EX-RED ROBIN CEO

DEAD BY SUICIDE

Michael J. Snyder – known for being the first franchisee of the Red Robin restaurant chain who later became CEO – has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head … TMZ has learned.

Yakima County Chief Deputy Coroner Marshall Slight tells us … Snyder committed suicide with a high-powered gun Sunday in Washington state. We're told he shot himself on a bench in the front yard of his home.

Slight says police responded to a 911 call and found Snyder's body … no suicide note was left behind.

Michael and his brother became the first Red Robin franchisees in 1979 and went on to open 14 of the burger restaurants in Washington, Colorado and Idaho. Snyder merged his franchise company with the parent company in 2000 … and took over as CEO and President.

He was ousted in 2005, though, after an internal investigation discovered he had misused funds and charter planes. He reportedly remained the largest individual shareholder of the company.

Snyder was 68.

http://www.tmz.com/2018/12/04/ex-red-robin-ceo-michael-j-snyder-suicide-shot-dead-dies/

PARIS — Security failings, including a series of leaks of sensitive information, are bedeviling French officials, who fear the country is failing to protect its security forces from criminal gangs, terrorist groups, and hostile foreign powers.

The most recent case was revealed last week when a top aide to Parliament was arrested and charged with spying for North Korea. That case came after a French intelligence officer was charged with selling confidential information to organized crime groups, an ISIS member was found with a thumb drive loaded with confidential information about 7,000 French police officers, and recently unsealed documents revealed that a French police officer had helped obtain a fake ID that was used to help raise money for a ring that provided financing to the suspected organizer of the November 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

The incidents have battered French law enforcement and intelligence communities over the past two years, but have received little public attention. Still, the sheer number of incidents is now raising questions about how vulnerable France’s institutions are to infiltration.

“It’s insane,” said one French police official with close ties to the intelligence services. “We have North Koreans infiltrating the French Senate, a member of [the French domestic intelligence service] selling information on the ‘dark web’ to mafia members, USB drives that contain the home addresses of thousands of police officials possibly ending up in the hands of jihadist groups, and god knows what else.”

The arrest last week of the Senate employee, who had long advocated for a closer relationship between North Korea and France and was charged with sharing confidential political and security information with the rogue state, is only the latest in a string of black eyes for the French intelligence services.

Other incidents include revelations that an analyst for the French domestic intelligence service, known by its initials as the DGSI, used his work resources to sell confidential information to both organized crime groups and to as yet unidentified foreign economic intelligence collectors. After the analyst’s arrest in September, it was revealed that the transactions were done using contacts through the anonymous browsing service Tor in exchange for cryptocurrency payments, often as little as $35 per tracked phone number….

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mitchprothero/france-isis-leaks-sensitive-data?bftwnews&utm_term=4ldqpgc#4ldqpgc

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/04/apple-ceo-tim-cook-says-hate-has-no-place-on-tech-platforms-at-adl.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain

CIA Director Gina Haspel to brief Senate leaders on Khashoggi's slaying

CIA Director Gina Haspel is headed to Capitol Hill to brief Senate leaders Tuesday on the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as senators weigh their next steps in possibly punishing the longtime Middle East ally over the killing.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/3/cia-director-to-brief-senate-leaders-on-khashoggis/

NIH Still Deciding Whether to Extend UCSF’s Contract to Humanize Mice With Aborted Baby Parts

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/nih-still-deciding-whether-extend-ucsfs-contract-humanize-mice?utm_source=sumome&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=sumome_share

Georgia lawmaker says he's optimistic bipartisan criminal justice reform bill will pass

Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) says he’s optimistic about bipartisan prison reform legislation that’s moving through Congress.

Collins, who first introduced the legislation in the House, told Hill.TV's “Rising” that he expects Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will bring the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act — or the “First Step Act” — to the floor for a vote in the next few weeks, despite opposition from members in both parties.

“I’m hopeful in the next couple of weeks — they’re still doing their whip counts now, they’re working on that, it’s got support again, it’s tying up the lose ends,” Collins told Hill.TV co-host Buck Sexton during an interview that aired on Monday.

“We did our part in the House, now they’re doing their part in the Senate,” he added.

The First Step Act, which easily passed in the House by a 360-59 vote, would allow some prisoners to potentially commute their sentences by participating in rehabilitation programs. The bill also seeks to address recidivism or lapses in criminal behavior by providing vocational training and substance abuse treatment for prisoners.

Championed by President Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, the bill is backed by a number of groups across the political spectrum, including a bipartisan national prison reform initiative called the #cut50 and the conservative Koch brothers.

Trump in November voiced strong support for the legislation, saying he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

“Today’s announcement shows that true bipartisanship is possible,” Trump said at the time.

Despite support from the White House, the bipartisan bill still faces a major obstacle in the Senate.

Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a leading opponent of the First Step Act, criticized the bill, claiming it was too flawed to be passed by the Senate.

But Collins argues that Cotton’s concerns have been addressed, saying that the Arkansas lawmaker’s tough-on-crime conservative philosophy is fundamentally flawed.

“I think most of his concerns are addressed…Senator Cotton just has a different view of criminal justice…that if you’ve made a mistake, we’re going to lock you up, really there is not a lot of concern on the recidivism side and not a lot of concern on what happens when they get out,” the Georgia lawmaker told Hill.TV.

The bill is also facing opposition from some liberal and civil rights groups, who argue it doesn’t go far enough to address issues in the justice system.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said The First Step Act "falls short on its promise to ‘meaningfully’ tackle the problems in the federal justice system."

Collins, meanwhile emphasized that the bill is just the first step toward meaningful criminal justice reform on a federal level and the time to act is now.

"I think leader McConnell … if I had anything to say, I would implore him to realize this is the step that gets us to anything else that we may want to do because it provides something to show that we can move forward in a larger way," he said.

— Tess Bonn

https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/419447-georgia-lawmaker-says-hes-optimistic-about-passage-of-bipartisan-criminal

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq5-TIglpKs/?utm_source=ig_embed

DeSantis, joining Pence at Israel event, says Florida will be ‘most pro-Israel’ state

November 30, 2018 05:59 PM

Updated November 30, 2018 07:08 PM

When he officially takes office in January, Governor-elect Ron DeSantis said he will work to make Florida the most pro-Israel state in the U.S. by strengthening economic ties with the country, requesting continued funding for security at Jewish day schools amid “rising anti-Semitism” and potentially bolstering Florida’s legislation against the Boycott, Divest and Sanction, or BDS, movement.

“If we’re not the most pro-Israel state in the country, we will be on January 8,” DeSantis said, referencing the date of his swearing in as Florida’s next governor.

Appearing Friday at the Israeli American Council National Conference in Hollywood, DeSantis addressed a crowd of several hundred Israeli-Americans following a keynote speech from Vice President Mike Pence and remarks by Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Miriam Adelson…

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article222376040.html

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The city of Norfolk has agreed to pay $4.9 million to four former sailors who were wrongly convicted of a woman’s rape and murder based on intimidating police interrogations. A copy of the settlement agreement for the “Norfolk Four” was obtained by The Associated Press.

The state also has agreed to pay $3.5 million.

The payments close out a decades-long case that drew widespread attention as the men’s innocence claims were backed by dozens of former FBI agents, ex-prosecutors and crime novelist John Grisham.

“These guys can now put all this behind them and try to recoup their lives,” said Tony Troy, a lawyer who represented one of the sailors.

The men — Eric Wilson, Danial Williams, Joseph Dick and Derek Tice — were pardoned by then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe last year of the 1997 rape and murder of Michelle Moore-Bosko.

Moore-Bosko’s husband found her stabbed and strangled body in their apartment in July of that year after returning from a week at sea.

Williams, who lived in the same building, was quickly identified as a suspect because a neighbor told police he had a crush on the victim. Williams admitted to her rape and murder — the first of a series of confessions that the men, then-sailors at the Naval base in Norfolk, say were forced by police.

DNA evidence matched only one person: Omar Ballard, the fifth man convicted in the case. Ballard, who pleaded guilty in 2000, acknowledged he was solely responsible and is serving a life sentence.

The Norfolk Four have said they cracked after they were threatened with the death penalty and repeatedly called liars. One of the men recalled a detective shoving him into a corner and showing him a picture of Moore-Bosko’s bloody body. The confessions conflicted with one another. Ballard’s account was the only one containing information matching the crime scene.

The detective who questioned them, Robert Glenn Ford, was convicted in 2011 of extortion and lying to the FBI in unrelated cases.

In vacating some of the Norfolk Four’s convictions, a federal judge once declared that “no sane human being” could find them guilty.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam approved legislation earlier this year that gives the men $3.5 million in state funds contingent on them resolving claims against the city.

Sen. Scott Surovell, a sponsor the legislation, said he was pleased that the city agreed to settle rather than fight the men….

https://apnews.com/0e871bba3cbb4c7985a64c1575882a5f?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

US aircraft carrier coming to Persian Gulf in show of force against Iran: Report

The United States is sending an aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East in a show of force against Iran, US military officials have revealed.

The USS John C. Stennis and its accompanying ships, which are currently moving through the Indian Ocean, will arrive in the Persian Gulf by the end of this week, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing unnamed military officials.

If true, this will be the first time in eight months that the US steps up its military presence in the region to such levels, the officials said. That’s the longest period Washington has gone without an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf in the past two decades.

The naval deployment is a direct response to Iran’s influence in the region, the officials noted.

US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May, saying he would subject Tehran to a series of tough economic sanctions unless the Islamic Republic agrees to stop supporting anti-terror groups in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

He has also called on Iran to scrap its development and testing of ballistic missiles.

On Monday, the Trump administration asked Europe to impose new sanctions on Iran after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Iran had test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile.

In order to persuade his European peers, Pompeo said the missile was considered capable of carrying nuclear warheads and could reach parts of the Europe.

Iran, however, said its missile program was “defensive” in nature and Tehran had every right to develop and test its missiles under the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorse the nuclear deal.

USS Stennis would also provide support to the ongoing US military interventions in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

The strike group is scheduled to spend most of its two-month deployment in the Persian Gulf, a presence that unnamed officials said “certainly provides a deterrence” against Tehran.

The arrival of the warship “provides a lot of great flexibility,” another defense official said.

US aircraft carriers have long been patrolling the Persian Gulf, carrying thousands of personnel and dozens of fighter jets, missiles and other weapons.

But the deployments stopped in March after the USS Theodore Roosevelt left for the Pacific, as part of the Trump administration’s shift of strategy to focus more on China and Russia.

As a result of the new approach, Washington also pulled a number of Patriot missile systems out of Persian Gulf countries Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Officials stressed that, despite escalating tensions, the carrier deployment had been previously scheduled.

Iran has repeatedly warned foreign military forces in the Persian Gulf that any act of transgression into Iran’s territorial waters would be met with an immediate and befitting response.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/12/04/581959/US-Iran-Persian-Gulf-aircraft-carrier-USS-Stennis

Iran vows to close key strait if US cuts off oil exports

Tehran also says it wants to expand its missile range insisting the missile programme is purely defensive and has threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if Washington tries to strangle its exports.

https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/iran-vows-to-close-key-strait-if-us-cuts-off-oil-exports-22193

>>4147955

always sunny?

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/former-manager-pace-bus-service-sentenced-year-and-day-federal-prison-pocketing-nearly

LISBON: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Portugal on Tuesday for a two-day visit to boost economic ties, despite concern in some EU capitals over China´s growing influence across the continent.

His two-day stay will include the signing of cooperation agreements, one of which will bring the southwestern port of Sines into what China calls the "new Silk Road".

The initiative offers loans to build railways, roads and ports across Asia, Europe and Africa.

"Portugal is an important hub in the land and maritime silk routes," Xi said.

Andre Verissimo, editor of the leading business newspaper Jornal de Negocios, said: "If Portugal joins the initiative, it will become the first country in western Europe to do so."

Portugal, one of western Europe´s poorest countries, opened to Chinese investment after being hit hard by the 2008 global financial crisis.

Chinese investment accounted for 3.6 percent of Portugal´s GDP between 2010 and 2016, according to figures from Spain´s ESADE business school.

But China´s growing influence in Europe, welcomed by Greece and several eastern European countries, is viewed warily by others on the continent.

At the initiative of France and Germany, EU countries last week agreed a framework regulating foreign investment, particularly from China.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that Lisbon did not back the idea and was relieved that the final accord provided for only an advisory role on the part of the European Commission.

"In Portugal, we are not anxious by the origin of foreign investment," Costa said, asking Europe to eschew "the path of protectionism."

China now owns a 28 percent stake in Portuguese energy utility EDP, the country´s largest firm, via China Three Gorges and China´s state-owned international investment company CNIC.

It also has a stake in Portugal´s biggest private bank, BCP, and its leading insurance company, Fidelidade. According to estimates, Chinese investment in the country could total 12 billion dollars.

Perhaps the most contentious issue is China Three Gorges´ bid to take a controlling stake in EDP, of which it is already the main stakeholder. The operation, launched in May, involves some nine billion euros.

But while it has been welcomed by the Portuguese government it still risks running foul of barriers imposed by regulators in around 15 countries where EDP operates – including the United States.

China has risen to Portugal´s 11th-largest trade partner in the decade since 2008, when it was 28th on the list.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/401770-xi-arrives-in-portugal-to-boost-trade-ties

moar dogs dying

>>4148054

ur a psyop.

go study DNA.

u sound like a buffoon