California Man Pleads Guilty to Production of Child Pornography

Friday, May 15, 2020

A Fresno, California, man pleaded guilty to production of child pornography today.

Jacob Blanco, 28, pleaded guilty to five counts of production of child pornography, as well as one count of receipt of child pornography, before U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Drozd. Sentencing is set for Oct. 9, 2020.

According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, the defendant's activities initially came to light in or about March of 2017, when the parents of a then six-year-old discovered that the minor had communicated with and created sexually explicit images at the request of another user on the social media application Musical.ly (now TikTok). Law enforcement investigators subsequently identified this user as Jacob Blanco.

A search of the defendant’s digital media revealed that he had successfully persuaded and coerced multiple minors to produce sexually explicit material. Blanco accomplished this by using various methods of deception and enticement, including by pretending to be a modeling agent or to be a minor himself. Blanco used Snapchat, Kik, Musical.ly and other applications to communicate with minors for the purpose of having those minors create and transmit to him images of those minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In his interview with law enforcement, Blanco admitted that he communicated with at least 50 minors, an admission confirmed by the communications and images stored on his digital media.

The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Fresno, with assistance from the Fresno County Sherriff’s Office and the Fresno County Police Department. Trial Attorney Nadia C. Prinz of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Gappa of the Eastern District of California prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-man-pleads-guilty-production-child-pornography

Alleged Narcotrafficker and High-Ranking Cartel Member Extradited from Uruguay to the United States

Friday, May 15, 2020

A Mexican national will have his initial appearance in federal court in the District of Columbia later today on charges related to his alleged involvement in a criminal conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), made the announcement.

Gerardo Gonzalez Valencia, aka “Lalo,” 43, arrived at Dulles International Airport yesterday evening after being extradited from Uruguay, where he was arrested in April 2016. The indictment charges Gonzalez Valencia with an international conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, intending and knowing that those substances would be unlawfully imported into the United States. The indictment alleges that Gonzalez Valencia’s criminal conspiracy ran from 2003 to 2016.

“The Department of Justice will never waver in our commitment to disrupt and dismantle CJNG and its enablers, wherever they are found,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. “Thanks to the dedicated efforts of our law enforcement partners in Uruguay, Valencia Gonzalez now will be held to account in the United States for his alleged crimes.”

“Today’s extradition and arrest of Mr. Gonzalez-Valencia deals another blow to the leadership of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion,” said DEA Acting Administrator Dhillon. “Mr. Gonzalez-Valencia is alleged to have distributed significant quantities of cocaine and meth and will now face justice in the United States. We are grateful for the outstanding partnership with the National Police and Government of Uruguay during this long term investigation.”

The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case was investigated by DEA Los Angeles. Trial Attorneys Brett Reynolds, Kaitlin Sahni, Cole Radovich, Kate Naseef and Acting Deputy Chief Anthony Nardozzi of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section are prosecuting the case.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/alleged-narcotrafficker-and-high-ranking-cartel-member-extradited-uruguay-united-states

Director of National Intelligence Announces Changes to Election Security Briefings

May 15, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, the ODNI announced that the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) will lead all intelligence-based threat briefings to candidates, campaigns, and political organizations under the U.S. Government’s notification framework. Bill Evanina, the Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, will serve as the IC’s leader to this critical effort.

“US elections are the foundation of our nation’s democracy. We are committed to supporting this Administration’s whole-of-government effort to secure the 2020 election,” said Evanina.

This change represents an important improvement and simplification to the threat notification process. The IC will continue to work in partnership with FBI and DHS to identify and integrate threat information, and Evanina and the elections team will act swiftly to deliver the timely and thorough assessments to those affected by potential malicious influence.

https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/item/2118-director-of-national-intelligence-announces-changes-to-election-security-briefings

Qatar Waging Stealth Influence Operations Across U.S. Academic System, Documents Show

May 15, 2020

Qatar is spending billions of dollars to infiltrate the American education system as part of a propaganda effort that legal advocates say violates federal statutes and warrants a full-scale investigation, according to a nonpublic memorandum sent from an investigative group to the State Department and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The Qatar Foundation (QF), a state-controlled entity tasked with promoting the country's interests, has spent at least $1.5 billion since 2012 to fund a range of educational initiatives at 28 universities across America, making it one of the education system's most prolific foreign funders, according to information obtained by the Lawfare Project, a U.S.-based legal group that has been petitioning American universities to turn over information about their financial relationships with Qatar.

Foreign funding of American universities has been a concern for some time, with countries such as Qatar, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and others injecting billions into their budgets. The Education Department found in late 2019 that several schools failed to report more than $1.3 billion in foreign funds. Qatar's emergence as one of the leading foreign funders has generated concerns about anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias working its way into the classroom.

The Lawfare Project's investigation, which has been provided to the Trump administration, "reveals considerable Qatari infiltration in the American education system and the media," according to a copy of the investigative materials viewed by the Free Beacon. "This infiltration, funded and organized through QF and [Qatar Foundation International], has turned American universities and primary and secondary school teachers into de facto agents of the Qatari government, conveying its political (and anti-Semitic) views to students and the general population without any acknowledgment of the origins of these views."

Major universities have declined to provide the Lawfare Project with detailed information about their financial relationships with Qatar, leading the group to call for a Trump administration investigation into these schools—including at the University of North Carolina and Duke University, which have both been at the forefront of controversy over foreign funding. The Lawfare Project maintains Qatar is violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires people and entities acting "as an agent of a foreign principal" to register with the American government and disclose foreign influence in the domestic political process. Legal experts with the group also maintain the schools should be subject to FARA disclosure.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/qatar-waging-stealth-influence-operations-across-u-s-academic-system-documents-show/

Read more at link…

Chinese State Media Warn Country Will Interfere in U.S. Election

May 14, 2020

China is threatening to meddle in the upcoming U.S. presidential election as retribution for a flurry of American lawsuits seeking to hold Beijing accountable for the spread of the coronavirus.

The Communist Party "won't just strike back symbolically, but will impose countermeasures that will make them feel pain," according to the Global Times, an outlet controlled by the regime.

The threats come as outrage grows over China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the country and the subsequent global spread of the virus.

China also is threatening to sanction several leading Republican senators, including Tom Cotton (Ark.) and Josh Hawley (Mo.), for their efforts to hold the country responsible.

"Republicans who have been groundlessly accusing China and inflaming the ‘holding China accountable' political farce will face severe consequences, sources said, noting that the aftermath will also impact the upcoming November elections, while business and trade between Missouri and China will be further soured," the paper reported.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-state-media-warn-country-will-interfere-in-u-s-election/

Baker, Anons, I know this was in notables yesterday but I believe it needs to be in at least a couple breads every day from now until the election.

>>9188383

gotcha, will post next bread