Former Director of Finance Sentenced to 44 Months in Prison for Defrauding Credit Union of More Than $600,000

Defendant Used Money to Buy Stocks, Fund Retirement Account, Pay Off His Car

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/former-director-finance-sentenced-44-months-prison-defrauding-credit-union-more-600000

Bank of Russia sees potential for global payments in central banks’ digital currencies

The regulator is ready to discuss using of cryptocurrencies for international payments, but opposes its free circulation inside the country

Russia’s Central Bank sees huge potential for international payments in digital currencies of central banks, the regulator’s Governor Elvira Nabiullina told a press conference following the meeting of the board of directors on the key rate on Friday.

"We believe there is also huge potential for international payments in digital currencies of central banks. Regarding digital financial assets, we have a respective legislation, and in terms of digital financial assets not suggested to be used as quasi-money, we believe the focus should be on simplifying the issuance of such digital financial assets," she explained.

The regulator is ready to discuss ways of using digital financial assets, including cryptocurrencies, for international payments, but opposes free circulation of cryptocurrencies inside the country, Nabiullina added.

https://tass.com/politics/1508807

'Fauci knows' he funded gain-of-function research, 'misled Congress,' former CDC director says

"Nothing's going to happen as long as the Biden administration is here," Robert Redfield says, citing threats on his life for promoting the lab-leak theory.

The former Center for Disease Control and Prevention director who was cast as a conspiracy theorist for saying the evidence supported the lab-leak explanation for COVID-19 – allegedly provoking death threats – claims that the real "conspiracy is Collins, Fauci, and the established scientific community."

Robert Redfield told former Senate Finance Committee investigator Paul Thacker that National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci "knew" he funded gain-of-function research that makes viruses more dangerous, and "misled Congress" when he denied it," but "[n]othing's going to happen as long as the Biden administration is here."

"Tony and I are friends, but we don't agree on this at all," Redfield said in an interview published in Thacker's Disinformation Chronicle newsletter.

"Everyone had to agree to the narrative" pushed by Fauci and then-National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins that SARS-CoV-2 emerged from a "wet market" in Wuhan, not the Fauci-funded Wuhan Institute of Virology miles away, to avoid becoming a public target of the two officials, he said.

The virologist Redfield told the immunologist Fauci from the "second or third week in January" 2020 that "I'm very concerned that he was championing this theory that it came from animals."

The particulars of the novel coronavirus, such as the furin cleavage site and the "human" sequence in it, make clear that it's not from bats, he said. "This thing was manipulated, orchestrated. That cleavage site was created."

Transmission doesn't make sense under natural evolution, according to Redfield. "You have a virus that is one of the most infectious viruses in the history of humanity, and yet that virus no longer can infect the bat? … No, this is highly abnormal."

Redfield said he believes The Lancet spring 2020 letter that lumped in the lab-leak hypothesis with "conspiracy theories" was "orchestrated … under direction of Fauci and Collins, trying to nip any attempt to have an honest investigation of the pandemic’s origin."

"There was nothing scientific about that letter. It was just an attempt to intimidate people," he also said.

"Tony had over a year looking for an intermediate host" to explain the natural-evolution theory of COVID-19 "and still hadn’t found one" when Redfield went on CNN in 2021 to defend the lab-leak hypothesis, Redfield continued.

Scientific American accused Redfield of promoting a conspiracy theory based on "xenophobia," which Redfield suspects was due to Fauci's influence at that publication.

"I was threatened, my life was threatened," he said. "I have letters I got from prominent scientists, that previously gave me awards, telling me that the best thing I could do for the world was to shoot myself because of what I said."

He believes that "Fauci and Collins were behind a lot of" the conspiracy and "anti-Asian hate" claims about the lab-leak theory, and plans to elaborate in a book once Chinese Communist Party leadership changes. Redfield said "big publishers" frowned on his book proposal because it promotes the lab-leak theory.

Thacker noted that newly released emails show January 2020 discussions within NIH about Fauci's funding of the EcoHealth Alliance and a 2015 paper in Nature about the Wuhan lab manipulating coronaviruses.

"Yeah, I think Tony tried to kill" the inquiries into the Wuhan funding and lab experiments, Redfield said, while clarifying that "I don't believe there was any intent to harm people" through suppression. NIAID didn't immediately respond to a request for Fauci's response. Neither did Collins, who remains at NIH as head of the molecular genetics section.

"The whole thing is scientific arrogance. There was an arrogance that they could contain this, that it wouldn't escape it," he said. "I worked with the Chinese CDC for many years while in the military and while at the University of Maryland. And viruses get out of labs. That's just the nature of the beast."

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/fauci-knows-he-funded-gain-function-research-misled-congress-former-cdc

Meet the Vulnerable Congressman Who Helped Spark an Immigration Crisis in Maine

Rep. Jared Golden championed legislation that provides free housing for asylum-seeking migrants

A vulnerable Maine Democrat spearheaded an effort to make migrants eligible for his state's welfare program, a policy that may hurt him at the ballot box in November given that it has resulted in a costly overflow of asylum seekers in the city of Portland.

As a state legislator, Rep. Jared Golden championed a bill in 2015 that declared asylum-seeking immigrants eligible for the state's General Assistance program, which provides free hotels, meals, and other essentials to elderly and homeless Mainers. As a result, an estimated 1,200 immigrants are now receiving emergency housing in Portland and are unable to work until they receive government approval, a process that can take several months. Portland officials in May informed federal immigration agencies that the city's hotels reached full capacity and are unable to shelter additional asylum seekers—just as federal funds for the program are set to expire.

"I am writing this email to alert you to the fact that as of the date of this email, there is no further shelter OR hotel capacity in Portland, Maine," wrote city Health and Human Services director Kristen Dow. "Additionally, because our staff are spread quite thin, it is not guaranteed that we will be in a position to aid individuals in their search for emergency housing."

Maine's migrant troubles could pose a problem for Golden, a member of the House's centrist Blue Dog Coalition, as he faces a tight reelection campaign against former Republican congressman Bruce Poliquin. Golden has tried to distance himself from the Biden administration's immigration policy—which is supported by just 33 percent of Americans—introducing legislation in May that would prevent the president from ending Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allows immigration authorities to turn away asylum seekers at the border. As a state legislator, however, Golden welcomed an unprecedented number of asylum-seeking immigrants to his state with some of the most expansive welfare benefits in the nation.

"Voting to deny a helping hand to people who are far less fortunate than I am, who came here hoping to find peace and freedom … flies in the face of everything that I stand for," Golden said in 2015.

In the years since its implementation, the asylum policy has strained Portland's budget: While the migrants make up 2 percent of Portland's population, their welfare costs consist of 20 percent of the city's budget. The policy, which provides two years of assistance for each asylum seeker, cost the city $40 million between January and June alone to house some 400 families.

Maine pays for 70 percent of General Assistance funds to cities, with the remaining costs covered by the federal government in recent years amid the pandemic. The federal support is set to expire next month, however, meaning Portland may be forced to make cuts to other programs. Portland's city manager in April postponed a presentation of the city's budget due to concerns about the rising costs of housing asylum seekers.

Golden helped lead the effort to pass the 2015 migrant welfare measure in the state House in an 81-63 vote, which largely fell along party lines. State Democrats moved to pass the measure after then-Maine governor Paul LePage (R.) in 2014 halted state relief to cities that allowed asylum seekers to receive welfare, which he claimed was illegal. In a 2015 op-ed, the Maine Democrat dismissed criticism from Republicans that welfare for asylum seekers would lead to a shortage of funds for other programs.

"At a time when our state is operating with a revenue surplus, Maine does not have to choose between housing our elderly or housing asylum seekers," Golden wrote.

Bobby Reynolds, a senior adviser to the Golden campaign, told the Washington Free Beacon that the measure had strong Republican support in the state's Senate, but would not comment on whether Golden regretted his vote.

Portland in 2019 took in 450 African asylum seekers, many of whom were held in the city's sports arena for two months. Residents fundraised $1 million to help provide essential care, and others volunteered to house families. African immigrants in the General Assistance program spread the news to their families still abroad through WhatsApp, according to a July report in the Christian Science Monitor. Most of these African immigrants do not speak English and are often unable to begin work for more than a year.

Portland's mayor and manager did not respond to requests for comment. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the General Assistance Program, did not respond to a request for comment.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/meet-the-vulnerable-congressman-who-helped-spark-an-immigration-crisis-in-maine/

CNN Contributor Dies After Being Caught In “Rip Current”

https://youtu.be/pWwivc9ZJho

BBC Boasts it Got Vaccine Injured Support Group With 250,000 Members Removed From Facebook

The BBC has boasted that it triggered the removal of a Facebook vaccine injury support group with over 250,000 members.

The BBC has seen several groups, one with hundreds of thousands of members, in which the [carrot] emoji appears in place of the word ‘vaccine’. Facebook’s algorithms tend to focus on words rather than images. The groups are being used to share unverified claims of people being either injured or killed by vaccines.

Once the BBC alerted Facebook’s parent company, Meta, the groups were removed.

“We have removed this group for violating our harmful misinformation policies and will review any other similar content in line with this policy. We continue to work closely with public health experts and the U.K. Government to further tackle Covid vaccine misinformation,” the firm said in a statement.

However, the groups have since reappeared in our searches.

One group we saw has been around for three years but rebranded itself to focus on vaccine stories, from being a group for sharing “banter, bets and funny videos” in August 2022.

The rules of the very large group state: “Use code words for everything.” It adds: “Do not use the c word, v word or b word ever” (Covid, vaccine, booster). It was created more than a year ago and has more than 250,000 members.

Marc Owen-Jones, a disinformation researcher, and associate professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, was invited to join it.

“It was people giving accounts of relatives who had died shortly after having the COVID-19 vaccine”, he said. “But instead of using the words ‘COVID-19’ or ‘vaccine’, they were using emojis of carrots.

“Initially I was a little confused. And then it clicked – that it was being used as a way of evading, or apparently evading, Facebook’s fake news detection algorithms.”

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2022/09/bbc-boasts-it-got-vaccine-injured-support-group-with-250000-members-removed-from-facebook.html

Fire engulfs 42-storey building in China

A massive fire sent flames and black smoke pouring from a 42-storey skyscraper in central China belonging to the country's largest telecoms operator, but no casualties were reported, officials said.

Dozens of floors burned in the China Telecom building in the city of Changsha, the capital of central Hunan province.

The city’s fire department said it sent 280 firefighters who were able to quickly extinguish the blaze on the 218-metre building.

No injuries or deaths have been reported, China Telecom said in a statement.

It said there was no disruption to mobile phone service, but social media users complained of being unable to use their phones.

Videos of the blaze showed one side of the building scorched black, with debris falling to the ground.

Other videos from local media showed workers inside managing to evacuate the building.

There was no immediate information on the cause of the blaze.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/fire-engulfs-42-story-china-communications-building-changsha/a86bdb8c-feb1-48a2-8a0d-c4f3f505368d

Not sure why it didn't collapse at free fall speed

Vote-By-Mail is Unconstitutional, Delaware Judge Rules

A judge struck down a law that was rushed through by Delaware Democrats earlier this year

A Delaware judge ruled Wednesday that a new vote-by-mail law that was enacted earlier this year is unconstitutional. The judge further ruled that vote-by-mail will not be permitted in the upcoming November elections.

Vice Chancellor Nathan Cook ruled that the law, which Delaware Democrats rammed through the General Assembly in less than three weeks this past June, violates a provision in Delaware’s constitution that lays out specific circumstances under which an individual is allowed to cast an absentee ballot.

“Our Supreme Court and this court have consistently stated that those circumstances are exhaustive,” Cook wrote. “Therefore, as a trial judge, I am compelled by precedent to conclude that the vote-by-mail statute’s attempt to expand absentee voting … must be rejected.”

While Cook ruled vote-by-mail as unconstitutional, he did opt to uphold Delaware’s new same-day voter registration law.

Democrat lawmakers introduced the vote-by-mail bill earlier this year after failing to get Republicans on board with amending the state’s constitution. A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote by each chamber in two consecutive General Assemblies.

The first leg of a constitutional amendment to eliminate limitations on absentee balloting was passed in the legislature in 2020. It was initially defeated in the Democrat-controlled legislature, but the second leg failed to gain the necessary majority to pass in the Democrat-controlled house.

Julianne Murray, an attorney for plaintiffs challenging the vote-by-mail legislation, praised Cook’s knowledge of the state’s constitution in making his decision. “He started on the Constitutional Convention of 1897 and worked his way through,” said Murray, who is the Republican nominee for attorney general in November.

Jane Brady, a retired judge and former Delaware attorney general who also represented plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said mail-in voting “does not comport with the constitution.”

“I believe that the legislature has known from day one that they needed a constitutional amendment to do this,” Brady said.

Wednesday’s ruling comes two years after a different Chancery Court judge rejected a challenge by the state Republican Party to the constitutionality of a law allowing universal voting by mail in the 2020 election, the Associated Press reported. Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III said in that ruling that the General Assembly’s decision to use its emergency powers to declare that voting by mail was necessary to protect public health and ensure continuity of governmental operations during the coronavirus epidemic was not “clearly erroneous.”

In passing that legislation, Democrats argued that mail-in-voting was “necessary and proper” during the pandemic, and that adhering to the state constitution’s limits on absentee voting “would be impractical.”

https://nationalfile.com/vote-by-mail-is-unconstitutional-delaware-judge-rules/