Tag: protests

Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes Found Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy in Jan. 6 Case

A JURY HAS returned two landmark guilty verdicts in the Jan. 6 Oath Keepers trial, convicting founder Stewart Rhodes and fellow militia member Kelly Meggs of seditious conspiracy.

The historic verdict — the most serious yet secured in relation to the events of Jan. 6 — was nonetheless mixed. Alleged co-conspirators Jessica Watkins, Thomas Watkins, and Kenneth Harrelson were found not guilty of sedition. Meggs and Watkins were, however, found guilty of the lesser charge of conspiring to disrupt the counting of the votes of the Electoral College. All five prosecuted members of the militia group were found guilty on charges of obstructing an official proceeding. Four of the five, including Rhodes, were found guilty of “tampering with documents or proceedings and aiding and abetting.”

Throughout the trial, which opened on Oct. 4, the government alleged that Rhodes and his subordinates committed “seditious conspiracy” by working to block, by force, the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. The defendants also faced lesser charges that they conspired to disrupt the official proceedings of the joint session of Congress to certify the votes of the Electoral College. 

Sedition is rarely prosecuted, and convictions are even rarer. 

The Oath Keepers are a conspiratorial militia group that recruits heavily from former-military and law enforcement personnel. The militia began as fiercely anti-government, coping a defensive posture against fever-swamp-nightmares that federal authorities could turn entire cities into internment camps. 

But the militia came to embrace Donald Trump as a hero figure and hoped and believed Trump might marshall them into battle against antifa and other perceived leftist threats. In its conspiratorial worldview, the group saw Biden’s win as a “ChiCom puppet coup” — a victory for the “deep state,” Communist China, shadowy globalists, and alleged “pedophiles” in Congress.  

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BBC journalist was beaten up and arrested ‘for his own good to stop him catching Covid’ while covering protests that have rocked China, local cops claim: Reporter is seen screaming for help after locals tried to stop police attacking him

A BBC journalist covering historic protests against President Xi Jinping‘s lockdown rules in China was arrested and beaten by police officers, with Chinese officials later making the bizarre claim that he was detained for his ‘own good’ in case he caught Covid from the crowd.

Shocking footage from the anti-government protests in Shanghai shows Edward Lawrence, a camera operator for the BBC’s China Bureau, being dragged away by Xi’s officers as he screams ‘call the consulate now’ to a friend.

Mr Lawrence was beaten and kicked by the police officers and held in custody for ‘several hours’ before being released, as Chinese officials sought to crack down on the media and protesters in the city.

The British journalist said today that at least one local was arrested after they tried to stop the police from beating him during his arrest.

Shanghai police officers tried to dismiss the arrest as being for Mr Lawrence’s ‘own good’, claiming that he was arrested ‘in case he caught Covid from the crowd’. The BBC dismissed the farfetched explanation as implausible.

The UK’s Business Secretary Grant Shapps today denounced the officers’ actions as ‘unacceptable’ and ‘concerning’. He told LBC radio: ‘Whatever else happens, freedom of the press should be sacrosanct.’ 

Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director of the human rights group the Henry Jackson Society in London, told the Mail: ‘This latest outrage shows the true face of the Chinese Communist Party’s regime in attacking all the values the West hold dear. 

‘Media freedom is essential to our system and the Chinese crackdown against it needs the strongest of refutations from the UK Prime Minister. This is no time for him to go wobbly.’ 

China is facing its largest anti-government demonstrations since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, with protests erupting in at least seven cities over the country’s strict zero-Covid rules. 

The catalyst for the protests was an apartment fire last week in the western city of Urumqi in which ten people died. Many speculated that Covid curbs in the city, parts of which had been under lockdown for 100 days, had hindered rescue and escape, which city officials denied. 

The largest of the demonstrations has taken place in Shanghai – home to 26million residents – with many also boldly demanding that President Xi resign. 

China’s foreign ministry today insisted the government’s ‘fight against Covid-19 will be successful’.

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Apple turned off a private communication tool in China just before major protests broke out

Earlier this month, Apple restricted the use of AirDrop in China. The file-sharing tool for iOS was used by protesters to communicate freely without the risk of censorship, because the tool uses direct connections between devices, creating a local network that cannot be monitored by government internet regulators.

Initially, people could choose to receive AirDrops from everyone nearby. However, a recent iOS update has made that impossible. The update made a change to AirDrop’s usage that only applies in mainland China, while the rest of the world can still use it to communicate as before.

Users in China can only receive from everyone nearby for only ten minutes, putting restrictions on how it’s used.

AirDrop has been used by protesters in Hong Kong to communicate with other protesters and bystanders, as well as send messages to tourists from mainland China. On the mainland, protesters have used AirDrop to spread protest literature.

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Canada’s finance minister created a blacklist of trucking companies that participated in the protest for civil liberties

Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office distributed a blacklist of 201 trucking companies that participated in the Freedom Convoy Protest in February.

“Please find attached an excel sheet detailing which companies whose trucks are participating in Ottawa convoy demonstrations,” an unidentified employee at Freeland’s office wrote in an email, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

“A total of 45 companies whose trucks are in Ottawa have accessed the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy out of a total of 201 companies whose trucks are publicly known as being in Ottawa. Three of the companies with trucks in Ottawa are US-based companies.”

The blacklist was sent the same day that the government invoked the Emergencies Act, February 14. The Emergencies Act allowed the government to order financial institutions to freeze the accounts of businesses and individuals involved in the protest without a court order.

“In doing so, [the financial institutions] will be protected against civil liability for actions taken in good faith,” Freeland said at a press conference on February 14. She added that the government would freeze the accounts of trucking companies if their trucks are found to be taking part in the protest.

Blacklock’s Reporter also obtained internal documents showing that Freeland proposed that people who had their accounts frozen should first report to the police before their accounts are unfrozen.

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Far Left Brazilian Supreme Court Orders Banks to Block Funds of Businessmen Who Supported the Protesters in Mass Democracy Rallies

This is how it’s done: Over 3 million Brazilians filled the streets on Republic Day yesterday, Nov. 15, to protest the stolen elections.

The party of President Jair Bolsonaro presented its report and announced it will apply to have the election annulled since the results could not be validated.

Since the massive fraud during the runoff election on October 30th in Brazil, millions of Brazilians have been protesting on the streets every day against electoral fraud by Communist convicted criminal Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Mainstream media such as O Globo refuse to report on what may be the largest protests the world has ever seen, fueling even more rage and disappointment among the Brazilian people.

Earlier today, The Gateway Pundit reported on the corrupt Supreme Court pushing unconstitutional edicts to install the Socialist criminal as president:

As hundreds of thousands continue to protest in the streets in Brazil, corrupt leftist Chief Justice Alexandre de Moraes wants the Minister of Defense removed for telling the truth about the stolen election. A conflict between the pro-Lula Supreme Court and the pro-Bolsonaro military looms.

The left-wing Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who enabled convicted Communist embezzler Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to even run for President, wants to have Minister of Defense General Paulo Sergio Nogueira deposed.

On Wednesday 16.11. Alexandre de Moraes sent a request from Deputy Judge Marcelo Calero to the Attorney General’s Office to remove the Minister of Defense,  O Antagonista reports.

On Nov. 10, as required by law, the Ministry of Defense filed its report on the October 30 election with the Supreme Electoral Court, stating that “It is not possible to say the electronic voting system is free from the influence of malware that could affect its outcome.”

Instead of investigating the allegations, the Supreme Court charged the report “endangered the physical safety of citizens” who were “involuntarily encouraged” to protest – as if the more than 3 million Brazilians who turned out on Republic Day Nov. 15 to protest the steal didn’t really know what they were doing.

But the corrupt Supreme Court was not finished.

On Thursday, the far-left court ordered banks to block funds from at least 42 agricultural entrepreneurs supporting President Jair Bolsonaro.

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The Military-Industrial Media Complex Strikes Again

Tens of thousands protested against the skyrocketing cost of living and against Macron in France October 16, led by left-wing politician Jean Luc Melenchon, but there were few front page or top-of-the hour headlines in the U.S. Huge protests occurred in Rome the same day to demand an end to Italy’s involvement in NATO, but no coverage on the west side of the Atlantic. Thousands protesting in Paris October 22 against NATO, but little notice in North America. Massive protests against NATO and inflation due to sanctions on Russian energy in France, Germany and Austria in September, but little news of it here in the heart of the empire. German police beat citizens protesting energy shortages and record-high inflation, both due to Russia sanctions, the week of October 17, but that was not covered in the USA. Seventy thousand Czechs protested in Prague September 3 against NATO involvement in Ukraine, demanding gas from Russia (before some mysterious imperial somebody with means and motive blew up Nordstream 1 and 2, probably to nip the political effects of those protests in the bud) and ending the war, but that got little coverage in U.S. corporate media.

Ever get the sense there are things our media hides from us? Hmm. Ever wonder why enormous protests against the policies of the Exceptional Empire and its attack dog, NATO, seem, um, to be downplayed? Ever think our corporate news outlets behave more like the propaganda arm of our neoconservative state department and military than a free press? Well, if so, you may be onto something.

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Capitol Police Officer Told Agents That Oath Keepers Shielded Him, Sealed FBI Record Shows

An FBI document being kept from the public under court seal undermines the government’s seditious-conspiracy case against the Oath Keepers, shows that the indicted members of the group “are not guilty,” and “proves that the prosecution is lying to the jury,” a former Oath Keepers attorney said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times on Oct. 7.

Jonathon Moseley, who previously represented Oath Keepers defendant Kelly Meggs before his law license was revoked, said an FBI interview with a U.S. Capitol Police officer shows the Oath Keepers protected the officer from an angry mob near the Capitol Rotunda on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021.

“This document—together with a photograph of the moment inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6—proves that the prosecution is lying to the jury,” Moseley said in the statement (pdf). “No one who engages in seditious conspiracy or insurrection stops to come to the aid of the police against the mob.

“If the Oath Keepers were involved in any way in any insurrection or conspiracy to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, would they turn and stand between the U.S. Capitol Police against the mob?” Moseley asked. “This is not merely a good act. This is absolute proof that there never was any insurrection or seditious conspiracy. The prosecution’s entire case is a fraud upon the American people.”

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Influencer says he was offered money to spread anti-Trump Jan 6 lies on TikTok, brings receipts

Attorney and TikToker @TrialByPreston revealed in a video that the Good Information Foundation attempted to pay him $400 to spread unsubstantiated rumours and misinformation about January 6, President Trump, and his 2020 presidential campaign. 

“I was just offered $400 to make an anti-Donald Trump propaganda post related to the January 6 investigation that is completely not true,” Preston Moore, Esq. said in the video. The Good Information Foundation, headed by Rick Stengel, Former Under Secretary of State in Obama administration, emphasizes that “America is in an information crisis,” and that “disinformation is threatening public health, safety, social trust and democracy.”

Moore emphasized that he’s not a Trump supporter to “give a little bit of context,” and noted that he’s an attorney who posts legal news on TikTok. Other videos on his channel include discussions of the special master that was appointed to review documents seized by the FBI from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, on the Parkland school shooter, on the Constitution, or other matters.

Then he launched into what happened, saying: “I get an email from somebody at the Good Information Foundation.” That person, he said, obscuring the name, “sent me a message letting me know she represented the Good Information Foundation and that she was willing to offer a paid collaboration to discuss some topics related to January 6.

“I said ‘sure, why not,’ I’ll learn some more,” he said. He learned that the Good Information Foundation would pay him $400 to make a post on his page and share it to Instagram, and that there were specific bullet points that they’d like him to hit to earn that fee. 

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