Horrifying Trump campaign video compared to dystopian propaganda
 by Greg Evan

Picture: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A video that that was played to Trump supporters at a rally in Michigan on Tuesday has shocked people who have seen it to such an extent that it's being compared it to the totalitarian government in George Orwell's 1984.

The clip was played to Trump fans at the Capitol Region International Airport in Lansing prior to the president's arrival and featured an ominous voiceover from Trump, menacing imagery of America, the president and for some reason the European parliament.

It also contained a remix of the Linkin Park song In The End, a band that has previously sued the Trump administration for using their music without permission.

A recording of the video was captured by Forbes reporter Andrew Solender and has now been viewed more than 1 million times on Twitter.

It's not clear who made this video or if it has been played at other Trump rallies during the election campaign but many have compared it to dystopian novels like 1984, The Hunger Games, Star Wars, North Korea and Nazi propaganda.

Others were shocked to hear Linkin Park's music used in such a way however, the band doesn't appear to have offered a statement in regards to its use at the time of writing.

Also, why was the EU parliament in there?

Trump has been holding campaign rallies across the United States on daily basis for the last few days in an attempt to whip up support for himself at the polls. Many major polls still place the president behind Joe Biden in the running for the White House, with the Democrat leading by double digits in some key swing states.

https://www.indy100.com/article/trump-rally-video-dystopia-1984-linkin-park-us-election-9723788

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Andrew Solender

@AndrewSolender

·

Oct 27, 2020

Replying to @AndrewSolender

I have... so many questions.

Andrew Solender

@AndrewSolender

The easily recognizable symbol of global oppression that is the EU parliament chamber

12:39 PM · Oct 27, 2020 from Manhattan, NY

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195 people are Tweeting about this

Kendall Brown

@kendallybrown

Replying to @AndrewSolender

Never thought I'd see the day that fascist propaganda would be set to Lincoln Park, yet here we are.

Andrew Solender

@AndrewSolender

Here’s what they just played at Trump’s rally in Lansing, Michigan:

10:09 AM · Oct 28, 2020

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Slovakia to test entire population for coronavirus in global first

Issued on: 31/10/2020 - 

People at a café in Bratislava, Slovakia, on May 6, 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Slovakia on Saturday begins a programme to screen its entire population for coronavirus with antigen tests in what would be a global first, but critics have said the plan is poorly thought out.

Some 45,000 medical workers, army and police are being deployed to carry out the tests in the EU member state of 5.4 million people, collecting swabs at around 5,000 testing points.

"The world will be watching," Prime Minister Igor Matovic said earlier this week, adding that the measure would save "hundreds of lives".

Antigen tests give quick results -- sometimes within minutes -- but are not seen as being as reliable as the PCR test for which nasal swabs have to be sent to a lab for analysis.

Participation in the testing is not mandatory but anyone who is not able to produce a negative test certificate if stopped by police could get a heavy fine

Anyone who tests positive has to go immediately into quarantine for 10 days.

"This will be our road to freedom," Matovic said, hinting that virus restrictions could be eased once testing is complete or reinforced if the programme is not carried out in full.

Slovakia would be the first country of its size to undergo nationwide testing, although mass testing has taken place in entire Chinese cities.

Smaller European states such as Luxembourg and Monaco have also announced mass testing programmes.

Government 'threatening people'

Like other countries, Slovakia has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus cases although it is below the EU average.

On Friday it reported a record of 3,363 new daily infections, bringing the total to 55,091. The death toll currently stands at 212.

The government is hoping to complete the nationwide testing over two days and carry out another round of mass tests next weekend.

But it has struggled to find medical workers to staff all the testing sites and has been forced to offer cash bonuses for doctors.

During pilot testing in four high-risk regions last weekend, people had to queue for up to two hours in some cases.

The Slovak Association of General Practitioners has criticised the government's plan, saying it is ill-prepared.

The association said that the "mass concentration of millions of people" at testing sites "is at odds with the recommendations of infectious disease experts to reduce public contacts and mobility as much as possible".

Many ordinary people -- like Radovan Babincak, an unemployed man living in the capital Bratislava -- want to stay away.

"The government and the prime minister are threatening people," the 40-year-old told AFP.

Anton Dubovsky, a 67-year-old petrol station operator, said he and his son would not go.

"I am not convinced this testing is a good idea at all," he said.

(AFP)

Scorched jaguar returns home after Brazil fire ordeal

Issued on: 22/10/2020 - 

A female jaguar rescuers have named Amanaci was found two months ago with third-degree burns, and is receiving stem cell treatments in a bid to help her heal EVARISTO SA AFP

Brasília (AFP)

A jaguar badly burned in the fires that ravaged Brazil's Pantanal wetlands this year has been returned to the wild after more than a month of intensive treatment for his burns.

Members of the veterinary team that treated the jaguar's scorched paws with ozone and laser therapies released him Tuesday at the same spot where he was rescued, along a river in the Encontro das Aguas nature reserve in central-western Brazil.

Named Ousado, which means "daring" or "bold" in Portuguese, the five-year-old jaguar was placed in a crate on the river bank

A video of the release made by the wildlife protection organization that treated him, the Nex Institute, shows his handlers pulling a rope to open the door of the crate from the safe distance of a boat on the river.

Ousado tentatively left the crate, examined his surroundings, then bounded off into the forest, prompting his veterinary team to burst into applause.

"When we found him, he was in a lot of pain. He couldn't walk properly. Today, he was back to normal. He ran right up the bank. We're very happy with the result," veterinarian Jorge Salomao told AFP.

Known for its stunning biodiversity, the Pantanal is the largest tropical wetlands on Earth, stretching from Brazil into Bolivia and Paraguay.

An estimated 23 percent of the Brazilian Pantanal has gone up in smoke this year, amid the region's worst drought in nearly half a century.

Images of charred landscapes strewn with animal carcasses have shocked the world, drawing criticism of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's government.

Ousado got a happier ending than that of another wounded jaguar rescued from the Pantanal, Amanaci.

She was found two months ago with third-degree burns, and is receiving stem cell treatments in a bid to help her heal.

But veterinarians say the fire damaged her tendons so badly she can no longer extend her claws, meaning it is unlikely she can be released back into the wild.

Africa 1960: Four faces of independence from France

Issued on: 31/10/2020 - 10:27

Ahmed Sékou Touré, Guinea's first president. © FRANCE 24
By:Florence GAILLARD
30 min

Sixty years ago, most of the French colonies in sub-Saharan Africa became independent nations. Between January 1 and December 31, 1960, some 17 countries, including 14 under French rule, gained their statehood. Senegal's first post-independence president, Léopold Sédar Senghor, referred to 1960 as the "magical year", while others hailed a peaceful decolonisation process.

But behind the scenes, negotiations were bitter. For France, in the midst of the Algerian War of Independence, there was no question of losing its prerogatives, nor its interests in Africa. And in the context of the Cold War, each country had to choose its side or its political orientation.

By following the path of four charismatic leaders – Senegal's Léopold Sédar Senghor, the Ivorian Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Guinea's Ahmed Sékou Touré and Central African Republic's Barthélemy Boganda – FRANCE 24's journalist Florence Gaillard offers viewers a look back at the eventful history of these African countries' path to statehood.