We can do the right thing to create positive change within ourselves and the world around us! I have created this blog with the intention of keeping you informed of news that is affecting humanity and nature throughout the world! There is no better time than the present to become a global participant and not just an innocent bystander. I have provided you with several websites to help empower yourself and a list of global organizations that you can choose from to make a difference.
We all have our New Year’s Eve traditions – eating food that represents prosperity for the coming year or drinking as many glasses of Champagne possible into the wee hours of the morning – but one specific tradition that struck us was an act that originated in Spain that’s still practiced today. Eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight is celebrated by citizens from Barcelona to Bilbao to Cadiz, following the belief that this is supposed to bring good luck in the New Year.
Numerology does play a role. Each grape represents good luck in each month ahead but all the fruit must go down during the time it takes the clock to chime 12 times – so you only have 12 seconds.
But, why grapes? There are a few stories that leave the origin of the tradition open to debate. One lineage states that grape growers in the late 1800s wanted to sell large quantities when they had huge crops.
Another story says, (and newspaper articles give evidence) that the wealthy in Madrid wanted to copy the French by eating grapes and drinking sparkling wine on the last day of the year. Soon after, the tradition was adopted by visitors to Puerta del Sol who went to see the bells chime at midnight and ate the grapes in a mocking manner of the rich. Now, the tradition is practiced in Mexico and some Latin American countries.
Typically, grapes sold in Spain as the 12 lucky grapes are a traditional Spanish variety called Aledo which is harvested from Spain’s Mediterranean Coast. The white-green grapes are wrapped in paper bags during June and July while they ripen which preserves flavor, aroma and slows maturation. It also renders a thin peel because the fruit doesn’t have to ward off harsh weather. Thus, the grapes are really sweet and fresh – perfect to quickly eat.
A few tips to ensure good luck and smoothly beat the clock – eat methodically because this tradition involves competitive eating. Don’t start before midnight and don’t eat all the grapes at once by jamming them all in your mouth because both these reasons are sure to usher in bad luck since it’s technically cheating. And, if your first grape happens to be sweet, welcome January with optimism because it’s supposed to guarantee good luck, while a sour one suggests bad vibes.
And, if you do finish in time, this success means wishes will be granted (and witchcraft warded off). But of course, good luck can happen by chance of more sentimental reasons in the form of happiness and peace.
Now, make sure you’re checklist is complete with small, seedless grapes, be near a chiming clock and pray for a sweet first bite. It’d also be a good idea to start exercising your mouth now; we know you’ll have plenty of opportunities with holiday eating, so start with 12 candies, cookies or even just grapes to really get in the swing of things.
The expression is from last line of the first verse of Samuel Francis Smith's poem "My Country 'Tis of Thee" (also called "America, the Beautiful"). The song itself is about America's people singing in celebration of their country --both its physical features and all the freedoms it enjoys (as the "sweet land of liberty"). The poet imagines the song being heard everywhere ('from every mountainside'), and even nature itself joining in the song.
The third verse continues and extends the image, looking for all people, all creatures, even the very rocks to sing out:
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Thus "let freedom ring" is a wish and invitation to fellow citizens that the "song of freedom" might be sung out throughout the whole land. The 'singing of the song of freedom' includes not only extolling the (past) enjoyment of liberty in this land, but also making it more and more a reality.
Let Freedom Ring is also a U.S. phrase: A statement that the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness should be spread across the Earth and allowed to flourish.
I just wanted to make you smile...💖 Happy New Year! 😘
This is how I shake all of the nonsense of this world off of me. ;) I'll be damned if I let this world's MADNESS, a person, or a situation steal MY JOY!!! We have so much to be GRATEFUL for... just look around you. Thank God that you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, clean water to drink, and food to eat, oh yeah and a nice warm comfy bed to sleep in. The simple fact that you are breathing and are conscious should be enough to give God thanks every day! 💞
So get up off that couch and DANCE in your living room! CELEBRATE, LAUGH and choose to be HAPPY! Come on folks, let's get this party started... 😄✨🎉🎆🎇🎊✨💞
One More Time ~ by Daft Punk
(Yes, I am a creature of habit and this is still the BEST New Year song!)
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
Get those drinks and snacks ready. Almost time for me to fill your timelines with facts and quotes to accompany @Syfy’s New Year’s #TwilightZoneMarathon!
FYI my fellow Twilight Zone lovers! I just found out The Syfy Channel is having a Twilight Zone marathon that started today and will continue until January 2nd! WOWIE! Oh my GOSH, I am in Twilight Zone HEAVEN. 😍🎉🌟💖
Doing the happy dance! :D
The Obsolete Man in video above is my #1 favorite Twilight Zone episode :)
Rod Serling intro: "You walk into this room at your own risk. Because it leads to the future. Not a future that will be, but one that might be. This is not a new world. It is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super States that preceded it, it has one iron rule, LOGIC is an enemy and TRUTH is a menace."
Rod Serling closing statement: "The Chancellor, the late Chancellor was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so was the State, the Entity he worshipped. Any State, any Entity, any Ideology that FAILS to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that State is obsolete. A case to be filed under M for MANKIND in the Twilight Zone."
This United Nations quote I shared with you above is an example of what Rod Serling was describing. This is what the "Powers That Be" are imposing upon us now.
The greatest joke on society right now is that the nations that are members of the United Nations Human Rights Council are the MOST OPPRESSIVE AND ABUSIVE nations ruled by Islam and ruled by Marxist Communism and Socialism. CLICK HERE to read the list of HRC Member Nations. Here is an example; Venezuela, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China. Shouldn't they be forced to stop VIOLATING HUMAN RIGHTS before they are given the opportunity to become a member OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL?!?!?! It's like putting a human trafficking pimp in charge of stopping human trafficking. Do you really believe that the human trafficking pimp would be inclined to want to stop human trafficking? Just some food for thought.
Now this Twilight Zone episode titled, To Serve Man, reminds me of the Global Warming/Climate Change scam perpetrated by the United Nations. I too was hoodwinked by the Global Warming campaign years ago. They used my love for nature and humankind to make me believe their garbage scientific data was meant to "save the planet". It wasn't until I took the time to do some digging of my own and found out who Maurice Strong is and was led to UN Agenda 21. I went to the United Nations website and read up on their UN Agenda 21 and I couldn't believe what I was reading directly from the source. My eyes were opened wide from that point on and left me feeling violated and betrayed by those people in positions of power who knowing better still pushed this scam upon the global population for their own personal gain AND literal population control! They want to control everything, how we live, what we eat, how we farm, how you raise your children, what your children are taught. Watch Soylent Green (1973) to get an idea of how disgusted "they" are with human beings and what they have planned for us all. I want you to think about this for a moment. These people who are disgusted with human beings and see us as parasites will have no problem exterminating us without a second thought. They have already been using several methods to control the global population growth.
I felt like the lady at the end of this Twilight Zone episode shouting, "Mr. Chamber's, Mr. Chamber's, don't get on that ship. The rest of the book, To Serve Man.... It's... It' cookbook."
A SECRET underground bunker was discovered at the home of a pedophile in Florida who was arrested for producing child pornography.
The child pornography suspect, Marty Scott Bass, 57, greeted police officers with a shotgun on Dec. 16, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office stated in a press release on Tuesday.
Bass put the weapon down after SWAT team members demanded that he do so and officers with a search warrant arrested him, sheriff’s officials said.
The bunker was under a shed at Bass’s home in Defuniak Springs, Florida.
The entrance to the bunker was covered by a bench, which concealed a hole to the chambers, according to the Daily Mail.
Investigators obtained and downloaded Bass’s cell phone for examination and found it had more than 100 photos of child pornography.
The images were of kids that were eight to 10 years old.
Bass was charged with 100 counts of possession of child pornography, as well as 10 counts of child pornography production.
10 Tampa Bay published December 22, 2020: LIVE: Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd on child pornography arrests. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd provides more details on "Operation Guardians of Innocence VI," an investigation that resulted in 13 arrests and more than 2,300 felony charges.
Fox 4 Now published December 17, 2020: Charlotte County man arrested has over 400 child porn images. During an investigation, officers uncover over 400 child pornography images and 40 child pornographic videos.
WFLA News Channel 8 published November 21, 2020: Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd on child porn arrest. Florida teacher faces 408 child pornography charges. He's also a boys soccer coach. He was a Director of Youth Services for the First Methodist Church in Florida. His whole world was around young children. Wait until you hear what investigators found.
Pope Francis has stripped the Vatican secretariat of state of its financial assets & real estate holdings following its bungled management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation. https://t.co/8lPstbd3Nw
ROME — Pope Francis has formally stripped the Vatican secretariat of state of its financial assets and real estate holdings following its bungled management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations and investments that are now the subject of a corruption investigation.
Francis signed a new law over the weekend ordering the secretariat of state to complete the transfer of all its holdings to another Vatican office by Feb. 4. The law also calls for all donations to the pope — the Peter’s Pence collections from the faithful as well as other donations that had been managed by the secretariat of state — to be held and managed by the Vatican’s treasury office as separate funds that are accounted for in the Holy See’s consolidated budget.
The changes are a response to a spiraling Vatican criminal investigation into years-long allegations of mismanagement of donations and investments by the Vatican’s secretariat of state which has resulted in losses of tens of millions of euros at a time of financial crisis for the Holy See.
Francis had already ordered the transfers in August and followed up in November by appointing a commission to put the changes into effect. The new law makes the changes permanent and sets a firm date for their execution.
Francis said he was making the changes to improve the administration, control and vigilance over the Holy See’s assets and ensure a more “transparent and efficient management.”
Francis moved against his own secretariat of state amid an 18-month investigation by Vatican prosecutors into the office’s 350-million-euro investment into a luxury residential building in London’s Chelsea neighborhood and other speculative funds.
Prosecutors have accused several officials in the department of abusing their authority for their involvement in the deal, as well several Italian middlemen of allegedly fleecing the Vatican of tens of millions of euros in fees.
The scandal has exposed the incompetence of the Vatican’s monsignors in managing money, since they signed away voting shares in the deal and agreed to pay exorbitant fees to Italians who were known in business circles for their shady dealings.
Francis’ decision has been an embarrassing blow to the secretariat of state’s standing as the most powerful Holy See office, reducing it to essentially any other department that must propose a budget and have it approved and monitored by others.
The outcome is essentially what was sought years ago by Cardinal George Pell, Francis’ first economy minister who clashed with the secretariat of state over his financial reforms and efforts to wrest control of the department’s off-the-books funds.
Pell had to abandon those reform efforts in 2017 to face trial for sexual abuse in his native Australia, but he was acquitted and recently told The Associated Press he felt vindicated that the wrongdoing he tried to uncover was being exposed.
The Holy See is facing a major cash crunch as its main source of revenue, ticket sales from the Vatican Museums, evaporated this year due to coronavirus closures. The Holy See last year narrowed its budget deficit from 75 million euros to 11 million euros.
Evening prayer on New Year's Eve begins in St. Peter's Basilica. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, presides over the celebration. The Vatican announced earlier today that Pope Francis would be unable to attend due to "painful sciatica." pic.twitter.com/HaLOVpZmxu
BREAKING: Argentina becomes the first major Latin American country to legalise abortion; Before, abortions were only permitted in cases of rape or when the mother's health was at risk. The new law allows termination of life up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Argentina is the largest Latin American country to legalize abortion. With the exceptions of Uruguay, Cuba, Mexico City, Mexico's Oaxaca state, the Antilles and French Guiana, abortion remains largely illegal across the region. https://t.co/3ztUFtFQc9
Argentina's Senate passed a law legalizing elective abortion in Pope Francis' homeland early Wednesday after a marathon 12-hour session, a victory for the women's movement that has been fighting for the right for decades.
The vote means that abortion will be legalized up to the 14th week of pregnancy, and also will be legal after that time in cases of rape or danger to the mother's life. It will have repercussions across a continent where the procedure is largely illegal.
The measure, which passed 38-29 with one abstention, was already approved by Argentina's Chamber of Deputies and had the support of President Alberto Fernández, meaning the Senate vote was its final hurdle.
"Safe, legal and free abortion is now the law," Fernández tweeted after the vote, noting that it had been an election pledge.
"Today, we are a better society that expands women's rights and guarantees public health," he added.
Argentina is the largest Latin American country to legalize abortion and the vote was being closely watched. With the exceptions of Uruguay, Cuba, Mexico City, Mexico's Oaxaca state, the Antilles and French Guiana, abortion remains largely illegal across the region.
Outside the Senate, pro- and anti-abortion rights activists gathered, with the bill's supporters wearing the color green that represents their abortion rights movement. Backers waved green flags as Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who presided over the debate, announced the result, shouting "legal abortion in the hospital!" as the measure was passed.
Argentina until now has penalized women and those who help them abort. The only exceptions were cases involving rape or a risk to the health of the mother, and activists complain even these exceptions are not respected in some provinces.
Before the vote, the Roman Catholic bishop's conference had denounced what it called a "feverish obsession to install abortion."
Just hours before the Senate session began Tuesday, the pope weighed in, tweeting: "The Son of God was born an outcast, in order to tell us that every outcast is a child of God. He came into the world as each child comes into the world, weak and vulnerable, so that we can learn to accept our weaknesses with tender love."
Following the vote, the bishops issued a statement saying the measure "will deepen even further the divisions in our country" and said it lamented that the country's leadership was distant from the dominant pro-life sentiment across the nation.
The group Pro-Life Unity said the date would be remembered "as one of the most macabre days in recent history."
A previous abortion bill was voted down by Argentine lawmakers in 2018, but this time it was backed by the center-left government. The outcome, however, had still been considered uncertain. That was partly due to the fact that the political parties, including the governing Peronist movement, gave their legislators freedom to vote as they chose. Two of the 72 senators were absent, and 43 of the remaining 70 senators were men.
Argentina's feminist movement has been demanding legal abortion for more than 30 years and activists say the bill's approval could mark a watershed in Latin America, where the Roman Catholic Church's influence has long dominated.
Amnesty International celebrated the vote as "an inspiration for other countries in the region and the world to advance in recognizing access to legal and safe abortion."
Also outside the legislature, a group that calls its members "defenders of the two lives" set up an altar with a crucifix under a blue tent.
Opponents of the bill, separated by a barrier from its backers, watched glumly as the vote unfolded.
"These politicians aren't representing the majority," said opponent Luciana Prat, an Argentine flag covering her shoulders. "In all the polls, people are against this."
Supporters said the bill seeks to eradicate the clandestine abortions that have caused more than 3,000 deaths in the country since 1983, according to figures from authorities.
In addition to allowing abortion within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, the legislation allows earlier termination of a pregnancy if it was the result of rape or if the person's life or health is in danger.
It will allow conscientious refusal to participate in an abortion for health professionals and private medical institutions at which all doctors are against the procedure. But they will be required to refer the woman to another medical center. Conscientious objection also could not be claimed if a pregnant woman's life or health was in danger.
Disgusting dehumanization.
A child in the womb is a “phenomenon,” not a living, precious human being, so it’s ok dismember and slaughter her? https://t.co/WhDKiBDWdA
Argentina’s health minister Dr. Ginés González García has been drawing attention over his recent wholly unscientific comments regarding human life in the womb, calling into question his status as both the country’s health minister and as a doctor. Currently in the country, President Alberto Fernández is pushing to legalize abortion by year’s end, and this is the context in which Health Minister García’s remarks were made. During testimony on December 1 to the Committee on General and Criminal Legislation, Women, Diversity, Social Action, and Public Health, García told pro-life Congresswoman Dina Rezinovsky with regard to abortion (emphasis added):
Here there are not two lives as some say. Here it is clearly just one life and the other is a phenomenon … it is one person and the other is a phenomenon … I repeat, that it seems to me that [the language] is not used properly … if it were not, we would be witnessing the greatest universal genocide.
To call a preborn human being a “phenomenon” is based in fantasy, not in scientific reality. The word “phenomenon” is defined as “a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose cause or explanation is in question.” Human embryos are not created by a questionable cause or explanation. We know exactly how children are created, and scientific evidence undoubtedly states that every child at fertilization is a unique human with his or her own unique DNA.
Pro-life activist Mariana Rodríguez Varela told Church Militant it was “overwhelming to hear a physician describe a baby inside a mother as a ‘phenomenon.’ This proves that what is next for them is to deny reality. We affirm that what is at stake is a child, and they know that it means murdering a person.”
González García — along with every other person who understands science and biology — knows that a human embryo or fetus is not a “phenomenon” but a member of the human family. But in order for abortion to be legal, the language used to promote it has to be precise and dehumanizing. González García said it himself: if abortion advocates admit that human embryos and fetuses are human beings, “we would be witnessing the greatest universal genocide.” That is why they so adamantly deny the humanity of preborn children and use dehumanizing language so that people will believe the propaganda that preborn children are mere cells or tissue. In fact, they are genetically distinct human beings.
“[González García] affirmed what we have been saying for the longest time,” said Rodríguez Varela. “That abortion is the worst genocide in history. In attempting to mock [pro-lifers], he said the truth.”
Yesterday,the House of Representatives of Paraguay observed a minute of silence for "the babies that will die"in Argentina as a result of the legalization of abortion.
Heartbreaking and evil. Argentina’s Senate has passed the bill legalizing abortion with a 38-29 vote. Crowds of abortion activists cheer in the street. These are children, sons and daughters, whose deaths are being celebrated. Lord have mercy.
One of the international branches of Planned Parenthood, the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPPFWHR), boasted about having financed a large operation in Argentina to push to legalize abortion. https://t.co/xVSXvXc6E1
China in Focus - NTD published December 28, 2020: Billionaire Jack Ma suffers another heavy blow; China's Christmas celebration requires approval
Under the #ChineseRegime, #Atheism is promoted as China's state religion. As a result, celebrating #Christmas in a church in China requires 11 approvals from police and authorities of different levels. https://t.co/XobWLXvrsO
Celebrating Christmas in a church in China requires 11 approvals from police and authorities of different levels. In some cases, police just block the entrance.
Glossing over negative issues is a trick used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Another heavy blow to China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba and its owner, billionaire Jack Ma came from China’s central bank.
Is Apple bowing to China’s censorship? A former Apple employee says yes, and claims he suffered for standing up to it.
And Chinese spies are facing charges in Afghanistan. Some of them are in contact with a terrorist group.
#Brexit: Boris Johnson has said the UK's destiny "now resides firmly in our hands" as his trade deal cleared Parliament and entered into law https://t.co/FibcFInS2K
Boris Johnson has said the UK's destiny "now resides firmly in our hands" as his Brexit trade deal cleared Parliament and entered into law.
It comes after MPs overwhelmingly approved the deal to pave the way for the UK-EU agreement to come into force at 11pm today, when the current Brexit transition period - during which the UK has continued to follow EU rules - ends.
In a statement after the deal cleared Parliament, Mr Johnson said: "I want to thank my fellow MPs and peers for passing this historic Bill and would like to express my gratitude to all of the staff here in Parliament and across government who have made today possible.
"The destiny of this great country now resides firmly in our hands. We take on this duty with a sense of purpose and with the interests of the British public at the heart of everything we do.
"11pm on the 31 December marks a new beginning in our country's history and a new relationship with the EU as their biggest ally. This moment is finally upon us and now is the time to seize it."
The House of Commons backed the agreement, struck between the prime minister and the EU on Christmas Eve, by 521 votes to 73 - a majority of 448.
The deal, which stretches to 1,246 pages and covers £660bn worth of trade, was later given an unopposed third reading in the House of Lords.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told MPs the act was then granted royal assent by the Queen.
Less than an hour after the vote, Mr Johnson added his formal signature to the EU-UK trade deal in Downing Street.
The documents had been flown to London in an RAF plane after being signed by European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Wednesday morning.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had ordered his party to vote in favour of the deal, arguing the alternative would be for the UK to leave the Brexit transition period without a EU trade agreement in place.
However, he suffered a rebellion which lead to two junior shadow ministers, Helen Hayes and Tonia Antoniazzi, announcing they were resigning their posts on the Labour front bench as they could not support the agreement.
One Labour MP, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, voted against the deal while 36 other Labour MPs recorded no vote - suggesting they had abstained.
Among those was Ms Hayes, who resigned her shadow cabinet role after choosing not to support Labour's official position.
Meanwhile, two Conservative former cabinet ministers, Brexiteers Owen Paterson and John Redwood, also both abstained to rebel against the prime minister.
During more than four hours' debate on the deal, former prime minister Theresa May took Sir Keir to task for failing to back her efforts in negotiating with the EU last year, when he was shadow Brexit secretary.
She told the now Labour leader: "He said he wanted a better deal - he had the opportunity in early 2019 when there was the opportunity of a better deal on the table and he voted against it."
Mrs May welcomed Mr Johnson's agreement, but suggested Brussels would be favoured under the terms of the deal.
"We have a deal in trade that benefits the EU, but not a deal in services that would have benefited the UK," she added.
All the other opposition parties opposed the agreement, including the DUP, which backed Brexit but objects to provisions which mean Northern Ireland will still be subject to some EU rules.
Meanwhile, some Tory Eurosceptics were jubilant, declaring that the "battle for Brexit" had finally been won.
Senior Conservative eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash compared the prime minister to both Ancient Greek statesman Pericles and Alexander the Great, adding Mr Johnson had "saved our democracy".
His fellow Tory MP Mark Francois, who chairs the European Research Group of Conservative Brexiteers, claimed he and his other Leave-supporting "Spartans" could now "lower our spears" in the "battle for Brexit".
UPDATE 12/31/20 at 3:04pm: Added info below.
BREAKING: Transition period ends, the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union is complete.
In its pledge, Russia promised to “ensure protection of human rights and freedoms under international law.”
If so, why does Russia trample international law — by invading Ukraine, swallowing Crimea, and systematically bombing civilians, hospitals and schools in Syria?
Why do critics of President Putin wind up imprisoned, empoisoned or assassinated? The world knows what happened to Boris Nemtsov, and now to Alex Navalny.
Now, China pledged that it will “earnestly fulfil its international human rights obligations.”
If so, why did China herd 1 million Uighurs into camps; muzzle the doctor in Wuhan and arrest, crush and disappear everyone else who tried to sound the alarm about the coronavirus? Why did it suffocate freedom in Hong Kong?
Cuba, in its pledge, said it will uphold “the participatory and democratic nature of the Cuban political system.”
If so, why did Freedom House just report that Cuba is an authoritarian, one-party system that excludes the public from any genuine political participation?
Russia, China and Cuba will join the UN’s top human rights body on January 1st, 2021.
UN Watch led the campaign to oppose their election in October to the UN Human Rights Council, but the EU and its member states, as well as other democracies like Canada, were silent.
Prior to the election, UN Watch, an independent Geneva-based human rights organization, documented the abuses of Russia, China and Cuba in a Joint NGO Report, which detailed the regimes’ egregious domestic human rights records as well as their equally negative voting records on UN resolutions concerning human rights.
UN Watch filed formal protests at the United Nations, published as official UN documents, opposing the election of China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.
On the eve of the election, UN Watch organized an online press conference featuring human rights dissidents who were persecuted for their activism by China, Russia, Cuba and Pakistan. They joined in calling on all UN member states to oppose those countries’ bids for election to the 47-nation council. However, due to cynical politics trumping human rights at the UN, each was elected.
Below are the reasons why these regimes do not deserve to be joining the UN’s highest human rights body, as well as a fact-check of their key campaign claims.
China commits serious human rights violations, including: forced disappearances; political prisoners; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary interference with privacy; lack of independence of judiciary; attacks on journalists, lawyers, writers, bloggers, dissidents, petitioners and their family members; interference with the rights to freedom of assembly and association; severe restrictions on religious freedom; coercive birth limitation policy; inability of citizens to choose their government; corruption; official repression of Tibetans and other ethnic and religious minorities; and, perhaps most urgently today, the imprisonment of more than 1 million Uighur Muslims in extrajudicial camps in Xinjiang, where China subjects detainees to abuses, torture and killings; arbitrary or unlawful killings;
Cuba commits serious human rights violations, including: abuse of political dissidents and prisoners; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrests; political prisoners; lack of independence of the judiciary; arbitrary interference with privacy; restrictions on freedom of the press and assembly; restrictions on religious freedom; elections not free and fair; corruption; trafficking in persons; severely restricted workers’ rights, including ban on labor unions; forced labor.
Russia commits serious human rights violations, including: repressive laws designed to suppress political opposition and dissent; government restrictions on media freedom; restrictions on freedoms of expression and assembly; denial of citizens’ rights to choose their representatives in free and fair elections; occupation of Ukraine and related violations; prosecution of individuals supporting Ukraine government or criticizing Russian policies in the occupied Ukrainian territories; politically motivated denial of due process to anti-Putin defendants; discrimination against racial, ethnic, religious and sexual minorities; government prosecution of LGBTI persons; torture at detention facilities; overcrowded and substandard prison conditions; executive branch pressures on the judiciary; human trafficking; discrimination against people with disabilities; limited workers’ rights; harassment of civil society.
As the U.N. today elects slave state Mauritania to its Human Rights Council, I share this:
1. "Mr. President, people around the world ask: 'Why does a human rights council include so many non-democracies?' Defenders of the system have a ready reply: “We need a big tent...” pic.twitter.com/TBc9LJCIPi
How fitting that on the first day of this momentous anniversary year, your “gigantic vessel” of the Chinese Communist Party will be joining the U.N.’s highest human rights body. https://t.co/2kwODe6P0g
After electing the Syrian regime proxy & others, the UNESCO Committee Chair congratulates them & says “Applause, applause, applause...“ pic.twitter.com/u2EBQZhEJ2
These countries sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council: 🇦🇫 Afghanistan 🇲🇷 Mauritania 🇵🇰 Pakistan 🇸🇴 Somalia 🇳🇬 Nigeria 🇸🇩 Sudan 🇶🇦 Qatar#hrc43pic.twitter.com/weW5BUtsEl
John Anderson published November 13, 2020: Author, historian and political commentator Victor Davis Hanson assess what lies ahead for the Democratic party and provides his perspective on the rapidly evolving US cultural and political climate. Great interview!
Votes for Trump in 2016: 62,985,106
Votes for Trump in 2020: 73,817,684
So @realDonaldTrump got 10,832,578 more votes, the 2nd largest increase in votes for an incumbent President EVER + increased support from Black, Latino & Asian voters yet Dems want us to believe he lost? 🤔— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) November 24, 2020
President @realDonaldTrump received more Minority support than any Republican in modern history.
Oh, and he DOUBLED his support among Gays and Lesbians.
President Donald J. Trump won Zapata County on Tuesday night with support from 52.5% of voters, according to preliminary results published by the Texas Secretary of State's Office.
Trump and Vice President Michael R. Pence won 52.5% of 3,867 ballots cast, according to data published by the Secretary of State's Office.
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won 47% of the vote in Zapata County — significantly less than Hillary Clinton, who won nearly 65.7% of the vote in Zapata County during 2016.
President Trump made the Republican Party cool again!
Dem reaction to Trump expanding his #s w/Hispanics is that they believe GOP scared Latinos with socialism. Dems are ANGRY at latinos and say HISPANICS (not Democrats) need to do “some soul searching”. In other words, like in 2016, zero introspection from Dems.#Elections2020
Fwiw. She said this is a "machismo" problem in the Latino community. I feel like she should have called it "machismx" for the sake of toxic consistency.
After unexpected and significant losses on Election Day, Democrats distanced themselves from the "defund the police" movement and the label of "socialism," claiming that they were merely slogans or Republican smears.https://t.co/tmnOh9vCC0pic.twitter.com/Sr10jPRtCl
Obama demeaning Hispanic evangelical voters for their marriage/abortion views is so classically Obama. Always presenting himself as the uniter while smugly condescending those who disagree with him. Give me Trump’s bombastic tweets over Obama’s smooth cruelty any day.
Voter analysis by The New York Times shows precincts where Latinos and Asians make up at least 65 per cent of the population shifted toward President Trump
Joe Biden still won those precincts in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, but with smaller margins, compared to 2016
In Los Angeles, a study of 1,544 voting precincts revealed that votes for Trump increased by 78 per cent
In New York, votes for the incumbent in areas populated by Latinos and Asian-Americans were up by 78 per cent, compared to 2016
In the traditionally blue Miami, Trump captured 61 per cent of the voter turnout increase, compared to Biden's 6 per cent loss
President Trump said throughout the campaign that the Democratic Party took African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians for granted, and the message apparently got through to the increasingly powerful voting blocs.
Detailed voter analysis by The New York Times released last week shows a massive influx of votes for Trump from the blocs. While Democrat Joe Biden still got the majority of votes from the groups, in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami and Philadelphia huge swaths of the groups voted Republican.
"The red shifts, along with a wave of blue shifts in Republican and white areas, have scrambled the conventional wisdom of American politics and could presage a new electoral calculus for the parties," the Times wrote.
The findings were stunning, and no doubt have thrown the Democratic Party for a loop. Before the 2024 election, Democrats will need to figure out if Trump was the key, or if rank-and-file Democrats really are getting fed up.
Take Cook County, home to Chicago. Mr. Biden won it by 50 percentage points over Trump. Some 2,158 precincts shifted right, compared to the 2016 election. Meanwhile, just 1,508 shifted left.
"In particular, Chicago precincts with a lot of immigrants saw more people turning out than in 2016, and many shifted to Mr. Trump," said the Times.
In areas of the Windy City that include large numbers of people of Mexican descent, Trump received 45% more votes than in 2016, while Biden's share stayed stagnant. Immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe also turned out for Trump.
For instance, in Chinatown, Trump's share of the vote increased by 34% while Biden's actually dropped — he received 6% fewer votes than Hillary Clinton. Biden's margin among Asians fell 12 percentage points compared to 2016.
Much the same thing occurred in Los Angeles, where the study showed that in 1,544 voting precincts, votes for Trump increased by 78% over 2016. And the number was the same in New York, with precincts heavily populated by Latinos and Asian-Americans also increasing by 78%.
The list goes on and on. Comparing 2020 to 2016, Trump's share of the vote from Latinos and Asians rose by:
59% in Houston
61% in Miami
59% in San Diego
94% in San Jose
70% in Orlando
111% in Philadelphia
33% in Dallas
64% in Phoenix
54% in Las Vegas
The two voting blocs will only get stronger. Right now, about 13% of voters are Hispanic, and 4% are Asian-American, but in 12 years, Hispanic voters are projected to make up 18% of the electorate, and the Asian-American number is set to rise, too.
Florida offers a troubling insight for Democrats. Trump was widely popular among voters of Cuban descent, which helped power him to victory in the swing state. While Biden won Miami-Dade County by 7 percentage points, Hillary Clinton crushed Trump there in 2016 by 29 percentage points.
"But the shift right in areas with high immigrant populations was statewide, not just in Miami, and helped the president win the state with a margin larger than in 2016, though polls had predicted a Biden win," wrote the Times.
"The shift occurred in many precincts with Latino immigrants from Central and South America, including in Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami. And it also encompassed areas that are Latino but not immigrant. In Orlando, precincts with a substantial population of Puerto Ricans shifted red, though less so than the ones in Miami."
Trump also improved his performance in majority black precincts in Miami-Dade County, winning just over 13% of the vote compared to just under 7% in 2016, the Miami Herald reported.
"In Miami Gardens, the largest majority black city in Florida, Trump captured nearly 15% of the vote, compared to just over 7% in 2016, with the vast majority of votes counted," the paper reported.
Trump's good numbers were in part the result of a strong effort by his campaign to connect with potential black voters.
But successful policy measures by Trump and his administration were arguably more effective. Among them were criminal justice reform and an economic policy that resulted in record-low unemployment for black Americans — and more recently a so-called "Platinum Plan" that attempts to provide more access to capital for black-owned businesses and a steady federal funding stream for Historically Black Colleges.
Trump's efforts have won him support from such influential leaders in the black community as former football star Herschel Walker and entertainers Kayne West and Lil Wayne.
The Herald noted that Trump's big numbers among Hispanics helped him win the state.
"Trump's success in Miami-Dade was driven in part by gains in majority Hispanic districts, where he won nearly 55% of the vote, and majority White precincts, where he took nearly 43% of the vote with most results reported," the Herald wrote. "Hillary Clinton won roughly 56% of the vote in these majority Hispanic precincts in 2016 and nearly 60% of the vote in these majority White precincts in 2016."
Meanwhile, reports that Texas is rapidly turning blue might by wishful thinking.
More than 687,000 Californians have moved to Texas over the last decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data from 2010-19. With no state income taxes — one of only a handful of states to offer such a break — Texas is a huge change from high-tax California. That's led to predictions that Texas — with its massive 38 electoral votes — will fall soon.
"The long-anticipated purpling of Republican Texas that was supposed to come as more Latinos joined the electorate was certainly nowhere in evidence on Election Day," the Times wrote.
How'd that work out? "In Houston's 245 precincts with the largest share of Latinos, turnout was up sharply from 2016, and Mr. Trump won nearly two-thirds of the additional votes," said the Times. "Across Texas, the red shifts were most pronounced in precincts with the highest proportion of Latinos. The Democratic margin in 80 percent Latino precincts dropped an average of 17 percentage points."
So almost 70,000,000 people, including black, Latino and LGBTQ voters voted for Trump and you think that’s because they are selfish. Could it possibly be because his isn’t the racist homophobic misogynist you claim he is?
Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump@potus besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done. 🤙🏾 pic.twitter.com/Q9c5k1yMWf
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