UK, French, Belgian blanket spying systems ruled illegal by Europe’s top court

Five-year legal battle pays off. Now countries have to figure out what to do

Analysis Mass surveillance programs run by the UK, French and Belgian governments are illegal, Europe’s top court has decided in a huge win for privacy advocates.

The European Court of Justice (CJEU) announced on Tuesday that legislation passed by all three countries that allows the government to demand traffic and location data from internet and mobile providers in "a general or indiscriminate way" breaks EU data privacy laws - even when national security concerns are invoked.

“The directive does not authorise the Member States to adopt, inter alia for the purposes of national security, legislative measures intended to restrict the scope of rights and obligations provided for in that directive, in particular the obligation to ensure the confidentiality of communications and traffic data, unless such measures comply with the general principles of EU law, including the principle of proportionality, and the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Charter,” the court decided.

In layman’s terms that means that a government can’t build a massive database of what everyone does and then query it later while investigating a case. Instead, they will need to carry out targeted surveillance and data retention - identifying specific people or accounts or phone numbers - and have a court review those requests to make sure they are not overly broad.

The ruling is significant because it directly addresses the issue of national security - something that has been used for years to bypass existing personal data protection legislation - and states categorically that EU privacy laws still apply in such circumstances, almost always.

The decision includes a specific carve-out when it comes to national security, noting that “in situations where a Member State is facing a serious threat to national security that proves to be genuine and present or foreseeable, that Member State may derogate from the obligation to ensure the confidentiality of data relating to electronic communications by requiring, by way of legislative measures, the general and indiscriminate retention of that data for a period that is limited in time to what is strictly necessary, but which may be extended if the threat persists.”

In other words mass data collection should be short term and public - legislation has to be considered and passed - and only conducted for a limited period.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/07/eu_privacy_ruling/

Army Reserve Launches Investigation Into Democrat Cal Cunningham As Sex Scandal Explodes

The Army Reserve has launched an investigation into Democrat Cal Cunningham in response to a growing sex scandal that exploded last week, which has derailed his campaign to unseat Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC).

Simon B. Flake, chief of media relations and public information for the Army Reserve Strategic Communications, said, “The Army Reserve is investigating the matters involving Lt. Col. James Cunningham. As such, we are unable to provide further details at this time.”

“An Army Reserve lieutenant colonel who projected what seemed to be a wholesome appeal, Cunningham was widely viewed as the kind of recruit Democrats needed to make inroads in conservative-leaning Southern states such as North Carolina,” ABC 11 reported. “Yet the text messages and interviews offer a glimpse that is at odds with the image of a devoted family man.”

The scandal exploded on to the scene last Thursday when Patrick Howley at National File first reported that Cunningham, who is married, had sent sexual messages to another woman. Cunningham later confirmed the news, but claimed that this was a “personal matter” and that he should be entitled to his “privacy.”

Questions later emerged over whether Cunningham could be court martialed over the sexual misconduct. On Sunday, a North Carolina attorney came forward and said that her friend has also been having an affair with Cunningham.

The Associated Press reported on new graphic text messages that surfaced that claimed that Cunningham had carried out one of the alleged affairs in the home where he lives with his family:

The newly obtained texts, which are between Guzman Todd and a friend, provide a more specific timeline about their recent relationship, as well as details that describe intimate encounters — not simply a digital exchange.

The text messages were not obtained from Guzman Todd. But the AP contacted her to confirm their authenticity. In a series of interviews late Monday as well as in the text messages, Guzman Todd described two in-person encounters with Cunningham. One was in March in Los Angeles that she said did not include intimate contact, and a second was in July in North Carolina, where she said they were intimate.

In text messages to her friend, Guzman Todd said she was intimate with Cunningham in his home, which she later characterized as “weird.”

In another exchange, Guzman Todd indicated that she was frustrated by the limited attention that he showed her.

“I’m just going to send to his opponent his naked photos,” Guzman Todd wrote. “That will teach him.” The Daily Wire reported on Monday that Cunningham had dropped out of a town hall event that was scheduled as his campaign continues to struggle with the fallout. Cunningham then backed out of a fundraiser event that had been scheduled on Tuesday. Cunningham also reportedly pulled ads late last week for fundraising.

Google Search trends at the start of the week showed that the vast majority of what people were searching for online in regards to Cunningham involved the sex scandal.

http://www.tathasta.com/2020/10/army-reserve-launches-investigation.html

Military the only way

Trans-identifying children can’t consent to puberty blockers, lawyers argue, in landmark UK case against Tavistock clinic

Children can’t fully understand the lifelong repercussions of taking hormone blockers at an early age and thus can’t consent to the treatment, the lawyer for two women suing the UK’s only NHS-run youth gender clinic has claimed.

Transitioning youth who take hormone blockers have a “very high likelihood” of moving on to cross-sex hormones, which can cause “irreversible changes” such as “loss of fertility and sexual function, and decreased bone density,” Jeremy Hyam QC told the High Court on Wednesday, arguing that young people who begin the treatment are incapable of fully understanding the permanent damage they are doing to their bodies and thus cannot truly give “informed consent.”

Hyam represents two women who are suing the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), the UK’s only NHS gender clinic specifically for children, to ban the prescription of hormone blockers to youth without a court order affirming the treatment is in their “best interests.” The treatment “does not have any adequate base to support it,” and the effect of the blockers “on the intensity, duration, and outcome of adolescent development is largely unknown,” he said during the hearing.

The claimants are Keira Bell, a 23-year-old woman who began taking hormones at 16 to transition to male and started de-transitioning last year, and ‘Mrs A’, the mother of an autistic 16-year-old whose daughter is currently on the GIDS waiting list. Bell now regrets her “brash” [sic] decision to start on puberty blockers, describing it as a misguided attempt to “find confidence and happiness” that may have permanently cost her a chance at motherhood.

Bell began attending the clinic at 14, where she was seen by clinicians just five times before being prescribed puberty blockers. A year later, she began taking testosterone shots – and by the time she realized she was on the wrong path, she had already had her breasts removed.

“I should have been challenged on the proposals or the claims that I was making for myself,” she told the BBC back in March, when a judge first allowed the case to move forward, explaining that she felt incapable of turning back once the clinic visits began, as “one step led to another.”

Bell and Mrs A are concerned by the steep rise in the number of children sent to GIDS. Across England and Wales, 2,700 young people, mostly girls, were referred to the clinic last year, more than 20 times the number seen 10 years ago. Some were as young as 10, and at least a dozen were under 13.

https://www.rt.com/uk/502836-childrens-gender-clinic-puberty-blockers/

Why did the media stop talking about Sweden? Because no lockdowns looks like this:

Not only that, Sweden never made masks mandatory. They literally never had to wear masks to this day. This ‘little’ fact is completely suppressed in the news, and now they have the lowest lethality in all of Europe.

This needs to be posted everywhere.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/why-did-the-media-stop-talking-about-sweden-because-no-lockdowns-looks-like-this/

Ghislaine Maxwell hires ‘super lawyer’ who represented bin Laden’s henchman

Suspected child trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has hired Bobbi Sternheim to join her legal defense team ahead of her 2021 trial. The so-called “New York Super Lawyer” once represented one of Osama bin Laden’s henchmen.

A highly respected and seasoned trial lawyer, Sternheim has had a long career representing defendants in numerous high-profile, federal and international court cases. According to her firm's website, the New York-based lawyer specializes in ‘litigating difficult and complex cases.’

She has represented defendants in cases covering the whole spectrum of alleged international crime, including racketeering conspiracies, international terrorism, capital murder, and inter-state transport of pornographic media.

https://www.rt.com/usa/502801-ghislaine-maxwell-bin-laden-attorney/

>>10967458

Docs please

>>10967488

THIS

Trump Will Soon Speak Directly To The American People, Aide Says

Update (1444ET): The White House is keeping up a steady drumbeat of leaked comments trying to build anticipation for President Trump's first public remarks since his first positive COVID-19 test.

TRUMP WILL SOON SPEAK WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, AIDE SAYS

DEFINITE METHOD, TIME NOT SET FOR TRUMP ADDRESS: MORGENSTERN

Though a time and venue have not yet been chosen.

Earlier, CBS News reported that Trump and his team had filmed another one of the videos that Trump released via Twitter over the weekend inside the White House.

• • *

In the latest update on President Trump's condition, Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley revealed that Trump hasn't had a fever in 4 days, and that he's been symptom-free (aside from a few brief bouts of 'roid rage-inspired tweeting) for 24 hours.

Trump's vital signs, including oxygen saturation, are all normal, and Trump hasn't needed any supplemental oxygen since his blood-oxygen level dropped below 94% on Friday.

Notably, the president's labs have begun to detect the presence of antibody production, compared with his initial positive Thursday night, where antibodies weren't detected.

A Wednesday update from President @realDonaldTrump’s physician: pic.twitter.com/IEn3Clv9yg

— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) October 7, 2020

The news comes as CBS News reports that Trump and his team have recorded another video of Trump - this time from inside the White House (Trump is supposed to be confined to the West Wing) - and are reportedly weighing whether to publish it.

Meanwhile, aides for the president have told reporters that Trump is still insisting on debating Joe Biden in person next week. There's even been talk of agreement on using safety precautions like plexiglass.

With the presidential calendar still blank, Trump has been firing off tweets at a pretty steady clip all day, slowing only slightly as we head into the afternoon.

NOW THAT THE RADICAL LEFT DEMOCRATS GOT CAUGHT COLD IN THE (NON) FRIENDLY TRANSFER OF GOVERNMENT, IN FACT, THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN AND WENT FOR A COUP, WE ARE ENTITLED TO ASK THE VOTERS FOR FOUR MORE YEARS. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU VOTE! https://t.co/gsFSghkmdM

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020

We've never before formally endorsed a candidate. Today, that changes. Law Enforcement Today proudly endorses Donald J. Trump for President.

Here's what everyone in America needs to know about why we're doing it.https://t.co/EtP8HzfMht

— LawEnforcementToday (@LawEnforceToday) October 6, 2020

Undecided Voters at Concast Town Hall Previously Told Network They Were Voting Biden…https://t.co/NDaiFaxmmU

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-has-been-symptom-free-24-hours-labs-detect-covid-19-antibodies-doctors-say

Mark Kelly Admits He Would Vote Against Judge Amy Coney Barrett

Democrat Senate candidate Mark Kelly admitted in a debate Tuesday night that he would vote against confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kelly, like other Democrats, has argued that the confirmation of a new justice to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg should wait until after the election — the opposite of the position most Democrats held four years ago. (At the time, Republicans said the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat should not be filled until after the election.)

But Kelly had been somewhat guarded about whether he would, in fact, vote against Barrett. He might have a vote, even if the vote were to be held before the new Congress, because he is running against Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) to serve the remaining two years of the term of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

Though Republicans are promising a vote before Election Day, if there are any delays, Kelly would have to make a choice.

On Tuesday evening, during the one and only debate for the Arizona seat, Kelly said he would oppose Barrett — even though confirmation hearings, scheduled for next week, have not yet begun.

Martha McSally take Mark Kelly to task on his refusal to answer how he would vote on Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

Kelly finally caves and says he would vote AGAINST her nomination if he gets the chance. #AZsen pic.twitter.com/zcXiWLRUq6

— Joanna Rodriguez (@joannamrod) October 7, 2020

A Morning Consult poll released Wednesday showed that a plurality of registered voters wanted Barrett confirmed.

Kelly also declined to say whether he would back Democrats’ call to eliminate the filibuster for ordinary legislation, which would strip the opposition party of a traditional procedural safeguard.

https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/10/07/mark-kelly-admits-he-would-vote-against-judge-amy-coney-barrett/

Thousands of New Jersey Voters Receive Wrong Mail-in Ballots

Thousands of New Jersey voters received the wrong mail-in ballots, which listed the incorrect congressional district, this week — just weeks ahead of the November 3 election.

Nearly 25 percent of the ballots sent to Teaneck residents, 6,867 ballots of 28,151, listed the wrong congressional district. However, County Clerk John Hogan has since assured that voters will receive the correct ballot soon.

NorthJersey reported:

Hogan said the problem occurred at a private mailing company. The county contracts with a private company that prints the ballots, and that company contracts with a mailing company to stuff the envelopes and mail them out.

Teaneck, which has roughly 40,000 people and about 28,000 voters, is split into two congressional districts, the 5th and the 9th. 1,325 5th District voters received ballots with the 9th District race on it and a similar problem affected roughly 5,542 9th District ballots, Hogan said.

According to the outlet, the Bergen County Board of Elections is aware of who received incorrect ballots, and those will be voided in the event of the voter sending in the correct ballot. If they do not, the incorrect ballot will be counted, minus the incorrect congressional race, per the outlet.

Similarly, over 2,000 Los Angeles County voters recently received the faulty ballots, which were missing the section to cast a vote for a candidate vying for the presidency.

In August, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced that the state would embrace the vote-by-mail model used in the state’s primary and apply it to the general election.

“We’re going to extend that model into the general election in November. Most importantly, we’ve learned some lessons, including we’re going to have more presence of secure drop boxes,” Murphy said at the time.

‘Make sure there is that physical, in-voting capacity. And as it relates to mail-in ballots, the good news is in a general election, it doesn’t matter what party you’re in, everybody gets a ballot,” he added.

Mass mail-in voting has been met with growing skepticism. Over 1,600 uncounted ballots from the Garden State’s July 7 primary were discovered in a mislabeled bin last month and swiftly counted in the final tally. Notably, the additional ballots did not alter the outcome of the election.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/07/thousands-of-new-jersey-voters-receive-wrong-mail-in-ballots/

Ted Cruz: Tech Censorship Is Today’s Greatest Threat to Free Speech and Democracy

Sen. Ted Cuz (R-TX), author of One Vote Away: How a Single Supreme Court Seat Can Change History, described technology companies’ political censorship as today’s greatest threat to free speech and democracy, offering his comments in an interview on Tuesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.

Cruz noted the growing concentration of power over the flow of information held by the world’s largest technology companies.

“Big tech censorship is, I think, the single greatest threat to free speech and democracy in the country today,” Cruz said. “There are a handful of Silicon Valley billionaires who have amassed more power than ever seen before over information, over the public square, over discourse, and big tech is is brazen, [and] is shamelessly silencing and censoring conservatives.”

Cruz recalled warnings from Dr. Robert Epstein, a professor of psychology and researcher, of Google’s capability and intention to leverage its infrastructure to assist Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and Democrats, more broadly. He previously noted Google’s suppression of Breitbart News and other conservative news media across its search engine and digital properties as part of the company’s commitment to advancing left-wing ideology.

Cruz stated, “Dr. Robert Epstein, who’s a very respected psychologist, did an empirical analysis of Google in 2016. He concluded that manipulated and biased search results on Google shifted 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton. … Dr. Epstein is not a Republican. He is a liberal Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton and openly supported her, but he nonetheless was outraged that a giant Silicon Valley company was putting their finger on the scale, and actively manipulating the election outcome.”

Cruz said the Trump administration and Department of Justice must use “enforcement [and] prosecution actions” to preserve First Amendment protections against technology companies’ political censorship and related manipulations.

“We’ve got to mobilize and communicate, despite their power and lies and manipulations, and then we need the seriousness of purpose within the administration to bring enforcement actions and prosecution actions, which I have been urging the president [and] the attorney general of the administration to do for four years,” concluded Cruz.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/10/07/ted-cruz-tech-censorship-is-todays-greatest-threat-to-free-speech-and-democracy/

Saudi-Led Coalition Intercepts Houthi Drone Launched Toward Kingdom - SPA

Earlier on Tuesday, the spokesman for Saudi-led coalition Turki al-Maliki said that a Houthi explosive-laden boat was detected and destroyes by the coalition forces in the Red Sea near the Salif port.

Saudi-led coalition intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone in the Yemeni airspace, Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, a coalition's spokesman, said Wednesday, cited by Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

According to his statement, the drone was launched by the Houthis towards the Saudi Kingdom "to target civilian objects".

The statement on the drone interception comes after Tuesday's announcement that the coalition forces detected and destroyed what they described as "a Houthi explosive-laden boat" in the waters of the Red Sea near the Salif port.

Recently, the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis report multiple drone or missile attacks that have been occuring amid the armed conflict in Yemen between the government forces led by President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and Houthi rebels.

Yemen has been engulfed in the confrontation for over five years, and the Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out military operations against the Houthi militia group since 2015 after the request by Hadi.

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202010071080700075-saudi-led-coalition-reportedly-intercepts-houthi-drone-launched-toward-kingdom/

Bankrupt Hertz Drops "Offensive" Plan To Pay Millions In Executive Bonuses

It's not exactly clear what the lawyers of bankrupt Hertz were thinking but the first time the company spent a whopping $16.2 million on corporate retention bonuses just one day after it announced it would lay off 10,000 US workers and just days after it filed for Chapter 11, it made front page news.

Perhaps they were simply hoping that the bankruptcy judge overseeing the Chapter 11 case has a short memory or is senile, but whatever the reason when they requested that the management team of Hertz - which landed the iconic company into bankruptcy court for the first time in its 102 year history - be paid another $5.2 million in incentive-linked bonuses, the judge had had enough.

As we reported on Sept 18, Judge Mary Walrath slammed the application for another bonus program, saying it comes too soon - less than 4 months to be exact - after the $16.2 million in retention money Hertz agreed to hand out to about 340 employees just days before it filed for bankruptcy in May. Walrath’s order also denied a new plan that would have split as much as $9.2 million among about 295 lower-ranking managers.

"It seems offensive to give senior executives bonuses" when some of them got retention payments immediately before Hertz headed for court, Walrath said. Under the pre-bankruptcy retention plan, CEO Paul Stone received $700,000. With the new plan, Stone could have collected as much as $1.6 million.

"More has to be done to show why employees who got retention bonuses and agreed to stay with the company are not going to do their best to see that the company survives and succeeds," Walrath said in mid-September for the benefit of greedy but incompetent management teams everywhere.

According to Bloomberg, as part of the original deal, employees agreed to forgo their 2020 bonuses. The new bonuses "are in reality the 2020 bonuses under a different name," the U.S. Trustee has said.

Ironically, White & Case was hoping that this bait & switch would pass by unnoticed, and as Hertz bankruptcy attorney Jason Zakia said during the hearing, a "relatively large percentage" of the employees who would be eligible for the new bonus program also got retention bonuses. In short: reward management for destroying billions in shareholder value… and then reward them some more.

Fast forward to today when following the angry response by Judge Walrath, Hertz quietly dropped its plan to hand out executive incentive bonuses for 2020. Instead, Bloomberg reports, Hertz will push forward with a general incentive plan for lower-ranking employees to motivate them while the company crafts a turnaround plan, the car renter said in a court filing Wednesday.

And so, 4 months after an angry response by the broader public scuttled Hertz's "innovative" plan to fund its DIP loan by selling bankrupt stock to millions of underage Robinhood traders, the company has been shut down for the second time, this time in its attempt to reward management with millions in bonuses for bankrupting the most iconic US auto rental company.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bankrupt-hertz-drops-offensive-plan-pay-millions-executive-bonuses

>>10967624

>ALL ASSETS DEPLOYED.

ours or theirs?