NJ GOP Congressional Candidate Receives Letter Threatening his Children; Urges him to Drop Out of Race
https://saraacarter.com/nj-gop-congressional-candidate-receives-letter-threatening-his-children-urges-him-to-drop-out-of-race/
https://www.trtworld.com/turkey/saudi-prosecutor-says-khashoggi-murder-was-premeditated-21117
Dan Bongino Claims Explosive Devices Sent To CNN And Democratic Politicians Were Amateur On Purpose
https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/25/dan-bongino-bombs-amateur/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=atdailycaller
Austria calls for EU-wide halt in arms sales to Saudi Arabia
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-khashoggi-austria/austria-calls-for-eu-wide-halt-in-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia-idUSKCN1MZ34T?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&__twitter_impression=true
UPDATE: Police give the all-clear and employees are allowed back in the building
https://breaking911.com/breaking-conservative-d-c-radio-station-wmal-evacuated-due-to-suspicious-package/
UPDATE: Police give the all-clear and employees are allowed back in the building
Michael Bloomberg, Exxon and the ethical pollution of buying justice
By John Solomon
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire and perhaps soon-to-be presidential candidate, suggested earlier this year that reluctant corporations needed to be pressed into addressing climate change.
“Employees want to work for an environmentally friendly company. And then there are the investors. … They want socially responsible investing,” the former New York City mayor and media mogul declared to National Geographic in February.
So it seems likely that Bloomberg privately cheered the news Wednesday that New York’s attorney general had filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil alleging the oil giant deceived investors over its financial risks from climate change regulations.
The suit hit ExxonMobil right in its pocketbook, which is quite the pressure point.
Actually, though, Bloomberg did a whole lot more: He literally bought his way into the case.
That’s right. He used his money to fund a prosecutor on the New York attorney general’s staff, who then worked on the lawsuit.
Take a look at page 90 of Attorney General Barbara Underwood’s lawsuit against ExxonMobil and you will see one of the listed prosecutors is Special Assistant Attorney General Matthew Eisenson. He carries the title “special” because he was not hired through the normal channels…. more here
https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/413236-michael-bloomberg-exxon-and-the-ethical-pollution-of-buying
https://twitter.com/jsolomonReports/status/1055585383981965312
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-election-china-insight/bolsonaros-anti-china-rants-have-beijing-nervous-about-brazil-idUSKCN1MZ0DR?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29
In a letter to the DOD, two Republican congressmembers accused military leaders of violating federal law and departmental ethics standards by moving forward with plans to award the JEDI contract to Amazon
TWO MEMBERS OF Congress are seeking a formal investigation into claims that the bidding process for a contentious $10 billion Pentagon contract was rigged in favor of Amazon.
The contract in question would give one company full reign over the Defense Department’s Joint Enterprise Defense Initiative, or JEDI Cloud—a program that the Pentagon has described as “truly about increasing the lethality of our department.” JEDI is part of the DOD’s quest to bring military operations into the modern era by partnering with a commercial cloud provider to streamline defense operations, upgrade data-analytics programs using artificial intelligence, and provide soldiers with real-time mission data.
In a letter to the Defense Department’s inspector general on Monday, House Appropriations committee members Tom Cole of Oklahoma and Steve Womack of Arkansas, both Republicans, accused military leaders of violating federal law and departmental ethics standards by moving forward with plans to award the JEDI contract to a single company, despite extensive criticism from industry leaders and lawmakers. Womack is also chair of the House Budget Committee; Cole chairs an appropriations subcommittee.
The two legislators expressed concern that the proposed contract was written in a way that seemed “to be tailored to one specific contractor,” who they described as having “significant connections” to a number of military leaders involved in drafting the oddly specific requirements for the JEDI program. The lawmakers did not specify the contractor, but it is clear that their comments were a reference to Amazon. Oracle, IBM, and Google, as well as some outside experts, have expressed similar concerns in the months since the details of the solicitation process were first released.
Amazon long has been considered the likely winner of JEDI contract, as it is one of the only cloud providers with the infrastructure, funds, and security clearance necessary to meet all of the Pentagon’s requirements. The criticism is more acute because of the Pentagon’s insistence on awarding JEDI to a single bidder, rather than several companies and contractors.
Both Oracle and IBM have filed official protests with the US Government Accountability Office, on the grounds that the DOD’s decision to award the $10 billion contract to just one company both restricts innovation and poses a massive security risk. “JEDI turns its back on the preferences of Congress and the administration, is a bad use of taxpayer dollars, and was written with just one company in mind,” IBM General Manager Sam Gordy said in a statement in advance of JEDI’s bid deadline.
Congress has held numerous meetings with Pentagon officials in an attempt to address these claims, but Womack and Cole's letter indicates that some lawmakers still have serious concerns about the program and the intentions behind it. “The department has not provided any adequate explanation as to why they continue to insist on a contract structure that has been widely criticized by Congress and industry,” reads the letter.
The DOD's Office of Inspector General said it is reviewing the request. An investigation would further delay the award process for JEDI, which has already been subject to numerous setbacks on account of inquiries from Congress and GAO protests.
At the WIRED25 summit earlier this month, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos affirmed his support for the DOD and defended the company’s decision to continue to pursue government contracts amid protests from tech workers. “If big tech companies are going to turn their back on US Department of Defense, this country is going to be in trouble,” said Bezos.
https://www.wired.com/story/lawmakers-seek-review-pentagon-contract-thought-favor-amazon/?__twitter_impression=true&mbid=social_twitter
Ballot Applications in Georgia, and Senate and House Latest: 12 Days to Go
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/us/politics/senate-house-elections.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
OPINION: DO ROSENSTEIN’S CONFLICTS RENDER MUELLER’S INVESTIGATION UNCONSTITUTIONAL?
https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/24/mueller-rosensteins-unconstitutional/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=atdailycaller
Alphabet misses Wall Street revenue estimates, shares fall
(Reuters) - Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) on Thursday reported slower third-quarter revenue growth than analysts had expected, with ad sales barely topping estimates and other revenue missing forecasts, sending shares down more than 4 percent after hours.
Rising expenses also brought down the company’s operating margin to 25 percent from 28 percent a year ago.
The tech company’s third-quarter results fanned investor concern that big investments in new businesses, increasing regulatory scrutiny and emerging competition are delivering slow an unpredictable returns.
“Google’s earnings momentum remains strong,” said Haris Anwar, senior analyst at Investing.com. “But if you dig in a little deeper, there are cost pressures which are building up and are mainly responsible for this period’s disappointment.”
Shares of Alphabet fell 4.4 percent to $1,055 after hours from their close at $1103.59…. more here
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-results/alphabet-misses-wall-street-revenue-estimates-shares-fall-idUSKCN1MZ2XL?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social
Guys, the viral video of the black Trump supporter and the white dude is from an internet prankster
https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2018/10/25/guys-the-viral-video-of-the-black-trump-supporter-and-the-white-dude-is-from-an-internet-prankster/
New Video Links Opioid Crisis to Illegal Immigration
As a caravan of 7,000 plus migrants continues its journey toward the Southern border of the United States hoping to gain entry presumably without obtaining legal status, experts on the subject of illegal immigration and the opioid crisis have released an educational video warning of the connection between the two.
Journalist Sara Carter, who has covered everything from national security, terrorism, immigration, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and — notably — the often-volatile situation at the U.S. border with Mexico, has released a new video titled “Not In Vein,” a short-film that describes in some detail how the opioid crisis in the U.S. is funded and exacerbated by Mexican drug cartels. Additionally, the film connects unchecked immigration to the presence of cartel foot soldiers within the U.S who sell deadly narcotics such as Fentanyl to unsuspecting users, many of them teenagers.
"There are a lot of normal people [within the ranks of illegal immigrants] just looking for a better life,” Carter says. “But there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes we're not aware of. Within these groups of people drug cartels will place members of their gangs, who understand and have adapted to our laws, and who end up in high schools because they shave their beards and lie about their age at the border."
In the 20 minute video, Carter expands on this idea, interviewing experts like Derek Maltz, a nearly 10-year veteran of the Department of Justice (DOJ) as a Special Agent in Charge with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Maltz calls the Mexican drug cartels “absolute business entrepreneurs,” very talented and very experienced at their work because they’ve been at it since the 1970s. And with the relatively recent involvement of countries like China, who sell a large portion of the synthetic drugs to Mexican cartels, the situation begins to look more and more like narcoterrorism, Maltz says.
“There are these traffickers sitting in labs in China who are so far advanced in new technology — using the dark web for example — that law enforcement are having a tough time staying in the game,” Maltz says. “The junkie of today is sitting on the internet and the drugs are coming to their door. And it's so cheap the kids don't need a lot of money."
Both Maltz and Carter speak of how the drug people think they’re buying may end up being something totally different once it gets processed through Mexican cartel drug labs.
“You’re talking about poison, synthetic drugs, where kids end up bleeding from the eyes and ears because of the rat poison in the mixture,” Maltz says. “It’s like the Night of the Living Dead and a great deal of it is coming from China.”
Carter says the poison comes in familiar packaging.
"These pills look like Xanax, Prozac, or Oxycontin, things kids might find in their parents medicine cabinets,” she says. “But 50 percent of it is manufactured in trailers in chem labs in Mexico, and you’re going to have batches that are badly mixed by street chemists. People are playing Russian roulette if they take one of these. That’s why this is so serious.”
While “Not In Vein” covers the fight to defeat the opioid crisis once it’s inside the U.S., it doesn’t shy away from covering the role illegal immigration plays in the war, even including an interview with a Texas rancher who has basically ceded much of his own property to human traffickers — who Carter emphasizes are just as dangerous to their traveling companions as they are to would-be buyers of their illicit drugs — so he can keep his family safe… finish here
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/sarahlee/2018/10/23/new-video-links-opioid-crisis-to-illegal-immigration-n2531233
https://twitter.com/SaraCarterDC/status/1055589265730686976
RUSSIANS
Chuck Todd: I Fear The Russians Could Be Behind The Mail-Bomb Scare
"I have this fear that it could be some Russian operation too, in designed to do what's happening now," Todd said.
https://ntknetwork.com/chuck-todd-i-fear-the-russians-could-be-behind-the-mail-bomb-scare/
https://breaking911.com/alert-ford-motor-co-says-its-recalling-nearly-1-5-million-vehicles/
AIRLINE PASSENGER OPENS CABIN DOOR, DEPLOYS EMERGENCY SLIDE
A Frontier Airlines flight scheduled to leave Cancun for St. Louis was suspended on Monday after an ill passenger opened the cabin door as the plane was taxiing and deploy the emergency slide on the taxiway.
“We were in the front row and a gentleman behind us started throwing up,” Andy Karandzieff, another passenger aboard the flight, told Fox 2. Karandzieff then said the man left his seat in a panic and began banging on the cockpit door, as the crew attempted to return him to his seat. The sick passenger left his seat again and opened the cabin door, which automatically deployed the emergency slide.
Footage taken by a third passenger, Kathleen Ingham, shows several people, including crew, trying to restrain the man in front of the opened cabin door…..
https://alboenews.net/2018/10/25/airline-passenger-opens-cabin-door-deploys-emergency-slide/
Judge orders Robert Durst of 'The Jinx' to stand trial over 2000 murder
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Robert Durst, the subject of HBO documentary “The Jinx,” will have to stand trial in the 2000 murder of his longtime friend, a judge ruled on Thursday after finding prosecutors had presented enough evidence for the case to move forward.
Durst, 75, was arrested in 2015 and charged with murder in the shooting death of his longtime friend and confidante Susan Berman.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-durst/judge-orders-robert-durst-of-the-jinx-to-stand-trial-over-2000-murder-idUSKCN1MZ36S?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter
https://breaking911.com/3-virginia-high-school-students-charged-in-sexual-assault-incident-in-locker-room/