Kazakh Government Crackdown on Gas Tax Protests Leaves 164 Dead

Parker Davis January 10, 2022

Kazakhstan says 164 killed in week of protests over sharp jump in fuel prices, other grievances

From www.cbc.ca
2022-01-09 15:01:26
The Associated Press
Excerpt:

Kazakhstan’s Health Ministry said Sunday that 164 people have been killed in protests that have rocked the country over the past week.

The figures reported on the state news channel Khabar-24 are a significant rise from previous tallies. It is not clear if the deaths refer only to civilians or if law-enforcement deaths are included. Kazakh authorities said earlier Sunday that 16 police or national guard had been killed. Authorities previously gave the civilian death toll as 26.

Most of the deaths — 103 — were in Almaty, the country’s largest city, where demonstrators seized government buildings and set some afire, according to the ministry. The country’s ombudsperson for children’s rights said three of those killed were minors, including a four-year-old girl.

The ministry earlier reported more than 2,200 people sought treatment for injuries from the protests, and the Interior Ministry said about 1,300 security officers were injured.

The office of Kazakhstan’s president…

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10 Killed in Brazil When Cliff Falls Into Boats

Mark Clouse January 10, 2022

Dramatic video captures cliff collapsing on tourist boats, killing 10 in Brazil

From www.cbsnews.com
2022-01-09 20:49:35

Excerpt:

Ten people died when a cliff collapsed onto tourist boats on a lake in Brazil, officials said Sunday after the bodies of two missing people were found. On Saturday a large rock fragment broke free of a ravine and plunged onto four boats in Furnas Lake in Brazil’s eastern Minas Gerais state, as panicked tourists watched helplessly from other vessels.

Dramatic videos shared on social networks captured the moment the cliff collapsed.

URGENTE

Rocha desaba sobre banhistas em #EscarpasdoLago (MG)
Confira: https://t.co/xPnulAgs0E #R7Minas pic.twitter.com/zZukQA1cww

— Record TV Minas (@recordtvminas) January 8, 2022

The bodies of the two remaining missing individuals were found Sunday by rescuers, civil police commissioner Marcos de Souza Pimenta told reporters.

More than 30 people were injured, including nine who had to be hospitalized, authorities said.

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NY Mayor Faces First Political Scandal, Nepotism

Freedomist Editor January 10, 2022

Eric Adams Appoints Brother to $240k NYPD Role, Faces Nepotism Claim

From www.businessinsider.com
2022-01-09 17:32:25

Excerpt:

New York Mayor Eric Adams has tapped his brother for a high-level job in the New York City Police Department (NYPD), raising questions regarding potential conflicts of interest, according to reports.

Bernard Adams, a retired police officer, will oversee governmental affairs in his role as a deputy police commissioner with the NYPD, the New York Post reported. The job comes with a salary of around $240,000, The Daily Beast said.

He most recently worked as assistant director of operations for parking at the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, according to his LinkedIn, after retiring from the NYPD in 2006. He left the police department after 20 years of service, the Daily Mail reported.

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US Jobs Numbers Fall Far Short of Expectations

Freedomist Editor January 10, 2022

GOP Leaders Slam Biden After Jobs Report Shows ‘Massive Miss’

From www.dailysignal.com
2022-01-08 01:15:06
Harry Wilmerding
Excerpt:

Republican leaders slammed President Joe Biden after December’s jobs report released Friday reported numbers well below economists’ projections, highlighting the report as another example of how the president mishandled the post-pandemic recovery.

The U.S. economy added only 199,000 jobs in December while unemployment dipped to 3.9%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Friday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal projected that the economy would add 422,000 jobs in December and that unemployment to fall to 4.1%.

“Our economy should be soaring right now, but the policies of this administration continue to stifle growth and hold back American businesses and workers,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement.

“Today’s jobs report is another massive miss, falling two hundred thousand jobs short of expectations. The labor participation rate should be climbing; instead the world’s greatest economy is…

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After Dodgy Election, New Nicaraguan Congress Sworn In

Freedomist Editor January 10, 2022

Nicaragua congress takes office after questionable elections – CBS17.com

From www.cbs17.com
2022-01-09 20:44:30

Excerpt:

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Members of Nicaragua’s new congress have taken office, one day before President Daniel Ortega is to be sworn following highly questionable elections.

Of the 90 legislators sworn in Sunday, 75 belong to Ortega’s Sandinista party and the other 15 are from tiny parties considered collaborators with the regime.

The legislators elected Gustavo Porras, a long-time Sandinista and congress member, as leader of the unicameral legislature.

The congressional members, like Ortega, were elected in Nov. 7 elections that drew condemnation internationally.

Ortega was elected to a fourth consecutive term in the elections, which were broadly criticized as a farce after seven likely challengers to Ortega were arrested and jailed in the months prior to the vote.

Nicaragua’s government announced in November it will withdraw from the Organization…

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US Olympic Pairs Skater Joins China Protest

Freedomist Editor January 10, 2022

Timothy LeDuc, US pairs skater, calls out human rights abuses in China

From www.usatoday.com
2022-01-09 17:54:20

Excerpt:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the months and weeks leading up to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, U.S. athletes have been repeatedly asked about human rights abuses in China and, for the most part, tiptoed around them.

Pairs skater Timothy LeDuc did not do that Sunday.

Hours after they were named to Team USA, LeDuc fielded a question about human rights abuses in China, whether athletes have a responsibility to use their platform to speak about them and whether they plan to do so. They called it “a really hard question to answer.”

“There’s no simple answer to this question,” said LeDuc, who will become the first openly non-binary athlete to compete at an Olympic Winter Games.

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Now, Non-Citizens Can Vote in NYC Elections

Freedomist Editor January 10, 2022

New NYC Law Allows Noncitizens To Vote In Watershed Moment

From www.huffpost.com
2022-01-09 20:21:57

Excerpt:

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 800,000 noncitizens and “Dreamers” in New York City will have access to the ballot box — and could vote in municipal elections as early as next year — after Mayor Eric Adams allowed legislation to automatically become law Sunday.

Opponents have vowed to challenge the new law, which the City Council approved a month ago. Unless a judge halts its implementation, New York City is the first major U.S. city to grant widespread municipal voting rights to noncitizens.

More than a dozen communities across the U.S. already allow noncitizens to cast ballots in local elections, including 11 towns in Maryland and two in Vermont.

Noncitizens still wouldn’t be able to vote for president or members of Congress in federal races, or in the state elections that pick the governor, judges and legislators.

The Board of Elections must now begin drawing an implementation plan by July, including voter registration rules and provisions that would create separate ballots…

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No Easing Tensions in Ukraine Affair

Freedomist Editor January 10, 2022

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: Breakthrough with Putin unlikely as Ukraine tensions mount

From www.washingtontimes.com
2022-01-09 18:29:05
Guy Taylor
Excerpt:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday downplayed prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough with Moscow ahead of high-stakes U.S.-Russia talks this week aimed at staving off a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“I don’t think we’re going to see any breakthrough,” Mr. Blinken said of the talks officially slated to begin Monday in Geneva between Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

…

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VA Senator Gets 0K Over Arrest for Tearing Down Statue

VA Senator Gets $300K Over Arrest for Tearing Down Statue

Freedomist Editor January 10, 2022

Virginia senator to receive $300k to settle protest lawsuit

From apnews.com
2022-01-09 19:09:29

Excerpt:

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) — The city of Portsmouth will pay a Virginia state senator $300,0000 under a settlement in a lawsuit the senator filed after she was charged with damaging a Confederate monument during a 2020 protest.

Portsmouth police charged Sen. Louise Lucas and several others with conspiracy to commit a felony and injury to a monument in excess of $1,000 after a protest that drew hundreds of people to a local Confederate monument. The heads of Confederate statues were ripped off and one statue was pulled down, critically injuring a demonstrator.

Two months later, former Portsmouth police Chief Angela Greene announced felony criminal charges against Lucas and 18 others, including NAACP leaders, public defenders and a Portsmouth School Board member.

A judge later dismissed all charges in the case. Greene was fired the same day.

Lucas served Greene and the police officer who filed charges against her with the $6.75 million lawsuit in November 2021, alleging malicious…

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Princeton Employee Open About Death Threats to Trump Admin

Freedomist Editor January 10, 2022

Former Iranian Official Who Works at Princeton Brags About Death Threats Against Trump Admin Official

From freebeacon.com
2022-01-09 17:00:22
Adam Kredo
Excerpt:

A former Iranian official who is a faculty member at Princeton University recently bragged in an interview about how his hardline government’s death threats against a former top Trump administration official had him and his family “trembling” with fear.

Hussein Mousavian, a former member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team who works as a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University, said in a recent interview that the Iranian regime’s threats to murder Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Iran, have heavily impacted Hook’s family life.

“I went to America and an American told me that Brian Hook’s wife can’t sleep, she cries and trembles, she told Brian, ‘They’ll kill you,’ since Hook was a partner in the death of Haj Qassem [Soleimani], that’s how much they were trembling,” Mousavian said, referring to Iran’s vow to kill Hook for his role in the Trump administration’s drone strike that killed Iranian…

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