagues at a constituency office in Durham last May. At the time, people in England were not allowed to mix indoors apart from for work. "We were working, a takeaway turned up, and we stopped to eat it," Sir Keir told LBC. "We didn't break any rules, we did nothing wrong."

Amnesty International calls out Italy: Unvaccinated shouldn't face discrimination

Human rights group Amnesty International urged Italy to change tough anti-COVID-19 restrictions to avoid discrimination against unvaccinated people. In a recent decree, Mario Draghi's government made vaccination mandatory for everyone over the age of 50 and for use of public transport and a range of other services, one of very few countries to take similar steps, in an attempt to ease pressure on Italian health services and reduce fatalities.

Greater Toronto Area digs out as over a foot of snow hits overnight

A major winter storm is creating havoc with cars, trucks and buses getting stuck in the snow all around the Greater Toronto Area. The snow came down quickly overnight with vehicles no match against the storm. It's estimated that over 30 cm of snow fell overnight and during the morning commute forcing police to shut down major highways. But as Marianne Dimain reports, the kindness of strangers is helping people keep moving as their cars get stuck in one of the biggest snow storms to hit southern Ontario in years.

China's trade surplus hit a record in 2021 as exports rose

China's trade surplus hit a record high in 2021, boosted by strong exports that have topped market expectations since their pandemic recovery. For the full year, China's exports rose 29.9% to a new high of $3.36 trillion, beating 2020's record of $2.6 trillion, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Friday. Imports increased 30.1% in 2021, buoyed in part by soaring commodity prices. That translated to an annual trade surplus of $676.43 billion, surpassing the previous high of $593.9 billion in 2015, according to data provider Wind.

"We failed": Danish newspaper apologizes for publishing official COVID narratives without questioning them

In August, Germany's top newspaper, Bild, apologized for the outlet's fear-driven Covid coverage - with special message to children, who were told "that they were going to murder their grandma." Now, a newspaper in Denmark has publicly apologized for reporting government narratives surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic without questioning them. "We failed," reads the article's headline from tabloid Ekstra Bladet, which goes on to admit that "For ALMOST two years, we - the press and the population - have been almost hypnotically preoccupied with the authorities' daily coronavirus figures. "(translated).

Friends plus ex-royal guard claim Prince Andrew likely dated Ghislaine Maxwell

Prince Andrew may have once dated Ghislaine Maxwell, according to friends and a former royal protection officer who claims Jeffrey Epstein's madam was constantly "in and out" of Buckingham Palace. Former palace cop Paul Page said in a new documentary that Maxwell became a regular visitor from 2001, the year Andrew and his sex accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, were photographed in Maxwell's London home. "From the way she was allowed to enter and exit the palace at will, we realized — suspected — that she may have had an intimate relationship with Prince Andrew," Page said.

Winter snow storm batters US south-east as more than 250,000 lose power

A winter storm combining high winds and ice was sweeping through parts of the south-east of the US, knocking out power, felling trees and fences and creating treacherous driving conditions. Tens of thousands of customers were without power in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. More than an inch of snow fell per hour in some parts of the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, according to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Centre. The storm was making air travel extremely difficult in some parts of the south of the country. The nation's hardest-hit airport - Charlotte Douglas International - remained open around dawn on Sunday, the airport said in a weather briefing. But more than 1,000 Sunday flights in Charlotte were cancelled - more than 80 per cent of the airport's Sunday schedule, according to the flight tracking service flightaware.com.

Tulsi Gabbard knocks Biden admin as 'authoritarian' and 'unacceptable'

Former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard told "Hannity" Friday that Joe Biden's actions must "not go unchecked" and, the Biden administration is furthering the divide among Americans. TULSI GABBARD: "I think there were so many people across the country, those who voted for Joe Biden, those who did not vote for Joe Biden, who had high hopes that he would carry out his promise, that he would be the president for all Americans, showing respect for those who agreed with him or disagreed with him. And unfortunately, the opposite is true. Not only has he not carried out on that promise, he is literally doing the exact opposite, rapidly carrying our country in the wrong direction, tearing us apart, pouring fuel on the flames of divisiveness. And it just, I mean, it really makes me wonder how we can go through three more years of this and still come out the other end with the possibility of being able to come together again as Americans, as the United States of America.

MIT research scientist says kids should not receive COVID vaccines

A research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said Thursday that parents should do everything they can to avoid giving their children the coronavirus vaccine, insisting that the potential harm far outweighs the benefits. I think it is "outrageous to be giving vaccines to young people because they have a very, very low risk of dying from COVID," Dr. Stephanie Seneff said in an on-air interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News Thursday evening. Seneff, a senior research scientist with MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, said the possible benefits for children from the coronavirus vaccine are minimal and "when you look at the potential harm from these vaccines, it just doesn't make any sense." Especially with repeated boosters such treatment "will be devastating in the long term," she added.

Gene that causes resistance to one of 'world's most important antibiotics' discovered in Georgia water

A gene that causes bacteria to be resistant to one of the world's most important antibiotics, colistin, has been detected in sewer water in Georgia. The presence of the MCR-9 gene is a major concern for public health because it causes antimicrobial resistance, a problem that the World Health Organization has declared "one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity." Researchers from the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety (CFS) collected sewage water from an urban setting in Georgia to test for the MCR gene in naturally present bacteria. Led by College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences assistant professor Issmat Kassem, whose research focuses on MCR's presence around the world, the team was surprised at how quickly they detected MCR — they found evidence of the gene in the first sample they took.

16,000 pigs to be culled amid African swine fever in Malaysia

Another 3,000 pigs out of the 16,000 at 19 farms in Paya Mengkuang, Masjid Tanah, Melaka will be culled by the end of this week to prevent the spread of the African swine fever (ASF) in the area. Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) director-general Datuk Dr Norlizan Mohd Noor said the ASF virus was first detected in Paya Mengkuang at the end of last month and within two weeks, 19 of the 35 pig farms in the area were confirmed to have been infected by the highly contagious virus. "(We are) forced to cull the pigs as we have a stamping-out policy, meaning, any pig at an enclosure or farm confirmed to be positive for the ASF virus has to be destroyed," he said, adding that until Sunday (Jan 16), 13,000 pigs were culled under the Animal Welfare Practice Code-Animal Disposal Management by using a high concentration of CO2 gas.

Explosion & fire at gas station in Germany kills 2

A fire broke out at a gas station at a highway service area in the German state of Hesse on Monday, killing two people and damaging vehicles and a restaurant, police said. They said a witness reported a small explosion at around midday, with a fire breaking out near the pumps shortly afterward. The body of one victim was found in one of two cars damaged by the fire, and another dead person was found nearby, they said.

Tonga eruption could have 'cooling effect' on southern hemisphere - scientist

It is possible the Tongan volcanic eruption could lead to a slightly cooler winter and possibly beautiful sunsets in the southern hemisphere this winter. When a volcano erupts, it releases huge amounts of sulphur dioxide (SO2) into the air, which bounces some of the sun's radiation away. Climate scientist Jim Salinger has researched the impacts of major volcanic eruptions, including Pinatubo, on the climate in New Zealand. He said it was not nearly as large eruption as Pinatubo, and would not have a global impact on the climate, but there could be some local effects in the Southern Hemisphere. Dr Salinger said it could take a few months to kick in and have cooling of about 0.1 to 0.5 degrees, lasting until spring.

Early hominid in China had biggest known brain of the time

BEIJING -- A study showed that the ancient relatives of modern humans in northern China may have had an "Einstein's brain" at the time they lived 200,000 to 160,000 years ago. An international team led by Chinese archaeologists found that the cranial capacity of this hominin reached 1,700 cubic centimeters, an estimate made on the basis of skull fossils excavated in the 1970s from Xujiayao site. "It is the largest big-headed hominin ever in the Middle Pleistocene," said Wu Xiujie, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Wu's team reconstructed a fairly complete posterior cranium with three fragmented bones from the same young adult. Xujiayao hominid's brain was slightly smaller than that of its close relative "Xuchang Man," estimated at about 1,800 cubic centimeters, but the former lived approximately 60,000 years earlier than the latter, according to the study published in the latest volume of Journal of...

Earth's interior is cooling faster than expected

Researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated in the lab how well a mineral common at the boundary between the Earth's core and mantle conducts heat. This leads them to suspect that the Earth's heat may dissipate sooner than previously thought. The evolution of our Earth is the story of its cooling: 4.5 billion years ago, extreme temperatures prevailed on the surface of the young Earth, and it was covered by a deep ocean of magma. Over millions of years, the planet's surface cooled to form a brittle crust. However, the enormous thermal energy emanating from the Earth's interior set dynamic processes in motion, such as mantle convection, plate tectonics and volcanism. Still unanswered, though, are the questions of how fast the Earth cooled and how long it might take for this ongoing cooling to bring the aforementioned heat-​driven processes to a halt. One possible answer may lie in the thermal conductivity of the minerals that form the boundary between the Earth's core and mantle.

Soviet throwback: Doc recommends ivermectin, loses license, must undergo PSYCH EVALUATION for Covid 'falsehoods'

A doctor with decades of experience can't practice medicine after her license was temporarily suspended over complaints that she shared coronavirus misinformation, according to a Maine licensing board. The board has ordered her to undergo a neuropsychological evaluation, it said. Dr. Meryl J. Nass, who got a license to practice medicine in Maine in 1997, had her license "immediately" suspended for 30 days after a board investigation and review of complaints against her on Jan. 12, according to a suspension order from the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine. Nass, who's an internist in Ellsworth, must "submit" to an evaluation by a "Board-selected psychologist" on Feb. 1, the board's evaluation order issued Jan. 11 said.

2022: The Year Ahead

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that there are many ways that the current global crisis could play out in 2022 and, sadly, none of them involve everyone joining hands and singing "Kumbaya" until the Gateses and the Schwabs of the world have a change of heart about this whole Great Reset thing. If you saw New World Next Year 2022, you'll know that I think a cyber 9/11 (and the ensuing passage of an iPatriot Act) is a distinct possibility for the coming year. But that is not the only Ace card in the would-be world controllers' hands. A "pandemic of the injected" and/or a 5G-generated global health crisis? The passage of a global pandemic treaty to hardwire the biosecurity state into place? A bioterror false flag? Check. Check. Check. All of these cards, too, are in the deck and ready to be dealt. But there is another card in that deck that has been largely neglected for the past two years and I have a feeling we're going to see it laid on the table this year. So what am I talking...

Volcano eruption in Tonga deemed 'once-in-a-millennium' event

The underwater Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption has already triggered a tsunami, a sonic boom and thousands of lightning bolts, and could now lead to acid rain The massive explosion of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga on Saturday was its most powerful eruption since AD 1100. The after-effects have been felt around the globe and the damage is still being assessed. The volcano, located about 65 kilometres north of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, exploded with violent force at 5:10pm local time on 15 January. Satellite images show a mushroom cloud of ash billowing 30 kilometres high and later sweeping more than 3000 kilometres west to Australia.

SARS-CoV-2 is a real virus and it HAS been isolated on numerous occasions

While some still claim SARS-CoV-2 doesn't actually exist, this seems to fly in the face of several well-established facts. The virus has actually been photomicrographed,1,2 whole-genome sequences of the various strains are available,3,4 and with the appropriate credentials anyone can obtain the live virus to conduct research. While I am absolutely no fan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they do grow the virus in cell culture to ensure widespread availability for researchers who want to study it.5 Examples of research where you need the actual virus include antiviral research, vaccine development, virus stability research and pathogenesis research.6

Deported tennis star Djokovic receives hero's welcome in Serbia

Novak Djokovic returned to a hero's welcome in Serbia on Monday after Australia deported the world men's tennis No. 1 for being unvaccinated against COVID-19, a stance jeopardizing his quest for a record 21st Grand Slam title. Most Australians had wanted him gone, but Serbian supporters waved national flags and lauded him on arrival at Belgrade airport. "You are our champion, Novak!" and "We love you, Nole!" they chanted, using his diminutive name. The 34-year-old "King of Melbourne" had won nine previous Australia Opens, is level with Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer on 20 titles, and was top men's seed for the tournament that got underway on Monday.

The Ghost of Martin Luther King Jr Will Haunt Covid Faucists

In the latest wave of hysteria unleashed by the globalist, corporatist establishment, a sizable chunk of humanity has been manipulated into a mass formation of fear and division. Expert opinions that contradict the unending emergency narrative are erased from public areas of the internet almost as fast as they are produced. Quickly eroding are the rights to free speech, assembly and association, freedom of religion and from discrimination, the rights to travel, medical privacy, and even equality. We were told these are science based, temporary, emergency measures, but if that were the intention, we would have clear, unchanging criteria for how the emergency will end. And so, the great othering has begun, and a massive divide has opened across society. On one side, you have the true believers - whose leaders, even in the most generous estimation, are wildly incompetent poll panderers who habitually violate their own edicts. For now, they are also joined by the meek and naive...

FLASHBACK: Martin Luther King's powerful critique of scientific racism and scientific materialism

On this Martin Luther King Day weekend, I will be visiting Athens, Texas (a town south of Dallas) for a free public screening of my documentary Human Zoos, which explores the sordid legacy of scientific racism and eugenics in America. I'd like to think that the event will be a fitting activity for MLK Day weekend, because King was a powerful opponent of both scientific racism and scientific materialism. Dr. King accepted the animal ancestry of humans as taught by Darwinian evolution, but he was sharply critical of the misuse of science to promote racial discrimination, and he also spoke forcefully against the idea that humans are the products of a blind material process. Many of King's thoughts on science are interspersed throughout a short book titled Strength to Love, a collection of sermons King originally published in 1963. I've been reading the book on my trip to Texas, and much of its wisdom is just as pertinent today as when the book was first published.

ZeroHedge: 'Global economy heading for mother of all supply chain shocks - China locking down ports to blame'

Comment: And now we turn to the financial experts who brought you 'PLAGUE! PANIC!' in 2020 for their take on how the 'Conomy is doing!... Over the past month, as Wall Street turned increasingly optimistic on US growth alongside the Fed, with consensus (shaped by the Fed's leaks and jawboning) now virtually certain of a March rate hike, we have been repeatedly warning that after a huge policy error in 2021 when the Fed erroneously said that inflation is "transitory" (it wasn't), the central bank is on pace to make another just as big policy mistake in 2022 by hiking as many as 4 times and also running off its massive balance sheet... right into a global growth slowdown. And, as we have also discussed in recent weeks, one place where this growth slowdown is emerging - besides the upcoming deterioration in US consumption where spending is now being funded to record rates by credit cards before it encounters a troubling air pocket - is China and its "covid-zero" policy in general, and...

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: An in-depth look at why Tonga erupted

An in-depth look at the Tonga eruption which sent ash to 95,000 feet and that ash cloud is heading to Australia. What does this mean for global agriculture and crop yields, food pricing and can we foresee any other large eruptions from now to 2024? Sources

Australia finally allows people vaccinated with Sputnik V to enter into the country

The Australian government has officially allowed visitors who can prove they have been fully vaccinated with Russia's Sputnik V Covid vaccine to enter the country, starting from Monday. Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said it reviewed data provided by Moscow which shows that the vaccine "provides protection and potentially reduces the likelihood that an incoming traveler would transmit Covid-19 infection to others while in Australia or become acutely unwell due to Covid-19." "The data indicated that two doses of the Sputnik V (Gamaleya Institute) showed an average efficacy against symptomatic infection of 89% and against hospitalization or death of 98-100%," the regulator said in a statement on its website. Comment: That it has taken nearly a year for Australia to approve Russia's jab and that the EU still doesn't recognize it, and with no reasonable justification given for the delay, further demonstrates how the whole process is political and has nothing to do...

Meteor fireball over Rajasthan, India on January 2

We received one report about a fireball seen over Rajasthan on Sunday, January 2nd 2022 around 20:07 UT. For this event, we received one video.

'Enough of Covid dictatorship': Lockdown protest in Hungary attracts hundreds

Just over six million Hungarians have received at least two shots, and 3.3 million have also received the third booster. Over a thousand people marched in Budapest protesting against Covid-19 inoculation at a rally organised by the far-right Our Homeland Movement, which has been campaigning on a fierce anti-vaccine and anti-immigration message ahead of April 3 elections. "Vaccines should not be mandatory! We don't tolerate blackmail," said the slogan of the rally where people held up banners saying: "I am unvaccinated, not a criminal" and "Enough of Covid dictatorship."

Heavy rainfall causes floods, cars washed away in Minas Gerais, Brazil

The heavy downpour in Uberlândia (Minas Gerais) on Sunday, January 16, flooded homes and businesses in the city. The city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, registered floods in several areas after heavy rainfall on Sunday afternoon, January 16. Videos show the damage caused by the waters, which swept away cars and flooded homes and stores. The Uberlândia City Hall said on social networks that an emergency task force was set up to mitigate the impacts of the rain.

Freighter breakdown temporarily blocks traffic through Turkey's Bosphorus Strait

The Turkish A haber TV reported in the early hours of Monday that the coast guard had helped anchor the cargo ship in the Sariyer Buyukdere area and traffic in the Bosphorus returned to normal. The passage of ships was temporarily blocked to all vessels in both directions at Bosphorus late on Sunday because a freighter broke down near Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, blocking the strait, Turkey's Directorate General of Coastal Safety said. The failure of the 'Brave Night' ship's engine was named as the cause of the breakdown. "Traffic has been stopped in both directions after a freighter heading to Romania broke down near Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge," the agency tweeted.

Meteor fireball over 4 states of Brazil on January 14

We received 42 reports about a fireball seen over Distrito Federal, Goiás, Minas Gerais and São Paulo on Friday, January 14th 2022 around 23:51 UT. For this event, we received 4 videos.

Clear Evidence that Flight 77 Hit The Pentagon on 9/11 - a Parody

With so much debate going on over what really happened at the Pentagon on 9/11, and the obvious dire lack of coherent commentators to put and end to it once and for all, I decided that it was high time that I added my own reality-based voice to the debate and, in doing so, allow common sense to finally prevail over the ranting of wild-eyed, hairy-knuckled, missing link type conspiracy theorists and liberals alike.

BREAKING: Critical evidence has already gone missing as Georgia officials open ballot trafficking investigation

Earlier this week Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that he will investigate himself after credible allegations came forward recently related to 2020 elections fraud in the state. John Solomon at Just the News reported this evening: Georgia authorities have launched an investigation into an allegation of systematic ballot harvesting during the state's 2020 general election and subsequent U.S. Senate runoff and may soon issue subpoenas to secure evidence, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed to Just the News. Georgia law strictly prohibits third-party activists from picking up and delivering ballots on behalf of voters, a tactic called "harvesting" that liberal organizers have tried to get legalized in many battleground states without success. The U.S. Supreme Court this summer rejected Democrat efforts to overturn an Arizona law that outlawed harvesting in the battleground state. Unfortunately, Raffensperger is the Secretary of State in...

BREAKING: Critical Evidence Has Already Gone Missing as Georgia Officials Open Ballot Trafficking Investigation

Earlier this week Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that he will investigate himself after credible allegations came forward recently related to 2020 elections fraud in the state. John Solomon at Just the News reported this evening: Georgia authorities have launched an investigation into an allegation of systematic ballot harvesting during the state's 2020 general election and subsequent U.S. Senate runoff and may soon issue subpoenas to secure evidence, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed to Just the News. Georgia law strictly prohibits third-party activists from picking up and delivering ballots on behalf of voters, a tactic called "harvesting" that liberal organizers have tried to get legalized in many battleground states without success. The U.S. Supreme Court this summer rejected Democrat efforts to overturn an Arizona law that outlawed harvesting in the battleground state. Unfortunately, Raffensperger is the Secretary of State in...

New Virginia governor rescinds mask & vaccine mandate in 1st order UPDATE: Youngkin signs total of 11 Executive Actions

The state of Virginia will no longer require school children to wear masks and state employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Newly sworn-in Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has pulled mandates requiring children to wear masks and state employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as part of his first day in office. After defeating Democratic candidate and former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe in the November 2021 gubernatorial election, Youngkin - a Republican - stuck by his pledge to lift sweeping coronavirus restrictions imposed by his predecessor.

Thousands protest against tougher Covid rules in France

More than 50,000 people protested against stricter Covid-19 measures in France on Saturday, as the upper house of parliament approved a bill introducing a vaccine pass. Around 54,000 people protested across the country, including 7,000 who marched in the capital, according to the Interior Ministry. Some held banners that read "Freedom" and "Democracy in danger." "I'm against the vaccine pass. I'm against mass vaccination - everyone must be free to choose," a protester in Paris told Ruptly video agency.

Microsoft launches 'inclusivity' checker

Microsoft Word has started offering 'politically correct' alternatives to some words and expressions, but a new "inclusive language feature" has left many users unimpressed. The tech giant announced last year that it was working "to remove non-inclusive language commonly found within the technology and cybersecurity sectors." In line with that goal, the latest version of Microsoft Word in Office 365 has an additional editor tool that suggests "more inclusive" alternatives to commonly used words and phrases that might offend someone in relation to gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. When the new function is used, any potentially offensive words, like all other 'errors,' are underlined, allowing the writer to fix them if they wish.

Israel hit by massive flooding

Cars were submerged under water and streets were turned into turbulent rivers in Israeli cities over the weekend after torrential rain and cold weather battered the nation and led to flash flooding. A neighborhood housing some 18,000 people in the Israeli city of Lod was completely cut off by floods, Israeli media reported on Sunday. Local authorities warned the residents that the only way to get in or out of the area was by train. Locals told the media that life in the area had come to a halt, with even health clinics and Covid testing centers ceasing operation. Elsewhere in Israel, floods turned city streets into rivers and saw cars submerged under water. Rescue services were deployed to save people trapped in their vehicles.

US schools struggling with a wave of student misbehaviour following lockdowns

School districts across the U.S. say they are seeing a surge of student misbehavior in the return to in-person learning, after months of closures and disruptions due to the pandemic. In the hallway between classes one afternoon this fall at Southwood High School in Shreveport, La., two boys exchanged words. All at once, they jumped at each other, witnesses said. Dozens of other students joined and they all fell into a heap, kicking and punching, until teachers pulled them apart. The fight was one in a series of brawls in Southwood's courtyards and hallways on three subsequent days that led to 23 students being arrested and expelled.

Two people drowned by abnormally high waves in Peru after Tonga volcano

Two people drowned off a beach in northern Peru, the local civil defense authority reported on Sunday, after unusually high waves were recorded in several coastal areas following Saturday's eruption of an underwater volcano in Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. The death of two people by drowning occurred on Saturday on a beach located in the Lambayeque region, Peru's National Institute of Civil Defense (Indeci) said in a statement. The underwater volcano off Tonga erupted on Saturday, prompting tsunami warnings and evacuation orders in Japan and causing huge waves on several South Pacific islands, where images on social media show waves crashing against homes on the shores. More than 20 Peruvian ports were temporarily closed as a precautionary measure amid warnings that the volcano was causing abnormally high waves, Indeci said.

Global economy heading for 'Mother of all' supply chain shocks as China locks down ports

Over the past month, as Wall Street turned increasingly optimistic on US growth alongside the Fed, with consensus (shaped by the Fed's leaks and jawboning) now virtually certain of a March rate hike, we have been repeatedly warning that after a huge policy error in 2021 when the Fed erroneously said that inflation is "transitory" (it wasn't), the central bank is on pace to make another just as big policy mistake in 2022 by hiking as many as 4 times and also running off its massive balance sheet... right into a global growth slowdown. And, as we have also discussed in recent weeks, one place where this growth slowdown is emerging - besides the upcoming deterioration in US consumption where spending is now being funded to record rates by credit cards before it encounters a troubling air pocket - is China and its "covid-zero" policy in general, and its covid-locked down ports in particular.

US official threatens Russia with 'sharp pain' inflicted 'very fast'

The US has some 18 "different scenarios" up its sleeve to react to any form of Russian attack on Ukraine, leading official Victoria Nuland has warned, promising to inflict "sharp pain" on Moscow should it make such a move. Nuland, who currently serves as undersecretary of state for political affairs in President Joe Biden's government, made the thinly veiled threat in an interview with the Financial Times published on Saturday. Nuland said: "I'm not going to preview 18 different scenarios ... I would simply say that our commitment and the conversation that we have with our allies is around inflicting very sharp pain very fast, if Russia makes this move in any form." Western media, as well as multiple US officials, have repeatedly warned of an imminent "invasion" of Ukraine by Moscow over the past few months. Washington and its allies have cited the movement of Russian troops within the country's vast Western territory as 'proof' of such plans. Moscow has consistently denied the...

Kremlin tells CNN about possibility of weapons deployment to Ukraine

Moscow considers talks with the US and NATO "unsuccessful," but there is no talk of military action, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, but could not say it would never deploy any weapons in its large southern neighbor, the Kremlin has told CNN, adding that Moscow is willing to talk, but only if its concerns are addressed. Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's long-time spokesman, added that Russia is deeply concerned by a recent spiraling-up of tensions in Europe, in an interview scheduled for broadcast on Sunday. He told the host of the 'Fareed Zakaria GPS' show: "We have too much tension on the border [with Ukraine]. We have too much tension in this part of Europe. It drags [in] more problems automatically. It is extremely dangerous for our continent." According to Peskov, the only way forward for the US and NATO is to finally address Russia's concerns in earnest, instead of brushing them off. "This is the reason we are insisting...

US to train 'Ukrainian insurgents' in EU - media

The US is mulling a strategy of subverting Russia's aims, without direct involvement, in case it invades Ukraine, the New York Times reported on Friday, adding that it may involve arming and training Ukrainian fighters in Europe. American President Joe Biden has apparently not made up his mind about what his government would do in the event that Moscow occupies the former Soviet republic, the newspaper claims. However, it insists that officials have come up with a possible US response in case an attack does take place. Washington apparently believes that Ukraine does not stand a chance against a potential Russian invading force in an open battle and it instead has focused on supporting Ukrainian "guerrilla" warfare on territory that could be occupied by Moscow, the report explains.

Biden turning US into 'large-scale version of Venezuela,' Trump claims

Former President Donald Trump held his first campaign-style rally of 2022 in Arizona, lashing out at President Joe Biden's "destructive" economic policies, his vaccine mandates, and the alleged persecution of Trump's supporters. Citing soaring inflation, rising gas prices, and shortages of food and consumer goods, Trump told a thousands-strong crowd in Florence, Arizona that Biden has caused "more destruction than five presidents in the last year," and has set America on a path to becoming "a large-scale version of Venezuela." The allegory was apparently referring to the hyperinflation that has plagued the Venezuelan economy over the past decade. "Our country is being destroyed... it's not even believable," Trump told the crowd. Though he has not yet formally announced another run for the White House in 2024, Trump has held several rallies since leaving office last year. At every one, he has restated his claims that Biden's electoral victory in 2020 was fraudulent, and Saturday's...

Turkey striving for rapid de-dollarization

The process of de-dollarizing the Turkish economy will be accelerated in the coming weeks, according to Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati. The government will step up the conversion of the nation's foreign currency holdings into Turkish lira, he said, adding that more than 131 billion lira ($9.69 billion) had been deposited in accounts under the plan. The government program, unveiled last month, is intended to protect lira deposits from further forex depreciation, as well as to make citizens feel more secure when holding their savings in a bank. Nebati said on Saturday, speaking to heads of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Istanbul: "The decline in forex deposit accounts has begun. We will see the declining trend in the forex deposit accounts continuing downward quickly." Turkey's economy is currently in crisis, with high inflation continuing to rise, while economic growth has stalled and the country's foreign-exchange reserves have plummeted.

The GOP senator Fauci called a 'moron' to introduce FAUCI Act on financial disclosures

A Republican lawmaker that Dr. Anthony Fauci called a "moron" earlier this week will introduce a financial disclosures bill known as the FAUCI Act. Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall will introduce the Financial Accountability for Uniquely Compensated Individuals Act after Fauci insulted him in the aftermath of a heated debate in the Senate earlier this week, a spokesperson for the senator told the Hill. The FAUCI Act would mandate that the Office of Government Ethics present the financial records for people such as Fauci on its website, an allusion to the initial dispute that prompted Fauci to call Marshall a "moron" on a hot mic during a Senate hearing. Dr. Fauci has lost his reputation," Marshall said during a Thursday morning interview on Fox Business's Mornings with Maria.

Professor Ehud Qimron: "Ministry of Health, it's time to admit failure"

Professor Ehud Qimron, head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Tel Aviv University and one of the leading Israeli immunologists, has written an open letter sharply criticizing the Israeli - and indeed global - management of the coronavirus pandemic. Original letter in Hebrew: N12 News (January 6, 2022); translated by Google/SPR. See also: Professor Qimron's prediction from August 2020: "History will judge the hysteria" (INN). Ministry of Health, it's time to admit failure In the end, the truth will always be revealed, and the truth about the coronavirus policy is beginning to be revealed. When the destructive concepts collapse one-by-one, there is nothing left but to tell the experts who led the management of the pandemic - we told you so. Two years late, you finally realize that a respiratory virus cannot be defeated and that any such attempt is doomed to fail. You do not admit it, because you have admitted almost no mistake in the last two years, but in...

Left-wing group secured $158M taxpayer-funded contract to help illegal immigrants avoid deportation

A progressive group that views immigration enforcement agencies as a "threat" to civil liberties secured a $158 million taxpayer-funded contract to help unaccompanied minors avoid deportation, records show. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded the Vera Institute of Justice, a left-wing nonprofit that backs defunding the police, the contract in 2021 to "provide immigration related legal services to unaccompanied minors," according to USASpending, a federal contract database. Jason Hopkins, an investigative associate with the Immigration Reform Law Institute, told Fox News: "The Vera Institute of Justice is a behemoth progressive nonprofit based out of New York City with well over a $140 million budget, which they use to fund a slate of progressive causes and initiatives across the country. Whether that be criminal justice reform, bail reform and also immigration." Hopkins said the institute gets around half of its funding from the federal government. In fact,...

Former Obama WH adviser pleads guilty to wire fraud

A former White House adviser to former President Obama pled guilty to wire fraud on Friday in connection to an alleged scheme to steal $218,000 from a school network that he helped create. "Seth Andrew, a former White House advisor, admitted today to devising a scheme to steal from the very same schools he helped create," Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "Andrew now faces time in federal prison for abusing his position and robbing those he promised to help." The 42-year-old founded Democracy Prep Public Schools in New York City in 2005, and left the position to work for the Department of Education (DOE) in 2013. Following his time at the DOE, he worked in the Obama White House as a senior adviser in the Office of Educational Technology, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Following his work at the White House in 2017, he officially severed his ties with the charter school system he had helped to create. According to the DOJ,...

Winter storm leaves more than 25,000 Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity

A powerful nor'easter working its way across the province left more than 25,000 Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity Saturday and has cancelled many flights at the Halifax airport. As of 4:30 p.m. AT, the utility said 25,244 customers did not have power. The outages covered the entire mainland, with a few hundred people in Cape Breton without power. In a news release issued Saturday morning, Nova Scotia Power said the company had more than 500 people in the field working to restore power. Speaking to CBC News on Saturday afternoon, Lia MacDonald, vice-president of transmission, distribution and delivery for Nova Scotia Power, said crews were working to restore power to most parts of the province by Saturday evening subject to weather conditions.

Drone seen flying over Forsmark nuclear plant in Sweden, police deploy helicopter patrol

Police in Sweden deployed patrols and helicopters to the Forsmark nuclear plant to hunt for a large drone seen flying over the site late on Friday, but were unable to catch the unmanned vehicle, they said on Saturday. The incident came a day after Sweden's military started patrolling the main town on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland amid increased tensions between NATO and Russia and a recent deployment of Russian landing craft in the Baltic. Forsmark, which is Sweden's biggest electricity producer, lies on the Baltic coast about 150 km (93 miles) north of the capital, Stockholm.

Texas synagogue accused hostage taker identified as British national

The man who allegedly held Jewish worshippers hostage at a Texas synagogue was a British citizen. The suspect who died at the scene after allegedly taking hostages at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, near Fort Worth, Saturday was a British national, according to the U.K. government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. "We are aware of the death of a British man in Texas and are in contact with the local authorities," a spokesperson for the office said in an emailed statement to Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department, Justice Department, the FBI Dallas Division and the Colleyville Police Department early Sunday seeking additional comment. It's unclear how the individual entered the U.S. or if he had a criminal background.

Multiple tornadoes spawned by winter storm damage homes in Florida

Tornadoes spawned by a powerful winter storm moving across the South damaged several homes in southwest Florida Sunday morning. Video on social media showed multiple waterspouts roaring ashore in Lee County. Waterspouts are just tornadoes over water. When they reach land they are considered tornadoes. Those tornadoes caused damage across the Fort Myers metro area, the Lee County Sheriff's office confirmed, and injured at least one person. Fire Department officials in Lee County said 20 homes were destroyed at an RV park in the Fort Myers area, the Associated Press reported. Up to 200 people were forced out of their homes due to the damage, WINK news reports.

Lunatic Florida Dem Gov. candidate compares Ron DeSantis to Hitler

Florida Agricultural Commissioner and 2022 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried compared Gov. Ron DeSantis to Adolf Hitler in a recent interview. In an appearance on NPR's Friday Roundup Podcast, Fried was asked about having previously referred to the Republican governor an "authoritarian dictator" by co-host Melissa Ross, a reporter at WJCT in Jacksonville. "He is doing everything possible to take power away from local governments, taking away people's abilities to protest, making it harder to vote, talking about, you know, banning books," Fried responded. "That's what dictators do. Instead of listening and trying to govern with the people, he is trying to govern over the people, and, you know, that, I'm sorry, I'm a student of history, too. I saw the rise of Hitler."

Magnitude-6.1 earthquake hits Papua New Guinea

A day after Tonga was hit by giant waves following the eruption of a volcano in the ocean off its coast, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake has struck the island of Papua New Guinea, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said. The epicenter of the quake was located in the autonomous Bougainville region, at a depth of 408 kilometers (253 miles), according to the agency. The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) also registered the quake, putting its magnitude at 5.8. There have so far been no reports either of casualties or significant damage. Papua New Guinea, a country of nine million, occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and a group of smaller islands in Melanesia, north of Australia.

Dutch cafes & bars defy lockdown in protest against nonsensical restrictions

Saturday's protests by dozens of bar and cafe owners, who opened in defiance of the government's closure orders, passed off without problems Dirk Beljaarts, director of hospitality industry lobby group KHN, told television talk show Nieuwsuur that there will be 'more protests in the days to come'. Beljaarts described the public support for Saturday's protests as 'heartwarming', adding that if opening cafes was 'so life-threatening', mayors would have acted to close them down. On Friday, the government said shops, universities and fitness centres could reopen, but that bars, cafes and the cultural sector must remain shut because of the surge in coronavirus cases. Comment: Citizens everywhere should be extremely concerned that people in positions of power endorse the enforcement of nonsensical rules such as that above: Political Ponerology And The Rise Of Totalitarianism In The West

Ukraine changes its mind (again) on culprit behind cyberattack

One day after blaming Belarus, Kiev has now labeled Russia the perpetrator of a huge cyberattack A Ukrainian ministry now says "evidence" indicates Moscow was behind Friday's attack on Kiev's governmental websites. The move comes after another official earlier pointed the finger at hackers backed by Belarusian intelligence. The statement arrived less than a day after the deputy secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Sergey Demedyuk, blamed the incident on Belarus. The large-scale hack is said to have rendered the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a number of other government agencies temporarily inaccessible.

Still squirming: Former Israeli PM Netanyahu 'negotiating plea deal in corruption case'

Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is negotiating a plea deal in his corruption case, a person involved in the talks said. The deal, which could be signed as early as this week, could usher Netanyahu off the Israeli political stage for years, paving the way for a leadership race in his Likud party and shaking up Israel's political map. Any deal would also absolve Netanyahu of an embarrassing and protracted trial that has gripped the nation and risks tarnishing his legacy. Reports of a deal angered critics, who said it would undermine the rule of law.

Debrief: Head of Russia-led bloc reveals details of Kazakhstan mission

The arrival of the allied peacekeeping force had a "sobering effect" in Kazakhstan, the official believes As the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) wraps up its peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan, the top official of the Russia-led military bloc talked about the course of the deployment and its results with RT. Kazakhstan faced a rocky start to the new year, as a wave of violent unrest broke out on the back of protests triggered by a sharp hike in fuel prices. As the initially peaceful protest devolved into violence and rioting in a matter of days, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reached out for help from the six-member military bloc, which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. He did so in accordance with Articles 2 and 4 of the Collective Security Treaty.

Democrat group hides comments accusing Nike of slave labor after praising company

Occupy Democrats, a popular left-wing political advocacy group which supports the US Democratic Party, was caught hiding comments expressing concern about slave labor after it praised sportswear company Nike. The group praised Nike on social media after the multi-billion-dollar company threatened to fire employees who remained unvaccinated against Covid-19. "Nike sends a defiant letter to its remaining unvaccinated employees that they will be FIRED by January 15 if they fail to get vaccinated against Covid. Republicans attacked Nike's mandate, but the company held its ground," the group tweeted, before calling on its supporters to "thank Nike for standing strong."

Seniors to be fined for violating vaccine mandate

The Greek prime minister has made a final appeal to the country's senior citizens to get inoculated before monthly punishments for violating the country's vaccination mandate kick in next week. "Our fellow citizens who are over 60 and still unvaccinated - I encourage them today: take this step," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a visit to a health center in Megara, near Athens, on Saturday. "Protect your life and the lives of those you love, and understand that the vaccine is safe and saves lives."

CDC encourages more Americans to consider N95 masks

U.S. health officials on Friday encouraged more Americans to wear the kind of N95 or KN95 masks used by health-care workers to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Those kinds of masks are considered better at filtering virus from the air. But they previously were in short supply, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials had said they should be prioritized for health care workers. In updated guidance posted late Friday afternoon, CDC officials removed concerns related to supply shortages and more clearly said that properly fitted N95 and KN95 masks provide the most protection.

Singapore workers who refuse vaccination risk losing their jobs

Workers in Singapore who are not inoculated against Covid-19 may risk losing their jobs as new restrictions on office access take effect. From Saturday, a prior concession that allowed unvaccinated employees who test negative to go to workplaces will be removed, according to a government advisory. Employers can redeploy those with no jabs to suitable jobs that can be done from home, place them on no-pay leave, or as a last resort, fire them if they can't perform their contracted work outside the office. Singapore's inoculation rate is among the world's highest and it has adopted a strict nationwide approach against the unvaccinated. The nation bars them from restaurants and shopping malls in a push to prevent the risks of the virus spreading and over-burdening its healthcare system. At the same time, the country has stuck to a gradual reopening path, dropping its default work-from-home stance this month.

Russia's FSB shuts down notorious REvil ransomware gang following request by US authorities

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Friday that it has raided and shut down the operations of the notorious REvil ransomware gang. The unprecedented move — which will undoubtedly send a message to other ransomware groups operating out of the country — saw the Russian authorities conduct raids at 25 addresses across the Moscow, St. Petersburg and Lipetsk regions that belonged to 14 suspected members of REvil. The gang, which shut down its operations in July before a failed comeback in September, is believed to have orchestrated some of the most damaging attacks of the past 12 months, including those targeting Colonial Pipeline, JBS Foods and U.S. technology firm Kaseya. Comment: Actually, there's good reason to believe that at least some of the above hacks were actually the work of the CIA: Toshiba hacked by DarkSide, Kaspersky founder suggests CIA may be behind group's Colonial Pipeline attack

Fire breaks out at New Jersey chemical plant, nearby residents evacuated

About 200 New Jersey firefighters were on the scene in Passaic on Friday night as a massive fire broke out at a factory where products for swimming pools and spas are made, according to reports. The fire at the Qualco facility reached 11 alarms by midnight Saturday, and forced officials to begin evacuating nearby residents, FOX 5 of New York City reported. "By no means are we under control," Passaic fire Chief Patrick Trentacost told NJ.com shortly before 11 p.m. ET, "but we are doing everything we can to contain it." He added that firefighters were aware of chemicals at the site and were "watching very closely where this fire is going." The building where the blaze began collapsed in on itself, the chief told NorthJersey.com. It was vacant but was being used to store plastics and chemicals, the report said.

Two New York carjackings caught on camera, violent incidents and crime spikes by 30% since 2020

The NYPD has released dramatic body camera footage showing the moment a police sergeant jumped into an SUV driven by a Taser-wielding carjacker, who then plowed into traffic in Midtown Manhattan, before fleeing on foot. The wild scene played out in broad daylight on Wednesday afternoon, less than an hour before police say the same suspect carjacked an Uber driver at knifepoint. Police have released the first image of the wanted man, but no arrests have been announced as of Friday afternoon. Body camera video released by the NYPD on Thursday shows a sergeant and an officer trying to prevent the unidentified carjacker from driving off in a stolen Audi SUV at 57th Street and Broadway, which he had stolen after threatening its owner with a Taser at around 4.30pm.

YouTube suspends and demonetizes Dan Bongino over content questioning 'mask fascists'

Conservative commentator Dan Bongino has been suspended by YouTube for questioning "mask fascists." The Bongino Report announced on Twitter on Friday that the platform suspended Bongino for violating the site's COVID-19 misinformation policy. "YouTube just suspended Dan's channel for daring to question the mask fascists. I guess they were waiting for an apology from us. But that's not quite how it worked out for them. Here's Dan's email to 'Coco' at YouTube telling them to plant a big wet kiss on his ass," The Bongino Report tweeted Friday.

Russia's FSB shuts down notorious REvil ransomware gang following request of US authorities

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Friday that it has raided and shut down the operations of the notorious REvil ransomware gang. The unprecedented move — which will undoubtedly send a message to other ransomware groups operating out of the country — saw the Russian authorities conduct raids at 25 addresses across the Moscow, St. Petersburg and Lipetsk regions that belonged to 14 suspected members of REvil. The gang, which shut down its operations in July before a failed comeback in September, is believed to have orchestrated some of the most damaging attacks of the past 12 months, including those targeting Colonial Pipeline, JBS Foods and U.S. technology firm Kaseya. Comment: Actually, there's good reason to believe that at least some of the above hacks were actually the work of the CIA: Toshiba hacked by DarkSide, Kaspersky founder suggests CIA may be behind group's Colonial Pipeline attack

More than 550 migrants have crossed English Channel in first two weeks of 2022

More than 550 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats in the first two weeks of this year, GB News can confirm. Today, around a hundred were intercepted in four small inflatables and taken to the makeshift Home Office processing centre in Dover harbour. The latest arrivals came as authorities in France investigated the death of a migrant, who drowned when the small boat he was in got into difficulties off the French coast. The man, believed to be in his 20s and from Sudan, was recovered from the water by French rescue services in the early hours of Friday.

New Virginia governor rescinds mask & vaccine mandate in 1st order

The state of Virginia will no longer require school children to wear masks and state employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Newly sworn-in Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has pulled mandates requiring children to wear masks and state employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as part of his first day in office. After defeating Democratic candidate and former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe in the November 2021 gubernatorial election, Youngkin - a Republican - stuck by his pledge to lift sweeping coronavirus restrictions imposed by his predecessor.

'Prayers answered' after synagogue hostages rescued, suspect dead in Colleyville, Texas

Hostages at a Texas synagogue were safely rescued, and the hostage-taker was dead Saturday night, after holding a rabbi and his congregants for nearly half a day with demands that US authorities release a convicted terrorist known as "Lady al-Qaeda." "Prayers answered," Texas Gov. Greg Abbot tweeted at 9:30 p.m. to deliver the fortunate update, minutes after an elite FBI hostage rescue team that was flown in from Virginia entered the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, FBI Special Agent Matt DeSarno said in a press conference. It was unclear how the unidentified suspect — who claimed to have a bomb — died, but flashbangs and gunshots were heard as the SWAT team stormed the house of worship, more than 10 hours after the suspect took control of the house of worship.

Russia makes vaccine passports policy change

Officials say the proposed legislation is not suited to the current coronavirus situation. Russian lawmakers have postponed consideration of a bill that would introduce a nationwide system of QR-code vaccine passes, saying that the law needs to be adapted to deal with the new Omicron variant of Covid-19. Tatyana Golikova, the deputy prime minister for social policy, labor, health and pension provision, told journalists on Friday that government officials, together with leaders of ruling party United Russia, had decided the proposed legislation would need to be adjusted before it could be considered further. Originally, the law aimed to consolidate policies across different local governments, many of which require proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, bars, clubs, and mass events.

Thousands in Vienna protest over Europe's first mandatory vaccine plan

The Austrian government's plan to make vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory has sparked mass protests. Thousands of Austrians took to the streets of Vienna to protest against an upcoming parliamentary vote to make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory, with demonstrators calling for the government to be replaced. Protesters carried Austrian flags through the streets on Saturday as police in riot gear could be seen standing in a line nearby. "Face your guilt and turn back!" one banner read, while others accused Austria's right-wing ruling party - the Austrian People's Party (OVP) - of splitting the nation with its coronavirus policies.

Senator publishes Fauci's unredacted financial disclosures, accuses him of being misleading

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., published White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci's unredacted financial records and accused him of being misleading when he told the Senate his financial disclosure forms were publicly available. While Fauci's financial disclosure documents can be requested from the National Institute of Health, they aren't listed in the same searchable database as many other federal officials. Fauci is "more concerned with being a media star and posing for the cover of magazines than he is being honest with the American people and holding China accountable for the COVID pandemic that has taken the lives of almost 850 thousand Americans," Marshall told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Three players drop out of Australian Open with chest issues while Djokovic awaits his fate

The stakes are high for the organizers who have been keeping tennis star Novak Djokovic as a prisoner according to his parents. The player has won the tournament nine times, including the past three years and is currently tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for most major victories of all time, namely 20. Djokovic has been confined to a small room in a Melbourne hotel since the Australian authorities denied him entrance to the country, overriding his medical exemption. Australia has been living up to its history as a penitentiary with its farcical zero-Covid policy and skyrocketing number of infections. Djokovic's visa was cancelled on arrival and 34-year-old Serb is now languishing in a Melbourne immigration detention facility in a bid to prevent his deportation.

NBC report on transgender athletes deliberately misleads through omission

NBC News made headlines this week for a segment in which a reporter suggested there is "'little scientific evidence" biological males have an advantage in women's sports On the streaming program Hallie Jackson NOW, the network's senior Washington correspondent welcomed a fellow NBC reporter to shed light on the controversy surrounding Lia Thomas, a biological male who has found success on the University of Pennsylvania women's swim team. "Critics are furious, saying she shouldn't even be allowed to compete," claimed Jackson, before claiming that "ten states have recently passed some kind of bill banning trans athletes from participating in youth sports."

Russia is in the right: The West promised not to enlarge NATO & these promises were broken

With Russia challenging Western unilateralism in a way not seen since the end of the Soviet Union, two major issues keep coming to the fore. Both, it seems, are centered on America's flagship military bloc, NATO. First, there is Moscow's claim that there was a Western promise not to expand NATO beyond its Cold War area. Second, there is a Western claim that NATO cannot, let alone will not, put an end to admitting new member states. This is no mere rhetoric; these are crucial points. Russia's insistence on a thorough review and comprehensive, bindingly codified reset of post-Cold War security relations with the West hinges on its claim that prior Western assurances were broken. Talk and informal promises, the Kremlin says, are not enough anymore because they have turned out to be unreliable. On the other side of the quarrel, the West is rejecting a Russian key demand — to stop NATO expansion — by entrenching itself behind its claim that NATO simply must keep the door open to new...

Intelligent design at work? Plant biologist finds "mutation is very non-random"

Many people I know in the ID community are strongly interested in rethinking mutation, understanding it as a designed or regulated process. They will be encouraged by a new open-access paper in Nature, concerning the characteristics of mutations in a widely studied plant species. See, "Mutation bias reflects natural selection in Arabidopsis thaliana." For considering the implications of the paper, an easy place to start is a Science Daily news story, "Study challenges evolutionary theory that DNA mutations are random." Paragraphs such as this make me smile, on this cold January afternoon in Chicago (my emphasis): "We always thought of mutation as basically random across the genome," said Grey Monroe, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences who is lead author on the paper. "It turns out that mutation is very non-random and it's non-random in a way that benefits the plant. It's a totally new way of thinking about mutation."

American diplomats in Geneva, Paris fall victim to 'Havana Syndrome'

More cases of 'Havana Syndrome' have just been reported at American embassies in Geneva and Paris, WSJ reports. Officials employed at both facilities have been afflicted by the neurological attacks, and at least one victim was evacuated back to the US for treatment. Like most prior reports on Havana Syndrome attacks, this one comes with a significant delay: the attacks were first reported internally last summer, and quickly made their way to the State Department back in Washington. At least three cases of the syndrome were reported in Geneva, and there was at least one in Paris, Wall Street Journal said, bringing the total number of Havana Syndrome victims to close to 200. While the Biden Administration's State Department insists on calling the attacks "anomalous health incidents," the CIA doesn't mince words. The "attacks" continue to befuddle America's best analysts. Nobody has a clear idea of what's causing them, or who might be behind it. Scientists have blamed crickets in...

BEST OF THE WEB: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview on Channel One's "The Great Game" political talk show, Moscow, January 13, 2022

Vyacheslav Nikonov: We are not in the usual studio in Ostankino but in the Foreign Ministry's historic mansion on Spiridonovka Street. This is where the Limited Test Ban Treaty banning nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water was signed and the first G8 summit took place in 1996. We are discussing the problems of 2022, which had a most unusual beginning. Everyone expected the year to get off to a rapid start, but not quite in the way it happened. Sergey Lavrov, one of the most influential politicians and diplomats in our country and the world, is at the centre of these events. Dimitri Simes joins us live from Washington. Now all attention is focused on the European security talks that your deputies conducted in Geneva and Brussels and today in Vienna. Judging by everything, our Western partners have not grasped the imperative character of the Russian proposals expressed in a draft treaty on security with the United States and an agreement with the NATO...

US accuses Russia of preparing 'false flag' operation to attack Ukraine

The U.S. claims to have information indicating that Russia has "already prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine," laying the groundwork for a potential pretext to invade, according to a U.S. official. Why it matters: Diplomatic talks between the U.S., its European allies and Russia failed to produce a breakthrough this week, raising fears that Moscow will invade Ukraine and unleash a devastating new war. What they're saying: - "The United States is concerned that the Russian Government is preparing for an invasion into Ukraine that may result in widespread human rights violations and war crimes should diplomacy fail to meet their objectives." - "As part of its plans, Russia is laying the groundwork to have the option of fabricating a pretext for invasion, including through sabotage activities and information operations, by accusing Ukraine of preparing an imminent attack against Russian forces in eastern Ukraine." - "The Russian...

Tulsi Gabbard blasts Joe Biden: 'He has betrayed us all'

President Joe Biden has "betrayed us all," Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday, accusing the president of going back on his promise to unite the country. Gabbard, who ran against Biden in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary, admitted that she supported him after dropping out of the race. She said in a statement at the time in March 2020: "I know Vice President Biden and his wife and am grateful to have called his son Beau, who also served in the National Guard, a friend. Although I may not agree with the Vice President on every issue, I know that he has a good heart and is motivated by his love for our country and the American people." On Friday, she said in the video:

40 migrants from 'special interest' countries arrested in West Texas border sector

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents arrested a large number of migrants from "special interest" nations so far this month. The group included migrants from nations known to have terrorist activities. Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens tweeted a report indicating the arrest of 40 migrants classified as "Other than Mexican." The group included migrants from countries designated as "special interest" nations including Syria, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. "Knowing who or what crosses our borders is essential to border security," Chief Owens tweeted.

Two of Nazarbaev's sons-in-law pushed out of key energy posts in wake of Kazakh unrest

Two sons-in-law of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev have been pushed out of top jobs at two major state companies, Kazakh officials said. The announcement, made on January 15 by the country's sovereign wealth fund, comes in the wake of last week's unprecedented political turmoil and was the latest indication that the current government of President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev was moving to purge or squeeze members of Nazarbaev's extended family. In a statement, the sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, said that Kairat Sharipbaev had resigned as chief executive of natural-gas pipeline operator QazaqGaz. Dimash Dosanov, meanwhile, left his position as CEO of state oil pipeline firm KazTransOil. Samruk-Kazyna gave no reasons for their resignations. Both companies play a key role in the country's oil and gas industry, an industry that fueled Kazakhstan's economic growth for decades.

1,000-light-year wide bubble surrounding Earth is source of all nearby, young stars

The Earth sits in a 1,000-light-year-wide void surrounded by thousands of young stars — but how did those stars form? In a paper appearing Wednesday in Nature, astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) reconstruct the evolutionary history of our galactic neighborhood, showing how a chain of events beginning 14 million years ago led to the creation of a vast bubble that's responsible for the formation of all nearby, young stars. "This is really an origin story; for the first time we can explain how all nearby star formation began," says astronomer and data visualization expert Catherine Zucker who completed the work during a fellowship at the CfA.

FedEx requests FAA permission to add anti-missile laser system to cargo planes

FedEx is looking to add laser technology to some cargo planes that would counter incoming heat-seeking missiles. The company asked for permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to equip some of its cargo planes with a missile defense system that would "emit infrared laser energy" outside of the aircraft as a "countermeasure against heat-seeking missiles," according to a public notice filed with the Federal Register. The filing states: "In recent years, in several incidents abroad, civilian aircraft were fired upon by man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS). This has led several companies to design and adapt systems like a laser-based missile-defense system for installation on civilian aircraft." One of FedEx's competitors, DHL, was the victim of such an incident in 2003 when one of its cargo jets was hit by a missile after taking off in Baghdad. The crew was unharmed, according to CNN.

3 stabbed near University of Tokyo ahead of entrance exam, student, 17, arrested

Two high school students and a man were wounded in a knife attack on Saturday just outside the University of Tokyo ahead of nationwide entrance exams. A teenager who was apparently frustrated with his academic performance has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police said. A 72-year-old man from Tokyo was seriously injured after he and the two other victims — a male and a female student, ages 17 and 18 respectively — were slashed in the back around 8:30 a.m. outside one of the gates to the university's main campus in the capital's Bunkyo Ward. The two high school students, both from Chiba Prefecture, did not sustain life-threatening injuries, the police said, with the police quoting the 17-year-old suspect as saying he was not acquainted with the three. The suspect, a student at a private high school in Nagoya, was not taking the exam. He was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. He has admitted to the attack.

6 die due to heavy snowfall in Japan - 21 inches in just 12 hours, bad weather expected to continue

Six people have died as a strong winter pressure pattern around Japan on Jan. 13 has led to heavy snowfall concentrated on the Sea of Japan side of the northern to western parts of the country. Amid concerns that heavy snow will continue to fall into Jan. 14, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is urging vigilance against high waves in the Sea of Japan side of the eastern to western parts of the country, and of blizzards and other conditions causing traffic disruptions in northern Japan. According to the JMA, snow is expected to settle on the plains of the country's Pacific Ocean side through Jan. 14. Due to the effects of an atmospheric pressure trough, there are fears of localized heavy snowfall primarily in parts of central Japan's Hokuriku region.

BEST OF THE WEB: Defying US Caesar Act, China admits Syria into BRI

Marking a major boost to Sino-Syrian relations, on 12 January, Syria joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China's ambitious infrastructure development strategy stretching from East Asia to Europe. For analysts with an eye on Syria, the development was expected. In November 2021, President Bashar discussed his country gaining membership in the BRI with his counterpart in Beijing, Xi Jinping, following high-level meetings between officials of both states in previous months. The move will likely help Syria deepen its cooperative and economic ties to other countries in the BRI, and enable it to circumvent the effects of harsh US sanctions on the country.

SOTT FOCUS: MindMatters: Books for the New Year, and Responding to a Reader Comment

Today on MindMatters we give a preview of what's to come in 2022, including some of the books we've been reading: Richard Spence's Wall Street and the Russian Revolution and Iain McGilchrist's The Matter with Things. We also respond to a reader comment. Are we ignoring the dangers of rightwing authoritarianism and overplaying the dangers on the left? Running Time: 01:06:01 Download: MP3 — 90.7 MB

Utah's most infamous UFO sightings

During the 1990s, American families gathered around their televisions on Sunday nights and watched The X-Files, where FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were part of secret government research into Unidentified Flying Objects. Then in 2017, The New York Times revealed conspiracy theorists were right all along. The government for decades really did have secret agencies investigating UFOs and military pilots reported numerous contacts with flying objects. Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have appeared throughout human history and are typically associated with extraterrestrial life visiting Earth. As early as 1639, Massachusetts Bay Colony cofounder and governor John Winthrop reported a "sober, discreet man" named James Everell had seen a "great light" in the sky running back and forth over the Muddy River for several hours. By the time it vanished, Everell and the other men in his boat were a mile upstream from where they'd been and they had no memory of how they'd arrived...

England to dump 'hundreds of thousands' of Covid boosters due to overstocking & amidst increasing number no shows

It is not known exactly how many vaccines will be discarded but it is likely to be "hundreds of thousands", sources told the Health Service Journal (HSJ), which obtained the memo. The memo, sent on Thursday from NHS England's vaccination team to officials managing the 3,000 vaccination sites around the country, said some stocks would reach their expiry dates without being used. It urges them to try to use them up until the last minute before they have to be thrown away. Comment: The unnecessary risks associated with all the jabs in even the most ideal situations not withstanding, the mRNA jabs are particularly unstable and, coupled with the obvious hysteria and disorganisation in this situation, the probability of people being exposed to 'bad batches' will likely be increased: 3 children DEAD & 120 hospitalized in just 1 week due to Pfizer jab, Vietnam province suspends batch but 'may use it later on adults' It said: "There is a quantity of vaccine in the system, which was...

Record levels of child sexual abuse online in 2021, internet watchdog finds

There was a "three-fold" increase in online child sexual abuse, according to the Internet Watch Foundation. The online safety group is calling for more support for parents to spot danger signs after it investigated 361,000 reports of suspected criminal material in 2021 - the highest since the group started monitoring online abuse 15 years ago. IWF, which finds and helps remove abuse content from the internet, said more people, especially school children, spent more time online in 2021 and as a result may have been more vulnerable to cybercriminals.

BEST OF THE WEB: Tsunami waves hit Tonga after massive underwater volcanic eruption sends debris and ash 20km into the sky

Australia has become the fifth nation to issue a tsunami warning after an undersea volcano in the Pacific Ocean caused havoc in Tonga. The Bureau of Meteorology issued an urgent alert that dangerous waves will start to affect Australia from 9.45pm on Saturday. A tsunami struck Tonga sending terrified residents fleeing for their lives as surging waves crashed into homes and volcanic ash rained down from the sky. Locals were warned to get out of the water and move to higher ground from as far away as Fiji as homes in the small South Pacific nation were swept away by the rising torrent. Comment: Note how there's a lightning strike at 0:27, just as another vent erupts. This is due to an electric charge differential between the ash cloud, which is eruption debris that is now higher up in the atmosphere, and the freshly erupted material, which has just burst forth from inside the planet!

2,000-year-old Celtic hoard of gold 'rainbow cups' discovered in Germany

A volunteer archaeologist has discovered an ancient stash of Celtic coins, whose "value must have been immense," in Brandenburg, a state in northeastern Germany. The 41 gold coins were minted more than 2,000 years ago, and are the first known Celtic gold treasure in Brandenburg, Manja Schüle, the Minister of Culture in Brandenburg announced in December 2021. The coins are curved, a feature that inspired the German name "regenbogenschüsselchen," which translates to "rainbow cups." Just like the legend that there's a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, "in popular belief, rainbow cups were found where a rainbow touched the Earth," Marjanko Pilekić, a numismatist and research assistant at the Coin Cabinet of the Schloss Friedenstein Gotha Foundation in Germany, who studied the hoard, told Live Science in an email.

Eleven Oath Keepers including leader charged with seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 riot

Founder Stewart Rhodes, 56, is being charged for the first time in connection to the events. The founder of the far-right militia the Oath Keepers and 10 others in the group have been indicted and arrested for their alleged role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the planning of the 2021 incident. Founder Stewart Rhodes, 56, is being charged for the first time in connection to events leading up to and on Jan. 6, according to a statement from the Justice Department released Thursday and obtained by NBC News. The other 10, including nine others who already faced charges in connection to the riot, were also indicted.

Los Angeles cargo trains repeatedly looted, tracks littered with Amazon packages

Thousands of shredded packages were seen scattered along the tracks of a Los Angeles railway on Thursday, said to be left by thieves who are now looting cargo containers. Video footage captured a series of packages that were either left empty or torn up along the Union Pacific tracks in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles. The cargo packages have been bait for railway thieves who have targeted goods from companies such as Amazon and UPS bound for residences along the West Coast.

Student loses Rhodes scholarship after investigation concludes she faked poverty

24-year-old Mackenzie Fierceton won the Rhodes scholarship in November 2020, but a tip-off to the prestigious committee kicked off a deeper investigation into the student's background. She wasn't poor and grew up in a wealthy household with a successful mother. It's from there the story unraveled. Not only was Fierceton's scholarship revoked, the University of Pennsylvania is now withholding the student's master's degree pending its own inquiries. The Inquirerdid a story on Fierceton winning the Rhodes scholarship in November 2020. The paper was the first to reveal that a "poor" girl who bounced between foster homes had won the Rhodes scholarship.

Danish newspaper apologizes for "hypnotically" following government narrative on COVID

A top Danish newspaper has apologized for "hypnotically" following government narratives on the COVID-19 pandemic, admitting "we failed." In fact, "we failed" is the very headline used by tabloid outlet Ekstra Bladet, which goes on to admit, "For ALMOST two years, we - the press and the population - have been almost hypnotically preoccupied with the authorities' daily coronavirus figures." The newspaper also acknowledged that it had been found wanting on the important issue of parsing numbers of people who died with COVID not from COVID.

Bright meteor fireball over the south of Spain (Jan. 14)

This stunning bolide was spotted over Spain on January 14, at 22:27 local time (equivalent to 21:27universal time). It was almost as bright as the full Moon. The fireball was observed by a wide number of casual eyewitnesses, who reported it on social networks. The event was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 48,000 km/h. The fireball overflew south of Spain. It began at an altitude of about 86 km over southwest of the province of Ciudad Real (region of Castilla-La Mancha), moved east, and ended at a height of around 23 km over the same province. The preliminary analysis of this event shows that the rock was not fully destroyed in the atmosphere: a small part of the meteoroid survived and reached the ground as a meteorite. This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the meteor-observing stations located at Calar Alto, Sierra Nevada, Sevilla, La...

Nancy Pelosi's son was involved in FIVE companies probed by the feds, connects him to a slew of fraudsters and convicted criminals

Nancy Pelosi's son was involved in five companies probed by federal agencies - but has never been charged himself, a DailyMail.com investigation reveals. A shocking paper trail shows Paul Pelosi Jr.'s connections to a host of fraudsters, rule-breakers and convicted criminals. His years-long repeated business dealings raise two troubling questions Nancy's son has been unable to answer: why did he get mixed up with such unsavory characters over and over, and how involved was he with the criminal investigations into his fraudster colleagues?

The Three Faces of Evil

"People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us... It's people who claim that they're good...that you have to be wary of." Gregory Maguire, Wicked I've been sick over the holidays — not with the dreaded Covid, or the milder Omega, or the much milder Omicron, or whatever you want to call whatever it is that's going around. I didn't take a test for it, but my daughter did, and she has the same illness as me and she tested negative. Of course, those tests...we will get into that later. Anyway, I took some time off from my writing, enjoying my kids and my grandkids, finding so much joy and thankfulness in my family. So here we go, back into the thick of things. Recapping the past two years and looking at what to expect in the coming months. And yes, it's a long one, but not as long as RFK Jr's brilliantly informative book, so there's that. On November 15, 2021, "[Maria], a German mother critical of the state's Covid measures had her home raided and her...

Canadian military officer calls for a probe into a ground zero 'Covid' outbreak at Wuhan forces games TWO MONTHS before world was alerted

A Canadian military officer who fears he was at the 'Ground Zero' of Covid two months before China officially acknowledged the virus has demanded an investigation into the suspicious outbreak of illness there. The long-serving officer, who cannot be named as he is still in the forces, was among the scores of athletes who fell sick with a debilitating illness after attending the World Military Games in Wuhan in October 2019. He said foreign competitors found the city of 11 million people 'like a ghost town', and so many cases of a mysterious virus afflicted the Canadian team that a quarantine section was set up on their military flight back home.

FBI remembers 73 officers who died in the line of duty in 2021

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday remembered 73 officers who were killed in the line of duty last year. "As we reflect on 2021, let's honor the memories of those who lost their lives protecting others," Wray wrote in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. "Let's commit to making communities safer, finding ways to improve interactions between law enforcement and those they serve, holding everyone to the high standards befitting men and women in uniform, and valuing those who do their jobs with honor. "

Fully vaccinated Australians in hospital for covid-19 surpass unvaccinated

For the first time, New South Wales (NSW) has seen more fully vaccinated patients hospitalised with COVID-19 compared to the number of unvaccinated patients as the Omicron outbreak continues to edge toward its peak. Data published by the NSW government's COVID-19 Critical Intelligence Unit has revealed that as of Jan. 9, 68.9 percent of COVID-19 patients aged 12 and over in hospitals had two doses of the vaccine, with 28.8 percent unvaccinated. The number of double-dose vaccinated patients in intensive care units (ICUs) also surpassed those of the unvaccinated, with 50.3 percent of the vaccinated presenting to ICU with COVID-19, more than the 49.1 percent who are unvaccinated. However, based on the data presented, unvaccinated individuals appear to be six times more likely to be hospitalised and nearly 13 times more likely to be sent to ICU than those who are fully vaccinated. This is considering that the number of unvaccinated patients appears to be over-represented in the figures...

Canada: Unvaccinated father loses right to see his child

A Canadian father who has not been vaccinated against Covid has temporarily lost the right to see his 12-year-old child. A judge ruled his visits would not be in the child's "best interest". It followed a request by the father to extend his visiting time during the holidays. The judgement is the first depriving a parent of access rights on immunisation grounds, a family law expert told Le Devoir newspaper. The judge's decision, made at the end of last month in Quebec province, suspends the father's visitation rights until February, unless he decides to get vaccinated.

The age of intolerance: Cancel culture's war on free speech

"Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners." — George Carlin Cancel culture — political correctness amped up on steroids, the self-righteousness of a narcissistic age, and a mass-marketed pseudo-morality that is little more than fascism disguised as tolerance — has shifted us into an Age of Intolerance, policed by techno-censors, social media bullies, and government watchdogs. Everything is now fair game for censorship if it can be construed as hateful, hurtful, bigoted or offensive provided that it runs counter to the established viewpoint. In this way, the most controversial issues of our day — race, religion, sex, sexuality, politics, science, health, government corruption, police brutality, etc. — have become battlegrounds for those who claim to believe in freedom of speech but only when it favors the views and positions they support. "Free speech for me but not for thee" is how my good friend and free speech purist Nat Hentoff used to sum up this double...

The GOP senator Fauci called a 'moron' to introduce FAUCI Act on financial disclosures

A Republican lawmaker that Dr. Anthony Fauci called a "moron" earlier this week will introduce a financial disclosures bill known as the FAUCI Act. Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall will introduce the Financial Accountability for Uniquely Compensated Individuals Act after Fauci insulted him in the aftermath of a heated debate in the Senate earlier this week, a spokesperson for the senator told the Hill. The FAUCI Act would mandate that the Office of Government Ethics present the financial records for people such as Fauci on its website, an allusion to the initial dispute that prompted Fauci to call Marshall a "moron" on a hot mic during a Senate hearing. Dr. Fauci has lost his reputation," Marshall said during a Thursday morning interview on Fox Business's Mornings with Maria.

Biden calls for tighter censorship of Covid-19 content

President urges social media platforms and news outlets to "deal with misinformation and disinformation" US President Joe Biden's latest "surge response" to fight the spread of Covid-19 includes an appeal for Big Tech and media companies to block allegedly false pandemic-related claims. He said on Thursday: "I make a special appeal to social media companies and media outlets. Please deal with the misinformation and disinformation that's on your shows. It has to stop." Biden made the comment as he announced a series of new measures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, including plans for free masks, more free tests, and additional deployments of military medical teams to help hospitals cope with rising patient loads. He didn't specify what constitutes misinformation or disinformation in the pandemic age. Biden urged a crackdown immediately after chiding people who have chosen not to get vaccinated by saying they were "standing in the way" of the fight against the virus.

Disgraced FBI No. 2 Andrew McCabe tells UChicago students the feds should be weaponized against conservatives

Have you ever wondered what disgraced former deputy FBI directors do after trying to stage a coup and lying under oath? Apparently, they give talks about "protecting democracy" at top-rated institutions of higher learning. Indeed, this last Thursday the University of Chicago Institute of Politics invited former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe to join a panel of partisans to discuss the Jan 6 "insurrection." McCabe was fired as the deputy FBI director for leaking sensitive information about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation and then lying about it under oath. He also took part in spying on the Donald Trump campaign through a secret warrant granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. The dossier he used to obtain the surveillance warrant was funded by Hillary Clinton's campaign and, in an ironic twist, was itself the product of Russian disinformation. McCabe and his allies in corporate media justified all sorts of similar illegal and undemocratic tactics...

Marine Corps grants two religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccine, first for any service

The Marine Corps has granted two service members a permanent religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the first military branch to do so, the service announced Thursday in a regular update. The Corps says that, to date, it has received 3,350 requests for religious exemption to the mandate and processed 3,212. The two exemptions announced Thursday are the first for vaccines that the service has granted in at least the last 10 years. None of the other branches of the military has granted any religious exemptions for COVID-19 to date. The Marine Corps did not provide any details on the circumstances surrounding the two exemptions or how they differed from any of the other requests it has received. A statement from Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Andrew Wood cited privacy considerations in declining to provide more specifics.

Whitmer administration significantly undercounted Michigan nursing home COVID deaths, state auditor finds

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's administration undercounted the COVID-19 deaths in the state's long-term care facilities by 30%, according to a state auditor general report reviewed by Fox News. The report, which is expected to be publicly released on Monday, is likely to renew criticism of the Democratic governor's performance during the pandemic. Michigan state Rep. Steven Johnson, a Republican, told Fox News Digital in a Thursday phone call that Whitmer is "well known for her executive order to place COVID-positive patients into nursing homes. And when we were looking into this to see just how deadly that policy was, the nursing home death numbers we received from the department weren't including everything." Johnson confirmed the number in the report was 30%. "There are some serious questions that have to be asked. It does appear the people of Michigan were misled as to just how many nursing home deaths there were" due to Whitmer's policies. Seeing that it's actually 30%...

Russia orders snap inspection of troops' readiness for rapid deployment

Troops in Russia's Far East have begun winter inspections, according to a statement by the country's Ministry of Defense, as Moscow holds talks with NATO about de-escalating tensions. Officials announced on Friday that forces stationed in the Eastern Military District, which covers a vast swath of land from Siberia to the Sea of Japan, were undertaking inspections and exercises intended to ensure their military readiness. The ministry said this would include live firing in testing ranges, and emphasized that special attention would be paid to the soldiers' preparedness for rapid deployment.

Omicron in Scotland: Covid case rates lowest in unvaccinated, double-jabbed elderly are driving rise in hospital admissions

Double-jabbed Scots are now more likely to be admitted to hospital with Covid than the unvaccinated amid an increase in elderly people falling ill due to waning immunity. It comes amid "weird" data showing that case rates have been lower in unvaccinated individuals than the single, double, or even triple-jabbed since Omicron became the dominant variant in Scotland. The counterintuitive data from Public Health Scotland (PHS) contradicts previous pandemic trends which have consistently shown infection, hospitalisation and death rates to be highest among the unvaccinated.

Pfizer CEO: SCOTUS ruling a 'clear violation of our Constitutional right to produce experimental drugs and use the full power of government to force the entire population to inject them into their bodies'

Responding to a 6-3 SCOTUS decision striking down President Biden's unconstitutional vaccine mandate, Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla took to CNN to condemn the ruling, which he says "violates our God-given constitutional right to produce experimental drugs and use the full power of government to force the entire population to inject them into their bodies." "I know private citizens are supposed to have rights," said Bourla, "but what about the right of corrupt, multi-billion-dollar mega-corporations that are in bed with governments all around the world? What about our right to make billions and billions of dollars by forcing you to take a drug, even if you don't need it and it kills you? I thought this was AMERICA!" Bourla confirmed that if everyone on earth isn't forced to take his new upcoming Omicron vaccine, he may not be able to afford his next payment on his flying yacht, which also doubles as a casino and brothel. "Have some empathy for drug company CEOs like me," he said. Dr....

Soros-backed Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby indicted on 4 felonies

Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury of 4 felonies related to her purchase of a home in Florida. Mosby was among the first law enforcement officials supported by left-wing billionaire George Soros in his quest to remake the criminal justice system in the United States. Federal prosecutors allege that Mosby lied to falsely obtain a withdrawal from her savings account based on a policy related to the coronavirus pandemic. She is also accused of lying on a mortgage application for the home purchase.

Saving face: Prince Charles and William said to be behind move to strip Andrew of royal title

Prince Charles and Prince William are said to have been the main influence behind the Queen's decision to strip Andrew of his Royal titles, Royal insiders claim. Following a meeting with the two princes on Wednesday the 12th of January, Queen Elizabeth II reportedly made the decision to strip Prince Andrew of his Royal and military titles as well as his patronages, meaning he can no longer be referred to as 'His Royal Highness' (HRH), a report in British tabloid The Sun claims, citing Royal sources.. Prince William is claimed to be the key influence in convincing the Queen to remove Andrew's titles allegedly warning her the situation was "grave".

Europe's gas storage half-empty in record time, refusing long-term supply contracts with Russia despite soaring costs

On Christmas eve, Gazprom, the Russian state-owned natural gas giant, tweeted a rather unfestive message: Gas inventories in Europe were depleting quickly. Since then, Gazprom has been reminding the world of the trend every few days. "It should be noted that gas reserves in Europe's UGS [underground gas storages] are currently at their lowest for the season in the long history of observation," it tweeted again earlier this week. Gazprom is right. On Thursday, Gas Infrastructure Europe, an industry association, announced that European gas inventories had dropped below the key 50% mark of total capacity, down to 49.33% as of Jan. 12. It's the earliest the half-empty mark has ever been reached, beating the previous record by seven days. Typically, Europe's gas inventories don't fall to half until about early-to-mid February. During some mild winters, the inventories don't sink below midpoint until early March. The biggest ally of Europe in the gas crisis has so far been the weather....

Sanity returning? French court strikes down Paris mask mandate despite increased Omicron cases

A French tribunal on Thursday suspended an outdoor mask mandate in Paris, even as the COVID-19 Omicron variant continues to rampage across France. The suspension was first reported by French news agency AFP. Amid rising cases of COVID, the French Interior Ministry's Paris Prefecture had enacted the mandate at the end of December. It required all persons operating in public in France to wear a mask, even when outside.

Who's sweating now? Ghislaine Maxwell ends fight to keep John Doe names under seal

A whole lot of John Does are likely more nervous this morning. At issue? Virginia Giuffre's request to unseal documents that name names in her since-settled civil lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, which led to a lengthy and ongoing open-records battle. In December of last year, a Manhattan jury in Maxwell's trial returned guilty verdicts in five of the six charges against her after six days of deliberations. Maxwell faced federal charges that included conspiracy, violations of the Mann Act, and sex trafficking a minor for her role as Jeffrey Epstein's longtime confidante and now-convicted accomplice, related to what prosecutors described as Epstein's "Pyramid scheme" of sexual abuse of minor girls. Depending on what lies underneath the redactions, the unsealed information could make waves inside the same courthouse, and around the world.

Dr. Oz calls Fauci a 'petty tyrant,' challenges him to debate on Fauci's Covid policies

GOP Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, more commonly known as "Dr. Oz" from his TV program "The Dr. Oz Show," called infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci a "petty tyrant" and challenged him to a debate on COVID-19. "It's past time Fauci faces the fact that he got COVID wrong. So, doctor to doctor - let's debate. This Doctor is in, are you?" Oz said in a tweet Thursday while posting a campaign ad attacking Fauci. "Let's get the facts straight here. You and me. Let's have a debate, doctor to doctor, and give the American people the truth about COVID-19. I'm game. Anytime. Anywhere. Dr. Fauci, are you in?" Oz said in the campaign video.

Your gut senses the difference between real sugar and artificial sweetener

Sugar preference isn't just a matter of taste - it's deeper than that DURHAM, N.C. - Your taste buds may or may not be able to tell real sugar from a sugar substitute like Splenda, but there are cells in your intestines that can and do distinguish between the two sweet solutions. And they can communicate the difference to your brain in milliseconds. Not long after the sweet taste receptor was identified in the mouths of mice 20 years ago, scientists attempted to knock those taste buds out. But they were surprised to find that mice could still somehow discern and prefer natural sugar to artificial sweetener, even without a sense of taste. The answer to this riddle lies much further down in the digestive tract, at the upper end of the gut just after the stomach, according to research led by Diego Bohórquez, an associate professor of medicine and neurobiology in the Duke University School of Medicine. In a paper appearing Jan. 13 in Nature Neuroscience, "we've identified the cells...

Why Do NATO States Commit Energy Hara Kiri ?

There is a great paradox in the increasingly aggressive US and NATO military stance towards Russia, and China, when measured against the clearly suicidal national Green Agenda economic policies of the USA as well as the EU NATO states. An astonishing transformation of the economies of the world's most advanced industrial economies is underway and gaining momentum. The heart of the transformation is energy, and the absurd demand for "zero carbon" energy by 2050 or before. To eliminate carbon from the energy industry is not at this time, or perhaps ever, possible. But the push for it will mean tearing apart the world's most productive economies. Without a viable industrial energy base, NATO countries become a military joke. We cannot speak of "renewable" energy for solar, wind and battery storage. We must speak of Unreliable Energy. It is one of the most colossal scientific delusions in history. On December 31 the new German coalition government shut down three of the remaining six...

Lithuanians overwhelmingly oppose their government's anti-China policy, President admits he made "a mistake" as China cuts off trade

Just 13 per cent of Lithuanians support Vilnius' hardline policy toward China, according to a government poll that adds to the pressure mounting on its foreign ministry. In a survey conducted by a private company on behalf of the ministry, just 1 per cent of respondents rated Lithuania's "value-based" policy towards China "very positively", with 12 per cent viewing it "positively". Conversely, 21 per cent said they felt "very negatively" and 37 per cent "negatively" about a policy that has seen Vilnius bolster its ties with Taiwan, the self-governed island that Beijing views as a renegade province.

Mysterious illness in 'hundreds' of dogs raises alarm in UK

Dog owners in East Yorkshire have warned that their pets fell ill after taking walks along the region's coastline, despite officials finding no "direct link" between the area and the diseases during recent inspections. Vets in the area claim they have seen cases of severe vomiting and diarrhea in dogs who recently visited the northeast coast. In a Facebook post, Yorkshire Coast Pet Care described being "inundated" with dogs that have suffered a mystery illness, urging officials to investigate. Since the first cases were identified, British media has reported that hundreds of dogs have been affected, with the initial social media post receiving more than 1,500 responses.

Russian-led CSTO troops leaving Kazakhstan, 'region stabilized' following failed coup attempt

Soldiers from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) are leaving Kazakhstan having achieved their objectives, now that the region has been stabilized, the head of the six-member military alliance announced on Thursday. At a ceremony in Almaty, CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said that Kazakh leaders had decided that unrest had subsided to a level that would allow the peacekeepers to withdraw. "It's obvious that [the pullout] was not early," he clarified. "The situation here in Almaty has been placed under the control of law-enforcement personnel, and that is why the task has been fulfilled."

Meteor fireball over Hungary and other countries on January 13

We received 33 reports about a fireball seen over Bayern, Jihočeský kraj, Jihomoravský kraj, Niederösterreich, Nitriansky kraj, Oppeln, Pardubice Region, Sachsen, Salzburg, Středočeský kraj, Thüringen, Upravna enota Maribor and Wien on Thursday, January 13th 2022 around 17:06 UT. For this event, we received 3 videos and 11 photos.