Former Marin Boy Scout leader sentenced to 33 months in prison for possession of child pornography

SAN FRANCISCO – John Blecka was sentenced to 33 months in prison for possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Tatum King. The sentence was handed down today by the Honorable William Alsup, U.S. District Court Judge.

Blecka, 65, of San Rafael, Calif., pleaded guilty to the charge October 1, 2019. In his plea agreement, Blecka admitted that in May 2019, he possessed more than 150 images and videos containing child pornography. At the time of the charged conduct, Blecka was a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America and had served in a local leadership position with the organization.

“Our HSI agents working child exploitation cases like this one have an unwavering dedication to bring these perpetrators to justice,” said SAC King. “Pursuing these child predators is difficult and our agents and professional staff are dedicated to ensuring serious consequences for these heinous crimes.”

A federal grand jury indicted Blecka on July 16, 2019, charging him with one count of possession of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(4)(B) and (b)(2).

In addition to the term of imprisonment, Judge Alsup sentenced Blecka to a 10-year term of supervised release and also ordered him to pay $9,000 in restitution and to register as a sex offender. Judge Alsup ordered Blecka to begin serving his sentence April 30, 2020.

The prosecution is the result of an investigation by HSI at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, with the assistance of the San Rafael Police Department. Christina Liu and Ross Weingarten are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Margoth Turcios.

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/former-marin-boy-scout-leader-sentenced-33-months-prison-possession-child-pornography

Under US Pressure, Social Media Companies Suspend Venezuelan, Iranian & Syrian Accounts

Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are censoring content that conflicts with Washington’s pro-war narrative, Ben Norton reports.

The Donald Trump administration is ramping up its information war against Venezuela, Iran, and Syria. And it has enlisted social media platforms as weapons in its assault on these top regime-change targets.

In the first two weeks of January, Twitter suspended dozens of accounts run by real, live people — not bots — in Venezuela, Iran, and Syria. Those erased from the website included heads of state, numerous state institutions, media outlets, and many average people who do not work for their governments.

The supreme leader of Iran, president of Syria, and leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly have all had their Twitter accounts temporarily suspended or restricted in recent days. Numerous alternative media outlets have suffered the same fate.

At the same time, Facebook, and its subsidiary Instagram, has announced that it will be censoring content that it deems to be supportive of Iran’s top General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a U.S. act of war on Jan. 3.

The Big Tech giant said this censorship of users’ free speech will be done in order to comply with Washington’s suffocating sanctions on Iran.

This draconian crackdown on social media comes while the Trump administration is aggressively expanding its economic and diplomatic warfare against these independent countries, in hopes of ultimately overthrowing their sovereign governments.

The Grayzone spoke with some of the Venezuelan and Iranian civilian activists who do not work for their governments but who had their Twitter accounts suspended. They all said they were not given any warning, notice, or even an explanation why they were blocked from the platform.

As The Grayzone has previously reported, Big Tech corporations are closely linked to the U.S. government, and have increasingly acted as an extension of it, purging the accounts of officials from foreign governments that are targeted by Washington for regime change, also including China, Russia, Cuba, Palestine and beyond.

In early 2020, this social media warfare dramatically escalated.

More

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/01/15/under-us-pressure-social-media-companies-suspend-venezuelan-iranian-syrian-accounts/

Westpac linked to international paedophilia case after Australian man charged

Westpac has been linked to an international paedophilia case following the arrest of a notorious Australian sex offender who is suspected of using the bank’s transfer system to pay for live-streamed child abuse videos in south-east Asia.

It is the first instance where an attempt to procure abuse of a child has been tied to Westpac’s failure to heed warnings since 2016 from money laundering watchdog AUSTRAC that lax standards for its LitePay and other money transfer systems could be used to facilitate the international child sex trade.

The Victorian man allegedly attempted to arrange for a child to be exploited in a south-east Asian country recently. It is not known whether the alleged abuse went ahead.

The criminal charges against the man come after Westpac had been privately suggesting to the market since the scandal broke in late November that there was no evidence any act of child exploitation had occurred despite more than 3000 suspicious payments being identified.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been arrested and charged by the Australian Federal Police with soliciting child abuse material and possessing child abuse material.

Police are still examining thousands of the man's private social media messages.

The AFP declined to comment because the matter is before the courts.

Legal restrictions prevent the publication of details of the case, except that the man allegedly used Westpac systems to send tens of thousands of dollars to a south-east Asian country in more than 100 transactions since late 2018 and recently attempted to solicit live-streamed child sex abuse.

The man has denied any wrongdoing.

The registered sex offender had already served a substantial jail term for ordering live-streamed child sex abuse from contacts in a south-east Asian country.

A Westpac spokesman said the bank was unable to provide comment on specific matters while proceedings are before the court.

“We have made a number of changes to our transaction monitoring to lift our standards and ensure our financial crime processes meet our obligations,” he said. “Westpac is working co-operatively to resolve this matter with AUSTRAC.”

The revelation will be a further blow to the embattled institution, which has already lost its chief executive Brian Hartzer, experienced massive share price drops and suffered an intense backlash from the public, politicians and shareholders.

Westpac announced on Thursday that it had appointed Colin Carter, president of the Geelong Football Club, as the third member of an advisory panel reviewing the bank board's risk, governance and accountability.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/westpac-linked-to-international-paedophilia-case-after-australian-man-charged-20200116-p53s61.html

Jeff Sessions: ‘It’s Time For The Republicans To Toughen Up’

Former Alabama Senator and Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Fox News host Laura Ingraham Wednesday night that moderate Republicans will have to recognize that there’s no case for impeaching President Donald Trump ahead of the Senate trial.

“It’s time for them to toughen up. There is not an impeachment case here. This is a terrible terrible abuse of the awesome impeachment power in and the first time this has ever happened in our history and it should not be done,” Sessions told Ingraham.

“Republicans need to think clearly, they need to call it what it is: an abuse of the process, and you’re right- they don’t need to give it any real credibility. The evidence is not going to justify this charge. It seems to me quite clearly.”

House managers, appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, delivered the articles of impeachment to the Senate Wednesday night. The Senate will now conduct a trial, which is expected to begin next Tuesday, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this week.

The question remains as to whether the Senate will hear from witnesses. The GOP Senators advocating for witness testimony include Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-A), Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN). Republicans and Democrats are both weighing the issue and are considering issuing subpoenas to witnesses.

https://saraacarter.com/jeff-sessions-its-time-for-the-republicans-to-toughen-up/

Irony alert

US District Court Judge Sullivan Reschedules Gen. Michael Flynn’s Sentencing Hearing by One Month to Feb. 27

Attorney Sidney Powell, who represents retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, filed a motion Tuesday in federal court seeking to withdraw his guilty plea in the Mueller probe.

Powell alleged the government broke its agreement with Flynn. Flynn was scheduled for sentencing next week, on January 28th. The filing asks for a continuance to February 27 to afford prosecutors time to respond to the motion to withdraw.

Powell tweeted about the filing, saying, “We just filed a Motion to Withdraw the plea of @GenFlynn because the government acted in bad faith, with vindictiveness, and breached the plea agreement pursuant to which he has cooperated fully at great personal expense and “held back nothing” according to #prosecuters until…2.

@GenFlynn refused to LIE on demand from #prosecutors in EDVA in Rafiekian case. Van Grack exploded–now his new sentencing memo seeks to send #Flynn to prison”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/breaking-us-district-court-judge-sullivan-reschedules-gen-michael-flynns-sentencing-hearing-by-one-month-to-feb-27/

Done in 30

Barclays To Eliminate 100 Senior Investment Bankers

As the real economy continues to decelerate and the Federal Reserve's 'Not QE' catapults growth stocks to record highs, thousands of bankers are being fired every month.

Bloomberg reports Barclays Plc is the latest big bank to layoff 100 senior staff at its investment bank unit.

The job cuts are expected throughout Europe and the US and will be mostly managing directors and director-level staff.

The restructuring was spurred by Barclays's investment bank chief, Tim Throsby, who warned staff that he'd reduce bonuses. He also said pay for top performers would increase while pay cuts will be seen for non-performers.

With layoffs nearing, CEO Jes Staley is attempting to recapture the lost market share of its investment bank segment after years of dwindling profitability.

Banks across the world – the ones who should be benefitting from the trillion dollars global central banks printed in the last four months and 80 rate cuts in the previous 12 months - have unveiled the biggest round of job cuts in four years as they reduce costs to weather the global trade recession.

In 2019, 50 major banks announced plans to cut at least 77,800 jobs, the most since 91,500 in 2015.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/barclays-eliminate-100-senior-investment-bank-staff-cost-cutting-measures-accelerate

PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

Jesus loves (You)

Rep. Doug Collins Gets up & Rips Nancy Pelosi Apart! - Must See Video

>>7831594

Women should stay tf out of war zones