Thousands of Coloradans find smart thermostats locked due to 'energy emergency'

A power company executive said it is a "voluntary program" and that this is the first time in the company's history that customers have been unable to override their thermostats.

Thousands of Colorado residents were unable to control the temperature of their homes after they were locked out of their smart thermostats due to an "energy emergency."

Xcel Energy customers in Pueblo, Colorado who opted into the company's AC Rewards program, which offers a $100 enrollment bill credit and $25 annually, received a notification last week that they were locked out of temperature controls.

"It's a voluntary program. Let's remember that this is something that customers choose to be a part of based on the incentives," Xcel executive Emmett Romine told local ABC 7 Denver. The company confirmed that 22,000 customers were locked out of their smart thermostats for several hours Tuesday as temperatures climbed into the 90s.

Some customers were unable to put their thermostats below 78 degrees, while others reported that their homes reached temperatures as high as 88.

Romine said this is the first time in the program's history that customers were unable to override their thermostats. He said the "energy emergency" was caused by an unexpected outage in Pueblo along with the heat and heavy air conditioner usage.

https://justthenews.com/government/local/thousands-coloradans-find-smart-thermostats-locked-due-energy-emergency

Report: Migrant Kids Going Missing After Biden’s HHS Frees Them into U.S.

Some Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs), those arriving at the United States-Mexico border with adults who are not their parents or adult relatives, are reportedly going missing after having been released to adult sponsors in the U.S. by President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

According to an exclusive report from Reuters, HHS officials are attempting to locate a number of UACs in the Houston, Texas area after they went missing following their release to adult sponsors. HHS oversees the massive UAC pipeline into the U.S.

Reuters reports:

Earlier this summer, a Houston police detective alerted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after discovering what looked like a pattern of migrant kids missing from the homes of their U.S. sponsors, according to an HHS official, who declined to be identified. [Emphasis added]

…

In August, in a rare step, the HHS refugee office implemented an emergency supervisory review of releases of unaccompanied kids to non-parent sponsors in the Houston area, according to the HHS official and an internal email seen by Reuters. [Emphasis added]

The agency found that since late last year, 57 unaccompanied migrant kids had been reported missing in Houston, the HHS official, and two additional sources familiar with the situation, said. Included in the count were nine kids who ran away from HHS shelters in the Houston area, the official said. [Emphasis added]

As of late August, about 46 of the 57 UACs reported missing in the Houston area had been located, an official told Reuters. Officials also said they do not believe the missing cases are related to sex or labor trafficking crimes.

The revelation comes as HHS previously halted UAC resettlement to Enterprise, Alabam last year as the agency investigated labor trafficking allegations, according to the Reuters report. Though agency officials said they did not find any evidence of trafficking, they did discover harmful working conditions that newly arrived border crossers and illegal aliens had been subjected to.

The UAC pipeline into the U.S. is the largest migrant youth transportation effort carried out. Since Biden took office in late January 2021, HHS has resettled more than 200,000 UACs across American communities. UACs are especially vulnerable to foreign gang recruitment within the U.S. interior.

The majority of UACs are teen boys who are at least 15 years old. Miami-Dade County, Florida, Cook County, Illinois, Marion County, Indiana, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Prince George’s County, Maryland, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Nassau County, New York, Suffolk County, New York, Davidson County, Tennessee, Dallas County, Texas, Harris County, Texas, and Fairfax County, Virginia continue to be the most likely destinations for UACs.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/09/04/report-migrant-kids-going-missing-after-bidens-hhs-frees-them-into-u-s/

Military Situation In Ukraine On September 4, 2022 (Map Update)

Russia struck the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade of the AFU near Kramatorsk with high-precision missiles;

Russia struck the 95th air assault brigades of the AFU near Gusarovka with high-precision missiles;

Russia struck the 65th mechanized brigade of the AFU near Nikolsky with high-precision missiles;

Russia struck military assets of the AFU near Kurakhovo with high-precision missiles;

Russia struck military assets of the AFU near Malinovka with high-precision missiles;

Russia struck military assets of the AFU near Seversk with high-precision missiles;

Russia struck military assets of the AFU near Melovaya with high-precision missiles;

Russian air defense systems shot down 5 Ukrainian drones near Balakliya, Pershotravneve in the Kharkiv region, Zavitne Bazhannya, Ivanovka and Zelyony Gay in the DPR;

Russian air defense systems shot down 3 HIMARS rockets and 7 other rockets near Novaya Kakhovka in the Kherson region and the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station.

Map in link, image issues stopping me posting

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-ukraine-on-september-4-2022-map-update/

National Child Protection Week – 45 people charged following joint operation in WA

n the lead up to NCPW 2022, a joint operation involving Australian Federal Police, WA Police, and Australian Border Force, conducted AFP Operation TAMWORTH /WA Police Operation PALOMAR, to target offenders involved in the manufacture, distribution and possession of child exploitation material. Over a seven-day period officers from WA Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (WA JACET), consisting of AFP and WA Police officers executed more than 60 search warrants in metropolitan and regional locations of Western Australia with 16 of these search warrants being for Commonwealth offences pursuant to the Criminal Code (Cth).

This resulted in 45 people being charged in WA with 149 offences and the seizure of 35,222 images and videos of child exploitation material.

Importantly three victims were identified and rescued from ongoing child sexual abuse.

In 2021, the AFP led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) received more than 33,000 incoming reports of child exploitation. This is double the number of reports from 2019.

AFP Detective Superintendent Graeme Marshall said the arrests were another example of the work undertaken by the AFP and WA Police every day to protect children across the country, and that law enforcement would identify, arrest and prosecute predators who sought to exploit and harm them.

"These figures show the scale of the problem and how we need everyone in the community – parents, teachers, carers - to be alert. Let this serve as a warning to anyone who produces or shares child abuse material - you will be caught,” he said.

“The AFP, together with our State, Commonwealth and international partners remain committed to identifying, arresting and prosecuting those who seek to exploit and harm our community’s most vulnerable – our children.”

Detective Superintendent Gordon Fairman from the WA Police Sex Crime Division states “It has to be remembered that Child Exploitation Material is not pornography – it is direct evidence of children being abused. Identifying, locating and rescuing these children is the highest priority for WA Police and we work closely with national and international partners to do this. People who manufacture, distribute or possess Child Exploitation Material may believe they are anonymous, hiding behind a computer. Let me tell you that they are not. As this operation shows, we can identify them, we can locate them and we can prosecute them.”

The AFP and its partners are committed to stopping child exploitation and abuse and the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation is driving a collaborative national approach to combatting child abuse.

The ACCCE brings together specialist expertise and skills in a central hub, supporting investigations into online child sexual exploitation and developing prevention strategies focused on creating a safer online environment.

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/national-child-protection-week-%E2%80%93-45-people-charged-following-joint

Kremlin reveals if Putin reads Telegram

President Putin's intel briefings include all relevant information, his spokesman said

Russian President Vladimir Putin does not follow any Telegram channels personally, but his regular intelligence briefings may sometimes include a review of noteworthy posts, particularly from military correspondents, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.

“Putin doesn’t read Telegram channels, but receives reviews,” Peskov told Tass on Sunday, noting that the head of state obviously needs to have full access to all available information and intelligence, in addition to official reports and bulletins.

Unlike the vast majority of the world leaders these days, the Russian president has virtually no online presence, apart from a handful of official Kremlin accounts, including a Telegram channel, because he doesn't have any free time to waste on posting, scrolling and clicking, his spokesman previously explained.

Last year Peskov also said that Putin would never set up a personal social media account and delegate the job to an adviser, because “he considers it wrong” if someone else would manage a public profile on his behalf.

In fact, Putin doesn’t even have a cellphone to post or follow anyone, because, as Peskov once noted, “using a smartphone means voluntary exhibitionism” and a “total information transparency,” which is unimaginable for any world leader. Putin himself said that while he can always borrow an aide's phone if needed, he prefers to use an old-style government line to instantly get in touch with anyone.

While former US president Barack Obama was once touted as the “first social media president,” his successor Donald Trump took it to a whole new level, attributing a large part of his election victory to social media. Trump is estimated to have tweeted more than 25,000 times during his presidency, before tech giants banned him for allegedly inciting the January 6 Capitol riot, while stepping up efforts to censor the powerful tool under the banner of fighting dangerous “disinformation.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/562174-kremlin-putin-telegram-channels/