NLPC Chairman Arrested at Buffett Shareholder Meeting for Linking Bill Gates to Jeffrey Epstein

The NLPC Chairman also criticized woke capital, a big no-no in globalist circles.

National Legal and Policy Center Chair Peter Flaherty was arrested this past weekend at the Berkshire Shareholder Proposal Presentation in Omaha, Nebraska. Before his arrest, Flaherty was speaking about his support for Prop 8, which the NLPC sponsored. According to Flaherty, Prop 8 would separate Berkshire from Buffett’s political projects. Flaherty sighted Buffett’s close relationship with Bill Gates as a primary reason to support Prop 8 and in doing so, reminded the audience of Gates’ relationship with globalist pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Before his arrest, Flaherty attacked Buffett’s relationship with Gates, saying, “I am Peter Flaherty, Chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center. If we had an independent chair, the Company would be less identified with Mr. Buffett’s political activities. He’s donated tens of billions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As Bill Gates explained when the couple was still together, “Although the foundation bears our names, basically half our resources have come from Warren Buffett.”

Flaherty continued attacking Gates and woke capital, saying that “If ‘woke’ culture is a disease, then philanthropy is the virus. The Gates Foundation bankrolls the teaching of Critical Race Theory around the country, including that math is inherently racist. The Gates Foundation offers a Gender Identity Toolbox, which asserts that gender is the result of ‘socially and culturally constructed ideas.’ This is a lie. Gender is not a cultural construct. It is a genetic and biological fact.”

Following Flaherty’s opening comments, a woman walked over and attempted to take his microphone away. Flaherty responded to the woman’s actions by saying, “You are not going to censor what I say, ma’am. I’m very sorry. And I appeal to the Chair that I will be allowed to continue. Sir?”

Flaherty wrapped his remarks up by saying, “Of Course, we know how much Bill Gates cares about children. He met and traveled with Jeffrey Epstein many times after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes. The Gates Foundation had a huge influence over the COVID response fiasco. Bill Gates defended China’s COVID policies and still discounts the possibility that the virus originated from a lab, even though U.S. intelligence agencies disagree. The Gates Foundation may be the largest single donor to the dark money machine known as Arabella Associates. It funds causes like defunding the police that are making American cities unlivable.”

https://nationalfile.com/nlpc-chairman-arrested-at-buffett-shareholder-meeting-for-linking-bill-gates-to-jeffrey-epstein/

LinkedIn Slashes Over 700 Jobs, Closes China App Amid ‘Evolving Market’

Employment platform LinkedIn has announced it is slashing hundreds of jobs and phasing out its app in China as part of a “streamlining” process amid declining revenue.

Ruiqi Chen, editor at LinkedIn News, announced the move on May 8, noting that the platform plans to reduce roles across its sales, operations, and support teams.

LinkedIn will also open 250 new roles to invest in specific segments, new business, and account management, Chen said.

Founded in 2002, LinkedIn has offices in 36 cities globally and about 20,000 employees, according to its official website.

CEO Ryan Roslansky also announced the decision to slash jobs at the company in an email to all LinkedIn employees, citing an “evolving market” and a shift in customer behavior along with slower revenue growth as reasons for the cuts.

“Last week, we celebrated our 20th birthday by reflecting on the pride we all feel in the company we’ve built, and looking forward to the opportunity and responsibility we have in front of us,” the email read. “Over the years we’ve had to make hard decisions to ensure we were setting the company up to deliver on our vision, and I’m sharing one of those decisions today.”

‘Evolving Market’

The CEO added that employees affected by the decision have “all made invaluable contributions to our company” and will receive dedicated help during the “transition.”

Roslansky noted that employees who lost their jobs would receive a calendar invitation to attend a meeting with their team leader and a representative from LinkedIn’s Global Business Organization (GBO).

Employees based in the United States who are eligible for benefits will receive severance pay, continued health coverage, and career transition services, among other benefits, he said. Those employees based outside of the United States will receive benefits that align with the employment laws and local practices in each country, Roslansky noted.

“For both our GBO and China employees, we have an internal mobility process for impacted team members to help find a new role if there’s a skill fit,” the CEO wrote. “In an evolving market, we must continuously have the conviction to adapt our strategy in order to make our vision a reality,” he added.

Roslansky also told employees that the company’s China-based jobs app, InCareer, will be phased out by Aug. 9. The LinkedIn platform had already been pulled in China in 2021 due to what company officials said was a “challenging operating environment.”

“Though InCareer experienced some success in the past year thanks to our strong China-based team, it also encountered fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate,” he said.

Those working in product, engineering, corporate, sales, and marketing in China will be out of a job, he added.

https://www.ntd.com/linkedin-slashes-over-700-jobs-closes-china-app-amid-evolving-market_918182.html

Chuck Schumer Summons Democrat Caucus for More Gun Control

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) is calling the Democrat Caucus to meet and discuss ways to act on President Joe Biden’s request for more gun control.

UPI reported Schumer put out the call for the caucus on Monday, following Biden’s Sunday push for more gun laws.

On Sunday Schumer tweeted:

The Hill indicated the success of Schumer’s gun control efforts hinge on whether Sen. John Cornyn (R) will cross the aisle and work with Democrats for more gun control again.

Breitbart News pointed out it was Sen. Cornyn who worked with Democrats to fashion the gun control bill Biden signed on June 25, 2022.

The Cornyn gun control package expanded background checks for some gun buyers, used taxpayer money to incentivize states to enact red flag laws, and broadened the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) prohibited purchasers list by using domestic violence statutes to cover dating relationships.

https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2023/05/09/chuck-schumer-summons-democrat-caucus-for-more-gun-control/

Pharma Giant Behind Botox, Breast Implants Bankrolled Doctors Pushing Trans Cosmetic Procedures

Allergan Aesthetics, a pharmaceutical company whose products are used in cosmetic procedures, has funded research promoting cosmetic treatments as particularly helpful for transgender people.

The company produces neurotoxins and other facial injections, as well as breast implants, and has financially supported doctors who administer those procedures for transgender patients or who are involved in research on the treatments’ impact on transgender people.

“This isn’t the 65-year-old woman who comes in complaining of marionette lines or brown spots on her face. These are individuals who very deeply know that they are in the wrong body,” one researcher who received payments from Allergan wrote about transgender patients seeking cosmetic treatments. “It’s medically necessary, ethical care that will help adolescents affirm who they are.”

Allergan Aesthetics, a pharmaceutical company that produces Botox injections and breast implants, funded doctors who promote cosmetic procedures as particularly beneficial and even medically necessary for transgender people.

Allergan has been quietly funding research that promotes neurotoxin injections and injectable facial fillers, which the company produces under the labels Botox and Juvederm, for transgender people. The company has also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting and public speaking fees to doctors who are involved in this research, or who offer transgender cosmetic procedures that may involve Allergan products, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.

One Allergan-funded 2021 study on the effect of minimally invasive facial cosmetic procedures for transgender individuals — such as the injectable facial fillers and neurotoxins produced by Allergan — concluded that “facial procedures can be of great benefit in enhancing patients’ self-perception and overall quality of life” and highlighted “the success of minimally invasive methods for assisting transgender patients in their facial remodeling goals and in the progress of their transition journey.”

The study has been cited nine times, according to Google Scholar. The study was not only funded by Allergan, but all seven doctors behind the research had ties to the company as advisory board members, investigators or paid consultants except for one who was both an employee and stockholder, according to the study. One of the authors, Dr. Terrence Keaney, has received more than $436,000 from the company since 2015, and another author, Dr. Alexander Rivkin, received more than $323,000 in the same time frame, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Advocates of cross-sex surgeries have successfully branded the procedures as medically necessary by arguing that, without them, transgender people are less satisfied with their lives and more likely to commit suicide. Medical industry leaders in recent years have pushed to add cosmetic procedures, including facial contouring and laser hair removal, to the growing list of treatments considered medically necessary for transgender people, which could line the pockets of pharmaceutical companies and medical providers by forcing insurers to cover them, according to a previous DCNF report.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/09/allergan-botox-trans-cosmetic-procedures/

Google engineers keep taking their own lives and company won’t discuss it: Report

Another Manhattan-based Google engineer has reportedly killed himself in a second incident involving the tech giant in as many months.

The tragic incident occurred last week when a senior software engineer reportedly jumped to his death from the 14th floor of Google’s headquarters in Chelsea. The authorities have not yet revealed the man’s identity as they are still in the process of informing his family, the Hindustan Times reported.

“According to police sources, multiple 911 calls were made after an unconscious person was found lying on the ground near a building on West 15th Street, opposite the 15-story Art Deco building. The police rushed to the spot and found the man unconscious. He was immediately taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead,” the report said.

“Investigators found handprints on the ledge of a 14th-floor open-air terrace, leading them to believe that the man had jumped from there. However, they have not found any suicide note or video of the incident,” the report added.

The incident occurred just a couple of months after the death of another Google employee, Jacob Pratt, who was also a software engineer working at the Manhattan headquarters. Pratt was found hanging in an apartment in Chelsea on February 16th at the age of 33, in what appeared to be a suicide.

As of now, Google has not released any statement regarding the incident. However, the twin tragedies have once again highlighted the importance of addressing mental health in the tech industry.

Meanwhile, concerns over Google’s commitment to privacy continue.

The tech behemoth has access to a vast amount of personal data from its users. While Google assures its users that their privacy is a top priority, there are still many concerns about how the company uses and protects this data.

Every search, click, and even voice command is tracked and stored by Google. This data is then used to personalize ads, improve search results, and create a profile of each user. While this may seem like a harmless practice, it raises concerns about how this data is used and who has access to it.

Google’s data collection practices also raise concerns about government surveillance and the potential for abuse. In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) had been collecting data from Google and other tech companies as part of their surveillance program.

http://www.domigood.com/2023/05/google-engineers-keep-taking-their-own.html

Ex-FBI chief gave $100K to Biden grandkid trust as he sought ‘future work’: Hunter emails

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh gave $100,000 to a trust for two of President Biden’s grandchildren as he sought to pursue “some very good and profitable matters” with him, newly surfaced emails revealed Thursday.

Freeh apparently made the gift in April 2016 — when Biden was the outgoing vice president — and shortly before he told Biden’s son Hunter, “I would be delighted to do future work with you,” according to the emails.

“I also spoke to Dad a few weeks ago and would like to explore with him some future work options,” Freeh wrote on July 8, 2016.

“I believe that working together on these (and other legal) matters would be of value, fun and rewarding.”

In another email to Hunter Biden the following year, Freeh described seeing Joe Biden at church earlier in the day “and he said hi walking back from communion–I didn’t get the chance to return greetings.”

“If you have his cell and personal email, I’d like to have his contacts (will protect),” Freeh wrote on March 12, 2017.

“I would still like to persuade him to associate with me and FSS—as we have some very good and profitable matters which he could enhance with minimal time.”

The initials FSS are an apparent reference to the law firm Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, where Freeh, a former federal judge, was a partner at the time.

The following month, Freeh wrote Hunter Biden regarding the gift he’d made to the trust for the children of Hunter’s late brother, Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015, and Beau’s wife, Hallie, with whom Hunter later had an affair.

“As you know, our family foundation made a $100K contribution to Hallie’s children’s trust last year,” Freeh wrote on April 24, 2017.

But Freeh said his accountants “now advise that since the grant did not go to a 501(c) organization, it was not a proper foundation gift” and that he planned to fix the situation by making “a new $100k gift” and having the trust “reimburse the foundation by paying it $100k.”

https://nypost.com/2021/05/20/ex-fbi-chief-gave-100k-to-biden-grandkid-trust-as-he-sought-future-work-hunter-emails/

>>18821189

Nope.

They are switching to AI systems and don't need coders

US, Taiwan in Talks on US Providing $500 Million in ‘Free’ Weapons

The arms would be provided directly from US military stockpiles using an authority that the US has primarily used to arm Ukraine

Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said Monday that Taiwan is in talks with the Pentagon on the US providing a $500 million weapons package that would come at no cost to Taipei.

“These extra weapons will be given to us for free and will not be deducted from the purchase list, which has been delayed by the US,” Chiu told Taiwan’s legislature, according to The South China Morning Post. He said the talks have been ongoing for about four months.

When asked what kind of weapons Taiwan will receive, Chiu said, “They will include missiles and some logistic services to help train our soldiers so that they will be familiar with the weapons’ operations as soon as they arrive.”

He said the arms will be “items readily available in the US inventory.” The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included $1 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority for Taiwan, which allows the US to send weapons directly from Pentagon stockpiles.

The US has sold weapons to Taiwan since Washington severed relations with Taipei in 1979 but has not provided free military aid, making the support unprecedented and sure to anger Beijing. China’s People’s Liberation Army launched major drills around Taiwan in December 2022 in response to President Biden signing the NDAA into law.

The PDA is the main authority President Biden has used to arm Ukraine. When lawmakers in Congress were first discussing including the PDA for Taipei, they said the idea was to arm Taiwan like Ukraine but before any potential invasion. China hawks say this must be done to deter a future war with China, but Beijing views such support as a major provocation.

https://news.antiwar.com/2023/05/08/us-taiwan-in-talks-on-us-providing-500-million-in-free-weapons/

PM warns Gaza terrorists: ‘Any escalation will be met with a crushing response’

Shin Bet chief says forces foiled cell in Jenin that planned to fire rockets at Israel under the direction of a senior Islamic Jihad member killed in the overnight strikes

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-may-9-2023/

2 killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes as Islamic Jihad vows to avenge slain leaders

Military says men targeted were operatives in terror group who were en route to carry out a guided missile attack on the Gaza border

A Palestinian Islamic Jihad squad in the Gaza Strip that sought to carry out an anti-tank guided missile attack against targets on the Israeli border was targeted in an airstrike on Tuesday afternoon, according to the military.

The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out the airstrike against the squad near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, as its members were taking missiles by car to a launch site.

“IDF soldiers monitored the activity of the squad and struck it while they were on their way to the launch pad,” the military said.

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A Palestinian Islamic Jihad squad in the Gaza Strip that sought to carry out an anti-tank guided missile attack against targets on the Israeli border was targeted in an airstrike on Tuesday afternoon, according to the military.

The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out the airstrike against the squad near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, as its members were taking missiles by car to a launch site.

“IDF soldiers monitored the activity of the squad and struck it while they were on their way to the launch pad,” the military said.

Sponsored by Sheba: The Stem Cell Revolution at Sheba Medical Center

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The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip said two men were killed and two were wounded in the strike. They were not immediately named. The strike brought the death toll since the military launched its operation against Islamic Jihad early Tuesday morning to 15.

Images published by media outlets showed a burnt-out car after the attack. The IDF published drone footage of the strike.

Shortly after, Palestinian media outlets reported a second airstrike against a “resistance site” in central Gaza. The IDF did not immediately comment on the reports.

The strikes came as Islamic Jihad was seeking to carry out reprisal attacks against Israel, after the IDF assassinated three senior members of the terror group in a series of strikes early Tuesday morning.

Earlier in the day, the IDF blocked access to some roads running near the enclave, over fears of anti-tank missile fire or sniper attacks.

The airstrikes in the pre-dawn hours came days after a short-lived but fiery flareup of violence set the restive region on edge. Islamic Jihad fired 104 rockets toward Israel on May 2 and 3, in response to the death of a member of the group who had been on hunger strike in Israeli prison.

Hamas health officials said 13 people were killed in the bombing runs early Tuesday. Islamic Jihad said the wives of the three commanders and a number of their children were among the dead. Some 20 people were reported injured in the strikes.

Israeli residents of areas within 40 kilometers (25 miles) of Gaza were instructed to enter or stay near bomb shelters amid fears of reprisal attacks.

Previous strikes on Islamic Jihad leaders have been answered with barrages of rockets on Israeli civilians and intense battles with Israeli troops, some lasting several days.

The IDF said it assassinated Khalil Bahtini, who commands Islamic Jihad in northern Gaza; Jihad Ghanem, a top official in the group’s military council; and Tareq Izz ed-Din, who it said directed Islamic Jihad terror activities in the West Bank from a base in Gaza.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-killed-in-fresh-israeli-airstrike-as-islamic-jihad-vows-to-avenge-slain-leaders/

>>18821250

Israel strikes Gaza killing 13 people, including four children

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group says three of its leaders killed as well as their wives and some children.

Israel has carried out a series of strikes on Gaza, killing at least 13 people, including three members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, with Palestinian authorities saying women and four children were among the dead.

Al Jazeera’s Youmna El Sayed, reporting from Gaza, said the Ministry of Health declared on Tuesday that at least 20 others were injured in the pre-dawn strikes in which more than 40 Israeli warplanes carried out attacks for nearly two hours starting at 2am on Tuesday (23:00 GMT Monday).

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/8/israeli-jets-hit-targets-in-gaza

Jury holds Trump liable for battery, defamation in E. Jean Carroll case

The civil nature of the case means Trump never faced jail time nor the prospect of forcible registration as a sex offender.

A jury held former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation after hearing arguments in a civil trial brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who said Trump raped her in a department store during the 1990s.

Trump's conduct was specifically determined to have been sexual abuse. The jury awarded roughly $2 million in damages to Carroll for the battery count, according to CNN.

The trial concluded last week and the jury returned its verdict on Monday. The case was made possible by a New York law that created a temporary legal window for alleged victims to sue their assailants for damages beyond the normal statute of limitations.

The civil nature of the case means Trump never faced jail time nor the prospect of forcible registration as a sex offender.

The former president's legal team did not call any witnesses during the trial. Health complications prevented the defense's expert witness, psychiatrist Edgar Nace, from appearing.

In early May, Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the Trump legal team's bid for a mistrial. Trump attorney Joe Tacopina had argued that Kaplan had a history of "pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings" against his client.

It remains unclear how the verdict will impact the former president's electoral prospects as he seeks the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/jury-decides-trump-rape-case

War

kek

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Says Lower Expectations of Counteroffensive

US officials have put enormous weight on the expected counteroffensive

Senior Ukrainian officials fear their coming counteroffensive will not live up to the expectations of Kyiv’s Western backers, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.

“The expectation from our counteroffensive campaign is overestimated in the world,” said Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. “Most people are … waiting for something huge.”

One of the Pentagon documents that appeared online as part of the Discord leaks was a US assessment from February that showed the US did not believe Ukraine could regain significant territory. POLITICO reported on April 24 that current assessments say something similar.

But Western officials are still insisting that Ukraine has what it needs to retake territory from Russia this spring. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that Kyiv is capable despite what the Discord leaks revealed.

Reznikov said Kyiv’s Western backers have said they need an example of “a success because we need to show it to our people,” as a Ukrainian failure would not bode well for rallying more military assistance for Kyiv. “But I cannot tell you what the scale of this success would be. Ten kilometers, 30 kilometers, 100 kilometers, 200 kilometers?” said Reznikov.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs and staunch supporter of arming Ukraine, has said future aid hinges on the counteroffensive. “If Ukraine is successful in the eyes of the American people and the world, I think it will be a game-changer for continued support. If they are not, that will also have an impact, in a negative way, though,” McCaul said last week.

Reznikov and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Post that they were still preparing for the counteroffensive. Zelensky said they will be ready to launch the assault “as soon as the weapons that were agreed with our partners are filled.”

Reznikov said the “first assault formation” is more than 90% prepared but some troops are still receiving training in other countries. The looming counteroffensive is expected to be focused on the south as an attempt to sever the land bridge Russia has secured to Crimea.

https://news.antiwar.com/2023/05/08/ukraines-defense-minister-says-lower-expectations-of-counteroffensive/

US Sanctions El Chapo’s Son; DEA Nabs over 3,300 Suspected Cartel Members

The United States has targeted Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera’s family once again, this time sanctioning one of his children and three Sinaloa Cartel members, along with two Mexican companies, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday.

Joaquín Guzmán López, known along with his brothers as the “Chapitos,” is believed to be managing super labs and trafficking illicit drugs into the U.S.

The other three members are accused of supporting the cartel with precursor chemicals and drug shipments.

The companies, Sumilab, a chemical and lab equipment company, and Urbanizacion, Inmobiliaria y Construccion de Obras, S.A. de C.V., a real estate business, were designated for providing and shipping precursor chemicals to Sinaloa Cartel members and associates.

The move comes on the heels of a year-long operation that resulted in the arrest of 3,337 individuals suspected of being part of the distribution networks of the Sinaloa and Jalisco drug cartels.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said that since it launched operation Last Mile in May last year, officers have seized nearly 44 million fentanyl pills, more than three tonnes of fentanyl powder, nearly 41 tonnes of methamphetamine, 8,497 firearms, and over US$100 million.

The amount of fentanyl powder and pills seized is enough to produce over 193 million fatal doses, which could be lethal to the population of an entire country or several countries combined.

The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels “use multi-city distribution networks, violent local street gangs, and individual dealers across the US to flood American communities with fentanyl and methamphetamine,” said Anne Melissa Milgram, the Administrator of the DEA.

Out of the 1,436 investigations, over 1,100 involved social media applications and encrypted communications platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Wire, and Wickr.

According to Milgram, it is “alarming” that these groups are using social media platforms to coordinate their operations and reach out to people.

The DEA believes the groups get precursor chemicals from China and use clandestine labs in Mexico to manufacture fentanyl into powder and pills. They use violence to maintain control over the operations and smuggle fentanyl into the U.S. via land, sea, air, and underground routes to distribute the drugs across the country.

Later, the money they earn travels back to Mexico, where it is laundered in various ways.

Last month, the DEA and its federal partners announced the indictment of 28 members and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel, including its leaders known as “Chapitos,” who are operating in Mexico, China, and Central America.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/17612-us-sanctions-el-chapo-s-son-dea-nabs-over-3-300-suspected-cartel-members

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/17612-us-sanctions-el-chapo-s-son-dea-nabs-over-3-300-suspected-cartel-members

ICE arrests 14 known or suspected human rights violators during national operation

WASHINGTON - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took targeted enforcement action against removable noncitizens, including those with a final order of removal, who present a danger to communities and have known or suspected roles in human rights violations during a nationwide operation, April 24-28. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) National Fugitive Operations Program, in coordination with ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) and National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center, worked to identify, locate, and apprehend 14 individuals.

“ICE is committed to preventing the United States from becoming a refuge for those who attempt to evade prosecution and punishment for human rights violations committed against others,” said the ICE Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of Director Tae D. Johnson. “These targeted arrests highlight the invaluable work and diligent efforts of our workforce to hold human rights violators accountable for their actions. I commend the collaborative work between members of ERO, OPLA, and the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center that resulted in these apprehensions.”

All foreign nationals arrested during this operation are subject to repatriation to their home countries. Those arrested included 10 known or suspected human rights violators from Central and South America, including individuals implicated in the torture and killing of civilians during military service and the enforced disappearances of individuals. Additionally, the operation resulted in the apprehension of four known or suspected human rights violators from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East connected to a range of atrocities, including the execution of political prisoners, murder, rape and mutilation, and massacres.

Additionally, among the total apprehended, four have convictions in the United States for crimes including, but not limited to, possession of altered U.S. currency to defraud; financial transaction card fraud; inflicting corporal injury on spouse/cohabitant; burglary; receiving stolen property; and driving under the influence.

As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.

The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC) is the only government entity focused completely on investigating global atrocities and the perpetrators of human rights violations and war crimes. Initiated in 2008, the HRVWCC leverages the knowledge and expertise of a select group of special agents, attorneys, intelligence analysts, criminal research specialists and historians who are charged with preventing the United States from becoming a safe haven for individuals who engage in the commission of war crimes, genocide, torture and other forms of serious human rights abuses from conflicts around the globe. Currently, the HRVWCC has more than 160 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,700 leads and removal cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries. Since 2003, the HRVWCC has issued more than 78,000 lookouts and stopped over 350 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the U.S.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-arrests-14-known-or-suspected-human-rights-violators-during-national-operation

November 11, 2016

The FBI likely ran nearly half the child porn sites on the dark web in 2016

Earlier this year we brought you an in-depth exposé of how, for 12 days in February and March, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ran the world’s largest child porn site, Playpen. According to newly unsealed documents, Playpen wasn’t the only site containing child pornography on FBI servers.

The piece above can handle the in-depth explaining (if you’re interested), but it went down like this: the FBI seized the site, ran it on government servers for 13 days and attempted to ensnare pedophiles through malware. The malware, known in law enforcement as a “network investigative technique” (NIT), tried to infiltrate layers of security TOR users employ when accessing the dark web. In at least a few cases, it worked.

According to an FBI affidavit:

In the normal course of the operation of a web site, a user sends “request data” to the web site in order to access that site. While Websites 1-23 operate at a government facility, such request data associated with a user’s actions on Websites 1-23 will be collected. That data collection is not a function of the NIT. Such request data can be paired with data collected by the NIT, however, in order to attempt to identify a particular user and to determine that particular user’s actions on Websites 1-23.

Put simply, “websites 1-23” were operated at a government facility for an undefined period in an attempt to snag potential child predators.

Sarah Jamie Lewis, a security researcher, told Ars Technica: “it’s a pretty reasonable assumption” that the FBI was, at one point, running nearly half of all known child porn sites hosted on Tor-hidden services. Lewis runs OnionScan, an analysis tool that uses bots to map out the dark web and look for vulnerabilities. She began her researching in April of this year, and as of August, she’s mapped 29 unique child porn-related sites on Tor-hidden servers.

The issue — aside from the FBI’s above-the-law approach at investigation — is the use of a single warrant to hack thousands of computers. The Playpen investigation netted some 1,300 unique internet protocol (IP) addresses. Of these, fewer than 100 cases made their way to court, and judges in Iowa, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma ruled that the FBI’s investigation techniques violated current laws of federal procedure.

Other judges have taken issue with the unlawful search but failed to go as far as suppressing the evidence collected.

While no one would argue that child sex abuse is among the vilest of possible crimes, law enforcement’s handling of the matter is equally disturbing. The perpetuation of child sex abuse by allowing these sites to continue operating is akin to victimizing the child all over again under the guise of an investigation.

In a world bound by law and governed by order, there’s no side-stepping the issue: the FBI is committing the same crime as the criminals it’s putting behind bars. In the end, you have to attempt to reconcile whether the action of facilitating child sex abuse is worth the means — the capture of 100 alleged pedophiles.

Along the way you’ll have to ask yourself if an agency designed to uphold the law is warranted in breaking it.

We’ve reached out to our FBI contacts for comment and will update if needed.

https://thenextweb.com/news/the-fbi-likely-ran-nearly-half-the-child-porn-sites-on-the-dark-web-in-2016

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1656016079662063632

DOJ Files Criminal Charges Against GOP Rep. George Santos

The Justice Department filed criminal charges against GOP Rep. George Santos (NY), according to a leak to CNN.

Santos will appear in federal court on Wednesday according to the outlet.

The nature of the charges are unclear, however, federal investigators were probing possible campaign finance violations.

CNN reported:

Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against New York Rep. George Santos, the Republican lawmaker whose astonishing pattern of lies and fabrications stunned even hardened politicos, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Santos is expected to appear as soon as Wednesday at federal court in New York’s eastern district, where the charges have been filed under seal.

The exact nature of the charges couldn’t immediately be learned but the FBI and the Justice Department public integrity prosecutors in New York and Washington have been examining allegations of false statements in Santos’ campaign finance filings and other claims.

Earlier this year House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters that George Santos will be removed from Congress if it is determined the freshman Rep. broke the law.

George Santos flipped New York’s 3rd Congressional district red in November when he defeated Robert Zimmerman.

In December Santos admitted he lied about his education, employment history and Jewish background in an interview with the New York Post.

“I am not a criminal,” Santos said during his exclusive interview. “This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good.”

“My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry,” Santos said Monday to The Post.

Federal prosecutors were investigating George Santos’ ‘sudden wealth’ after he admitted to embellishing his resume.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/breaking-doj-files-criminal-charges-against-gop-rep-george-santos/