fucked
Largest Norwegian Bank Faces Fine For Anti-Money Laundering Failures
Norway’s biggest lender faces a potential record-breaking US$45.5 million fine for its failure to comply with anti-money laundering rules, the bank confirmed in a statement released on Monday.
While DNB maintains that the possible fine is not related to any specific act of money laundering, the bank has also previously come under scrutiny for allegedly transferring millions out of Namibia into a series of shell companies on behalf of one of Iceland’s largest fishing companies, Samherji, as part of the so-called ‘Fishrot’ scandal.
“The possible fine that DNB has been notified of is not related to any suspicions of money laundering or complicity in money laundering,” the bank said, adding that Norway’s financial regulator, Finanstilsynet, “is considering the penalty over its inadequate compliance with the anti-money laundering rules and legislation.”
If issued, the fine would be 22 times higher than any other penalty ever imposed by the regulator for money laundering-related violations, Dagens Nyheter, a Norwegian daily newspaper, reported.
The Fishrot scandal emerged in late 2019 after former Samherji employee Johannes Stefansson released a trove of documents revealing how the company had allegedly bribed officials in Namibia for privileged access to its waters.
Later investigations by OCCRP and Finance Uncovered further found Samherji appeared to have avoided taxes by moving its profits through low-tax jurisdictions, while an expose by OCCRP partner center The Namibian identified dozens of properties worth more than US$2 million bought by figures from the scandal during the time at which the alleged corruption took place.
Samherji has denied authorizing illicit payments of any kind, describing its tax strategies in Africa as much the same as those “used every day by businesses in every corner of the world.”
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13490-largest-norwegian-bank-faces-fine-for-anti-money-laundering-failures
A fine what a joke
US Designates 14 More Chinese Officials In Latest Hong Kong Sanctions
The United States has sanctioned over a dozen more top Chinese officials related to interference in Hong Kong.
On Monday the Department of the Treasury announced it has designated 14 individuals who are all members of China’s National People's Congress, after last month Hong Kong's Beijing-backed government expelled four opposition member's from its legislature. This immediately put pressure on other oppositionists to resign.
Most prominent among the 14 newly designated include Vice-Chairpersons of 13th National People's Congress Standing Committee Dafeng Cai, Jianming Cao, Zhu Chen, Padma Choling and Weihua Wu among others, according to the Treasury Department statement.
But the new US sanctions have stopped short of taking aim at one of the most senior officials. "There had been some anticipation that the U.S. might target one of China’s most senior officials - Politburo Standing Committee member Li Zhanshu - but he wasn’t among Monday’s targets," according to Bloomberg.
News of Monday's sanctions were leaked a half-day ahead of the official Treasury announcement, upon which Asian stocks slipped overnight, notably Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.2%, with stocks in Shanghai sinking 0.8%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling slightly, 0.8%.
Amid Trump's continuing pressure campaign, which he's promised to take right up to Biden's inauguration on January 20, China's Foreign Ministry has slammed the move as continuing to spiral relations down the "wrong path".
"If the reports are true, I believe you can imagine China’s position," said spokeswoman Hua Chunying. "We firmly oppose and strongly condemn U.S. interference in China’s internal affairs and sanctions on Chinese personnel under the pretext of Hong Kong. We have expressed our positions to the U.S. side many times and made legitimate and necessary responses," she added.
Punitive anti-China actions out of the Trump administration are now effectively a daily occurrence, but it appears Beijing plans to simply endure it while counting down the days until Biden enters the Oval. However, by then the incoming Democratic president could be "boxed in" on China.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-designates-14-more-chinese-officials-latest-hong-kong-sanctions
Retired surgeons general say Trump’s transgender ban damaged military readiness
Though President Donald Trump ostensibly sought to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military for the sake of readiness and unit cohesion, a recent study found that the policy has had the opposite effect on the force.
Led by physicians who previously served as the top medical officers in the Army, Navy and Coast Guard, the Palm Center report, released in November, found that not only did the ban poison the well in units that were otherwise in the process of implementing the Obama-era transgender inclusion policy, it shrank an already dwindling recruiting pool and left a bad taste in the mouths of the general American public, which in polling has shown consistent support for transgender service members.
“The ban has kind of emboldened everybody to be transphobic again,” an active-duty sailor told researchers in an interview. “There’s no protections.”
In June 2016, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter had lifted the previous ban on transgender service members, giving the services several months to craft policies and begin implementing them.
What they came up with included a path to transition for troops wishing to live under their preferred gender identities, working with their commands and a military doctor to start hormone replacement therapies and, if they chose, work their way to gender confirmation surgery.
At the end of their agreed-upon treatment plans, they could change their gender markers in the Defense Department’s personnel system and begin living as their preferred gender, to include grooming and fitness standards, as well as shared housing.
Less than a year after the services implemented training to teach chains of command how to handle these transitions, Trump tweeted in July 2017 his intention to reinstate the ban.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/12/07/retired-surgeons-general-say-trumps-transgender-ban-damaged-military-readiness/
European, U.S. Police Curb Mail Arms Trafficking
Law enforcement agencies in 25 European countries and the United States are cracking down on the growing and disturbing trend of firearms trade via parcel mail, Europol said Monday.
Operation Armstrong VII, a coordinated enforcement effort which took place between November 16th and 20th, saw more than 42,000 packages searched and nearly 300 weapons seized, including six firearms, several constituent firearms parts, knives, pepper spray and tasers, as well as several hundred rounds of ammunition, according to the agency’s statement.
“The use of fast parcels or parcel mail has been identified as a key modus operandi for firearms trafficked to and within the EU,” Europol said, with many of these illegal firearms often being purchased through marketplaces on the so-called dark web prior to being shipped.
Given how mail-distribution allows criminals to exploit differences in gun-control legislation between various countries, Europol further underscored the importance of intelligence-sharing between respective law enforcement agencies.
“[With] millions and millions of parcels crossing the borders, finding the particular shipments containing firearms and other prohibited items constitutes a sizable challenge for police and customs and other law enforcement authorities across Europe,” it said.
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13491-european-u-s-police-curb-mail-arms-trafficking
Virginia Military Institute removes statue of Confederate Gen. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson
LEXINGTON, Va. — The Virginia Military Institute removed a prominent statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson on Monday, a project initiated this fall after allegations of systemic racism roiled the public college.
Around 9:45 a.m., a crane plucked the larger-than-life statue that freshmen were once required to salute off its base and slowly hoisted it to the ground. A small crowd gathered quietly on the mostly empty campus in Lexington where Jackson once taught, quietly looking on amid flurries of snow.
The school’s board voted to remove the statue in late October after The Washington Post published a story that described an “atmosphere of hostility and cultural insensitivity” at VMI, the oldest state-supported military college in the U.S. The piece detailed incidents such as lynching threats and a white professor reminiscing in class about her father’s Ku Klux Klan membership.
The Post’s story also led to the ouster of VMI’s superintendent, retired Army Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, and prompted state officials to commit to hiring an outside firm to investigate the students’ allegations.
Since Peay’s departure, VMI announced Cedric Wins, a retired U.S. Army major general, would serve as its interim superintendent, becoming the first Black leader to serve in that role. The school’s board has also committed to other changes, including creating a permanent diversity office.
“The history of VMI over the past 181 years is well documented. Stonewall Jackson’s ties to Lexington and the Institute as an instructor are part of that history,” Wins said in a statement Monday. But “VMI does not define itself by this statue and that is why this move is appropriate,” he added.
VMI said it will be relocated to a nearby Civil War museum at a battlefield where dozens of VMI cadets were killed or wounded. It was to be taken to storage Monday while work continued to remove the pedestal and prepare the new site, school spokesman Bill Wyatt said.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2020/12/07/virginia-military-institute-removes-statue-of-confederate-gen-stonewall-jackson/
Sen. Ted Cruz Pledges to Argue Pennsylvania Election Case in Supreme Court if Case Accepted
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has pledged, pending acceptance of the case by the Court, to make oral arguments to the Supreme Court in a case brought by Republican candidates in Pennsylvania that challenges the state’s November elections as unconstitutional due to unlawful changes in the rules for absentee ballots through Act 77 enacted in 2019.
The case was brought by lead plaintiffs Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and GOP Congressional candidate Sean Parnell. While filed by candidates for lower offices, the case has repercussions for the presidential election that could invalidate the results in favor of President Trump.
Cruz is well familiar with the Supreme Court, having clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 1996 and arguing nine cases before the Court during his tenure as Texas solicitor general from 2003-2008. Cruz was also an attorney for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush for the 2000 Florida recount cases that went to the Supreme Court.
Cruz issued a statement to Fox News on Monday about his pledge. He then posted his statement online:
“Petitioners’ legal team has asked me whether I would be willing to argue the case before #SCOTUS, if the Court grants certiorari. I have agreed, and told them that, if the Court takes the appeal, I will stand ready to present the oral argument.”
Plaintiffs-appellants petitioned the Supreme Court last Thursday for an injunction pending certiorari.
Excerpt:
QUESTIONS PRESENTED
1. Do the Elections and Electors Clauses of the United States Constitution permit Pennsylvania to violate its state constitution’s restrictions on its lawmaking power when enacting legislation for the conduct of federal elections?
2. Do the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution permit the dismissal of Petitioners’ claims with prejudice, on the basis of laches, where doing so foreclosed any opportunity for Petitioners to seek retrospective and prospective relief for ongoing constitutional violations?
Plaintiff Sean Parnell posted about Cruz’s and also posted a video clip of Mark Levin explaining the lawsuit, “It’s an honor to have Senator @tedcruz on our team & in the trenches in defense of our Constitution”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/sen-ted-cruz-pledges-argue-pennsylvania-election-case-supreme-court-case-accepted/
Major National Security Issue Identified Related to China’s Connection to Dominion Voting Machines
Huge National Security Issue – Devices manufactured by a China owned company are attached to Dominion machines!
American modern day minute men and women are saving our country!
Overnight (Hat tip Rosco Davis) it was reported through a tweet that a company owned by a Chinese firm is the manufacturer of modems used by Dominion with their voting machines.
According to another Internet hero, Edevice CellGo cellular modems are used by Dominion. The cost for the cellular modems is listed in a inventory of equipment needed for Calhoun County Michigan:
These machines and modems should never be used in US elections. This is frightening!
The devices allow an individual remotely to access, monitor and perhaps manipulate the voting machines and data on a real-time basis:
Edevice was purchased in September 2016 by a Chinese company:
iHealth, a US subsidiary of Tianjin’s Andon Group, paid $106 million to acquire eDevice of Bordeaux, France. Both companies offer mobile health monitoring devices. eDevice uses its proprietary technology to connect patients with large medtech companies and healthcare organizations. iHealth, headquartered in Mountain View, California, offers basic healthcare monitoring devices and an iOS smartphone app to keep patients connected. Two years ago, iHealth raised $25 million from Xiaomi Ventures, a China electronics company. More details….
Edevice is out of France develops specialized connectivity equipment:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/breaking-huge-major-national-security-issue-identified-related-chinas-connection-dominion-voting-machines/
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Per a document regarding the device used in elections:
The listener uses a EMS Server and cellular modem to list, report, delete, and backup all the precincts results.”
There is additional information in Michigan’s contract with Dominion showing a diagram with the Cell Go connectivity device embedded within the system:
The Michigan contract also lists the Cellgo device in its contract (p. 127):
This is a massive national security risk. Why is the US using a connectivity device with voting machines in the first place and why would we ever use connectivity devices connected with China?
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Military Situation In Syria On December 7, 2020 (Map Update)
A brief overview of the recent developments in Syria:
On December 6, the US sent a military convoy consisting of 12 trucks via the al-Walid crossing to Syria;
On December 6, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched raids against Hurras al-Din arresting several fighters of different nationalities;
On December 6, Russia reported that Idlib militants violated the ceasefire regime in Greater Idlib 31 times: 15 – in Idlib province, 2 – in Aleppo province, 10 – in Latakia province, 4 – in Hama province;
On December 7, Russian warplanes reportedly struck positions of Turkish-backed forces in the Shaykh Bahar area;
On December 7, the SDF responded to shelling in Tal Tamar by striking a Turkish military post in Bab al-Khayr. 2 Turkish soldiers were allegedly killed;
On December 6, artillery of Turkish-backed forces shelled YPG positions north of Nubl and Zahraa;
On December 6, SAA artillery shelled positions of Turkish-backed forces in al-Baraha and Fatirah.
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-syria-on-december-7-2020-map-update/
Former FBI special agent discovers trove of illegal absentee votes in Georgia
More than 57,000 people who no longer live in Georgia may have illegally participated in the state’s 2020 election, according to former FBI Special Agent Derek Somerville.
After a painstaking analysis of the 580,226 registered Georgia voters who submitted a U.S. Postal Service mail-forwarding change of address request at least 30 days prior to the Nov. 3 election, Somerville identified a whopping 57,793 absentee votes that were cast by people who live elsewhere – meaning they no longer qualify to vote in Georgia.
Somerville says that at least 57,793 Georgia voters cast their vote in a county that is different from the one where they had previously instructed the USPS to forward their mail. Of these, 43,507, or 75 percent, did not vote in person on election day.
Of the 57,793 absentee votes that Somerville identified, 17,514 had asked the USPS to forward their mail out of state to non-APO / DPO / FPO military addresses. Eighty-nine percent of these individuals are over the age of 25, meaning they are probably not college students.
To clarify, the 57,793 absentee ballots that Somerville identified may not all have been folks who moved out of Georgia. Rather, some of them may have simply moved to another location in Georgia. But a sizeable chunk did move out of state, which suggests that tens of thousands of Georgia votes may have been illegally cast.
“With few exceptions, a person submits a USPS Change of Address request because they have permanently moved and want their mail rerouted to their new address,” Somerville says.
“Under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), states may use that USPS Change of Address request to ‘identify registrants who may have changed residences’ and ‘remove the registrant from the voter rolls after satisfying all requirements of the [NVRA].’”
https://www.dcclothesline.com/2020/12/07/former-fbi-special-agent-discovers-trove-of-illegal-absentee-votes-in-georgia/
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