Bad Apple? 2 Law Enforcement Employees in One Town Arrested in Child Sex Trafficking Sting

Bakersfield, CA — Child predator police officers are an unfortunate and all too common reality in the land of the free. On a near daily basis, cops across the country are busted for horrifying acts against children. Highlighting the severe nature of this problem is the fact that two law enforcement employees in the same town have just been arrested in a child sex sting.

An employee with the California Corrections department and a California Highway Patrol officer were two out of 15 people arrested during an undercover operation targeting online child predators, according to the Kern County Sheriff’s Special Victim’s Unit.

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office has been working for several months on an operation that targets online child predators. KCSO said that during the coronavirus lockdown, online predators were out in full force going after children vulnerable to sexual exploitation and grooming.

During the operation, the KCSO was surprised when it ensnared two of their own fellow law enforcement folks. CCHCS employee Ricardo Mancillas, 54, and CHP Officer Brian Pardue, 51, were arrested on multiple charges

Mancillas is facing charges of meeting with a minor, arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd acts and contacting a minor with the intent to perform lewd acts.

Pardue was arrested during the execution of a search warrant, according to ABC 23. He’s facing charges of contacting a minor with the intent to perform lewd acts and arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd acts.

After his arrest the CHP fired him and quickly released a canned statement similar to ones they have released in the past when other officers are caught preying on children. We are assured he’s just a bad apple and everyone else is perfect — until the next time it happens.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/law-enforcement-personnel-arrested-child-sting/

Border Wall Construction Crew Caught Smuggling from Mexico in Texas

On July 20 at approximately 5:30 am local time, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Rio Grande City Station observed a pickup truck near the Rio Grande in Fronton. The vehicle was spotted parking near a new wall construction site. Several individuals were seen loading items onto the back of the truck and then proceeded toward Highway 83.

The vehicle turned east and began traveling toward Roma, Texas. Agents initiated a traffic stop on a yellow and black Ford F-250.

The suspect refused to stop. The driver later came to an abrupt stop and fled on foot south on Lincoln Avenue and in the direction of the border. This common tactic is known as a “bailout.”

Agents observed the driver jump into the Rio Grande and swim to Mexico. Back at the F-250, agents apprehended five people who were observed loading the truck. All were found to be in the United States illegally, according to law enforcement sources.

The vehicle was reportedly registered to CMF Leasing in Fort Worth, Texas. Identifying decals on the truck promoted Southwest Valley Constructors (SWVC), a firm holding a contract to build a border wall system.

The investigation also found that the driver was identified as a resident of Roma who worked for SWVC, according to Border Patrol agents.

Law enforcement sources also revealed to Breitbart Texas that the driver has a history for prior smuggling activity—details that would have been visible on a criminal background check.

On May 28, 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), awarded a contract to construct approximately three miles of new bollard wall system on federally owned land within the Rio Grande Valley Sector.

The contract was awarded to Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. for $42,860,000. Kiewit also has an office at the same address in Fort Worth where the F-250 is apparently registered.

Construction began in late 2019. This project included 18-30-foot-tall steel bollards, in addition to road construction, detection technology, and lighting installation.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/08/04/exclusive-border-wall-construction-crew-caught-smuggling-from-mexico-in-texas/

The Coronavirus Response Is Pure State Terrorism Based on Propaganda

“The true terrorists of our world do not meet at the docks at midnight, or scream “Allahu Akbar” before some violent action. The true terrorists of our world wear 5000 dollar suits and work in the highest positions of finance, government and business.”

~ Peter Joseph, “Zeitgeist: Addendum”. Documentary, History, War, www.imdb.com. 2008.

So who are the real terrorists today? They are those that seek to gain total power and control over all of us, and they are called the State. Politically speaking, the use of terrorism is a mighty weapon because it instills much fear into the hearts of man, and fear can drive the masses into panic and hiding, leaving the door open to tyranny. The ruling class fully understands this concept, and uses it as a psychological tool to control the people, and by doing so the terroristic state claims to be our protector and savior instead of our aggressor. Only a system controlled by psychopaths would use such a strategy.

Do not mistake anything about what is going on today, and do not underestimate the sinister aspect of this long planned and purposely-manufactured false pandemic. This is an act of terror that has been created for the purpose of spreading fear in order to gain more power and complete control over the world population. This is not only state sponsored terrorism, but is an active terroristic plot being accomplished by the state itself. The difference this time is that it is not cloaked in mystery or secrecy, there is no threat of bombs, and no group is claiming responsibility for this attack on humanity. It is terror by stealth alone, as this new claimed killer of the innocent is said to be a virus that has never even been properly or scientifically isolated or identified. No shot had to be fired in order to panic the masses, and all that was needed was a lie that could be easily sold to a population of pathetic brainwashed sheep awaiting their own slaughter.

This kind of terror relies completely on propaganda, and that propaganda must be constant and unrelenting so that the lower classes do not have any inclination or time for anything except concentrating on the illusion at hand. This strategy of the purveyors of terror is a clever scheme not because it is based on brilliance, but because it is based on the accepted destruction of the intellect of the herd. Once that has been accomplished, and it has been accomplished, the plan is easier to put into place. Confusion and fear are all that are necessary in order to complete the scheme.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/08/gary-d-barnett/the-coronavirus-response-is-pure-state-terrorism-based-on-propaganda/

Oprah Winfrey Launches ‘OWN Your Vote’ Campaign with Video Featuring BLM Marches and Democratic Politicians

Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey, who personally canvassed door-to-door for failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, has launched a so-called bipartisan voter drive initiative called “OWN Your Vote.”

Winfrey is launching a so-called bipartisan registration and get-out-the-vote campaign, which reportedly seeks to “provide tools and resources for Black women [to] overcome voter suppression in the November election,” according to a report by the Hollywood Reporter.

“We find our nation on the precipice, a true tipping point. Is this the moment that will finally change our country?” asked Oprah Winfrey in the campaign’s video, which features speeches from Democratic politicians from Abrams to Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Congresswoman and Joe Biden’s potential vice presidential pick Karen Bass (D-CA), Hollywood director Ava DuVernay, and images from Black Lives Matter marches. “Our audience has a powerful voice. I am proud to be a part of this movement that will create the change we want to see for our country,” Winfrey says.

“COVID-19 and the racial justice movement have highlighted the need for urgent policy reform to balance disparities that exist regarding affordable health care, systemic racism and racial discrimination,” said OWN president Tina Perry.

“We are proud to announce this important bipartisan social initiative that supports and empowers Black women to use their voice to face the issues in America they find paramount this election season,” Perry continued. “When she votes, she influences elections, and it has never been more critical to use OWN’s wide-reaching platform to ensure our core audience has the tools needed to register and cast an informed vote this fall.”

OWN Your Vote has partnered with politically leftist organizations like the NAACP, Color of Change and the ACLU. The initiative’s target markets also include battleground states with a high concentration of OWN viewers. Among them are Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, South Carolina, Virginia, Texas, and Ohio.

In the last year, OWN has also conducted a survey interviewing a nationally representative sample of 800 Black women of voting age. The study found that affordable health care and racism/discrimination are the two most important issues to Black women this election year.

Winfrey has made no secret of her Democratic Party political affiliation over the years. She endorsed Hillary Clinton in June 2016, calling Clinton’s White House run a “seminal moment for women.”

In a recent episode of her eponymous series, The Oprah Conversation, Winfrey declared that “whiteness” and “white privilege” afford unspecified benefits to white people in the “caste system” of America. “Whiteness still gives you an advantage, no matter what,” said the billionaire.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/08/04/oprah-winfrey-launches-own-your-vote-campaign-with-video-featuring-blm-marches-and-democratic-politicians/

Mike Weinberger: Was Today's Criminal Justice System Designed by the Three Stooges?

Government employees who work in criminal courts or in prosecutors’ offices — or in any other bureaucracy that deals with crime — like to say they work in the “criminal justice system.”

The “criminal justice system”? Really? It’s a “system”? And it provides “justice”? What baloney!

The truth is they do not work in a “system” and their bureaucracies do not dispense “justice.”

Instead, these organizations are chaotic, unpredictable, wrong-headed and broken.

Want proof? Look at how this “system” treated the guy who just shot three cops in Chicago on July 30.

Prior to 2015, he had already been convicted, three times, for felony drug possession. And in 2016 he was convicted of another crime, this time for aggravated assault on a police officer.

But the “criminal justice system” (what hooey!) didn’t keep him in jail.

No, he was let out. And guess what? In 2018, he pleaded guilty to illegal gun possession. But again, the “criminal justice system” (what hogwash!) released him.

And yikes! Who would have guessed that after being released he would attempt a carjacking? Certainly not I, because I’m not an “expert” who works in the “criminal justice system” (what bunk!).

Yeah, this is a “system” the same way the Three Stooges were plumbers.

Remember how the Stooges would connect all the pipes in the rich lady’s house?

When they were done, water would come out of the oven and the electric outlets.

Yeah, the Stooges were plumbers the same way these bureaucrats work in a “justice system.”

That reminds me. I think tomorrow I’ll get on the government payroll and I’ll set up an “Instant Corn Muffin System.”

It will grow and harvest corn, grind cornmeal and then bake corn muffins — all in fifteen minutes. Sure, that’s the ticket. And as long as I call it a “system” no one will notice that it doesn’t work.

When are we going to wake up and dismantle this “system”? It is a total failure and it eats tax money like Joey Chestnut eats Nathan’s hot dogs on the Fourth of July.

Anyone who thinks this “system” can protect us and provide “justice” needs to have his head examined.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2020/08/mike-weinberger-was-todays-criminal.html

Microsoft adds $95BILLION to its value fueled by TikTok acquisition talks as Trump gives the tech firm a September 15th deadline to buy the US arm of Chinese app

President Donald Trump said Monday he does not oppose Microsoft Corp acquiring the U.S. operations of TikTok and said he will ban the service in the United States on September 15 unless a sale is agreed upon.

The comments came after Trump on Friday said he was planning to ban the Chinese-owned video app's U.S. operations after dismissing a possible sale to Microsoft.

Talks of a possible buy of by Microsoft saw the tech company's share price soar by nearly nearly 6%, or $11.53, on Monday.

On Sunday Trump said that he had agreed to give China's ByteDance 45 days to negotiate a sale of popular short-video app TikTok to Microsoft.

Trump also said the U.S. Treasury would need to get a lot of money out of a TikTok deal, but was not clear how that would happen.

Microsoft said Sunday that CEO Satya Nadella had spoken to Trump and 'is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States.'

Many prominent Republicans, including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, issued statements in support of a Microsoft acquisition of TikTok's U.S. operations.

http://www.scoopyweb.com/2020/08/microsoft-adds-95billion-to-its-value.html

Your Phone Is Spying On You, And Companies Are Generating Secret “Surveillance Scores” Based On That Information

Nothing that you do on your phone is private. In this day and age, most of us have become extremely dependent on our phones, and most Americans never even realize that these extremely sophisticated little devices are gathering mountains of information on each one of us. Your phone knows what you look like, it knows the sound of your voice, it knows where you have been, it knows where you have shopped, it knows your Internet searches and it knows what you like to do in your free time. In fact, your phone literally knows thousands of things about you, and all of that information is bought and sold every single day without you knowing. And as you will see below, there are lots of companies out there that use information collected from our phones to create secret “surveillance scores” that are used for a whole host of alarming purposes.

It is really important to understand that your phone is a surveillance device. The reason why the advertisements on your phone seem so perfectly tailored for you is because of all the information that your phone has gathered on you previously.

To this day, many people are still amazed when they see an ad pop up for something that they were just talking with a friend about, but that doesn’t happen by accident. The following comes from Fox News…

Perhaps you’ve been talking to a friend about an island vacation, when suddenly deals for the Maldives or Hawaii pop up on your Facebook feed. Or you are talking to your co-worker about yard renovations when advertisements for lawnmowers litter your Twitter, or maybe you were talking about why you stopped drinking and a random sponsored article about the growing trend of “elective sobriety” is suddenly in front of your eyes.

Industry experts insist that our phones are not actively “eavesdropping” on us, but they do admit that our phones are “actually spying on us” in other ways…

“It’s easy to feel like our phone is spying on us. It is actually spying on us, but it is not eavesdropping,” Alex Hamerstone, Government, Risk and Compliance practice lead at information technology security firm, TrustedSec, told Fox News via email. “The reason why we see ads pop up that seem to be correlated to the exact thing we were just talking about is because technology and marketing companies gather extensive amounts of personal and behavioral data on us, but it’s not from eavesdropping — it’s from surfing the web, shopping, posting on social media, and other things people do online.”

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/your-phone-is-spying-on-you-and-companies-are-generating-secret-surveillance-scores-based-on-that-information/

Coca-Cola 'paid scientists to downplay how sugary beverages fueled the obesity crisis between 2013-2015,' medical journal study finds

Coca-Cola's work with scientists to downplay the role sugar plays in contributing to obesity has been called a 'low point in this history of public health.'

The beverage company donated millions of dollars to a team of researchers at a non-profit claiming to look into causes of excess weight gain in the US.

However, the team ended up being a 'front group' for Coca-Cola and promoted the idea that it was a lack of exercise, not a bad diet, that was the primary driver of the US obesity epidemic.

What's more, the group tried to downplay the fact that Coca-Cola was a donor of its research, and how much money the company gifted.

For the analysis, published in Public Health Nutrition, researchers from the University of Oxford; the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; the University of Bocconi in Milan, Italy; and US Right to Know teamed up.

They looked at more than 18,000 pages of emails between the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, West Virginia University, and the University of Colorado.

Both universities were part of Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN), claiming to be a non-profit organization studying obesity, which ran from 2014 to 2015.

But academics now say the group was created by Coke to minimize links between obesity and sugary drinks.

Coca-Cola directly funded GEBN, contributing at least $1.5 million by 2015, and distributed millions more to GEBN-affiliated academics to conduct research.

'Coke used public health academics to carry out classic tobacco tactics to protect its profits,' said Gary Ruskin, the executive director of US Right to Know

'It's a low point in the history of public health and a warning about the perils of accepting corporate funding for public health work.'

There were two main strategies, with the first being information and messaging.

This included obscuring Coca-Cola as the funding source and shaping the evidence based on diet and public health-related issues.

For example, in one email chain, the researchers tried to inflate the numbers of partners and donors so it wouldn't seem like Coca-Cola was the primary donor.

http://www.cuzzblue.com/2020/08/coca-cola-paid-scientists-to-downplay.html

Imperial Pacific International and MCC International Saipan Executives Indicted on Federal Charges

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/imperial-pacific-international-and-mcc-international-saipan-executives-indicted-federal

Ohio Governor Withdraws Ban of Hydroxychloroquine 24 Hours After Banning It

Ohio governor Mike DeWine says he wants to protect Ohioans from COVID-19. That’s why it made no sense when he banned doctors from being able to prescribe a drug that many doctors say has the potential to treat or prevent this illness.

Thanks to Zerohedge for this in-depth article which further details the magnitude of Dr. Fauci’s influence over American legislators:

Update (1240ET): The Ohio Board of Pharmacy withdrew a rule preventing the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 after Governor Mike DeWine called on the board to halt the rule, according to the Dayton Daily News.

“As a result of the feedback received by the medical and patient community and at the request of Gov. DeWine, the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy has withdrawn proposed rule 4729:5-5-21 of the Administrative Code,” reads a Thursday statement from the board.

“Therefore, prohibitions on the prescribing of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in Ohio for the treatment of COVID-19 will not take effect at this time.”

The board will reexamine the rule with the help of the State Medical Board of Ohio, clinical experts and stakeholders to determine the next step.

The rule, which was scheduled to go into effect today, would prohibit pharmacies from selling or dispensing hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for coronavirus unless the use is approved by the board’s executive director. The rule would also void all previous approvals of the drug. –Dayton Daily News

On Thursday, DeWine said that he agreed with FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn, who said that the decision to use HCQ should be between doctor and patient.

“Therefore, I am asking the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to halt their new rule prohibiting the selling or dispensing of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19,” DeWine said earlier in the day.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/08/ohio-governor-withdraws-ban-of-hydroxychloroquine-24-hours-after-banning-it.html

Raytheon Makes Deal to Make Iron Dome Defense System in US

Major US armsmaker Raytheon Technologies has announced a joint venture with Israel’s Rafael to make Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system inside the United States, with an eye toward sending it to “allies across the globe.”

Raytheon emphasized how successful Israel says Iron Dome is, citing a 90% success rate. That’s used to intercept the makeshift Palestinian rockets, and it is broadly untested with respect to proper missiles or other weapons.

MIT has done studies on Iron Dome as an interceptor missile, concluding that the success rate is a “deception” and that it is a system which “hardly works,” and almost certainly would have a success rate less than 10 percent.

Historically this was important because US aid is used to pay for the Israeli system. If the system doesn’t work, however, it’s likely something other potential customers may want to be aware of.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/08/03/raytheon-makes-deal-to-make-iron-dome-defense-system-in-us/

Fear Growing as California is Set To Release 8,000 Prisoners Into Communities Due to Covid-19

Here’s a scary thought for you America, especially if you’re in liberal California. The State is set to release 8,000 inmates, of whom they don’t even know if they are clear of having the coronavirus.

Missteps by corrections officials handling releases from state prisons are fueling fears in some California counties that thousands of inmates eligible for early release will spread the coronavirus in their communities.

Across the state, county probation officials and others on the front lines of the release of as many as 8,000 inmates by the end of August have complained that prisoners were recently freed with little notice to local authorities and without appropriate transportation or quarantine housing — and in some cases, no clear indication they were virus-free.

County officials also have expressed alarm about potentially infected inmates who were released and allowed to ride on public transportation and mingle with the public.

“We have done everything we can to contain the virus, but they aren’t helping,” said Richard Egan, Lassen County administrative officer, referring to corrections officials he contends repeatedly “dumped” potentially contagious inmates there before establishing a quarantine regimen.

https://thedcpatriot.com/fear-growing-as-california-is-set-to-release-8000-prisoners-into-communities-due-to-covid-19/

Trump reverses, encourages vote by mail — in Florida

President Trump on Tuesday encouraged voters in Florida to vote by mail, saying the state's election system is “safe and secure” after weeks of assailing efforts to expand mail-in voting by claiming that it would invite large-scale fraud.

The remarks are a reversal for Trump, who has repeatedly suggested that increased mail-in voting could lead to voter fraud, despite a lack of evidence that mailed-in ballots lead to criminal activity.

Republicans have grown worried that Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting could actually suppress the GOP vote in the upcoming election.

“Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True,” Trump tweeted. “Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGA.”

Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2020

Trump just last week suggested delaying the November election — something the president does not have the power to do — as he leveled new attacks on mail-in voting. He claimed at the time that 2020 would be the “most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history" if universal mail-in voting were implemented. Experts say that there is no evidence of meaningful fraud in mail-in voting, despite the president’s frequent attacks.

Asked at a briefing later Tuesday what had changed Trump’s view, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters the president has often made a distinction between absentee voting and “mass mail-out voting,” the latter of which she said would lead to fraud.

“He’s been unmistakably clear that when you have this mass mail-out voting like what Nevada wants to do, the consequences are real,” McEnany said.

Trump in his tweet appeared to be referencing last month’s settlement between voting rights groups and the state of Florida over a suit in which the groups sought an extension to the deadline for mail-in ballots, among other changes. The settlement involved the state pledging to work with county supervisors to educate voters on vote-by-mail and encourage maximum use of early voting days. Both the voting rights groups and the Florida GOP, which had intervened on behalf of the state, described the settlement as a victory for their respective parties.

Florida is an important battleground state that Trump won in 2016. Recent polls have shown the president trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Florida, including a Quinnipiac poll released in late July that found Biden with a double-digit lead over the president in the Sunshine State.

Several states have expanded mail-in voting in order to allow citizens to cast ballots during the coronavirus pandemic without going to the polls, where they could be at risk of catching or spreading the virus.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/510484-trump-in-reversal-encourages-vote-by-mail-in-florida

Democrats Gutted Anti-Hezbollah Legislation Days Before Attack on Israel

Efforts to slash U.S. funding to Iranian terror group blocked by House Dems

Just days before the Iranian-funded terror group Hezbollah waged a terrorist attack on Israel’s northern border, congressional Democrats gutted legislation that would have halted U.S. funding to the Lebanese military, which is almost entirely controlled by the terror group.

Congress has been working on legislation that would slash millions in American taxpayer funding to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which has long been under Hezbollah’s thumb. Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate have been pushing to cut this funding for some time, arguing that U.S. aid should not be sent to an institution known to conduct attacks against Israel on Iran’s behalf.

While the original bill had bipartisan support in both chambers, House Democrats recently attached an amendment to their version of the legislation that nixed the funding cut. Other GOP amendments that would have strengthened the legislation and pushed the LAF to isolate Hezbollah from its forces were also struck down by the Democrat-led House.

The House last week passed a watered-down version of the bill that leaves the LAF funding fully intact. The wrangling over the legislation came just days before Hezbollah launched a foiled attack on Israel from southern Lebanon, where the LAF and international forces have been tasked with stopping such terror strikes. Republican congressional sources who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon accused House Democrats of standing in the way of a major reform effort that could have forced the LAF to eradicate Hezbollah from its ranks or face a cutoff in U.S. aid dollars.

U.S. funding to the LAF has been a flashpoint for some time. As Hezbollah increases its force presence on Israel’s northern border and stockpiles sophisticated Iranian-made arms, GOP leaders in Congress have pressured the Trump administration to take action. The State Department, like congressional Democrats, has championed the aid, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo telling the Free Beacon earlier this year that funding to the LAF remains a priority. Republicans, however, view the aid as a tool to force Lebanon into ridding itself of Hezbollah’s influence.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/democrats-gutted-anti-hezbollah-legislation-days-before-attack-on-israel/

Republican Manny Sethi Scrambles to Explain Contribution to Liberal Tom Perriello

GOP candidate blames wife, sleepwalking for donation to far-left Dem

A Republican Senate candidate blamed his wife and sleepwalking for a past donation to a far-left Democrat as he woos conservative voters in Tennessee.

Orthopedic surgeon Manny Sethi, who is running to replace retiring senator Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), faced criticism in July for a campaign contribution he made to former Democratic congressman Tom Perriello. Sethi gave $50 to Perriello's campaign in April 2008, prompting an advertisement from primary opponent and former ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty. While Sethi has dismissed the attack as "baseless," his campaign has offered contradictory explanations behind the donation, going so far as to scapegoat his wife and a lack of sleep.

In an advertisement released July 25, Sethi's wife took responsibility for the contribution, saying she sent the money after "some friends called me for political donations." But in a July 1 email obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, Sethi claimed he made the donation himself, attributing the decision to sleep deprivation.

"When I was a sleep-deprived resident, I had a friend pestering me to make a donation to one of his friends who was running for office," Sethi wrote in the email. "It was dumb, and I shouldn't have done it." Sethi added that he did not know the money was going to Perriello, saying it "never would have happened" had he known.

Sethi undermined his claim of ignorance, however, during a Thursday town hall. He called Perriello "a friend's brother-in-law who was running for Congress," claiming he purchased two t-shirts with the $50 contribution. In addition, Sethi's campaign previously called the former Virginia congressman a "family friend" in a July comment made to the Tennessee Star.

Reached for comment, Sethi campaign chairman Chris Devaney told the Free Beacon that Sethi's wife "used a joint credit card that had both her name and Dr. Manny's name on it, and because of that, when the credit card processor itemized the donation, it was reported as a donation to Dr. Manny." Devaney said Sethi "didn't remember the specifics" of the donation because it was made "while he was working 100 hours a week as a resident." Devaney accused Hagerty of highlighting the donation "in hopes that voters would ignore the $100,000 he gave to Romney and Al Gore." Hagerty contributed $1,000 to Gore's presidential campaign in 1999, records show.

https://freebeacon.com/2020-election/republican-manny-sethi-scrambles-to-explain-contribution-to-liberal-tom-perriello/

TikTok Sale In Trouble? Chinese Media Calls Forced Sale Of Company By US 'Smash And Grab'

An editorial published by the state-run China Daily newspaper on Monday evening has expressed the country’s firm opposition to the forced sale of TikTok.

As tension mounts over the app's perceived security threat, President Trump has called for the popular video-sharing app company to be sold or divested by Beijing-based parent ByteDance if it wants to continue operating in the U.S.

“China will by no means accept the ‘theft’ of a Chinese technology company, and it has plenty of ways to respond if the administration carries out its planned smash and grab,” the editorial read. The Chinese government is known to use editorial in China Daily in order to publicize its positions on certain issues worldwide.

Following earlier discussions of potentially banning the app, Trump now insists that TikTok be sold to an American company by Sept. 15 or be shut down. After reports emerged of a divestment order, other reports emerged that said Microsoft was in early discussions to acquire the company. Following discussions with the President, Microsoft confirmed in a blog post that it was seeking to take over TikTok’s operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

“I don’t mind whether it’s Microsoft or someone else, a big company, a secure company, a very American company buys it,” Trump told the press on Monday. “It’ll close down on Sept. 15 unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it and work out a deal, an appropriate deal, so the Treasury of the United States gets a lot of money.”

TikTok has grown into one of the most successful apps in the world and is particular ly popular with teenagers. As it rose to prominence, the company was dogged by controversy over allegations that it provided user data to the Chinese government.

“With competitiveness now dependent on the ability to collect and use data, it offers an either-or choice of submission or mortal combat in the tech realm,” the editorial continued.

https://www.ibtimes.com/tiktok-sale-trouble-chinese-media-calls-forced-sale-company-us-smash-grab-3022384

FBI Finds Sample of Spy Warrants Almost Error-Free, in Contrast to Major Failures in Surveillance of Trump Associate

A Department of Justice review of 29 spy applications approved by a secret court uncovered only two material errors, a stark contrast to the 17 major errors discovered in applications to spy on former Trump campaign associate Carter Page.

The findings bolster the case that the FBI acted with bias against Trump’s campaign.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a secret court that operates with little oversight, ordered the FBI to overhaul its spying practices after Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz uncovered the major errors in applications to surveil Page.

Earlier this year, Horowitz found the FBI failed to properly support every single application out of the 29 selected for an audit. Probing the Woods files of each application, or records that are supposed to back up assertions in the applications, Horowitz found that no Woods files existed for four of the applications while the remaining applications had “apparent errors or inadequately supported facts.”

The FISC ordered the Department of Justice to review the applications.

That review found all 29 applications contained sufficient basis for probable cause, John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement on Monday. Two material errors uncovered during the review did not invalidate the FISC authorizations. In contrast, the Justice Department conceded early this year that the errors in the Page FISA applications invalidated two of the four warrants the bureau obtained.

The findings, along with the dozens of corrective actions undertaken by the FBI and the department’s national security division, “should instill confidence” in the FBI’s use of surveillance granted through FISC, Demers said.

A voicemail left for a Horowitz spokesman wasn’t returned.

The portrayal triggered some pushback from lawmakers.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/in-contrast-to-warrants-to-spy-on-trump-associate-fbi-finds-few-issues-with-others_3449408.html

EU Probing Google’s Proposed Takeover Of Fitbit Over Data, Competition Concerns

Fitbit now has about 30 million active users and has sold more than 100 million devices

Alphabet agreed to acquire Fitbit last year for $2.1 billion

The Commission said it will make a decision on the matter by Dec. 9

The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, said on Tuesday that it has launched a full investigation into Google’s proposed acquisition of Fitbit (FIT).

Based in California, Fitbit is a fitness-tracking firm that makes wearable devices. Fitbit now has about 30 million active users and has sold more than 100 million devices.

The commission said it is concerned that the proposed transaction would “further entrench Google's market position in the online advertising markets by increasing the already vast amount of data that Google could use for personalization of the ads it serves and displays.”

Google’s parent, Alphabet (GOOG) ,agreed to acquire Fitbit last year for $2.1 billion.

“The use of wearable devices by European consumers is expected to grow significantly in the coming years,” said EU Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, who is responsible for competition policy. “This will go hand in hand with an exponential growth of data generated through these devices. This data provides key insights about the life and the health situation of the users of these devices.”

Vestager added that the EU investigation seeks to “ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition.”

The commission further said it has concerns about the “impact” of the transaction on the supply of online search and display advertising services, as well as on the supply of ‘ad tech’ services.

By acquiring Fitbit, the commission determined, Google would acquire the database maintained by Fitbit about its users' health and fitness as well as the technology to develop a database similar to Fitbit's.

“By increasing the data advantage of Google in the personalization of the ads it serves via its search engine and displays on other internet pages, it would be more difficult for rivals to match Google's online advertising service,” the commission added.

“Thus, the transaction would raise barriers to entry and expansion for Google's competitors for these services, to the ultimate detriment of advertisers and publishers that would face higher prices and have less choice.”

https://www.ibtimes.com/eu-probing-googles-proposed-takeover-fitbit-over-data-competition-concerns-3022345

Ex-Intel. minister to ‘Post’: Not crazy for Mossad to expand

Operations budgets for the Mossad have also been skyrocketing as the IDF will need to cut billions from its budget in the coming years.

It is not unreasonable for the Mossad’s budget to be soaring through the roof as the IDF budget gets cut, former intelligence minister Dan Meridor told The Jerusalem Post.

Meridor was responding to Monday’s State Comptroller report which revealed that the Mossad had exceeded an NIS 1.5 billion budget for long-term offices and building, instead reaching NIS 2.6b. in spending.

Operations budgets for the Mossad have also been skyrocketing as the IDF will need to cut billions from its budget in the coming years.

The former intelligence minister explained that there was no contradiction in these trends since “old style wars are gone… the nature of war is changing.”

Meridor said that if in the past, the IDF needed a certain constant force build-up and volume of tanks and other expensive land warfare elements, now Israel “faces no tank threat” and in general is not overly worried about some kind of land-invasion.

Before, the IDF needed huge budgets both to maintain that constant massive readiness to repel an invasion and it also needed a large intelligence budget to follow the constant movements of large enemy forces on its borders.

With these needs reduced, the IDF is cutting back on its budget in a variety of traditional areas of warfare.

However, in the current era, he said terrorism and threats from more distant places like Iran – both of which are more the realm of the Mossad than the IDF – are the higher priority threats.

If a rising number of major threats and even investment in trying to get advanced-warning of war or low-grade conflict is crossing through the Mossad’s territory, that means a higher budget.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/meridor-to-post-not-crazy-for-mossad-to-expand-while-idf-shrinks-637495

The Battle for Andrew McCabe’s Text Messages Continues

“Isn’t it frustrating that we have to sue law enforcement agencies to get the law enforced? That they’re breaking?” – Tom Fitton stated in last week’s Weekly Update.

When it comes to Andrew McCabe’s text messages, “we’re not asking for them because we don’t think that anything is there. Something is there and the FBI cover up suggests it’s big.” In fact, a recent court decision on the McCabe text messages case, which Judicial Watch has spearheaded since 2017 has forced the FBI to capitulate on their previously held position. The judge on the case, United States District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, disagreed with the FBI’s position that text messages weren’t subject to FOIA, thereby forcing the FBI to begin to review and process Andrew McCabe’s text messages.

As you might recall, Andrew McCabe was “running the Clinton investigation as number two.” In the full swing of the investigation, in 2016, he recused himself from the investigation while his wife “received a boatload of money from the McAuliffe machine [then Virginia Governor]” for her 2016 Virginia State Senate race. Given the “egregious conflict of interest, McCabe recused himself from the Clinton email matter a week later. How do we know that? Because Judicial Watch found it out.”

While Judicial Watch“beat the FBI” in it’s fight to receive McCabe’s text messages, “we haven’t won-won yet,” in Fitton’s words. The FBI has stated it will “need until the end of august to tell us [Judicial Watch] when they’ll be giving us the 150 text messages,” he continues. “Wray’s FBI has outrageously obstructed these texts for years, and they’re separately stonewalling 8000+ pages of [other] emails and text messages until late 2021/2022. They’re protecting the Obama gang.”

“I’m tired of this FBI who thinks it’s above the law,” Fitton concludes. Aren’t you as well? Support Judicial Watch today and make sure our law enforcement agencies enforce the law!

https://www.judicialwatch.org/deep-dive/mccabe-texts-2/

FBI reportedly ignored mountains of evidence against pedophile Jeffrey Epstein including allegation Bill Clinton was with “2 young girls” on island

The first question that Hillary Clinton should be asked by a reporter the very next time she is interviewed is this: “What did you know about allegations against your husband. former President Bill Clinton, that he ’entertained’ underage girls on Jeffrey Epstein’s Pedo Island, and when did you know them?’

She would never answer that question, of course, but then she’ll never have to because no one in the garbage ‘mainstream media’ would dare ask. Because they already know.

And yet, they should because new evidence has just emerged that appears to confirm what has long been suspected: That the former president may be no better than Epstein when it comes to sex with underage girls.

Ditto for Britain’s Prince Andrew, if the evidence is true.

And the FBI sure has some explaining to do as well.

Court documents unsealed late this week resulting from a civil lawsuit against deceased pedophile Epstein’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, feature very damning quotes regarding Clinton — as well as a revealing one about President Donald Trump.

In 2016 one of Epstein’s alleged underage sexual conquests, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, filed suit against Maxwell, accusing her of having ‘recruited’ her to perform masseuse duties on Epstein when she was just 15 years old.

Documents from that suit were unsealed Thursday and contain quotes that implicate Clinton and others.

The released documents contain a transcript of a 2011 session between Giuffre and one of her lawyers, Jack Scarola:

Scarola: “Do you have any recollection of Jeffrey Epstein’s specifically telling you that ‘Bill Clinton owes me favors?’”

Giuffre: “Yes, I do. It was a laugh though. He would laugh it off. You know, I remember asking Jeffrey what’s Bill Clinton doing here [on Epstein’s island] kind of thing, and he laughed it off and said well he owes me favors.”

Giuffre: “He never told me what favors they were. I never knew. I didn’t know if he was serious. It was just a joke. … He told me a long time ago that everyone owes him favors. They’re all in each other’s pockets.”

https://www.dcclothesline.com/2020/08/04/fbi-reportedly-ignored-mountains-of-evidence-against-pedophile-jeffrey-epstein-including-allegation-bill-clinton-was-with-2-young-girls-on-island/

NYC Health Commissioner Resigns Over Mayor de Blasio’s Covid-19 Failures

Fox News is reporting that New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot resigned abruptly from her post Tuesday. She said her resignation was due to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Barbot listed her concerns and reasons for resigning in a highly critical letter.

The story was first reported in the New York Times, which first obtained the letter to de Blasio in which she states: “I leave my post today with deep disappointment that during the most critical public health crisis in our lifetime, that the Health Department’s incomparable disease control expertise was not used to the degree it could have been.”

“Our experts are world renowned for their epidemiology, surveillance and response work,” Barbot added. “The city would be well served by having them at the strategic center of the response not in the background.”

https://saraacarter.com/nyc-health-commissioner-resigns-over-mayor-de-blasios-covid-19-failures/

The Soros-Obama Inside Man: Dr. Anthony Fauci

By now, we realize the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest political ruse in American history, created in a Wuhan laboratory owned by George Soros and orchestrated by Barack Obama. What many are not aware of is Dr. Fauci, who many consider the expert on COVID-19, is an Obama holdover and is doing everything he can to keep the country on lockdowns or in various restrictions to keep the economy as weak as possible until after election day.

If you have followed Dr. Fauci’s comments and recommendations since the beginning, you realize he is no expert on the disease and seems to have no idea of what we should do to minimize its spread. He’s gone from telling the public masks are not necessary, to requiring masks be worn when in public and recently suggesting wearing goggles. What he is really doing is prolonging restrictive COVID-19 precautions for as long as he can to keep the economy down, stripping President Trump of his number one achievement, a thriving economy.

Since the FISA reports came out, we know Obama was the mastermind behind the coup to oust dually elected President Donald Trump using the fake Russian dossier and having the FBI and State Department keep him and his campaign under surveillance. Since getting elected, the Socialist Left has tried every trick in the book to get President Trump out of office. Since all attempts failed, the Soros/Obama nuclear option of ruining the economy was implemented.

The mainstream propaganda media, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, have joined forces to not only restrict but ban any information and people who present it from posting anything on the benefits of using Hydroxychloroquine as a treatment against COVID-19. Recently, Donald Trump Jr. was suspended by Twitter for posting a viral video of a group of physicians praising

Hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19. Facebook is also immediately taking down any similar posts.

https://nypost.com/2020/07/28/donald-trump-jr-suspended-by-twitter-over-covid-19-video/

There are many reasons the Socialist Left wants to bury the drug Hydroxychloroquine.

First, this drug is very cheap in price compared to their new savior, Remdesivir. The price of Hydroxychloroquine is around sixty cents a pill while the cost of Remdesivir is at $1,000 a dose, translating into billions more for the pharmaceutical companies and the many politicians who have investments in them.

https://dcdirtylaundry.com/the-soros-obama-inside-man-dr-anthony-fauci/

Ansar Allah Forces Resisting Saudi-led Aggression Release More Videos Showing Latest Clashes

The military forces in Yemen (Ansar Allah) resisting the Saudi-led aggression have released more video footage of the resistance forces spearheading the efforts to expel the invaders from their country and some of the latest clashes that have taken place.

The footage includes several tanks and other vehicles being destroyed by anti-tank missiles.

Meanwhile, the Saudi’s have made another attempt to win over the leadership of the Southern Transitional Council, which receives backing from the United Arab Emirates, and secure their acquiescence to support the administration of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in areas under Saudi occupation.

According to a report by Press TV the rival forces, sponsored by the Saudis and the UAE respectively, have agreed to share power in the country’s south as part of an agreement brokered by Riyadh in an attempt to end infighting in the military coalition that has been waging war against the people of Yemen since March of 2015.

On Tuesday of last week, Saudi Arabia said it had proposed a resolution aimed at renewing the groups’ commitment to implement a deal that the kingdom had brokered in Riyadh last November between militants loyal to the Saudi-allied Hadi administration and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC).

Under the Saudi-proposed resolution, the STC agreed to rescind its proclamation of ‘self-rule’ in the southern port city of Aden, which serves as the seat of the Hadi administration, according to a press release posted by the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) and the Saudi Foreign Ministry early on Wednesday.

The sides also renewed an agreement to observe a ceasefire which was supposed to come into effect on June 22, and agreed to jointly appoint a ‘governor’ for the regional capital Aden and form ‘a government’ there within 30 days.

Shortly after the report, STC spokesman Nizar Haitham tweeted that his group was abandoning self-administration.

The Riyadh agreement signed last year was intended to end the power struggle and deadly clashes between the two sides, which are allies under the Riyadh-led military coalition. However, in April the STC declared a state of emergency in areas under its control and announced “self-administration rule” in Yemen’s south. LINK

https://southfront.org/ansar-allah-forces-resisting-saudi-led-aggression-release-more-videos-showing-latest-clashes/

Multi-agency task force seizes cache of hard narcotics worth over 1 million dollars

SELLS, Ariz. – Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) continue to investigate circumstances that led to the seizure of almost 400 pounds of methamphetamine, approximately 10 pounds of fentanyl powder, about 8 pounds of fentanyl pills (approximately 30,000 pills) and $55,041 in U.S. currency, resulting in the arrest four individuals in Phoenix, Arizona last Thursday.

On July 23, NATIVE High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force agents and United States Border Patrol Intelligence Agents identified a vehicle being used by alleged drug traffickers to smuggle hundreds of pounds of hard narcotics from Mexico into the United States. On July 30, the vehicle drove up a make-shift ramp over the United States border approximately 50 miles west of Lukeville Port-of-Entry between Ajo and Welton U.S. Border Patrol Stations. Federal agents conducted surveillance on the vehicle from the border to Phoenix. Upon arrival in Phoenix, agents observed the contents of the vehicle being loaded into a second vehicle. Agents quickly moved in to secure the scene and arrested Luis Rendon-Espinoza, Manual Delgado-Lopez, Miguel Daniel Luna and Felicitas Saenz charging them with various narcotics federal violations.

“This significant seizure is a prime example of the importance of HSI partnering with federal agencies to leverage all capabilities and expertise to interdict and disrupt the flow of drugs into the U.S.” said Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown for HSI Arizona.

This is an HSI-led investigation conducted in partnership with the NATIVE task force. The NATIVE HIDTA initiative formed in August 2013 to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations operating within or through the Tohono O'odham Nation. The NATIVE task force is led by the Tohono O'odham Police Department (TOPD) and composed of special agents with HSI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Land Management Office of Law Enforcement and Security, Bureau of Indian Affairs Drug Enforcement Division, U.S. Border Patrol and Arizona HIDTA.

Defendant(s) are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The United States Attorney’s Office in Tucson, Arizona, accepted prosecution of all four individuals for violation of 21 USC 841 and 21 USC 846.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/multi-agency-task-force-seizes-cache-hard-narcotics-worth-over-1-million-dollars

>>10181075

NOTABLE

Live Stream! Beirut Lebanon Deadly Massive Explosion

PRAY FOR EACH OTHER