Powerful prima facie case to charge Australia’s Governor-General David Hurley with concealing war crimes

Australia’s Governor-General David Hurley was formerly a General is Australia’s army and he was Chief of the Defence Force from the 4th of July 2011 to June 2014. I wrote about his lack of credibility regarding the war crimes cover-up only a few days ago but further evidence has come to hand which starts to build a powerful prima facia case that he has knowingly covered-up war crimes in Afghanistan.

Timeline of allegations against Governor-General David Hurley:

2011 to 2014: Chief of the Defence Force when most of the alleged war crimes took place. Claims he saw nothing and heard nothing about alleged war crimes.

2012: I accused David Hurley of a cover-up back in 2011/2012 of the ADF sex tape scandal which I detailed in the last article titled “How can Governor-General Hurley be believed about the war crimes given he tried to cover-up the ADF sex tape scandal?”. (Click here to read)

The Guardian reported in an article titled “Australian special forces soldiers incensed at war crimes inquiry clearing commanders of blame”:

April 2013: “directive issued from then “chief of the defence force, the chief of joint operations and the head of Joint Task Force 633” stressing Australian soldiers must have a high degree of confidence that a targeted person is directly participating in hostilities.”

“An ADF member is exposed to criminal and disciplinary liability, including potentially the war crime of murder … for opening fire on a person when there is a substantial risk that the person is not DPH (direct participant in hostilities),” Gen David Hurley, then the CDF, wrote.

The ABC reported that the directive was prompted after an inquiry officer raised concerns about the way rules of engagement were being applied to identify individuals taking part in hostilities. It followed the shooting of two men in a village who local residents claimed were civilians and unarmed.

Hurley told Guardian Australia he did not know about the incidents at the time he issued the 2013 directive.

Defence only started probing allegations of war crimes in 2015, two years after Australia special forces had withdrawn from Uruzgan, a province of Afghanistan. The first inquiries involved commanders commissioning a study that uncovered some of the allegations.

The following year based on the results of the study, the then chief of the army, Gen Angus Campbell, requested the inspector general of the Australian defence force (IGADF) inquire into concerns about special operations that included “unsubstantiated stories” of illegal killings and inhumane and unlawful treatment of detainees over a lengthy period of time.

https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2020/12/04/powerful-prima-facie-case-to-charge-australias-governor-general-david-hurley-with-concealing-war-crimes/

BlackRock Replacing Goldman Sachs As Top Financial Firm In The White House

As President-Elect Biden continues naming people to his administration, it's looking increasingly like BlackRock could be replacing Goldman Sachs as the financial company with the largest presence inside the White House.

There are rumors circulating that Biden is going to name two executives from BlackRock, which has more than $7 trillion under management, to positions on his economic team, according to the NY Post.

Brian Deese, a current BlackRock executive and former adviser to President Barack Obama, has reportedly been picked to head up the National Economic Council, while “Wally” Adeyemo, a former chief of staff to Larry Fink, could be set to become deputy Treasury Secretary.

Deese is not an economist, the piece notes, but worked on initiatives like the auto bailout and the Paris Climate Accord during the Obama administration. 39 year old Adeyemo, a Kenyan lawyer, worked in the Treasury Department during the Obama administration. He then went on to work as a deputy director for the NEC in 2017.

“Larry is the new Goldman Sachs. Deese is not necessarily a ‘BlackRock guy,’ but he works for Larry and now he advises the president,” one investment banker told The Post.

Executives from Goldman Sachs, who generally are known to have a presence inside the White House, have been "conspicuously absent from Biden’s lists," the Post reported, citing insiders.

“Goldman and other banks have sent their people into government, whereas Larry took these guys from the White House, worked with them, backed Biden, and now he’s putting them back into the White House,” one fund manager said. BlackRock's Larry Fink has backed numerous liberal causes despite drawing the ire of the left for his investments in private prisons and weapons manufacturers.

Fink also publicly supported Biden during the election, drumming up rumors that he was interested in the Treasury Secretary or NEC role himself.

Another unnamed hedge fund manager said: “Hedge fund and private equity guys were always going to be part of future White Houses. To be honest, I’m glad it’s BlackRock and not people who have no idea what they’re doing.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/blackrock-replacing-goldman-sachs-top-financial-firm-white-house

Timing of Large Georgia Ballot Dump for Biden Appears to Coincide with Timing of Mother-Daughter Duo’s Election Fraud Scam

Jenna Ellis from the Trump team and Eric Trump both tweeted out charts showing the timing of a large data dump for Joe Biden is the same time the mother – daughter duo in Atlanta began messing with ballots in secret.

Jenna Ellis tweeted the following:

Her tweet shows an entry recorded with 225,000 votes for Biden with less than 100,000 for President Trump. This is when a major portion of the steal took place in Georgia – which is about the same time that the mother daughter team of Trump haters kicked all Republicans out of the ballot counting room in Atlanta and started tabulating votes on their own after grabbing ballots out from underneath the table.

The chart in the tweet shows what happened when Ruby and her daughter were alone with Presidential ballots in Georgia.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/timing-large-georgia-ballot-dump-biden-appears-coincide-timing-mother-daughter-duos-election-fraud-scam/

Maryland Man Pleads Guilty to Submitting False Claim to Steal Funds Intended for Afghanistan Reconstruction

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/maryland-man-pleads-guilty-submitting-false-claim-steal-funds-intended-afghanistan

WaPo: Media Must Shun Republicans Who Don’t Accept Biden as ‘President-Elect’

The Washington Post on Thursday promoted creating a political litmus test by asking Republicans three deciding questions to test whether they had wholehearted faith in the recent election process, leading many to note that the paper has never held Democrats to similar lines of questioning in the past.

The Post, which frequently undermined the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency due to the unfounded Russia hoax, set out to demand Republicans answer the proposed questions in order to determine the Republican’s legitimacy.

“The Post is asking every Republican member of Congress the same three questions today. We will report back their answers,” the Post wrote.

The Post is asking every Republican member of Congress the same three questions today. We will report back their answers.

The questions are: pic.twitter.com/P1ptrZU4cr

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 3, 2020

The questions are as follows:

Who won the 2020 presidential election?

Do you support or oppose Donald Trump’s continuing efforts to claim victory?

If Joe Biden wins a majority in the electoral college, will you accept him as the legitimately elected president of the United States?

In an accompanying article titled “A political litmus test for Republicans: Fail it, lose your TV slot” and a caption reading: “Time for a rapid test for the voter fraud delusion,” MSNBC Hardball host Matt Negrin seeks to reprimand any Republican who “refuses to acknowledge [Biden] as president-elect” while supporting “President Trump’s lie that imaginary voter fraud stole the election from him.”

Though election results have yet to be fully certified, as state electors must first meet before Congress finalizes the results in January, and despite pending legal challenges and recounts, the Post’s survey seeks to punish Republicans who choose not to accept the essay’s take on reality.

Those who do not satisfy the host are then to be removed lest they “infect” others.

“Journalists in the news business do have the power to stop the spread of this dangerous disinformation by quarantining this conspiracy theory to where it belongs — Fox News, Newsmax and One America News — rather than allowing it to infect viewers of real news outlets,” the essay reads.

Republicans who don’t answer accordingly are then to have their interviews terminated immediately.

“Whenever Republicans appear on a news show, the first question to them must be: ‘Do you acknowledge that Biden won the election and that he is president-elect?’ If the Republican politician doesn’t say yes, they’ve failed the test and are at risk of spreading disinformation. The host of the show has an obligation to viewers to stop the interview there and say goodbye,” the essay continues.

The justification is presented as follows: “If an interview subject is willing to lie about a fact so plainly obvious and integral to American democracy — ‘the election is real and it happened’ — we have to assume they’re willing to lie about anything.”

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/12/04/wapo-media-must-shun-republicans-who-dont-accept-biden-as-president-elect/

Proposed Law in Seattle Would Give Immunity for Misdemeanors to the 'Underclass'

It’s a little early in the day for revolution. I like to finish my coffee before being assaulted by stupidity and illogic.

But in the city of Seattle, the radicals never sleep, never let up. It’s why there’s a real danger they will win in the end and why they must be fought at every turn.

Their latest guilt-laden idiocy is to propose eliminating misdemeanor crimes for the “underclass.” Anyone who can prove they’re a victim of society receives a “get out of jail free” card.

The woke Seattle city council members refer to misdemeanors as “crimes of poverty” and want judges to throw them out.

City Journal:

This is the latest and most brazen effort in the city’s campaign to establish what might be called a “reverse hierarchy of oppression.” The underlying theory is that society has condemned the lower class to a life of poverty and stigma, which leads to addiction, madness, and indigence. The poor, in the logic of Seattle’s progressive elites, are thus forced to commit crimes—including violent crimes—to secure their very existence. Therefore, as society is the perpetrator of this inequality, the crimes of the poor must be forgiven. The crimes are transformed into an expression of social justice.

Christopher Rufo refers to the underclass as “the new untouchables.” Just what crimes would be untouchable?

On a practical level, if this ordinance becomes law, it will effectively legalize an entire spectrum of misdemeanor crimes, including theft, assault, harassment, drug possession, property destruction, and indecent exposure. Criminals must simply establish that they have an addiction, mental-health disorder, or low income in order to evade justice. The impact of this measure would be enormous. In 2019, the Seattle Police Department reported 25,993 thefts, 8,442 assaults, 6,430 property offenses, 4,194 frauds, 3,910 trespasses, and 1,640 narcotics violations—representing 72 percent of all reported crimes. If the ordinance passes, nearly all these crimes would be permitted under law.

The law would make Seattle the safest city in the industrialized world — on paper. Otherwise, not so much.

I marvel at the reasoning behind this proposed law. “Poverty made me do it” is better than the devil interceding with humanity to force people to do wrong.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/12/04/proposed-law-in-seattle-would-give-immunity-for-misdemeanors-to-the-underclass-n1191589

TRUMP CAMPAIGN Files Lawsuit to Overturn Fraudulent Election in Georgia

The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Georgia on Friday claiming the election process was overwhelmed with fraud and irregularities and a new election should be ordered immediately.

The lawsuit claims over 300,000 ballots were processed illegally.

President Donald Trump has filed suit in Georgia claiming the election process was filled with “significant systemic misconduct, fraud and other irregularities” resulting in “many thousands of illegal votes” being cast and counted.

The suit was filed in Georgia on Friday on behalf of Trump and David Shafer, a presidential elector pledged to the president. The suit named Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and a slew of local elections officials.

It is asking the court to prevent certification of the results and order a new presidential election.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/trump-campaign-files-lawsuit-overturn-fraudulent-election-georgia/

UK Pro-Censorship Group Feat. Christopher Steele Vows to Interfere in U.S. Politics AND Force Facebook to Ban Bannon

A group calling itself ‘The Real Facebook Oversight Board’ – a play on the already wildly left-wing, actual Facebook Oversight Board – includes Soros-backed activists, reporters who have had to retract claims on Russian collusion, and the Russiagate spy himself Christopher Steele, The National Pulse can reveal.

The board, which claims it wants to influence “Facebook’s role in the US election,” recently announced its first campaign: banning former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon from Mark Zuckerberg’s platform.

Curiously, the group – which has stated its aims surrounding the U.S. election and U.S. politics – is based in the United Kingdom and includes a number of high-profile, far-left activists known for promoting fake news stories and disinformation, especially around the Brexit campaign and aftermath.

Guardian newspaper activist Carole Cadwalladr – listed on the “Real Facebook Oversight Board” – was recently forced to apologize after claiming Brexit financier Arron Banks had broken the law. She also removed her “truth defence” from the legal case against her.

Cadwalladr’s penchant for lying in her reporting appears to be hurting the new group’s fundraising efforts, with a new GoFundMe having raised just £260 ($340) of a £100,000 ($135,000) goal.

Never-Trumpers Funding Foreigners.

The group appears to be funded by a start-up grant from the organization Luminate, which in turn praises the rise of “progressive attitudes” and is founded by Pierre Omidyar. Omidyar has donated sizably to Never Trump groups and is heavily involved with Lincoln Project grandees and neoconservative activists such as Bill Kristol.

Omidyar also gives to the Democratic Congressional and Senatorial Campaign Committees.

Luminate itself works with George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, recently pledging nearly $300,000 to the group and partnering alongside it on a host of philanthropic ventures.

A testament to the group’s anti-Trump outlook, Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence officer who penned the fake dossier alleging links between the Trump Campaign and Russia, is affiliated with the Real Facebook Oversight Board’s parent organization, known as ‘The Citizens’.

The group also includes Shahmir Sanni – a left-wing plant in Boris Johnson’s neoliberal ‘Vote Leave’ group – who later went on to condemn Brexit despite having worked on the campaign and Matt Rivitz, a far-left activist who founded the Sleeping Giants boycott group before falling out with his partner.

Despite being based in the UK and trading under the name “All The Citizens,” the group states one of its aims as to “Make sure the Biden/Harris White House doesn’t become another lapdog for big tech.”

By “lapdog” they mean failing to use government force to make Big Tech companies ban right-wing ideas and personalities.

https://thenationalpulse.com/politics/uk-censorship-company-christopher-steele-bannon/

GEORGIA: New Videos Appear To Show Ruby Freeman, Daughter Pass USB Drive In Voting Room Full Of Boxes

"Y'all see all this I got here? I got through all this and all these absentee ballots."

In a new video posted to Twitter today, vote counter Ruby Freeman and her daughter, identified by National File as the person who provided the suitcases full of ballots in Georgia, can be seen with green and white spray cans containing an unknown substance, as they work on counting the ballots. Freeman is seen sitting across from her daughter, wearing blue gloves. The video then zooms in as Freeman hands her daughter what appears to be a USB drive, which Freeman’s daughter makes an effort to conceal, as she gets up and walks away from the table.

The video was discovered after Dr. Paul Gosar tweeted the National File article that was posted early this morning, identifying Ruby Freeman as the mother of the woman, seen in a video posted by the Trump Campaign, who brought in suitcases full of ballots that were counted after observers were told to leave.

In another video that was also posted on Twitter, Freeman is wearing a mask and tells her viewers, “I got a lot of work to do y’all, so I’m working seven days a week, but I’m getting it done.”

She then begins to whisper and says “I’m-uh let y’all sit in,” as she flips the camera to show her viewers the entire office room full of boxes of mail-in ballots. “Okay, so that’s what’s going on at Fulton County Voter Registration,” says Freeman. “Sir can I have some work?”

She then sits down at a desk and is given two baskets full of ballots to “work” on by a man which Freeman calls “Dion.” Freeman says “Now I’m back at work, so give me some work.”

At the end of the video Freeman says “Y’all see all this I got here? I got through all this and all these absentee ballots.”

https://nationalfile.com/georgia-new-videos-appear-to-show-ruby-freeman-daughter-pass-usb-drive-in-voting-room-full-of-boxes/

Crenshaw Publicly Calls Pro-Trump Critics ‘Democrats,’ Privately Sucks Up To Moms Demand Action

Crenshaw is one of the most flagrantly liberal Republicans to ever hold a House seat, but masquerades as a hardline internal affairs agent who roots out hidden Democrats in pro-Trump circles

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) engaged in one of his signature emotionally charged tweet storms this week, viciously attacking highly respected Pro-Trump activists such as Michelle Malkin and Lin Wood for questioning the GOP establishment’s directive to concede the presidential election and dutifully move on to vote in the Senate runoffs.

One of Crenshaw’s favorite insults for his critics is “Democrat,” which rings hollow given his own history of cozying up to left-wing extremist groups.

In August 2019, National File’s Managing Editor unearthed a photograph of Dan Crenshaw schmoozing with no less than five members of Moms Demand Action, during a private meeting with the the Bloomberg-founded anti-Constitution extremist group.

In the photo, members of Moms Demand Action are seen flanking and towering over the diminutive Crenshaw, who stands smiling with hands clasped together against the corner of a blue-walled room.

National File was able to trace the origin of the image to a tweet on February 20 from a Moms Demand Action member captioned, “Texas @MomsDemand across the state are meeting with their representatives and staff to introduce themselves and talk about #redflag laws, #BeSmart and the passage of #HR8. We must #KeepGoing, they now #ExpectUs.”

READ MORE: VIDEO: Crenshaw Calls Jesus, Superman Fictional ‘Superhero Archetypes,’ Unlike ‘Real Characters’ Rosa Parks, Ronald Reagan

While the tweet has since been deleted, National File was able to verify that Moms Demand Action did indeed hold a group meeting on the day the photograph was posted to Twitter.

Though Crenshaw’s support base was quick to downplay the significance of the pro-Red Flag Law Representative’s meeting with a liberal activist group when the photo first surfaced, the implications seem much more ominous today given Crenshaw’s recent anti-MAGA tweet frenzy.

https://nationalfile.com/photos-crenshaw-publicly-calls-pro-trump-critics-democrats-privately-sucks-up-to-moms-demand-action/

Lin Wood

@LLinWood

Communist China attacked our county with biological weapon, Covid-19. Communist China attacked our country by trying to steal US national election.

Time for America to decide whether it wants freedom or tyranny. Fight for @realDonaldTrump

, not for Xi Jinping or his puppet Biden.

https://twitter.com/LLinWood/status/1334964371215233027

>>11906130

yep, seems like a threat that they will target the people

GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler’s Campaign Staffer Killed in an Accident

Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler’s staffer was killed in an accident on Friday.

Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) introduced keynote speakers at Friday’s rally in Savannah, Georgia.

Collins said Loeffler was unable to attend after one of her staffers died in an accident.

Details of the accident were not disclosed.

“It is with an extremely heavy heart that we mourn the loss of Harrison Deal,” Loeffler said in a statement.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/just-gop-senator-kelly-loefflers-campaign-staffer-killed-accident/

>>11906190

needs a batter sauce

How "Highly Sophisticated" Chinese Money Brokers Launder Mexican Drug Cartel Money On Burner Phones

U.S. law enforcement agents told Reuters that powerful Chinese "money brokers" operating in small cells have "upended the way narcotics cash is laundered." They're replacing traditional Mexican and Colombian money men who would typically launder drug money.

In focus is a Chinese businessman named Gan Xianbing, who will be sentenced early next year in a Chicago courtroom for laundering Mexican cartel money to China.

Earlier this year, Xianbing was convicted of money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transfer firm that transferred drug money from the U.S. to offshore accounts.

Xianbing's lawyers maintain the businessman is innocent, and U.S. authorities entrapped him.

U.S. law enforcement agents said Xianbing is one of the newest emerging threats to the war on drugs. They say small cells of Chinese criminals are transforming how narcotics cash is laundered by displacing traditional money men from Latin America.

Authorities said these money men were moving large sums of drug money, underneath the radar of US, Mexican, Chinese, and international authorities. Reuters explains how it was done:

"Routing cartel drug profits from the United States to China then on to Mexico with a few clicks of a burner phone and Chinese banking apps – and without the bulky cash ever crossing borders. The launderers pay small Chinese-owned businesses in the United States and Mexico to help them move the funds. Most contact with the banking system happens in China, a veritable black hole for U.S. and Mexican authorities."

On Sept. 24, U.S. prosecutors during Xianbing's sentencing memorandum said Chinese money brokers "have come to dominate international money laundering markets."

What has emerged is the blueprint showing how Chinese money brokers are funneling money out of Latin American countries and from multi-billion-dollar drug empires, all under the radar of financial regulatory authorities. This comes at a worsening time between Sino-US relations, along with the U.S. taking a more active role in securing its borders and fighting the opioid epidemic that continues to ravage U.S. communities.

U.S. prosecutors believe Xianbing has moved between $25 million to $65 million in cartel drug money from 2016 to the time of his arrest.

China's Foreign Ministry disputes the charges, by saying most Chinese bank-account holders about whom Washington has investigated as part of its money laundering case were "legitimate enterprises and individuals" in China. "After we asked the U.S. side to provide drug-related clues or evidence of enterprises and individuals, the U.S. side has not responded," the ministry said in a statement. As for U.S. sources familiar with the investigation, well, "it's one of the most sophisticated forms of money laundering that's ever existed."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/highly-sophisticated-chinese-money-brokers-laundering-mexican-cartel-drug-money

US ‘re-positioning’ 700+ troops from Somalia on Trump’s orders, Pentagon confirms

On orders from President Donald Trump, most of the 700 or so US troops currently in Somalia will either withdraw entirely or be moved to nearby countries by early 2021, the Defense Department has confirmed in a statement.

“The President of the United States has ordered the Department of Defense and the United States Africa Command to reposition the majority of personnel and assets out of Somalia by early 2021,” the Pentagon said on Friday, after the Wall Street Journal broke the news.

NEWS: President Trump ordered the Pentagon to pull nearly all U.S. troops out of Somalia, two U.S. officials said. https://t.co/vbFNbLxhGG

— Ben Pershing (@benpershing) December 4, 2020

It is unclear how many troops will come home, and how many will move to nearby Kenya and Djibouti and continue to venture into Somalia as part of the struggle against the terrorist group Al-Shabaab.

“The forces re-positioning from Somalia are moving to partner countries elsewhere in the region to accomplish their missions,” a spokesman for US Africa Command (AFRICOM) told Fox News’ Pentagon correspondent. “The US military is not withdrawing from East Africa.”

"The forces re-positioning from Somalia are moving to partner countries elsewhere in the region to accomplish their missions," U.S. Africa Command spokesman says. "The U.S. military is not withdrawing from East Africa."

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) December 4, 2020

US troops have operated in Somalia for the past 13 years as part of the war on terrorism, seeking to prop up the government in Mogadishu against the al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab and later groups that pledged fealty to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

The not-quite-withdrawal from Somalia appears to be part of the broader push by Trump to end the 'endless' US wars in the Middle East. After Democrat Joe Biden was declared by the media as winner of the November 3 election – which Trump is challenging in courts – the senior US envoy for the anti-IS coalition admitted to misleading the president about the number of troops in Syria.

https://www.rt.com/usa/508746-somalia-troops-withdrawal-trump/

>>11906365

>>>11906190 COMMANDER OF MOSSAD ASSASSINATED IRAN HAS RETALIATED

This needs more sauce baker, very serious if true but dangerous if not and it's noted

French-Lebanese businessman who once claimed to transport Gaddafi funds to Sarkozy campaign by suitcase 'arrested in Beirut'

Authorities in Beirut have reportedly arrested a French-Lebanese businessman linked to allegations of illicit Libyan financing for Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 French presidential election campaign, on foot of an Interpol request.

Ziad Takieddine fled to the Lebanese capital earlier this year after a French court sentenced him to five years in prison in a separate case involving millions of euros he’d allegedly received for arms sales to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Takieddine previously claimed he had personally delivered suitcases carrying a total of €5 million from Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Tripoli to Sarkozy’s chief of staff back in France in 2006 and 2007.

However, he retracted the claim about the Libyan funds last month, instead accusing the magistrate overseeing the trial of the former French president of having twisted his words to make him “say things that are totally contradictory” to what he actually said.

Takieddine will now be questioned by Lebanon’s general prosecutor to establish whether or not the charges against him are justified and can be proven in court, the AFP reported. If the case proceeds, his trial could be held in Lebanon, where he is a citizen, or in France, with him being extradited back there.

Sarkozy is currently on trial in a separate case, accused of corruption and influence-peddling for allegedly attempting to bribe a magistrate in return for information about an investigation into his party’s finances.

On Thursday, former French Interior Minister Claude Gueant was charged with being part of a criminal conspiracy over the Libyan funding investigation. Gueant was seen as a close ally of Sarkozy, working as his chief of staff from 2007 to 2011 and his Interior Minister from 2011 to 2012.

https://www.rt.com/news/508726-lebanon-arrest-sarkozy-funding-libya/

FBI declares HACKERS targeting think tanks ‘shaping US policy’… same NGOs that fearmonger about foreign hacking

Hackers are targeting American think tanks, according to the FBI and the recently-founded Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a body owing its existence to those same think tanks’ scare stories about foreign hackers.

The agencies warned in a Tuesday report that “likely state-sponsored groups” are targeting think tanks, urging the policy researchers to beef up security on their computer networks lest the same foreign threats they spend taxpayers’ money warning the government about gain access to their deepest darkest secrets.

Hackers are using spear-phishing emails, which attempt to dupe recipients into giving up their login credentials often by spoofing their origins with a reputable sender, and exploiting vulnerabilities in remote networks, according to the report.

“Given the importance that think tanks can have in shaping US policy, CISA and FBI urge individuals and organizations…to immediately adopt a heightened state of awareness” and follow standard computer hygiene, the agencies wrote. Their recommendations included relatively obvious ‘solutions’ like changing default passwords, encrypting information, downloading software patches where available, and installing antivirus programs. The agencies also advised think tanks’ employees be trained in avoiding phishing and other common hacks – opening up a new revenue arm for the cybersecurity industry.

Ironically, think tanks like the NATO- and military industrial complex-funded Atlantic Council have been on the front lines of hyping up the threat posed by foreign hackers, blaming Russia (and to a lesser extent China and Iran) for the lion’s share of unfavorable geopolitical outcomes. CISA itself was established in 2018 by the Trump administration, which was heavily pressured to step up its cybersecurity theatre amid accusations that never-proven “Russian meddling” had handed the president his surprise 2016 victory.

With even the most sensitive work being conducted over the internet due to the pandemic, fear of hackers grabbing secrets out of the data flow has mushroomed. Computing giant IBM warned on Thursday that it had uncovered a spear-phishing campaign targeting organizations involved with the Covid-19 vaccination effort across six countries. While the company acknowledged it could not attribute the attacks to any particular entity – indeed, it couldn’t even determine whether any of the phishing attempts had been successful – IBM advised targets to be on their guard (and invest in IBM’s protective measures).

https://www.rt.com/usa/508725-fbi-cisa-think-tanks-hackers/

FuckingBullshitInvestigations

GOP Rep. Cloud says Justice, FBI putting up 'roadblocks' in efforts to verify voter fraud

"What we've seen is roadblocks when it comes to looking at those items," said Texas GOP Rep. Michael Cloud.

Texas GOP Rep. Michael Cloud on Friday accused the Justice Department of putting up "roadblocks" in President Trump and others' efforts to uncover election fraud.

"There's plenty of evidence there to see, certainly enough evidence to warrant an investigation," Cloud said on Just the News' "Water Cooler" show.

To a question from show host David Brody about why neither the Justice Department nor FBI appears to be looking into such matters, Cloud replied: "Some of these accusations are pretty easy to track down if we had the fortitude to do it. … But instead of an interest in this, what we've seen is roadblocks when it comes to looking at those items."

The exchange follows Attorney General William Barr saying Tuesday that the Justice Department has yet to uncover evidence of voter fraud on a scale sufficient to affect state outcomes in the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Cloud was cautious about speculating on what federal officials might do but said, "Ultimately, the DOJ could be putting forth search warrants. They could be impounding evidence. There's a lot that they could be doing right now. And it's almost like they're waiting for the evidence to come to them."

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/gop-rep-cloud-says-justice-fbi-putting-roadblocks-efforts-verify-voter