Are the Olympics a Trial Run for a 1984 Digital State?
This is a guest post from a friend who is on the ground in Paris reporting what the situation is like.
The best way to begin might be to say that there are three distinct categories of Olympic games sites that the City of Paris wants to make ultra-safe for visitors and athletes, each with its own unique security challenges.
First, there are the many official, already-existing sporting venues (stadiums, arenas, tennis courts, aquatic centers, etc.) located throughout Paris and France. These require the least amount of novel security measures, whether in the form of protective perimeters or the (unusual) methods used to maintain them.
Included among these is the historic Grand Palais, an architectural jewel from 1900 located at the foot of the Champs-Elysées. A monumentally massive building with a marvelously versatile interior space, it regularly plays host to museum exhibitions of all types, in addition to galas, elaborate fashion shows, concerts, conventions, and even an ice-skating rink. Turning it into an Olympic sporting event site wouldn’t have been very difficult.
Second, and complementing these dedicated sporting facilities, are several famous outdoor public monuments and historic landmarks that have been transformed into temporary games sites.
These comprise, most notably, the Trocadero and the area next to the Eiffel Tower, the Château de Versailles, the Place de la Concorde, the Alexandre III Bridge, and the expansive lawns in front of the Hôtel des Invalides.
Massive amounts of bleachers and facilities for ticketed spectators have been brought in and creatively set up to adapt to the often unusual contours and spatial constraints of these areas. Seeing the obelisk at la Place de la Concorde hidden behind a patchwork of crisscrossing bars and stands was strange indeed. From the outside, the expansive fenced-in area, with giant stands rising out from the emptied-out streets, looks like a curious sort of fairground.
Third, and arguably most importantly, there is the Seine River itself, which will be the location of the opening ceremony as well as several aquatic competitions.
From a security standpoint, the first category of venues is the most straightforward because entrances and exits are already part of the structures. All that is necessary to guarantee spectator and athlete safety is to set up slightly expanded perimeters around the buildings and flood the access points with staff and security guards so that no one – or anything – dangerous gets through.
Think of the Barclays Center on game night. Plenty of space to accommodate the crowds at the entrance waiting to go through security, with minimal disruptions to the immediate surroundings.
The second category of event sites, as mentioned above, significantly modify public spaces outdoors; they pose greater security and logistical challenges, as the physical enclosures separating “outside from inside” – separating the ticketed spectators from the unticketed – have to be brought in on trucks and set up.
These barriers are made up of hundreds of miles of what are essentially chain link fence units (about 10 feet long and 7 feet high) set into concrete slabs that can be moved around and connected as needed.
They wrap around the temporary outdoor sporting event sites in odd, unsightly ways and, notwithstanding the considerable effort to line them up neatly, look to many like human kennels. (Upset Parisians are referring to them as cages.)
The last site/category of Olympic events, and the location of the opening ceremony, the Seine River, is the most problematic in terms of security perimeters.
In fact, in order to meet the endless safety, commercial, and sanitary needs associated with the many uses to which the river is being put, an unprecedented thing has taken place: for 8 days leading up to the opening ceremony (tomorrow), the Seine and its immediate surroundings have undergone a form of privatization that has kept almost the entirety of the Parisian population off its riverbanks and away from its nearest surrounding streets and bridges.
Implementing this shutting down of the river has involved widespread use of the aforementioned chainlink-type moveable fences – thousands of them – along with a novel but not entirely unfamiliar technological device: the QR-coded pass.
To help explain what this is looking like on the ground, I’ll attempt to draw a hypothetical analogy with NYC.
It’s a highly flawed comparison due to the very different layout and features of the two cities, with the proportions off, but it’s the best I could come up with under pressure to illustrate the point.
Imagine that 42nd Street in NYC was the Seine River, and that all of the Avenues slicing through it were Paris’ many bridges connecting the North and South sides of the city.
Now picture the sidewalks of 42nd Street as Paris’ Right and Left banks, or riversides, and all the buildings on the North and South sides of 42nd Street, extending down its entire length, like the rows of charming old Parisian apartment buildings you see overlooking the Seine in postcards.
Okay, now think of what life would be like in Manhattan if, for 8 days, all of 42nd Street (street, sidewalks, avenues, entire blocks of buildings) was completely off limits to all motorized traffic and most foot and cycle traffic, with only two avenues – one on the East Side (say, 2nd Avenue), and one on the West Side (say, 8th Avenue) – left open to handle all of midtown Manhattan’s North-to-South movements: foot, bicycle, and motorized traffic.
On top of these restrictions on 42nd Street, imagine the entire area encompassing 41st and 43rd Streets – cross streets and all – every inch, being cut off to all motorized traffic for 8 days, except for emergency and police vehicles. Buses would be rerouted out of the area.
Random pedestrians and cyclists approaching from uptown or downtown could move freely within this outlying area immediately to the north and south of 42nd Street, but they could still not access 42nd Street itself, and as they entered into the outlying pedestrian areas through police checkpoints, they would be subject to random bag searches by a police presence resembling that of an occupying army.
Subway service would continue to run uninterrupted through the zone, but would not make any stops on 41st, 42nd and 43rd Streets. All major subway hubs in the area would be completely closed for those 8 days, including MetroNorth and LIRR trains running into and out of Grand Central.
Drivers wishing to travel from, say, the Upper East Side to Kip’s Bay might find it faster and easier at rush hour to take the Queensborough Bridge to the Queens Midtown Tunnel, swinging back again into Manhattan, rather than sitting in the bottleneck forming for blocks and blocks along the approach to the 2nd Avenue 42nd Street southbound crossing.
Imagine in addition that more than half of the width of 42nd Street sidewalks was completely taken up with metal stands and bleachers in preparation for an opening ceremony parade of slow-moving trucks that would traverse 42nd Street from east to west all the way across.
(In Paris, the opening ceremony will feature decked-out boats gliding down the river representing the participating nations, so in addition to the river banks, most of the bridges in the center of Paris are also filled with empty steep metal bleachers.
My fanciful comparison with NYC, unfortunately, doesn’t allow the avenues to behave like bridges, but if you can picture the Park Avenue Viaduct over 42nd Street filled with empty seats and benches stacked high and looking down over the street, you can get a sense of how this vitally important public space has been turned into one vast seating area, sitting idle for 8 days.)
Controlled access to the thousands of residences, businesses, and shops on 42nd Street via the many otherwise closed-off avenues would begin as far away as 41st and 43rd Streets (and sometimes one or two streets farther removed) behind hundreds of feet of the aforementioned chainlink barriers and through select access points guarded by police units 24/7.
Entry would be granted only to authorized individuals in possession of a special QR-coded “Games Pass.”
The “authorized” individuals allowed to enter this area, on foot or on bicycle only, would be: local residents, owners, or employees of shops and businesses on 42nd Street, and/or tourists and others with valid reasons for needing to be there.
The latter reasons would include and be essentially limited to medical appointments, lunch/dinner reservations in restaurants, and the need for guests staying at hotels or Airbnbs within this “secure” perimeter to return to their accommodations.
The QR-coded “Games Pass” itself would be issued to applicants only after the successful submission of detailed personal information and supporting documents to the NYPD well in advance of the shutdown period.
The NYPD would record all the personal information about who lived and worked within this soon-to-be shut-down perimeter, presumably verify the accuracy of the information provided, and then give, or withhold giving, the green light for issuance of the “Games Pass.”
For reasons unknown, many employees of small businesses would never get their QR-coded “Games Pass” after correctly providing all necessary personal information to the authorities.
(In Paris, this inexplicable failure to issue “Games Passes” to employees whose workplaces were inside the locked-down areas, whether due to human or machine error, initially created much tension between cops and workers at numerous access points, as the latter tried by many means (getting their bosses on the phone, showing proof of employment, providing friendly assurances, etc., often in vain, to justify their right and need to enter the area.)
On the afternoon of the opening ceremony, the bleachers lining the sidewalks of 42nd Street, along with the rows of stands looking down from the Park Avenue Viaduct, would slowly fill up with the more than 300,000 ticketed spectators allowed to watch the Olympic Parade.
No one else in NYC – unless they happened to be lucky enough to live in a building on 42nd Street with a window facing the street – would be allowed to get close enough to the event to see it with their own two eyes.
It’s hard to capture the universal exasperation caused by this 8-day near-total shutdown of the Seine River, its upper and lower riverbanks, the buildings all around it, and most of its bridges.
The rerouting of motorized traffic and resulting colossal bottlenecks around this central part of the city have been an absolute nightmare to taxis and commuters at rush hour – even after the significant reduction in the number of vehicles on the roads following the seasonal exodus of Parisians fleeing the city for summer homes and foreign vacation destinations.
But it’s the restrictions on pedestrian and cyclist movements around the water and riverside areas that have enraged Parisians the most.
Hemmed in and funneled through long narrow spaces between sidewalks and empty roads, local residents and visitors to Paris alike are bristling at the intrusive, intimidating metal fences, which are more in line with the types of structures you would see at a detention center or migrant camp than at an international sporting event.
It’s hard to overstate how violently these unsightly barriers clash with the otherwise beautiful surroundings they are keeping people out of.
All of these restrictions have, not surprisingly, led to a serious dropoff in tourist activities in the area. Restaurants within the cordoned-off “security perimeters” are making 30%-70% less than this time last year. This is the case even in the buffer zones leading up to the river where motorized traffic is prohibited but foot and bicycle access is allowed without restrictions. Terraces and restaurant interiors are empty here too.
(Fortunately, the many other stadium/arena/transformed venues around Paris that will be hosting events in the days following the opening ceremony will not cause similar disruptions to neighboring businesses, interrupting traffic flows in the immediate area only for a few hours preceding and following the events.
In such spots, the QR-Coded Games Pass will play a less important role, and won’t be needed by local residents or shopkeepers because no shops or businesses open to the public will be located on the same site as the sporting venue. Only visitors/spectators to these sites will have to worry about QR codes and QR-coded tickets.)
But to return to the river opening ceremony “security” preparations, in order to monitor the hundreds of access points along the North and South banks of the Seine (as well as to monitor the many other Olympic Games venues around the city), 45,000 police and gendarmes have been mobilized, with thousands pouring into Paris from all over France.
I spoke with about a dozen such officers stationed at checkpoints all along the river, and I asked them how things were going. Most – in carefully chosen words and professional tones — said it was a shitshow.
Interestingly, all the police I happened upon were from other parts of France and most were not at all familiar with Paris and its streets and bridges. So when asked by annoyed locals or confused/lost tourists about how to navigate around the off-limit zones, such officers were often of little to no help.
On the two occasions I witnessed local Parisians ask how to get around a closed-off area, the out-of-town police shrugged and apologetically explained how they weren’t from Paris and didn’t know.
Standing for hours on end at the hundreds of cordoned-off access points, they would repeat calmly and patiently that they were stationed there solely to check passes and make sure unauthorized persons did not get beyond them. It was unreasonable to expect anything more of them, they seemed to be saying.
This led me to ask how the actual process of checking the “Games Pass” – their primary responsibility – was unfolding.
It turns out that the way things were supposed to happen was that a person in possession of a “Games Pass” seeking access to the restricted area also needed to show police a separate ID, and sometimes further proof of what they claimed to be doing in the area (if they didn’t live or work there), at which the police could cross-check the name with the information called up by the QR-code scanner.
But it seems there are not (or at least weren’t as of Monday) enough scanners to go around, and, making matters worse, the scanner screens can’t be read properly on sunny days due to the glare.
So in such situations – which also include instances of people not receiving their “Games Pass,” or having lost their paper copy – the police have to “use their best judgment,” and let people through on the basis of simple ID checks and the believability of the person’s story for needing to be in the off-limits area.
The police officers I spoke with said a small number of people, like myself, objected to the use of QR-coded passes on principle, saying that it reminded them of the health and vaccine pass nightmares and that hosting an international event was no justification for denying freedom of movement in this way.
When I asked what they themselves thought of the kennel-like security restrictions, and if they agreed with any of the freedom of movement concerns raised by angry residents, most seemed to miss the point entirely. They would invariably utter something about the size and scope of the event requiring the extraordinary security measures, that terrorists would be plotting, etc. Almost like a pre-recorded message (though eloquently conveyed).
But one cop I spoke to at length raised another issue I hadn’t thought of keeping the entire city away from the Seine for 8 days and nights was also aimed at preventing the newly cleaned river from filling up with human garbage again.
The banks of the river in the warm summer months are thronged with revelers all through the evenings, and this leads to tons of junk and pollution ending up in the water.
It turns out that 1.4 billion euros went into a massive 6-year river cleanup project, beginning in 2018, to make the Seine safe enough to swim in for the handful of aquatic events set to take place in it this summer.
E coli and other bacteria seem to have disappeared (or at least no longer pose a threat to human health) and the number of fish species has made a huge comeback, jumping from 3 to 30 in the last few years due to the significant increase in oxygen in the water.
Understandably, the Olympic Games organizers and the City of Paris didn’t want flotsam in the form of empty wine bottles to be seen bobbing up and down between the parade boats on the opening night, so they decided not to take any chances and simply banned everyone from getting within spitting distance of the water.
This got me thinking.
This whole 8-day Seine shutdown – which in some ways amounts to privatizing the river, making access available to only a fraction of the tax-paying population – could not have been imaginable without the availability of digital passes such as this QR-coded “Games Pass,” which can store and instantly call up huge amounts of pre-vetted personal data.
Though there aren’t enough of the scanners to go around, there are enough to just about make it all work.
Without such on-the-spot digital data-storage technology, the thousands of local residents and other “authorized” persons needing to access the areas around the river on a daily basis would have to carry around with them at all times: IDs, proof of residence, and proof of employment papers. And they would need to show them all every day to every cop they came across at the checkpoints.
Police stationed at these checkpoints, in turn, would have to spend endless time cross-checking all these documents, and querying every non-resident about their purpose for being in the area – a mini-interrogation each time a local resident or worker sought to cross an access point.
It’s hard to imagine the proposal to shut down the Seine River for over a week being taken seriously even in an informal spitballing session of city counselors (let alone in a national-level ministerial meeting) if it involved local residents living by the river having to produce reams of documentation every time they came back from work or the supermarket.
One would hope that such an imaginary discussion, after eliciting groans at the idea of such intrusive on-the-spot background and ID checking by police, would have quickly led to other considerations being raised, such as freedom of movement and the unreasonable obligation to justify one’s presence in public areas.
So there had to be a way to streamline such an extensively coordinated, large-scale shutdown of a heavily populated urban area requiring such tight control of people and their movements, ideally, without people taking too much notice of the personal intrusions and infringements on certain rights and freedoms.
Cue the QR-coded “Games Pass.”
Had there been no sophisticated QR-coded tools to facilitate such an undertaking, it’s likely the hair-brained and outrageous idea of emptying out and privatizing the center of a major metropolis – with all its attendant civil rights questions – would have been immediately apparent.
One wonders if questions over the feasibility and legality/constitutionality of such a proposal were ever brought up in official discussions in 2016. Perhaps, instead, the fascination with the vast organizational and control/surveillance potential of the QR-coded “Games Passes” caused such concerns to be dismissed or downplayed – or eclipsed entirely – once again revealing the dangerous hidden biases of these digital technologies.
In my experience, asking proponents of surveillance/control tools like QR-coded “Games Passes” or Health/Vaccine Passports about the totalitarian nature of the use cases that such technologies inevitably give rise to typically elicits ironic eye-rolling and accusations of alarmism, followed by reassurances about the benefits of enhanced security on a limited time scale.
In the case of the Paris “Games Pass,” such enthusiasts are also quick to highlight the added bonus of having a cleaned-up river to enjoy going forward. The 100-year ban on swimming on the Seine is set to be lifted after the Summer Games, with the opening up of select swimming areas along the river next summer.
But those of us who lived for two-plus years under the totalitarian Corona regime, with its QR-coded health and vaccine passes, see this as a clear attempt to continue testing out these technologies in new contexts involving restrictions on basic rights and freedoms, slowly and steadily conditioning public acceptance of their use in preparation for the inevitable rollout of digital IDs in France and the EU (unless the Europeans start organizing to oppose these out-in-the-open Orwellian plans).
Indeed, it seems the French government misses no opportunity these days to insinuate QR codes into large-scale public celebrations and gatherings where they are not needed.
To wit, the annual Bal des Pompiers (Fireman’s Ball) this year (a uniquely French outdoor celebration held inside the courtyards of Fire Stations all over France on the 13th and 14th of July, which is free and open to the public and draws massive crowds of revelers, featuring the presence of French Foreign Legionnaires and other elite military personnel), for the first time ever, prohibited the use of cash and credit cards for purchases of food and drink and instead required partygoers to buy a QR-coded “credit card” at the entrance.
In order to consume food or alcohol within the firehouse, one had to line up at a special booth and exchange money for a special one-off QR-coded plastic card (the size and shape of a credit card) which then became the only accepted form of currency for purchases during the all-night outdoor celebration.
Unlike previous years, where the firemen serving food and alcohol also handled cash and credit cards, this year they were armed with little scanners, with which they beeped and deducted credit from these disposable digital money cards.
It introduced a wholly unnecessary, illogical, time-wasting step into the normal “money-food” transaction process on the grounds that it would streamline the handover of food and drink in an extremely busy and crowded space by freeing vendors from the need to handle money.
It of course did exactly the opposite, causing people to waste more time standing in the QR-coded card line each time they wanted to buy or top up their card. Worse still, drunk party-goers undoubtedly lost hundreds, if not thousands of euros, from putting more money on their QR-cards than they were able (or remembered) to spend on food and alcohol during the rollicking festivities.
To those of us still reeling from the use of the health passes, it was a terrifying, flagrant further example of the incremental social engineering that has been going on in Europe for the last 4 years, with its two-fold aim of phasing out cash while preparing the public for a sudden shift to a digital euro during the next manufactured emergency.
I can only hope the uproar caused by the Summer Games’ disruptions to people’s ability to live, work in, and enjoy their city will shine a light on these dangerous technologies of control and surveillance that I believe are irreconcilably incompatible with the values and principles of a free society.
Venezuela Descends Into Anarchy / Civil War As Dictator Maduro Fights For Control
FBI Leadership Accused of Perjury After Telling Congress Trump Shooter Pushed ‘Anti-Immigration’ & ‘Anti-Semitic’ Views on Social Media
FBI leadership has been accused of perjury after testifying in a Senate hearing Tuesday that the Trump shooter espoused “anti-immigration” and “anti-semitic” views on social media.
Deputy Director Paul Abbate told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks shared many “extreme” posts on social media that reflected “anti-semitic and anti-immigration themes.”
“Something just very recently uncovered that I want to share is a social media account which is believed to be associated with the shooter in about the 2019-2020 timeframe,” Abbate said.
— Andrew Torba (@BasedTorba) July 30, 2024
“There were over 700 comments posted from this account. Some of these comments, if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect anti-semitic and anti-immigration themes to espouse political violence, and are described as extreme in nature.”
“While the investigative team is still working to verify this account to determine if it did, in fact, belong to the shooter, we believe it important to share and note it today, particularly given the general absence of other information to date from social media and other sources of information that reflect on the shooter’s potential motive and mindset,” Abbate said.
Catch that? So when for weeks the FBI has been refusing to answer basic questions surrounding the events of the attempted assassination of Trump to lawmakers and the press, the bureau felt it necessary to share unverified information about the shooter’s alleged “anti-semitic and anti-immigration” views despite his account not yet being confirmed as authentic.
And contrary to Abbate’s remarks, Gab founder Andrew Torba revealed the FBI had issued an Emergency Disclosure Request (EDR) last week for a Gab account believed to have belonged to would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, known as account “EpicMicrowave”, that “UNEQUIVOCALLY” showed he was “pro-Biden and in particular pro-Biden’s immigration policy.”
BREAKING: The FBI is now claiming that the Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks had an unspecified “social media account” in 2019/2020 (when he was 14/15 years old) that posted “anti-immigrant and anti-semitic” content.
— Andrew Torba (@BasedTorba) July 30, 2024
This is not consistent with Gab’s understanding of the… pic.twitter.com/UPPJSAkPqp
From Torba:
The FBI is now claiming that the Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks had an unspecified “social media account” in 2019/2020 (when he was 14/15 years old) that posted “anti-immigrant and anti-semitic” content.
This is not consistent with Gab’s understanding of the shooter’s motives based on an Emergency Disclosure Request (“EDR”) we received from the FBI last week for the Gab account “EpicMicrowave” which, based on the content of that EDR, the FBI appeared to think belonged to Thomas Crooks.
Many, particularly regime media reporters, have doubted Gab’s claims that this request existed. Normally we don’t confirm the existence or content of law enforcement communications. In this instance we had to make an exception due to the overwhelming public interest in disclosure and transparency.
As a courtesy to law enforcement, we are not going to post the entire request. This is the first page of that request.
The story is this: the account for which data was requested was, UNEQUIVOCALLY, pro-Biden and in particular pro-Biden’s immigration policy.
To the best of Gab’s knowledge, as of 2021, Crooks was a pro-lockdown, pro-immigration, left-wing Joe Biden supporter.
The discrepancy caught the attention of X owner Elon Musk, who posted, “It sure looks like the FBI leadership engaged in perjury….”
It sure looks like the FBI leadership engaged in perjury … https://t.co/tU1M7fs9lj
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2024
This notably comes days after FBI Director Christopher Wray sparked controversy for testifying that Trump may not even have been struck by a bullet from Crooks’ rifle during the Butler, PA MAGA rally, a statement that was quickly corrected by his own Bureau.
Is the FBI misrepresenting Crooks’ political views to cover for the Democrat Party ahead the 2024 election?
If so, this amounts to more election interference by the runaway Bureau that also raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and investigated him for “Russia collusion” in the run-up to the 2016 election.
RELATED: Watch: Acting Secret Service Director Admits NOBODY’S Been Fired After Attempted Trump Assassination
RELATED: Watch: Sen. Kennedy Savagely Mocks FBI After Director Claimed Unknown if Bullet Hit Trump
RELATED: Live: Senate Committees Grill Secret Service, FBI Officials On Trump Assassination Attempt
Watch: Sen. Kennedy Savagely Mocks FBI After Director Claimed Unknown if Bullet Hit Trump
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) savaged FBI representatives during a congressional hearing Tuesday, brutally mocking the agency after Director Christopher Wray last week claimed he didn’t know if Donald Trump had been hit by a bullet.
Addressing FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, Sen. Kennedy asked whether the agency had any other theories behind what could have injured the former president at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, two weeks ago.
?SAVAGE SENATOR KENNEDY?
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 30, 2024
KENNEDY: “Is there any doubt in your mind or in the collective mind of the FBI that President Trump was shot in the ear by a bullet fired by the assassin?”
FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: “There is absolutely no doubt.”
KENNEDY: “It wasn’t a space laser?”
FBI:… pic.twitter.com/6hUPuGZaPQ
“Is there any doubt in your mind or in the collective mind of the FBI that President Trump was shot in the ear by a bullet fired by the assassin?” Sen. Kennedy asked.
Abbate responded, “Senator, there is absolutely no doubt in the FBI’s mind whether former President Trump was hit with a bullet and wounded in the ear.”
“No doubt. There never has been,” Abbate added, contrasting with testimony Wray gave to the House Judiciary Committee last week.
Sen. Kennedy pressed forward, asking, “You’re sure? It wasn’t a space laser.”
“No,” Abbate replied.
“It wasn’t a murder hornet?” Kennedy sarcastically inquired.
“Absolutely not,” responded Abbate.
“It wasn’t Sasquatch?” Kennedy continued, before establishing, “It was a bullet fired by [would-be assassin Thomas Matthew] Crooks.”
RELATED – Watch: Acting Secret Service Director Admits NOBODY’S Been Fired After Attempted Trump Assassination
The senator’s derisive line of questioning was intended to highlight questionable remarks last week by FBI Director Christopher Wray, in which he appeared to feed into leftist conspiracy theories that Trump may not have been shot by a would-be assassin.
“As I said, I think with respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray claimed during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week.
“No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel,” Trump responded on Truth Social last Thursday. “The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!”
OMG Undercover Footage Reveals DNC Higher-ups Don’t Think Kamala Can Win
New undercover video from O’Keefe Media Group shows a Democratic National Committee Manager admitting he has no hope that Kamala Harris can defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
In the footage, DNC fundraising accountant Joyce Decerce explained why Harris can’t win and how the left lies to its base in order to collect money.
BREAKING: DNC Manager: ‘I Don’t Think Kamala Harris Would Win;’ Admits to Making Empty Promises to Donors
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) July 30, 2024
“I don’t think Kamala Harris would win this year,” reveals Joyce DeCerce (@JoyceDecerce) (he/him), Compliance Manager for the Democratic National Committee (@DNC) and Kamala… pic.twitter.com/p2jCmwbEPu
“I like Kamala Harris, but I don’t think she’d win this year… She’s wildly unpopular and I think a lot of that is racism and misogyny,” he told the undercover reporter.
The DNC manager also explained how the party will tell rich donors whatever they want to hear in order to get their cash while completely ignoring their wishes once elected.
Decerce noted some donors refused to give money to the DNC this year because they didn’t believe Joe Biden was cognitively fit to serve another four years.
The video highlights how Democrats use and abuse their constituents.
Take A Tour Inside El Salvador’s CECOT Prison Where The World’s Most Dangerous Prisoners Rot
El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) houses some of the world’s most dangerous gang members, and journalist Nick Shirley was able to get a firsthand look inside the famous facility that helped fix the nation’s crime crisis.
President Nayib Bukele started cracking down on Salvadorian gangs in 2022 and has since cleaned the country so much it now boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
INSIDE CECOT (full video):
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) July 27, 2024
I entered into El Salvadors mega prison know as The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), it is home to some of the most dangerous gangs and gangsters in the world. El Salvador was once controlled by these gangs and known as the most dangerous country… pic.twitter.com/0dK1HDDMHA
During his tour, Shirley experienced the strict security measures for visitors to the prison and was able to briefly ask a few questions to the violent criminals.
“When an inmate walks through these doors, he never leaves,” he told the camera.
The extremely hardcore jail framework is largely credited with helping El Salvador fix its crime problem and many people across the world are looking to the country as an example of how they could also cleanse their nations of criminal gangs.
Don’t miss the epic Tucker Carlson interview with President Bukele to further understand how the country has transformed under his anti-globalist leadership.
President Nayib Bukele saved El Salvador. He may have the blueprint for saving the world. pic.twitter.com/92etFh7sSI
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 6, 2024
Meta Owes Texas $1.4 Billion For Illegally Using Facial Recognition
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton revealed on Tuesday Facebook’s parent company Meta has been ordered by a court to pay the state a $1.4 billion settlement for using personal biometric data of Texan Facebook users without their authorization.
According to the 2022 lawsuit, the social media giant was using facial recognition software on Facebook user photographs despite not having permission.
“This settlement is the largest ever obtained from an action brought by a single State and the largest privacy settlement an Attorney General has ever obtained,” wrote Paxton. “This serves as a warning to any companies engaged in practices that violate Texans’ privacy rights.”
?BREAKING NEWS: We have secured a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta to stop the company’s practice of capturing and using the personal biometric data of millions of Texans without the authorization required by law.
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) July 30, 2024
This settlement is the largest ever obtained from an action… pic.twitter.com/AkOppAGO0K
Paxton said:
“After vigorously pursuing justice for our citizens whose privacy rights were violated by Meta’s use of facial recognition software, I’m proud to announce that we have reached the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single State. This historic settlement demonstrates our commitment to standing up to the world’s biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans’ privacy rights. Any abuse of Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law.”
In the future, Meta will be given 60 days to reverse its policies if Texas again finds an issue with the social media site’s collection of biometric data.
The company will soon pay $500 million to the state with $225 million being paid each year from 2025 to 2028.