Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg requested investigation into George Soros

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's second-highest ranking executive and one of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's closest confidantes, asked her communications team to look into the finances of billionaire investor George Soros after he criticized Facebook at a global conference in January, according to an internal email cited by the New York Times and BuzzFeed News. Just two weeks ago, Sandberg denied knowing about a separate, later effort to push stories about Soros by a political firm hired by the social media giant.

Sandberg's request came after Soros gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2018. In his remarks, the liberal financier railed against what he called the "monopolistic" stranglehold of Facebook and Google, warning against what he characterized as the companies' threat to democracy and impact on human behavior.

The social media giant acknowledged in a response to the Times and Buzzfeed stories that Sandberg asked subordinates to determine if Soros was betting against Facebook by shorting the company's stock.

The Times said Sandberg's request for information about Soros came within days of his speech in January. In a late Thursday statement responding to the stories, sent to CBS News and other news outlets, Facebook said it was already looking into Soros at the time of Sandberg's request.

"Mr. Soros is a prominent investor and we looked into his investments and trading activity related to Facebook," the company said. "That research was already underway when Sheryl sent an email asking if Mr. Soros had shorted Facebook's stock."

Months later, Facebook hired Definers Public Affairs, a firm founded by Republican operatives, to help manage two scandals: Russian efforts to use Facebook to disseminate misinformation during the 2016 presidential campaign, and the explosive allegations surrounding Cambridge Analytica and the misuse of Facebook users' personal data.

Facebook fired Definers after a Times investigation revealed the relationship earlier in November.

Facebook said Thursday that while Sandberg, "takes full responsibility for any activity that happened on her watch," she did not personally direct any research on Freedom from Facebook, an anti-Facebook coalition whose members were among the subjects of Definers' later work."

Definers helped spread stories about other tech companies in an apparent effort to deflect attention from Facebook, and it provided material to reporters that aimed to connect Soros to anti-Facebook groups.

The revelation of these tactics, in a New York Times investigation on Nov. 14, drew widespread criticism in part because Soros is often the target of conservative anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

In an interview with "CBS This Morning" on Nov. 16, Sandberg said Definers was hired by "the communications team" and that she only learned about its work from the Times. "Definers was hired, we have lots of firms. They were hired not to smear anyone. Not to get any articles written or do anything false. I learned of that in the paper yesterday as well when Mark did," she said.

She later acknowledged in a Facebook post on Nov. 21 that "some of their work was incorporated into materials presented to me and I received a small number of emails where Definers was referenced."

sauce: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebooks-sheryl-sandberg-requested-investigation-into-george-soros-finances/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0g&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5c021d0e04d301357a227ea7&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

>>4098541

Child Sex Offenders, Gang Members Arrested near Texas Border

Rio Grande Valley Sector agents arrested multiple sex offenders and violent gang members during a two-day period beginning on November 26. Those included two MS-13 members, an 18th Street member, an alleged sex offender with an active warrant, and two men convicted for other sexual offenses.

On the morning of November 26, McAllen Station agents apprehended a group of eight suspected illegal immigrants near Abram, Texas. The agents took the subjects into custody and transported them to the station for processing. All arrested migrants go through a biometric background investigation to determine criminal and immigration history and gang membership.

During the investigation, the agents determined one of the men to be a Salvadoran national who admitted to being an active Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) member, according to Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials.

Later that evening, agents patrolling near Roma, Texas, came upon another group of five who appeared to have illegally crossed from Mexico. During a background check, the agents learned that one of the men, a U.S. citizen, has an active warrant from Tarrant County, Texas, for an allegation of aggravated sexual assault of a child. The agents turned the U.S. citizen over to the Starr County Sheriff’s Office where he will be held pending transfer to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, officials stated.

The following day, agents patrolling near Mission, Texas, apprehended a Mexican national for illegal entry into the U.S. The agents processed the man and learned he has a previous arrest and conviction for indecency with a child by sexual contact. The court sentenced the man to spend five years in prison.

Later that day, agents working near the border town of La Joya, Texas, apprehended another Salvadoran national. Court records revealed the illegal immigrant has a previous arrest and conviction from a court in Concord, California. The court found the man guilty of sexual battery, officials reported.

Breitbart News has reported extensively on previously deported sex offenders and other criminal aliens who are stopped by Border Patrol agents from successfully re-entering the United States.

sauce: https://www.breitbart.com/border/2018/11/30/child-sex-offenders-gang-members-arrested-near-texas-border/

>>4098954

Nancy Pelosi unveils bill to overhaul voting laws, require Trump to release his taxes

House Democrats on Friday announced a sweeping campaign finance and ethics bill that they'll try to pass next year that would require presidents disclose their tax returns, create a “new ethical code” for the Supreme Court and require all political organizations to reveal information about their donors.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is poised to become speaker in January, announced the broad legislation along side chief sponsor Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., and members of the Democratic freshman class slated to take office next year.

Pelosi pledged the legislation would be the very first bill Congress will tackle in January and reflects input from the dozens of Democrats who helped put the party back into the majority for the first time since 2010.

“This is exciting, this is a transformative occasion,” Pelosi told reporters Friday. “This historic class of freshmen is going to make a difference not only on the Congress but the entire country.”

“This class has told us that this is what the people want to see,” added Sarbanes, who chairs the Democrats’ Democracy Reform Task Force.

The legislation would overhaul the nation’s voting registration system, which Democrats say is too cumbersome and full of obstacles, by creating a national automatic voter registration system. It would also promote “early and online voting,” as well as a slew of other reforms that appear to come in response to complaints from progressives about voter purging and gerrymandering in the 2018 midterm election.

Pelosi said as part of the effort, she would bring up separately a bill to restore the Voting Rights Act, which was partially invalidated by a 2013 Supreme Court decision.

The package of legislation is poised to easily pass the House, where Democrats will hold an advantage of more than 30 seats. But it faces a huge obstacle in the Senate, where Republicans expanded their majority from 51 to 53 seats.

Republicans are unlikely to back provisions in the bill that would restore a campaign finance law language struck down by the Supreme Court, which declared in Citizens United v. FEC that political expenditures a form of free speech. The proposed House bill would “reaffirm Congress’ authority to regulate money in politics, pushing back on Citizens United.”

But Pelosi and Sarbanes said public support of their measure will pressure the Senate to act.

“Our best friend in this debate is the public,” Pelosi said. “Going forward we believe it will have great support and that message won’t be lost on the Senate or the president of the United States.”

sauce: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/nancy-pelosi-unveils-bill-to-overhaul-voting-laws-require-trump-to-release-his-taxes