China To Sanction US Officials For "Blatant Interference" In Hong Kong & Taiwan

China announced it plans to sanction US officials as retaliation for measures Washington has taken over Hong Kong and for steps the Trump administration has taken to increase ties with Taiwan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday that the US was "blatantly interfering" in Hong Kong by sanctioning Chinese officials over arrests in the city.

Last Friday, the US imposed sanctions on six Hong Kong and Chinese officials. In December, the US sanctioned members of Beijing’s legislature for their alleged role in crafting Hong Kong’s new national security law.

Hua said Beijing will hit US officials and lawmakers who are "primarily responsible for the vile actions on Hong Kong" with reciprocal sanctions. "The US must immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs and immediately stop using various pretenses to interfere in China’s internal affairs," she said.

Hua also said China will take action against US officials responsible for the increased ties between Washington and Taipei. Specific names of US officials that will be subject to punitive measures have not been given.

The Trump administration has taken several steps to increase diplomatic relations with Taiwan as part of its hardline China policies. In the latest move, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced he was lifting State Department restrictions on official US contacts with Taiwanese officials.

Hua said Monday that unspecified US officials would also be targeted by Beijing as they had "acted maliciously" on the Taiwan issue.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-sanction-us-officials-blatant-interference-hong-kong-taiwan

US Defense Chief Nominee Claims Russia Should Be Held Accountable for Recent Cyber Attack

US Defense Secretary nominee Gen. Lloyd Austin said during a Senate confirmation hearing that Russia should be held responsible if found to be the culprit behind the recent cyber attack against the IT company SolarWinds.

In December, media reported that numerous US federal government entities and companies had been targeted in a massive cyber attack after they corrupted the SolarWinds software and blamed the hack on a foreign actor. Some pundits constantly blamed Russia, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refuted claims that Russia was behind the cyberattack.

"I really look forward to understanding with clarity what really happened. The FBI, the NSA have given Russia credit for this. They have attributed this activity to Russia and if that's the case I think Russia should be held accountable, that's my personal belief," Austin said on Tuesday.

Earlier in January, the Office of Director of National Intelligence, National Security Agency and the FBI said in a joint statement that the cyber attack against SolarWinds is "likely Russian in origin," adding that intelligence gathering was the main purpose of the attack.

According to the US Justice Department, the hackers behind the SolarWinds breach accessed about 3 percent of mailboxes.

The Solar Wind Attack#SolarWinds #cybersecurity #bugbounty #penetrationtesting pic.twitter.com/vW786fk0fD

— The Cyber Zeel (@thecyberzeel) January 17, 2021

The Washington Post claimed in December that a hacking group called APT29, also known as "the Dukes" or "Cozy Bear", allegedly linked to Moscow, was behind intrusions but provided no evidence to back the allegation. According to the newspaper, the hack took place via a Microsoft corporate partner, which handles cloud-access services.

President Donald Trump has suggested that China rather than Russia may be responsible for the cyberattacks, adding that the scale of the cyberattacks had been exaggerated by the media and the situation was under control.

"…discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!). There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA," Trump wrote on his Twitter, which has been permanently suspended.

The attack against US companies and government institutions has become one of the biggest large-scale cybersecurity incidents in the past year. The hackers reportedly got access by compromising the Texas-based SolarWinds with a malware.

https://sputniknews.com/world/202101191081819594-us-defense-chief-nominee-claims-russia-should-be-held-accountable-for-recent-cyber-attack/

Veteran Cop, Elementary School Resource Officer, Faces Charges For Soliciting Teenage Girl For Sex

CORAL SPRINGS, FL — Detectives with the Broward Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit arrested a Coral Springs Police Officer on charges he solicited a minor for sex.

On Friday, Jan. 16, BSO ICAC detectives received information that 30-year-police veteran Steven J. Daniello, who is a school resource officer at Westchester Elementary School in Coral Springs, was soliciting an underage victim online. According to the victim, Daniello, a longtime family friend, began conversing with the victim online in September 2020. The conversations escalated to the point that Daniello offered to pay the victim for nude photos, and Daniello and the victim discussed the victim performing sexual acts on Daniello.

Once BSO ICAC detectives started investigating, an undercover detective began conversing with Daniello, who believed he was still communicating with the underage victim. The subsequent conversations corroborated the information provided by the victim.

Detectives arrested Daniello on Monday, Jan. 18 on two counts of soliciting a minor to engage in sexual conduct. Detectives also obtained a search warrant for Daniello’s electronic devices.

https://breaking911.com/veteran-cop-elementary-school-resource-officer-faces-charges-for-soliciting-teenage-girl-for-sex/

One of The Largest Drug Busts In Kentucky History

OWENSBORO, Ky. – An Owensboro Drug Trafficking Organization is behind bars and charged with multiple felonies after being caught with 151 pounds of methamphetamine, 3.5 pounds of counterfeit pills with suspected deadly fentanyl, and other drugs, announced United States Attorney Russell Coleman.

“Traffickers should take heed to keep their poison out of Daviess County and the Western District of Kentucky,” said U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman “They disregard at their own peril as federal, state, and local law enforcement here stand united to take their dope and send them to federal prison. Stay tuned; more to come.”

DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Michael Gannon said, “Today was a big win for the fine citizens of Owensboro. The individuals arrested during this investigation were responsible for peddling poison into Owensboro and our surrounding communities. Anytime we can take this much methamphetamine, fentanyl and firearms off the streets it is huge! The methamphetamine seized had a street value of almost 7 million dollars and could have provided enough dosage units to fill a capacity crowd at a professional football stadium four times over! The DEA Evansville HIDTA Resident Office is committed to working with the Owensboro Police Department and our other federal, state, and local partners to keep our communities safe by investigating and arresting violent drug traffickers. The DEA appreciates the exceptional work by all our partners who brought these individuals to justice.”

“ATF is committed to protecting the public in Western Kentucky,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Shawn Morrow. “This investigation highlights ATF’s work with our law enforcement partners to combat criminal organizations and to make Daviess County a safer place to live.”

“The Owensboro Police Department remains committed to getting narcotics and dangerous offenders off the streets of Owensboro.” Said Owensboro Police Chief Art Ealum. “This investigation is undoubtedly the most significant narcotics investigation in our department’s history, which speaks to the magnitude of the drug epidemic in the Owensboro Metropolitan Area. Our Street Crimes Unit, along with our federal and local partners, have worked tirelessly to take down this drug trafficking organization.”

Sheriff Keith Cain said, “This investigation is yet another example of the strong relationship that exists between local law enforcement and our federal partners. Both are equally committed to ridding our community of the scourge of organized drug trafficking and keeping our citizens safe.”

https://breaking911.com/one-of-the-largest-drug-busts-in-kentucky-history/

China to Expand Weather Modification Project to Cover Area the Size of India

While cloud-seeding technology has existed for decades, China’s efforts bring the idea of significantly controlling the weather to a new level

The Communist Chinese govern has announced it plans to radically expand its experimental weather modification project. Their goal is to achieve the ability to affect the weather over a 2.1 million square mile area, an area one and a half times the size of their regional foe, India.

According to a statement released by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, the Communist nation will have a “developed weather modification system” by 2025. They attribute the ability to reach this benchmark to breakthroughs in research and key technologies, as well as advances in “comprehensive prevention against safety risks.”

The Communist Chinese has sought to control the weather since the days of Mao Zedong, who passive-aggressively mandated the pursuit of the technology.

The announced purpose of the project us to protect farming areas and to ensure favorable weather for key events the nation hosts. The Chinese government seeded clouds ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in an effort to reduce smog and avoid rain ahead of the competitions.

Attendees and observers have noted that during key geo-political meetings held in Beijing, the weather always afforded beautiful clear skies. This was the product of China’s weather modification efforts in tandem with the shutting down of nearby factories.

The official statement continued on to say that over the next five years, the area covered by artificially produced rain or snowfall will reach 3.41 million square miles, while over 224,000 square miles will see the employment of hail suppression technologies.

The official Chinese State narrative is that the project will aid in disaster relief, agricultural production, large-scale emergency responses to forest and grassland fires, and dealing with unusually high temperatures and/or droughts.

An academic research paper authored by researchers at National Taiwan University last year, said the “lack of proper coordination of weather modification activity (could) lead to charges of ‘rain stealing’ between neighboring regions,” both within China and with other countries in the region.

They research paper also noted the complete lack of a “system of checks and balances to facilitate the implementation of potentially controversial projects.”

India and China, who have historically held each other at odds, and whose populations are both over one billion people, recently faced off along their shared and hotly contested border in the Himalayas. The enemy neighbor nations engaged in their bloodiest confrontation in decades.

It is because of their adversarial relationship that some in the Indian government speculate that Communist China’s weather modification project is actually more for the military use and less for their domestic initiatives.

Indian military leaders suggest that China’s weather modification abilities could potentially give that country the edge in a future conflict, given the importance of ground conditions to troop movements in the rough-terrain mountain region.

https://nationalfile.com/china-to-expand-weather-modification-project-to-cover-area-the-size-of-india/

Limbaugh on McConnell, Wife Financial Ties to China: Schweizer’s Bombshells Have ‘Not Been Wrong’

Conservative talker Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday on his nationally syndicated radio show that Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer has “not been wrong” on the bombshells in his reporting while discussing his revelations about Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and his wife Elaine Chao’s financial ties to China.

Partial transcript as follows:

LIMBAUGH: It’s a Peter Schweizer story. Peter Schweizer has written books about the financial corruption of the deep state, financial corruption of people in the Washington establishment.

He had a piece in Breitbart yesterday. The headline: “Mitch McConnell and His Wife Financially Tied to the [ChiCom] Government.” As I said, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use this. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to go there. But, man, folks they’re making it hard. I told you some Mark McKinnon stories. Let me tell you a little — a brief little — Mitch McConnell story.

After every presidential election where we lost the Senate, where we had minority control of the Senate, Mitch would call, and he was really trying to be helpful. He was attempting to… I’m sure I wasn’t the only person he called. He was calling a lot of people explaining to them how the Senate works and that there was no reason to really panic over having lost the Senate because of one thing.

If he called me once, he must have called me three different times after three different elections where the Republicans had not secured majority control of the Senate. He said, “Look, the bottom line about the U.S. Senate is it takes 60 votes to get anything, and the Democrats don’t have 60 votes,” and then he embarked on an effort to educate me on the filibuster and what the Democrats would do if they triggered it or if they blew it up and didn’t use it, whatever.

But he was attempting to be very helpful. At the same time, he was the engaging in CYA. I mean, they had just failed to win majority control of the Senate, and one of the reasons for his calls was to tell me, “It’s not that bad. They need 60 votes, and they don’t have 60 votes,” and then he would explain to me the purpose, the constitutional purpose of the Senate.

I’ve shared this with you before. He said, “Look, the purpose of the Senate is to cool things down. You know, the House of Representatives, ‘the people’s house,’ that’s where it gets knock-down, drag-out. That’s where there’s all kinds of raised voices and lots of energy. But when what they’re working on at the House, legislation, gets over to the Senate, we’re like a coffee cup saucer, Rush.

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/01/19/limbaugh-on-mcconnell-wife-financial-ties-to-china-schweizers-bombshells-have-not-been-wrong/

Ridgeland Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Attempted Enticement of a Minor

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdms/pr/ridgeland-man-sentenced-10-years-prison-attempted-enticement-minor

Wylie, Texas Man Sentenced After Admitting to Distributing Child Pornography and Communicating with Suspected Minors

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtx/pr/wylie-texas-man-sentenced-after-admitting-distributing-child-pornography-and-0

Former Eugene Elementary School Teacher Pleads Guilty for Sexually Abusing 15-Year-Old

https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/former-eugene-elementary-school-teacher-pleads-guilty-sexually-abusing-15-year-old

114 Migrants Found in U-Haul near Border in Texas

Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents stopped human smugglers from moving more than 100 migrants from the border region into the U.S. interior. Agents found them packed in the cargo area of a U-Haul box truck.

Laredo Station Border Patrol agents received information about suspected human smuggling activity in south Laredo. When they responded to the scene, they found a U-Haul box truck parked suspiciously, according to information obtained from Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials.

The agents carried out a search and discovered 114 migrants locked inside the cargo area of the truck. Officials said most of the migrants wore no personal protective equipment or masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The agents placed the migrants under arrest for immigration violations and conducted a brief medical screening.

An immigration interview identified the migrants as having come to the United States from six separate nations. Those include Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru, officials stated.

Border Patrol officials seized the U-Haul truck involved in the failed human smuggling attempt.

Under Title 42 Coronavirus protection protocols put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, approximately 90 percent of apprehended migrants are returned to Mexico after undergoing a medical screening and biometric background investigation, CBP officials previously told Breitbart Texas.

“Human smugglers continue to have no regard for the safety and health of the people they exploit for profit,” Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials said in a written statement. “With a noted increase in COVID-19 infections among detainees, the transporting of large groups of people without PPE in close dangerous quarters endangers the individuals and safety of our Nation.”

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/01/18/114-migrants-found-in-u-haul-near-border-in-texas/

President Trump Awards Presidential Commendations to Operation Warp Speed Team

Today, President Donald J. Trump awarded Presidential Commendations to the below individuals in recognition of their exceptional efforts on Operation Warp Speed:

General Mark Milley

Secretary Alex Azar

Jared Kushner

Dr. Moncef Slaoui

General Gustave Perna

Dr. Deborah Birx

Dr. Anthony Fauci

Adam Boehler

Brad Smith

David Norquist

Chuong Huynh

Janssen Kimberly Taylor

David Simon

Rebecca Kurna

Jonathan Seals

Merck Daniel Wolfe

Christopher Houchens

Robert Johnson

Matthew Hepburn

Jason Roos

David Boucher

John Mascola

Barney Graham

Emily Erbelding

Mary Marovich

Richard Gorman

Christy Ventura

Joseph Chapman

Deacon Maddox

Christine Oshansky

Tremel Faison

Mike Angelastro

Carlo De Notaristefani

Anita Patel

Nancy Messonnier

Greg Hand

Meghan Pennini

Marina Kozak

Rachel Overman

Efrain Garcia

Amy Jenkins

Karl Erlandson

Sean O’Neil

Mary Homer

John Redd

Janet Woodcock

Kevin Bugin

Deydre Teyhen

Kimberly Armstrong

Tremel Faison

Mike Angelastro

Carlo De Notaristefani

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-trump-awards-presidential-commendations-operation-warp-speed-team/

Colleges Lobby Biden to Halt Federal Probe Into Foreign Donations

Education Dept. investigation has already found $6.5 billion in unreported gifts

Top universities are already lobbying the incoming Biden administration to reverse a Trump-administration policy that required colleges to fully disclose foreign donations and halt investigations into alleged violations.

The American Council on Education (ACE), a lobbying group led by former Obama-administration official Ted Mitchell, is asking President-elect Joe Biden to "halt expanded reporting requirements" for contracts and foreign donations to universities. ACE represents nearly all of the major universities in the country, including top Democratic donors such as Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of California system. The council called for federal regulators to abandon ongoing investigations into university coffers despite revelations that top universities hid billions of dollars in donations from foreign powers.

"The Department’s response to instances of insufficient institutional reporting should have focused on reporting remediation to enhance the intended transparency rather than launching investigations," the group said in a Nov. 18 letter to Biden.

The Education Department's push to shed light on university ties to foreign donors is one of the major achievements of the Trump administration, one which has irritated top colleges, which receive the lion's share of foreign gifts. In the last four years, the department launched several probes into Harvard, MIT, Georgetown, and other top schools, uncovering more than $6.5 billion in unreported foreign gifts.

Reed Rubinstein, a senior Education Department official who spearheaded the push for greater disclosure, said that universities are "not fans of what we've done" and have deployed considerable political capital to resist the oversight effort.

"I mean honestly, the industry's reaction is just so distressing," Rubinstein told the Washington Free Beacon. "From the university associations, the business mouthpieces, the opposition has been intense. They have vigorously lobbied Congress and the executive branch to try and shut down our efforts."

The probe helped uncover millions of dollars in university donations from unsavory sources such as Huawei, a Chinese tech giant widely considered a national security threat. The department has also made publicly available all reported foreign donations to U.S. universities, allowing for public scrutiny. The Washington Free Beacon used the public dataset to uncover that the Chinese military-industrial complex has funneled $88 million to U.S. universities.

https://freebeacon.com/campus/colleges-lobby-biden-to-halt-federal-probe-into-foreign-donations/

Biden Health Pick Forced Nursing Homes to Accept COVID Patients

Rachel Levine pulled mother from personal-care facility as elderly deaths ravaged state

Biden health nominee Rachel Levine directed Pennsylvania nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients—even as she pulled her own mother out of a longterm-care facility over pandemic concerns.

President-elect Joe Biden named Levine assistant secretary for health in a Tuesday announcement, saying her "steady leadership" was needed "to get people through this pandemic." But as Pennsylvania's health secretary, Levine faced considerable scrutiny.

Last March, she issued a directive requiring nursing homes to take in COVID-positive patients. Trade groups warned the decision could prove costly. The American Health Care Association said it would put "frail and older adults who reside in nursing homes at risk" and "result in more people going to the hospital and more deaths."

Nearly two months after instituting the policy, Levine confirmed that she had moved her 95-year-old mother out of a longterm-care facility and into a hotel. At the time, more than two-thirds of Pennsylvania's coronavirus deaths had occurred in such facilities. Multiple Republicans responded with calls for Levine's resignation. State lawmaker Russ Diamond accused Levine of "withholding information" by failing to make Pennsylvania residents "immediately aware of her actions" and the "underlying reasons" she took them.

But criticism of Levine's pandemic response also came from within her own party, and the controversy could undermine her eventual Senate confirmation vote. Rep. Conor Lamb (D., Pa.) requested a federal investigation into one Pennsylvania nursing home at the center of a deadly outbreak, saying Levine's health department acted "too little, too late, and too slow" and lacked the "proper sense of urgency."

The Biden transition team did not return a request for comment.

Pennsylvania was one of only a handful of states to issue the nursing-home directive, but it slipped under the national media radar, which focused on larger states like New York.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/biden-health-pick-forced-nursing-homes-to-accept-covid-patients/

AHEM

So to become president and gain power Joe and the DS need to go into a military fortress to claim their prize.

Are they going to walk into a huge trap?

ALL OR NOTHING