Breaking911

@Breaking911

JUST IN: House Dems have introduced a bill to ban “twice impeached presidents” from burial at Arlington National Cemetery and federal funds from going to buildings displaying their names or acknowledging their achievements

This bill is called the "No Glory For Hate Act"

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1362454217152200714

Politico's Defense News, Brought to You by Northrop Grumman

Since its inception 14 years ago, Politico has risen to become an internet news giant. Now employing over 700 people and reaching 50 million people per month, the website and newspaper has become one of the most trusted sources of information on political issues in the United States. Key to this is its range of influential newsletters, which reach millions every day.

And yet the organization has entered into a number of very troubling partnerships that could potentially undermine the credibility and independence of its reporting. Both its defense and space newsletters, which keep readers informed and up to date on those topics, come sponsored by giant military and aerospace contractor Northrop Grumman.

To its credit, Politico is upfront about their partnership, with those sections bearing an advertisement label stating “presented by Northrop Grumman.” The question is whether readers can truly trust the outlet to accurately report and scrutinize those areas that are so critical to its chief sponsor. Does taking Northrop Grumman’s money make Politico less likely to call out the Pentagon’s enormous and bloated military budget, war crimes committed overseas, or the gross wastage of public funds?

Certainly, Politico does not seem to have gone after Northrop Grumman. The only articles tagging the defense giant in the past four years have been an op-ed entitled “America must return to the moon as soon as possible,” which paints the company as a vital part of that process, and a now-infamous story with the headline “How women took over the military-industrial complex.” That article presents Northrop Grumman’s hiring of its first female CEO as a massive step forward for feminism, proving that the defense industry represents a progressive, forward-thinking set of institutions.

Pairing up: policies and promoters

The partnership with Northrop Grumman is far from the only worrying advertising deal Politico has signed, however. The outlet’s energy policy newsletter comes courtesy of oil behemoth ExxonMobil. Its healthcare and pharmaceutical newsletter is sponsored by private healthcare giant CVS Health. And its tax and finance newsletter is presented by controversial tax software company Intuit.

In most developed countries, the government has its own online system of tax filing. However, Intuit has lobbied heavily against the IRS creating a free app or software such as other nations have. As a result, millions of Americans struggle to file taxes using Intuit’s costly and cumbersome services. Intuit is legally required to allow military service members and those earning less than $66,000 per year to use its software for free but an investigation by ProPublica found that the company tricked large numbers of people into unnecessarily paying for its product. Intuit is currently under investigation by multiple state attorneys general as well as New York’s Department of Financial Services.

Meanwhile, Politico’s “Morning Tech” news is sponsored by American Edge, an organization that The Washington Post characterizes as a shady front group for big tech giants, whose purpose is to combat any attempts by regulators to rein in the worst excesses of the industry.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/79317/politicos-defense-news-brought-to-you-by-northrop.html

Largest City in Texas Now Under Boil Water Notice

HOUSTON, Texas — The City of Houston is now under a boil water notice for the residents of the state’s largest city. The notice comes on top of more than 300,000 Houston residents who are without electricity.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) announced Wednesday morning that residents using City of Houston water should boil before drinking.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the agency that manages electricity transmission across the state, reports that 305,000 residents of Harris County are currently without electricity. Houston is part of, but not all of, Harris County.

Statewide, that number stands at just over 2.7 million customers.

The mayor cautioned residents utilizing water systems other than the City of Houston to check with their providers for water quality issues.

Because so many Houstonians do not have electricity to boil water, Mayor Turner recommended the use of bottled water.

Officials recommend that water be boiled at a rolling boil for at least two minutes and then allowed to cool before drinking.

Turner also urged residents not to run water in their homes to prevent the freezing of supply pipes. The city’s water pressure is low which makes it difficult for the fire department to fight fires.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/02/18/largest-city-in-texas-now-under-boil-water-notice/

Reddit Suffers Widespread Outage As "Game Stopped" Hearing Starts

As the "Game Stopped" hearing began (virtually), Reddit is reportedly suffering widespread outages

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/reddit-suffers-widespread-outage-game-stopped-hearing-starts

White House Calls Early Lid for Joe Biden Due to Winter Weather

The White House called a lid for Joe Biden on Thursday, after an inch of snow and sleet fell in Washington, DC.

Calling a “lid” informs reporters the president will not appear in public or travel anywhere for the rest of the day.

The lid was called by White House staff at 8:00 a.m. Thursday morning. A few inches of snow and sleet are forecast to fall in Washington, DC, for the rest of the day.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki plans to hold her daily 12:30 p.m. briefing over the phone, according to staff.

Wednesday night, officials announced they postponed Biden’s trip to a vaccine manufacturing facility in Michigan planned for Thursday.

Biden still has yet to publicly voice his concerns for Americans suffering in Texas, even though his predecessor former President Barack Obama voiced sympathy on Twitter for those affected by the storms.

Psaki told reporters during her phone briefing with Biden’s Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall that the White House and the federal government would continue working behind the scenes to get more aid to Texans.

“I will say that the president is abreast of the developments in Texas and other states,” Psaki said.

Sherwood-Randall cited FEMA numbers reporting that they had delivered 60 generators to various locations as well as blankets, food, and water to affected areas in the state of Texas.

She warned however that Texans would still experience rolling power outages, even though the number of residents without power was shrinking.

UPDATE: At 12:38 p.m. EST, President Biden posted the following messages on Twitter.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/02/18/white-house-calls-early-lid-for-joe-biden-due-to-winter-weather/

The Dumbed Down Masses are the Problem

"Not one person has seen me and said, 'He's not wearing a mask. Why am I wearing one?'"

"The vast majority of people refuse to research, see or acknowledge the truth. Are they your real enemies in life?"

THEY'RE BEING ENSLAVED AND DON'T REALIZE IT.

Do you ever feel that your struggle is less against the power-mad pedophile elites than it is against your own people?

You know who I'm talking about. Those brain-addled, mask-wearing friends and family members of yours who refuse to see or acknowledge the truth.

That porn-watching neighbor you exchange greetings with who responds with sarcasm when you comment on or bring up the subject of politics.

That co-worker you sometimes attempt to educate while simultaneously remaining cautious lest they report you to Human Resources. Are they your real enemies in life?

You follow this site and others. You spend countless hours reading, researching, and praying. You're up to date on the state of the world and the endless chain of lies and hoaxes perpetuated on the people of every nation.

Yet when you bring up these subjects with the people you know, they stare back at you with blank faces. Their eyes glaze over and you can almost hear their thoughts: "He's a nutcase!"

That family member then whispers behind your back and tells your parents, siblings and cousins you've lost your mind. That friend stops returning your calls and emails. That neighbor and co-worker go out of their way to avoid you. Are they your real enemies in life?

We don't have Moses today, but we do have a virtual avalanche of information available even with the current state of censorship, de-platforming, and book banning. And still - and STILL - the vast majority of people refuse to research, see or acknowledge the truth. Are they your real enemies in life?

https://henrymakow.com/2021/02/mike-stone-dumbed-down-mases.html

Pathologist: FDA ‘Misled the Public’ on Pfizer Vaccine Efficacy

Pfizer’s announcement in November 2020 that clinical trials showed its COVID-19 vaccine was “95% effective” prompted Dr. Sin Hang Lee, a Connecticut pathologist, to question Pfizer’s methodology and petition the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require accurate counts of COVID-19 cases in the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine trial before granting the vaccine Emergency Use Authorization (EAU).

As The Defender reported in November, Lee, who is director of Milford Molecular Diagnostics, said:

“Until an accurate count of COVID-19 cases in the vaccinated and placebo groups has been determined for vaccine efficacy evaluation, we are asking the FDA to stay its decision regarding the emergency use authorization for this vaccine.”

Lee’s request was rejected by the FDA on Dec. 11, the same day the agency approved Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use. On Feb. 8, Lee filed an amended reply.

Here’s the sequence of events as they unfolded:

On Nov. 23, 2020, Lee, along with Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) and its counsel, submitted a Citizen Petition and petition for administrative stay of action to the FDA relating to the phase 3 trial of the BNT162b/Pfizer vaccine to prevent the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

In the petition and stay, Lee requested the FDA amend the study design for the late-stage trial of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Specifically, Lee requests:

“Before an EUA or unrestricted license is issued for the Pfizer vaccine, or for other vaccines for which PCR results are the primary evidence of infection, all “endpoints” or COVID-19 cases used to determine vaccine efficacy in the Phase 3 or 2/3 trials should have their infection status confirmed by Sanger sequencing, given the high cycle thresholds used in some trials. High cycle thresholds, or Ct values, in RT-qPCR test results have been widely acknowledged to lead to false positives … All RT-qPCR-positive test results used to categorize patient as “COVID-19 cases” and used to qualify the trial’s endpoints should be verified by Sanger sequencing to confirm that the tested samples in fact contain a unique SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA.”

The petition makes these requests because the phase 2/3 clinical trial of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine uses a presumptive RT-qPCR (“PCR”) diagnostic test, which is known to generate high rates of false-positive results.

In addition, the Pfizer vaccine trial primarily uses a PCR test that employs cycle thresholds up to 44.9 to identify COVID-19 “cases” despite the fact that “positive” results that require cycle thresholds greater than 30 to 35 are usually false positives, according to Lee.

Lee offered to re-test the residues of tested samples in his laboratory if Pfizer is unable to do so in order to confirm Pfizer’s stated vaccine efficacy rate of 95%.

Lee’s Sanger sequencing-based method for molecular diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 was published in International Journal of Geriatrics and Rehabilitation.

On Dec. 11, 2020, the same day the FDA granted Pfizer Emergency Use Authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine, the FDA responded to Lee’s petition and request for stay. The agency “conclude[d] that the petitions do not contain facts demonstrating any reasonable grounds for the requested action” and denied the petitions.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/pathologist-fda-misled-the-public-on-pfizer-vaccine-efficacy/5737739

Bill Gates Calls For ‘Third Shot’ of Vaccine to Protect Against Alleged ‘New Variants’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr says, “Gates continues to move the goalposts. Meanwhile the strategies he and others have promoted are obliterating the global economy, demolishing the middle class, making the rich richer and censoring vaccine safety advocates, like me.”

Gates told CBS News we might need a third shot of a currently available vaccine, or a “modified” vaccine as the virus mutates, but CHD’s RFK, Jr. asks why we haven’t focused instead on non-vaccine strategies, including therapeutic drugs…

With more than 40 million Americans having received at least the first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, a third dose may be needed to prevent the spread of new variants of the disease, Bill Gates told CBS News Tuesday.

Gates’ comments come amid growing concern that the current vaccines are not effective against the more contagious Brazilian and South African variants.

Pfizer and Moderna have stated that their vaccines are 95% and 99% effective, respectively, against the initial strain of COVID. However, some scientists have questioned those statements. Additionally, the World Health Organization and vaccine companies have conceded that the vaccines do not prevent people from being infected with COVID or from transmitting it, but are only effective at reducing symptoms.

Gates told CBS Evening News:

“The discussion now is do we just need to get a super high coverage of the current vaccine, or do we need a third dose that’s just the same, or do we need a modified vaccine?”

U.S. vaccine companies are looking at making modifications, which Gates refers to as “tuning.”

People who have had two shots may need to get a third shot and people who have not yet been vaccinated would need the modified vaccine, explained Gates. When asked whether the coronavirus vaccine would be similar to the flu vaccine, which requires yearly boosters, Gates couldn’t rule that out. Until the virus is eradicated from all humans, Gates said, additional shots may be needed in the future.

“AstraZeneca in particular has a challenge with the variant,” Gates explained. “And the other two, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, are slightly less effective, but still effective enough that we absolutely should get them out as fast as we can while we study this idea of tuning the vaccine.”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the studies being conducted in Brazil and South Africa, CBS News said. The foundation has also invested in the AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and the Novavax vaccines, which are being tested against new variants. Once the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved, the Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative or GAVI, founded by Gates, will distribute it globally.

“Gates continues to move the goalposts,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman and chief legal counsel of Children’s Health Defense. “Meanwhile the strategies he and others have promoted are obliterating the global economy, demolishing the middle class, making the rich richer and censoring vaccine safety advocates, like me.”

Kennedy said that the exclusive focus on vaccines has prevented the kind of progress required to actually address and recover from the pandemic:

“From the pandemic’s outset, clear-headed people familiar with the challenges inherent in the vaccine model have understood that the path out of crisis would require multiple steps. Those steps would need to include the development and/or identification of therapeutic drugs, the sharing of information among doctors to hone improved treatment models that reduce infection mortality rates below those for flu, and the kind of broad-spectrum long-term herd immunity that protects against mutant strains and that only derives from natural infection.”

Instead, Gates and vaccine makers are proposing a lifetime of boosters, supporting insufficient testing to determine safety and failing to address the inadequate monitoring of vaccine injuries, Kennedy said.

https://21stcenturywire.com/2021/02/18/bill-gates-calls-for-third-shot-of-vaccine-to-protect-against-alleged-new-variants/

The First Step Towards Righting America Is Refusing To Believe The Left About Anything

The weakness and stupidity of America’s right has allowed false narratives to cement in the minds of the public. It’s killing our freedoms. It’s killing our jobs. It’s killing our families.

Did you know that you can see The Great Wall of China from outer space? Is that not absolutely incredible? I heard this cool little fact from a friend some time ago and began telling everyone I knew about this cool trivia nugget.

What really blew me away was how almost everyone I told had already heard this and agreed with me that it is a very cool fact. A man-made wall you can see from outer space. That is just incredible.

I mean, it would be incredible, if it were true. You see, it is not true—not even a little. NASA and multiple individual astronauts have debunked this myth. Yet much of the general public believes it to be a fact, as NASA points out.

But why? The narrative. That is why. There is nothing more powerful (and destructive) in today’s world than the narrative.

The narrative, as I define it, is simply an assumption or set of assumptions widely accepted by the general public as facts. As we know, facts cannot be changed. That is why they are facts.

This is also why it is so critical to ensure the general public gets an accurate narrative. Otherwise, if the base set of publicly believed facts is wrong, every step after that will also be incorrect. It’s like getting swallowed up by an avalanche and digging ferociously in the wrong direction.

The weakness and stupidity of America’s right has allowed false narratives to cement in the minds of the public. It’s killing our freedoms. It’s killing our jobs. It’s killing our families. It’s killing our schools. It’s killing our nation.

Take coronavirus, for example. Remember the beginning? Remember the mass panic pushed from every single American institution? “EVERYONE GO HOME AND HIDE OR MILLIONS WILL DIE!”

News story after news story after social media post after politician’s speech hammered away at the American public. In very short order, even 90 percent of the people on the right were parroting the narrative that you should shut down your business and bunker down at home or everyone will die. After all, shutting down an economy is the only way to stop coronavirus, right?

That’s what the narrative was in the beginning, and to this day the vast majority of Americans believe it. Of course, that all turned out to be wrong. In very short order, the left realized these lockdowns could be a very useful tool in destroying the President Trump economy that was leading to his re-election. Where were your favorite politicians and pundits on the right in the beginning when this false narrative was being set?

https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/18/the-first-step-towards-righting-america-is-refusing-to-believe-the-left-about-anything/

Helping military children is ‘critical to our national security,’ says first lady

First lady Jill Biden told a group of educators and advocates that “giving military kids what they need to thrive is not just a nice thing to do, it’s critical to our national security,” in another of a series of listening sessions gathering information about the issues of military families.

And military families are a key focus in Jill Biden’s first weeks as first lady.

“I really get the feeling she’s trying to get a sense of what the issues are,” said Becky Porter, CEO of the Military Child Education Coalition, following the Feb. 17 session with representatives from six organizations. “She said the Biden administration wants to partner with the service organizations, those of us in this space trying to help military kids.”

Biden has revived the Joining Forces effort she and former first lady Michelle Obama spearheaded during the Obama administration. She’s held several listening sessions with military children and with military spouses in an effort to understand the issues, including the session with military teens a little more than a week following her husband’s inauguration as president.

In her opening remarks to the group, Biden reiterated her concerns about military children’s experiences, noting that while many are resilient, there must be an effort to understand their sacrifices, their fears and their losses. She gave examples of the loss of friends with moves, losing sleep over a parent’s deployment far away, and children celebrating yet another birthday “without one of the people they love most in the world.

“They’re proud of their families, but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard at times,” said Biden, who saw the effect on her son Beau Biden’s young children when he was deployed overseas for a year with the National Guard.

“Yes, military kids are resilient, but they deserve support, and we need to recognize that their experiences are both beautiful and challenging.”

Biden’s opening remarks were open to the press, but the subsequent session was closed to reporters.

Biden also noted the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic. During the listening session with Biden, Porter said, “I emphasized the social-emotional impact COVID has had on military kids. That’s where we really need to target our efforts for the foreseeable future.” Porter said in her opinion, this can affect the ability of military children, and other children, to take advantage of educational opportunities.

https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2021/02/18/helping-military-children-is-critical-to-our-national-security-says-first-lady/

HS football coach fired after complaining about left-wing curriculum in daughter's class to district officials, parents: lawsuit

Officials reportedly said the coach 'expressed significant philosophical differences with the direction, goals, and values of the school district'

A Massachusetts public high school football coach was fired from his job last month after complaining to school district officials as well as parents about the left-wing curriculum in his daughter's middle school class, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by Judicial Watch.

The lawsuit claims officials at Dedham Public Schools retaliated against former coach David Flynn for exercising his constitutionally protected free speech rights as well as his right to petition the government. The lawsuit is demanding compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys' fees and costs, and a jury trial.

What's the background?

Flynn — who became Dedham High School's head football coach in 2011 and attended the school himself — raised issues last fall about his seventh-grade daughter's World Geography and Ancient History class, which the lawsuit says had been billed as covering "geography and civilizations, Rome, Europe, Africa, Latin America, North America, and South America."

But Flynn and his wife discovered the class was teaching far different things, the lawsuit adds.

"Instead, the instruction concerned issues of race, gender, stereotypes, prejudices, discrimination, and politics, among others," the lawsuit claims. "In one assignment, Plaintiff's daughter was asked to consider various 'risk factors' and 'mitigating factors' that two people — one identified as 'white' and the other identified as 'black' — purportedly might use to assess each other on a city street. Included among the various factors were skin color, gender, age, physical appearance, and attire. 'Black,' 'aggressive body language' and 'wrong neighborhood' were among the 'risk factors' purportedly assessed by the person identified as 'white.' 'White' and 'Police officer' were among the 'risk factors' purportedly assessed by the person identified as 'black.'"

The lawsuit also says Flynn and his wife saw in the instruction materials a "cartoon version of their daughter's teacher — a 'Memoji' — wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt," which the couple "reasonably interpreted as the teacher expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement during class time."

https://www.theblaze.com/news/hs-football-coach-fired-after-complaing-about-curriculum

South Carolina Becomes 12th State to Limit Abortions After Heartbeat Detected – Effectively Banning Abortion After 6 Weeks of Pregnancy

Republican South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed a “heartbeat” bill into law banning abortions after a heartbeat is detected.

South Carolina is the 12th state to effectively ban abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy.

South Carolina Republicans drafted the abortion bill after gaining seats in the 2020 election (thanks to Donald Trump).

Late last month the South Carolina senate voted on the abortion measure and it passed 30-16.

On Wednesday, the South Carolina House passed the abortion measure 79-35.

Under the new law, doctors must perform ultrasounds and an abortion will be denied if a heartbeat is detected.

There are exceptions for rape, incest and concerns over the health of the mom and baby.

Governor McMaster immediately signed the bill into law and said, “This is very important. This is one of the most pro-life bills.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/south-carolina-becomes-12th-state-limit-abortions-heartbeat-detected-effectively-banning-abortion-6-weeks-pregnancy/

Lunatic MSNBC Guest Says They Wish ‘We Could Just Blow Up All The Trump Buildings’

During an appearance on MSNBC, Bulwark writer Tim Miller said that they wish we could “blow up all the Trump buildings” and erase former President Donald Trump from America’s memory “Men In Black style.”

The segment was on the implosion of the former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday.

“I don’t feel bad playing it … This is the implosion of the Trump property. There it goes. Is that a metaphor, Tim? Are we done? Is this Trump and all that he ushered in? Are we done? Is it imploding” MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said as they played the video of the implosion.

Wallace added that the Biden administration seems to be weary of talking about Trump, saying “this is not a White House that sort of speaks without thinking. And they’re done talking about Trump.”

“I think that the Biden White House is and should be. And I think that President Biden has done exactly what he promised, and I think it’s worked for him politically, as you pointed out, in the polls. The rest of us aren’t done with him, and I know that’s frustrating,” Miller responded.

Miller explained that people on social media seem to be sick of him whining about Trump, so he wishes we could just blow up all the Trump buildings — like a totally sane and well-adjusted individual. Just kidding.

“I’ve heard from folks when I’m firing off tweets about Trump telling me to shut up about it, I wish you’d just be quiet and not talk about him anymore, and I understand that point of view. Everybody wants to move on. I wish we could just blow up all the Trump buildings like that with nobody in them and just kind of erase him from our memory ‘Men In Black’ style, but we can’t,” he continued.

Miller went on to whine about Trump being on Fox News talking about the tragic death of Rush Limbaugh.

“He’s not going anywhere. He’s still got a stranglehold on the party, which is why all of those cowards voted to let him off in the Senate over the weekend … I hope that we can move on. I’m enjoying the metaphor that you’re putting forward, Nicolle, but I think sadly, while Joe Biden has a big job to do, some of the rest of us are still going to have to keep our eyes on what’s happening in Mar-a-Lago, because I don’t think he’s going anywhere,” Miller concluded.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/watch-lunatic-msnbc-guest-says-wish-just-blow-trump-buildings/

The Open Door

Former aerospace chief’s plans ‘threatened air force capability’

One of Australia’s most senior air force officers warned that changes proposed by the former chief of Defence Science and Technology’s aerospace division, scientist Dong Yang Wu, threatened the operational capability of the nation’s military aircraft.

Defence Department documents reveal Dr Wu’s 2017 proposals to outsource structural integrity testing of aircraft and focus on future technologies were opposed by Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts, who said they were “not an area that can be compromised or degraded”.

Dr Wu, a Chinese-Australian scientist with no previous Defence experience who was recruited from Boeing China, was appointed to the position of chief of aerospace at Defence Science and Technology, part of the Department of Defence, in 2017 ahead of two internal candidates. She left two years later for undisclosed reasons.

It is unclear to what extent the changes proposed by Dr Wu in her 10-year plan for the division were adopted. A Defence spokesman said the Defence Science and Technology group’s “ability to support structural integrity tests, fatigue tests and conduct forensic investigations were retained”, under Dr Wu’s proposals. “Changes under the reforms included expanding partnering with industry and academia to support structural and fatigue-testing,” the spokesman said.

Air Vice-Marshal Roberts, who is the Royal Australian Air Force’s head of capability, raised her objections in a stinging March 2018 Defence Department minute to Dr Wu and other senior Defence officials. At the time she was head of air domain, a position responsible for acquiring and sustaining all of Australia’s fixed-wing assets. The document has been obtained by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald under the Freedom of Information Act.

“Aircraft structural integrity and fatigue test (across fixed/rotary wing and propulsion systems) are fundamental sovereign capabilities,” Air Vice-Marshal Roberts wrote.

“This capability is critical to supporting operational availability and to inform safe and economic acquisition and in-service management of aerospace platforms, now and into the future as well as meeting our international obligations. With this role potentially being performed by a contracted workforce, this is not an area that can be compromised or degraded for Air Domain.”

https://www.theage.com.au/national/former-aerospace-chief-s-plans-threatened-air-force-capability-20210216-p572wr.html

Mexican President Wants Full Report on Riviera Maya Gang

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) to present a full report on The Riviera Maya Gang, after the regulator blocked nearly 80 bank accounts linked to the criminal organization suspected of having skimmed ATMs in Cancun and other tourist destinations across the country.

Santiago Nieto MexicoSantiago Nieto (C) and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (L) in a press conference. (Photo::Cuartoscuro)The frozen accounts reportedly belong to Romanian and Mexican gang members, including the gang's leader Florian Tudor. The Cancun-based group is believed to have looted around US$1.2 billion after cloning tourist’s credit and debit cards at compromised ATMs.

The personal details of the individuals and organizations sanctioned by the UIF were leaked last week to the local press.

During his daily morning conference, López Obrador said on Wednesday that UIF chief, Santiago Nieto, needs to explain the regulator’s decision to block the accounts in order to prevent errors in the investigation.

"I am going to ask Santiago Nieto to report on what we are doing. That is the best thing, for him to come here and inform the press…," López Obrador told reporters.

He also assured that if enough evidence is presented, those involved in the Riviera Maya case will be punished. "There is no protection, there is no cover-up on behalf of the authorities," the President declared.

On Tuesday, Florian Tudor addressed the Mexican President in a letter shared via Twitter, in which he complained about the way local authorities had treated him following the UIF announcement.

In the 12-pages-long letter, the alleged gang leader pleads not guilty and asks Lopez Obrador to intercede in what Tudor calls a “smear campaign” against him. He added that he has enough evidence to prove high-ranking officials plotted to damage his reputation.

Additionally, the Romanian citizen denies being part of a criminal organization and accuses the FIU of having purposely leaked the list of frozen accounts.

UIF and the National Banking and Securities Commission said they’ll punish those who leaked the details concerning the blocked accounts after Tudor’s threats to sue several government institutions for disclosing his personal information while he is undergoing a judicial process.

Tudor is waiting for the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice to accept his request for “amparo” (legal protection) so he can recover the assets confiscated during house searches in Cancun, Quintana Roo, in 2019.

A day before the financial regulator announced its order, local press reported that hundreds of Romanian nationals had been stranded at Cancun’s international airport, in southern Mexico, for four days. Authorities told news outlet Milenio then that 102 people had been repatriated, while 114 were waiting to return to their country.

When asked by reporters, López Obrador did not clarify whether the stranded Romanian citizens were related to the investigation into Tudor’s criminal organization.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13900-mexican-president-wants-full-report-on-riviera-maya-gang

now what