NSA Awards Secret $10 Billion Contract to Amazon

The National Security Agency has awarded a secret cloud computing contract worth up to $10 billion to Amazon Web Services, Nextgov has learned.

The contract is already being challenged. Tech giant Microsoft filed a bid protest on July 21 with the Government Accountability Office two weeks after being notified by the NSA that it had selected AWS for the contract.

The contract’s code name is “WildandStormy,” according to protest filings, and it represents the second multibillion-dollar cloud contract the U.S. intelligence community—made up of 17 agencies, including the NSA—has awarded in the past year.

In November, the CIA awarded its C2E contract, potentially worth tens of billions of dollars, to five companies—AWS, Microsoft, Google, Oracle and IBM—that will compete for specific task orders for certain intelligence needs.

Details on the NSA’s newly awarded cloud contract are sparse, but the acquisition appears to be part of the NSA’s attempt to modernize its primary classified data repository, the Intelligence Community GovCloud.

For the better part of a decade, the NSA has moved its data, including signals intelligence and other foreign surveillance and intelligence information it ingests from multiple repositories around the globe, into this internally operated data lake analysts from the NSA and other IC agencies can run queries and perform analytics against.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/80572/nsa-awards-secret-10-billion-contract-to.html

https://www.gao.gov/docket/b-420004.1

Spanish Police Bust Montenegrin Gang on Canary Islands

Spanish police on the Canary Islands arrested four suspected members of Montenegro’s notorious Škaljari clan, known as a brutal gang that smuggles cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

Officers searched the gang’s residence and seized “408 kilos of cocaine, nearly 500,000 euro (US$586,000) in cash, a vehicle, a yacht-like boat, 12 encrypted phones, electronic security devices, machine banknote counters and vacuum packers, as well as various tools and documentation related to criminal activities,” the Guardia Civil, said in a statement on Sunday.

Madrid’s El Pais newspaper reported that one of the four arrested has been Predrag Vujošević, one of the former leaders of a the most successful jewel-stealing gang in history, the Pink Panthers. Police reportedly handcuffed him while he was still guarding the drug.

The criminal network had established a pipeline for the entry of cocaine to the Canary Islands. They hid the drug in rented luxury residential units, according to the statement.

The gang was noticed in November last year when its members started delivering drugs to local groups and at one point handed over 250,000 and 155,000 euros ($292,917 and $181,608) to third parties, police said. Authorities believe that the gang was moving drug money off the island and funneling it into the legitimate market.

Europol, police officials in Albania and Montenegro, and the Interior Attaché of the Spanish Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, aided the Canary Islands operation, according to police.

Montenegro’s Vice-Prime Minister, who also coordinates the country’s security services, Dritan Abazović, praised Montenegrin law enforcement agencies that supported the operation.

“The operation on the Canary Islands demonstrates that there will be no discrimination in the punishment of members of organized criminal groups and the suppression of their unlawful activities in Montenegro and far beyond our boundaries,” Abazović said according to Montenegro’s Vijesti news outlet.

Abazović has previously stated that the Montenegrin government would deal with organized crime and that Montenegro will not be a country that “exports crime,” having in mind that branches of Montenegrin mafia groups have spread far beyond the country’s borders.

The two Montenegrin mafia clans — the Škaljari and the Kavač — both originate from Kotor, on the country’s picturesque Adriatic coast. They were formerly members of the same gang, smuggling drugs from South America into Europe. They split in 2014 after a botched cocaine deal in Spain, resulting in a violent rupture that drew in other Serbian and Montenegrin criminal groups.

The conflict’s blood trail stretches throughout the Balkans and beyond, with killings in Spain, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Greece, according to an OCCRP investigation published last year.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/14989-spanish-police-bust-montenegrin-gang-on-canary-islands

Spain’s National Police Arrest Network of Human Traffickers

Spanish police arrested 21 suspected members of a group that smuggled drugs and trafficked illegal migrants from Morocco and Algeria and used its intricate knowledge of an interconnected series of caves and grottoes along Spain’s southeast coast to hide them.

With a fleet of more than 40 high-speed Zodiac boats, Policía Nacional said the group could transport large quantities of hashish and thousands of irregular migrants to Europe and then ecstasy on the return trip to Algeria, making over 2.5 million euros (US$2.94 million) in profits.

Investigators link the group to an incident last February when 11 illegal migrants died at sea while trying to reach Spain. Authorities are also aware that European fugitives trying to evade justice seek the help of such criminals to take them from Spain into Algeria.

Police seized during the raid more than $58,000 in various currencies, several kilograms of hashish, marijuana, cocaine, ketamine, computers, communication devices as well as firearms.

The group seems to be taking advantage of diplomatic disputes between Spain and Morocco.

The most popular crossing point for migrants is Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the African side of the Gibraltar passage. Earlier this year, El País reported that around 9,000 illegal migrants, including 2,000 to 3,000 minors, crossed into Ceuta from Morocco over land and by sea.

Spain is refusing to grant Moroccans asylum and allows only unaccompanied children to stay. To prevent migrants from coming, Spain deployed soldiers in combat gear to police the border. Soldiers were seen firing tear gas into the buffer zone between the countries, Al Jazeera reported.

The Moroccan government, meanwhile, has been accused of doing too little or nothing to prevent migrants from crossing into Spain outside of the proper channels, which has been seen as an attempt to pressure the Spanish government into recognizing Morocco’s 1975 annexation of Western Sahara.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/14988-spain-s-national-police-arrest-network-of-human-traffickers

HSI San Diego seizes record $9 million illegal drug shipment

SAN DIEGO – Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) seized a commercial truck containing more than 5,500 pounds of methamphetamine and fentanyl Aug. 5. The seizure is believed to be the largest seizure along the southwestern border with an estimated street value of more than $9 million.

“Over the last several years, we’ve seen many drug overdoses and drug-related deaths throughout this country,” said HSI San Diego Special Agent in Charge Cardell T. Morant. “HSI and its law enforcement partners undoubtedly saved lives by preventing this massive drug shipment from entering our communities. While this drug seizure is significant, we know that these transnational criminal organizations will continue to illegally smuggle their illicit drugs across our border. HSI and its law enforcement partners will remain vigilant in our mission to prevent these drugs from crossing the border and entering our communities.”

HSI San Diego special agents tracked the truck from the Otay Mesa Cargo Point of Entry before the driver – Carlos Gerardo Symonds Saavedra, a Mexican citizen – parked the vehicle in a private commercial parking lot. The agents arrested the driver and seized the truck.

Upon inspection of the truck’s trailer, the agents discovered 400 packages, which contained approximately 2,507 kilograms of methamphetamine and 52 kilograms of fentanyl comingled with commercial plastic parts.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California will prosecute the case against the truck driver.

“This is a significant accomplishment by our law enforcement partners,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “Due to stellar work by law enforcement agents, the government stopped more than 5,500 pounds of deadly drugs from entering our country, furthering our fight against addiction and overdose deaths.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, the San Diego and Imperial Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force and the Drug Enforcement Agency assisted in the investigation.

“This amount of fentanyl and methamphetamine is enough to ruin countless lives and fund transnational criminal organizations,” said Pete Flores, CBP director of field operations in San Diego. “I’m proud of our officers’ efforts to intercept another significant smuggling attempt.”

HSI is a directorate of ICE and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance move. HSI’s workforce consists of more than 10,400 employees and 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/hsi-san-diego-seizes-record-9-million-illegal-drug-shipment

Ex-teacher admits guilt in child sexual exploitation investigation

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdga/pr/ex-teacher-admits-guilt-child-sexual-exploitation-investigation

Fintech CEO Sentenced To 6 Years In Prison For Multiple Fraud Schemes, Including $7 Million Covid-19 Pandemic Loan Fraud And Securities Fraud

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/fintech-ceo-sentenced-6-years-prison-multiple-fraud-schemes-including-7-million-covid

Mount Vernon Baseball Coach Charged With Coercion And Enticement Of A Minor

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/mount-vernon-baseball-coach-charged-coercion-and-enticement-minor

CASPER MAN SENTENCED IN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CASE

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wy/pr/casper-man-sentenced-child-pornography-case

Nine SEPTA Maintenance Managers and Vendors Charged with Bribery and Fraud in Connection With Multiple Procurement Fraud Schemes

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/nine-septa-maintenance-managers-and-vendors-charged-bribery-and-fraud-connection

Minneapolis Democrat calls setting police station ablaze an 'act of pure righteousness': 'The cops started it'

A leading Minneapolis Democratic Party official drew ire online recently after describing the riotous torching of a police station following George Floyd's death last year as an "act of pure righteousness."

Devin Hogan, the chair of the Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party — the state affiliate of the national Democratic Party — claimed in an op-ed for Southside Pride last week that Black Lives Matter rioters' decision to set the city's Third Precinct ablaze last May was a justifiable and "genuine revolutionary moment."

According to Hogan, the violent burning and pillaging of the police station was a measured, "proportional response." Why? Because, he exclaimed, "The cops started it."

"The youth of Minneapolis have grown up seeing the police murder people who look like them without consequences. They are out of f***s to give," he wrote. "They killed George Floyd and took every opportunity to escalate, agitate and make things worse. The cops are rioting and the people are responding."

"Like it or not, setting the Third Precinct on fire was a genuine revolutionary moment," he continued. "An act of pure righteousness to open new worlds of understanding. The people declared themselves ungovernable and unilaterally took their power back. The largest international human rights movement in modern history had begun. The youth of Minneapolis carried all of this."

"The cops started it," he melodramatically repeated.

What else?

Hogan's column immediately drew backlash and ridicule online from critics who claimed he was fomenting further violence.

After all, in the op-ed, the Democrat also called on protesters to "keep focus" whilst praising the violent actions.

"Eyes on the prize," he wrote. "Remember the demand of the streets. The blood and treasure spent. This is our job. Minneapolis must answer the call. For real this time. For real for real. Do it for the kids.

Then in response to criticism this week, Hogan doubled down on his message and defended his words. In a since-deleted Facebook post, the Democrat said the following, according to the Washington Examiner:

The truth hurts. Accurately describing reality is not a call to arms. Explaining the conditions of violent repression with the reasons why and how people react to that oppression is not condoning violence. Fetishizing decorum over substance is a hallmark of white supremacy. If antiracism offends your sensibilities then please use this moment to examine the role you play in maintaining and upholding these systems. Which side are you on?

https://www.theblaze.com/news/minneapolis-democrat-hogan-police-station-burning

Mexican authorities prosecute a couple accused of prostituting three underage relatives

Mexican authorities linked Yolanda ‘N’ and Mauricio ‘N’, aged 27 and 21, to the process, accused of having prostituted three underage relatives in 2019 in a bar in the State of Mexico, reported the state Attorney General’s Office this Tuesday through a statement.

According to the document, the two involved are accused of having made up and dressed with suggestive clothes to the minors, 13, 11 and 7 years old, as well as having led them by deception to a bar in the municipality of San Felipe del Progreso. , where they were handed over to various individuals to be subjected to touching, an activity for which the defendants received a payment.

After analyzing the elements presented by the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Human Trafficking, a judge decided to initiate a legal process against the couple for the probable commission of the crime of human trafficking, in the form of sexual exploitation, with the aggravating circumstance of committing it in against minors and people with psychological disabilities.

https://marketresearchtelecast.com/mexican-authorities-prosecute-a-couple-accused-of-prostituting-three-underage-relatives/126617/

Psaki: Trump Urged People to “Inject Versions of Poison into Their Veins to Cure Covid”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday attacked Trump with lies after Fox News reporter Peter Doocy pointed out Joe Biden sowed doubt about the Covid vaccine during the campaign.

Peter Doocy asked Psaki if Biden created some vaccine hesitancy when he attacked Trump’s efforts to get a Covid vaccine produced with “Operation Warp Speed.”

Psaki defended Joe Biden and claimed Trump was telling people to inject poison their veins.

“I would note that at the time, just for context, the former president was also suggesting people inject versions of poison into their veins to cure Covid,” Psaki said.

Psaki repeated the same lie about Trump that Pelosi spread last year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last year spread dangerous misinformation and claimed Trump urged people to “inject Lysol and drink bleach.”

In April 2020, President Trump during a presser was referring to discussions of testing ultraviolet light on patients and possibly using the light inside the body. “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it [the virus] out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside, or almost a cleaning, cause you see it gets in the lungs.”

Psaki will get away with this whopper because none of the left-wing ‘fact-checkers’ will correct the record.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/psaki-trump-urged-people-inject-versions-poison-veins-cure-covid-video/

Study Finds The Most Highly-Educated Americans Are Also The Most Vaccine-Hesitant

A new report by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh has found that the most highly educated Americans are also the most vaccine hesitant.

The researchers canvassed no fewer than 5 million Americans who responded to surveys on whether they were “probably” or “definitely not planning on getting a COVID vaccine.

The results will shock many.

“More surprising is the breakdown in vaccine hesitancy by level of education,” reports UnHerd.

“It finds that the association between hesitancy and education level follows a U-shaped curve with the highest hesitancy among those least and most educated. People with a master’s degree had the least hesitancy, and the highest hesitancy was among those holding a PhD.”

In addition, while the lowest educated saw the largest drop in vaccine hesitancy for the first five months of 2021, those with PhD’s were the most likely to not change their minds.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/study-finds-most-highly-educated-americans-are-also-most-vaccine-hesitant

More Dangerous Side Effects Potentially Linked To mRNA Vaccines, EU Warns

As shares of MRNA-vaccine purveyors Moderna and BioNTech tumbled on Wednesday, Reuters reported that the EMA, the EU's medicines regulator, is looking into new potential side effects from the still-experimental MRNA jabs, including suspicious skin reactions and kidney ailments.

According to Reuters, three new conditions have been reported by a small number of people after vaccination with jabs from Pfizer and Moderna. The ailments include Erythema multiforme, a form of allergic skin reaction; glomerulonephritis, or kidney inflammation; and nephrotic syndrome, a renal disorder that leads to heavy urinary protein losses. All of the cases are being studied by the EMA to determine whether the vaccines might be linked to the conditions.

This isn't the first time regulators have raised issues with an MRNA vaccine. As we reported a few months ago, the FDA determined that one side effect of the jabs in a small number of male patients with certain complications included heart inflammation. Still, the FDA, CDC and WHO have insisted that the risks posed by the jabs are far outweighed by their benefits to society.

The finding comes as Israeli health authorities have found that a small number of patients still managed to get infected with the virus even after their third dose of the vaccine.

Neither Pfizer nor Moderna responded to Reuters' request for comment.

Just over 43.5MM doses of Moderna's vaccine, Spikevax, have been administered in the European Economic Area as of July 29, compared to more than 330MM doses of the Pfizer shot, Comirnaty, which was developed in partnership with Germany's BioNTech.

Details about the new side effects were pretty sparse, with the EMA saying only that it had requested more data from the vaccine's makers so they could determine any potential relation. So far, the EMA hasn't made any recommendation regarding the labeling of the vaccines, and whether any new side effects should be noted.

The agency disclosed the new side effects during a routine update to the safety section of the approved vaccines' database.

MRNA jabs rely on new technology that reprograms the immune system to fight off the virus, however critics maintain that long term side effects and safety risks simply aren't well understood since the jabs were rushed to the finish line.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/new-side-effects-potentially-linked-mrna-vaccines-eu-warns

Scalise: Infrastructure Bill Tax Hike Will ‘Kill Middle-Class Jobs’

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) on Wednesday shared his criticism of the so-called bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure package that is linked to the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending bill.

Scalise warned on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” that the infrastructure bill, which he argued has a lot that doesn’t pertain to infrastructure, will “kill middle-class jobs.” He warned the bill would also negatively impact inflation.

“[N]ow, we are starting to see the details, and there are a lot of things in there that people are not going to like, not the least of which is the ability for the Secretary of Transportation to start the process of imposing a per-mile car tax on every person who drives a car in America,” Scalise emphasized. “They also have hundreds of billions of dollars slush funds.”

“The big problem here, Maria, that they are going to have is that it is directly linked to that tax-and-spend bill, the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill that is now moving, as well,” he added. “Nancy Pelosi has made it clear the two bills are linked together. Reconciliation, in her mind, has to pass before she even brings up the infrastructure bill, so the two are one and the same, which means over $5 trillion of new spending with taxes to go with it that would kill middle-class jobs. Joe Biden can talk all he wants about people making less than $400,000 a year. Does anybody in America think that a bill written by Bernie Sanders is going to leave your pocketbook alone? Of course, every family is going to feel the compact of it, starting with the car tax, but think of the inflation.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/08/11/scalise-infrastructure-bill-tax-hike-will-kill-middle-class-jobs/

Hawley: ‘This Is Not an Infrastructure Bill — This Is a Woke Politics Bill’

Tuesday on FNC’s “Fox News Primetime,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) argued the passage of the Democrat-backed infrastructure bill was a cave “woke politics.”

Hawley told host Lawrence Jones the bill could have additional legal implications regarding the gender identity issue.

“It has got too much Republican support in my view, and listen, at the end of the day, this is not an infrastructure bill as you pointed out. This is a woke politics bill,” he said. This is a bill that has gender identity language in it. It could open up new federal causes of action for gender identity lawsuits. This has got a climate change agenda in it. This has got the Green New Deal in it.”

“And so this is — and by the way, it’s all fueled with pork-barrel spending, so I’m opposing it,” Hawley continued. “I hope every Republican will oppose it, and at the end of the day, it is just about Joe Biden’s woke agenda.”

The Missouri GOP U.S. Senator explained this legislation was part of fulfilling President Joe Biden’s “radical social agenda.”

“I mean, that is not what Joe Biden wants,” Hawley added. “Joe Biden wants his radical social agenda to permeate every part of his legislative agenda, and it is, and that is why this bill is chock-full of all of the stuff you mentioned plus gender identity, plus the green new deal, plus climate change, it’s all been there because woke politics is what drives the Democratic Party and woke politics is what this bill is about.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/08/11/hawley-this-is-not-an-infrastructure-bill-this-is-a-woke-politics-bill/