Chinese Researcher 'Hiding Out' At San Francisco Consulate Arrested, DOJ Says

Update (1120ET): During a regular press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin accused Washington of "political persecution" on Thursday after being asked about the arrest by a reporter.

But Wang stopped short of saying whether Tang was being deliberately sheltered by diplomats.

"We urge the US to stop using any excuse to limit, harass and crackdown on Chinese scholars and Chinese students in the US," he said.

In addition to Tang, 3 other Chinese nationals have also reportedly been charged.

• • *

As the US and China engage in unprecedented tit-for-tat closures of diplomatic missions, destabilizing financial markets and sending a chill through the international community, a DOJ official has confirmed that a Chinese researcher who was reportedly "hiding out" at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco has been taken into custody.

The Chinese researcher, Juan Tang, had been affiliated with the University of California at Davis, and was to be charged with lying about her military service, when she sought shelter at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.

FBI agents interviewed her last month, and prosecutors had filed a criminal complaint with a federal court seeking a warrant to arrest Tang for visa fraud. Tang was charged along with three other Chinese researchers suspected of lying about their affiliation with the PLA on visa applications. Officials who briefed reporters on Friday declined to discuss the circumstances of the arrest in detail.

It's still not exactly clear how the researcher/student was apprehended, but the headlines are rolling in:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chinese-researcher-hiding-out-san-francisco-consulate-arrested-doj-says

FLORIDA: Death Related to a Gun Shot Wound and Deaths from Weeks Ago Are Suddenly Counted as COVID Deaths in Official Mortality Reporting

The miscounting and fraudulent numbers related to the China coronavirus just keep coming. Unrelated deaths are being counted as COVID-19 related and deaths from days and weeks ago are suddenly being attributed to today’s COVID-19 mortality counts.

A CBS12 team in Florida reported:

A 60-year-old man who died from a gun shot wound to the head.

A 90-year-old man who fell and died from complications of a hip fracture.

A 77-year-old woman who died of Parkinson’s disease.

These are some of the deaths in Palm Beach County recently, and incorrectly, attributed to COVID-19 in medical examiner records.

The CBS12 News I-Team uncovered several examples in Medical Examiner reports of people counted as a COVID death who did not die of COVID.

We requested a list of all COVID-19 deaths in Palm Beach County from the Medical Examiner’s office and received a spread sheet of 581 cases.

Each person on the spreadsheet is someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

In each case line, the person’s cause of death and contributing causes of death are listed, if there are any.

The I-Team found eight cases in which a person was counted as a COVID death, but did not have COVID listed as a cause of contributing cause of death.

Not only are deaths in Florida being attributed to COVID when they are not, deaths from days and even weeks ago are suddenly being attributed to COVID as well:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/florida-death-related-gun-shot-wound-deaths-weeks-ago-suddenly-counted-covid-deaths-official-mortality-reporting/

THREAT?

Starvation & desire for vaccine could trigger new migration wave in post-Covid world, Red Cross chief warns

Once borders are unsealed, a massive amount of people will set out for the wealthiest nations, fleeing Covid-related poverty, the Red Cross chief said. Migrants will also be driven by the search for a working vaccine.

Jagan Chapagain, the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), made the grim prediction in a candid comment to AFP this Thursday.

Lockdowns and border closures enforced in most parts of the world are already driving people beyond the edge of poverty. Desperation forces them to choose between exposure to Covid-19 and the risk of going hungry, Chapagain explained.

What we hear is that many people who are losing livelihoods, once the borders start opening, will feel compelled to move.

It should not be a surprise if “a massive impact on migration” occurs in the years or even months to come.

However, the potential migration crisis could be averted or eased if these grievances are tackled before migrants leave their home countries, the IFRC chief said, offering one bold economic argument to back up his point.

“The cost of supporting the migrants, during the transit and of course when they reach the country of destination, is much more than supporting people in their livelihoods, education, health needs in their own country,” he said.

European leaders made similar arguments in the wake of the major migrant influx that hit the continent in 2015 and 2016. Germany, the prime destination for asylum seekers, pledged millions for reconstruction programs across the Middle East and North Africa.

Another driving factor beyond the looming migration wave is also directly related to the pandemic, which has infected over 15.5 million and killed more than 633,000 people worldwide.

Potential migrants could feel that their chances of survival are better “on the other side of the sea,” Chapagain said without indicating any particular destination. People will base their decision to move on “the availability of [Covid-19] vaccines.”

“If people see that the vaccine is say, for example, available in Europe but not in Africa, what happens?”

He also took a swipe at countries expected to keep reserves of promising vaccines for themselves first.

“The virus crosses the border, so it is pretty short-sighted to think that I vaccinate my people but leave everybody else without vaccination, and we will still be safe.”

https://www.rt.com/news/495692-new-migration-wave-after-covid/

More Than 1,000 People Could Access Twitter’s ‘God Mode’

The admin panel used by hackers to access over one hundred accounts can be used by over 1,000 twitter employees — two former Twitter employees revealed.

More than 1,000 Twitter employees and contractors had access to the internal admin panel that enabled last week’s Twitter hack of 130 high profile accounts.

According to Reuters on July 24, two former employees have shed light on just how vulnerable Twitter’s security was — and may still be. They said that, in addition to employees, contractors like Cognizant could also have access.

Former chief security officer at AT&T Edward Amoroso, told Reuters that such powerful controls should not be available to so many people.

“That sounds like there are too many people with access,” he said, adding that staff should have limited rights with responsibilities split up as well as multiple checks and balances in place for adjusting sensitive information.

“In order to do cyber security right, you can’t forget the boring stuff.”

What happened?

On July 15 attackers accessed Twitter’s admin panel allowing them to take control of any Twitter account, post tweets from them and access personal information including private messages.

They posted scam Bitcoin (BTC) ‘giveaways’, by promising to send back double any sum received. All told, the scammers got away with around 12 BTC.

High profile accounts taken over include Tesla founder Elon Musk, former United States President Barack Obama, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice-President Joe Biden. Other celebrities, politicians and top business personalities also lost control of their accounts.

Twitter and the FBI are working together to investigate the breach, with regular updates from Twitter on their findings. On Jul 23, the company revealed that in “up to 36 of the 130 targeted accounts, the attackers accessed the DM inbox, including 1 elected official in the Netherlands.”

To recap:

🔹130 total accounts targeted by attackers

🔹45 accounts had Tweets sent by attackers

🔹36 accounts had the DM inbox accessed

🔹8 accounts had an archive of “Your Twitter Data” downloaded, none of these are Verified

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 23, 2020

Twitter has also revealed they are looking for a new security head in order to improve security and employee training.

Security experts are concerned that the required upgrades to Twitter’s security and processes may not be complete before the U.S. elections on Nov. 3 with other countries potentially having the ability to manipulate the outcome through social media account take-overs.

Network security company Tenable founder Ron Gula asked:

“Does Twitter do enough to prevent account takeovers for our presidential candidates and news outlets when faced with sophisticated threats that leverage whole-of-nation approaches?”

https://cointelegraph.com/news/more-than-1-000-people-could-access-twitters-god-mode

Cover story?

‘Do as I say, not as I do’? Twitter goes berserk after mask advocate Fauci forgoes his own Covid-19 guidances

Anthony Fauci has taken a tongue-lashing on social media, after photographs of the top US doctor showed him ignoring guidelines put in place to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key player in guiding the US response to Covid-19, enjoyed a pleasant day at the ballpark on Thursday, where he threw the ceremonial first pitch of the MLB opening day game between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals. His throw was wildly off-target, sparking near-unanimous mockery of his baseball skills on Twitter. But he received equally ferocious criticism for his coronavirus etiquette while watching the game from the stadium’s empty bleachers (fans have been banned from attending games, a policy which Fauci strongly advocated for).

Photographs caught Fauci sitting between two people with his mask on his chin. The grinning doctor appears to be having a great time, even though the photographic evidence suggests that he violated his own social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.

Social media backlash was swift and unforgiving.

“Showing us all he knows exactly how well masks work! Thanks for the lesson, doc,” quipped writer and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, who has repeatedly pointed to studies and data which cast doubt on the efficacy of widespread public mask use.

And there’s Dr. Anthony Fauci showing us all he knows exactly how well masks work! Thanks for the lesson, doc. pic.twitter.com/jdHPzq5HfB

— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) July 24, 2020

Amazing data here: Mexico, with essentially uncontrolled #sarscov2 spread, has the second-most mask wearing of any country; the Nordic countries, which have almost no transmission, have the least. Canada is well below the US. Because masks work! pic.twitter.com/5y9zJuFYbw

— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) July 18, 2020

Others argued that Fauci had “made a mockery” of his own recommendations.

When he thinks the cameras are off, Fauci makes a mockery of his "social distancing" recommendations and proceeds to brush off his own mask advocacy."Do as I say, not as I do"h/t @Ronald_Spitzerpic.twitter.com/zeBHLjlZST

— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) July 24, 2020

Good thing Fauci wears his mask and stays 6 feet apart pic.twitter.com/idvVmolylY

— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) July 24, 2020

The photos even spawned a hashtag, #FauciTheFraud, which accompanies countless posts accusing the doctor of shedding his mask when the cameras are off.

However, some argued that nothing untoward had occurred, as Fauci was sitting next to his wife and one of his friends and would have known if they were at risk.

he’s in his bubble with his wife and friend. and there’s no one around him. this is a non issue.

— S.F. Tech Worker (@sftechworker) July 24, 2020

https://www.rt.com/usa/495749-fraud-fauci-mask-coronavirus-photos/

President Trump: If Schools Do not Reopen Their Funding Should Go to the Parents

Most US schools have been closed since March due to the Wuhan Coronavirus.

Democrats want to keep the schools closed.

They say its because of coronavirus.

But it’s only because of politics.

So far this year, via the CDC— since February, there have been 226 deaths of children and young adults under age 24 in the United States caused by coronavirus or possibly linked to coronavirus. The last full flu season from 2018-2019, via the CDC, saw 477 deaths of children and young adults under age 17 in the United States from the seasonal flu.

That means nearly twice as many children died from the seasonal flu last year as from the China Coronavirus this year.

The media won’t tell you this.

The COVID-19 is LESS DANGEROUS to children than a typical influenza!

And yet CDC officials are still scaring Americans over the reopening of schools this fall!

We need better “experts” in this country today.

On Thursday President Trump told reporters that if schools do not reopen this fall the federal funding should go to the parents who have to adjust their lives to tend to their children at home.

Of course, Trump is right.

Watch the Teachers Unions lose their minds!

Several school districts across the US are already planning on remaining closed this fall.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/huge-president-trump-schools-not-reopen-funding-go-parents-video/

UK announces ‘most comprehensive flu program in history,’ aims to vaccinate 30mn

The UK government has vastly expanded its free flu vaccination program, as the NHS prepares for a potential second spike in Covid-19 cases in winter.

The hope is to vaccinate 30 million people during the upcoming flu season, in an effort to mitigate the effects of a potential resurgence of coronavirus, the government has announced.

The flu shot program will, for the first time, include all people over the age of 50, as well as children in their first year of secondary school. In previous years, the shot was offered for free to anyone over the age of 65, as well as young children, pregnant women, and people with serious underlying health conditions. However, the government is prioritizing those who are seen as most at risk.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock described the health initiative as “the biggest flu vaccine program in history.” According to Public Health England, some 15 million doses of the flu vaccine were administered in 2019-2020.

Health experts are concerned that there could be a second spike of coronavirus cases in winter, which would coincide with the start of the flu season. Hancock argued that increasing the number of flu vaccinations would help the NHS cope with a potential surge in Covid-19 cases.

“This winter more than ever, with Covid-19 still circulating, we need to help reduce all avoidable risks,” said Chris Whitty, the nation’s chief medical adviser.

The initiative comes as nations around the world scramble to develop an effective vaccine for coronavirus. However, the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce cautioned earlier this week that a successful immunization program against the illness is far from certain.

https://www.rt.com/uk/495694-flu-vaccine-england-program-expanded-covid/

Chanos Made $100 Million Shorting Wirecard; Will He Repeat History With Tesla?

Jim Chanos reportedly made $100 million shorting Wirecard across a number of his funds, according to sources cited by the Financial Times on Friday.

The well-known short seller, perhaps now best known for his short position in Tesla, took the position last year and then increased it after FT's follow up reporting on the company, where the media outlet pointed out that Wirecard's profits may have been fraudulently overstated, last year.

The collapse of Wirecard was seen as a significant victory for short sellers and the remaining few financial media skeptics that remain in the industry. Critical questions about the company had been raised for more than 5 years before the truth finally caught up to the company. Does this sound like any other stock market battlefield you can think of?

Reading these comments about Wirecard, we just can't help but wonder if Tesla will ever suffer a similar fate. After all, Chanos has also said that he remains short Tesla, despite distinguishing the company from Wirecard. Tesla “burnishes its results through aggressive accounting and other ways” Chanos told FT.

And, like Wirecard, Chanos is hardly the only skeptic. We just published analyst Gordon Johnson's notes on Tesla's earnings this week. Johnson claimed that Tesla was engaging in "accounting games" to make its quarterly numbers.

Johnson had predicted prior to earnings that the company would turn a profit, though even his wildest expectations in terms of how many regulatory credits the company would sell to get there would turn out to be way short of the massive $428 million worth that they sold this quarter (a new record). Without regulatory credit sales, as @TeslaCharts points out, it is a starkly different picture for Tesla's earnings:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chanos-made-100-million-shorting-wirecard-will-he-repeat-history-tesla

Cop Admits to Running Sophisticated Child Porn Network Using Mobile Apps

Baltimore, MD — Sgt. James Robert Wissmann IV, 35, of the Baltimore Police Department has been collecting a six figure annual salary over the years, on the taxpayer’s dime, all the while he’s been running a sophisticated child porn network. But his days of exploiting children are no longer, after he pleaded guilty this week to the utterly horrifying criminal behavior.

Wissmann got on the child molester radar in 2017 when the administrators of a mobile app noticed he was using their chat rooms to distribute videos and images of exploited prepubescent children. When the administrators shut him down, they also reported his accounts to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

This police officer was apparently so addicted to preying on children, however, that being shut down didn’t stop him. Prosecutors say this sick monster — who called himself a public servant — continued to create new accounts, using fake names and e-mail addresses, and continued to share child porn.

Wissmann confessed to waging an elaborate and sophisticated campaign to game the system so he could run his child porn network. He reportedly used a Virtual Private Network account, the Tor anonymity network, and he used file-wiping programs to permanently delete files.

For several years, Wissmann created at least seven separate accounts on the app after being banned for trafficking in child pornography. On Oct. 11, 2018, the app sent five reports to NCMEC relating to child exploitation activity in Wissmann’s account, prosecutors said. All five reports contained images that depict naked prepubescent girls, according to prosecutors.

According to a report from the Baltimore Sun:

On July 31, 2019, investigators executed a search warrant at Wissmann’s residence and seized his laptop computer, removable digital media, and mobile phones, which they say he used to commit the offense. During a forensic examination of the seized items, investigators found images and videos of child pornography on Wissmann’s laptop, including images depicting prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Prosecutors say his plea agreement calls for him to receive no less than four years in federal prison, followed by a supervised release period of 10 years. He will also have to register as a sex offender. He will be sentenced in October.

In response to his charges, the Baltimore police released a cookie cutter statement about how Wissmann’s behavior does not represent the rest of the department. However, he is still a cop.

“The Baltimore Police Department was informed that Sgt. James Wissmann plead guilty today to felony child pornography charges. Sgt. Wissmann was arrested and his police powers were suspended on July 31, 2019. After being indicted on felony charges on March 9, 2020, the department moved quickly to upgrade his suspension to without pay. The department is following state law and currently moving forward with appropriate action. This type behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the statement said.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-pleads-guilty-child-network/

Russian Upper House Accuses UK of Using Fake News in Situation With RT License

A request to the UK broadcasting regulatory body Ofcom to review RT broadcaster's license in the country, which was filed by Shadow Culture Secretary Jo Stevens, is an attempt to manipulate events and use fake news, a member of the Russian upper house of parliament, Olga Kovitidi, said on Friday.

"Event manipulation and using fake news with taking out a skeleton of Russia's threat from the UK political closet have become a political reality in the United Kingdom," Kovitidi told Sputnik.

The lawmaker noted that the interim committee of the upper house on information policy had condemned "groundless" accusations against the RT channel and Sputnik news agency, pointing out that such decisions regarding the media do not contribute to the implementation of democratic principles and freedom of speech.

Stevens, a member of the Labour Party, previously sent a letter to Ofcom chief executive Melanie Dawes asking for the regulatory body to review the Russian broadcaster’s license following the publication of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee’s report on alleged Russian interference, which accused RT of "serious distortions" in its coverage.

Commenting on the matter on her Telegram channel, RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan stressed that Ofcom was an independent media regulator that should not allow government influence.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has called the accusations of Russian interference discussed in the parliamentary report "fake-shaped Russophobia." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has reiterated that Russia has never interfered in electoral processes in other countries.

https://sputniknews.com/world/202007241079977121-russian-upper-house-accuses-uk-of-using-fake-news-in-situation-with-rt-license/