DOJ: Democrats Paid Pennsylvania Election Officials to Stuff Ballot Box

A former Judge of Elections in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been charged and pleaded guilty to illegally adding votes for Democrat candidates in judicial races in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

On Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against former Judge of Elections Domenick DeMuro, 73, for stuffing the ballot box for Democrats in exchange for payment by a paid political consultant.

The charges, and guilty plea, include conspiracy to deprive Philadelphia voters of their civil rights by fraudulently stuffing the ballot boxes for specific Democrat candidates in the 2014, 2015, and 2016 primary elections and a violation of the Travel Act.

“The Trump administration’s prosecution of election fraud stands in stark contrast to the total failure of the Obama Justice Department to enforce these laws,” Public Interest Legal Foundation President Christian Adams said in a statement. “Right now, other federal prosecutors are aware of cases of double voting in federal elections as well as noncitizen voting. Attorney General William Barr should prompt those other offices to do their duty and prosecute known election crimes.”

As Judge of Elections, DeMuro was paid to oversee the election process in the 39th Ward, which encompasses Philadelphia.

DeMuro’s guilty plea states that he was paid by a political consultant to illegally add votes for particular Democrat candidates in primary judicial races. The political consultant who allegedly paid DeMuro had been hired by those Democrat candidates.

According to the indictment, the political consultant allegedly solicited payments from Democrat candidates who hired him, classifying them as “consulting fees.” The payments — which ranged from $300 to $5,000 — were then allegedly used to pay Election Board Officials, such as DeMuro, in exchange for those officials illegally adding votes for the consultants’ Democrat candidates.

DeMuro admitted that he illegally added votes for Democrats on Election Day and then certified later that the votes counted were accurate.

“DeMuro fraudulently stuffed the ballot box by literally standing in a voting booth and voting over and over, as fast as he could, while he thought the coast was clear,” U.S. Attorney William McSwain said in a statement. “This is utterly reprehensible conduct. The charges announced today do not erase what he did, but they do ensure that he is held to account for those actions.”

The criminal complaint has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The case number is 2:20-cr-00112-PD.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/21/doj-democrats-paid-pennsylvania-election-officials-to-stuff-ballot-box/

Former Philadelphia Judge of Elections Convicted of Conspiring to Violate Civil Rights and Bribery

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-philadelphia-judge-elections-convicted-conspiring-violate-civil-rights-and-bribery

Illinoisans Revolting Against Lockdowns as Chicago Mayor Orders Parking Bans Around Churches to Thwart Services

The deep blue state of Illinois is beginning to revolt against the nation’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns even as those in charge seek to strengthen their power.

Some of the more outrageous examples of overreach are seen in the City of Chicago, where Mayor Lori Lightfoot has fenced in the city’s extensive lakeshore areas and even created newly designated no parking zones around churches to prevent worshipers from attending services.

Last Sunday, the city’s first gay mayor sent the Chicago Police Department (CPD) out to erect new signs around the neighborhood of Philadelphia Romanian Church to suddenly create long stretches of new “No parking/tow warning” zones around the building.

Lightfoot also sent the CPD to prowl around outside several of the city’s churches to hand out parking violations, Chicago’s CBS affiliate reported.

The mayor’s campaign against churches comes on the heels of statements by several church officials across the city saying they had no intention of submitting to the mayor’s orders to shut down their houses of worship.

The Windy City is not the only Illinois jurisdiction instituting the draconian lockdowns that are riling citizens. The state’s novice Governor, J.B. Pritzker, has also dabbled in harsh lockdowns that have stifled the state.

Indeed, a recent review of lockdown policies by the personal finance site WalletHub found Illinois has the harshest lockdown policies in the country.

As a result, the Windy City citizens are not the only Illinoisans who have revolted against the Democrat-enforced lockdowns.

A growing number of county and municipal officials are coming out in opposition to Gov. Pritzker’s seemingly arbitrary orders. Pritzker ruled businesses that violated his orders could be handed a prison sentence of up to a year for refusing to obey him. But many balked at the order.

Sheriff James Mendrick of DuPage County, Illinois, for instance, told his constituents he had no intention of enforcing Pritzker’s order to fine and arrest violators of the gov’s lockdown orders.

“I just can’t do this anymore. I stand with our citizens and businesses of DuPage County who have offered no trouble or no resistance to any rule we put upon them, no matter how strange.,” Sheriff Mendrick wrote in a Facebook post.

“I will not victimize lawful residents of DuPage County trying to put food on their children’s table. I’m so proud of our DuPage citizens who have done everything right from the beginning. All I can say is thank you,” he added.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/21/illinoisans-revolting-against-lockdowns-as-chicago-mayor-orders-parking-bans-around-churches-to-thwart-services/

Bosnian embassy in Pakistan accused of issuing fraudulent visas

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is investigating claims that the country’s embassy in Pakistan issued thousands of fraudulent visas to Pakistani citizens.

Boris Grupesic, a spokesman for the country’s Prosecutor’s Office, said that they received a complaint from the Border Police that Bosnia’s embassy in Islamabad had issued a suspiciously large number of visas — approximately 3,000, according to a report by Balkan Insight.

Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, claimed last week that the Ministry of Security had warned the Presidency about the visas. He said that the Ministry had warned that Pakistani nationals who had obtained the visas fraudulently could pose a national security risk.

Sakib Foric, the country’s ambassador in Islamabad, has denied the accusation and is demanding that both Dodik and Fahrudin Radoncic, the Minister of Security, apologise for it. “The embassy of Bosnia in . . . Pakistan has not issued a single forged visa. We reject all the allegations in the statements of the said officials,” Foric said in a statement on Monday.

Foric claimed that the Pakistani government is willing to take back any of its citizens who entered Bosnia on false pretences if the accusation turns out to be accurate. He added, however, that Pakistan was not aware of such a high number of its citizens being in Bosnia, and claimed that the Bosnian authorities had never informed Pakistan about the visas or their holders’ arrival in their country.

The situation between Bosnia and Pakistan had already become tense in recent weeks after Bosnia’s Security Ministry had accused Pakistan of refusing to cooperate in helping them to identify Pakistani nationals among the illegal migrants in their camps last month, as previously reported by Voice of Europe. Radoncic, who complained that his country has become “a parking lot for migrants for Europe,” said that his Ministry has begun proceedings to return all of the approximately 10,000 migrants currently in Bosnia’s camps — other than Syrian refugees — to their countries of origin.

https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/05/bosnian-embassy-in-pakistan-accused-of-issuing-fraudelent-visas/

Dutch emergency services battle fire at abandoned NUCLEAR PLANT, urge residents to lock windows and doors

Dozens of firefighters have been deployed to tackle a blaze at a disused nuclear facility in Dodewaard in the Netherlands. Police have asked the public to stay away and lock all doors and windows to avoid exposure to the fumes.

The fire broke out shortly before noon local time on Thursday in Dodewaard, which is roughly 100 km from Amsterdam. Eyewitness video from the scene shows fire crews battling the blaze on the roof.

https://www.rt.com/news/489343-fire-nuclear-plant-netherlands/

>>9266048

FUCK VACCINES

Multiple Universities Refuse to Cooperate with Federal Investigations into Ties to China

Several universities around the nation are currently under investigation by the Department of Education over their alleged financial ties to the Chinese government. A report published this week suggests that many universities are refusing to comply with a standard request to produce internal documents.

According to a report by the College Fix, several universities and colleges that are under investigation by the Department of Education are refusing to release internal documents that may contain evidence of undisclosed financial grants from the Chinese government.

The report claims that lawyers for several universities refused to comply with a request to produce documents, arguing that they were entitled to privacy under “Freedom of Information Act exemptions and legal privileges.” A letter from the Department of Education did not name the universities and colleges that have refused to comply with the request for documents.

Department of Education General Counsel Reed Rubinstein believes that many American universities and colleges have been compromised by foreign governments, China being one of the primary governments in question. “However, the evidence suggests massive investments of foreign money have bred dependency and distorted the decision making, mission, and values of too many institutions,” Rubinstein said.

The Department of Education announced in February that it would investigate Harvard and Yale over their failure to disclose millions of dollars in gifts from foreign governments.

Universities and colleges are, however, entitled to some privacy due to the structure of the United States government. Rubinstein noted that the Department of Education will not be permitted to publicly release all of the documents that they receive from universities and colleges.

“Inappropriate disclosure of confidential information could lead to separation of powers concerns and will certainly impair the factfinding and enforcement work Congress has authorized us to do,” Rubinstein added.

Breitbart News reported this week that Case Western Reserve Professor Qing Wang was arrested over his undisclosed financial ties with the Chinese government. Wang had reportedly failed to disclose his affiliations with several Chinese universities when applying for a multi-million grant from the National Institutes of Health for research he was conducting at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/05/21/multiple-universities-refuse-to-cooperate-with-federal-investigations-into-ties-to-china/

French care homes face manslaughter investigation: Victims’ lawyer tells RT details of ‘scandal amid epidemic’

Relatives of elderly people who didn’t survive the Covid-19 epidemic in France’s care homes want management to be held accountable for what they say was inaction and a cover-up that saw their loved ones die, their lawyer told RT.

Several French retirees, with some as old as 96, died in nursing homes in Chaville, Clamart and Clichy-la-Garenne back in March and April, amidst the coronavirus epidemic that is still blighting France. Now, their families have rolled out a criminal lawsuit against the care facilities. According to local media citing an announcement by the public prosecutor’s office, investigators will now inquire if there was any sign of such crimes as “manslaughter,” “failure to assist a person in danger” and “endangering the life of others.”

In the lawsuit, relatives said they noticed “deterioration in the conditions of care” earlier this year and sounded alarm about the lack of basic protective equipment such as masks and gloves – apparently to no avail.

Lawyer Fabien Arakelian, who represents the plaintiffs, revealed details of the legal action, telling RT they also accuse caregivers of being appallingly slow to test and safeguard the elderly.

Their outrage centers on the “absence or insufficient application of safety rules as well as [Covid-19] tests absent or carried out too late,” he explained. On some occasions, they allege, the care facilities were

“concealing information,” meaning that families were kept in the dark about their loved ones’ health status.

The fatalities were not isolated incidents but “some kind of systemic failure,” it seems. While the lawsuit is against the management of the nursing homes affected as well as the regional health authorities, its scope may be far wider, the lawyer said.

It is necessary that justice be done and that light be shed on this case, which, frankly, is a healthcare scandal amid the epidemic crisis.

Arakelian spoke shortly after French prosecutors opened inquiries into the nursing homes located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine, the western inner suburbs of Paris.

The news comes on the heels of the Health Ministry reporting this Tuesday of 110 new fatalities at hospitals and care homes for the elderly, as France’s coronavirus death toll surged beyond 28,000.

https://www.rt.com/news/489292-france-elderly-covid-deaths-lawsuit/

Farage’s French Migrant Escort Ship Also ‘Handed Over’ Pett Level Migrants Last Week

The French coast guard ship filmed by Brexit leader Nigel Farage escorting illegal migrants into British waters is a regular visitor, its own safety transponder data reveals, and can be proven to have made such missions at least twice in the past week.

The French coast guard “large patrol vessel” Fourmentin — ironically named after a famous 18th-century French pirate who made a living attacking the British — was filmed taking part in an illegal migrant handover mid-English Channel by Brexit veteran turned investigative reporter Nigel Farage on Wednesday. In the short film, taken from a fishing vessel close to where the hand-over took place, Mr Farage stated: “What we know is that a French naval vessel has been seen escorting boats out of French waters to get them into British waters… then they are off their hands.”

Publicly available data from the French ship’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) — a safety at sea system which helps track vessels to prevent accidents using ship-based transponders and shore-based receiving stations — not only confirms the Fourmentin met with a British coast guard craft while escorting migrants on the occasion Mr Farage described, but that it has previous form.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/05/21/transponder-data-proves-farage-right-on-french-handover-of-illegals/

UK Follows Trump’s Lead, 10,000 Health Workers to Trial Hydroxychloroquine as Preventative

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) has revealed that it is following U.S. President Donald Trump’s lead on experimenting with hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus preventative.

The state-run, socialised healthcare provider will be giving hydroxychloroquine to as many as 10,000 health workers at at least 20 hospitals as part of a clinical trial led by the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (Moru), to confirm anecdotal evidence that it can prevent people from catching the Chinese virus.

The announcement may give satisfaction to President Trump, who was slammed by left-liberal politicians and commentators when he revealed that he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a possible preventative.

The American leader told reporters on Monday that they would “be surprised at how many people are taking [hydroxychloroquine], especially the frontline workers, before you catch it,” before revealing that he is taking the drug himself.

Chuck Schumer, who leads the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, branded the President “reckless” and claimed that “All the experts say at best it doesn’t help” following the revelation.

“I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group,” added Nancy Pelosi, Schumer’s 80-year-old counterpart in the House of Representatives — before going on to suggest the President should be extra cautious because he is “morbidly obese”.

“Based on the known pharmacology of hydroxychloroquine, coupled with the emerging knowledge surrounding SARS-CoV-2 viral replication and Covid-19 pathophysiology, we were very keen to test the effectiveness of this molecule in a preventative rather than late-stage treatment setting,” said Dr Anthony Grosso of Accord Europe, a British pharmaceuticals manufacturer which has donated more than two million tablets for the NHS study.

“If drugs as well tolerated as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could reduce the chances of catching Covid-19, this would be incredibly valuable,” explained Professor Martin Llewelyn, the study’s British lead.

“If these drugs offer even a degree of protection, it would be a very big deal. We know from previous studies that these drugs have anti-viral activity, but as a treatment it seems to be relatively modest,” he said .

“It seems the best chance of these drugs having a role could be in prevention,” he concluded — exactly the reason President Trump has been using the drug.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/05/21/uk-follows-trumps-lead-10000-health-workers-trial-hydroxychloroquine-preventative/

FBI Now Investigating Shooting by “Arab Male” at Corpus Christi Naval Air Force Base- Suspect “Neutralized”

The FBI is now investigating a shooting Thursday morning at the Corpus Christi, Texas Naval Air Force base.

The shooter was an “Arab male” and has been “neutralized.”

USNI News reported:

The FBI is investigating a Thursday shooting at a Texas naval air station, after a Navy security team there killed an “Arab male” who stormed a gate at the base, a U.S. official told USNI News.

The official did not have any additional details on the identity of the shooter beyond apparent ethnicity. An FBI spokeswoman did not provide additional details when contacted by USNI News.

Navy Security Forces responded to an active shooter at NAS Corpus Christi at about 7:15 a.m. EST resulting in the injury to the NSF sailor. The shooter was killed by the NSF team, the official told USNI News.

“The sailor is in good condition and is expected to be released later today,” the Navy said in a statement.

The base remains on lockdown while an investigation into the shooting commences.

“All gates on the installation remain closed while first responders process the scene,” according to a statement from the service.

“NCIS, state and local law enforcement are on scene.”

Corpus Christi police said the incident took place at one of the air station’s gates.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/breaking-fbi-now-investigating-shooting-arab-male-corpus-christi-naval-air-force-base-suspect-neutralized/

Lori Loughlin will serve just two months in prison and her husband Mossimo Giannulli will serve five months for bribing college officials to get their daughters into school after taking a plea deal to avoid spending 40 years behind bars

Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli have taken a generous plea deal which will see them serve just two and five months respectively in prison for taking part in a college bribery scheme to get their daughters into school.

The pair had been facing 40 years behind bars each for paying Rick Singer, the scheme mastermind, $500,000 to pass their daughters off to officials at USC as rowing stars when neither had ever played the sport.

They were arrested in March 2019 along with 50 other parents including actress Felicity Huffman.

Lori and Mossimo pleaded not guilty immediately and insisted they thought they were giving money to charity but on Wednesday, the pair both signed plea agreements where they accepted they will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud.

As part of their plea deal, Lori will serve two months in prison and pay $150,000 and Mossimo will serve five months in prison.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2020/05/breaking-news-lori-loughlin-will-serve.html

5.8 Earthquake in Central Mediterranean Sea Region - ESMC

The earthquake struck in the central area of the Mediterranean Sea, near the Greek regions of Methoni and Kalamata.

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the maritime region of the central Mediterranean Sea on Thursday, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC). The epicentre of the earthquake was located near the region of Methoni in Greece, some 439 kilometres from Athens. EMSC also cites reports of the earthquake felt in the regions of Albania.

The depth of the earthquake was just 10 kilometres, according to EMSC. No casualties have been reported.

Greece is located at a complex tectonic boundary zone in the eastern Mediterranean region, between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. The latest earthquake in the country took place in early May 2020, with a magnitude of 6.0.

The Mediterranean region is not as seismically active as the edges of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but earthquakes regularly occur in the area.

https://sputniknews.com/europe/202005211079370199-62-earthquake-occurs-in-central-mediterranean-sea-region—esmc/

Queens doctor prescribed oxycodone in inmates’ names in drug trafficking conspiracy: feds

Dr. Dalmacio Francisco and his accomplice, Michael Othman, didn’t even let the coronavirus pandemic slow down their scheme, federal prosecutors say. The 75-year-old doctor shut down his Woodside and Elmhurst offices during the lockdown but he still met with Othman in his medical office to give him written or digital prescriptions to fill, the feds charge.(Daniel Allan/Getty Images)

A Queens doctor and an accomplice set up a black market pill trafficking scheme, prescribing oxycodone in the names of prison inmates and other recruits to score tens of thousands of painkillers, federal authorities allege.

Dr. Dalmacio Francisco and his accomplice, Michael Othman, didn’t even let the coronavirus pandemic slow down their scheme, federal prosecutors say. The 75-year-old doctor shut down his Woodside and Elmhurst offices during the lockdown but he still met with Othman in his medical office to give him written or digital prescriptions to fill, the feds charge.

Both men were arraigned Wednesday on federal drug charges and could face 20 years behind bars.

Othman, 48, has conspired with Francisco since 2015, according to an arrest complaint.

Francisco would regularly fill out 180-pill monthly prescriptions of 30-mg oxycodone tablets — the dosage most sought after by opioid addicts, often sold on the street for $30 a pill — to Othman and several patients the younger man would recruit, according to authorities.

Othman and those recruits would then go to pharmacies around Queens to fill the scripts, paying cash to avoid scrutiny from insurance companies, court documents allege.

The complaint describes more than 200 prescriptions written to Othman and seven other people, amounting to nearly 40,000 oxycodone tablets.

One of those “patients” was a federal prison inmate, while another was locked up in the state’s Altona Correctional Facility. Othman and his recruits would pick up the pills in the inmates’ names, prosecutors charge.

Francisco was released on a $200,000 bond Wednesday while Othman was cut loose on a $50,000 bond.

http://www.webnewsys.com/2020/05/queens-doctor-prescribed-oxycodone-in.html

Wikipedia founder says Wikipedia has become badly biased

Larry Sanger, the founder of Wikipedia says that the project has abandoned neutrality and is now “badly biased.” In a blog post on Thursday (May 14th), Sanger wrote a scathing critique of the bias at his former website. “Wikipedia’s ‘NPOV’ (Neutral Point Of View) is dead,” Sanger began, referring to the site’s neutral point of view policy.

He specifically pointed to the entries for former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump as examples.

“The Barack Obama article completely fails to mention many well-known scandals: Benghazi, the IRS scandal, the AP phone records scandal, and Fast and Furious, to say nothing of Solyndra or the Hillary Clinton email server scandal—or, of course, the developing ‘Obamagate’ story in which Obama was personally involved in surveilling Donald Trump,” Sanger explained. “A fair article about a major political figure certainly must include the bad with the good. The only scandals that I could find that were mentioned were a few that the left finds at least a little scandalous, such as Snowden’s revelations about NSA activities under Obama. In short, the article is almost a total whitewash.”

The founder points out that the entry for President Trump, on the other hand, is “unrelentingly negative.”

“Meanwhile, as you can imagine, the idea that the Donald Trump article is neutral is a joke. Just for example, there are 5,224 none-too-flattering words in the ‘Presidency’ section. By contrast, the following ‘Public Profile’ (which the Obama article entirely lacks),

‘Investigations,’ and ‘Impeachment’ sections are unrelentingly negative, and together add up to some 4,545 words—in other words, the controversy sections are almost as long as the sections about his presidency,” Sanger explains. “Common words in the article are ‘false’ and ‘falsely’ (46 instances): Wikipedia frequently asserts, in its own voice, that many of Trump’s statements are ‘false.’ Well, perhaps they are. But even if they are, it is not exactly neutral for an encyclopedia article to say so, especially without attribution. You might approve of Wikipedia describing Trump’s incorrect statements as ‘false,’ very well; but then you must admit that you no longer support a policy of neutrality on Wikipedia.”

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/wikipedia-founder-says-wikipedia-has-become-badly-biased/

Dark Web Sees Rise in Postings Selling Access To Corporate Networks

These postings provide cybercriminals with the information needed to hack into networks where they can infect critical machines with malware, according to Positive Technologies.

The Dark Web is an underground marketplace where criminals trade in all sorts of illegal or malicious items. One valuable product up for sale consists of information that can help hackers break into corporate networks. Comprised of malware and services, this type of information has seen an increase in Dark Web postings over the past couple of years. A report published Wednesday by enterprise security provider Positive Technologies illustrates the rise of “access for sale” exploits.

“Access for sale” on the Dark Web is a generic term that refers to software, exploits, credentials, or anything else that allows hackers to illicitly control one or more remote computers. Under this approach, criminals sell access to the networks of industrial companies, professional services companies, financial firms, scientific organizations, schools, and IT organizations. Such access allows attackers to directly target business networks or hire skilled “professionals” to hack into networks to infect machines with malware.

For the fourth quarter of 2019, Positive Technologies found that 50 access points to networks of major companies around the world were publicly up for sale on the Dark Web. That was the same number for all of 2018. For just the first quarter of 2020, that number shot up to 80, revealing a major increase over the past two years.

Along with the surge in the number of access points for sale, there’s been an increase in both the scope of that access and the selling prices. Just a year ago, cybercriminals were content to sell access to individual corporate servers for as little as $20 a shot.

Now, hackers are selling access to a company’s entire network infrastructure and asking for commissions of up to 30% of the potential profits. The average cost of privileged access to a local network is around $5,000, but the asking price can range from $500 to $100,000.

www.techrepublic.com/article/dark-web-sees-rise-in-postings-selling-access-to-corporate-networks/

Whistleblower slams Apple for ‘wiretapping entire populations’ after revealing that Siri was listening in on users’ intimate moments and sending recordings to be ‘graded’ by contract workers

A former Apple contractor revealed the firm's grading project last year

The whistleblower told The Guardian that he listened to inmate conversations

Now, Thomas le Bonniec has revealed himself in an open letter bashing Apple

He calls for action to be taken against the firm to stop it and others from spying

A former Apple contractor who pulled the curtain on the tech giant last summer, exposing an inside program that listens to user's Siri recordings, has made himself known to the world.

Thomas le Bonniec worked under a Siri 'grading project' that gathered snippets of audio in order to improve the smart assistant's accuracy.

Last year, le Bonniec revealed to The Guardian that while working for Apple he heard private and sometimes intimate recordings including medical discussions, criminal activity, sex and official business talks.

The whistleblower had initially remained anonymous, but has revealed himself in protest against the lack of action taken against Apple for 'violating fundamental human rights' - and he has done so with an open letter to European privacy regulators stating his concerns.

Former Apple contractor, Thomas le Bonniec, who pulled the curtain on the tech giant last summer, exposing an inside program that listens to user's Siri recordings, has made himself known to the world

'There's not much vetting of who works there, and the amount of data that we're free to look through seems quite broad,' le Bonniec told the Guardian in July.

'It wouldn't be difficult to identify the person that you're listening to, especially with accidental triggers – addresses, names and so on.'

Daily Mail has reached out to Amazon for comment and has yet to receive a response.

The letter, which le Bonniec sent to all European data protection regulators states: 'It is worrying that Apple (and undoubtedly not just Apple) keeps ignoring and violating fundamental rights and continues their massive collection of data.'

http://www.scoopyweb.com/2020/05/whistleblower-slams-apple-for.html

Benefit fraudsters made £1.5BILLION in fake claims after officials loosened checks to deal with Covid-19 applications rush

Officials fear Universal Credit is being targeted by fraudsters and crime gangs

Controls loosened so surge could be processed, including Internet ID checks

Fears hundreds of millions of pounds worth of payments will be hard to trace

Benefits fraudsters have made £1.5billion with fake claims for Universal Credit in recent weeks after checks were relaxed so staff could deal with the huge surge in coronavirus-related applications.

Officials fear some of the 2.1million people who applied for the benefit in the first full month of lockdown could have been individual fraudsters or representatives of organised criminal gangs.

During this period some processes were relaxed, including identity checks being conducted online rather than face-to-face and information like the cost of rent or whether someone had been self-employed taken on trust.

http://www.scoopyweb.com/2020/05/benefit-fraudsters-made-15billion-in.html

Family is allowed to move forward with adoption of three-year-old boy as Georgia Supreme Court rules that his biological father forfeited parental rights when he offered to pay to have the child aborted

A family has been given permission to adopt a three-year-old boy after the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that his biological father forfeited his rights, in part by offering to pay to abort the child.

In a 6-3 ruling on Monday, the court said Ashley and Lance Hall can proceed with the adoption, determining that Joshua Brumbelow had abandoned his interest in his biological son, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The Halls have had custody of the boy since he was released from the hospital after his birth in July 2016.

The boy's biological mother, Jeannie Mathenia, terminated her maternal rights at the time.

Brumbelow filed a petition to legitimize his paternal rights six weeks after the baby was born and had already been placed up for adoption.

It wasn't until four months later that he reached out to Mathenia, through his mother, asking to visit the boy.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2020/05/family-is-allowed-to-move-forward-with.html

Taliban Leader Says Group Committed to US Peace Deal

Urges US to honor its commitments on important deal

Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has issued his Eid al-Fitr message, reiterating that he and his group remain fully committed to the US peace deal in Afghanistan, encouraging the US to honor its own commitments and not waste the opportunity.

The peace deal aims to end the nearly 20 year old Afghanistan War, with a US pullout expected by next year. The deal has seen US-Taliban fighting down substantially, though both have grievances.

The US has been complaining about Taliban fighting with the Afghanistan government. The Taliban, however, says that the Afghan government isn’t making good on promised prisoner releases and intra-Afghan talks, and that the US isn’t doing anything to make it happen.

Afghanistan’s new government deal might make progress on those talks, and the prisoner releases, and this could mean an improvement of the situation. This could solve itself, and the US seems to be counting on that, as they are continuing to withdraw on pace for the 2021 plan.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/05/20/taliban-leader-says-group-committed-to-us-peace-deal/

Mnuchin sees 'strong likelihood' of needing another COVID-19 relief bill

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said there is a "strong likelihood" that another coronavirus relief bill will be needed as more states start to reopen and the economy struggles to stabilize.

"We're going to carefully review the next few weeks," Mnuchin said in an interview with The Hill's Bob Cusack during a virtual event. "I think there is a strong likelihood we will need another bill, but we just have $3 trillion we're pumping into the economy."

"We're going to step back for a few weeks and think very clearly how we need to spend more money and if we need to do that," he added.

Mnuchin’s comments — which came during the The Hill’s Advancing America’s Economy Summit, sponsored by Wells Fargo and Siemens — follow those of White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, who said earlier this week that he thinks another coronavirus bill might not be necessary.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats are divided over how to tackle additional legislation.

House Democrats last week passed a $3 trillion relief package, but Senate Republicans have said that bill is dead on arrival in their chamber. Some GOP senators have indicated they want to move quickly on another measure, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has signaled a desire to move more slowly in order to first evaluate what is and isn't working from previous relief bills that were signed into law.

One point of division that has emerged is unemployment insurance.

McConnell told House Republicans on Wednesday that the $600-per-week boost to unemployment insurance that was part of legislation passed in March would not be included in the next bill.

Republicans have criticized the boost, arguing that it is a disincentive for people to return to working. But Democrats argue that the enhanced unemployment benefits should be extended because they are critical to helping the millions of people who have lost their jobs in the past couple of months.

Mnuchin said Thursday that “we do need to fix the quirk” with the unemployment expansion that results in some people receiving more in unemployment benefits than they did in wages when they were working.

Mnuchin said he last spoke with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last week, but that conversation was focused on the execution of the $2.2. trillion law Trump signed on March 27, not subsequent legislation.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/498956-mnuchin-sees-strong-likelihood-of-needing-another-covid-19-relief