Something resembling a noose found at secret CIA location, prompting warning to workers

CIA Director William J. Burns said in an internal message that racism and racist symbols would not be tolerated at the agency.

A warning has been issued to employees of the Central Intelligence Agency after what appears to be a noose was found outside a secret space the organization uses somewhere in Virginia.

According to The New York Times, the object was found near a small facility that also houses businesses and other organizations. It is reportedly not clear if the object was meant to be an object of racial intimidation or if the person who left the tied rope was aware the C.I.A. operates out of the building.

The Times notes that agency director William J. Burns warned in an internal message that racism and racist symbols would not be tolerated.

Susan Miller, a spokesperson for the agency, would not elaborate further on Burns’ missive to staffers, only adding, “C.I.A. has zero tolerance for actions or symbols of hatred and treats any such incidents with the utmost seriousness. Our values and our vital national security mission demand that we uphold nothing less than the highest standards of inclusiveness and safety.”

The previous two directors of the organization have actively recruited at HBCUs and other places to diversify its ranks. Just over 12% of civilian employees in the various intelligence agencies are Black, but at their upper levels, African Americans make up only 6.5%.

“The C.I.A. is a microcosm of the populace from which it draws its work force, so it should not surprise anyone who understands the deep-seated racism that has permeated all institutions throughout our history,” Darrell Blocker, former senior C.I.A. official, who is Black, told The Times. The 30-year agency vet said it’s vital for C.I.A. employees to report incidents of discrimination.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/something-resembling-noose-found-secret-152000374.html

New Documents Expose the DHS Obtaining ‘336,000 Location Points’ from People’s Cell Phones

A new data release by the liberal American Civil Liberties Union appears to expose nefarious Big Government data-mining happening right under your nose.

The ACLU issued a report July 18 headlined, “New Records Detail DHS Purchase and Use of Vast Quantities of Cell Phone Location Data.” The report linked to records obtained from different agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that show “the millions of taxpayer dollars DHS used to buy access to cell phone location information.” Two “shadowy data brokers,” Venntel and Babel Street, sold the information to DHS, according to the records. ACLU said it reviewed 6,168 pages of location records containing roughly 336,000 “location points obtained from people’s phones.”

During one three-day span in 2018, ACLU said, “the records contain around 113,654 location points — more than 26 location points per minute.” Adding another layer of concern, those records allegedly came “from just one area in the Southwestern United States, meaning it is just a small subset of the total volume of people’s location information available to the agency.”

Venntel sent marketing materials to DHS “explaining how the company collects more than 15 billion location points from over 250 million cell phones and other mobile devices every day,” ACLU said. [Emphasis added.]

More at: https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/joseph-vazquez/2022/07/19/new-documents-expose-dhs-obtaining-336000-location

Men lose Y chromosomes as they age. It may be harming their hearts

As men get older, they don’t just lose their hair, muscle tone, and knee cartilage. They also start to lose Y chromosomes from their cells. Scientists have linked this vanishing to a long list of diseases and a higher risk of death, but the evidence has been circumstantial. Now, researchers report that when they removed the Y chromosome from male mice, the animals died earlier than their Y-carrying counterparts, likely because their hearts became stiffer.

“This is the best evidence to date” that losing the Y chromosome is detrimental to health, says John Perry, a human geneticist at the University of Cambridge. Perry led one of the biggest studies on the frequency of Y chromosome loss in men, but wasn’t connected to the new research.

Despite its macho reputation, the Y chromosome is a pipsqueak, carrying a mere 71 genes—less than one-tenth as many as the X chromosome. That may be why the chromosome sometimes doesn’t get passed on when a cell divides. Analyzing blood samples is the easiest way to detect loss of Y, and researchers have found the chromosome is missing from at least some white blood cells in about 40% of 70-year-olds and 57% of 93-year-olds. In some older men, more than 80% of the cells can be short a Y chromosome.

Cells can survive and reproduce without a Y, but men lacking the chromosome in some of their cells are more likely to suffer from heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and other aging-related ailments. Moreover, the condition could be a reason why men die on average about 5 years earlier than women in the United States, says molecular biologist Kenneth Walsh of the University of Virginia.

To test whether removing the Y chromosome harms health, Walsh and colleagues performed bone marrow transplants on 38 mice. They used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool to delete the Y chromosome from mouse bone marrow cells and then inserted the altered cells into young male mice whose bone marrow had been removed. The swap didn’t banish the Y chromosome from the recipients, but it culled the chromosome from 49% to 81% of white blood cells—about the same percentage as in many humans with Y-chromosome loss. The 37 control mice for this experiment also received bone marrow transplants but retained the Y chromosome.

More at: https://www.science.org/content/article/men-lose-y-chromosomes-they-age-it-may-be-harming-their-hearts

The astonishing data that may prove masks DON'T work as Covid cases in Singapore and New Zealand OVERTAKE Australia despite SUPER strict mandates: 'They don't matter'

New data shows Covid cases in Singapore and New Zealand have overtaken Australia in the latest Omicron wave despite ultra-strict mask mandates.

Masks are worn everywhere in the densely-populated Asian city while New Zealanders are forced to wear them in all indoor public places, such as shopping centres and libraries.

But both now have higher case numbers per million than Australia, where compulsory mask rules have been abandoned in most indoor settings.

These figures appear to smash the push now on in Australia for a return to mask mandates, which are currently compulsory only on public transport and in aged care and healthcare centres.

Since Australian mandates began to ease last October, per capita case numbers in Singapore exceeded, matched or lagged behind Australia, before rising ahead again.

In New Zealand, case numbers were six weeks behind Australia's Omicron wave in January, but since February they have matched or exceeded Australia.

Death rates in New Zealand also overtook Australia per capita at the start of March, despite the Kiwis being on the highest code red mask mandate restrictions - and have stayed higher ever since.

In Singapore, death rates dropped below Australia in April after racing ahead between October and Christmas, but are now surging wildly and are set to overtake Australia once more.

The Singapore findings were shared on Twitter by Australian National University infectious diseases professor Peter Collignon as debate rages on the need for masks.

More at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11026577/Covid-Australia-Data-shows-mask-mandates-dont-work-New-Zealand-Singapore-pass-Australia.html

Border crisis hits NYC: Adams calls on Biden as shelters overrun with migrants

New York City’s homeless shelters are being overrun with asylum-seeking migrants as the nation’s immigration crisis continues to worsen — with nearly 3,000 arriving in recent weeks, Mayor Eric Adams warned Monday.

Adams called on President Biden to send “additional federal resources immediately” so the city can handle the overflow.

“If we do not get these urgently needed resources, we may struggle to provide the proper level of support our clients deserve, while also facing challenges as we serve both a rapidly growing shelter population and new clients who are seeking asylum,” Adams said in a prepared statement.

Adams said the added migrant burden included families “arriving on buses sent by the Texas and Arizona governments” but in other cases, he said, “it appears that individuals are being sent by the federal government.”

Adams became the second big-city mayor in recent days to fault the federal government for the influx of migrants into local homeless shelters.

On Sunday, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called the problem “a very significant issue.”

“We have for sure called on the federal government to work across state lines to prevent people from really being tricked into getting on buses,” she told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“We think they’re largely asylum seekers who are going to final destinations that are not Washington, DC.”

Bowser said she’d “worked with the White House” to provide funding “to a local organization that is providing services to folks.”

“But I fear that they’re being tricked into nationwide bus trips when their final destinations are places all over the United States of America,” she added.

In April, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the Lone Star State would be putting migrants on buses to the nation’s capital “where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border.”

More at: https://nypost.com/2022/07/19/adams-calls-on-biden-as-nyc-shelters-overrun-with-migrants/

Judge Grants Request for Discovery Phase in Social Media Collusion Lawsuit Against Biden Admin

A federal court has granted a request by Missouri and Louisiana officials to obtain information and documents from top-ranking officials in the Biden administration over its alleged collusion with social media giants in an effort to censor and suppress free speech.

Eric Schmitt, Missouri’s Republican attorney general, announced on social media on July 13 that Terry Doughty, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, had ruled in favor of the request for the discovery process.

The ruling paves the way for the attorneys general to collect documents from top-ranking Biden administration officials and social media giants.

In court documents (pdf) shared by Schmitt, Doughty wrote that there is “good cause” for an expedited preliminary injunction discovery.

The judge, a Trump appointee, also gave a timeline in which federal officials and social media platforms must hand over documents.

Plaintiff states may serve document and information requests from government officials and third party subpoenas on up to five major social media platforms seeking to identify which federal officials have allegedly been in communication with them within five business days after the ruling.

The ruling was issued on July 12.

Federal officials and social media platforms must also hand over documents and answer questions from officials from the two states within the next 30 days, the judge ruled.

‘Suppressed Disfavored Speakers’

The ruling comes after the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri filed a lawsuit in May alleging that the Biden administration “colluded with and/or coerced social media companies to suppress disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content on social media platforms by labeling the content ‘disinformation,’ ‘misinformation,’ and ‘malinformation.’”

More at: https://www.theepochtimes.com/judge-grants-request-for-discovery-phase-in-social-media-collusion-lawsuit-against-biden-admin_4606781.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-07-19-2&utm_medium=email&est=fP8deXYMfInc9Bkm77EtrX73584xSR5e3YpAZqTcKRU%2B0t%2F%2FqGrOVyoYb%2BilsVc%3D