2/18 - 2/25
With so much happening around the world, here are some stories and developments you may have missed:
ICYMI
📉 36% of Americans approve of Biden's handling situation with Russia
💔 137 Ukrainians have been killed in Russia's invasion
📉 Russia's stock market crashed 35% this week
🇷🇺 Russia has lost 2,800 troops, 80 tanks and 516 armoured vehicles
🏠 Over 50,000 people have fled Ukraine
🇨🇦 Justin Trudeau lifted his use of Emergency Powers
⁉️65.7% of Democrats approve of Trudeau's treatment of Freedom Convoy
🛑 The FDA is considering authorization for a 2nd COVID 'booster'
😷 U.K. is ending all COVID restrictions
📺 The Beijing Olympics averaged 12.2 million prime-time viewers, a 47% drop from 2018
👍54.4% of voters prefer GOP to Dems (41.9%) on generic midterm ballot
Biggest developments
Russia invades Ukraine. America imposes sanctions. World watches on...
What you need to know:
Russian President Vladimir Putin initially deployed troops to two separatist-controlled regions of Ukraine
Putin ordered Russian troops into the separatist regions for a "peacekeeping" mission
The Biden regime responded by imposing financial sanctions
Russian invaded Ukraine, carrying out assaults on major cities around the country
President of Ukraine declares martial law
Ukrainians escape en-masse to Poland and neighbouring countries
Small portion of Americans support being involved in this conflict
The story so far...
President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Wednesday that Russia will conduct a military operation in Eastern Ukraine. As he gave this address explosions were heard in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other areas of the country.
Putin said the action comes in response to threats coming from Ukraine. He added that Russia doesn’t have a goal to occupy the country and the responsibility for bloodshed lies with the Ukrainian “regime”.
On Thursday, Putin issued a warning to countries who seek to interfere in the conflict saying, “whoever would try to stop us and further create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and lead you to such consequences that you have never faced in your history.”
Shocking videos on Twitter show bombings across Ukraine:
According to the Kyiv Post, the Ukrainian city of Mariupol is under heavy fire with reports of hundreds of explosions. The city is one of the biggest Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea. Taking Mariupol would help Russia secure a direct land route to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky introduced martial law, saying Russia has targeted Ukraine’s military infrastructure across the country. Zelenskyy said he talked to President Joe Biden and the U.S. was rallying international support for Ukraine. He urged Ukrainians to stay home and not to panic.
“Putin began a war against Ukraine, and against the entire democratic world,” he said in an address on Thursday. “He wants to destroy our country, and everything we have been building. But we know the strength of the Ukrainian people.”
Zelensky also took to Twitter to condemn Russia: “Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in the WW2 years… Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself & won’t give up its freedom no matter what Moscow thinks,” he wrote.
In a press conference Thursday, President Biden unveiled sanctions against Russia in response to the attacks. The new sanctions include export blocks on technology and sanctions on Russian banks and “corrupt billionaires” and their families who are close to the Kremlin. “Putin’s actions betray a sinister vision for the future of our world, one where nations take what they want by force,” he said.
According to Biden, the sanctions are meant to punish Putin’s actions, rather than prevent them, by going after Russia’s economy, its military capabilities and those closest to the Russian president. “No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening. It’s going to take time. We have to show resolve. He knows what is coming,” Biden said.
Biden said he was working to limit the fallout the new sanctions would have on energy prices. He said the US was ready to release barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve alongside its allies. “I know this is hard and that Americans are already hurting,” he said. “I’ll do everything in my power to limit the pain the American people are feeling at the gas pump.”
Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked how high gas prices could get here in the U.S.
"As you heard the president say last week, standing up for our values is not without cost.”
Thousands of civilians are engaging in anti-war protests in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg and in Moscow. Police are detaining participants of the protests in Moscow.
❗️Only 26% of Americans support the U.S. having a major role in the conflict
❗️Kyiv's troops managed to recapture a key airport after a botched helicopter assault by the Russians
❗️Russia captured Chernobyl power plant - sparking fears of a new nuclear disaster
❗️At least 1,700 people were arrested in Russia for protesting against the war in Ukraine
Hero Ukrainian soldier blew himself up to destroy a bridge and stop Russian forces from storming in from Crimea.
Engineer Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych is hailed a hero for stopping a column of Russian tanks at Henichesk, in the southern Kherson region.
The young man volunteered for the mission to rig a bridge with mines. The bridge is a strategic point linking annexed Russian-occupied Crimea and mainland Ukraine. Although the bridge was mined, there was not enough time to detonate as Russian forces got closer.
According to his fellow soldiers, Vitaly radioed in and said he was going to blow up the bridge. He said his goodbyes and the bridge blew up. This allegedly slowed down significantly the Russian advance.
This story comes after another report that Ukrainian soldiers allegedly told a Russian warship to go "f*ck" itself when it attempted to invade the island at which they were standing guard. All 13 soldiers were killed. (but the video of the Ukrainian's response is bloody fantastic)
Tyranny
CDC withholds key data about vaccines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has “collected data on hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the United States and broken it down by age, race and vaccination status. But it has not made most of the information public," the New York Times reports.
The CDC says it suppressed the information because people might misinterpret it to mean that COVID vaccines are ineffective. Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the CDC, said the agency has been slow to release the different streams of data "because at the end of the day, it's not yet ready for prime time"
Interviewed in the report, Samuel Scarpino, managing director of pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation said that “the CDC is a political organization as much as it is a public health organization. The steps that it takes to get something like this released are often well outside of the control of many of the scientists that work at the CDC.”
Evidence COVID was made in a lab?
Scientists found genetic material owned by Moderna in the Covid-19's spike protein. They identified a tiny snippet of code that is identical to part of a gene patented by the vaccine maker three years before the pandemic. It was discovered in SARS-CoV-2's unique furin cleavage site, the part that makes it so good at infecting people and separates it from other coronaviruses.
Trudeau’s special powers come and go. But Canadian politicians are still nuts.
Canada’s legislature on Monday approved extending the use of the special emergency powers invoked last week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to quell protests against Covid-19 mandates, which had paralyzed the capital and disrupted cross-border trade.
Over the weekend, Canada saw mass arrests, leading to public criticism of Ottawa police. Only a few days later, Trudeau announced he is removing emergency powers police can use after authorities ended the blockades at the borders and the demonstration in Ottawa.
“The situation is no longer an emergency, therefore the federal government will be ending the use of the emergencies act,” Trudeau said. “We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are sufficient."
In spite of this, a Canadian judge denied bail to Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich, citing that her detention was "necessary for the protection and safety of the public." Lich started the GoFundMe account that raised millions for those participating in the convoy protest. In the same few days, we came to find out that an ordinary single mum was locked out of her bank account after donating $50 to the Freedom Convoy fundraiser.
Throughout the week, Trudeau and the Deputy Prime Minister have made several comments referring to freezing Canadian bank accounts if they continue to protest. This comes at the same time the Ottawa Chief of Police said they will use all measures necessary to find protesters and those related to protesters to freeze their financials and bring them up on charges, where need be.
America
US convoy is finally here! Truckers are headed to Washington D.C.
U.S. truckers have formed their own freedom convoy, named the 'People's Convoy', to protest covid mandates. The convoy began in California and will travel for 11 days across the U.S., ending up in Washington D.C. on March 5.
Organizers of the convoy say they want to close down the Capital Beltway in Washington D.C. later this week in protest of wide-ranging issues such as fuel prices, vaccine requirements and immigration.
The Pentagon has approved the deployment of 700 unarmed National Guard troops to the nation’s capital as it prepares for trucker convoys that are planning protests against pandemic restrictions beginning next week.
Florida House approves CRT, ‘don’t say gay’ bills.
Two controversial bills about race and gender lessons in Florida public schools was overwhelmingly approved by the state House. The bills will now go to the Senate.
As reported by the Tampa Bay Times: Both pieces of legislation — commonly referred to as the “individual freedoms” (HB 7) and “don’t say gay” (HB 1557) bills — have been widely lauded by conservatives across the state as a way to give parents more control over what their children are taught in school and what services they receive.
The primary purpose of the HB1557 bill is to ensure teachers do not try to indoctrinate or persuade students, or make students feel guilt or "psychological distress" based on the actions of others. Schools all over the United States teach CRT and other radical gender theory.
Pop Culture
Jeffrey Epstein Associate Jean-Luc Brunel Found Dead in French Jail Cell
French modeling agent and former friend of Jeffrey Epstein, Jean-Luc Brunel was found dead in his prison cell on Saturday. Brunel allegedly procured more than a thousand women and girls for Epstein to sleep with.
Brunel was not believed to have been on suicide watch and was found hanging in his cell. CCTV footage was not running at the time of his death. Ghislaine Maxwell's family have said they are 'scared' for her safety following these reports.
Donald Trump launches Truth Social
Donald Trump’s Twitter alternative has finally launched on iPhone. Due to a slow roll-out, and nonavailability on the Google Store, on Tuesday morning, the waiting list was at almost 400,000.
Truth Social, which is considered a conservative-friendly version of Twitter, rocketed to the top of the iPhone App Store’s free apps chart shortly after becoming available on Monday.
According to the New York Post: The app did not give an estimate for how long it would take for the waitlist to clear up. Truth Social’s CEO, former US Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), told Fox News Sunday that the app would be “fully operational” in the US by the end of March.
Nonsense of the week
What even is this?
Many of these stories are still developing. Stay tuned for more information.