Russians Hold Anti-War Rallies Amid Ominous Threats by Putin~HUNDREDS ARRESTED DAILY BY POLICE

Russians searching for cash at ATM machines as the West imposes severe sanctions on banks~'The Dollars Have Run Out': Russians Crowd ATMs As Sanctions Take Effect

SEE: https://www.newsmax.com/headline/ukraine-invasion-russia-reaction/2022/02/27/id/1058721;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

From Moscow to Siberia, Russian anti-war activists took to the streets again Sunday to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite the arrests of hundreds of protesters each day by police.

Demonstrators held pickets and marched in city centers, chanting “No to war!” as President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear deterrent to be put on high alert, upping the ante in the Kremlin’s standoff with the West and stoking fears of a nuclear war.

“I have two sons and I don’t want to give them to that bloody monster. War is a tragedy for all of us,” 48-year-old Dmitry Maltsev, who joined the rally in St. Petersburg, told The Associated Press.

Protests against the invasion started Thursday in Russia and have continued daily ever since, even as Russian police have moved swiftly to crack down on the rallies and detain protesters. The Kremlin has sought to downplay the protests, insisting that a much broader share of Russians support the assault on Ukraine.

In St. Petersburg, where several hundred gathered in the city center, police in full riot gear were grabbing one protester after another and dragging some into police vans, even though the demonstration was peaceful. Footage from Moscow showed police throwing several female protesters on the ground before dragging them away.

According to the OVD-Info rights group that tracks political arrests, by Sunday evening police detained at least 1,474 Russians in 45 cities over anti-war demonstrations that day.

Four days into the fighting that has killed scores, Putin raised the stakes dramatically on Sunday, ordering military Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert, citing Western countries “taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic sphere” and "top officials from leading NATO members made aggressive statements regarding our country."

The day before, the U.S. and its European allies have warned that the coming round of sanctions could include freezing the hard currency reserves of Russia’s Central Bank and cutting Russia off SWIFT international payment system. The unprecedented move could quickly plunge the Russian economy into chaos.

Ordinary Russians fear that stiff sanctions will deliver a crippling blow to the country's economy. Since Thursday, Russians have been flocking to banks and ATMs to withdraw cash, creating long lines and reporting on social media about ATM machines running out of bills.

According to Russia’s Central Bank, on Thursday alone Russians withdrew 111 billion rubles (about $1.3 billion) in cash.

The anti-war protests on Sunday appeared smaller and more scattered than the ones that took place on the first day of Russia’s attack in Ukraine, when thousands of people rallied in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but their true scale was hard to assess and they seemed to pick up speed as the day went on.

“It is a crime both against Ukraine and Russia. I think it is killing both Ukraine and Russia. I am outraged, I haven’t slept for three nights, and I think we must now declare very loudly that we don’t want to be killed and don’t want Ukraine to be killed,” said Olga Mikheeva, who protested in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Irina Titova in St. Petersburg contributed reporting.

Blood Clots May Be the Root Cause of All Heart Disease

BY DR. JOSEPH MERCOLA

SEE: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/02/27/root-cause-of-all-heart-disease.aspx;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • The thrombogenic hypothesis asserts that blood clotting is the basic underlying pathological process that causes all heart disease
  • When a blood clot forms on your artery wall, it will typically be covered over and broken down. A problem arises, however, when the blood clot is not fully eliminated and becomes a ‘vulnerable’ point, and another blood clot forms at the same point. Over time this grows and becomes what’s conventionally referred to as atherosclerotic plaque
  • A clot will form where endothelial cells have been stripped away, or are seriously damaged The blood clot will then be covered over by endothelial progenitor cells, which float around in your bloodstream at all times. When progenitor cells find an area of damage, where a blood clot has formed, they attach themselves to that area, creating the new endothelial layer. This repair process can gradually create a thickening inside the artery wall itself
  • In almost everyone, the process of endothelial damage and blood clotting is an ongoing process. Which means that problems only occur when the damage/blood clotting process occurs faster than the repair process, at which point you will end up with plaque buildup. This thickens the arterial wall, forcing blood flow through a narrower gap. When a large blood clot forms on top of an existing plaque, in this already narrowed area, you can end up with a heart attack or stroke
  • Common causes of endothelial damage include such things as viral infections, high blood sugar levels, smoking, diabetes, heavy metals such as lead and aluminum, and high blood pressure

In this interview, repeat guest Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, a board-certified family physician and author of the book, “The Clot Thickens: The Enduring Mystery of Heart Disease,” reviews the underlying mechanisms for heart disease, which for the last century has been the leading cause of death in the U.S.

Of all the books he’s written, this is my favorite, as it goes into great detail, giving you the biological understanding of the process of atherosclerosis leading to heart attacks and strokes. He also has solid strategies for lowering your cardiovascular disease risk.

Incidentally, once you understand the disease process, then you can also understand how both COVID-19 and the COVID jab can contribute to heart disease. When asked why he’s taken such an interest in heart disease, Kendrick replies:

“When I was training as a student in medicine, Scotland had the highest rate of heart disease in the world. Early on the answer for why was, ‘Oh, well, it's because we have such terrible diet, and we eat rubbish food like deep fried Mars bars.’

So, you eat too much saturated fat, the saturated fat gets turned into cholesterol in your bloodstream, and then it’s absorbed into arteries and forms narrowings and thickenings, which all sounds plausible if you don't think about it too hard.

But I also happen to go to France quite a lot, and what I noticed about France was, they eat a lot of saturated fat. They eat more, in fact, than anyone else in Europe, and certainly more than Scotland. So, [this saturated fat] hypothesis certainly didn't work for the French. They have the highest saturated fat intake in Europe and lowest rate of heart disease, and this has been the case for decades.

If you took all the risk factors for France and Scotland [such as smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes], then the French had slightly [higher risk], according to conventional thinking. But, in fact, they had one-fifth [the rate among age-matched men].

So, I thought, this is interesting. It doesn't make much sense according to what we're told. Then while I was in medical school, a tutor in cardiology said ... LDL cannot cross the endothelium. At the time, I didn't know what LDL was, nor did I know what the endothelium was, but it sounded important.

She had been looking at heart disease as a different process for decades ... So, I think that's really where I got started. Once you start questioning what the problem is, you end up questioning more and more and you start thinking, gosh, this is just nonsense, isn't it? This whole hypothesis is just nonsense. So, I started picking it apart.”

The Thrombogenic Hypothesis

“The Clot Thickens” is Kendrick’s effort to explain an alternative hypothesis for what actually causes heart disease. If it’s not saturated fat and cholesterol, what is it? In 1852, a Viennese researcher, Karl von Rokitansky, developed what he called the encrustation hypothesis of heart disease.

Today, this hypothesis has been renamed the thrombogenic hypothesis. ‘Thrombo’ stands for thrombosis, i.e., blood clots, and ‘genesis’ means the cause of or the start of. So, the thrombogenic hypothesis is that blood clots are the basic pathology that causes all heart disease.

In a nutshell, when a blood clot forms on your artery wall, which can happen for a number of reasons, it will typically be covered over and dissolved. A problem arises, however, if the blood clot is not fully eliminated and another blood clot forms in the same ‘vulnerable’ area. This then becomes what’s conventionally referred to as atherosclerotic plaque.

“The atherosclerotic plaque is basically a buildup of blood clot, repair, blood clot, repair, blood clot, repair,” Kendrick explains. “If the blood clotting process is faster than the repair process, you have a plaque that gradually grows and eventually thickens the artery wall until it narrows sufficiently that the final blood clot, on top of the existing plaque, is the thing that can cause a heart attack or stroke ...

If you cut through the plaque and look at it, it almost looks like tree rings. You can see there's been a clot, repair, clot, repair, clot, repair, clock, repair over the years.

It’s widely accepted that a blood clot forming on an existing plaque will cause the plaque to grow in size. You can find 10,000 papers saying that this is the case. What the mainstream won't accept is that a blood clot on a healthy artery wall can initiate the whole process.

So, to an extent, all I'm saying to people is, well, we know blood clots cause the final event. We know blood clots cause plaques to grow. Why won't you accept that blood clots are the thing that starts it in the first place? Because then we have one process all the way through, and it makes sense, because it fits with what you can see.”

As noted by Kendrick, the conventional view is that low-density lipoprotein or LDL gets into the artery wall where it initiates plaque formation. It then, inexplicably, stops initiating plaque, and the plaque continues to grow through the addition of repeated clots.

However, Kendrick says, once you start drilling down into the cholesterol, aka LDL hypothesis, the whole thing starts to fall apart. LDL simply cannot explain the disease progression. Yet despite the many holes in the theory, the idea that LDL causes heart disease is touted as an absolute, indisputable fact.

What’s the Mechanism?

In order to justify a hypothesis, you need to have a mechanism of action. Once you understand the mechanism of the actual disease process, then you can put the puzzle pieces together. Kendrick begins his explanation:

“Your blood vessels are lined with endothelial cells, a bit like tiles on a wall. Endothelial cells are also covered themselves in a thing called glycocalyx. If you try to pick up a fish, it'll slip through your fingers; it's very slippery. The reason it's slippery is because it’s covered in glycocalyx and the glycocalyx is incredibly slippery. It's nature's Teflon.

So basically, in our case, the glycocalyx [is inside] our blood vessels, to allow the blood to travel through without it sticking, without damage occurring. So, you have this kind of damage-repellent layer on top of your endothelial cells.

Now, if that layer is damaged, and then the endothelial cell itself underneath is damaged, then the body will say, ‘Oh, we've got damage to a blood vessel, we must have a blood clot there because we could bleed out.’ So, a blood clot forms on the area of damage, and immediately stops [the bleeding].”

The blood clot doesn’t just keep on growing and growing. If it did, you’d die anytime you had a blood clot. Instead, when a clot forms, other processes step in to prevent it from getting too big, which is why every blood clot doesn’t cause a stroke or heart attack. Once the clot has stabilized and has been shaved down, the area is covered over by endothelial progenitor cells, made in the bone marrow, that float around in your bloodstream.

When a progenitor cell finds an area that has been damaged, it attaches itself to that area, along with others, forming a new endothelial layer. The remaining blood clot is now lying ‘within’ the artery wall itself. So, basically, it’s the repair process that can lead to plaque buildup within the artery wall. In time, if damage outstrips repair, this can narrow the artery and reduce blood flow.

What Damages Endothelial Cells?

The question is, what can damage the endothelium in the first place? Here, Kendrick uses the SARS-CoV-2 mechanism as an example:

“The COVID virus enters endothelial cells through the ACE2 receptor. It prefers endothelial cells because they've got ACE2 receptors on them. It gets into the endothelial cell and starts replicating, then bursts out, damaging the cell. Bingo, you’ve got an area of damage.

Of course, added to this, when cells have viruses within them, they send out distress signals to the immune system saying, ‘I've been infected, come and kill me,’ and so the immune system starts to have a go at the endothelial cells. This is why you can get a problem, because the endothelial cells are being damaged and stripped off.

Blood clotting occurs at the points of damage and hey, presto, you're having clotting, you're having strokes, you're having heart attacks, which is the thing that people at first couldn't understand [about COVID-19]. Yet it's very clear that what's happening is you've got damage to the endothelial cells.

Obviously, you and I both know that if you get a [COVID jab], the cells are triggered to produce the spike protein, and these cells are sending out distress messages saying, ‘I’m infected.’ You have to be very careful if you want to stick something into cells that then says to the immune system, ‘Please come and destroy me,’ because that's what the immune system is going to do.

But moving on from that, what other thing can cause endothelial damage? The answer is things like smoking. Smoke particles get out of your lungs, they go into your blood vessels and they cause damage ... You smoke one cigarette and a whole bunch of microparticles appear in your bloodstream, which means endothelial cells are dying.

Luckily as endothelial cells die, another message is sent to the bone marrow saying, we need more endothelial cells and it stimulates endothelial progenitor cell production. These endothelial progenitor cells rush around covering over the areas of damage.

Some smokers have enough repair going on and when you're younger, it's okay. As you get older and your repair systems begin to fail a bit, cigarette smoking becomes more and more of a problem.”

Other things that can cause endothelial damage include:

High blood sugar levels and diabetes. The protective glycocalyx layer is made of proteins and sugars — High blood sugar damages the glycoprotein layer, thinning it down in a measurable way. High blood sugar can reduce the glycocalyx layer by as much as two-thirds. This, in turn, exposes the endothelial cells to the blood and anything else damaging that might be there.

The damage to the glycocalyx is why diabetics are prone to both arterial and capillary (small vessel) disease. You can’t get atherosclerosis in the capillaries, as there’s no room. Instead, the capillaries become broken down and destroyed. This in turn can cause ulcers, due to poor circulation in the skin of your legs and feet.

Peripheral neuropathy as the ends of nerve cells is deprived of oxygen. Also visual problems (diabetic retinal damage) and kidney damage. Blood pressure may also become elevated as your heart has to work harder to push blood through a network of damaged/missing small blood vessels.

Heavy metals such as aluminum and lead.

High blood pressure, as it puts stress on the endothelium — Atherosclerotic plaques (atherosclerosis) don’t occur unless the pressure is raised, adding biomechanical stress.

Repairing the Glycocalyx

As explained by Kendrick, the glycocalyx layer resembles a lawn, with slippery filaments that stick up. Within this glycocalyx layer, you have nitric oxide synthase (NOS), which produces nitric oxide (NO), and you have NO itself, as well as a number of other anticoagulant proteins. The glycocalyx is actually a potent anticoagulant layer, so it stops blood clots from forming. If glycocalyx is damaged, your risk of blood clotting increases.

“It’s a very complicated layer,” Kendrick says. “It's like a jungle full of things that say, ‘Don't stick to this, stay away from this.’” Within it, you also have albumin, a protein complex produced by the liver. Albumin contains the proteins that help maintain and repair the glycocalyx. A fact that most doctors are unaware of is that, if you have a low albumin level, you're significantly more likely to die of heart disease.

The good news is that while the glycocalyx layer can be rapidly destroyed, it can also be rapidly repaired. (Experiments have shown that in an area where the glycocalyx has been completely stripped off, it can be completely repaired in a single second.) Supplements like chondroitin sulfate and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) can be helpful in this regard.

“If you try and explain that through the LDL mechanism, it just doesn't work,” Kendrick says. “They have discovered that if you give chondroitin sulfate as a supplement — which normally is for arthritis and stuff like that — it reduces the risk of heart disease quite considerably. How do you explain that? Well, you can explain that because you're protecting your glycocalyx.

These are the sort of things that make no sense if you like looking at the conventional ideas of heart disease, but are immediately and easily explained if you say, ‘We have to keep our glycocalyx healthy and we have to keep our endothelial cells underneath them healthy.

Otherwise they will be damaged and stripped off, and then we will get a blood clot, and if we keep getting blood clots at that point, we will end up with a plaque and eventually one of the blood clots on that plaque will kill you from a heart attack or a stroke.”

Blood Flow Restriction Training

A lifestyle strategy that can help repair endothelial damage is blood flow restriction (BFR) training. In response to BFR, your body produces vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which acts as a “fertilizer” for the endothelium. You can learn the ins and outs of BFR in my free BFR report. VEGF also induces the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO), a potent vasodilator, and it stimulates endothelial progenitor cells.

“NO protects the endothelium. It is anticoagulant — the most potent anticoagulant we have in the body. It’s really the magic molecule for cardiovascular health,” Kendrick says.

“At one time NO was known as Endothelial Derived Relaxation Factor (EDRF) NO was something no one believed could possibly exist in the human body. NO is actually a free radical. Everyone says free radicals are terribly damaging and unhealthy.

To that I reply, ‘Well, you may wish to know that the chemical that is the single most important protective chemical in the body for the cardiovascular system is an incredibly free radical called nitric oxide.”

Some anticancer drugs are designed to block VEGF, as the tumor needs angiogenesis — which is the creation of new blood vessels that are required to provide sufficient ‘nutrients’ Without these new blood vessels, the tumor dies off. Unfortunately, if you block VEGF, you also block NO, which then raises your risk for heart disease.

“These drugs were almost removed from the market,” Kendrick says, “because despite their anticancer activity, they were procardiovascular disease to quite a scary degree.

[That’s why], if you are given bevacizumab or Avastin as an anticancer drug, they now give you angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors), which are blood pressure lowering tablets, and ACE inhibitors have a specific impact on bradykinin, which increases NO synthesis.”

Strategies to Lower Your Thrombotic Risk

In his book, “The Clot Thickens: The Enduring Mystery of Heart Disease,” Kendrick reviews many different strategies that can lower your disease risk. Here’s a short-list of examples covered in far greater depth in the book, as well as some of my own recommendations that I bring up in the interview:

Avoid unnecessary use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen — While they effectively inhibit inflammation, they can cause platelet aggregation by blocking COX-2. In other words, they activate your blood clotting system, making blood clots more likely.
Get plenty of sensible sun exposure — Sun exposure triggers NO that helps dilate your blood vessels, lowering your blood pressure. NO also protects your endothelium and increases mitochondrial melatonin to improve cellular energy production.
Avoid seed oils and processed foods — Seed oils are a primary source of omega-6 fat called linoleic acid (LA), which I believe may be far more harmful than sugar. Excessive intake is associated with almost all chronic diseases, including high blood pressure, obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes.

LA gets embedded in your cell membranes, causing oxidative stress, and can remain there for up to seven years. Oxidative linoleic acid metabolites (OXLAMs) are what is causing the primary damage, including endothelial damage.

Lower your insulin and blood sugar levels — Simple strategies to accomplish this include time-restricted eating, eating a diet high in healthy fats and low in refined carbohydrates, significantly restricting your LA intake, and getting regular exercise.
Address chronic stress, which raises both blood sugar and blood pressure, promotes blood clotting, and impairs your repair systems. Cortisol, a key stress hormone, reduces endothelial cell production.
Quit smoking.

What You Need to Know About Vax Passports, Digital IDs, CBDCs

BY DR. JOSEPH MERCOLA

SEE: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/02/27/nick-corbishley-vaccine-passport.aspx;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

  • A key concern that vaccine passports bring to the fore is related to privacy. If implemented, they will strip us of most of the privacy we’re used to, as they are a precursor to digital identity and a far more invasive digital surveillance apparatus
  • Another key concern is that vaccine passports and digital IDs can force compliance in any area of life
  • The vaccine passport is a platform to which they can add a digital ID and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This would give them near-total control over your life, as they can “cancel” your existence and ability to live if you dissent
  • If we accept vaccine passports, we’re basically giving our consent to everything that comes after
  • Another global economic crisis is a mathematical inevitability, so work on improving your resiliency, food security and self-reliance through community

In this interview, we take a deep dive into vaccine passports with Nick Corbishley, author of “Scanned: Why Vaccine Passports and Digital IDs Will Mean the End of Privacy and Personal Freedom.”

In my mind, there’s little doubt that the primary reason for the rollout of the COVID jabs was not for public health but to justify the rollout of vaccine passports, which in turn are just the first iteration of a much broader mechanism to surveil, track, manipulate and control the population of the world.

Corbishley has been a journalist, writing about politics, finance, and privacy issues for the past decade. While based in Barcelona, Spain, he’s been contributing to two U.S. blogs since 2013.

“Israel was the first democratic country to launch digital IDs, in February, 2021, and when I started to see what was going on there, I began to get very concerned,” Corbishley says. “I wrote an article in April 2021, raising my concerns about the risks these vaccine passports posed.

Then, little by little, I began to see what's happening in Europe. I began to see what was happening in Italy, in France, when the so called Green Pass was launched in June. This was a document that was supposed to be created to enable travel between countries in Europe.

Very quickly, it began to be used to control access to public services, access to public places within one's own country. We were beginning to see restrictions that we'd never seen in our lifetime.

So, I began to write more and more and this brought me to the attention of the Vermont-based publisher, Chelsea Green. We had some conversations and we decided that there was an opportunity to write about something that everybody should know about. Even at this stage. It's not being talked about anywhere near as much as it should be.”

Two Key Concerns

One of the primary concerns vaccine passports bring to the fore is related to privacy. If implemented, they will strip us of most of the privacy we’re used to. It’s quite clear that they are a precursor to digital identity and a far more invasive type of digital surveillance apparatus.

“The passports essentially function as a gateway to allow government to herd us into a totally new reality where our actions, our movements, our thoughts, our behavior are tracked and surveilled,” Corbishley says.

But it's not just about surveillance. It’s also about forcing compliance, and that’s the second key concern.

“If we've learned one thing about the vaccine passport, this is about changing the way we relate to government, and it's about changing the way government relates to us, the governed.

If you do not do exactly what the government says going forward, whether that is putting one jab inside your arm, whether is putting two jabs inside your arm, or however many jabs inside your arm, you will be deactivated. You will not be able to access the most basic services and the sort of places that we need to be able to participate in society and economy.”

Surveillance on Steroids

Of course, we’ve been under surveillance for many years already. All Google-related technologies are tracking and surveillance technologies. Our cell phones track and surveil us. Ditto for Facebook and other social media platforms. They’re all harvesting personal information and keeping tabs on everyone’s whereabouts.

We also know these technologies have been used to influence and manipulate people’s thoughts, beliefs, and behavior. Up until now, however, all of that manipulation has been covert. The system that’s being erected now is unique and new in that the forced compliance will be, in many cases, overt — blatant and indisputable, as punishment will be tied to things like your personal finances and travel privileges. 

Clearly, the vaccine passport is a platform to which they can add central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). So, as an example, the government could put out a political narrative, and if you vocalize disagreement, there goes access to your bank account. Or your travel privileges. Or your loan application.

With Google-based smart homes, it’s not even impossible to foresee a future in which you could simply be locked inside your home if you were to be labeled a dissenter. Or locked out of your home. Or they could shut off your utilities.

The possibilities to punish dissenters are endless when everyone and every THING is digitally identifiable, trackable and wirelessly connected. With a single keystroke, someone you don’t know can shut down your life, rendering you homeless and helpless.

Chances are, there won’t even be a live person anywhere for you to contact with your grievances. Much of the system will be run by artificial intelligence and various algorithms. It’s important to realize that if we accept vaccine passports, we’re basically giving our consent to everything that comes after, Corbishley warns. We’re accepting that this is our future.

Why We Must Reject Digital IDs and CBDCs

We must also remain alert to the rollout of other control mechanisms that are just as problematic as the vaccine passports, especially digital IDs and CBDCs, but also any number of other digital and biometric controls. As explained by Corbishley:

“Right now, in Canada, we've got the premier of Ontario saying that they are going to withdraw the vaccine passports. We've got Alberta saying it's going to withdraw the vaccine passports.

This is the message we're getting from all over the Western world. It's like, ‘It's time to take a step back. We are now going to let you live your life. We're going to let some kind of normality return.’

You're seeing Scandinavia talking about doing away with vaccine passports altogether. So, it's interesting to see some countries using that language. But I think you have to be very careful because as they're talking about doing this, they're ushering in digital identity systems, which are going to be on a much grander scale than the vaccine passports ...

They are instituting digital identity that is going to allow not just this kind of control of your vaccine status, but control of your tax records, control of your employment records ... And they will include ... your vaccine status. So, it's extremely disingenuous. I think they are misleading their populations in a very dark way ...

All of these things are happening, but the ultimate step is probably the central bank digital currencies, which are likely to come on board in the next three to five years.

The chairman of the Bank of International Settlements, Agustín Carstens, who used to be the chairman of the Bank of Mexico, openly said that the wonderful thing about central bank digital currencies is that it allows them to track everything you do.

What he didn't say is that it allows them to deactivate an account. It allows them to stop people from being able to transact. They didn't go that far. But he said that this is so different from cash. So yeah, people are not realizing just how this control grid is being built, little by little, piece by piece, but they need to start paying attention before it's too late.”

They’re Building a Social Credit System

By now, many are familiar with the social credit system in China or have at least heard of it. How does this system compare or relate to vaccine passports and digital IDs?

“I think that the social credit system in China is, to a certain extent, a template. It's where governments probably want to go. They would like to be able to use the new technologies we have to nudge people into the right sorts of behaviors without having to use more overt punishment.

You can either reward people for doing the right sort of things, or you can give them a little digital spank every now and then when they're doing the wrong sort of things. I think that that is where China is leading the way.

Ironically, in the research I did for my book, I found that while China’s ambitions with the credit social credit system are essentially unfettered — they want total control — they're not there yet.

They're still running quite a few pilot schemes. So, it depends where you are in China, the extent to which you are exposed to this kind of system, where you're getting points for good behavior and where you're getting points deducted for bad behavior.

But the template is there. You've also got companies like Ant Financial and Tencent. These are the equivalents of Google, Facebook, whatever, that are running their own social credits schemes within their own little universe. So, it's a very complex situation in China. It's not as complete as some might believe, but the intention, the ambition, is huge.

I would say that we are definitely seeing examples of this beginning to feed through into the West. We're seeing banks talk about using our social media behavior to determine our credit score, which is very similar to what they're doing in China. There's clearly the means, and there's clearly a desire to push in that direction.”

Unity Is the Challenge of Our Lifetime

The challenge we now face is that, to have any chance of preventing this control grid, we need to be unified. The problem is, many simply aren’t able to see the dangers. Most people under the age of 30 are used to doing just about everything on their phones, and the convenience of digital IDs and digital banking is alluring.

Organizations such as the World Economic Forum and many of the central banks that are pushing the rollout of this control grid can also make it impossible or near-impossible to live without a digital ID and CBDCs. Already, we’ve seen leaders saying, out loud, that their goal is to make life as difficult and inconvenient as possible for anyone without a vaccine passport. They’ll do the same for digital IDs and CBDCs.

“One of the best examples is Italy,” Corbishley says. “If you want to see a country that has really gone into sixth gear with the vaccine passports, it’s Italy. They’ve said, ‘Look, if you don't have this document, you cannot work. You cannot get on a bus and go across town. You cannot get on the metro. You cannot access retail premises apart from supermarkets, pharmacies, petrol stations and pet stores.’

You have basically closed down, narrowed down the existence to such a limited one that most people end up just saying, ‘OK, let's do it. I don't have an alternative. I'm not going to survive this way.’

If you have a mortgage and your finances are already tight, and your government is telling you, you're not going to be able to work, most people crumble, and so they're able to do it ...

A journalist in Canada was talking about the truckers, the Freedom Convoy. He was saying, ‘These guys don't represent Canadians; 90% of Canadians have taken the vaccine and they're all perfectly happy with the restrictions, the mandates.’ It's like, how do you know how many of those 90% actually took the vaccine because they had no choice? It was a very disingenuous argument.”

How to Prepare for the Inevitable

While the situation is bleak and dire, Corbishley doesn’t believe vaccine passports, digital IDs and CBDCs are inevitable. “I think we're in the midst of a major battle,” he says.

The question is, how can we win when all the cards seem stacked against us?

“I think that we have to, No. 1, inform as many people as possible. That's why I wrote the book. I wrote the book hoping to reach people who maybe had been vaccinated, but were beginning to have certain doubts, people who were on the fence.

I mean, I know plenty of people who have had two shots, who are wary about having a third one. I know plenty of people who have had two shots, have had Omicron, and they're now thinking, ‘Why the heck am I having to take a third shot?’ People are beginning to question this.

I think that we are in the midst of what can only be described as an existential battle. If we lose this battle, it can be very difficult, as individuals, to protect ourselves because the degree of control they will have over us is going to be huge.

I think there will be this creation of a parallel community, a parallel society, where people are able to function. We're seeing signs of bartering beginning to take place within a community like that in Italy. They are surviving as best they can — and we're talking about millions of people who haven't crumbled. They've not given way yet.

That gives me a certain amount of hope. I think the fact that people have grown tired of the restrictions means that government is having to, to a certain extent, reconsider, but at the same time, they are pushing through digital IDs.

I think this is what is really important for people to understand. While they’re saying, ‘We are going to abandon the vaccine passports,’ in most countries where they're saying this, that is not the case. In the U.K., they've not done that. They have simply shifted from a mandatory vaccine passport to a voluntary vaccine passport.

You've got vaccine passports very much in use for international travel. So, if you're British, you want to travel to mainland Europe, if you've not got your vaccine passport, you're not going to be able to go mainland. It’s the same if you're European and want to go to the U.S.

So, there is so much happening it's hard to keep track. That is coming from somebody who spends most of his day trying to keep track of these things. If you are just someone who is working a 9-to-5 job and you get home and you've got three kids to look after, it's going to be much harder to keep abreast of these developments.

I have a certain amount of hope that they haven't won yet. But it's an immense amount of power they have. We are talking about organizations like the World Economic Forum, which represents hundreds of the most powerful companies on the planet. We're talking about the most powerful governments on the planet.

So, it's going to be a huge battle, and they've got most of the advantages in this battle. But I do think that what's happening in Canada suggests a resistance can be formed. I think that resistance is growing in Germany. It's certainly growing in Austria. The government is beginning to have second thoughts about the vaccine mandate.”

Expect Economic Collapse

There are also the growing economic risks, globally, to consider. The central banks around the world have painted themselves into a corner and they can’t get out. We are almost certain to see another financial crisis. It’s only a matter of when.

There is already clear evidence we are in the early stages of economic collapse, and that’s a parallel issue that needs to be taken into consideration when trying to predict what might happen with digital IDs and CBDCs, as they’re all connected. To prepare for an inevitable economic collapse, I would suggest focusing on improving your resiliency on a local level.

For example, make sure you have access to water supplies other than your tap, grow your own food, and develop relationships with other local growers and farmers to build your food security.

These are very basic things that can save your life when everything collapses and your dollar, drachma or euro becomes fit for use as toilet paper. Having food, water, shelter, and community makes you far more resistant to tyranny because if you don’t have these things, you need the government to provide them for you.

“I think the community is essential,” Corbishley says. “Having people who are of a similar mindset, of a similar worldview, people you can definitely count upon ...

Resilience is going to be very tough. As a result of the lockdowns, small businesses are in serious straits. They've had to take on huge amounts of debt just to weather the lockdowns … There's no doubt that large companies have much easier access to cheap debt than small companies ...

This is tragic because small businesses are a fundamental cornerstone of the community. They're a fundamental part of the global economy and, even more important than that, small businesses are run by independent people. If we begin to see a massive culling of small businesses, then we are going to see less independence and more dependence. So, that is one area which deeply concerns me ...

I think the most important thing, and the hardest thing, is to maintain your humanity. I think that is fundamental and that is why having a community around you that you love and that loves you is absolutely essential to surviving this. I don't think you can be an island and get through what’s coming.

Another thing I would suggest, if you do have money, if you have investments, is to diversify as much as possible — probably not best to have all your money in a bank, and especially not one bank ...

If you look at countries like Mexico, going through the Tequila Crisis in the 1990s, or Brazil, going through the huge hyperinflation it had, how do you survive that relatively intact? When you own real assets, you own property. Maybe you own precious metals ... In Turkey, inflation is absolutely surging and people are using gold, they are looking at cryptocurrencies. They are doing anything except keeping their money in Turkish lira.”

More Information

So, in closing, the best you can do right now is to educate yourself about the impending digital control grid, share information, resist and oppose any and all attempts to implement vaccine passports or digital IDs, take a stand for freedom, build community and prepare for deteriorating economic conditions by diversifying your monies and investments.

To learn more, be sure to pick up a copy of Corbishley’s book, “Scanned: Why Vaccine Passports and Digital IDs Will Mean the End of Privacy and Personal Freedom.”

UKRAINE UPDATES

Russia sends Chechen jihadis into Ukraine with lists of Ukrainian officials to kill or detain

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2022/02/russia-sends-chechen-jihadis-into-ukraine-with-lists-of-ukrainian-officials-to-kill-or-detain;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Chechen jihadis are renowned as being among the most dedicated and battle-hardened jihadis in the world. This is likely a quid pro quo for Putin granting Ramzan Kadyrov essentially a free hand in Chechnya.

“Chechen special forces ‘hunters’ are unleashed in Ukraine to detain or kill Kyiv officials – and are given ‘decks of cards’ with photographs of their targets,” by Will Stewart, Chris Matthews, and Harriet Alexander, DailyMail.com, February 25, 2022:

A squad of Chechen special forces ‘hunters’ has been unleashed in Ukraine to detain or kill a set of specific Ukrainian officials. 

Each soldier was reportedly given a special ‘deck of cards’ with Ukrainian officials’ photos and descriptions on them, a Moscow Telegram channel with links to the security establishment reported. 

The list is of officials and security officers suspected of ‘crimes’ by the Russian Investigative Committee, the report added….

The Chechen squad is thought to be in a Ukrainian forest and was allegedly given an ‘order to kill’ if those on the wanted list could not be detained. 

Each one of the Chechen special forces ‘hunters’ was reportedly given a ‘deck of cards’ that specified which Ukrainian officials to target.

Chechen soldiers of the south battalion of the Federal Guard Service are reportedly in a Ukrainian forest with orders to detain or kill Ukrainian officials

There is speculation those identified by Moscow as ‘Nazis’ would also be on the hunted list.

Putin previously said a key aim of invading Ukraine was to ‘deNazify’ the country.

State TV in Chechnya reported that Ramzan Kadyrov, 45, the republic’s leader and a close Putin ally, had visited his forces in Ukraine.

The Chechens are believed to be from the South battalion of the Federal Guard Service, based in Chechnya.

Kadyrov yesterday met with Viktor Zolotov, director of the Federal National Guard Service and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian National Guard Forces, another close Putin ally….

The soldiers seemed to perform a collective namaz, which are Islamic ritual prayers, while they were in a Ukrainian forest…

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Ukrainian parliament member: 'We are proving everybody wrong' 

Russian troops meet with stiff resistance, Ukrainian forces retake Kharkiv | DW News

Scholz pledges €100 billion for German military, end to Russian energy exports A turning point in the history of our continent. That's how Chancellor Olaf Scholz described Russia's war against Ukraine. Speaking to a special session of parliament, the German leader announced a raft of policy changes that would have been unthinkable just days ago. Germany will drastically strengthen its military, and move quickly to eliminate its reliance on Russian energy exports. He put the blame squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin - who he said had brought decades of peaceful coexistence to an end. Here's some of what he said. Holding out in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia's military assault verges on genocide - and he's called for Russia to be stripped of its seat on the UN Security Council. Moscow's forces targeted civilian infrastructure overnight, including gas pipelines - as they stepped up efforts to push further into Ukraine. Moscow's forces have met stiff resistance as they attempt to push further into Ukraine. The mayor of Kyiv says the capital is holding its defense lines and there are no Russian troops in the city. And after reports of heavy fighting in eastern Kharkiv, the regional governor says Ukrainian forces have retaken full control of the city. Russia's latest attacks have targeted civilian infrastructure and the military. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes since Thursday. Huge crowds have been waiting at train stations to travel to the border and cross into neighboring countries. Scenes from Lviv in western Ukraine show the fear and frustration: There's not enough space on the trains to carry everyone to safety. Men are forced to say goodbye to their families, as they are not allowed to leave because they've been called up to fight. Many of the refugees are headed to Poland. Ukraine is doing its best to repel the Russian attack by training civilians to fight. Support from the US and other NATO members has also bolstered national defenses. But few believe Ukraine is a match for its much larger neighbor. Taking active and reserve troops together, Kyiv can draw on more than 1 million men and women. Russia has more than three million. Ukraine has less than 2,500 tanks, compared to Russia's 13,000. And in the air, Ukraine has just 67 attack aircraft in contrast to Russia's 1,500. In Berlin a demonstration calling for restoring peace in Ukraine is underway, with estimates of 20,000 or more people taking part in the protest. The demonstration is organized by a variety of groups including workers' unions, religious groups and environmental organizations. Protesters are calling on Russia to immediately withdraw from Ukraine and to respect democracy and human rights. In the past days there have been numerous demonstrations across the world in support of Ukraine and demanding an immediate end to all violence.

Ex-Putin advisor gives dire warning after Russian nuclear threat 

Former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Andrey Illarionov, reacted after Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert

Putin orders to get ready with nuclear arms

Ukrainians fight back against Russians on Kyiv outskirts

Fourth day of the war with Russia: killing kids

Ukraine Invasion: The weaponry involved in the opening salvo in the fight for Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion: Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko tells Russians to "go back home"

"We will definitely win" President Zelenskyy speech (English subtitles)

Ukraine Invasion: British Foreign Secretary says attacks could be 'beginning of the end' for Putin

 

Biden’s Supreme Court Nominee Has Far-Left Record

Biden’s Supreme Court Nominee Has Far-Left Record

"Jackson is also related, by marriage, to former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan."

“Our politics may differ, but my praise for Ketanji’s intellect, for her character, for her integrity, it is unequivocal,” Ryan told the Senate Judiciary Committee of Jackson in 2012. 

"While Jackson has served in her current position for less than a year, her earlier rulings as a district judge “comported with those of a liberal-leaning judge,” The New York Times reported."

"Those include “blocking the Trump administration’s attempts to fast-track deportations, cut short grants for teen pregnancy prevention and shield a former White House counsel from testifying before Congress about President Donald Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation.”"

"As the head of Americans United for Life, Catherine Glenn Foster highlighted that abortion groups such as NARAL and Planned Parenthood applauded Jackson as the nominee “tragically, and literally within seconds of President Biden’s announcement.”"

"“Although Kentanji Brown Jackson has not yet explicitly stated her views on Roe or abortion, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and other abortion activists see in her an ally for the moral crime of abortion,” she stressed in a statement."

ABOVE QUOTES FROM https://www.ncregister.com/cna/7-things-to-know-about-supreme-court-nominee-ketanji-brown-jackson

__________________________________________________________________

BY AMERICAN FAITH

SEE: https://americanfaith.com/bidens-supreme-court-nominee-has-far-left-record/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

(Decision) On Feb. 25, President Joe Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a former public defender and current federal appeals judge in Washington, D.C., to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Jackson, 51, had served as one of Breyer’s law clerks during the 1999-2000 term.

If confirmed, Jackson will be the first black woman ever to sit on the Supreme Court, fulfilling a promise Biden made during the 2020 presidential campaign ahead of the South Carolina primary to further diversify the high court.

“For too long, our government and our courts haven’t looked like America,” Biden said while formally announcing Jackson’s nomination at the White House.

Biden’s selection sets in motion what is likely to be a polarized confirmation process in the 50-50 Senate.

Jackson has been a federal judge for nine years and was appointed last year by Biden to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During her confirmation hearings last spring, Jackson faced a barrage of questions from Senate Republicans, of whom only three voted in her favor.

Jackson’s addition to the Supreme Court would not fundamentally shift its 6-3 conservative majority balance. But if she proves to be ideologically to the left of Breyer, it could reshape the three-member liberal minority and alter the court in more subtle ways.

Among those praising her nomination was the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s most powerful LGBTQ advocacy group, as well as abortion-rights groups.

Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative public policy think tank Heritage Foundation, alluded to as much in his reaction to Biden’s choice.

“There are few decisions more important for a president than the selection of a Supreme Court nominee,” he posted to Twitter. “In this Biden has utterly failed, starting with his criteria for making this appointment. Judges should play a limited role in our government, yet Jackson’s far-left supporters want her to impose a political agenda that invents new rights or erases rights she doesn’t like. Based on the information we already know, senators should reject her for this lifetime appointment.”

The pro-life organization March for Life also opposed Biden’s nomination of Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court based on her “record of judicial activism.”

“We expect her to be a reliable vote for the far left and the Biden administration’s radical abortion agenda,” the organization wrote.

In 2001, Jackson co-authored a “friend of the court” brief in the case of McGuire v. Reilly, in which she supported a Massachusetts law that created a floating “buffer zone” around pedestrians and cars approaching abortion clinics. Jackson’s clients included the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters, the Abortion Access Project of Massachusetts, and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Later, NARAL and the pro-abortion National Women’s Law Center strongly supported her nomination to the D.C. Circuit.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony List, said in a press release: “Joe Biden is fulfilling his promise to only appoint justices who support the Roe v. Wade regime of abortion on demand up to birth—a policy so extreme only a handful of countries in the world hold it, including North Korea and China,” “Ketanji Brown Jackson is backed by many of America’s most radical pro-abortion groups. She is on record opposing the free speech rights of pro-life advocates pleading to save lives outside abortion centers and supporting the false claim that abortion is ‘health care.’ We have no doubt she will work with the most pro-abortion administration in history to enshrine abortion on demand nationwide in the law.”

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PLANNED PARENTHOOD STATEMENT ON NOMINATION OF JUDGE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT

SEE: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-statement-on-nomination-of-judge-ketanji-brown-jackson-to-the-u-s-supreme-court;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Statement from Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America: 

“We celebrate the historic nomination of Judge Jackson to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Judge Jackson brings a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and meaningful experience after years of service as a federal judge on both the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and as a public defender earlier in her career. Beyond her record of remarkable achievement, it is clear that she has a deep commitment to public service and pursuing equal justice under the law, including safeguarding individual rights and liberties. And as the first Black woman ever named to the Supreme Court, this historic nomination is long overdue. 

“This nomination arrives as our freedoms and civil liberties are in crisis. We are currently awaiting a Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that challenges a blatantly unconstitutional ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Court could rule to overturn nearly 50 years of precedent, established by Roe v. Wade, and decimate abortion access in states across the country. Already, Texans have spent nearly six months with a ban on abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they’re pregnant. Now more than ever, we need a Supreme Court justice who understands the impact of the court's rulings on people — particularly on reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights — and the importance of protecting individual liberties for generations to come.

“Judge Jackson will play a crucial role in the direction the court takes in the future. As the Senate considers her nomination, we must not lose sight of how meaningful this moment is for this country, and for Black women. Far too often, we don’t see ourselves represented in the highest seats of government. This nomination is also part of essential work to rebuild our courts and protect our health and rights. We call on the Senate to swiftly consider Judge Jackson’s nomination.”"

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Biden to Nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson for Supreme Court

NOTE THAT THE ARTICLE BELOW FAILS TO INCLUDE OR REFERENCE ANYTHING RELATED TO THIS JUDGE'S LIBERAL, RADICAL PHILOSOPHY, AND TRACK RECORD

SEE: https://www.newsmax.com/us/ketanji-brown-jackson/2022/02/25/id/1058491/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

President Joe Biden on Friday will nominate federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, the White House said, making her the first Black woman elected to serve on the high court.

In Jackson, Biden delivers on a campaign promise to make the historic appointment. He has chosen an attorney who would be the Supreme Court’s first former public defender, though she also possesses the elite legal background of other justices.

Jackson would be the current court's second Black justice — Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, is the other — and just the third in history.

Biden planned to introduce Jackson in remarks at the White House Friday afternoon, where Jackson was also expected to speak, the White House said.

She would also be only the sixth woman to serve on the court, and her confirmation would mean that for the first time four women would sit together on the nine-member court.

The current court includes three women, one of whom is the court’s first Latina, Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Jackson would join the liberal minority of a court that is weighing cutbacks to abortion rights and will be considering ending affirmative action in college admissions and states' voting laws.

Biden is filling the seat that will be vacated by Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, who is retiring at the end of the term this summer.

Jackson, 51, once worked as one of Breyer’s law clerks early in her legal career. She attended Harvard as an undergraduate and for law school and served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the agency that develops federal sentencing policy, before becoming a federal judge in 2013.

Her nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority by a razor-thin 50-50 margin with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker. Party leaders have promised swift but deliberate consideration of the president’s nominee.

The next justice will replace one of the more liberal justices, so she would not tip the balance of the court, which now leans 6-3 in favor of conservatives.

The news comes two years to the day after Biden, then struggling to capture the Democrat presidential nomination, first pledged in a South Carolina debate to nominate a Black woman to the high court if presented with a vacancy.

"Everyone should be represented," Biden said. "We talked about the Supreme Court — I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court to make sure we in fact get everyone represented."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said in a statement that the panel will "begin immediately" to move forward on the nomination and that Jackson is an "extraordinary nominee." Senators have set a tentative goal of confirmation by April 8, when they leave for a two-week spring recess. Hearings could start as soon as mid-March.

That timeline could be complicated by a number of things, including the ongoing developments between Russia and Ukraine and the extended absence of Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., who suffered a stroke last month and is out for several weeks. Democrats would need Lujan's vote to confirm Biden's pick if no Republicans support her.

Once the nomination is sent to the Senate, it is up to the Senate Judiciary Committee to vet the nominee and hold confirmation hearings. After the committee approves a nomination, it goes to the Senate floor for a final vote.

The entire process passes through several time-consuming steps, including meetings with individual senators that are expected to begin next week. While Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed just four weeks after she was nominated ahead of the 2020 election, the process usually takes several weeks longer than that.

Biden and Senate Democrats are hoping for a bipartisan vote on the nomination, but it's unclear if they will be able to win over any GOP senators after three bitterly partisan confirmation battles under President Donald Trump.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of three Republicans who voted to confirm Jackson to the appeals court last year, had pushed Biden to nominate a different candidate from his home state, Judge J. Michelle Childs. He said earlier this month that his vote would be "very problematic" if it were anyone else, and he expressed disappointment in a tweet Friday that Biden had not nominated his preferred choice.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said he looks forward to meeting with Jackson and "studying her record, legal views, and judicial philosophy." But he also appeared to express skepticism, noting he voted against her a year ago.

Jackson was on the president's shortlist as a potential nominee even before Breyer retired. Biden and his team spent weeks poring over her records, interviewing her friends and family, and looking into her background.

Biden has said he was interested in selecting a nominee in the mold of Breyer who could be a persuasive force with fellow justices. Although Breyer's votes tended to put him to the left of center on an increasingly conservative court, he frequently saw the gray in situations that colleagues were more likely to find black or white.

"With her exceptional qualifications and record of evenhandedness, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be a Justice who will uphold the Constitution and protect the rights of all Americans, including the voiceless and vulnerable," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.. "The historic nomination of Judge Jackson is an important step toward ensuring the Supreme Court reflects the nation as a whole."

As part of his search process, Biden, a longtime chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also interviewed Childs and California Supreme Court Judge Leondra Kruger, according to a person familiar with the matter. He also consulted with a wide range of legal experts and lawmakers in both parties and delved deeply into the finalists' legal writings before selecting Jackson for the post.

Jackson serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a position that Biden elevated her to last year from her previous job as a federal trial court judge. Three current justices — Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and John Roberts, the chief justice — previously served on the same court.

On Friday morning ahead of the announcement, Jackson took part in scheduled arguments before the circuit court.

Jackson was confirmed to that post on a 53-44 Senate vote, winning the backing of three Republicans: Graham, Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski.

Graham, in a tweet, indicated displeasure with the nomination, saying, "I expect a respectful but interesting hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee."

Bipartisanship is important to Biden, who has often said he was reaching for GOP support as he closed in on a nominee. Another GOP connection: Jackson is related by marriage to former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

In one of Jackson's most high-profile decisions, as a trial court judge, she ordered former White House Counsel Don McGahn to appear before Congress. That was a setback to Trump's efforts to keep his top aides from testifying. The case was appealed, and a deal was ultimately reached for McGahn’s testimony.

Another highly visible case that Jackson oversaw involved the online conspiracy theory "pizza gate," which revolved around false internet rumors about prominent Democrats harboring child sex slaves at a Washington pizza restaurant. A North Carolina man showed up at the restaurant with an assault rifle and a revolver. Jackson called it "sheer luck" no one was injured and sentenced him to four years in prison.

Jackson has a considerably shorter record as an appeals court judge. She was part of a three-judge panel that ruled in December against Trump’s effort to shield documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Miami. She has said that her parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, chose her name to express their pride in her family’s African ancestry. They asked an aunt who was in the Peace Corps in Africa at the time to send a list of African girls’ names and they picked Ketanji Onyika, which they were told meant "lovely one."

Jackson traces her interest in the law to when she was in preschool and her father was in law school and they would sit together at the dining room table, she with coloring books and he with law books. Her father became an attorney for the county school board and her mom was a high school principal. She has a brother who is nine years younger who served in the Army, including in Iraq, and is now a lawyer.