- Did A Government Intel Asset Plant Key Evidence In Proud Boys Case?
Did A Government Intel Asset Plant Key Evidence In Proud Boys Case?
Authored by Julie Kelly via American Greatness (emphasis ours),
It’s week five of the Justice Department’s most high-profile—and high-stakes—criminal trial related to the events of January 6, 2021. Five members of the Proud Boys face the rare “seditious conspiracy” charge. Guilty verdicts—almost certain given the government’s near-perfect conviction rate for January 6 defendants—would build legal momentum for a similar indictment against Donald Trump. (The trial is so crucial that Matthew Graves, the Biden-appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia responsible for prosecuting every January 6 case, has shown up in the courtroom on at least three occasions.)
Trump is a major figure in this trial, an unindicted coconspirator of sorts. Last week, Judge Timothy Kelly allowed prosecutors to play a clip of Trump’s extemporaneous comment for the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”—a remark uttered during a presidential debate in September 2020 more than three months before the Capitol protest. The Justice Department wants to portray the comment as a call to arms, tying the alleged “militia” group to the former president.
The clip is just another thin reed of evidence in the government’s landmark domestic terrorism case. In fact, much of the “evidence” amounts to nothing more than worthless trinkets, braggadocious group chats, and otherwise protected political speech.
It now appears that one key piece of evidence was not the work of any defendant in this case but rather written by a one-time government intelligence asset with unusual ties to both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, another group involved in January 6.
A document titled “1776 Returns” is cited by the government to indicate the group had an advanced plan to “attack” the Capitol. In two separate criminal indictments, prosecutors explained how the document ended up in the hands of Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys: “On December 30, 2020 [an unnamed] individual sent Tarrio a document—[that] set forth a plan to occupy a few ‘crucial buildings’ in Washington, D.C. on January 6, including House and Senate buildings around the Capitol, with ‘as many people as possible’ to ‘show our politicians We the People are in charge.’”
Calling the document a “high-level summary,” a prosecutor last week combed through each page of “1776 Returns” with an expert witness even though the government conceded there was no proof Tarrio opened the file or shared it with others.
“The plan, essentially, is to have individuals inside these buildings, either cause a distraction, or—pull fire alarms in other parts of the city to distract law enforcement so that a crowd can then rush the buildings and occupy the interior so they can demand a new election,” FBI Agent Peter Dubrowski told the jury.
In other words, an “insurrection!”
But a bombshell motion filed over the weekend debunks the Justice Department’s suggestion that the document was a product, or at least a roadmap, used to guide the group’s conduct on January 6. The filing suggests that the handling of “1776 Returns,” like so much of January 6, was yet another sting operation.
“It appears that the government itself is the author of the most incriminating and damning document in this case, which was mysteriously sent at government request to Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio immediately prior to January 6 in order to frame or implicate Tarrio in a government created scheme to storm buildings around the Capitol,” wrote Roger Roots, attorney for Dominic Pezzola, in the motion seeking a mistrial. “As such, [the document] and the government’s efforts to frame or smear defendants with it, constitutes outrageous government conduct.”
Turns out, the person responsible for preparing the document is a man named Samuel Armes, a young cryptocurrency expert living in Florida. But Armes’ résumé raises many red flags, particularly in a case involving the use of multiple government informants.
Armes told the January 6 select committee last year that he has worked for the State Department and Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. “A lot of the work that I did for the government was in counterthreat finance or regulatory environments around crypto,” he testified.
As a student at the University of Southern Florida, Armes was enrolled in a special program that prepared graduates for a career in the intelligence sector. Armes told House investigators he was “groomed to be in the CIA, FBI, or any intel agencies.” When asked to clarify what that meant, Armes explained he was “trained and educated” to eventually work as an intelligence asset.
Part of that training required preparing different responses to potential terror threats. And Armes was no slouch. “I reported under Colonel [Joshua] Potter’s counterthreat finance unit. And I actually developed for them critical research on cryptocurrency that may have been used by drug cartels or ISIS. And so I did similar scenarios with them, wargaming scenarios, of why these terrorist groups might be using cryptocurrency and how they might go about doing so.”
That background in “war games” apparently motivated Armes to do the same before January 6. After reading reports about the Transition Integrity Project, a collection of high-level Trump foes plotting to remove Trump from office regardless of the election’s outcome, Armes said he felt compelled to perform his own “worst case scenario.”
Hence the “1776 Returns” paper.
But Armes’ explanation as to why he put thoughts on paper is strange, to say the least. His reasons for “brainstorming,” as he called it, what might happen after the election veered from the Terry Schiavo case—“when government authorities are kind of confused and people don’t know who to obey or who to answer to, anarchy kind of breaks out, and certain parties take advantage of that anarchy,” he said of the protracted legal battle over the famous right-to-die case two decades ago—to Trump’s unpredictability, to the 2020 summer riots, to total anarchy in the streets.
Even more odd is that his internal “brainstorming” document ended up in the inbox of Erica Flores, a business associate in Florida—who just happened to be Tarrio’s girlfriend at the time. “I had told her that I was kind of brainstorming what I think might happen, and she seemed interested. And she asked if she could see it, and I said sure. And so I ended up sharing it with her on a Google Drive.”
Flores then sent the document to Tarrio.
Flores’ version of events, however, is quite different from Armes’ account. While he disputed being the sole author of the document, Flores reportedly told the January 6 committee that Armes wrote the whole thing. Further, contrary to Armes’ testimony to the committee, she said Armes told her to send it to Tarrio.
For now, it’s unclear whether the public, or more importantly, the defendants, will learn the truth about the origins of the “1776 Returns” missive. Armes admitted he cannot find the original document in his Google files. And although Flores spoke with the January 6 committee, her transcript is not publicly available, buried with hundreds more at the National Archives.
That’s not the end of Armes’ weird story; he also was in contact with a member of the Oath Keepers in 2020. Armes’ name showed up on a hotel reservation for James Beeks, now on trial in D.C. for his participation in the January 6 Capitol protest. When House investigators asked Armes why Beeks included his name on the same hotel room, Armes claimed the man had a romantic interest in him.
Armes also admitted he and Beeks had many conversations before January 6 on topics such as the election and domestic politics. But just like Armes’ original “1776” document, those messages are missing, too.
As evidence piles up to show how federal assets played an animating role before and on January 6, Armes’ weird account—and background in government intelligence—cannot be dismissed as coincidence.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 23:40 - 'Nature Heals Itself': Lake Oroville's Epic Rise After Conveyor Belt Of Atmospheric Rivers
‘Nature Heals Itself’: Lake Oroville’s Epic Rise After Conveyor Belt Of Atmospheric Rivers
Los Angeles Times photographers have published stunning before and after photos of Lake Oroville, one of California’s largest reservoirs, on the State Water Project, to only reveal nature has healed itself — not humans or insane ‘green’ taxes pushed by progressive Democrats who virtue signal about saving the planet.
As of Thursday, the California Department of Water Resources’ data showed the current water level at Lake Oroville was 69% of its capacity on Wednesday — up from 28% just two months ago. The State Water Project is a network of reservoirs, canals, and dams that supplies water to 27 million people.
Last summer, Lake Oroville’s water levels fell dangerously low (read: here & here). But a conveyor belt of atmospheric rivers dumped trillions of gallons of rain on the state early this year that helped fill up the once drought-stricken reservoir.
And there’s more good news: deep snowpack this year in California, the Great Basin, and the Colorado River Basin will provide even more water in the months ahead to alleviate severe drought conditions.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 23:20 - US Says Government, Not Moderna, Should Face COVID-19 Vaccine Lawsuit
US Says Government, Not Moderna, Should Face COVID-19 Vaccine Lawsuit
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The U.S. government is asserting that it, not Moderna, should face a lawsuit that alleges the company committed patent infringement with its COVID-19 vaccine.
The Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., on Nov. 30, 2020. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) The government said the court should allow it to “relieve Moderna of any liability for patent infringement resulting in performance of the ’-0100 contract and to transfer to the United States any liability for the manufacture or use of the inventions claimed in the patents-in-suit resulting from the authorized and consented acts.”
Liability did not refer to an admission of patent infringement, the filing said, but “having legal responsibility for any acts that may constitute the alleged infringement.”
Arbutus Biopharma and Genevant Sciences sued Moderna in 2022 in federal court in Delaware, alleging Moderna in its vaccine used “breakthrough technology” that Arbutus had already created and patented.
Moderna later filed for dismissal, arguing that under federal law, any infringement claims relating to inventions being used “by or for the government” and with “the authorization and consent of the government” must be handled in the Court of Federal Claims.
The first prong was satisfied in the 2020 contract between Moderna and the U.S. Army—the ’-0100 contract—which stated in part that the agreement was “for the United States government … and the U.S. population,” Moderna said. The second prong, the company said, was met by the insertion of a regulation stating the government “authorizes and consents to all use and manufacture, in performing this contract or any subcontract at any tier, of any invention described in and covered by a United States patent.”
In his ruling rejecting Moderna’s attempt to dismiss the case, U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg said the allegations against Moderna indicated the development and sale of the vaccines was primarily for the benefit of the vaccine’s recipients. The U.S. government was an incidental beneficiary, he said. Under legal precedent, the law, 1498, does not cover inventions with an incidental benefit.
“While discovery may reveal that all, some, or none of the alleged infringing activity was ‘for the Government,’ the limited record appropriate for consideration at this stage does not allow me to make any such determination,” Goldberg, a George W. Bush appointee, said. The judge also declined to find that Moderna met the standard for having the government’s authorization and consent, in part because the government had not filed any papers in support of the company.
In the new statement of interest, government lawyers made clear they are backing Moderna.
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 23:00 - Oakland Bicyclists Targeted By 'Dooring' Attacks Leave Two Hospitalized
Oakland Bicyclists Targeted By ‘Dooring’ Attacks Leave Two Hospitalized
Several bicyclists in the San Francisco Bay Area’s East Bay have reported being the targets of a group of drivers who are pulling up beside them and quickly opening their doors in an attempt to hit the riders.
The so-called “dooring” incidents have left two riders seriously injured, according to members of the East Bay Bike Party, who say incidents occurred last Thursday through Saturday in Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville.
At least 14 people have been targeted and eight were actually hit, the cyclists said.
In two incidents, the suspects swerved directly into the bicyclist as opposed to using their doors.
According to KTVU, Oakland PD is investigating a Friday night collision in which a cyclist was involved in a crash.
In another instance, bicyclist Ellie Mead suffered a serious head injury, but was told by police to “call back later” when she tried to open a case.
Ellie Mead As KTVU further reports:
Around this time, other bikers said they were targeted. One was on Shafter Avenue traveling northeast approaching Hudson Street and was also hit by a car door; by 5366 Shafter Ave. The victim did not suffer any physical injuries, but his bike was damaged.
“They bent his rim, but some amazing Samaritans gave us a loaner, so we could still ride. Don’t have more details, unfortunately. Sad this happened to so many people,” said a biker.
Many of the victims on Saturday night were in the Rockridge and Shafter neighborhoods and were on their way to the EB Bike Party at Rockridge BART.
2/3: In this video, driver of car speeds up and chases after bicyclist near Shafter & Clifton in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood, per @ebbikeparty, warning of numerous incidents known as “dooring.” @oaklandpoliceca pic.twitter.com/4UJ8tNHq0Q
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) February 13, 2023
“This is very scary. It’s criminal. I mean the people doing it should really think about the consequences here,” said Watson Ladd. “They pulled ahead after the roundabout. As they passed they opened their door smacking me in the shoulder and just drove off.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 22:40 - San Francisco Leaders Invite Sex & Drug Tourism
San Francisco Leaders Invite Sex & Drug Tourism
Authored by Michael Shellenberger via Substack,
A progressive San Francisco politician is proposing that California legalize sex work. Though Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s proposal is just a resolution, not a mandate, it’s part of a continuing trend in the city and state of liberalization and decriminalization of prostitution.
“I don’t think this is going to happen tomorrow,” Ronen told a journalist. But, she said to another, “I do feel that society’s acceptance and (ability) to get away from the morality issues is growing.”
But if California and San Francisco legalize prostitution, it will likely exacerbate sex trafficking, including of minors, say experts.
“If we do that, this gives total leeway to the traffickers to exploit minors,” said Elizabeth Quiroz, who was sex trafficked in San Francisco.
“If you legalize it, you increase demand and so you have to increase supply.”
Already, sex trafficking has increased two- to threefold since last June, when Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation by San Francisco State Senator Scott Wiener that removed the criminal prohibition on loitering with the intent to solicit prostitution.
Investigators with Special Operations Finding Kids, who rescued a 14-year-old from her pimp in San Francisco last week, say that the trafficking of minors had been increasing alongside the decrease of police over the last two to three years.
Defenders of legalizing prostitution point to European cities like Berlin as a model. In 2002, Germany defined prostitution as a profession and gave “sex workers” the right to health care, a pension, and unemployment benefits. Arrests for exploiting prostitutes declined from 1,365 to 45 between 2000 and 2014. “The law governing sex trafficking was not modified,” notes an analyst, “yet there were less than half as many trafficking cases in 2014 than in 2000…. The decline may mean that legalization reduced the involvement of bad actors.”
But sex trafficking increased in Germany upon legalization, according to one quantitative study of 150 countries, a correlation that holds for countries across the globe that legalize prostitution. A police detective responsible for investigating and prosecuting human trafficking in Germany said in 2020 that for two decades, there had been a degradation of conditions for prostitutes and a reduction in the state’s ability or willingness to prosecute organized crime and abuse, resulting directly from legalization.
Even the analyst quoted above, who is sympathetic to the German model, acknowledged, “Many of the madams [in Germany] are connected to organized crime networks based outside of Belgium, and they exercise tight control over the African or Eastern European women working for them.” In 2016, an Eastern European woman who was being sexually trafficked in Hamburg jumped out of a third-story window to escape. “The German system has effectively legalized rape, so long as it’s done to a prostituted woman,” a sex trade survivor told journalist Julie Bindel.
Legalization neither ends trafficking nor encourages the reporting of it to the police. One study showed that sex customers in Germany, where prostitution is fully legal, reported witnessing sex trafficking more than their counterparts in the UK, Scotland, and the United States, where prostitution is fully or partly illegal, and reporting it to authorities less.
The same study showed that German sex customers were more likely than their counterparts in other countries to regard prostitutes as “unrapeable,” meaning that johns can do whatever they want to prostitutes without their consent.
Have things gone better in Nevada where prostitution is legal? They have not.
“Even in Nevada, they have panic buttons,” said Marjorie Saylor, a survivor of sex trafficking. But, she said, “By the time you hit them, you can be choked out, or dead.”
Brenda Sandquist, an advocate for trafficking victims in Nevada, said that women in the state’s legal brothels are frequently beaten and raped in their rooms and then forced back to work. When these crimes are reported, the police often won’t do anything since the brothels are legal. Pimps also use Nevada’s brothels as legal shields; criminal trafficking rings in California will sometimes stash trafficked girls in them to keep them out of the reach of law enforcement.
And the abuses that come from legalized prostitution could be far worse in San Francisco, where the police department is short 540 officers, and open air drug dealing is widespread. The proposal to legalize prostitution in San Francisco comes on the heels of proposals to put supervised drug sites in neighborhoods around the city and allow marijuana cafés to attract tourists.
Mayor London Breed last month announced she was working with Ronen, the sponsor of the prostitution legalization resolution, to allow city contractors to create centers for people to use hard drugs like heroin, fentanyl, and meth like they do in Amsterdam.
And San Francisco State Assemblymember Matt Haney earlier this month proposed marijuana coffee shops, also modeled on what Amsterdam does.
“Let’s support our small businesses, tourism and hospitality sectors,” he tweeted, “and our legal cannabis small businesses.”
His proposal has the support of another supervisor, Rafael Mandelman.
But as San Francisco politicians emulate Amsterdam, Amsterdam has restricted hours when bars, pot shops and brothels are open.
Just a few days after Haney made his proposal, Amsterdam city authorities announced a ban on smoking cannabis in the city’s red light district to reduce crime and violence. .
Why is that?
Why are San Francisco city leaders seeking to do more of what has plainly failed?
Why is it going in the opposite direction of Europe?
Money, Sex, And Religion
Downtown San Francisco is eerily empty as the city’s population has shrunk and workers have stayed away from the office.
The immediate reason Supervisor Ronen is seeking to legalize prostitution and create a red-light district is that four blocks in her district have become what she says is a “cruising zone” for johns seeking prostitutes, and neighbors are fed up.
“They feel like they don’t get the same level of attention as other city residents,” said Kanishka Cheng of the good government group Together SF.
Ronen agrees.
“What’s happening right now on Capp Street is it’s become more brazen and bigger than we’ve ever seen it before,” she said.
But in seeking legalization and a red-light district, Ronen is doubling down on the liberalization approach that caused the increase in streetwalking since last June.
Why won’t Ronen and progressives shut down sex trafficking? Because doing so would require using the police and the courts, which Ronen and her colleagues say is racist and causes more harm than good.
…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 22:20 - Who Do You Trust: Government Or Business?
Who Do You Trust: Government Or Business?
Is the business community a force of good in the world and has to be protected from overzealous governments? Or is it the other way around and governments are protecting people by smoothing out the edges of late-stage capitalism?
The newest edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer reveals in which countries people tend to believe one or the other.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports that, according to the survey from late 2022, South Africans were the most likely to value business over government among the 28 nations included. This is largely due to the fact that trust in government is so low in the country. The nation that has seen a fair share of corruption scandals lately, which some have even described as “state capture”, recorded only 22 percent of people trusting the government. Combined with the country’s average trust in business at 62 percent, this still led to the highest net trust score for businesses in the survey at 40 percent. Mexico achieved a similar score but through different means. The country’s high net trust in business is being created by low-to-average trust in government and an elevated trust in business. In 2022, trust in business in the country was 24 percent higher than trust in the government.
The United States scored about average for both metrics, but with trust in government lagging behind a little, business achieved a net positive score of 13 percent.
Other countries where trust in government and trust in businesses were rated most equally tended to have a quite neutral stances on both. These places included Germany and Sweden as well as Canada and France.
Nations where trust in government won out meanwhile showed a tendency to highly trust both communities.
This was the case in China, where businesses enjoy a trust rating of 84 percent and governments of 89 percent. In Saudi Arabia, these numbers stood at 73 percent and 83 percent, resulting in a net trust in government of 10 percent.
Other countries where oftentimes oppressive governments commanded the trust of their citizens were Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 22:00 - Leaked ATF Docs Reveal 'Aggressive' Push To Shut Down Gun Stores
Leaked ATF Docs Reveal ‘Aggressive’ Push To Shut Down Gun Stores
Submitted by Gun Owners of America,
In 2021, the Biden Administration announced a new “Zero Tolerance” policy for revoking the licenses of firearm sellers, known as Federal Firearms Licensees or “FFLs.” As part of this new policy, the ATF recently updated its “Federal Firearms Administrative Action Policy and Procedures.”
Gun Owners of America obtained copies of this updated ATF order, revised under the Biden Administration in January of 2022, along with the prior version that existed under the Trump Administration.
Based on a review of changes in ATF’s policy, it is clear that the Biden Administration is seeking to weaponize ATF’s bureaucracy against the entire Second Amendment industry.
Here are the ATF’s leaked internal guidelines for FFL revocation:
The Biden Administration’s new Zero Tolerance policy is overly harsh—seemingly intentionally so—on honest gun stores.
In fact, between January and September of 2022, ATF field offices in Charlotte, Columbus, Houston, Louisville, New Orleans, and St. Paul revoked licenses more frequently than they issued “warning conferences”—a much less severe penalty that ATF’s own manual deems is necessary to “assess the FFL’s potential to achieve compliance and determine any potential risks to public safety and firearm traceability.”
In other words, under the Biden Administration, ATF has changed its focus from regulating the gun industry to destroying it by whatever means possible—eliminating access to firearms by putting as many gun dealers as possible out of business.
Watch: GOA breaks down ATF’s Internal Memos on “Zero Tolerance”
There was at least a 200% increase in FFL revocations since enactment of ATF’s Zero Tolerance policy. Of course, license revocations are a lengthy process, and this number almost certainly will continue to increase. Compare Biden’s Zero Tolerance policy to ATF’s prior policy:
Zero Tolerance: “ATF will revoke a federal firearms license, absent extraordinary circumstances on initial violations.”
Prior Guidance: “ATF may revoke a federal firearms license under appropriate circumstances based on an initial set of violations.
Even worse, ATF is using a history of good behavior and compliance with federal law against FFLs. Under Biden’s Zero Tolerance, now even a history of compliance, followed by a single unintentional mistake, may be used as proof of a so-called “willful” violation.
So if you have a history of noncompliance, you are in trouble. On the other hand, if you have a history of compliance, you are still in trouble because you should have known better, and your violations are now suspect of being willful.
Of course, there is another nefarious purpose behind the Biden Administration’s Zero Tolerance agenda to eliminate gun stores. When an FFL goes out of business, it is required to send every Firearm Transaction Form (Form 4473) to the ATF, along with its “bound book” and other records.
As of November 2021, ATF has turned 920,664,765 of these records into an illegal national gun registry. According to ATF, 865,787,086 records already are in an electronic format, which Gun Owners of America proved to be digital, searchable, and centralized—in violation of federal law.
Of course, because ATF cannot enter a dealer’s records into its registry until the FFL goes out of business, the Biden Administration’s mass license revocation strategy allows ATF to expand its national gun registry at an unprecedented rate.
So, why does this matter?
Because a Federal Firearms License can now be revoked for first offenses, many well intentioned gun stores (and their employees) are now guaranteed to lose their livelihoods if ATF decides to construe an innocent mistake as a “willful” violation.
This hurts not only the FFL and its employees, but also the firearms community by reducing access to lawful self-defense tools and expanding ATF’s illegal out-of-business gun registration records for the communities formerly served by the store.
The more FFLs the Biden Administration shuts down, the less access Americans will have to their Second Amendment rights and the more data the federal government will control about the identities of law-abiding gun owners in each community.
In addition to license revocations, ATF’s Zero Tolerance policy further demonstrates a disinterest in helping FFLs become compliant, by removing notices and using what information ATF does provide as proof of intent to violate the agency’s numerous, complex, and Kafkaesque rules.
* * *
We’ll hold the line for you in Washington. We are No Compromise. Join the Fight Now.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 21:40 - Scandal Erupts In California Over Attorney General's Wife Overseeing His Budget
Scandal Erupts In California Over Attorney General’s Wife Overseeing His Budget
A political scandal has erupted in California, after it was revealed that Attorney General Bob Bonta’s (D) wife, assemblymember Mia Bonta (D), is in charge of his budget.
Attorney General of California Rob Bonta, left, and his wife, Assemblymember Mia Bonta, mingle with state lawmakers and staff before Gov. Newsom’s 2022 State of the State address in Sacramento. Xavier Mascareñas Sacramento Bee file On Friday morning, journalist Ashley Zavala cornered Mia Bonta to ask about conflicts of interest and whether she will recuse herself from overseeing her husband, to which Bonta replied “There is no violation of ethical rules in my holding this position.”
When pressed, Bonta became hostile.
WATCH: California Assemblymember Mia Bonta refuses to answer questions, won’t say if she’ll recuse herself from overseeing her husband, Attorney General Rob Bonta’s budget:
“There is no violation of ethical rules in my holding this position.” pic.twitter.com/Jrd5UytUKK
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) February 17, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsOn Thursday, Zavala asked Governor Gavin Newsom (D) if it’s ethical for Bonta to lead the budget committee that oversees her husband, to which Newsom suggested he had no idea this was happening.
Exchange between me and Gov. Newsom when I asked him if it’s ethical for Assemblymember Bonta to lead budget committee that oversees her husband, AG Rob Bonta’s budget:
“Thank you for informing me…” pic.twitter.com/h3fIzCPqmG
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) February 16, 2023
The conflict is so ripe that the editorial boards of the Sacramento Bee and the Fresno Bee chimed in, in an op-ed titled: “Lawmaker Mia Bonta should not oversee the budget for the CA attorney general — her husband.“
California Assemblymember Mia Bonta will now help determine the budget for California Attorney General Rob Bonta. If that sounds suspicious to you, then you’re in good company.
Let us explain: Rob Bonta is California’s attorney general. His wife Mia Bonta is an Assemblymember representing Oakland and other parts of the East Bay. Both are Democrats and leading voices in their party.
Mia Bonta has been appointed by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to chair a budget subcommittee that has responsibility for public safety agencies. Included in that mix is the California Attorney General’s Office.
While Rob Bonta was an Assemblymember, he made donations to his wife’s foundation that, while not illegal, raised ethical questions. Now Mia Bonta is the one skirting to the edge of proper, ethical practice.
Sacramento’s NBC affiliate KCRA broke the news about Mia Bonta’s appointment and Rendon’s defense of it. The Assembly speaker said he sees no issue.
“I believe Ms. Bonta will continue to be independent and unbiased in her legislative judgment, as she has been since starting her service in the Assembly,” said Rendon, adding that the assembly has a “robust and transparent budget process designed with checks and balances to ensure the best possible budget is passed.”
Unsurprisingly, when Zavala polled California’s 80-member assembly over the issue, 59 wouldn’t comment, five said Mia Bonta overseeing her husband’s budget was inappropriate, and 14 said it was just fine.
Broken down by party, no Republicans said “yes,” while just one Democrat said “no.”
Amazing how they circle the wagons, no?
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 21:20 - Food-Stamp Work-Requirement Still Not Enforced In 25 States
Food-Stamp Work-Requirement Still Not Enforced In 25 States
Authored by Beth Brelje via The Epoch Times,
Able-bodied people without dependents must work 20 hours a week or be in job training to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress suspended the work requirement.
Businesses are open again, yet 25 states have not fully reinstated work requirements. Of those, seven states allow work waivers in certain areas of the state. These seven are Colorado, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, and South Dakota.
Eighteen states and territories have kept the work waiver across the entire state. They are Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington.
When the federal public health emergency ends in May, the work requirement will be reinstated. But Republicans on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry want to know why the work requirement is not already in place.
“For nearly three years, SNAP participants have been exempted from work requirements. It is time for this exemption to end and it is time for USDA to get serious about enforcing work requirements. States should no longer be allowed to game the system,” Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), ranking member of the committee, said Thursday in opening remark of a hearing on funding the Farm Bill.
“Good jobs are plentiful. There are more than 11 million jobs open across the economy, equivalent to nearly two job openings for every unemployed person. Approximately 5 million of those job openings are in 25 states and territories that are not enforcing work requirements. This job gap pushes labor costs higher, slows supply chains, delays our economic recovery from the pandemic, and importantly, is a large contributor to the historic inflation facing our nation.”
…
SNAP is intended to supplement a beneficiary’s monthly grocery budget, Boozman said. It was not created to be the entire monthly grocery budget.
“Why is the Biden administration not promoting work?” Boozman asked.
“As study after study proves, work equals dignity. A culture of dependence weakens our communities and our country. SNAP is a valuable program, but it should lead to self-reliance, not generational dependence.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 21:00 - These US Cities Are Drowning In Debt
These US Cities Are Drowning In Debt
The average person in the U.S. is around $96,400 in debt… but, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes, if Americans would be charged by their hometowns and cities for the debt they have taken on in the name of their residents, a fairly big sum would be added to that tally.
According to a report by think tank Truth in Accounting, 50 out of the 75 largest cities in the U.S. are currently running a deficit – in some cases a major one.
You will find more infographics at Statista
If New York City would divide the money amiss in its FY2021 budget among all of its taxpayers, this would add the hefty sum of $56,900 to each New Yorker’s debt.
However, New York City’s debt has decreased – by more than 11 percent since 2017. In the rest of the top 5 indebted cities in the U.S., debt has been growing quite substantially.
New Orleans, where debt grew by almost a third in the time frame, is one such example. This caused the city to rise from the 10th most in debt to the 5th most in debt. Portland meanwhile climbed from rank 8 into rank 4.
On the other side of the ranking are Washington D.C., San Francisco and Irvine, Calif. All three cities had a sizable surplus in FY2021 in part due to favorable market conditions.
This instance will have helped them still balance their budgets in the downturn year of 2022.
Something that Truth in Accounting is pointing out in its reports is how high municipal debt can endanger city workers’ pensions and similar benefits. In the case of New Orleans, the report states that only 55 cents for every dollar of pledged pension benefits had been put away in the city. In Portland, this number was even lower at only 44 cents to the dollar. Despite being obligated to pay employees’ pension and retiree health care benefits when these come up, many cities decide to put off building these funds and even omit the respective items from city balance sheets.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 20:40 - The AMA Said 'Trust Your Doctor' On Smoking
The AMA Said ‘Trust Your Doctor’ On Smoking
Authored by Kevin Homer via The Brownstone Institute,
The American Medical Association (AMA) urges physicians to promote COVID-19 vaccines and bivalent boosters.
The AMA even supplies members with social media talking points and strategies to deal with vaccine detractors.
It is not the first time that my profession has endorsed a product that may be hazardous to your health.
For most of the 20th century, the AMA turned a blind eye toward the dangers of tobacco use. During the 1930s, 40s and 50s, tobacco companies paid handsomely to advertise cigarettes in AMA’s journal, JAMA. In a 1948 editorial minimizing the ill effects of smoking and justifying tobacco advertising in its publications, JAMA noted that “cigarette business is a tremendous business,” as if the size of the bottom line can mitigate a conflict for an organization founded for the “betterment of public health.”
The connection between smoking and lung cancer was recognized early in the century. At the same time, the AMA became increasingly dependent on money generated by tobacco sales. Tobacco companies sponsored meetings of medical societies, setting up their booths alongside exhibitions of the latest medical treatments. Free cartons were distributed at physician meetings. Cigarette makers even paid for publication of pseudoscientific reports claiming the health benefits of their products.
Doctors who opposed smoking faced ridicule from their colleagues. Dr. Alton Ochsner, a renowned surgeon and sentinel voice warning of the dangers of tobacco, began publishing on the connection between smoking and lung cancer in the early 1940s. His 1954 book Smoking and Cancer: A Doctor’s Report was negatively reviewed in prominent medical journals, characterized as a medieval model of logic that belongs in the nonscience section of a library. Prior to his appearance on Meet the Press, Dr. Ochsner was told he could not discuss the relationship between smoking and lung cancer on air.
Yet the mounting evidence was hard to ignore. In 1954, JAMA stopped accepting cigarette advertisements and published an editorial rebuking tobacco company advertising practices. But five years later, a JAMA editorial was still skeptical of the evidence linking smoking to cancer, and a 1961 Nebraska State Medical Journal editorial dismissed the evidence as merely “statistical.” Tobacco companies continued to sponsor state medical meetings as late as 1969. By then most people were aware of the dangers of smoking.
In 1964, the Surgeon General concluded that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer and other life-limiting health conditions. The next year, a warning label was required on packages of cigarettes. By 1971, the government banned cigarette advertisements on television and radio. Instead of taking the lead against an obvious threat to public health, the AMA asked for time and money to study the effects of tobacco.
Between 1964 and 1976, the AMA received more than $20 million from the tobacco industry to fund research. Instead of using the money for smoking cessation programs, many of the funded studies focused on ways to make a safer cigarette. To keep money flowing into its Education and Research Foundation the AMA delayed, stating in a confidential 1971 report that, “AMA is not prepared to make any statement regarding termination of the smoking-health research program.” The report went on to complain that tobacco companies are “in arrears on 1970 contributions.” The dependency on tobacco money created a political alliance between doctors and cigarette makers as their lobbyists joined forces in Washington.
The delay benefitted tobacco sales and maintained the AMA’s “research” payments, but it angered Dr. Ochsner, who accused the AMA of being derelict. The AMA called Dr. Ochsner’s position “extreme.” But name-calling could not stall the inevitable conclusion any longer. In 1978 the AMA finally agreed with what most people had already realized: smoking causes lung cancer, and many other health problems. The romance with big tobacco was over.
Or was it?
As late as 1982, JAMA publications were warned to steer clear of “politically sensitive” topics like tobacco use. After most of a century of being on the tobacco dole, the AMA could not make a clean break. The AMA portfolio contained investments in tobacco companies until the late 1990s.
In 1998, the tobacco industry settled lawsuits filed by state governments with a massive Master Settlement Agreement. In exchange for perpetual annual payments and tight regulatory control, the tobacco industry could continue to sell its products protected from future lawsuits brought by participating states and jurisdictions.
But who really benefitted from the Tobacco Settlement? Only 2.6 percent of the money has been used for smoking prevention and cessation programs. Some states have used the tobacco money to fill budget gaps. South Carolina gave money to tobacco farmers affected by a drop in prices. Altria Group, a global tobacco company, is on the US News & World Report 10 best-performing stocks list. Altria, Phillip Morris, and British American Tobacco have all grown annual dividends consecutively since the settlement. According to Dr. Ed Anselm, “The most addictive thing about tobacco is money.”
Tobacco use remains the number one preventable cause of death in the United States. In the first fifty years after the Surgeon General’s 1964 report, more than 20 million Americans died of smoking. How many of these deaths would have been prevented if doctors had not been conflicted by financial entanglements with the tobacco industry?
Money blinds objectivity. When money drives decisions, controverting evidence is ignored, dissenting voices are ridiculed, open debate is suppressed, talking points are distributed, conclusions are delayed, and people die from a product with liability protection.
The New York State Journal of Medicine published a retrospective of tobacco’s relationship to medicine in its December 1983 issue. Flipping through the pages is enlightening. Surrounding the articles describing the greed and politics of Big Tobacco are advertisements from medicine’s new love—Big Pharma. Doctors have exchanged one bedfellow for another.
By endorsing irrelevant COVID-19 vaccines and poorly tested bivalent boosters, the AMA is pushing a product without concern for its potential negative health effects. Like before, the medical profession lags behind public opinion. According to recent Rasmussen Reports, 7 percent of vaccinated individuals report a major side effect, and nearly half of Americans believe that COVID-19 vaccines have caused unexplained deaths, about the same proportion who believed that smoking caused cancer in the 1960s while the AMA was studying the issue.
A conflicted profession cannot honestly evaluate data. Nowadays, the pharmaceutical business is a tremendous business. An organization benefitting from product sales cannot be trusted to evaluate that product.
If doctors could not recognize the health dangers of tobacco for most of the last century, why should we trust them when they say novel vaccines are safe and effective?
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 20:20 - Keith Olbermann Calls For "Economic Civil War" To Institute Gun Control
Keith Olbermann Calls For “Economic Civil War” To Institute Gun Control
Keith Olbermann, generally considered a washed up “journalist” with a modicum of his former influence, is nonetheless a prominent voice of madness within the easily led leftist fold. People like him should be considered a valuable litmus test for what the political left is really thinking, including the kinds of sentiments they rarely say out loud.
The subject matter of his recent podcast should raise some eyebrows among anyone concerned about constitutional integrity or the 2nd Amendment, as Olbermann proudly suggests that Democrat controlled blue states should engage in economic civil war with red states in order to destroy conservative support for gun ownership.
“WE MUST HAVE ECONOMIC CIVIL WAR.
“There is only one way to stop Mass Shootings. The Blue States must financially starve the Red States, the Gun Lobby, the GOP, the Death Lobby, and the crooked judiciary into submission.
“NOW.”
WEDNESDAY COUNTDOWN: https://t.co/OY1H1fxw8G pic.twitter.com/0wILxJIXu0
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 15, 2023
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Olbermann’s theory is based on the assumption that blue states “have all the money” and that red states are somehow destitute and reliant on the good graces of rich Democrats. This idea often stems from a common progressive assumption that all conservatives are poverty stricken “rednecks” trapped in “flyover country.” It just confirms what we have long known – Progressives live in a regional bubble and rarely venture out of the hive mind they rely on daily.
It’s a bizarre notion considering Americans have been leaving major blue states by the millions over the past few years due to economic decline, high taxes and draconian covid mandates. This mass migration has been well documented, so it’s odd that Olbermann is unaware of it. It’s not just individuals, but also businesses that are fleeing leftist areas and moving to conservative havens.
In 2021, there wasn’t enough U-Haul trucks to accommodate all the people trying to escape California. What were the destinations movers were going to? Florida and Texas topped the list. The California state government was so desperate to stop people from leaving (and desperate to maintain tax revenues) that they tried to pass a law requiring that former residents continue to pay taxes to CA for up to 10 years. How they plan to enforce such a law is unknown, but the legislation reveals a panic among Democrats which is palpable.
The mass exodus was not limited to California, though, and included states like New York, Illinois and New Jersey. In terms of raw data, blue states make up the vast majority of the most indebted places in the US, and a list of the 10 most fiscally stable states is majority red.
In general, the biggest problems red states have in terms of economic disparity or crime are caused by Democrat run cities within their borders. Wherever progressives manage things, disaster follows.
Olbermann’s call for an economic civil war is delusional and impractical, but it does reveal a certain level of anxiety that leftists have about gun owners. Not in terms of gun violence – They don’t actually care about gun related deaths; they only care about how such tragedies can be exploited for political gain. What they do care about, it seems, is the fact that shooting events are not giving them the social leverage they used to get.
In the past, the corporate media could run with a single mass shooting for many months in an effort to create hysteria over gun ownership. However, gun ownership is rising among some Democrat and moderate voters. And, concerns are increasing over economic instability and exploding crime in the US. What leftists are realizing is that they are never going to get the guns because the public is realizing how much they need tools for self defense. The citizenry is beginning to understand that gun control is a means to punish law abiding people for the actions of a handful of criminals.
Not only that, but an armed populace is a hard to dominate populace. The goal of every authoritarian regime has been to first disarm their political enemies so that they can’t fight back. Leftist intentions are clearly based on a desire for control that compels them to obsess over gun rights. They are even openly talking about extreme measures, including civil war, as a vehicle for gun control. This is a good sign, because it shows how close the anti-gun rights lobby is to defeat.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 20:00 - Backlash After Buttigieg Blames Trump For Hampering Train Safety Amid Ohio Train Derailment Fallout
Backlash After Buttigieg Blames Trump For Hampering Train Safety Amid Ohio Train Derailment Fallout
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg faced sharp criticism after he appeared to cast some of the blame for the Ohio train derailment onto former President Donald Trump because the Department of Transportation (DOT) under the former president nixed an Obama-era regulation on advanced train brake systems.
United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks to journalists in Long Beach, Calif., on Jan 11, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) The derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 of a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals sparked a blaze, releasing toxins into the air and forcing evacuations.
Buttigieg’s office did not address the incident for days, with the Transportation secretary breaking his silence on Feb. 14, saying he was “concerned about the impacts” of the derailment, which also led to contaminants entering the Ohio River, killing several thousand fish.
Buttigieg also took aim at the Trump-era DOT for axing a rule on the use of electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes.
“We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe,” Buttigieg said in a tweet.
The Transport Secretary’s tweet drew a flurry of reactions on social media, many critical.
“This is an absolutely insane thing to tweet,” wrote Jack Kennedy of Barstool Sports, in a tweet.
This is an absolutely insane thing to tweet https://t.co/ovMFB4t13Y
— Kenjac (@JackKennedy) February 15, 2023
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“This is the state of the Biden administration: Blame Trump for something that happened exclusively under their watch,” wrote Canary CEO Dan K. Eberhart in a tweet.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) took to Twitter to remark: “It’s 2023 @PeteButtigieg. Stop blaming Trump.”
An aerial view shows a plume of smoke, following a train derailment that forced people to evacuate from their homes in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Reuters/Alan Freed) ECP Rule
As part of Trump’s cutting regulations that he said slowed the economy, the DOT in 2018 withdrew an Obama-era rule that was opposed by railroads requiring trains carrying certain hazardous chemicals to use ECP brakes.
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 19:40 - 20 Women Sexually Abused At Jeffrey Epstein Properties Were Paid Through JPMorgan Accounts: Filing
20 Women Sexually Abused At Jeffrey Epstein Properties Were Paid Through JPMorgan Accounts: Filing
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
At least 20 women who were victims of sex trafficking and sexual abuse at Jeffrey Epstein properties were paid through JPMorgan Chase accounts, according to a new court filing.
Jeffrey Epstein in a 2013 mugshot in Florida. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement via Getty Images) The women were allegedly abused and trafficked at properties in the U.S. Virgin Islands, New York, and elsewhere between 2003 and 2019.
The women received payments that totaled, collectively, more than $1 million, according to the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice, which entered the filing on Feb. 15.
“Epstein also withdrew more than $775,000 in cash over that time frame from JP Morgan accounts, especially significant as Epstein was known to pay for ‘massages,’ or sexual encounters, in cash,” the filing states. “Financial information also reflects payments drawn from JP Morgan accounts of nearly $1.5 million to known recruiters, including to the MC2 modeling agency, and another $150,000 to a private investigative firm.”
Epstein was facing sex trafficking charges when he died in jail in 2019. New York City’s medical examiner ruled the death a suicide. Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida in 2008.
Then-U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George brought a case against JPMorgan Chase in late 2022, alleging the company helped Epstein carry out crimes including sex trafficking. George was fired shortly after, but the case is moving forward.
The new filing is a less redacted version of the first amended complaint, which had been entered into the docket previously.
‘Extremely High-Risk Client’
Evidence shows JPMorgan officials were aware Epstein was an “extremely high-risk client” but decided to keep servicing his accounts “because of his vast wealth and connections with other high net worth individuals,” according to the complaint.
The company’s global corporate security division, for instance, reviewed media articles that detailed the charges against Epstein in Florida. JPMorgan decided to keep doing business with Epstein, though it did label him as “high risk.”
In a 2010 internal email, the division flagged “new allegations of an investigation related to child trafficking” and wondered, “are you still comfortable with this client who is now a registered sex offender.”
In January 2011, the company’s compliance director asked for reapproval of the relationship due to the new allegations of human trafficking. “I thought we did that in approving a $50 million new line of credit last month?” another employee responded.
A review completed that month led to the conclusion that no “material updates” had been identified. It also noted that Jes Staley, a top JPMorgan official, had spoken with Epstein about the alleged human trafficking. Epstein said there was no truth to the allegations or evidence supporting them.
Just two months later, the security division reported how Epstein had settled a dozen lawsuits with alleged victims and that Epstein was connected to Jean Luc Brunel, owner of the MC2 Model Management agency. The agency received $1 million from Epstein in 2005, according to the vision, which stated, “It is unknown if the money was given as a secret investment or payment for services as a procurer.”
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 19:00 - Israeli-Owned Tanker Reportedly Attacked By Iranian Drones In Persian Gulf
Israeli-Owned Tanker Reportedly Attacked By Iranian Drones In Persian Gulf
Israeli media on Friday revealed a major incident in the Persian Gulf involving an alleged attack on an Israeli owned oil tanker. The BBC’s Persian language service was the first to allude to it, while the Saudi newspaper Elaph also reported it, and the reports indicate it occurred last week but is only now being revealed.
“Foreign officials said on Friday evening that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps launched a Shahed 136-type drone in the Persian Gulf towards the Campo Square oil tanker, which is owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer,” Israel National News Arutz Sheva reports.
Illustrative: Iranian Army via AP The tanker sails under the Liberian flag, but Israeli defense officials presented the attack as a retaliation attempt for past alleged Israeli operations against Iran, and described no injuries.
It’s not the first instance of such an alleged Iranian drone operation against tankers in these waters, with a November incident also believed an IRGC military operation to target Israeli shipping.
The Islamic Republic and Israel have long been in a de facto state of war, especially given prior years’ mysterious sabotage incidents of military sites inside Iran, as well as assassinations of top Iranian nuclear scientists.
Concerning the November incident wherein a projectile hit a tanker off the coast of Oman, the AP noted at the time, “While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicion immediately fell on Iran. Tehran and Israel have been engaged in a years long shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone attacks targeting Israeli-associated vessels traveling around the region.”
Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, previously explained, “the risk of attacks against shipping and energy infrastructure in the wider region is rising mainly due to the lack of progress in U.S.-Iranian nuclear diplomacy and the decision by Washington to apply further sanctions pressure on Iran.” Soltvedt continued: “Since 2019, Iran has consistently responded to new US sanctions with covert military action in the region.”
#BREAKING: IRGC attacks Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker with suicide drones in Gulf of Oman, Israeli media confirms; “Campo Square” tanker is owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Oferhttps://t.co/gZNPkrxn30
— I.E.N. (@BreakingIEN) February 17, 2023
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He added: “There is not just an increased risk of disruptive attacks against energy infrastructure in the region, but also a growing risk of a wider military confrontation with more serious consequences for world energy markets.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 18:40 - Illinois Hobby Club Believes Pentagon Shot Down Their $12 Pico Balloon
Illinois Hobby Club Believes Pentagon Shot Down Their $12 Pico Balloon
After the Pentagon dispatched fighter jets to shoot down unidentified objects on February 10, 11, and 12 utilizing heat-seeking AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles at over $400,000 a pop, President Biden belatedly admitted that they could just be harmless weather balloons
“The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” Biden said Thursday. But now an Illinois-based hobby group which uses $12 balloons with ham radios for a cheap high-altitude hobby says the object shot down over Yukon Territory on Feb. 11 likely belongs to them. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden also sees this as the likely scenario…
please tell me the white house did not spend the month of february scrambling jets to fire $400,000 missiles at the local hobby club’s TWELVE DOLLAR BALLOON
lord have mercyhttps://t.co/4D7DaTncvT
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 16, 2023
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A report in Aviation Week profiles the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB) to learn that the hobby club’s silver-coated “pico balloon” was last picked up via radio signal on Feb. 10 at 38,910 ft. off the west coast of Alaska, and that it was projected to float over central Yukon territory the following day. It disappeared around the time and in the general location of the Feb.11 F-22 shootdown of an ‘unidentified object’ ordered by the White House, which grabbed media headlines.
The report began somewhat hilariously enough:
A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10.
The Pentagon’s own briefings had described a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it” – and yet still, as the search for debris continues in inclement arctic weather, there’s been no confirmation of exactly what it was shot out of the sky.
Projected path of the hobby club’s balloon at around the time of the Feb.11 object shootdown, via the Intelligencer. According to a further description of the team of hobbyists’ balloon that went missing:
The descriptions of all three unidentified objects shot down Feb. 10-12 match the shapes, altitudes and payloads of the small pico balloons, which can usually be purchased for $12-180 each, depending on the type.
“I’m guessing probably they were pico balloons,” said Tom Medlin, a retired FedEx engineer and co-host of the Amateur Radio Roundtable show. Medlin has three pico balloons in flight in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
What’s more is that the enthusiasts are so convinced that the Pentagon has been taking pot-shots at mere pico balloons (very expensive pot-shots at that), that some have contacted multiple federal agencies to inform authorities, but apparently to no avail.
Below is an example of the type of transmitter, which is the “payload” dangling under the balloon, which accompanies the high-altitude flights:
Source: qrp-labs “I tried contacting our military and the FBI—and just got the runaround—to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are. And they’re going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down,” Ron Meadows, the founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), told Aviation Week.
Behold the potential major “threat” which “required” advanced F-22 jets armed with Sidewinder missiles to be deployed last week…
This is a pico balloon, and it may be what your government shot down with heat-seeking AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, which are worth over $400,000 each pic.twitter.com/c0Lb5EE2zE
— Dave DeCamp (@DecampDave) February 16, 2023
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The publication itself, based on what it learned about the pico balloons flying high over North American skies, attempted to alert the FBI, NORAD, the National Security Council (NSC) and the Office of the Secretary of Defense while seeking comment. However, they too were given the runaround.
“The FBI and OSD did not acknowledge that harmless pico balloons are being considered as possible identities for the mystery objects shot down by the Air Force,” wrote Aviation Week.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 18:35 - "Every Parent's Nightmare": TikTok Offering Child Predators An Easy Path To Contacting Kids
“Every Parent’s Nightmare”: TikTok Offering Child Predators An Easy Path To Contacting Kids
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
TikTok is turning into a major platform for child sexual exploitation in the United States, according to law enforcement officials, with predatory adults increasingly finding it easier to contact and manipulate minors through the Chinese app.
The logo for social media app TikTok is displayed on the screen of an iPhone on an American flag background in Arlington, Va., on Aug. 3, 2020. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images) Since the advent of the internet, child predators have had an easy option to get in touch with minors for sexual relationships. However, TikTok is said to be worsening this problem due to its massive popularity among youngsters. Over 50 percent of American minors are estimated to use TikTok at least once every day. “The audience that’s following these children, a lot of them are adult males that have a sexual interest in children,” Jon Rouse, police veteran who heads a group targeting child sex offenders for Interpol, said to The Wall Street Journal.
“Child sex offenders will gravitate toward where there are children. Pedophiles prefer looking at videos,” he added. Billions of videos are uploaded to the app every month, with numerous minors doing all kinds of things, including talking about personal lives.
TikTok officially only allows individuals who are 13 and older to open an account. Users younger than 16 years are also not allowed to use the direct messaging feature which allows people to converse with each other privately. However, children can still falsify their age and gain access to such features.
For instance, Grady Moffett Sr., 42, is currently in a county jail in Fort Worth, Texas, on charges related to alleged sexual assault. He was able to strike up romantic conversations with a 14-year-old girl.
Both of them professed love for each other in public comments at the platform. The duo communicated with each other using TikTok’s direct messaging feature, he admitted to The Wall Street Journal.
The teen girl’s mother said that the situation was “every parent’s nightmare.” The girl told her mother that she loved Moffett because he understood her. “I felt like he kind of groomed her,” the mother told the media outlet.
TikTok’s Failure to Implement Robust Safeguards
Seara Adair, a TikTok content creator, is worried about child sexual content proliferating across the platform. In March last year, Adair was tagged with a video of a pre-teen who was completely naked and doing “inappropriate things,” she said to Forbes.
Adair reported the video for “pornography and nudity.” However, the app later alerted her that “we didn’t find any violations.” This happened despite the fact that TikTok claims as a policy that it has “zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and sexualized content of minors (any person under the age of 18).”
“There’s quite literally accounts that are full of child abuse and exploitation material on their platform, and it’s slipping through their AI,” Adair said.
The Epoch Times has reached out to TikTok for comment.
On TikTok, many teens opt to not make their accounts private in a bid to gather likes. They also use features allowing them to post videos together with strangers side by side.
“You have young kids dancing and showing their lives all over TikTok,” Joseph Scaramucci, a police detective in Waco, Texas, told The Wall Street Journal. “It makes it a one-stop shop for people looking to exploit them.”
Promoting Sexual Content to Kids
In September 2021, The Wall Street Journal published the results of an investigation that used 100 fake TikTok accounts, including 31 accounts registered as users aged 13–15.
The research uncovered that teenage accounts were exposed to over 100 videos from other profiles which recommended porn content. Thousands of videos, which creators had marked adults-only, were also fed into feeds of the teenage accounts.
In an interview with Fox in December, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called for banning TikTok, pointing out that the app is exposing minors to “violent, depraved, degrading sexual material,” material that Beijing would “never” let Chinese teenagers watch. He also insisted that TikTok is a threat to data security and privacy.
“If you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, why in the world would we allow a Chinese-owned company, which has to answer to the Chinese communists, to be one of the largest media platforms in our country?” Cotton stated.
“Would we ever have allowed Soviet Russia to own a major newspaper or a major broadcast network during the Cold War? Of course, we wouldn’t have.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 18:20 - Top Pentagon Official Arrives For Rare Tight-Lipped Taiwan Visit
Top Pentagon Official Arrives For Rare Tight-Lipped Taiwan Visit
A top Pentagon official has arrived in Taiwan Friday, after departing Mongolia where he was meeting with partner military leaders. Michael Chase is deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, and the Pentagon presented his trip in the context of ongoing “support for Taiwan and military relations with Taiwan” which is in “response to the current threat posed by the People’s Republic of China.”
While dozens of civilian-side admin officials as well as Congressional members have visited the self-ruled island in the past couple years, including a highly provocative visit by then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August, a visit by a high-ranking Pentagon official remains very rare.
“Chase is the first senior US defense official to travel to the island since the 2019 visit of Heino Klinck, deputy assistant secretary for east Asia, who in turn was the most senior Pentagon official to visit Taiwan in four decades,” writes FT.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense China, Michael Chase. Image source: US Cyber Command/DoD Even the Taiwan side has remained tight-lipped about it, with Taiwan’s defense minister Chiu Kuo-cheng saying he would not comment, but only stressing he welcomes anyone friendly to Taiwan who is willing to give “favorable advice” on defense operations.
The defense minister explained, “If any team that is friendly to us want to visit, they will let us know. Suggestions that are beneficial to Taiwan’s defense operations are very good, and they are all good opportunities. Details are not confirmed yet, I will not explain more.” He added: “For some matters, if I am not sure about who my subject is, and I am uncertain about it, I won’t make an explanation before I am officially notified.”
The provocative stopover comes amid the balloon shootdown saga. China has insisted all along that the balloon shot down by a US jet off the South Carolina coast earlier this month was nothing other than a benign weather research vehicle. Beijing has also highlighted that the US routinely sends spy balloons into its airspace, but that it doesn’t result in any dramatic military operations by China to down them.
Beijing in response this week hit America’s top two defense contractors with sanctions: Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, while charging Washington with deliberately exaggerating the ‘balloon threat’.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Michael Chase, Pentagon’s top China official, has arrived in Taiwan.https://t.co/zUnt9wLczB
— Ken Moriyasu (@kenmoriyasu) February 17, 2023
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A scathing Thursday statement from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress charged that US lawmakers “took advantage of the issue and fanned the flames, fully exposing their sinister intention to oppose China and contain China.”
Michael Chase’s visit also comes after the Biden administration ramped up weapons deals with Taipei, however, GOP leaders are demanding bigger commitments, also as some reports have said the US is seeking to make Taiwan the “Ukraine of the East.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 18:00 - New Medical Codes For COVID Vaccination Status Raise Concerns Among Experts
New Medical Codes For COVID Vaccination Status Raise Concerns Among Experts
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
New medical diagnosis codes for COVID-19 immunization status have been added in the United States.
A woman walks past a doctor’s office in New York City on July 26, 2021. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) One code is for being “unvaccinated for COVID-19.”
That code “may be assigned when the patient has not received at least one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which implemented the new codes in 2022, states in a document outlining the codes.
Another code is for being partially vaccinated or having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but not having received enough doses to meet the CDC’s definition of fully vaccinated.
The goal of the codes is “to track people who are not immunized or only partially immunized,” according to the CDC.
Experts say the codes don’t fit with the International Classification of Diseases, which has diagnoses for diseases and reasons for health care visits.
“They’re treating nonvaccination as if this is a hazardous exposure that therefore merits being recorded as a medical exposure,” Dr. Harvey Risch, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, told The Epoch Times. “That’s never been done to my knowledge.”
The CDC did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
Proposal
The CDC proposed adding the codes to the international classification in September 2021.
“People have now been having immunizations for a number of months, and these provide protection for people who are immunized, but there has been interest expressed in being able to track people who are not immunized or who are only partially immunized,” Dr. David Berglund, a CDC medical officer, said during a meeting that went over the proposal.
“At the current time, there can be considered to be a significant modifiable risk factor for morbidity and for mortality and it can be of interest for clinical reasons, as well as being a value for public health reasons, to be able to track this.”
COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates are higher among the unvaccinated, according to data published by the CDC. The data do not take into account key factors such as age or prior infection, and other figures show the vaccinated being hospitalized or dying at higher rates in some states.
The proposal was backed by meeting participants during the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting.
“I definitely think we would support this,” Kristin Balint, a supervisor at Trinity Health, said. “We are currently seeing physicians documenting unimmunized for COVID-19 in our records.”
Jeanne Yoder, representing the Defense Health Agency, envisioned adding additional codes later to indicate if a person was not vaccinated against each successive variant.
The organizations of the people who backed the proposal either did not respond to requests for comment or declined inquiries.
Codes Added
Three codes were added to the classification system on April 1, 2022.
Z28.310 is for being unvaccinated. Z28.311 is for being partially vaccinated. Z28.39 is for “other underimmunization status.” All fell under a new sub-sub category, “Underimmunization for COVID-19 status.”
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/17/2023 – 17:40
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