National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG

U.S. troops deployed near Russian border –Estonia’s defense ministry has announced the arrival of an American infantry company as part of NATO’s presence in the country | 16 Dec 2022 | A United States infantry company arrived in Estonia this week as part of NATO’s effort to bolster the military bloc’s eastern border with Russia, the Baltic country’s defense ministry has revealed. A statement published on the ministry’s website on Friday said that U.S. service members are stationed at Taara base in the town of Voru, some 20 kilometers from the Russian border. Commenting on the U.S. service members’ arrival, Colonel Mati Tikerpuu, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade of the Estonian Defense Forces, said he expects to be able to “integrate our allies on a brigade level and gain an additional maneuver unit.” Colonel Richard Ikena, U.S. 1st Infantry Division Artillery Commander, said American troops are “excited to be in Estonia” and “look forward to working shoulder-to-shoulder, alongside our Allies.”

Oxford Introducing Traffic Restrictions for Privately Owned Cars After 2023 | 8 Dec 2022 | In England, the Oxfordshire County Council has introduced a new traffic scheme it believes will clear up roadway congestion, improve pedestrian safety, and also address climate issues. However, the plan involves prohibiting where residents of Oxford can drive (unless they have the proper paperwork) by breaking the city into six zones. Predictably, the concept has proven to be wildly unpopular with some of the locals. Over the last week, residents have been up in arms about the scheme… According to the Oxfordshire County Council’s own website, “traffic filtering” involves stopping vehicles from moving through selected checkpoints by leveraging a network of preexisting automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. While locals will be eligible to purchase permits that will allow them to drive between the zones “up to 100 days per year,” exceeding this limit will result in fines. That means if you commute daily via your own car, you’re already guaranteed to exceed the permitted allotment — assuming you were actually able to get accredited in the first place.  

FBI treated Twitter as a ‘subsidiary,’ flagged tweets and accounts for ‘misinformation’ | 16 Dec 2022 | The FBI and other law enforcement organizations treated Twitter as a “subsidiary,” flagging numerous accounts for purportedly harmful “misinformation” since January of 2020, according to the sixth installment of the “Twitter Files” released Friday. Independent journalist Matt Taibbi described the FBI’s relationship with Twitter as having a “master-canine quality” with “constant and pervasive” contact between the bureau and the social media giant. “Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth,” Taibbi wrote, referring to the executive who helped suppress The Post’s reporting on first son Hunter Biden’s extensive overseas business interests. Taibbi also found that a “surprisingly high number” of the FBI’s missives were requests “for Twitter to take action on election misinformation,” including obvious jokes from accounts with low number of followers.

Documents Reveal Secret Twitter Portal U.S. Government Used to Censor COVID-19 Content | 15 Dec 2022 | New documents reveal how the United States government used a secret Twitter portal to censor COVID-19 content that contradicted the government’s narrative. In its ongoing probe into Twitter’s censorship practices, America First Legal has obtained a fourth set of documents exposing a secret Twitter portal, which U.S. government officials used to censor dissenting COVID-19 views in violation of the First Amendment. It’s a revelation Elon Musk described as “extremely concerning.” The documents reveal that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was collaborating with UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and Mafindo to mitigate “disinformation.” Mafindo is a Facebook third-party fact-checking [sic] partner based in Indonesia that is funded by Google, known to have censored searches for keywords like Coronavirus, and COVID-19 as well as blocking information regarding adverse reactions and deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccines.

WHO, Johns Hopkins, and Gates Foundation Conduct Another Pandemic Simulation. This Time the Virus Is Deadlier and Targets Children | 11 Dec 2022 | The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security partnered with the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct “Catastrophic Contagion,” an exercise to simulate a global pandemic that is deadlier than the coronavirus and especially dangerous for children. Bill Gates was in attendance. The group conducted Catastrophic Contagion in Brussels, Belgium, on October 23, 2022. During the simulation, the World Health Organization’s health advisory board addressed a fictional “Severe Epidemic Enterovirus Respiratory Syndrome” pandemic that originates in Brazil and disseminates across the globe. The exercise simulated a series of WHO emergency health advisory board meetings addressing a fictional pandemic set in the near future.

Gov. Ron DeSantis asks grand jury to investigate whether Floridians were misled by COVID shot firms – as he compares vaccine makers to opioid companies –The firebrand Florida governor is asking for a probe into leading vaccine makers –He is asking the state’s Supreme Court to gather a grand jury for the probe Florida is also launching its own public health committee to rival the CDC | 13 Dec 2022 | Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced his plans to probe “any and all wrongdoing” with respect to the Covid vaccines. The Republican – who has long been a critic of lockdowns, masks and vaccine mandates – plans to petition the state’s Supreme Court to convene a grand jury to investigate how the shots were rolled out and marketed. He made the announcement following a roundtable with Florida’s controversial Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and a panel of scientists and physicians, in which they criticized Covid vaccine makers for not sharing data with independent experts. “We’ll be able to get the data whether they want to give it or not,” DeSantis said. “In Florida, it is illegal to mislead and misrepresent, especially when you are talking about the efficacy of a drug.” Pfizer is charging 130 for its COVID-19 vaccine – a 10,000% mark-up from the estimated 1.18 it costs them to develop a single dose of the vaccine. The firm was charging the US government around 20 per shot but rose prices in an effort to make up for poor demand for the jabs. It is forecasted to rake in over 100billion in revenue this year, and brought in 81.2billion last year.

FDA Announces Recall of COVID-19 Tests Due to False Results | 13 Dec 2022 | The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday announced a COVID-19 test manufacturer is issuing a recall due to false test results. The COVID-19 tests were made by Detect Inc. and were sent to customers between July 26 and Aug. 26 of this year, according to the recall notice. It impacts about 11,000 tests, which were given an FDA emergency use authorization, made by the firm. “There is an increased chance that the tests from the lot numbers listed below may give false negative results,” the announcement said. “Detect has conducted a thorough investigation to identify this issue and has made the decision to conduct a voluntary recall for these lots.”

Senate passes defense bill rescinding COVID vaccine mandate | 16 Dec 2022 | A bill to rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military and provide nearly 858 billion for national defense passed the Senate on Thursday and now goes to Joe Biden to be signed into law. The bill provides for about 45 billion more for defense programs than Biden requested and roughly 10% more than last year’s bill… The Senate passed the defense policy bill by a vote of 83-11. The measure also received broad bipartisan support in the House last week. To win GOP support for the 4,408-page bill, Democrats agreed to Republican demands to scrap the requirement for service members to get a COVID-19 vaccination… An amendment from Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also went down to defeat. It would have allowed for the reinstatement of those service members discharged for failing to obey an order to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and compensate them for any pay and benefits lost as a result of the separation.

Connecticut won’t require COVID vaccines for children | 13 Dec 2022 | Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont says he will not mandate that children be vaccinated against COVID-19. He made the comment during an interview on the FOX 5 morning show Good Day New York. “Obviously, it’s never something that we’re going to require,” Lamont said. “You can’t push people too hard.”

Philadelphia public school students, staff must wear masks for 10 days after returning from winter break –The School District of Philadelphia also imposed a mask mandate for the first 10 days of the school year | 15 Dec 2022 | Students and staff in Philadelphia public schools will be required to wear masks for two weeks after the winter break, officials said Wednesday. The mask mandate will run from Jan. 3 through Jan. 13, 2023. Tony Watlington, Sr., superintendent for the School District of Philadelphia, confirmed the temporary return of masking on Wednesday, Fox Philadelphia reported.

Troops at two dozen bases exposed to toxic chemicals in drinking water | 15 Dec 2022 | An internal Defense Department study completed this year found that the drinking water at 24 installations exposes about 175,000 service members a year to dangerous levels of chemicals linked to cancer and other illnesses. The report, made public by the Environmental Working Group on Thursday, found that water tested from each of the bases contained more than 70 parts-per-trillion of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, the Environmental Protection Agency’s previous cut-off for safe drinking water. The bases with dangerous PFAS levels include Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, as well as several Army and Air Force installations in South Korea.

On the 100th Anniversary of the USSR By CLG Founder, Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D. | 15 Dec 2022 | I was asked by a reporter from Sputnik News Agency, a Russian news outlet, to answer some questions for an article on the 100th anniversary of the Soviet Union. The reporter was particularly interested in my take on the significance of the Soviet Union to the Western Left. The questions and my answers follow: Over the past 100 years, there have been many changes in leftist thought, from the debates between communists and social democrats in the first part of the twentieth century, followed by the rise of the Frankfurt School and New Left in Europe and the US after WWII, as well as the postmodernist and post-Marxist theories later on. In your opinion, have these changes transformed the meaning of being on the Left, and, if so, in what way?  

Judge Orders Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs to Appear at Emergency Court Hearing Over Election Lawsuit | 13 Dec 2022 | A judge overseeing Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s electoral lawsuit ordered Lake, Secretary of State and Arizona Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors officials, and others to appear at a court hearing on Tuesday. Judge Peter Thompson, in issuing the order, wrote that the court has “reviewed” Lake’s “verified statement of election contest” and said the “matter will be set on an accelerated basis.” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates were also ordered to attend the hearing, which will start at 2 p.m. ET. It comes as Lake stated Monday that her lawsuit is, in part, fueled by alleged whistleblower claims who have come forward. “We’ve had three whistleblowers from Maricopa County reach out and say the system is seriously flawed,” Lake told Just the News on Monday, days after the suit was filed with a Maricopa County court.

Biden official hid info about meetings with George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi from public | 12 Dec 2022 | Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler scrubbed mention of a meeting with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and key details of a meeting with billionaire Democratic donor George Soros from the public version of his calendar. Gensler’s public calendar showed that he only had a staff meeting on Aug. 7, 2021, while his private calendar lists a meeting with Clinton, according to a Fox News Digital review. And on Aug. 20, 2021, his public calendar lists a meeting with Soros but hid the meeting’s agenda, which his private calendar shows was to discuss a forthcoming Wall Street Journal op-ed the business magnate was planning to write. Gensler’s private calendar revealing the discrepancies was obtained by the watchdog group Energy Policy Advocates and shared with Fox News Digital. The group was only able to obtain the internal records after filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the SEC.

Kevin McCarthy: GOP Will Subpoena 51 Intel Officials Who Claimed Hunter’s Laptop Was ‘Russian Disinformation’ | 12 Dec 2022 | House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has vowed to subpoena 51 senior intel officials who signed a letter prior to the 2020 election suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop story was “Russian disinformation.” McCarthy’s pronouncement comes as the “Twitter Files” dropped by Elon Musk have proven the social media platform deliberately censored the laptop story as directed by the DNC and Joe Biden’s campaign. With the GOP set to assume the majority in the House come January, the California Republican is promising to hold the intel officials who helped cast doubt on the story accountable. McCarthy said of those who signed the letter that he’ll “bring them and subpoena them before a committee” when Republicans take control.

Pete Buttigieg often flies on taxpayer-funded private jets, flight data show –Biden Cabinet member has taken at least 18 flights on taxpayer-funded private jets, despite calls to curb carbon emissions | 12 Dec 2022 | Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, an advocate of increased government action to curb carbon emissions, has taken at least 18 flights using taxpayer-funded private jets since taking office, Fox News Digital has learned. Buttigieg has traveled across the country — visiting Florida, Ohio and New Hampshire, among other states — and out of the country using a private jet fleet managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to flight tracking data reviewed by Fox News Digital. The flight records align with Buttigieg’s schedule of external and public engagements obtained by government watchdog group Americans for Public Trust (APT). Buttigieg’s predecessor, Elaine Chao, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, faced criticism for using the same jets on seven occasions in 2017, costing taxpayers nearly 94,000, Politico reported at the time. And Trump-appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was forced to resign after reportedly taking 26 private jet flights that same year, costing taxpayers about 1.2 million.

Google Goes Full-on Racist, Will Start Marking the Race of Business Owners | 15 Dec 2022 | Remember the old “Whites Only/Colored Only” signs on water fountains and bathrooms in the old Jim Crow South? Thanks to Google, that kind of open, in-your-face racism is back with a vengeance. Google is so concerned that you not be racist that it is doing the most racist thing a major corporation has done at least since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: it is planning to mark the race of the owners of various businesses so that racists of all varieties can patronize only the stores of their favored group. Jeremy Kauffman of LBRY dot com tweeted Thursday: “Google has launched a new campaign called ‘Buy Black’ that encourages people to shop based on the race of the store owner. Stores in search and map results will be given icons indicating the race of the owner to make this easier.”

Cub-side delivery gone wrong! Black bear steals 30 Chick-fil-A nuggets and a large fry off a front porch in Florida –Despite making a run for it with the nugget, the bear wasn’t too greedy, leaving the Newmans a healthy salad to munch on | 16 Dec 2022 | A hungry black bear wandered onto a Sanford, Florida, property on December 13 and stole their Chick-fil-A dinner right off their porch, homeowner Paul Newman captured on his doorbell camera. Although the thief didn’t steal all the food, as he apparently had enough of his greens for the season, leaving behind a salad. “He didn’t want the salad, though, nothing to do with the salad. Weird,” Newman joked. “This video was beary surprising!” a statement said, according to the Miami Herald. “We aren’t launching ‘cub-side’ delivery, but may consider it. While this guest hasn’t reached out directly to us yet, we’d love to replace their nuggets and waffle fries and pass along a special message from the Cows.”