Merkel Makes Emergency Landing In Germany On Way To G-20 Summit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's journey to Buenos Aires for this weekend's G20 summit was interrupted on Thursday after the government's "Konrad Adenauer" Airbus airplane experienced "electronic problems" mid-flight, German media report.

Merkel’s plane had to return after just an hour into the 15-hour flight to Buenos Aires after experiencing a technical malfunction.

According to DW, shortly after departing from Berlin on Thursday evening, the plane circled over the Netherlands and landed at the Cologne/Bonn airport in western Germany, which is also home base for the German government's aircraft.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-29/merkel-makes-emergency-landing-germany-way-g-20-summit

In spite of the Backpage.com shutdown, sex ads abound

In April, the federal government shut down the classified ad website Backpage.com, holding the site responsible for users’ posts hawking illicit transactions — particularly, escort services.

The number of online sex ads dropped significantly following the site’s shuttering, but experts say posts offering prostitution are already back in full force through other forums.

What are the details?

According to software firm Marinus Analytics, Backpage had around 133,000 sex ads posted on its site the month before the operation was closed. The researchers then took a look at existing U.S. escort websites and tracked them from mid-September to mid-October, finding that there were roughly 146,000 sex ads online during that time period, ABC News reported.

Marinus Analystics president and co-founder, Emily Kennedy, told ABC News that several escort sites have ramped up its operations, seeing the absence of Backpage as an opportunity to expand its market share.

“They’re really competing with each other for that spot now and so we’re seeing frequent activity at this point,” Kennedy said, adding that as long as it’s a lucrative endeavor, “people are going to figure out a way to advertise it.”

Anything else?

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed into law the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017, which was a House bill that was combined with the Senate’s Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. The law is now known as SESTA/FOSTA.

SESTA/FOSTA holds website owners and managers liable for operating “an interactive computer service…with the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person.”

Websites like Craigslist and Reddit have removed their personal ad pages without much of a fight against the government’s crackdown. But adult sex workers and their advocates are pushing back against the legislation — even organizing to protest it — insisting that digital platforms give them added protection while vetting clients.

Several law enforcement investigators argue that dismantling known escort sites hinders their efforts to find sex trafficking victims, as prostitution rings retreat back underground and use alternative avenues for offering services.

Rob Spectre, CEO and founder of a company that utilizes artificial intelligence to fight against online sex trafficking told ABC News that in the past, investigators could use a photo of a suspected victim and search for them in ads on sites like Backpage. Now that they’re gone, Spectre said, using that method is going to be “very difficult.”

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/11/29/in-spite-of-the-backpage-com-shutdown-sex-ads-abound

Jerome Corsi Explains Why He Entered Defense Agreement With President Trump

Jerome Corsi, through his attorney, has provided President Trump’s legal team with details of his interactions with the special counsel’s office, the right-wing author reveals in an upcoming book.

Corsi discussed his arrangement with Trump’s team in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation.

He wanted Trump to “understand what was going on with the special counsel.” He also denies that he is angling for a pardon, and that Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow said that a pardon was “not on the table.”

Jerome Corsi revealed this week that he has a joint defense agreement with President Donald Trump, an arrangement the conservative author says will likely generate speculation that he is angling for a pardon should he be convicted in the Russia probe.

Corsi claims that a pardon was not his goal in entering an agreement with Trump. The 72-year-old former InfoWars correspondent said in an interview this week with The Daily Caller News Foundation that he entered a verbal, informal agreement with Trump’s legal team because he thought “it would be important for Trump’s attorneys to understand what was going on with the special counsel.”

“I felt the information would be beneficial to the president’s attorneys in preparing their defense of Donald Trump,” said Corsi, who first revealed the defense agreement in his upcoming book, “Silent No More: How I Became a Political Prisoner of Mueller’s ‘Witch Hunt.'”

“A pardon was not the objective of the talks. It was not the anticipation of the pardon, and I still do not anticipate a pardon,” said Corsi, who added that he “will continue supporting Trump regardless of a pardon.”

The joint defense agreement came about through Corsi’s professional connection to Jay Sekulow, an attorney for Trump.

Shortly after Corsi was subpoenaed on Aug. 28, he says that he suggested to friends that they get in touch with Sekulow, who operates a Christian rights group, the American Center for Law and Justice, in addition to representing Trump.

https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/29/defense-agreement-with-trump/

San Francisco Board of Supervisors member wants Facebook CEO Zuckerberg’s name removed from hospital

City Board of Supervisors member Aaron Peskin wants Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s name removed from San Francisco General Hospital.

Why is this happening?

The issue stems from privacy concerns about Facebook and the company’s alleged “use of an opposition research firm to discredit critics,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Peskin asked the city attorney on Tuesday what steps could be taken to have Zuckerberg’s name removed. A spokesperson for the city attorney’s office told the news outlet it is researching the matter.

In 2015, the hospital was renamed Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital after the Facebook CEO and his wife contributed $75 million to the hospital’s foundation.

The hospital’s formal name includes Chan’s, but signage calls it the “Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.”

Peskin cited concerns on Tuesday with the Cambridge Analytica scandal in early 2018 which scraped personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users without their consent.

This month, the social media giant came under fire for a New York Times report that alleges Facebook used a political consulting firm to discredit activists who criticized the company.

According to the New York Times, the company attempted to characterize Facebook critics as anti-Semitic. Facebook is reportedly no longer working with the consulting company.

“It is not normal for private entities to use that information to spread, and in this case anti-Semitic, conspiracy theories on platforms they control,” Peskin reportedly said at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. “It is not normal for Mark Zuckerberg and (Facebook chief operating officer) Sheryl Sandberg to refuse to accept responsibility and to publicly distance themselves from acts that they have personally instigated.

“…This is about the integrity of institutions and spaces that are overwhelmingly funded by public money and taxpayer dollars,” he added.

Under a 2015 agreement with the Board of Supervisors, Zuckerberg’s name is to remain on the hospital for 50 years. That could make it difficult to remove.

The $75 million donation is believed to be “the single largest contribution by private individuals in support of a public hospital in the United States,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Have others protested the name?

In May, a group of nurses also called for the name change. Some nurses and patients indicated that seeing Zuckerberg’s name on the hospital made them uneasy about how their medical information might be handled.

At the time, a data breach at SF General and Laguna Honda Hospital led to the exposure of the personal information for900 patients. The information included names, dates of birth, medical conditions, diagnoses, treatment and care plans. Financial information was not included.

The breach happened after a hospital vendor gained unauthorized access to the information.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/11/29/san-francisco-board-of-supervisors-member-wants-facebook-ceo-zuckerbergs-name-removed-from-hospital

I'm guessing the Syrian government won't take the bait and blame Israel. That's not stopping a crap load of other entities and news outlets from doing so tho!