Democrats Accused of Letting Cops Access Americans’ Browsing Histories

No Privacy

A group of 11 advocacy organizations, including Fight for the Future and Free Press Action, just signed a letter accusing Democratic Party leadership of throwing Americans’ online privacy under the bus by concealing potentially unauthorized mass surveillance by the FBI.

Specifically, the letter accuses party leaders including Congressman Adam Schiff and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of undermining negotiations to strengthen digital privacy and limit warrantless surveillance or browsing history seizures, Gizmodo reports. It suggests that federal law enforcement is continuing to conduct “dragnet” mass surveillance, even after the laws that allowed those practices expired.

Closed Doors

Particularly damning, Gizmodo reports, is the allegation that Schiff and Pelosi derailed closed-door negotiations among Democrats trying to stop warrantless surveillance in May.

Schiff, who’s the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, refused to back legislation that blocked Feds from accessing Americans’ internet activity without a warrant, claiming that it wouldn’t actually guarantee protection. Meanwhile, the advocacy groups behind the letter say it would have done its job just fine. The vote to approve the legislation ultimately failed.

Grace Period

The letter and Gizmodo’s reporting suggest that the FBI is continuing mass surveillance even though Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the law that allowed it to do so, expired in March of this year. And members of Congress in the know, including Schiff, are allowing it to happen even without Congressional approval.

The letter says that Schiff’s statements suggest “the government may have secretly contorted the law to justify dragnet surveillance of the internet activity of people in the United States, regardless of their United States personhood.”

https://futurism.com/the-byte/democrats-accused-browsing-histories

Foetal cells are used to make the Oxford coronavirus vaccine.

Religious leaders have raised ethical doubts over one of Australia's primary coronavirus vaccine hopes because scientists have used foetal cells in its development.

Developers at Oxford University and pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca are using cell lines from an electively aborted foetus in the vaccine candidate, with Anglican, Catholic and Greek Orthodox leaders questioning the practice.

But using foetal cells in vaccine development isn't new — and the Catholic Church has previously expressed qualified support for the use of vaccines derived from these cells under certain circumstances.

We spoke to Bill Lott, a virologist at QUT's Institute of Health and biomedical innovation, to understand the role of foetal cells in vaccine development.

For the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic read our coronavirus update story.

The foetuses used are from decades ago

The foetal cells used in vaccine development are derived from a small number of foetuses which were legally terminated decades ago.

The Oxford vaccine uses HEK (human embryonic kidney) 293 cell lines, obtained from a female foetus in the Netherlands in 1973.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-28/oxford-coronavirus-vaccine-ethical-religious-foetal-cell/12592800

Aust. State media justifying Fetus use

Welcome to Dandenong, where going for a walk is a crime: As cops crack down in Melbourne again, WAYNE FLOWER accuses Dan Andrews of creating a police state NO ONE wants to be a part of

The working class suburb of Dandenong has never been regarded as pretty. Overnight, it was downright ugly

Scores of cops hit the suburb's streets on Thursday, ready for a riot after tensions boiled over the night before

Locals continued to gather in large numbers for their nightly walks, showing no sign of fear or intimidation

A handful were arrested, with at least one copping a face full of pepper spray from a short-fused officer

The working class suburb of Dandenong has never been regarded as overly pretty.

The locals would hardly argue the point.

Overnight, it was downright ugly. And it had nothing to do with the landscape.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8669695/Police-hit-streets-massive-force-Melbourne.html

First Area of UAE-Israel Cooperation: Spying on Dissidents and Journalists

Once again, media outlets reveal Israeli cooperation with Gulf countries in the field of espionage and the sale of special capabilities and expertise that will help Gulf governments track down dissidents. The Israeli NSO company in question is also mentioned in a very important and sensitive topic related to its advanced spyware, “Pegasus,” which enables penetration of mobile phones.

This time, the Hebrew newspaper, Haaretz, discussed the issue of Israeli-Gulf cooperation in terms of espionage, stating that the NSO company recently sold programs to opponents like the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries. According to what the newspaper on Sunday, deals, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, were carried out through official mediation.

The report came to confirm that the Emirati normalization with Israel was an inevitable result of deep and sensitive cooperation between them.

What is NSO?

An Israeli technology company focuses on electronic intelligence. At the top of its services are to spy on and penetrate mobile phones, and to steal their data. It is founded in 2010 by Neve Carmi, Omri Lavie, and Shalev Hulio, and has about 500 employees at its headquarters in Herzliya near Tel Aviv. Its annual revenue reached about $40 million in 2013 and increased to $150 million by 2015. In June 2017, its owner, Francisco Partners Management, put it up for sale for one billion dollars and the deal completed in 2019.

NSO services are all over the world and deals with many governments, but its name has been associated with countries accused of widespread human rights violations, such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. It sold an old version of its program to the Mexico government in 2012 in order to combat drug trafficking gangs there. However, The New York Times said in 2016, that the authorities used the program to spy on opposed journalists and lawyers.

The New York Times reported that UAE bought programs that helped it eavesdrop on the leaders of neighboring countries and the editor of an Arab newspaper in the British capital. The Israeli government treats its products like any arms exporting company. It requires it to obtain a permit from the Ministry of Defense (the Ministry of War) to export any of its products abroad.

The company claims to provide technical support to the world’s governments in order to help them fight terrorism and crime. However, international human rights organizations accuse it of designing and developing programs used in hacking and espionage operations against human rights activists and journalists in many countries.

https://geopoliticsalert.com/uae-israel-spying

>>10441756

That's a lie.

The Protocols when discovered, the Jewish leaders claimed it was aFORGERYthey never said it was a fraud.

Western War Propaganda Still Aims at Syria

While US regime change in Syria appears to be a terminal failure, various propaganda ploys used to sell the war continue in the hopes that – at the very least – such ploys can be polished and improved upon when and where the US turns its attention next.

One of these ploys includes an ongoing “trial” in Germany against Syrians accused of war crimes.

Al Jazeera in an article titled, “World’s first Syria torture trial opens in Germany,” would claim:

The world’s first trial of a senior member of the Syrian military for war crimes got under way in Germany on Thursday, despite ongoing restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The accused – Anwar Raslan, a former colonel in the Syrian military, and co-defendant Eyad al-Gharib, who allegedly worked under Raslan, had been living in Germany as refugees and were arrested in February last year.

Al Jazeera would add:

“The trial will provide an overall picture of the crimes committed by the Syrian government,” Wolfgang Kaleck, a lawyer whose Berlin-based organisation, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, will represent 16 witnesses – Syrian survivors of torture and former detainees – said in a statement before the trial.

The article also notes that:

Germany is using a legal principle called universal jurisdiction to trial Raslan and al-Gharib.

This allows German prosecutors to work on war crimes cases, whether they have a close connection to Germany or not.

Universal jurisdiction could result in an alternative means for the international community to bring war criminals to account.

Abusing universal jurisdiction for war propaganda would be a valuable tool in the hands of the United States and its Western allies who find themselves increasingly unable to find approval and support for various wars of aggression, interventions, and regime change campaigns within the halls of international organizations like the United Nations.

It should be noted that Al Jazeera is owned and operated by the Qatari government – one of several governments directly involved in the aiding and arming of US-backed militants attempting to overthrow the Syrian government. This may help explain a lack of scrutiny in the article of the trial and those involved – particularly a lack of inquiry into the so-called “European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights” (ECCHR).

https://journal-neo.org/2020/08/26/western-war-propaganda-still-aims-at-syria/

US Is Willing to Dismantle the UN Security Council to Put Pressure on Iran

In a world where American exceptionalism and unilateralism has become common currency, the brazenness of Secretary of State Pompeo’s bid to impose “snap back” inspections of Iran takes the cake. Moreover, it’s doomed to fail.

When it comes to Iran and the Iran nuclear deal (formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA), President Trump has been singularly focused on one outcome–to bring the Islamic Republic back to the negotiation table for the purpose of producing a “better deal” than the one done by his predecessor, Barack Obama, in July 2015. For the former New York realtor and reality television star-turned Chief Executive, it does not get any simpler than that–he is, after all, the consummate (if self-proclaimed) “deal maker.” How the deal is made, and even what constitutes the deal, is less important than the deal itself. This goal dominated his thinking about Iran as a candidate and continues to do so as President.

The precipitous decision to withdraw from the JCPOA in May 2018 was driven more by the perceived need to begin shaping the diplomatic battlefield in support of a new negotiation than any legitimate national security concerns. Trump’s goal all along has been to compel Iran, through the implementation of economic sanctions combined with political isolation, to scrap the Obama-era JCPOA and sit down with the new American “deal maker” to craft a “big deal” that would make everyone happy.

America versus the world

The problem from the start, however, was that the United States was alone with its displeasure over how the deal was being implemented. Among the other parties to the JCPOA (France, Great Britain, Germany, the EU, Russia, China and Iran), the agreement was proving its viability by preventing Iran from engaging in any “breakout” actions that could result in Iran obtaining enough fissile material from its centrifuge-based uranium enrichment program to build a nuclear device. Trump, however, had latched on to the so-called “sunset clauses” of the JCPOA, which lifted restrictions on Iran’s use of centrifuges after a period of several years, allowing Iran to blow-past the hypothetical calculations regarding nuclear “breakout,” and thereby mooting the fundamental purpose of the JCPOA to begin with.

The US decision to unilaterally withdraw from the JCPOA has proven to be an unmitigated policy disaster, one that has empowered Iran, Russia and China as the “aggrieved parties,” and driven a wedge between the US and its European allies. Rather than admit defeat and help restore the status quo by re-entering the JCPOA, the Trump administration has instead opted to double down, threatening to reimpose UN sanctions which had been suspended upon Iran’s entry into the JCPOA via procedural mechanisms contained in the body of that agreement calling for the “snap back” of sanctions if any party is dissatisfied with the compliance of another. The real purpose of the US gambit to reimpose “snap back” inspections wasn’t any malfeasance on the part of Iran’s nuclear program, but rather a desire to prevent the automatic lifting of an arms embargo that had been spelled out in the body of the JCPOA. This embargo was scheduled to automatically terminate come October 2020.

The US sought to pressure the Security Council into passing a resolution which would permanently extend this embargo. Both Russia and China had promised to veto, so the resolution’s defeat was inevitable. The goal in pushing for it, however, was to persuade at least nine other members of the 15-member body to vote in favor, thereby providing the US with the moral high ground when approaching the Security Council about re-imposing “snap back” sanctions. Most of the other members of the Security Council, recognizing that if they intervened to reverse a clause mandated by the JCPOA, they would put Iran’s continued participation in the agreement at risk, instead abstained from voting on the resolution. Only the Dominican Republic sided with the US; Russia and China, as expected, cast their vetoes.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-willing-dismantle-un-security-council-put-pressure-iran/5721924

WHO Skips Wuhan During China Trip; "Sat In Beijing For Three Weeks"

A delegation from the World Health Organization tasked with investigating the origins of COVID-19 failed to go to Wuhan, China - 'ground zero' for the pandemic, and instead "sat in Beijing for three weeks" according to a senior US official, who told the Financial Times that Western governments are skeptical over China's commitment to identifying the origins of the pandemic.

"Any chance of finding a smoking gun is now gone," the official continued. Though we're not sure what any team of investigators would find after China blocked international epidemiologists for eight months after the outbreak began.

Australian MP Dave Sharma told the Times: "The international community is right to have serious concerns about the rigour and independence of the WHO’s early response to this pandemic, and its seeming wish to avoid offending China.

"If this allegation is proven, it is another disturbing incident of the WHO — which is charged with safeguarding global public health — putting the political sensitivities of a member state above the public health interests of the world, in the critical early stages of this pandemic. We are all now bearing the immense costs of such a policy."

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/who-skips-wuhan-during-china-trip-sat-beijing-three-weeks

Space Force Was Set to Announce Its New Rank Structure. Then, Congress Stepped In

The U.S. Space Force was all ready to move ahead with announcing a rank structure – until lawmakers stepped in, according to the newest military branch's top enlisted adviser.

Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman on Wednesday said that an amendment proposed by Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, that would require the service to use Navy ranks, stalled the sixth's military branch's plans to roll out a personnel structure

"So we've got to let that law, that legal system play out, and until it plays out, there's really no point right moving forward," Towberman said during a Q&A segment during the Air Force Sergeants' virtual symposium.

Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who was medically retired as a lieutenant commander, proposed an amendment in the House version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, requiring "the same system and rank structure as is used in the Navy," for the Space Force according to a summary of the text. The House and Senate have passed their versions of the NDAA, and the chambers will meet to iron out the differences after the August recess.

"I'm ready to be a master chief if that's what the law says I'll be; we're ready to pivot and do something else if we're asked to do something else," Towberman said.

Towberman continued, "I know that that's frustrating to folks, we really would have preferred to have an answer by now. We're going to [start] bringing airmen in on Sept. 1, and for those junior grades in particular, it means they're still going to be called 'airman' even though they're in the Space Force, because we just don't have any other options right now."

The Space Force on Thursday announced Towberman, currently the command senior enlisted leader to both the Space Force and U.S. Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, will no longer wear both hats; Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Scott Stalker will become the SPACECOM adviser, according to a release.

Experts have argued that a Navy rank system would make sense for the fledgling Space Force.

"A good reason to use Navy ranks in the Space Force is to better distinguish [Space Force] personnel from Air Force personnel, kind of like [the Marine Corps] using different ranks than the Navy," Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, said last month via Twitter.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/08/27/space-force-was-set-announce-its-new-rank-structure-then-congress-stepped.html

Senior Liberal MP denounces 'totalitarian' Chinese rule on secret tape

Liberal Party elder and former defence minister Kevin Andrews has launched a savage attack on the Chinese government in a private party forum, saying President Xi Jinping was running "the most complete totalitarian regime that we've seen probably on the face of this earth".

In what are among the most unguarded comments yet about China by an Australian government MP, Mr Andrews, who chairs the human rights sub-committee of Australia's joint standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade, accused the "regime of Xi Jinping" of "trampling on human dignity, on human rights in China".

He said China had an "egregious" human rights record in Hong Kong and its troubled western province of Xinjiang, and had displayed "bellicose nationalism from President Xi Jinping" in the South China Sea. He accused the Victorian government of "adding propaganda value" to the Chinese Communist Party by signing up to its contentious Belt and Road Initiative.

Mr Andrews made his comments on August 13 in an online forum alongside embattled cabinet minister Michael Sukkar as the pair tried to encourage members of Christian church networks to sign up new Liberal Party members to stave off a preselection challenge in Mr Andrews' seat of Menzies.

Asked by one participant on the call if Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews had committed "high treason" with his Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China, Kevin Andrews said: "If we don't stand up to it now, it's going to do a lot more damage to the people of China and to the rest of the world."

The comments, which were recorded and obtained by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, come as Prime Minister Scott Morrison also stepped up his pressure on China, saying the Foreign Affairs Minister would from now on assert the foreign affairs power in the constitution and review relationships between China and all state, territory and local governments and universities. Proposed agreements would be vetted to see if they contradicted Australia's national interest.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/senior-liberal-mp-denounces-totalitarian-chinese-rule-on-secret-tape-20200827-p55pws.html

Minister accuses foreign governments of exploiting 'proud Australians'

Foreign governments are meddling in multicultural communities, harassing and exploiting "proud Australians" to further their own causes, according to Australia's Immigration Minister.

Key points:

Immigration Minister Alan Tudge will speak at the National Press Club today

He will accuse foreign governments of harassing multicultural communities in Australia

The Government will also overhaul a $1 billion language program and citizenship test

Alan Tudge will use his speech to the National Press Club today to raise his concern about the reach of foreign governments in Australia.

"Members of our diverse communities have been both victims of interference and used as vectors to engage in foreign interference," he will say.

"Despite now being proud Australians, some communities are still seen by their former home countries as 'their diaspora' — to be harassed or exploited to further the national cause."

The Minister doesn't name the countries responsible for this harassment.

But the ABC has been told that the Federal Government is increasingly concerned about the way the Chinese Government has been trying to consolidate its political influence in the Chinese-Australian community.

Australian security officials have also observed the way the Chinese Government has intensified monitoring and intimidation of some Chinese students and political dissidents.

They remain concerned about the hold the Chinese Communist Party has on many Chinese-language media outlets in Australia.

It is not just China, with officials also monitoring political intimidation and harassment in the Cambodian-Australian community, among others.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-28/minister-accuses-foreign-governments-exploiting-proud-australian/12604588

Gulf Cartel Knocks Down Surveillance Cameras in Mexican Border City

REYNOSA, Tamaulipas – The Gulf Cartel faction that operates in the border city of Reynosa carried out a series of coordinated actions aimed at disrupting the surveillance cameras set up by state authorities. Using SUV and carjacked cargo vehicles, cartel operators knocked down several light poles being used to hold up police cameras.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/08/27/gulf-cartel-knocks-down-mexican-border-city-surveillance-cameras/

United States Files Complaint to Forfeit 280 Cryptocurrency Accounts Tied to Hacks of Two Exchanges by North Korean Actors

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-files-complaint-forfeit-280-cryptocurrency-accounts-tied-hacks-two-exchanges

>>10442107

FFS