Jamesville Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison For Distribution, Transportation and Possession of Child Pornography
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/jamesville-man-sentenced-15-years-federal-prison-distribution-transportation-and
Clifton Park Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/clifton-park-man-pleads-guilty-possessing-child-pornography
Anchorage Businessman Convicted and Sentenced for Walrus Ivory Trafficking and Tax Evasion
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ak/pr/anchorage-businessman-convicted-and-sentenced-walrus-ivory-trafficking-and-tax-evasion
Federal Criminal Complaint Charges Santa Barbara Man with Murdering His Two Young Children in Baja California
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/federal-criminal-complaint-charges-santa-barbara-man-murdering-his-two-young-children
GOP Lawmakers Accuse Biden Officials Of Working At The ‘Behest Of The Abortion Lobby,’ Ignoring The Law
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra violated federal conscience-protection laws when they told the Department Of Justice to drop a lawsuit against a hospital that forced a nurse to assist an elective abortion, Republican lawmakers said in a Wednesday letter.
The Daily Caller News Foundation first obtained the letter, which calls Becerra and Garland’s handling of the case a “profound miscarriage of justice.”
“Your actions signal to employers all around the country that they don’t need to comply with the law because your agencies will not enforce it,” the lawmakers wrote.
“They also signal that this administration would rather allow consciences to be violated at the behest of the abortion lobby rather enforce the law and protect religious liberty. We demand a full explanation of your agencies’ actions,” the letter said.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra violated federal conscience-protection laws when they told the Department of Justice to drop a lawsuit against a hospital that forced a nurse to assist an elective abortion, Republican lawmakers said in a Wednesday letter.
The Daily Caller News Foundation first obtained the letter to the high ranking Biden administration officials, which demands an explanation as to why Becerra and Garland acted to dismiss the lawsuit filed under former President Donald Trump’s administration in December 2020.
“Your handling of this case is a profound miscarriage of justice and a rejection of your commitment to enforce federal conscience laws for Americans of all religious beliefs and creeds—and especially for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who object to abortion,” the Republican senators and congressmen, led by Tom Cotton of Arkansas and James Lankford of Oklahoma, wrote.
“Your actions signal to employers all around the country that they don’t need to comply with the law because your agencies will not enforce it,” they continued. “They also signal that this administration would rather allow consciences to be violated at the behest of the abortion lobby rather enforce the law and protect religious liberty.”
https://dailycaller.com/2021/08/11/xavier-becerra-merrick-garland-hhs-doj-abortion-lawsuit-conscience-protection-laws-james-lankford-tom-cotton/
Reporters challenged 'natural causes' ruling in death of Capitol Police officer Sicknick: watchdog
Reporters' emails show "skepticism and confusion about the conclusion," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told Just the News.
Members of the media pressured officials when Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick's autopsy contravened the popular narrative that he essentially was beaten to death during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch.
Journalists challenged the Washington, D.C. medical examiner's office regarding its finding that Sicknick in fact died of natural causes, according to those records.
The watchdog organization acquired the records via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, a spokesperson confirmed. The records include emails from journalists asking about the autopsy report that was released some three months after Officer Sicknick died.
"People will draw their own conclusions, but the emails suggest skepticism and confusion about the conclusion," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told Just the News.
Officer Sicknick died on Jan. 7, one day after the U.S. Capitol building was breached by protesters. Initial media reports stated that Sicknick was bludgeoned on the head with a fire extinguisher and that he died from his injuries. Three months later, on April 19, findings from Sicknick's autopsy were released, saying that the 42-year-old man died of "natural causes."
One day later, journalists contacted the medical examiner's office to challenge the findings.
Reporter Jen Christensen of CNN sent an email asking "how someone could die of natural causes after a traumatic event."
Reporter Sarah Mimms of BuzzFeed News sent an email asking for "clarity" on the findings. "I'm really pressing on clarity here not only because of the importance of this case but also because USCP and the Justice Department initially said that Officer Sicknick died due to injuries he sustained at the Capitol," Mimms wrote. "We want to be accurate, which may mean updating those original stories about how he died, if the ME [medical examiner] can clarify this key point."
The emails read "as if the left media had an interest in pressing the false narrative that Officer Sicknick was killed by protesters," Fitton said.
Just the News was not immediately able to reach the journalists whose emails are included in the trove.
Reporters routinely are skeptical and push government officials for information, Fitton acknowledged; but, he noted, the journalists' autopsy questions are notable for what they left out.
https://justthenews.com/government/security/journalists-pressured-dc-officials-after-brian-sicknicks-death-ruled-natural
‘I'm not very interested in money’: Hackers return $260 million in assets stolen in biggest crypto heist ever
Over one-third of the $613 million in cryptocurrency stolen from blockchain platform Poly Network has been returned to the ledger, with the hacker saying he did all for fun following one of the largest crypto heists ever.
Roughly a day after it fell prey to the largest heist in crypto history by the volume of assets stolen, Poly Network announced that the alleged perpetrator, or perpetrators, of the hack returned some $260 million in bitcoin, ethereum and polygon tokens flushed out in the attack.
https://www.rt.com/business/531799-cryptocurrency-hack-assets-return/
Bolsonaro fails in bid to change voting system & mandate paper ballots in Brazil’s elections
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro suffered a defeat in Congress, failing to change the country’s electronic voting system to one with a paper ballot. The leader has claimed the current system can be manipulated.
On Tuesday evening, 229 out of 519 members of the lower house of Congress voted in favor of Bolsonaro’s proposed constitutional amendment. The proposed reform – which Bolsonaro sought to change from an electronic system to one with a paper trail – needed a three-fifths majority of 308 to pass.
Bolsonaro, a former military officer, had repeatedly insulted the head of the Brazilian Supreme Electoral Court, Luis Roberto Barroso, in his push for the reform, accusing him of being biased towards Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – the leftist former president who is Bolsonaro’s likely main opposition in next year’s elections.
The move by Bolsonaro to plant seeds of doubt around the integrity of Brazil’s voting system has been compared by The New York Times and other media to former US President Donald Trump’s controversial election fraud claims late last year following his loss to Joe Biden. The Brazilian leader’s critics say he is preparing to dispute an election loss to Lula da Silva.
He has even threatened that there will be no elections next year if “they’re not free and democratic.”
In a recent speech, Justice Barroso said that to “defile” the public debate with “disinformation, lies, hatred and conspiracy theories is undemocratic conduct.”
Barroso, who Bolsonaro at one point called a “son of b**ch” during a live social media broadcast, referenced the political situations in Turkey, Hungary and Nicaragua, where he said it had become common for leaders to “deconstruct, brick by brick, the pillars of democracy.”
The current voting system in Brazil allows citizens to cast their votes through electronic voting, without a paper trail. This has been the system since 2000 and it is generally considered legitimate, though some legislators have been trying to introduce mandatory paper ballots for years.
After winning in the first round in the 2018 election, but failing to secure enough votes to avoid a second round, Bolsonaro took issue with the voting system, claiming problems with the electronic method.
Before the vote in Congress on Tuesday, Brazil’s military put on a controversial display of force with a parade of troops and armored vehicles outside the presidential palace and the Congress. The military stated that the demonstration, consisting of dozens of army vehicles and hundreds of soldiers, had been planned for months. But critics accused the militaristic president of intimidation tactics.
Omar Aziz, the president of a senate probe into the government’s Covid-19 response, told the media the display was “a clear attempt to intimidate lawmakers and opponents. Bolsonaro imagines he is showing strength, but he is showing a president weakened by investigations.”
https://www.rt.com/news/531778-bolsonaro-change-voting-systems/
Indonesia halts ‘two-finger’ virginity tests on female military recruits
The Indonesian military’s chief of staff has confirmed that the country’s armed forces will no longer conduct virginity tests on female recruits after criticism that the practice is cruel, degrading and has no scientific validity.
“There’s no more of that,” Army Chief of Staff Andika Perkasa declared, discussing the so-called ‘two-finger’ virginity tests which had examined “whether the hymen was ruptured or partially ruptured” before female cadets could be admitted.
Addressing concerns raised by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which investigated the process in 2014 and 2015, Perkasa made it clear that the selection process going forward will be equal for male and female cadets. HRW had pressured the Indonesian military to end the examinations, calling them “discriminatory and degrading.”
Previously, the Indonesian military had defended the tests by claiming that they were necessary to determine the morality of potential recruits despite the World Health Organization claiming they have “no scientific validity.”
Separately, the Indonesian Navy said that virginity tests do not take place but pregnancy tests on female applicants do occur. The navy’s spokesperson, Julius Widjojono, defended its practice by stating that “both men and women undergo the same examinations.”
Indonesian Air Force spokesperson, Indan Gilang, claimed this branch of the military does not conduct any examination called “virginity tests,” but admitted female reproduction tests are done to check for cysts or potential medical complications.
The announcement from Perkasa was met with praise from human rights groups. Andy Yentriyani, the head of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, said “there was never any need for the tests” and HRW’s Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono declared that it was “the right thing to do,” as the practice had been “degrading, discriminatory and traumatic.”
https://www.rt.com/news/531752-indonesia-halts-virginity-tests-military/
Former College Professor Arrested For Setting Fires Near Dixie Blaze
A former college professor living out of his car is accused of setting fires near the area of the massive Dixie Fire in Northern California.
CBS Sacramento reports forty-seven-year-old Gary Stephen Maynard was arrested Saturday for setting fire to public land. He's accused of setting the Ranch Fire near the Mendocino National Forest.
US Forest Agents began investigating the former Santa Clara University and Sonoma State University criminal justice professor on July 20 when he was spotted by someone acting strangely near the Cascade Fire.
Court documents reveal a witness saw Maynard come out of the woods where one of the fires was sparked. They said the man was "mentally unstable."
"Witness 1 believed the man was mentally unstable, describing the man as, 'mumbling a lot and having bipolar-like behavior,'" the court documents detailed.
Investigators were quick to place a tracking device on Maynard's vehicle looking for answers for who or what sparked the Dixie Fire, the largest single wildfire in California history. They also found additional evidence he might have stoked more fires.
"The two small ground fires were each determined to be acts of arson and, indeed, classified as two additional arson fires," wrote one investigator.
Another court document read:
"He entered the evacuation zone and began setting fires behind the first responders fighting the Dixie fire. In addition to the danger of enlarging the Dixie fire and threatening more lives and property, this increased the danger to the first responders. Maynard's fires were placed in the perfect position to increase the risk of firefighters being trapped between fires. But for the dedication and efforts of U.S. Forest Service investigators working around the clock to track Maynard, those fires would not have been discovered in their infancy."
On Tuesday, federal Judge Kendall Newman ordered Maynard to stay in custody pending a hearing on Wednesday.
While in custody, Maynard showed signs of anger and instability as he lashed out at police in the Lassen County Jail:
"I'm going to kill you, f—king pig! I told those f—kers I didn't start any of those fires!"
Commenting on the case is Jonathan Turley, a Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, who said:
"There is an abundance of evidence of a mental disability and crisis in this case. This is someone who clearly needs help and hopefully will now get some. The question will become whether that evidence is sufficient as an insanity defense."
Maynard's motive has yet to be released by police. Still, perhaps the fires around Dixie or even Dixie itself were aided by the possible arsonist and not as much climate change as liberals want everyone to believe.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/former-college-professor-arrested-setting-fires-near-dixie-blaze