Days before the 2020 election, Steve Bannon said Trump is 'just gonna say he's a winner' – even if he loses, report based off leaked audio says

Azmi Haroun

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (left), former President Donald Trump. Adrian Bretscher, Christopher Gregory/Getty Images

Steve Bannon said Trump would reject the election results if he lost, according to Mother Jones.

The publication published a leaked recording from an October meeting days before the election.

Bannon is set to face a criminal contempt trial for rejecting January 6 subpoenas on July 18.

In a leaked audio recording, former Trump aide Steve Bannon can be heard saying that Trump was planning to reject the results of the 2020 election, even if he lost, according to the recording obtained by Mother Jones.

In the audio clip, recorded during a meeting between Bannon and his associates on October 31, 2020, Bannon says that the former president is "just gonna say he's a winner."

"What Trump's gonna do, is just declare victory. Right? He's gonna declare victory. But that doesn't mean he's a winner," Bannon said in the clip, laughing. "He's just gonna say he's a winner."

Later in the audio Bannon says to expect "crazy shit" from Trump after the election and that, "at 10 or 11 o'clock Trump's gonna walk in the Oval, tweet out, 'I'm the winner. Game over. Suck on that.'"

The audio shared by Mother Jones is originally from a meeting between Bannon and supporters of Guo Wengui,a right-wing exiled Chinese businessman who Bannon has close ties with. The audio was recorded by an attendee of the meeting, who shared it with Mother Jones. Insider has not independently verified the audio.

Bannon's attorneys did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

During Tuesday's January 6 Committee hearing, further revelations were shared about Trump's rejection of the election results and involvement in rallying his supporters on January 6.

The committee shared a draft tweet from Trump's Twitter where he had planned to tell people to march to the Capitol after his speech where he encouraged Mike Pence and others to reject the certification of the election results.

"I will be making a Big Speech at 10AM on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House). Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal!!" the draft tweet, which was not dated, said.

Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2021 on two counts of contempt of Congress, after refusing to engage with a subpoena from the January 6 committee.

A Trump-appointed judge ruled on Monday that Bannon's criminal trial should go ahead on July 18.

In an attempt to delay his criminal contempt trial, Bannon's legal team had claimed that Trump's executive privilege barred him from testifying about the events related to January 6 and the election, and that the "media blitz" around the January 6 hearings was unfair to his case.

Trump's legal team has disputed the executive privilege claim, after the former president sent Bannon a letter saying he'd waive the claim.

Last week, the Department of Justice argued that Bannon's trial should go ahead.

US prosecutor says Polanski case transcripts can be unsealed

By AFP
Published July 12, 2022

Los Angeles prosecutors said Tuesday they will no longer oppose the release of sealed transcripts in the statutory rape case against Roman Polanski — documents which the fugitive director has previously argued could reveal judicial misconduct.

George Gascon, the Los Angeles County district attorney, said his office had “determined it to be in the interest of justice to agree to the unsealing of these transcripts.”

“This case has been described by the courts as ‘one of the longest-running sagas in California criminal justice history,'” said Gascon in a statement.

“For years, this office has fought the release of information that the victim and public have a right to know.”

While it is not known what exactly the transcripts contain, they include testimony by former Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson, the first prosecutor to handle Polanski’s case.

In 1977, French-Polish director Polanski was arrested after 13-year-old Samantha Gailey accused him of plying her with drugs and champagne and forcibly sodomizing her.

Seeking to spare the child a trial, prosecutors dropped the most serious charges in a plea deal, with Polanski accepting guilt for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

He served 42 days in prison while undergoing psychiatric evaluation.

When it appeared that the judge, Laurence Rittenband, was set to reconsider and hand down a much lengthier prison sentence, Polanski fled to France, where he still resides.

The “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown” director has not returned to the United States since, and has been engaged in a decades-long cat-and-mouse game with officials seeking his extradition, before a global audience split between continuing outrage and forgiveness for his acts.

According to Gascon’s statement, Polanski first requested the transcripts be unsealed “several years ago” in order to “conduct an investigation into alleged judicial misconduct.”

Gascon also described the circumstances in which Polanski was initially treated by prosecutors as “extraordinary” and added that his office was committed to “transparency and accountability for all in the justice system.”

The Hollywood Reporter said the new request to see the transcripts came not from Polanski, but from two journalists.

Gailey publicly forgave Polanski in 1997, and said her treatment by the press and judicial system were worse than the original crime.

She has also previously called for the transcripts to be unsealed.

But Gascon’s statement concludes: “Polanski remains a fugitive from justice and should surrender himself to the Los Angeles County Superior Court to be sentenced.”

In more recent years, Polanski — now 88 — has also been accused of other historic sex crimes by different women.

He denies the allegations, for which the statute of limitations has expired.

Develop more vaccines to combat ‘silent pandemic’ of antimicrobial resistance: WHO

12 July 2022

More vaccines must be developed to tackle antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacterial pathogens, and countries must make better use of the ones currently available, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The UN agency has released its first-ever reportOpens in new window on the pipeline of vaccines currently in development, geared at guiding further investment and research.



Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. 

Millions of deaths

This “silent pandemic” is a major growing public health concern, WHO

Resistant bacterial infections alone are associated with nearly five million deaths a year, and more than 1.2 million deaths are directly attributed to AMR.

The report identifies 61 vaccine candidates, which includes several that are in late stages of development though most will not be available anytime soon.

Preventing infections using vaccination reduces the use of antibiotics, one of the main drivers of AMR, said Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO Assistant Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance.

Equitable access

However, out of the top six bacterial pathogens responsible for deaths due to AMR, only one - pneumococcal disease - has a vaccine.

“Affordable and equitable access to life-saving vaccines such as those against pneumococcus, are urgently needed to save lives, and mitigate the rise of AMR,” she said.

WHO has also called for equitable and global access to the vaccines that already exist, such as those against four priority bacterial pathogens that include pneumococcal disease, tuberculosis and Typhoid fever.

Learning from the pandemic

“Disruptive approaches are needed to enrich the pipeline and accelerate vaccine development. The lessons from COVID-19Opens in new window vaccine development and mRNA vaccines offer unique opportunities to explore for developing vaccines against bacteria,’’ said Dr. Haileyesus Getahun, Director of the agency’s AMR Global Coordination Department.

 The report also looks at some of the challenges facing vaccine innovation and development, including for pathogens associated with hospital-acquired infections.

Issues include the difficulty in defining target populations among all admitted hospital patients, the cost and complexity of vaccine efficacy trials, and the lack of regulatory or policy precedent for vaccines against infections.

“Vaccine development is expensive, and scientifically challenging, often with high failure rates, and for successful candidates complex regulatory and manufacturing requirements require further time. We have to leverage the lessons of COVID vaccine development and speed up our search for vaccines to address AMR,” said Dr. Kate O’Brien, Director of WHO’s Department for Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.  

FAUCI PUPPIES

Four thousand beagles need adopting, after US research facility shut

1 of 11 Attribution: Homeward Trails
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) will transfer 4000 beagles from a research facility in Cumberland, Virginia, to humane societies across the United States where they can be adopted, under a plan approved by a federal judge last week.

1. Did Fauci Spend Taxpayer Dollars on ‘Cruel and …

   https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fauci-vaccine-experiment-beagles

   2021-08-18 · Claims of Fauci funding the “torture” of dogs 

'

1. PolitiFact | Unpacking the noise around Dr. Anthony Fauci …

   https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/oct/28/unpacking-noise-around...

   2021-10-28 · "Fauci wasted $1M+ to poison beagle puppies, 

UK 

SAS WAR CRIMES

We can’t stand up to Russia if we don’t confront ugly truths about Afghanistan: Hastie

By Latika Bourke
July 13, 2022 — 

London: Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie has told a British audience that if the West is to stand up to Russian barbarianism in Ukraine and defend the Indo-Pacific from Chinese aggression, it must account for its own wrongdoings, including in Afghanistan.

Hastie made the comments in London shortly after the BBC’s Panorama aired allegations the UK’s SAS repeatedly killed detainees and unarmed men in suspicious circumstances.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie, a former SAS soldier, has consistently supported the inquiry into allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan.

CREDIT:JAMES BRICKWOOD

The BBC cited one newly unearthed military report that said one unit may have killed 54 people in one six-month tour.

Hastie said democracies must confront ugly truths head-on.

“In Australia, we have been through a tough public accounting for our time in Afghanistan –specifically, the alleged unlawful actions of a small number of our special forces over the course of the war,” he told a conference hosted by think tank Henry Jackson Society.

The opposition’s defence spokesman Andrew Hastie at the In and Out Naval Club, St James, London speaking at a conference for the Henry Jackson Society.

“The Brereton Inquiry, as it is known, has been very tough but it has been necessary. For if we cannot hold ourselves to account for unlawful battlefield conduct in Afghanistan, by what standard do we condemn Russian acts of barbarity in Ukraine?”

The UK’s Minister for Armed Forces said alleged war crimes in Afghanistan had already been twice investigated but if the program aired any new allegations that met the “evidential threshold”, then “we will absolutely investigate it”.

“Nobody in our organisation no matter how special, gets a bye on the law and that’s that,” he said.

The US invaded Afghanistan a month after the September 11 terror attacks in 2001, seeking to hunt down Osama bin Laden and punish the Taliban for providing safe haven to al-Qaida leaders. Operation Enduring Freedom was supported by Australia, Canada, France and Germany.

RELATED ARTICLE

Secrets of War
Australian soldiers could face prosecution, have medals stripped as SAS squadron disbanded

It all ended in August last year when the Biden administration withdrew the last US forces in chaotic fashion and the Taliban swiftly reclaimed power.

Hastie, a former SAS Captain, served in Afghanistan for five years from 2013.

He has consistently supported the four-year inquiry into allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan. The report handed down in November 2020 found Australian special forces soldiers allegedly committed 39 murders in Afghanistan.

A focus of the inquiry was Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith, who is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times over a series of articles in 2018, which he says accuse him of wrongdoing including six murders and other war crimes.

Roberts-Smith denies wrongdoing.

RELATED ARTICLE

Exclusive
Secrets of War
If we fail to prosecute war crimes, the law is a ‘dead letter,’ says inquiry judge

Hastie said his own experience of “nation-building at gunpoint” in Afghanistan had made him “very circumspect about going to another people and trying to impose on them your view of the world”.

Hastie is on his first overseas trip as the opposition’s defence spokesman following the Coalition’s election loss in May.

He used his speech to urge European nations to match the ambition of the AUKUS agreement, saying that fighting for freedom required the preparedness to use lethal force, as the Ukrainians were showing.

“We cannot pretend that peace is secured by words alone. We must be prepared to defend it with hard power.

“What sort of hard power do I mean? Military power, guns, ammunition, troops, fighter aircraft, warships, lethal force and the preparedness to deploy it, all necessary means,” he said.

He added that hard power also served as a deterrent.

Mexican schoolboy set on fire for being Indigenou

An Otomi woman is seen during the occupation of Mexico's National Institute of Indigenous Peoples in August 2021 in protest at the group's treatment by the government - 

Copyright AFP Odd ANDERSEN

Yussel Gonzalez

By AFP
Published July 12, 2022

A Mexican schoolboy was set on fire and badly burned in a classroom — his “only crime” was speaking an Indigenous language in a country struggling to end racial discrimination.

Two classmates are accused of pouring alcohol on Juan Zamorano’s seat at a high school in the central state of Queretaro in June.

When the 14-year-old realized his trousers were wet and stood up, one of them set Zamorano on fire, according to his family.

He suffered second and third degree burns and was only this week discharged from hospital.

Juan had already suffered weeks of bullying because of his Indigenous Otomi roots, according to his family’s lawyers, who filed complaints against the alleged attackers and school authorities.

With an estimated population of 350,000, the Otomi are one of dozens of Indigenous groups in the Latin American country.

The Otomi language is Juan’s mother tongue “but he doesn’t like to speak it much because it’s a cause of ridicule, harassment and bullying,” Ernesto Franco, one of the family’s lawyers, told AFP.

The family has alleged to the media that even Zamorano’s teacher harassed him because of his origin.

“She thinks that we’re not her class, we’re not her race,” Zamorano’s father, who described the attack as “attempted murder,” told the newspaper El Universal.


– ‘Recurring attacks’ –

Queretaro state prosecutors have announced an investigation into the attack and the alleged perpetrators face possible legal proceedings.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that if necessary, the country’s attorney general’s office might handle the case.

Juan’s “only crime was speaking Otomi,” tweeted Lopez Obrador’s spokesman Jesus Ramirez, who said that eradicating racism was everyone’s responsibility.

Mexico’s National Institute of Indigenous Peoples urged the authorities to “sanction minors and adults involved in harassment and recurring attacks on minors.”

Urgent measures are needed in schools to prevent further cases of discrimination and racism, it said.

Discrimination is common in Mexico, a country of 126 million where 23.2 million people identify as Indigenous and more than 7.3 million speak an Indigenous language, according to a 2020 census.

In a case in March, an Otomi woman accused staff at a restaurant in a trendy Mexico City neighborhood of preventing her from using the toilet, telling her it was only for customers.

– Systemic racism –

Around 40 percent of the Indigenous population complained of having faced discrimination in a survey published by the national statistics agency in 2018.

Almost half felt that their rights were respected little or not at all.

The survey also revealed prejudices against the Indigenous population.

Three out of 10 people questioned agreed with the statement: “The poverty of Indigenous people is due to their culture.”

Cases like Zamorano’s are not isolated but part of systemic racism, said Alexandra Haas, the Mexico head of the international charity Oxfam.

In 2019, an Oxfam study in Mexico found that speaking an Indigenous language, identifying with an Indigenous, Black or mixed ethnicity community, or having a darker skin tone, meant less chance of educational and labor advancement.

Mexico has a law aimed at preventing discrimination and has created institutions responsible for dealing with complaints.

Even so, Zamorano’s case is a stark illustration of “how far discrimination can go,” according to Haas, a former president of the country’s National Council to Prevent Discrimination.

“We can’t say that it was impossible to predict. There have been centuries of racial, Indigenous and very structural discrimination,” she said.

SENATORS MENENDEZ, BOOKER PEN LETTER TO POTUS ON INVESTIGATIONS INTO DEATH OF NJ RESIDENT, PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST SHIREEN ABU AKLEH

 JULY 12, 2022

WASHINGTON –?Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today sent a letter to President Biden in advance of his upcoming travel to the Middle East regarding investigations into the death of Palestinian-American journalist and New Jersey resident Shireen Abu Akleh. Condemning the attack on mourners during Ms. Abu Akleh’s funeral procession, the senators urged President Biden to raise Ms. Abu Akleh’s case at the highest levels and press for accountability during his visit. The senators also called for continued U.S. participation in transparent and timely investigations into any remaining or new evidence.

“We acknowledge your Administration’s efforts to support a comprehensive and impartial investigation and recognize that the damage to the bullet that killed Ms. Abu Akleh was determined to be too extensive to reach a ‘definite conclusion’ regarding its origin. However, it is troubling that the Administration has not provided our constituents, as they noted in their recent letter to you, with any details of a ‘thorough…credible investigation,’” the senators wrote. “Every family should be able to grieve the loss of a loved one in peace and dignity. We urge the State Department to ensure that Ms. Abu Akleh’s family continue to receive any and all support they need during this difficult time.”

The senators also requested that the Administration provide a senior-level classified briefing on investigation details, including American involvement and next steps with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Authority (PA) regarding accountability for Ms. Abu Akleh’s death.

“Ms. Abu Akleh’s courageous and unbiased reporting provided critical news not only for Palestinians and Israelis, but for the international community as a whole. In her 25 years as a journalist, she became one of the most prominent names across the Middle East,” the senators added. “As a strong advocate of media freedom, the U.S. must continue to promote and protect journalists’ ability to do their jobs across the globe without threats to their lives, in and out of conflict zones. Our support as they advance truth, transparency, and accountability has never been more critical.”

Find a copy of the letter HERE and below.

Dear President Biden:

We write to you about the investigations into the death of Palestinian-American journalist and New Jersey resident Shireen Abu Akleh. The inconclusive nature of the investigations fails to provide answers to Ms. Abu Akleh’s family. 

We acknowledge your Administration’s efforts to support a comprehensive and impartial investigation and recognize that the damage to the bullet that killed Ms. Abu Akleh was determined to be too extensive to reach a “definite conclusion” regarding its origin. However, it is troubling that the Administration has not provided our constituents, as they noted in their recent letter to you, with any details of a “thorough…credible investigation.” We urge you to raise Ms. Abu Akleh’s case at the highest levels and press for accountability during your upcoming visit to Israel and the West Bank. We also ask for continued U.S. participation in transparent and timely investigations into any remaining or new evidence.

We request that your Administration provide us a senior-level classified briefing on the investigation details, including American involvement. We ask that this briefing cover the U.S. Security Coordinator’s engagements regarding the investigations conducted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Palestinian Authority (PA), a full account of the ballistic and forensic analysis, and next steps with the IDF and PA regarding accountability for Ms. Abu Akleh’s death.

Further, we must be clear to those individuals who attacked mourners during Ms. Abu Akleh’s funeral procession that this behavior is unacceptable. Every family should be able to grieve the loss of a loved one in peace and dignity. We urge the State Department to ensure that Ms. Abu Akleh’s family continue to receive any and all support they need during this difficult time.

Ms. Abu Akleh’s courageous and unbiased reporting provided critical news not only for Palestinians and Israelis, but for the international community as a whole. In her 25 years as a journalist, she became one of the most prominent names across the Middle East. As a strong advocate of media freedom, the U.S. must continue to promote and protect journalists’ ability to do their jobs across the globe without threats to their lives, in and out of conflict zones. Our support as they advance truth, transparency, and accountability has never been more critical.

We trust that you will treat this request for a classified briefing with the utmost urgency. We appreciate your personal consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

###

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Shireen Abu Akleh 

BIDEN'S FOND MEMORIES OF WHITE MEN

Biden again reminisces fondly about lunch with late segregationist 

By Steven Nelson
July 12, 2022 

President Joe Biden recalled his luncheons with late segregationist Sen. James Eastland in an attempt to inspire members of Congress to reach across the aisle.

AP/Patrick Semansky

President Biden on Tuesday reminisced about lunching with the late segregationist Sen. James Eastland while urging members of Congress to build personal relationships with one another to improve political civility.

Biden made the remark about the Mississippi Democrat during an annual picnic with members of Congress on the White House lawn as Vice President Kamala Harris stood to his left.

Harris, the first black vice president, rebuked Biden during a 2019 Democratic primary debate for telling an earlier version of the story. She did not visibly react to the latest mention, though she did turn her head to look at Biden as he relayed the account.

“We used to have debates with me and, for example, Jim Eastland, with whom I agreed on virtually nothing except we were both senators. But we would debate like hell on the floor of the Senate and go and have lunch together,” Biden said.

“And [the late Arizona Republican Sen.] John McCain became one of my closest friends, even though John McCain and I were like brothers who would go at each other with hammer and tong.”

Eastland said in 1954 that “segregation is not discrimination… It is the law of God.”AP/Henry Griffin

Biden added, “My point is, I hope that we do more of these kinds of events so you get to know your families, you get to know each other’s families…. That’s what made it so much easier 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago.”

In 2019, Harris tore into Biden after he talked to supporters about how he worked with Eastland and fellow segregationist Sen. Herman Talmadge (D-Ga.) in the 1970s.

“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said at the time, before saying in a Southern accent that the senator “never called me ‘boy,’” using a racist reference to black men

.

Vice President Kamala Harris rebuked Biden in the past for reminiscing on his friendship with a segregationist.

Chris Dilts/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“I do not believe you are racist,” Harris told Biden at June 2019 debate. “But I also believe, and it is personal — it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and careers on the segregation of race in this country.”

Eastland infamously proclaimed in 1954 that “segregation is not discrimination… It is the law of God.”

Biden mentioned Eastland after saying that knowing political opponents socially removes personal vitriol from policy debates.

Biden also called the late Republican Sen. John McCain one of his “closest friends.”

William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

“It’s hard to look at someone who you strongly disagree with and make it personal when you know they have a son or a daughter that has a problem. It’s hard when you get to know people because you see through the humanity and it changes things,” he said.

Biden referred to Eastland previously as president. In May, he reminisced in Ohio about bringing back “the old days” in the Senate when he was able to sit down for lunch with “real segregationists” such as Eastland and Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.).

“At least we’d end up eating lunch together. Things have changed. We gotta bring it back,” Biden said in that speech.

Biden’s Tuesday utterance came ahead of his evening departure for a high-stakes diplomatic mission to Israel and Saudi Arabia.

FIRE HER SPEECHWRITER/COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
On Monday, first lady Jill Biden committed her own series of gaffes while telling a gathering of Hispanics that they were as diverse as “breakfast tacos.” In the same speech Monday, she mispronounced “bodega.” The first lady apologized through a spokesperson on Tuesday.

LONDON ATTRACTS CHINESE OLIGARCHS

Chinese tycoons line up to buy London's $92 million 'Gucci mansion', once HQ to the Italian fashion house

JULY 12, 2022
ByCHERYL ARCIBAL

A handout photo. The palatial home in London’s Mayfair district is listed for US$66 million.

South China Morning Post

Buyers from mainland China and Hong Kong are among those interested in a £55 million (S$92 million), eight-bedroom property known as the Gucci mansion in London’s upmarket Mayfair district, according to the property agent marketing the palatial home.

The 14,000 square-foot house served as the headquarters of the luxury Italian fashion brand and is where designer Tom Ford entertained figures such as Alexander McQueen and the French billionaire François Pinault.

“The three people from mainland China are all ultra-high-net-worth businesspeople , who own large companies in finance, IT and real estate and have families with wives and children,” said Gary Hersham, founding director of Beauchamp Estates.

“Two are looking for a London private home, the third wants a property that can double as a London office or base and a pied-à-terre. At this price level … these assets are both for personal use, entertaining friends and business acquaintances and as a business investment.

“The two Hong Kong buyers are, again, family people, they’re CEOs, one is a retailer, the other works in real estate.”

The property is also available to rent for £40,000 a week.

Advertisement

The potential sale comes hot on the heels of the purchase of an €80 million (US$81.5 million) property with three private beaches on the exclusive Italian island of Sardinia by 33-year-old Chinese woman Nani Wang , who shares the same name as a former board director of a unit of e-commerce giant JD.com.

Mainland companies and the ultra-wealthy Chinese had been active in acquiring trophy assets, but strict curbs on capital outflows first rolled out by Beijing in 2016 crimped their buying spree. The restrictions essentially barred other big-spenders from replicating headline-grabbing deals such as the US$1.95 billion sale of the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York to Anbang Insurance Group in 2014.

Still, there have been notable acquisitions made by mainland Chinese investors in recent years. Last year, seven penthouses in the TCRW Soho project in London’s West End went for £21.4 million to an unidentified Chinese buyer.

The Gucci mansion, built in the 18th century, is a Grade 1 listed neoclassical building which was chosen to become the luxury brand’s headquarters in 1998 after its head, Maurizio Gucci, was gunned down by a hitman hired by his former wife Patrizia Reggiani in the lobby of Gucci’s Milan headquarters three years earlier.

In 2000, Ford invited McQueen to the house to convince the British fashion designer to join the Gucci group. The property, however, ceased to become Gucci’s headquarters when it was relocated to Cadempino in Switzerland in 2010.

ALSO READ: Reclusive Chinese tycoon is now Asia's richest person

“Since the start of 2022 there has been a wave of deals for prime London homes priced above £10 million, with the lion’s share of deals done in the £15 million to £25 million price bracket,” said Jeremy Gee, managing director at Beauchamp.

“This year, especially as international buyers have started to return to the capital, the top locations for super-prime deals are Knightsbridge, St John’s Wood, Mayfair, Kensington, Belgravia and Chelsea. The traditional neighbourhoods of the super-rich are once again the locations for the majority of top end deals.”

Other prominent properties to have caught the eye of buyers from the mainland and Hong Kong include penthouses at Principal Tower, in Shoreditch.

“Trophy homes in London offer a unique investment opportunity,” said Christopher Murray, managing director at developer Concord London. “The increase in interest could in part be due to the decline of Covid cases and the relaxation of travel restrictions allowing overseas purchasers to visit and view the properties in person.”

This article was first published in South China Morning Post.

Fact-checking the inaugural speech of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

 

Fact-checking the inaugural speech of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Marcos touted several lies, misleading statements, and historical inaccuracies

Written byMong Palatino

Posted 11 July 2022 3:20 GMT 

Read this post in Malagasy

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivering his inaugural address on June 30. Photo from the Facebook page of the Presidential Communications (Government of the Philippines)

Several media groups found lies and inaccurate statements in the inaugural speech of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. which he delivered in front of the National Museum in Manila during his inauguration ceremonies.

Marcos was proclaimed president on June 30, despite allegations of irregularities that marred the May 9 national and local elections.

There were also questions about Marcos's candidate eligibility as he has been criminally convicted of tax evasion.

Marcos is the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos who ruled the country for two decades until his ouster during the peaceful People Power uprising in 1986. The Marcos family is accused of looting billions of dollars from the national treasury when they were in power. They continue to deny that abuses were committed during the Philippines’ Martial Law years.

Human rights groups believe that the Marcoses used ill-gotten wealth to regain political clout over the past three decades by spreading false narratives about the dictatorship. These lies are found on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and other social media platforms which enabled the Marcoses to whitewash their violent reign and erase their notorious role in undermining the country’s economy and democracy.

Marcos's inaugural speech shows how important disinformation was in his successful electoral bid, as his speech contained several lies and misleading assertions.

First, Marcos claimed that he got the biggest electoral mandate in the history of Philippine democracy. Vera Files, an independent fact-checker, clarified that “while Marcos Jr. did garner the highest number of votes in Philippine electoral history, his share of the vote is only the country’s third highest margin of victory.”

Second, Marcos cited the construction of windmills in his home province as among his achievements.

“Blades have been turning over the sand dunes of Ilocos Norte, harnessing a power all around but unseen, long before this day. I built them.”

This was flagged as false because the windmills were built by private companies.

Baguio Chronicle, a local media group, noted how this false claim was repeatedly invoked during the campaign period.

Even before the presidential elections, the Marcos family have appropriated projects and infrastructure enterprises in the attempt to rebrand their name and image in their decades-long disinformation propaganda campaign.

Another misleading statement by Marcos was the claim that “sufficient fossil fuel-free technology for whole economies has yet to be invented” and that “it is not seriously tried by rich countries.” Rappler, a news company, said that this is only partly true since advanced economies like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria “have shown examples of progress to tackle emissions from energy generation.”

As expected, Marcos paid tribute to his father by stating that it was only during his time that food sufficiency was attained by the Philippines.

“The role of agriculture cries for urgent attention that its neglect and misdirection now demands. Food self-sufficiency has been the key promise of every administration. None but one delivered,” Marcos said.

Economists and other scholars were quick to debunk this historical distortion because the country’s economy was in severe crisis during the so-called “golden era” of the Marcos presidency. Rappler summed up the response of critics:

No administration has achieved total food self-sufficiency, which is defined as a country’s ability to produce consumption needs, like staple food crops, rather than buying and importing. Marcos’ 20-year rule brought famine, higher poverty rates, and inflation reaching 50%, all of which are additional measures of a country’s capacity for food self-sufficiency.

It was not only the speech that contained lies. A viral video by a Marcos supporter falsely claimed that Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, praised the speech of the president.

Media watchdog Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility warned about how disinformation could be normalized in the next six years of the Marcos presidency:

The inaugural speech raises concerns over how facts shall be regarded in the next six years. The eloquence in delivery and political speech craft are tools used by politicians to distract from the falsehood of their words. This early, the media should develop the habit of checking the lies that may be issued from the presidential podium.

Human rights groups held a protest demanding justice and accountability during the same day when Marcos delivered his inaugural speech. Photo from the Facebook page of multisectoral alliance BAYAN