2021-02-12: News Headlines

Robert Hunziker (2021-02-12). What If Oumuamua Is the Real Deal? counterpunch.org If Oumuamua is the real deal, meaning an alien craft, then Earthlings are doing some really weird stuff on the scale of alien intelligence. Think about it, If it's an alien craft or drone there's no way it entered the sun's solar system, swooping within 15M miles of Earth, powered by fossil fuels. Just imagine

_____ (2021-02-12). Biden Announces Pentagon Task Force To Review China Policy. popularresistance.org On Wednesday, President Biden announced a new Pentagon task force that will be reviewing the US military's policy towards China, another sign that the new administration is prioritizing confronting Beijing. | Pentagon officials said the task force is a "sprint effort" that will examine things like US troop presence in the region, intelligence, and the role of US allies and partners in countering China. Leading the task force is Ely Ratner, a China hawk who Biden appointed as a special advisor to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. | Before his new position at the Pentagon, Rather worked at the interventionist Cent…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-12). Hearings continue against anti-terror law in the Philippines. peoplesdispatch.org On Tuesday, February 9, the second day of the hearings on Philippines' controversial Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), the Supreme Court continued to receive oral arguments from the petitioners. Lawyers representing 37 petitioners against the law focused their attack on the new law's potential to do away with protections that were earlier afforded to prisoners and the accused. | According to

WSWS Repost (2021-02-12). Democrats seek to whitewash Republican Party role in January 6 coup. indybay.org As a party of Wall Street and the military and intelligence agencies, the Democrats are opposed to any real exposure of the social and political forces behind the January 6 coup.

Staff (2021-02-12). Where Are the Witnesses? Ralph Nader Says Democrats' Impeachment Case Is "Prescription for Defeat" democracynow.org As the historic Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump continues, we speak with longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who says Democrats have set themselves up for defeat by rushing proceedings and failing to call witnesses — including Trump himself. "The narrow approach of the articles of impeachment keep the Democrats from having a full hand," says Nader. "They have like 10 arrows in their quiver and they're using one or two."

Staff (2021-02-12). Ralph Nader on Corporate Crime, Holding Boeing Accountable for 737 MAX Deaths & Biden's First Weeks. democracynow.org Legendary consumer advocate Ralph Nader says the U.S. is experiencing a "corporate crime wave," and that the Trump administration's $2.5 billion settlement with Boeing over the manufacturer's faulty 737 MAX jets amounts to a "slap on the wrist." Boeing's faulty planes were involved in two fatal crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019, including Nader's 24-year-old grandniece Samya Stumo. Nader says the Biden Justice Department should reopen the previous administration's settlement and hold Boeing fully accountable. "This is just another example of giant companies getting away with their corporate criminal…

Staff (2021-02-12). Ralph Nader: Biden Must Hold Boeing Accountable for Deaths Due to Faulty Planes. truthout.org Legendary consumer advocate Ralph Nader says the U.S. is experiencing a "corporate crime wave," and that the Trump administration's $2.5 billion settlement with Boeing over the manufacturer's faulty 737 MAX jets amounts to a "slap on the wrist." Boeing's faulty planes were involved in two fatal crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019, including Nader's 24-year-old grandniece Samya Stumo. Nader says the Biden Justice Department should reopen the previous administration's settlement and…

Shaan Sachdev (2021-02-12). Trump's Global Grim Reaper, Mike Pompeo. progressive.org The real reasons he was a shameful Secretary of State, and how Antony Blinken can do better.

Charles Pierson (2021-02-11). Yemen: "Mission Accomplished"… For Now? counterpunch.org Since 2015, the US has been giving crucial assistance to Saudi Arabia's military coalition in its war against Yemen's Houthi rebels. US assistance takes the form of intelligence sharing, logistics and targeting assistance, arms sales, and transfer of spare parts for coalition warplanes.

teleSUR (2021-02-11). Brazil: Army and Supreme Court Plotted To Keep Lula Imprisoned. telesurenglish.net The Brazilian Army plotted with the Supreme Court to prevent the socialist leader Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva from leaving prison and challenging Jair Bolsonaro for the presidency back in 2018, the Army's former head Eduardo Villas-Boas revealed on Thursday. | RELATED: | According to the 13-hour testimony, the Army threatened the Supreme Court to reject a habeas corpus appeal to free Lula. " We had an increase in demands for military…

_____ (2021-02-11). Protests Demanding Resignation Of Haitian President Intensify. popularresistance.org In response to protests, MoàØse's government has cracked down on opposition, arresting several leaders and unleashing violent repression on protesters in the streets. | Protests in Haiti, which have been going on for a month now, have garnered more strength as president Jovenel MoàØse refused to step down. On February 8, Haitian opposition political parties and social organizations appointed Supreme Court Judge Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis as the interim president.

RT (2021-02-11). 7 arrested for alleged bomb-making and plotting terrorist attack in Denmark. rt.com Police in Denmark and Germany have arrested seven people for allegedly trying to manufacture explosives and plotting terrorist attacks, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said in a statement on Thursday. | All seven have been charged with planning one or more terrorist attacks or attempting to participate in terrorism. | The men allegedly procured components to make bombs and other weapons, the statement said. | Police in Denmark's Central and West Zealand region — home to the capital Copenhagen — detained six of the men in raids between February 6 and 8. The other suspect from the gr…

RT (2021-02-11). Facebook's enforcement report reveals AI is deleting 97 PERCENT of 'hate speech' before anyone reports it. rt.com Facebook has patted itself on the back for nuking almost all "hate speech" that supposedly violated its rules. But not only was most content deleted before anyone could flag it, users weren't even allowed to appeal most deletions. | Unveiling its Community Standards Enforcement Report for the fourth quarter of 2020 on Thursday, Facebook bragged that its expanded use of artificial intelligence had helped it delete almost twice as much "bullying and harassment" content as the previous quarter, just one of several categories in which removals skyrocketed, while its Instagram subsidiary dramatically expanded its a…

MEE correspondent (2021-02-11). 'Punishing dissent': Egypt revokes citizenship of 2011 revolution activist. middleeasteye.net 'Punishing dissent': Egypt revokes citizenship of 2011 revolution activist | Ghada Naguib, now in exile, says she has been targeted due to her criticism of a top intelligence officer | Thu, 02/11/2021 – 13: 17 | Activist Ghada Naguib (L) and her husband, actor Hisham Abdullah (Supplied) | Egypt has revoked the nationality of an exiled activist in an apparent reprisal for her outspoken o…

Binoy Kampmark (2021-02-11). Continuing Prosecutions: Assange and the Biden Administration. dissidentvoice.org With changes of presidential administrations, radical departures in policy are always exaggerated. Continuity remains, for the most part, a standard feature. It is precisely that continuity being challenged by groups fearful of the continuing prosecution of Julian Assange. The effort by the US Justice Department to extradite Assange from the UK on eighteen charges based …

Ben Norton (2021-02-11). Biden admin smears Nicaragua as 'dictatorship' for forcing US-funded, coup-plotting NGOs to register as foreign agents. thegrayzone.com Nicaragua's elected leftist government passed a law requiring NGOs funded by outside governments to register as foreign agents, so a CIA agent-turned-Biden State Department spokesman smeared it as "driving toward dictatorship" — despite the policy's similarity to US legislation. Since Nicaragua's socialist Sandinista Front returned to power through democratic elections in 2006, the United States government has poured many millions of dollars into right-wing opposition groups in the Central American country. These US-funded NGOs have aimed to destabilize the government …

yenisafak (2021-02-11). Supreme court starts hearing Bobi Wine petition in Uganda. yenisafak.com The Supreme Court of Uganda started hearing a petition Thursday by the runner-up candidate of the country's presidential elections last month.Robert Kyagulanyi, locally known as Bobi Wine, is seeking to get the Jan. 14 ballot annulled after the country's electoral commission named sitting President Yoweri Museveni the winner.At the nine-judge hearing in the capital Kampala led by chief justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo, Wine claims that the election was not held in accordance with the Constitution and the law, according to his lead lawyer Medard Segona."The elections were not free and fair and I expect court to rule th…

MEE staff (2021-02-11). Top Iranian nuclear scientist 'killed by one-tonne Mossad gun'. middleeasteye.net Top Iranian nuclear scientist 'killed by one-tonne Mossad gun' | Intelligence sources tell the Jewish Chronicle Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in a solo Israeli operation with a deconstructed weapon | Thu, 02/11/2021 – 15: 54 | The damaged car of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh after it was attacked near the capital Tehran (AFP) | Israel's Mossad intelligence service killed a top Iranian nuclear sc…

Stephen Lendman (2021-02-11). Biden Regime Wants Julian Assange Crucified for Truth-Telling. globalresearch.ca All Global Research articles can be read in 27 languages by activating the "Translate Website" drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). | *** | At the behest of Trump regime hardliners, truth-telling investigative journalist/whistleblower Assange …

Sarah Cords (2021-02-11). Why Whistleblowers Need More Protection. progressive.org Whether they're exposing unsafe working conditions or governmental cover-ups, whistleblowers face immense personal consequences with little recourse in the law.

Scott Owen (2021-02-11). To Conspiracy Theory or to Not Conspiracy Theory (That is the Question). counterpunch.org Ever since the words were first introduced, conspiracy theories have carried the weight and stigma of mysterious enigmas wrapped in multiple layers of intrigue, deception, black-ops and lies. The very notion of conspiracy theories is itself considered by some to be a conspiracy theory. There are those who maintain that the CIA invented the term

Staff (2021-02-10). Headlines for February 10, 2021. democracynow.org Senate Votes to Proceed with Impeachment as Managers Present Harrowing Video of Jan. 6 Insurrection, Gov't to Send Vaccines to Community Health Centers as U.S. Continues Ramping Up Vaccinations, WHO Team Confirms COVID-19 of Animal Origin; Ghana Shuts Parliament After Outbreak Infects Lawmakers, Protesters in Burma Defy Bans, Escalating Crackdown by Police, Journalists Decry Raid on Progressive Indian News Site NewsClick, U.S. to Pursue Extradition of Julian Assange as Press Freedom Groups Warn of Dangerous Precedent, Fossil Fuel Pollution Causes One in Five Global Deaths, Calls Growing to Shut Down DAPL as Key H…

WSWS (2021-02-10). Right-wing US Supreme Court majority again exempts large religious gatherings from COVID-19 safety measures. wsws.org For the second time since the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, the court has struck down state measures to control the spread of COVID-19 that limit indoor religious services, reversing rulings earlier in the pandemic.

_____ (2021-02-10). Lula's Arrest Is 'A Gift From The CIA'. popularresistance.org A petition filed with the Federal Supreme Court (STF) by the defense of ex-president Lula presents new evidence that ex-judge Sergio Moro colluded with foreign authorities in conducting the process which led to the arrest of the Workers Party leader, and his subsequent barring from a run for the presidency in 2018. In the latest leaked Telegram conversations, which are now official court documents, the level of illegal collaboration visible between the Lava Jato task force and the internationally promoted judge is the most flagrant yet, and more valuable for Lula's defence than chats published by the Intercept in…

John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead (2021-02-10). Don't Impeach Trump: Impeach the Deep State for Its Conspiracy to Kill the Constitution. dissidentvoice.org All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty …

John W. Whitehead (2021-02-10). Don't Impeach Trump. Impeach the Deep State for Its Conspiracy to Kill the Constitution. globalresearch.ca All Global Research articles can be read in 27 languages by activating the "Translate Website" drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). | *** | "All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which …

Online News Editor (2021-02-10). Pakistani court commutes death sentences of 2 mentally ill inmates. laprensalatina.com Islamabad, Feb 10 (efe-epa).- The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of two mentally ill people who have spent decades on death row. The convicts, Imdad Ali and Kanizan Bibi are diagnosed as schizophrenic and sentenced to death in separate murder cases. "We hold that if a condemned prisoner, due to …

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2021-02-10). After 9th Circuit Decision, Youth Climate Campaigners Vow to Take Landmark Case to Supreme Court. commondreams.org "The 9th Circuit failed to correct the legal errors in the panel decision," said the lead attorney in the case, who added that the case is now up to the nation's highest court. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/juliana_0.jpg

commondreams (2021-02-10). 9th Circuit Denies En Banc Review for Juliana v. United States; Youth Plaintiffs Will Take Their Case to Supreme Court. commondreams.org ______________________________…

yenisafak (2021-02-10). Biden administration peers at the Eastern Mediterranean: analysis. yenisafak.com Dean Acheson prefaced his collection of political essays, A Democrat Looks at His Party, with a quote from the esteemed US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.: "And it seems to me that at this time we need education in the obvious more than investigation of the obscure." Holmes's quote provided an effective summary of what Acheson, writing only two years after the end of his tenure as US Secretary of State, explained in the rest of the text.While serving as the secretary of state, Acheson carried out one of the boldest and most visionary foreign policy initiatives of an era dominated by bold and visio…

Staff (2021-02-10). Ignoring First Amendment Pleas, Biden's DOJ Will Seek Extradition of Assange. truthout.org The Department of Justice (DOJ) under former President Donald Trump had aggressively pursued the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — and it appears, now that President Joe Biden has taken office, that policy won't be changing anytime soon. |

RT (2021-02-10). DOJ confirms Biden will continue push for Assange's extradition as human rights groups call to drop case before US appeal deadline. rt.com The Joe Biden administration will continue to pursue extradition for Julian Assange, the Justice Department said, rebuffing calls from rights groups to reverse course ahead of an appeal deadline in the WikiLeaks co-founder's case. | DOJ spokesman Marc Raimondi said on Tuesday that Washington has not abandoned plans for Assange's extradition from the UK, noting that Biden will still challenge a January ruling from a British judge barring extradition over concerns that Assange might take his own life in American custody. | "We continue to seek his extradition," Raimondi told Reuters, signaling that the new Biden…

RT (2021-02-10). 'Don't rely' on US intel: WHO team member bats away Washington's scrutiny of Covid fact-finding mission to China. rt.com A member of the WHO team sent to China to probe the origins of Covid-19 in the country has shrugged off Washington's demand to verify the mission's findings, saying US intelligence on the matter should be viewed with skepticism. | The World Health Organization (WHO) expert team held a press conference on Tuesday to reveal their findings after spending four weeks in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the first case of the coronavirus was reported back in December 2019. According to their investigation, there is currently no evidence to support the theory that the virus leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, a claim put…

yenisafak (2021-02-10). COVID-19: Expert asks US not to rely much on intel. yenisafak.com A member of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of coronavirus has asked the US not to rely "too much" on information from intelligence agencies."Please don't rely too much on US intel: increasingly disengaged under [Donald] Trump frankly wrong on many aspects… but don't forget it's "TRUST" then "VERIFY"!" Peter Daszak tweeted on Wednesday.He was reacting to the news story, the US will not accept the global health body's findings out of Wuhan without independently verifying.The disease, which first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, has killed more than 2.3 mi…

_____ (2021-02-10). Assange Prosecution, Launched By Trump Justice Department, Will Continue Under Biden. popularresistance.org The Justice Department under President Joe Biden plans to continue the case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that was launched under President Donald Trump. | "We continue to seek his extradition," Justice Department spokesperson Marc Raimondi told Reuters, days before February 12, the deadline for the United States government to submit its "grounds for appeal." | The statement represents a departure from President Barack Obama's administration, which declined to prosecute Assange. Justice Department officials were reportedly concerned about the threat it would pose to press freedom. | On January 4, Briti…

WSWS (2021-02-10). Biden administration will continue with extradition of Julian Assange. wsws.org President Biden's Department of Justice stated on Tuesday that it will continue with the Trump administration policy of seeking the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the UK to the US.

yenisafak (2021-02-10). Turkish intelligence captures senior PKK terrorist in N.Iraq. yenisafak.com A senior PKK terrorist was brought to Turkey after he was arrested in an operation of Turkish intelligence in northern Iraq, security sources said on Wednesday.Ibrahim Parim, so-called "logistics officer" of the PKK terror group, was arrested in Sinjar in an operation held by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization.The terrorist — codenamed Laser — was operating in Sinjar near the Iraqi border with Syria, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.He is currently being questioned by counter-terrorism police as per the instructions of the Ankara prosecutors.Parim was found to have…

Katz JN, Arant KR, Loeser RF. (2021-02-09). Diagnosis and Treatment of Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis. jamanetwork.com This narrative review summarizes the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip and knee, including use of structured exercise, acetaminophen and NSAIDs, corticosteroid injections, and surgery to manage symptoms.

Mueller S, Winzer EB, Duvinage A, et al. (2021-02-09). Intensity of Physical Activity and Peak Oxygen Consumption in Patients With Heart Failure. jamanetwork.com This randomized trial compares the effects of high-intensity interval training, moderate continuous training, and guideline-based physical activity on change in peak oxygen consumption (VÃáo2) in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).