TYB
Dan tweet about Jason, a Basketball player with autism.
https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1504449391419080709
Reddit has quarantined r/russia, presumably for spreading "disinfo"
I know. It's fucking reddit. Someone has to keep an eye on those retards though.
US president meeting to go ahead virtually as Taoiseach tests positive for Covid
Martin was due to meet Biden in Oval Office for traditional Shamrock ceremony
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has tested positive for Covid -19, leading to the cancellation of his St Patrick’s Day face-to-face meeting with US president Joe Biden at the White House. Plans for the Taoiseach’s St Patrick’s Day programme have been thrown into chaos by the news. The meeting between the Taoiseach and Mr Biden will now go ahead virtually in videoconference form, due to start at 2.30pm Irish time.
Mr Martin was attending the Ireland Funds dinner in the National Building Museum in Washington on Wednesday night, part of a programme of events in the US capital this week, when he received the news. Before the news about the Taoiseach’s positive test, the event was addressed by Mr Biden, who received a rapturous reception from the 700 guests.
The dinner, held every year on the eve of the Taoiseach’s visit to the oval Office to meet the US president, is a major event in the Irish-American political calendar.
In his speech, Mr Biden praised Mr Martin and paid tribute to the links between Ireland and the US, drawing heavily on the experience of his own family. The White House said Mr Biden’s speech ended at 7.54pm and he immediately left the podium. His motorcade left the venue four minutes later. He arrived at the venue at 7.10pm, officials said.
Irish ambassador Dan Mulhall told guests at the dinner that Mr Martin had tested positive in a precautionary PCR test earlier, after a member of the wider Irish delegation visiting Washington had tested positive on routine antigen test.
The White House insists that anyone visiting must undergo Covid-19 tests, with all visitors screened the day before they are scheduled to attend.
The first indication that something was amiss regarding the Taoiseach came as the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi was finishing a speech. During her address, she welcomed the British ambassador to the event but warned her and the British government that if the border “hardened”, there would be no US-UK trade deal.
Ms Pelosi had been scheduled to make an award to Mr Martin.
Towards the end of her speech, she appeared to say that Mr Martin was on a call with European leaders. The Taoiseach had earlier been sitting next to Ms Pelosi.
Mr Mulhall then took the stage. He said Mr Martin had tested positive for Covid -19 but was feeling well.
Mr Martin, his officials who formed part of his delegation visiting Washington this week as well as travelling and resident journalists had to be tested.
Ahead of the St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House on Thursday, the Covid-19 testing was carried out on Wednesday afternoon and early evening.
The Taoiseach tested negative after undergoing an antigen test. However, one of his colleagues in the delegation tested positive, and he took a precautionary PCR test, which also proved positive.
Mr Martin then underwent a precautionary PCR test.
The White House indicated that Mr Biden was not considered a close contact.
However, the planned meeting with Mr Biden in the Oval Office on Thursday as well as the traditional shamrock ceremony will not take place, officials said. There were discussions between American and Irish officials about the potential of holding a virtual ceremony.
This week was to have been Mr Martin’s first and possibly final opportunity to travel to the White House as Taoiseach. Last year, the trip was cancelled due to Covid. Mr Martin is scheduled to rotate out of the role of Taoiseach next December.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/us-president-meeting-to-go-ahead-virtually-as-taoiseach-tests-positive-for-covid-1.4829031
Connecticut National Guard ends COVID response mission
NEWS | March 17, 2022
By Timothy Koster, Connecticut National Guard Public Affairs Office
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The Connecticut National Guard handed over the keys to the state commodities warehouse in New Britain to the Connecticut Department of Health March 15, effectively ending its COVID-19 response mission.
On March 10, 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, activating the Connecticut National Guard to assist with operating the warehouse where the state received, organized, and distributed its shipments of personal protective equipment and other supplies to help battle the virus.
“To say I’m proud of all the men and women of the Connecticut National Guard who’ve assisted with the COVID-19 response would be an understatement,” said Maj. Gen. Francis Evon, adjutant general for the Connecticut National Guard. “As we rode the waves of this pandemic, we were called upon to help with many different missions, but our warehouse mission was a constant throughout it all.”
For more than 700 days, the Soldiers and Airmen working at the warehouse helped the state distribute more than 38 million KN95 and N95 masks, 82 million surgical masks, 9 million surgical gowns, 128 million non-sterile gloves, 2 million disposable face shields, and 170,000 Tyvek coveralls to 169 towns around the state.
In addition to running the warehouse, Guardsmen and members of the state militia helped increase bed capacity by nearly 2,500 with mobile field hospitals and surge capacity at the Connecticut Convention Center and other unused spaces. They helped support more than 150 testing and vaccination sites and directly vaccinated more than 55,000 people. They also assisted with more than 2,500 nursing home inspections.
During the pandemic, the Connecticut National Guard performed more than 1,000 missions. At the same time, they helped with storm clean-up after Hurricane Isaias, multiple cyberattack responses, deployment to the state and nation’s capital during civil disturbances, and the largest wave of overseas deployments in a decade.
“Over the past two years, the Connecticut National Guard has competently demonstrated its motto of ‘Always Ready, Always There,’” said Evon. “Although our COVID mission may be over for now, we’re going to continue to monitor the situation and be ready if the state calls upon us again to help.”
https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article/2969238/connecticut-national-guard-ends-covid-response-mission/
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Middle District of Florida
Naval Flight Officer Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Conspiring To Violate Firearms Law And Lying During Security Clearance Background Investigation
Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger today sentenced Fan Yang (37, Jacksonville) to 48 months in federal prison, followed by 3 years’ supervised release, for conspiring with his co-defendants Ge Songtao (52, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China) and Yang Yang (36, Jacksonville) to violate U.S. firearms laws, making false written statements to federally licensed firearms dealers during the purchase of two firearms and making false written statements as part of a security clearance background investigation. The Court also ordered Yang to forfeit the firearms that he purchased as a part of the conspiracy, specifically, a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol and a Glock 9mm pistol. A federal jury found Yang guilty on November 12, 2021.
According to evidence presented at trial, Yang is a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, trained in anti-submarine warfare. As a Naval Flight Officer, he flew in the back of the Navy’s P-8 Poseidon, a land-based patrol aircraft, and operated sensors and coordinated tactics.
Prior to becoming a commissioned naval officer, Yang formed a relationship online with Ge Songtao, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China. Photographs admitted at trial showed that the two eventually met in person in 2013, while Yang was in Navy flight training in Pensacola. In 2016, while Yang was stationed in Jacksonville, Yang recommended that Ge Songtao hire Yang’s wife, Yang Yang, as an employee of Shanghai Breeze Technology Co. Ltd., Ge Songtao’s company headquartered in Shanghai, China. That company purchased in the U.S. and exported to China maritime equipment designed for law enforcement and military missions.
From the time that she was hired, Yang Yang received more than $300,000 in payments from Shanghai Breeze, its creditors, and Ge Songtao’s executive assistant and co-defendant, Zheng Yan. The money was used to pay Yang Yang’s salary, Shanghai Breeze’s expenses in the U.S., and for goods that Ge Songtao ordered the Yangs to purchase. The funds were frequently routed through the Yangs’ family business, BQ Tree LLC.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/naval-flight-officer-sentenced-four-years-prison-conspiring-violate-firearms-law-and
IARPA Launches New Biometric Technology Research Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), the research and development arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, announced today the Biometric Recognition & Identification at Altitude and Range (BRIAR) program — a multi-year research effort to develop new software systems capable of performing whole-body biometric identification from great heights and long ranges.
The program’s advanced research and technologies will enable the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense to recognize or identify individuals under challenging conditions, such as from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), at far distances, and through distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence.
“National security technologies must accurately and reliably operate under conditions that are extremely difficult for existing biometric technologies to succeed in,” said program manager Dr. Lars Ericson. “I am confident that our excellent team of research organizations, scientists, and engineers will push the research forward and build technologies that are significantly ahead of the current state-of-the-art.”
Through the same process, IARPA awarded focused research contracts to teams from Carnegie Mellon University and General Electric Research in support of the overall effort.
Test and evaluation work for the program will be performed by the Department of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command C5ISR Center, Research and Technology Integration Directorate.
IARPA invests in high-risk, high-payoff research programs to tackle some of the most difficult challenges of the agencies and disciplines in the Intelligence Community. Additional information on IARPA and its research may be found on www.iarpa.gov.
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2022/item/2282-iarpa-launches-new-biometric-technology-research-program
>capable of performing whole-body biometric identification from great heights and long ranges.
>wtf
like DARPA but for the intel agencies?