‘Taliban Leader in Northeast’ Killed in Airstrike, Afghan Defence Ministry Says

Tensions in Afghanistan continue to escalate despite the current peace talks between the Taliban* and US officials, which were relaunched in December after a three-month break.

Hafiz Mohibullah, one of the senior commanders of the Taliban movement, has been killed in airstrike in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province, the Tolo News cited the country’s Defence Ministry spokesperson as saying in a statement on Sunday.

The statement noted that a “Taliban leader in [Afghanistan’s] northeast”, Mohibullah was destroyed as he was driving in Kunduz province’s Imam Saib district. The Taliban has yet to comment on the matter.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/202001121078016545-taliban-leader-in-northeast-killed-in-airstrike-afghan-defence-ministry-says/

Why is a 22GB database containing 56 million US folks’ personal details sitting on the open internet using a Chinese IP address? Seriously, why?

Home / Why is a 22GB database containing 56 million US folks’ personal details sitting on the open internet using a Chinese IP address? Seriously, why?

Exclusive A database containing the personal details of 56.25m US residents – from names and home addresses to phone numbers and ages – has been found on the public internet, served from a computer with a Chinese IP address, bizarrely enough.

The information silo appears to belong to Florida-based CheckPeople.com, which is a typical people-finder website: for a fee, you can enter someone’s name, and it will look up their current and past addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, names of relatives, and even criminal records in some cases, all presumably gathered from public records.

https://www.databreaches.net/why-is-a-22gb-database-containing-56-million-us-folks-personal-details-sitting-on-the-open-internet-using-a-chinese-ip-address-seriously-why/

Interesting Choice of words

'Designed by clowns': Boeing employees ridicule 737 MAX, regulators in internal messages

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co has released hundreds of internal messages that contained harshly critical comments about the development of the 737 MAX, including one that said the plane was “designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys”.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-737max-idUSKBN1Z902N?taid=5e181da248fe97000144d432

NJ Schools Test New Mandatory LGBT Curriculum for Math, History, Grammar

This week, twelve New Jersey schools have launched a pilot program to try out a new LGBT curriculum for a whole host of different academic subjects. The curriculum will be mandatory across the state beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, with no parental opt-out provision. Last year, Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) signed a bill mandating this kind of curriculum, making New Jersey the second state after California (2011) to do so. Illinois followed later last year.

"We want students to see themselves in the stories that are told," Ashley Chiappano, a manager at the LGBT activist group Garden State Equality, told USA Today. "We want to make sure they are getting accurate, appropriate and historically relevant information about the community and the strides that have been made."

This justification may sound nice, but the true goal is to fit what amounts to LGBT propaganda into a broad array of lessons at the elementary school, middle school, and high school levels.

"The pilot sites to be announced by the state Tuesday – including schools in Hackensack, Morristown, Newark and Asbury Park – are intended to be proving grounds for new lessons in history, economics and even grammar designed to improve awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender contributions and issues," USA Today reported.

https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/nj-schools-test-new-mandatory-lgbt-curriculum-for-math-history-grammar/

Middle-Class Incomes Surging – Thanks to Trump Policies

Middle-class incomes, after adjusting for inflation, have surged by $5,003 since Donald Trump became president in January 2017.

These surges in income, have occurred at exactly the time when many liberal economists and media talking heads were shouting “recession.”

These latest income numbers also squarely contradict the claims by Democratic presidential candidates.

The latest Census Bureau Current Population Survey data now show that middle-class incomes, after adjusting for inflation, have surged by $5,003 since Donald Trump became president in January 2017. Median household income has now reached $65,976 – an all-time high and up more than 8 percent in 2019 dollars under the Trump presidency.

This data was compiled by the statisticians at Sentier Research, an economic research group whose founders have more than 30 years of experience at the Census Bureau in analyzing the monthly income numbers.

I reported last week in the Wall Street Journal that real median family income had soared by $4,146 under Trump through July 2019. The just-released August numbers from Sentier show a huge monthly gain of $857 in income per household.

These numbers contrast sharply with the 16 years prior to Trump’s presidency. In the eight years that George W. Bush was president, median income barely showed any gain, up just $401 thanks to the deep recession of 2008.

In the seven and a half years that Barack Obama was president, and not including the end of the recession, which Obama inherited, incomes inched up by $1,043 (June 2009 – January 2019). This means that in the 16 years before the Trump presidency, incomes rose by about $1,500 while in less than three years middle incomes have risen three times faster.

The contrast is even sharper when measured on a monthy basis. The monthly rise in incomes under Bush was $4. That number was $11 under Obama and $161 under Trump.

These income numbers are PRE-TAX, so they do NOT include the impact of the Trump tax cut. The Heritage Foundation estimates that the average household has saved $1,400 a year on their federal taxes from the 2017 Trump tax cut. This means many working-class families now have a $6,000 higher after-tax, and after-inflation paycheck today.

These surges in income, especially in the last several months, have occurred at exactly the time when many liberal economists and media talking heads were shouting “recession.” In reality middle-class families were enjoying a near-unprecedented income windfall and “the gains in income levels in recent months,” Sentier reports, “have been accelerating.“

These higher wage and salary incomes are no doubt related to the very tight labor market, which has given workers new bargaining power to ask for higher pay. Today there are more than seven million unfilled jobs in America – the highest number of surplus jobs in American history.

These latest income numbers also squarely contradict the claims by Democratic presidential candidates, such as former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who claim that all the gains from the Trump economy have gone to the rich and large corporations. Warren claimed earlier this year that workers had to work "two or three or four jobs" just to keep their incomes from falling.

No, this has been one of the biggest middle-class success stories in modern times, and it is a testament to the success of the Trump tax, regulatory and energy policies.

https://www.heritage.org/markets-and-finance/commentary/middle-class-incomes-surging-thanks-trump-policies

CNN Pays $76 Million in Settlement with National Labor Relations Board

CNN has agreed to shell out $76 million in a back pay case that involved union employees, making it the largest monetary settlement in the history of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Variety reported that the labor dispute began in 2003 when the media company fired a group of unionized subcontractors working as technicians and in other support roles for Team Video Services before hiring non-union employees to replace those workers.

The action sparked a litigation war between the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians and Communications Workers of America that has lasted more than a decade.

More than 300 people will take part in the settlement. The NLRB, a federal agency that allows employees to unionize in the workplace, said in a statement that $76 million is more than what the agency typically sees in a back pay enforcement case.

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/01/11/cnn-pays-76-million-settlement-national-labor-relations-board/

Iranian man arrested with machete, pickax, knives & $22K just 3 miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

A man who was heavily armed and carrying a wad of money was arrested in Palm Beach on Friday, police say.

Palm Beach Police officers responded to calls about a person sleeping in the gazebo in Bradley Park around 9:30 a.m., according to police spokesman Michael Ogrodnick.

By the time officers arrived, the man was standing, Ogrodnick said. Officers found he was carrying a machete, a pickax, two knives and $22,000.

Officers arrested him on suspicion of carrying concealed weapons, which is a misdemeanor, Ogrodnick said. The man, identified as Masoud Yareilzoleh, was given a notice to appear in court.

Ogrodnick said Yareilzoleh’s ID showed he is an Iranian national, and that he was in the U.S. legally.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/01/iranian-man-arrested-with-machete-pickax-knives-22k-just-3-miles-from-trumps-mar-a-lago/