#Trump responsible for over 400

[mariacallous]

When a team of three top Biden administration national security officials gave a private briefing to the House of Representatives on Oct. 11, they proposed working with Congress on emergency funding to tackle multiple foreign-policy crises at once: the Israel-Hamas war, the war in Ukraine, support for Taiwan, and the U.S. southern border.

In the past, such a proposal wouldn’t elicit much controversy. Even in the hyper-partisan House, support for Israel is virtually unanimous, while nearly all Democrats and most Republicans broadly agree on funding to back Ukraine and counter Russia and China. But when the administration officials brought up the idea of a joint supplemental funding package in the briefing, a group of Republicans responded by jeering them with a chorus of boos.

The exchange, described to Foreign Policy by one lawmaker in attendance and three congressional aides briefed on the matter, offers a glimpse into how the chaos in the Republican-controlled House is morphing from a domestic political circus into a massive foreign-policy headache for the Biden administration. How that chaos plays out could have major implications for the scale and timing of U.S. security assistance to Israel as well as the continued flow of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, seen as critical in its war against Russia.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby warned last week that Washington is “running out of runway” to send security assistance to Israel and Ukraine without additional funding from Congress—all stymied by the glaring absence of a House speaker amid unprecedented infighting among House Republicans. The Republicans are inching closer to naming Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and skeptic of U.S. support for Ukraine, to be speaker, but he still faces an uphill battle to scrape together enough votes from the Republican caucus to get the job.

“The sooner that there’s a speaker of the House, obviously, the more comfortable we’ll all be in terms of being able to support Israel and Ukraine right now,” Kirby said. “Because of existing appropriations and existing authorities, we’ve been OK. But that’s not going to last forever.”

The House has been mired in dysfunction ever since a fringe group of Republicans ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his job two weeks ago, with no succession plan in mind. Republicans are in the midst of a mini-civil war politically over how to climb out of the mess.

The first question is: Who will the next House speaker be? Under current rules, the House is extremely limited in what it can do without a confirmed speaker. At this point, the House can’t even pass a resolution voicing support for Israel after the Hamas terrorist attacks that has support from more than 400 of its 433 members, let alone pass complex security assistance funding packages. (There are currently two vacancies in the House.)

While nearly all Republicans and Democrats will back funding for new security assistance packages to Israel, Ukraine is more complicated. A coterie of the GOP House opposes further aid to Ukraine, with some arguing the United States has given the eastern European country enough, and with at least one, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, parroting Russian talking points on the origins of the conflict. If Ukraine becomes more politicized on the right, more members could follow suit and begin opposing—or, at the very least, not proactively supporting—Ukraine aid. Those dynamics matter when the Republicans have a razor-thin majority in the House.

Jordan, a longtime budget hawk who has championed Trump’s falsehoods about the results of the 2020 election, has emerged as the only front-runner who may actually net enough votes to be speaker. Jordan still has to sway dozens of Republicans to his cause, including foreign-policy hawks and centrists who are skeptical of his leadership credentials. Since the Democrats will not vote for him, Jordan needs to convince 217 of the 221 Republicans in the House to back him to be elected, leaving little margin for any dissent.

The second question is whether defense hawks can use the House speakership race to their advantage to clinch gains for national security funding, including on Ukraine.

Jordan notched some significant wins on Monday when two prominent Ukraine supporters endorsed him. Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Ken Calvert, who leads the powerful defense subcommittee on appropriations, both threw their weight behind Jordan. Those endorsements may signal that Jordan is willing to make deals on keeping U.S. military aid to Ukraine flowing, though neither Rogers nor Calvert explicitly said so in their statements.

The third question is what happens to future funding packages—known as supplementals—for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and border security. Three administration officials confirmed that the Biden administration wants to bundle funding together into one big package to pass both the House and the Senate—though the administration has yet to unveil the specifics of this plan. The package the administration is drafting could be presented to Congress as soon as the end of this week, these officials said. Democrats endorse the strategy of bundling these four national security measures into one supplemental, as do some prominent Republican lawmakers such as Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Nearly all Republicans endorse boosting funding for Israel, which has outsized significance in American politics, and for Taiwan, to counter China. Nearly all Republicans also want to pressure the Biden administration to spend more on border security. The hitch is Ukraine, where a sliver of the slim Republican majority can derail funding. Democrats, as well as some centrist Republicans, figure that linking all the funding together would make it all but impossible to block more money for Ukraine. Not all Republicans, including Ukraine supporters like Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, are sold on that plan, however.

The next big question is what those aid packages will contain. The Senate, fed up with the chaos in the House, is rushing to draft its own supplemental aid package for Israel and potentially Ukraine without waiting for the dust to settle in the House. Any final bill would ultimately have to pass both the House and Senate. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee separately has scheduled confirmation hearings this week for President Joe Biden’s picks to be ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, and ambassador to Egypt, Herro Mustafa Garg, as the crisis highlighted the growing backlog of national security nominees in limbo.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer traveled to Israel over the weekend and said he discussed what a U.S. aid package to Israel would entail. Among the Israeli wish list that Schumer outlined is replenishing stocks for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, precision-guided bombs, and 155 mm mortar shells.

So far, the White House and Senate leadership have been quiet on what Ukraine might get. However, several Western defense officials familiar with the inner workings of U.S. military aid to Ukraine say a supplemental would likely include funding to replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles as older weapons and artillery munitions are transferred to Ukraine, as well as training, upkeep, and maintenance for Ukrainians using and being trained on advanced U.S. weapons systems such as long-range artillery systems and M1 Abrams tanks.

Past supplementals for Ukraine have also funded salaries—to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars—for U.S. service members deployed in Europe to train Ukrainians and conduct more military exercises with NATO allies in a bid to deter Russia from expanding the war.

The political battles in Washington constitute an existential issue for Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During a visit to Washington in September, Schumer recounted to reporters how Zelensky summed up his dilemma to U.S. lawmakers: “Mr. Zelensky said, ‘If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war,’” Schumer said.

House Democrats, meanwhile—stuck on the sidelines while they wait for Republicans to elect their own replacement speaker—have made their frustrations clear.

“We have a war in Europe, a war in the Middle East, challenges around the world, tensions in the Indo-Pacific, and the United States is unable to elect a speaker of the House,” Democratic Rep. Andy Kim told Foreign Policy in an interview. “What kind of signal does that send to our adversaries and our competitors?”

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The quest for Donald Trump’s taxes is finally over and whatever secrets Trump fought for years to conceal will soon be revealed for all to see. But one fact is already clear: The IRS botched its job.

The IRS is required to conduct audits of the President and Vice President while they are in office. This requirement arose in 1997, likely in response to concerns over President Nixon’s tax troubles. But the policy–enshrined in the IRS manual, Section 4.8.4.2.4–was not followed during Trump’s term in office. During his four-year term, the agency opened only one audit–of this 2016 return–which only commenced in 2019 after Chairman Richard Neal of the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the IRS seeking Trump’s returns and tax information. That audit is still not finished.

As the Committee characterized it, the IRS presidential audit program was “dormant” during Trump’s term.

Perhaps this should not have been surprising given that Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was the first Treasury Secretary to refuse to turn over tax information in response to a congressional request and when Congress sued to obtain compliance a Trump-appointed Judge–Trevor McFadden–delayed ruling on the case until after Trump had left office.

But it surely must be stunning to most Americans that among the reasons cited by IRS officials for their failure to follow policy was that they were apparently intimidated by the complexities of Trump’s taxes. In an internal memo, the agency seemed to whine about the return having “about 400 flow-through returns… and since some of these are tiered… a total of 500 flow-through returns”—which meant that to “do a thorough review of these returns we would need a team much larger than the current team.”

A “flow-through” entity is one in which the income that comes into the business passes onto the owner and is commonly used to reduce taxation.

In sum, the IRS rewarded Trump’s complex business structures by throwing their hands up at the prospect of having to dig into all those hundreds of records. Excuse me, but I thought that was what IRS agents liked to do?

Note that the agency had no concerns about following its policies when it came to auditing for President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden.

The recent disclosure that, during the Trump administration, the President regularly asked for audits of those he considered his political enemies—and invasive audits of former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe did occur—should raise deep concerns and trigger increased scrutiny. Such scrutiny could be undertaken by the agency’s Office of Inspector General or the the Justice Department’s Tax Division—not to mention Congress—although further work by the House of Representatives on the issue is highly unlikely given that the Republicans are about to take control of the House.

Chairman Neal and the present Ways and Means Committee have fought the good fight and put a lie to repeated claims that their investigation lacked legitimate purpose. All along, Neal stated that their purpose was to perform oversight on the effectiveness of the presidential audit program and “on behalf of the American people… determine if that policy is being followed.”

We the people have our answer now, and it isn’t pretty.

#us politics #news #donald trump #trump administration #2022 #republicans #conservatives #gop #trump tax returns #trump taxes #internal revenue service #irs #audits #presidential audit program #Section 4.8.4.2.4 #president richard nixon #Rep. Richard Neal #house ways and means committee #steve mnuchin #Judge Trevor McFadden #flow-through entities #president barack obama #president joe biden #James Comey #Andrew McCabe #Office of Inspector General #department of justice #us house of representatives

[qqueenofhades]

Why are conservatives at the point of global warming denial and spreading Sandy Hook conspiracy theories?

Er, "at the point of?" They've been denying climate change for literal decades, ever since it entered the public consciousness as an organised concept. (They have now largely switched to "your personal actions are responsible for climate change, and not those blameless mega-corporations," but yes.) And the Sandy Hook conspiracy theories, reprehensible as they are, are largely the work of one person/entity, aka Alex Jones/Infowars. He has been spreading them for ten years, ever since the shooting in 2012, and now is finally on the point of getting the bejesus sued out of him by the bereaved families. And frankly, I hope they run him into the ground, take everything he has, and then back the truck up and do it again. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

What this means, in other words, is that neither of these positions are particularly new, and in the case of Sandy Hook, are largely spread by one person. However, this reflects the paranoid conspiracy thinking that has become a hallmark of modern "conservatism," from claiming that 9/11 was an inside job to, of course, the Big Lie about the 2020 election. In this mindset, you can never have lost fairly or on the merits of your ideas; it must be because nefarious opposing forces colluded to cheat you. It's the "do your own research!" mindset taken to extremes, where nothing is true, everything has been covered up, and everyone is out to get you at all times. Which, to be honest, sounds like a truly exhausting way to live, but for some people, there is literally nothing except their sense of grievance and dispossession.

As for school shootings, the mainstream Republican line now isn't to outright deny that they happened, but to just tweet "thoughts and prayers" and do literally nothing else. To them, there is no amount of mass shootings that will convince them to give up their guns, as they believe that they need them for "protection!" from Democrats, black people, Muslims, etc. They don't care if a troubled teenager with a history of making threatening statements can walk into a store and legally buy an AR-15 on his eighteenth birthday, as long as that kid is white. When violence inevitably happens, they fall over themselves blaming literally everything else (as with the "there were too many doors!" nonsense after Uvalde). Even though in that situation, their other favorite solution, "a good guy with a gun," was in fact worse than useless to the point of active criminal liability. If literally 400 armed cops stood outside the school for 40 minutes and did nothing while kids were killed, because they were all too cowardly to risk their lives against a single military-grade assault rifle, why the fuck does anyone need to have one? Good question. Ask the Republicans.

Anyway, as I have written about in many other asks, the ultimate answer to this, and most of the other insanity of the modern GOP, is completely unhinged reactionary racism stemming from the election of Obama and the subsequent white-grievance-fueled rise of Trump. This is also why the people, including Biden at one point, who thought the Republicans would "come to their senses" and automatically return to more moderate positions after Trump was gone were so wrong. Instead, the Republican have raced to adopt even more extreme policies even faster, fueled by more grievance at Trump being "cheated," and also because they have been fully radicalized, which is a major and permanent shift in mental state. There's no such thing as just "snapping out" of it, which is why people who study the psychology of cults have written about Trump and his whole movement fit that exact mold. It is much easier to radicalize someone than it is to de-radicalize them, and assuming that they will just automatically return to their prior state of mind is, at the best, deeply naïve.

Likewise, the Republican base has now been so inoculated to such a high starting level of extremism that any politician hoping to appeal to that crowd has to be as crazy as possible-- whether or not they personally believe it, which is even more dangerous and irresponsible, as they deliberately cultivate and exploit the worst parts of America for selfish money and power. Likewise, you can see signs that the movement is starting to ditch Trump more and more, as he is an active liability who appears to be in line for multiple criminal prosecutions and was always an unhinged sociopathic idiot who the GOP hitched their wagon to because he was useful. Now, however, we are seeing a slow but steady shift to Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, who appears to be Trumpism's heir apparent. Which is even more terrifying, because while Trump was obviously moronic, incoherent, and borderline illiterate, DeSantis is a well-educated, well-dressed, well-spoken fascist who is "respectable" enough to win back the votes of "moderate" Republicans who had no problem with Trump's repellent political policies but were offended by his personal vulgarity. Everyone is talking about a Trump rerun in 2024 (though please god, let him be either in prison or dead by then), but in my view, we should be much more vigilant about DeSantis. Because the media will go wild hyping him up as a "real challenger" to Biden, he will get endless unearned airtime and positioning as a serious figure.

This is especially the case since there is a framework for a billionaire/corporate tax in the Democrats' new budget bill. The oligarchs will fight tooth and nail for DeSantis, even though he is such a true-believer nutjob that he went after goddamn WALT DISNEY WORLD, aka the biggest employer in the state and 75% of the reason that anyone apart from Republican retirees ever goes to Florida. That is because big business always thinks that it can "make a deal" with fascists, and they don't particularly care if that's what happens to everyone else, as long as they get their tax breaks. Of course, they don't want to be SEEN doing this, which is why they will publicly pledge to stop all political donations to election deniers, then quietly pick them up again after a suitable amount of time has passed and they think nobody is looking.

Basically, as the tide of public momentum continues to turn against Trump, I see the establishment GOP deciding to throw him under the bus, blame him and him alone for January 6, and insist that the problem was with him and not the entire structure, personnel, and philosophy of the entire modern Republican Party. Then they can move on to some more "mainstream" white-Harvard-alum fascist a la the DeSantis/Hawley/Cruz crowd, who will be just as bad or worse, but much more able to appear "normal," put coherent sentences together, and act "respectable." I don't know how that will end, but the way things are right now, I sure don't feel particularly hopeful.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts #cw gun violence

[tearsinthemist]

Fauci says U.S. 'certainly' still in COVID-19 pandemic

28November2022

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said on Sunday news shows that the nation is in a "much better" situation than last year, but the coronavirus pandemic is "certainly" not over. "I think the idea that forget it, this is over — it isn't," Fauci, a leader of the COVID-19 response under President Biden and former President Donald Trump, said on NBC's Meet the Press. Fauci noted that 300 to 400 people are still dying every day from COVID-19. The White House last week launched a campaign to get more people to get the latest vaccine booster. Fauci's message seemed to contradict President Biden, who said in September that COVID was still a problem but the pandemic was "over." [CNBC, The Hill]

[msclaritea]

Global banks defy U.S. crackdowns by serving oligarchs, criminals and terrorists - ICIJ

"money laundering crackdowns by moving staggering sums of illicit cash for shadowy characters and criminal networks that have spread chaos and undermined democracy around the world.

The records show that five global banks — JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon — kept profiting from powerful and dangerous players even after U.S. authorities fined these financial institutions for earlier failures to stem flows of dirty money.

U.S. agencies responsible for enforcing money laundering laws rarely prosecute megabanks that break the law, and the actions authorities do take barely ripple the flood of plundered money that washes through the international financial system.

In some cases the banks kept moving illicit funds even after U.S. officials warned them they’d face criminal prosecutions if they didn’t stop doing business with mobsters, fraudsters or corrupt regimes.

JPMorgan, the largest bank based in the United States, moved money for people and companies tied to the massive looting of public funds in Malaysia, Venezuela and Ukraine, the leaked documents reveal.

The bank moved more than $1 billion for the fugitive financier behind Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal, the records show, and more than $2 million for a young energy mogul’s company that has been accused of cheating Venezuela’s government and helping cause electrical blackouts that crippled large parts of the country.

JPMorgan also processed more than $50 million in payments over a decade, the records show, for Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager for President Donald Trump. The bank shuttled at least $6.9 million in Manafort transactions in the 14 months after he resigned from the campaign amid a swirl of money laundering and corruption allegations spawning from his work with a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

Tainted transactions continued to surge through accounts at JPMorgan despite the bank’s promises to improve its money laundering controls as part of settlements it reached with U.S. authorities in 2011, 2013 and 2014.

In response to questions for this story, JPMorgan said it was legally prohibited from discussing clients or transactions. It said it has taken a “leadership role” in pursuing “proactive intelligence-led investigations” and developing “innovative techniques to help combat financial crime.”

HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon also continued to wave through suspect payments despite similar promises to government authorities, the secret documents show.

The leaked documents, known as the FinCEN Files, include more than 2,100 suspicious activity reports filed by banks and other financial firms with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The agency, known in shorthand as FinCEN, is an intelligence unit at the heart of the global system to fight money laundering.

BuzzFeed News obtained the records and shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. ICIJ organized a team of more than 400 journalists from 110 news organizations in 88 countries to investigate the world of banks and money laundering.

In all, an ICIJ analysis found, the documents identify more than $2 trillion in transactions between 1999 and 2017 that were flagged by financial institutions’ internal compliance officers as possible money laundering or other criminal activity — including $514 billion at JPMorgan and $1.3 trillion at Deutsche Bank.

Suspicious activity reports reflect the concerns of watchdogs within banks and are not necessarily evidence of criminal conduct or other wrongdoing.

Financial institutions have abandoned their roles as front-line defenses against money laundering.

– Paul Pelletier

Though a vast amount, the $2 trillion in suspicious transactions identified within this set of documents is just a drop in a far larger flood of dirty money gushing through banks around the world. The FinCEN Files represent less than 0.02% of the more than 12 million suspicious activity reports that financial institutions filed with FinCEN between 2011 and 2017.

FinCEN and its parent, the Treasury Department, did not answer a series of questions sent last month by ICIJ and its partners. FinCEN told BuzzFeed News that it does not comment on the “existence or non-existence” of specific suspicious activity reports, sometimes known as SARs. Days before the release of the investigation by ICIJ and its partners, FinCEN announced that it was seeking public comments on ways to improve the U.S.’s anti-money laundering system.

The cache of suspicious activity reports — along with hundreds of spreadsheets filled with names, dates and figures — flag bank clients in more than 170 countries and territories who were identified as being involved in potentially illicit transactions.

Along with sifting through the FinCEN Files, ICIJ and its media partners obtained more than 17,600 other records from insiders and whistleblowers, court files, freedom-of-information requests and other sources. The team interviewed hundreds of people, including financial crime experts, law enforcement officials and crime victims.

According to BuzzFeed News, some of the secret records were requested as part of U.S. congressional investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Others were gathered by FinCEN following requests from law enforcement agencies, BuzzFeed said..."

The above graph on the article page is interactive. Republicans AND Progressives are currently attempting to blame the bank meltdowns on Biden and the FED. They all knew the banks have been under investigation for various activities since 2020. FinCen is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

[ausetkmt]

Hacker claims to be selling Twitter data of 400 million users

BleepingComputer: Hacker claims to be selling Twitter data of 400 million users.

A threat actor claims to be selling public and private data of 400 million Twitter users scraped in 2021 using a now-fixed API vulnerability. They're asking $200,000 for an exclusive sale.

The alleged data dump is being sold by a threat actor named 'Ryushi' on the Breached hacking forum, a site commonly used to sell user data stolen in data breaches.

The threat actor claimed to have collected the data of 400+ million unique Twitter users using a vulnerability. They warned Elon Musk and Twitter that they should purchase the data before it leads to a large fine under Europe's GDPR privacy law.

"Twitter or Elon Musk if you are reading this you are already risking a GDPR fine over 5.4m breach imaging the fine of 400m users breach source," wrote Ryushi in a forum post.

"Your best option to avoid paying $276 million USD in GDPR breach fines like facebook did (due to 533m users being scraped) is to buy this data exclusively."

Forum post selling the data for an alleged 400 million Twitter users

Forum post selling the data for an alleged 400 million Twitter users

Source: BleepingComputer

The threat actor also linked to a post explaining how this data could be abused by other threat actors for phishing attacks, crypto scams, and BEC attacks.

The forum post includes sample data for thirty-seven celebrities, politicians, journalists, corporations, and government agencies, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Donald Trump JR, Mark Cuba, Kevin O'Leary, and Piers Morgan. In addition, a larger sample of 1,000 Twitter user profiles was leaked later.

The user profiles contain public and private Twitter data, including users' email addresses, names, usernames, follower count, creation date, and phone numbers. Although all of the leaked profiles appear to have email addresses associated with them, many do not have phone numbers.

While almost all of this data is publicly accessible to any Twitter user, phone numbers and email addresses are private information.

The threat actor Ryushi told BleepingComputer that they are attempting to sell the Twitter data exclusively to a single person/Twitter for $200,000 and will then delete the data. If an exclusive purchase is not made, they will sell copies to multiple people for $60,000 per sale.

When asked if they contacted Twitter to ransom the data, they told BleepingComputer that they contacted Twitter and made calls but did not receive a response.

Data collected using now-fixed API vulnerability

The threat actor confirmed to BleepingComputer that they collected the private phone numbers and email addresses using an API vulnerability that Twitter fixed in January 2022 and was previously associated with a 5.4 million user data breach.

This vulnerability allowed a person to feed large lists of phone numbers and email addresses into a Twitter API and receive an associated Twitter user ID. The threat actor then used this ID with another IP to retrieve the public profile data for the users, building a Twitter user profile consisting of public and private data.

"I gained access by same exploit used for 5.4m data leak already. Spoke with the seller of it and he confirmed it was in twitter login flow", the threat actor told BleepingComputer.

"So, in the check for duplication it leaked the userID which i converted using another api to username and other info."

While Twitter fixed the vulnerability in January 2022, it has now been confirmed to have been used by multiple threat actors to scrape private information from Twitter users.

As for this new leak, BleepingComputer has only been able to confirm two of the leaked Twitter profiles as valid.

However, Alon Gal of threat intelligence company Hudson Rock has said that they independently verified that the leaked samples appear legitimate.

"Please Note:At this stage it is not possible to fully verify that there are indeed 400,000,000 users in the database," tweeted Hudson Rock.

"From an independent verification the data itself appears to be legitimate and we will follow up with any developments."

This leak of Twitter user data comes at a bad time for the social media company, as an EU privacy watchdog, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), has begun an investigation into the recent publishing of the 5.4 million user records stolen in 2021 using this vulnerability.

Another threat actor claimed to have also used this vulnerability to scrape the data of an alleged 17 million users. However, this leak is still private and is not being sold.

BleepingComputer reached out to Twitter with further questions regarding the sale of this data, but a response was not immediately available.

Related Articles:

5.4 million Twitter users' stolen data leaked online — more shared privately

Twitter confirms zero-day used to expose data of 5.4 million accounts

Twitter confirms recent user data leak is from 2021 breach

Massive Twitter data leak investigated by EU privacy watchdog

Leading sports betting firm BetMGM discloses data breach

API DATA BREACH DATA LEAK EMAIL ADDRESS PHONE NUMBER TWITTER VULNERABILITY

Google Home speakers allowed hackers to snoop on conversations

EarSpy attack eavesdrops on Android phones via motion sensors

[the-firebird69]

There are a couple things we can mention

-Trump's fleet that came out trying for Earth has been cut and more than half it started out at about 450 billion and now it is down to about 190 billion and it is getting cut down quite steadily not as fast they have some big chips and big weapons and they're trying to use them and it shut down each time and they throw like madness they'll all hit all at once in one area so it's slowed down and they are making them rude comments when they heat up to get hit but we anticipate them trying to move shortly and then sitting on the radio and we do our number then greatly

-the other fleet was at 750 billion early this morning very early now it's at about 490 billion roughly I'm told $450 billion that is small compared to Tommy f he is pretty big out there I think we know what will happen there's been communications from bja to Saturn in a penny and they can't help it they need help finishes we're not doing any good here and he said that their friends in the forgieners will go in and they will and he went over to evidence and said we believe they will but that's in the way it's just a mess in your face both so he is preparing to break away a very decent size Force and that Force is going to be attacking Tommy f not Trump they're moving out shortly to try and sign up and it's not too far to go they have around 3 or 400 billion ships and I guess we'll see when they come out other companies are going with them the miscellaneous Max and a hundred billion and Trump's forces at about 200 billion so it's about $700 billion but they would be joining up with about 500 billion really is $600 billion and that's 1.3 trillion every facing 2.5 trillion they might call their Force back that still has about 280 billion it's that force was pretty big now this is going to happen in the next 20 minutes possibly to fight Tommy f and they're rolling the pseudo empire has only about 100 billion.

These factors in a couple more make today humongous. These pseudo empire is moving down but boy do they suck they really are not uncorking really they're not filtering out the silt they don't plan to they don't believe it and stuff like that they just look at a couple of tunnels it went untouched and they're really gross there's some older ones and the ships are gone and they're still in there around Florida is three of those and they're only a year older but the muck is stirred up in the acids all over them and it's a simple study and we are going to have to move down now and the max too and they might do it first that's a wait and see thing and also

-these idiots are going to fight each other Tommy f and the idiots and our son and daughter side coming we saw it a long time ago but for them to see it's pretty good and they said that they're using these morons against us in order to get positioning that they need them calling the fleet out of Saturn it's not really ideal and because foreigners will move in but they are splitting the foreign fleet and that's the bad thing too so it is the empire and they are doing it and so we have to find ways to use these idiots against them all I can think of is taking the shifts and that's what they're using it for and to take the planets and the groups responsibility for their fruition especially Trump and people like him that's what we're noting and yeah they're divided and that's the empire's work

-couple of things these Sonos kids here need a lesson and a big one we need to stop fooling around with them and take them down and throw them out this battle might be a reason why things are going to change or how they're not evenly matched but Tommy will have damage on his Force oh it's two to one and the warlocks don't have anything great they have a lot of people have been sitting there might be aggressive but we think that they will like Tommy f feel it and out of his 2.5 trillion you might lose half a billion but he's good to gain all those chocolate chips Thor prayer

[blueenergymotors]

Green transportation - India’s Trump Card for a Carbon Neutral Future

NITI Aayog in its latest report has advocated for the use of green transportation fuels like Liquefied Natural Gas. The previous NITI Aayog report had already pointed out that carbon emissions from road logistics would reach 800 million by the year 2050 if not curtailed. Naturally this statistic caused alarm amongst members of corporate India as well as many policy makers of the country.

According to the report, India's trucking market is expanding fast. The report drafters have predicted a 400% rise in the demand for trucks by the year 2050. The report notes that we might be dealing with close to 17 million trucks as compared to the 4 million trucks currently. 

It is not shocking to know that the latest NITI Aayog Report has recommended a switch to more eco-friendly transportation options. The report observed that adoption of natural gas in logistics would be crucial if India wants to achieve it’s commitment of transforming into a carbon free country by the year 2070. 

The NITI report also talks about the type of eco-friendly transportation that is most suitable for a country like India. The report says that although compressed natural gas is cheaper, the country does not have the requisite infrastructure to use it prominently. In contrast, Liquefied Natural Gas is already a popular choice with a ready-madehas demand in the market. Additionally, LNG has also the requisite infrastructure necessary. As a result, LNG has found favor amongst many policy makers. 

This is evident from the fact that the Government is already looking for steps to increase the adoption of LNG. For instance, the Government is already considering banning diesel 4 wheeler- vehicles in India by the year 2027. Additionally, the Government is considering the incentivising the use of LNG in the major ports of the country to encourage more members to shift to green fuel. 

We must also keep in mind that India’s trucking market is expanding quickly. India is likely to see almost 17 million trucks on the road by the year 2050, nearly 4 times the current figures. In response to this challenge, truck manufacturers, will need to explore innovative strategies to mitigate carbon emissions while simultaneously meeting market demand. 

Blue Energy Motors is one such truck manufacturer who can deliver on sustainability as well as scalability. The company came into existence in the year 2022 and since then has been working towards the decarbonization of the logistics industry. As the country's biggest green trucking brand, Blue Energy Motors can be considered as experts in the field of producing trucks that run on green fuel sources. 

Blue Energy Motors has been termed as the best truck company in India for businesses looking to decarbonize their operations. Their trucks can reduce your CO2 emissions by as much as 30% while also helping your brand reduce other greenhouse gas emissions that are released during transportation. As per the available data, Blue Energy Motors has helped save as much as over 2500 tons of CO2 emissions. Their efforts are equivalent to the planting of 1, 00,000 new trees. A spectacular achievement indeed. 

The company has an exciting list of clientele and have already worked with popular names such as JK Lakshmi Cements, Dalmia Bharat, Nestle, Tata Steel and others. Blue Energy Motors also signed a major contract with Container Corporation of India for the supply of green trucks to company's southern plants. These factors point to the fact that green companies like Blue Energy Motors are here to stay. 

Opting for green trucking also provides many financial benefits. BEM’s sustainable trucks are known to provide an excellent fuel range of almost 1400 kms per fill. This combined with their excellent payload capacity makes green trucking profitable as well as sustainable. 

Is your brand looking for the ideal commercial vehicle manufacturer based in India? Join hands with Blue Energy Motors – pioneers of green trucking in India and lead the change towards a sustainable future.

For more: Green transportation - India’s Trump Card for a Carbon Neutral Future

#green transportation #eco friendly transportation #truck manufacturers #commercial vehicle manufacturers in india #best truck company in india

[clickvibes]

[stephanpolitical]

Conservative groups write 'game plan' for U.S. government takeover

Mark Richardson

If a Republican wins the White House in the future, the Heritage Foundation has a plan to overhaul such federal agencies as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to operate under conservative regulation. (Tada Images/Adobe Stock)

By Carrie Baker for Ms. Magazine.

Broadcast version by Mark Richardson reporting for the Ms. Magazine-Public News Service Collaboration

Wealthy right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation has published a detailed plan for the next Republican president to use the executive branch of the federal government to attack the rights of women, LGBTQ people and the BIPOC community, by eliminating the agencies and offices responsible for enforcing civil rights laws and placing trained right-wing ideologues in staff positions throughout the federal government.

Called the 2025 Presidential Transition Project—or “Project 2025,” for short—the plan has “four pillars”:

an 887-page policy agenda,

a presidential personnel database of vetted conservatives,

a Presidential Administration Academy to train these people to achieve the Project 2025 policy agenda, and

a 180-day playbook, which is what they hope to achieve in the first 180 days if Trump takes office in January 2025.

To develop this plan, the Heritage Foundation organized a broad coalition of over 90 conservative organizations—a who’s-who of groups that have led attacks on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, gender studies, the Equal Rights Amendment and #MeToo initiatives.

The coalition includes Concerned Women for America, the Independent Women’s Forum, the Eagle Forum, the Susan B. Anthony Foundation, Moms for Liberty, AAPLOG (the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists), Students for Life of America, Alliance Defending Freedom, First Liberty and Turning Point USA.

The Heritage Foundation claimed over 400 “scholars and policy experts” participated in writing the policy agenda, titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.”

Their main target: what they call “the totalitarian cult known today as ‘The Great Awokening.’”

Throughout “The Conservative Promise,” they rail against “woke progressivism,” “woke culture warriors,” “woke bureaucrats at the Pentagon,” “woke extremism,” “woke propaganda,” the “woke agenda,” “wokeism,” the “woke-dominated system of public schools and universities,” “woke revolutionaries,” the “radical, supposedly ‘woke’ faction,” the “woke policies in corporate America” and the “woke gender ideology.” They describe the Department of Education as a “convenient one-stop shop for the woke education cartel.”

They have particular vitriol for colleges and universities, which they describe as an “establishment captured by woke ‘diversicrats’ and a de facto monopoly enforced by the federal accreditation cartel.”

The authors invoke their first Mandate for Leadership book series, written in 1979, which guided the Reagan presidency: “In 1979, the threats we faced were the Soviet Union, the socialism of 1970s liberals, and the predatory deviancy of cultural elites. Reagan defeated these beasts by ignoring their tentacles and striking instead at their hearts.”

Like their current leader, Donald Trump, they dehumanize Democrats by likening them to animals.

The plan has four goals:

Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children.

Dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people.

Defend our nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats.

Secure our God-given individual rights to live freely—what our Constitution calls “the Blessings of Liberty.”

The contradictions are glaring:

The authors of “The Conservative Promise” claim to support equality, while advocating for dismantling the government agencies that enforce laws ensuring equality, such as Title VII and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.

They claim to support freedom and liberty, while advocating for a total ban on abortion, rolling back the rights of LGBTQ people and closing the border.

They claim to support free speech, while advocating for banning any mention of “critical race theory” and “gender ideology” from schools and other societal institutions.

They claim to support the working class, while calling for tax cuts for the rich, elimination of labor protections and deregulation of big business and the oil industry.

Throughout “The Conservative Promise,” the authors condemn “ruling elites,” which they refer to as “Washington elites,” “establishment elites,” “Marxist elites,” “socialist elites,” “Hollywood elites,” “entrenched elites,” “globalist elites,” “pro-open border elites” and” cultural elites.”

They explain:

“Today, nearly every top-tier U.S. university president or Wall Street hedge fund manager has more in common with a socialist European head of state, than with the parents at a high school football game in Waco, Texas. Many elites’ entire identity, it seems, is wrapped up in their sense of superiority over those people. But under our Constitution, they are the mere equals of the workers who shower after work instead of before.” — p. 10

They assume the worst of intentions of people they brand elites, whom they charge with “making decisions for us” and working to “serve themselves first and everyone else a distant second.” They describe the “elites” as power-hungry socialists: “For socialists, who are almost always well-to-do, socialism is not a means of equalizing outcomes, but a means of accumulating power. They never get around to helping anyone else” (p. 15).

The irony is that the Heritage Foundation and many of the organizations in their coalition are led and funded by billionaire capitalists, most of whom don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes or be limited by labor laws or environmental regulations designed to protect the public from economic abuse, pollution and climate change. The conservatives criticizing the elites are themselves elites.

They argue that “the Left” opposes equality and liberty established in the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution: “It’s this radical equality—liberty for all—not just of rights but of authority—that the rich and powerful have hated about democracy in America since 1776. They resent Americans’ audacity in insisting that we don’t need them to tell us how to live. It’s this inalienable right of self-direction—of each person’s opportunity to direct himself or herself, and his or her community, to the good—that the ruling class disdains” (p. 14).

Yet this “inalienable right to self-direction” does not appear to extend to pregnant women or LGBTQ people.

They even invoke women’s rights to call for the destruction of women’s rights: “Left to our own devices the American people rejected European monarchy and colonialism just as we rejected slavery, second-class citizenship for women,mercantilism, socialism, Wilsonian globalism, Fascism, Communism, and (today) wokeism” (p. 14).

Yet banning abortion makes women second-class citizens.

They charge the left with trying to control other people’s lives, while they themselves are the ones who propose and champion state-level and federal bans on abortion and gender-affirming care: “The Left does not believe that all men are created equal—they think they are special. They certainly don’t think all people have an unalienable right to pursue the good life. They think only they themselves have such a right along with a moral responsibility to make decisions for everyone else. They don’t think any citizen, state, business, church, or charity should be allowed any freedom until they first bend the knee” (p. 16).

Yet they want to use the force of law to impose their religious beliefs on others by determining intimate bodily decisions for pregnant women and LGBTQ people. Lawmakers that identify with the political left supports laws to empower individuals to make their own decisions about their bodies and lives, whereas the political right is passing laws limiting people’s ability to make these choices.

They explain what they believe freedom means in the Constitution: “An individual must be free to live as his Creator ordained—to flourish. Our Constitution grants each of us the liberty to do not what we want, but what we ought. This pursuit of the good life is found primarily in family—marriage, children, Thanksgiving dinners, and the like” (p. 14). Thanksgiving dinners? What we ought? His Creator?

On immigration reform, they say, “The only direct impact of open borders on pro-open borders elites is that the constant flow of illegal immigration suppresses the wages of their housekeepers, landscapers, and busboys” (p. 11).

On “billionaire climate activists,” they say their concern for the environment “is not a political cause, but a pseudo-religion meant to baptize liberals’ ruthless pursuit of absolute power in the holy water of environmental virtue” (p. 11).

Climate-changing oil and gas is not the problem; it’s the solution, they say: “America’s vast reserves of oil and natural gas are not an environmental problem; they are the lifeblood of economic growth” (p. 13).

They condemn socialism and push free market capitalism, private property and deregulation in the name of liberty:

“In socialist nation after socialist nation, the only way the government could keep its disgruntled people in line was to surveil and terrorize them. By contrast, in countries with a high degree of economic freedom, elites are not in charge because everyone is in charge. People work, build, invest, save, and create according to their own interests and in service to the common good of their fellow citizens.” — p. 15

In reality, free market policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations have generated tremendous wealth inequality and environmental pollution that targets the most vulnerable communities.

Despite a longstanding American tradition that career employees of the federal government are not political appointees, “The Conservative Promise” calls for removing any federal government employee who disagrees with their beliefs and replacing them with conservative ideologues. They boast about “how to fire supposedly ‘un-fireable’ federal bureaucrats; how to shutter wasteful and corrupt bureaus and offices; how to muzzle woke propaganda at every level of Government” (p. 9).

They promise the total destruction of the federal government: “The solution to all of the above problems is not to tinker with this or that government program, to replace this or that bureaucrat. These are problems not of technocratic efficiency but of national sovereignty and constitutional governance. We solve them not by trimming and reshaping the leaves but by ripping out the trees—root and branch” (p. 12).

Some of the specific action items include:

Department of Education:

Eliminate the Department of Education, which enforces civil rights law, including Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education;

Revert to the Trump administration’s Title IX sexual harassment and assault standards, which placed burdensome restrictions on the ability of survivors to report assault and obtain justice;

Reverse the Biden administration’s definition of sex under Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity, and redefine sex to mean biological sex assigned at birth

Increase public funding of religious education through expansion of “school choice” policies and give federal funds to states as block grants with no strings attached.

Department of Health and Human Services:

On abortion—

Under threat of funding loss, require “liberal states” to report to the CDC, “accurate and reliable statistical data about abortion, abortion survivors, and abortion-related maternal deaths”;

Require treatment of “fetuses born alive” after abortion;

Withdraw Medicaid funds for states that require abortion insurance or that discriminate in violation of the Weldon Amendment, which declares that no HHS funding may go to a state or local government that discriminates against pro-life health entities or insurers;

Audit states for Hyde amendment compliance;

Require the CDC to track “abortion across various demographic indicators to assess whether certain populations are targeted by abortion providers” (based on false allegations of eugenic motivations);

Reverse Biden administration support for travel to get abortion health care;

Prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds and allow states to defund Planned Parenthood in their state Medicaid plans;

Reverse FDA approval of mifepristone or at least go back to the pre-2016 limitation and prohibit the mailing of abortion pills;

Prohibit stem cell research and stop “the development and testing of the COVID-19 vaccines with aborted fetal cell lines”;

Affirm “rights of conscience” to deny medical care;

Declare that abortion and euthanasia are not health care;

Reverse Biden interpretation of The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) that requires treatment of women miscarrying.

On gender-affirming care—

Block gender-affirming health care

End Centers for Disease Controls’s collection of data on gender identity;

Block National Institute of Health research on gender identity and transgender health care and instead fund studies into the “short-term and long-term negative effects of cross-sex interventions”;

Reverse Biden administration’s redefinition of “sex” to include gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy status.

Other—

Add work requirements to receive Medicaid;

Condemn single-motherhood and same-sex marriage;

“HHS should prioritize married father engagement in its messaging, health, and welfare policies.”

Administration for Children and Families:

Use TANF (welfare) money to promote “Marriage, healthy family formation, and delaying sex to prevent pregnancy”;

Child support in the United States should strengthen marriage as the norm, restore broken homes, and encourage unmarried couples to commit to marriage.

Led and funded by multi-billionaires, such as oil moguls Charles and David Koch, conservatives have fought for years to cut taxes, deregulate business, ban abortion, eliminate civil rights protections as well as public health and environmental regulations, privatize government institutions such as public schools and prisons and eliminate welfare programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food assistance.

In 2017, Donald Trump enacted many of these policies, which were later reversed by the Biden administration.

With careful planning, conservatives today are working to make their policy priorities permanent, no matter what happens in future elections.

Carrie Baker wrote this article for Ms. Magazine.

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Russia Manipulating American Democracy

Vladimir Putin has been actively engaged in manipulating the USA through the dark arts of digital disinformation for at least a decade. Russia manipulating American democracy via social media and having bought Trump some time back is going swimmingly. A brief look at the state of the Republican Party and the Trump candidacy for President can confirm that. America has been split down the middle with progressives on one side and the MAGA led conservatives on the other. The cosy coalition between MAGA and Putin’s Russia would strike cold warriors from the 1950’s as completely bizarre. Americans backing the military aspirations of an eastern demagogue and his police state is what we appear to be seeing. WTF? #UNGA President Donald J. Trump by National Archives and Records Administration is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Putin’s Russia Leading American Democracy a Merry Dance

For anybody who has been studiously ignoring the Russian machinations in America I would advise that it is time to pay attention. The world is heading into very dangerous territory with extreme greed and caveman bullying tactics leading the charge. Putin’s Russia has identified America’s points of vulnerability and gone to town on them with bots aplenty. Democracy has always largely been about the art of persuasion, ever since those early days in ancient Athens. Getting the vote via scare campaigns and corruption have been with us for millennia.

American’s Too Dumb To Realise Who Is Stealing Their Lunch

Americans are so dumb. Why? Because they always make everything about money. The Internet and the world wide web were developed by US government bodies. Then in 1993 President Bill Clinton privatised it and handed it over to the market with bugger all safe guards in place. Many of the problems we have with social media platforms not being held accountable for their content are because of this lack of meaningful oversight. The neoliberal mantra – let the market take care of it – reveals yet another black hole. It is actually the abdication of government responsibility and yet another societal failure costing lives and potentially destroying democracy. “Congress has followed the Supreme Court’s lead and enacted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 offers internet service providers immunity from liability for content posted by third parties on their platforms. Brown notes that courts apply this liability shield broadly. Section 230 has protected providers from claims pertaining to intentional infliction of emotional distress, terrorism support, and defamation.’ - (https://www.theregreview.org/2021/12/21/stephen-social-responsibility-social-media-platforms/) Photo by Elena on Pexels.com Congress Is A Proven Failure Congress is a proven failure in addressing crucial crises effecting America, as witnessed by their inability to get gun control laws passed. The politics rules the beast in the US; and right now the Trump led MAGA GOP exposes the very worst manifestation of this governmental failure. Some 400 million people are being coerced and manipulated by special interest forces like corporate lobbyists. The system has been corrupted and taken over by these vested interests to the detriment of ordinary Americans. Americans know this but half of them are rusted onto the camp controlled by the worst aspect of this distortion of democracy. The GOP lead with social issues and gather their support around identity politics. Christian Nationalism, anti-woke BS, white supremacy, and the intolerance for things like gender and sexual preference diversity. Meanwhile they are in bed with big business and the rentier economy, which has been decimating the wealth of the middle class since Reagan. Russian Bots Fuelling The Polarisation Of America Much of the inflammatory stuff on the Internet has been coming from Russian bots for many years. Winding up folk on forums and in online chat rooms is a Russian speciality. Spreading disinformation via the Internet and on social media in particular has been a winning strategy for Putin. Many Americans are too dumb to get this. Lots of ordinary folk have no idea how the Internet actually works. Ignorance provides a great operating ground for those with a dark intent to do their stuff. It has been an incredibly cost effective means of paralysing American democracy. The 2016 election of Donald Trump was greatly aided by the Russians spreading anti-Hilary Clinton stuff online. Fake news was rife on social media about Hilary. Americans are used to the lies and misinformation during elections, just this time it was coming from outside of the country for the purposes of spreading disinformation. Similarly, the Russians were at it big time in Britain in the lead up to the Brexit vote. Britain leaving the EU was a big win for Putin – it weakened both Britain and the EU. Photo by Sharefaith on Pexels.com The US Has Been Made Weaker By The Trump Years Russia manipulating American democracy makes the US weaker internally and externally. If you look at the last decade much of it has been taken up with Trump. Trump has filled the airwaves with chaotic crap about him everywhere you look. The nation has never been more polarised. Threats of violence from Trump supporters are never far away, as they try to lean on the institutions protecting democracy. Men resorting to caveman bullying and violence as exemplified by the January 6th, 2021, insurrection at the Capital. Extremism is most often a reactionary response to societal anxiety by a section of the community. Following the pandemic we have seen the rise of far right groups and Naziism in terms of increased visibility and numbers participating in marches and demonstrations. Fear of death is a powerful call to action but it can lead some in the wrong direction. Trump makes a habit of saying shocking things in public. This keeps him in the news and in the public eye. He is buffoon-like and this becomes a mitigating factor in the mind’s of many of his supporters. “Oh, that is only Trump talking!” However, around the orange Jesus are some very serious and nasty people capable of doing untold damage to the lives of many Americans. Indeed, history tells us that a similar false sense of levity surrounded Adolf Hitler in his early years. Many Germans did not take him too seriously until he became the Fuhrer. Of course, by then it was too late and the dictator went on to kill tens of millions of people globally. American democracy is becoming undone by the forces coalescing around Trump. Stupidity, greed, and the politics of grievance are fuelling the popularity of Trump’s second coming. Putin is in his corner, of course, pulling strings wherever he can. Photo by Artūras Kokorevas on Pexels.com Tucker Carlson Useful Idiot Interview With Putin “US talk show host Tucker Carlson's interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin began with a rambling half-hour lecture on the history of Russia and Ukraine. Mr Carlson, frequently appearing bemused, listened as Mr Putin expounded at length about the origins of Russian statehood in the ninth century, Ukraine as an artificial state and Polish collaboration with Hitler. It is familiar ground for Mr Putin, who infamously penned a 5,000-word essay entitled "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" in 2021, which foreshadowed the intellectual justification the Kremlin offered for its invasion of Ukraine less than a year later. Historians say the litany of claims made by Mr Putin are nonsense - representing nothing more than a selective abuse of history to justify the ongoing war in Ukraine.” - (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68255302) Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.  ©MidasWord Read the full article

#America #bots #democracy #Disinformation #fakenews #GOP #greed #Internet #online #President #Putin #Russia #section230 #socialmedia #Trump #TuckerCarlson #USA

[mariacallous]

A powerful rightwing pressure group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), is pushing states to adopt a new law shielding all US businesses from “political boycotts”.

Although primarily aimed at protecting controversial industries such as fossil fuel companies, big agriculture and gun manufacturers, the proposed legislation is written to prevent boycotts by investors, banks and other companies of any US business.

It comes amid rising consumer pressure on firms over whom they do business with, and follows the decision by major retail stores to stop selling MyPillow products after its chief executive allied himself with Donald Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Alec, which is funded by major corporations, intends to press state legislators to adopt the readymade law, the eliminate political boycotts act, at its closed-door States and Nation Policy Summit in Washington DC at the end of this month.

Some Republican-led states have passed hundreds of pieces of Alec’s model legislation almost word for word, including laws pushing the conservative agenda on immigration, voting suppression, the environment, guns and energy policy.

The new model legislation requires every “governmental entity”, which covers a wide array of bodies from state government to local police departments and public universities, to include a clause in contracts requiring businesses to pledge they “will not engage in economic boycotts”.

According to the text of the proposed law, which is written by Alec’s lawyers so that all a legislature has to do is fill in the name of its state, it is a response to banks, investment funds and corporations refusing to invest in or do business with industries that damage the environment or are aligned with oppressive laws.

“Corporations are boycotting and sanctioning essential industries, such as fossil fuel and agriculture producers, by refusing to provide them with products or services or imposing undue burdens on them,” the proposed law says.

“Banks are increasingly denying financing to creditworthy companies solely for the purpose of marketing their environmental or social justice credentials, to the detriment of their clients and shareholders.”

The huge investment company BlackRock is among nearly 400 financial firms to have sold off shares in big oil companies over their failure to pursue sufficiently climate-friendly policies.

Some corporations are increasingly concerned that consumer pressure will cause other companies to boycott them over their funding of rightwing politicians and causes, or social positions.

The model legislation follows an Alec meeting in Atlanta in the summer at which participants launched a push against “woke capitalism”, claiming that boycotts may break financial laws.

“The collusion of corporations, and institutions to boycott, divest from, or sanction any industry may violate existing antitrust and fiduciary laws and harms consumers, shareholders, and states,” the model legislation states.

The readymade law gives state attorneys general the power to “examine under oath any person” in connection with a boycott, and to require them to file a report about their activities. The attorney general would also be able to “examine any record, book, document, account or paper as he may deem necessary” and to impound them.

The eliminate political boycotts act has its roots in legislation already on the books in more than 30 states to block boycotts of Israel over its oppression of the Palestinians.

For that reason the proposed new law does not extend to individuals after several states were forced to amend legislation when courts ruled that requiring individuals to sign pledges not to boycott Israel intruded on free speech rights.

Kansas revised its law in 2018 after a Wichita teacher brought a federal lawsuit in response to being told to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel in order to keep her job. Similarly, Texas narrowed its law after a speech pathologist lost her contract with a school district.

However, an Arkansas newspaper publisher has asked the supreme court to intervene after a federal appeals court upheld a 2017 state law that cost the publication advertising by the state university after it refused to sign the commitment not to boycott Israel.

The latest model legislation expands on another law written by Alec, the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act, introduced since the beginning of the year and passed by several states to shield big oil from share selloffs and other measures to protest the fossil fuel industry’s role in the climate crisis.

Legislation written by Alec has been introduced thousands of times in state legislatures across the country, and passed into law in hundreds of instances. Model laws are written by Alec “task forces”, usually jointly chaired by a state legislator and a representative of an interested industry.

Alec was behind the proliferation of “stand your ground” laws in conservative states, permitting the use of deadly force by any person who feels threatened, which George Zimmerman used as a successful defense for shooting Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012.

[newstfionline]

Sunday, January 21, 2024

America Stares Down a Trump-Biden Repeat in Disbelief and Denial (NYT) President Biden is cruising to the Democratic nomination. Former President Donald J. Trump could begin to wrap up his party’s nod within days. America’s response: This can’t be real. Even as both men stroll toward likely summer coronations and a fall rematch, an undercurrent of disbelief is coursing through the country. Many Republicans view Mr. Biden as so politically and physically weak that they think his party will replace him. Many Democrats can’t fathom that Mr. Trump could win another nomination while he is facing 91 felony counts and four criminal trials. This incredulity—ranging from casual doubtfulness to conspiratorial denial—has lurked beneath a year of polling showing a deeply gloomy public mood, and has emerged in dozens of interviews over the past two weeks as well as recent declarations from candidates and political commentators. “People in both parties really dislike the likely nominee of the other,” said Charles Franklin, the director of the Marquette Law School Poll. He said he had heard enough people suggesting that Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden would be displaced that he included a question about it on polls he is conducting this month. “Voters who think, ‘Goodness please, let’s not have a rerun of 2020,’ will realize that we are tuning in to another episode,” Mr. Franklin said. “Same characters, similar plotline. Get used to it.”

A thaw is coming (AP) Two weeks of storms that have turned roads into icy death traps, frozen people to death from Oregon to Tennessee and caused power outages that could take weeks to fix continued to sock both coasts with another round of weather chaos on Friday. The rain, snow, wind and bitterly cold temperatures have been blamed for at least 55 deaths in the U.S. over the past two weeks as a series of storms moved across the country. Schools and roads have closed, and air traffic has been snarled. There is hope. The forecast for next week calls for above average temperatures across almost the whole country, according to the National Weather Service.

America’s southern border has become a global crossroads (Economist) Last year seems to have set records for the number of migrants apprehended at the southern border, and the diversity of the immigrants reflects a big change in who is crossing over. In fiscal year 2023, for the first time, migrants from places beyond Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras made up more than half of all those apprehended at the border. Venezuelans are the largest part of this group. But last year 43,000 Russians, 42,000 Indians and 24,000 Chinese also made the crossing—up from 4,100, 2,600 and 450, respectively, in 2021. America’s northern border has proved porous, too. In total some 40,000 Indian and Chinese migrants came south from Canada last year.

Will Passports Be Replaced by Biometrics? (NYT) In the year ahead, the use of biometrics—an individual’s unique physical identifiers, such as fingerprints and faces—will be expanded at airports in the United States and abroad, a shift to enhance security, replace physical identification such as passports and driver’s licenses, and reduce the amount of time required by travelers to pass through airports. Biometric technology will be seen everywhere from bag drops at the check-in counters to domestic security screening. In the United States, the Transportation Security Administration is expanding its program allowing passengers to opt in for a security screening relying on a facial recognition match with their physical identification—a photo taken in real time is compared against a scan of a license or passport and assists the T.S.A. officer in verifying a traveler’s identity. This program is currently available at 30 airports nationwide, including Salt Lake City International Airport and Denver International Airport; the T.S.A. said it will expand to more than 400 airports in the coming years. Internationally, Singapore’s Changi Airport plans to adopt facial recognition technology for departing passengers, no longer requiring them to show their passports.

Grim realization sets in over state of Ukraine war as funding fight continues in Washington (CNN) As President Joe Biden continues to urge top lawmakers to approve his $60 billion aid request for Ukraine, a grim realization has settled in for the administration that this is likely the last chance for any new US military funding to flow to the war-torn country before the 2024 presidential election. Lawmakers have conveyed as much directly to the White House, a US official told CNN. Biden met with House and Senate lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday to outline what is at stake for Ukraine. But House Speaker Mike Johnson, who along with other House Republicans has tied additional Ukraine funding to a broader immigration deal, said afterward that continuing to fund Ukraine risked turning it into a quagmire for the US akin to its two-decade war in Afghanistan. “We cannot spend billions of dollars without a clear strategy articulated and I told the president in the meeting today again, as I’ve been saying repeatedly, ‘Sir, you have to articulate what the strategy is. What is the endgame?’” Johnson said.

Army called in to rescue about 600 Spanish motorists stuck in snow (Reuters) Army units were mobilised to help about 600 drivers who were stuck on a motorway in heavy snow as Storm Juan blanketed many parts of Spain, authorities said on Friday. Snowfalls left motorists stranded for hours on the N-122 road between Soria and Agreda in northern Spain so authorites said they had dispatched troops from a base in Zaragoza to help move the drivers. Miguel Ángel Clavero, of the civil protection force, said on Friday that in Aragon in eastern Spain a number of roads were left unpassable by the snowfall and Zaragoza airport was closed.

The Quiet Transformation of Occupied Ukraine (Foreign Affairs) While the West continues to squabble over providing further aid to Ukraine, Russia has been quietly consolidating its control over the territories it occupies in southeastern Ukraine. As the frontline stabilized in 2023, Russia remained in control of almost 18 percent of Ukrainian territory, including about 25,000 square miles of land seized since February 2022. All branches of the Russian government are involved in a costly and ambitious program to integrate these newly occupied territories into the Russian Federation—as Russia did with Crimea after it seized the peninsula in 2014. The Kremlin hopes to create facts on the ground that will be difficult for Ukraine to challenge, either by military force or in future peace talks. Russia ceremonially annexed four Ukrainian oblasts in September 2022, although its military is not in full control of any of these provinces. Since then, Russian officials have transformed the governance of the areas under its control, holding sham elections last September and appointing pro-Moscow officials at every level. An army of technocrats is overseeing the complete absorption of these territories, aligning their laws, regulations, and tax and banking systems with Russia, and getting rid of any traces of institutional ties to Ukraine.

Rifts emerge among top Israeli officials over how to handle the war against Hamas in Gaza (AP) A member of Israel’s War Cabinet cast doubt on the country’s strategy for releasing hostages held by Hamas, saying only a cease-fire can free them, as the prime minister rejected the United States’ calls to scale back its offensive. The comments by Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief, marked the latest sign of disagreement among top Israeli officials over the direction of the war against Hamas, now in its fourth month. In his first public statements on the course of the war, Eisenkot said that claims the dozens of hostages could be freed by means other than a cease-fire amounted to spreading “illusions”—an implicit criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the five-member War Cabinet and who insists that pursuing the war will win their release. Eisenkot’s statements came as some relatives of hostages have intensified their protests, a sign of mounting frustration over the government’s seeming lack of progress toward a deal to release the remaining captives.

Women and children are the main victims of the Israel-Hamas war with 16,000 killed, UN says (AP) Women and children are the main victims in the Israel-Hamas war, with some 16,000 killed and an estimated two mothers losing their lives every hour since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel, the United Nations agency promoting gender equality said Friday. As a result of the more than 100-day conflict, UN Women added, at least 3,000 women may have become widows and heads of households and at least 10,000 children may have lost their fathers. In a report released Friday, the agency pointed to the burden on women fleeing the fighting with children and being displaced again and again. Of the territory’s 2.3 million population, it said, 1.9 million are displaced and “close to one million are women and girls” seeking shelter and safety.

Europe is bearing the brunt of the Red Sea shipping disruptions (WSJ) Attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have prompted carriers to make a long, expensive detour around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, and some factories have halted production because of an absence of needed parts. Should the threat persist, economists think the decline in inflation that Europe enjoyed last year could slow down, pushing back a potential cut in key interest rates. Ships traveling through the Red Sea carry about 40% of the goods traded between Europe and Asia. The share of U.S. imports that use that route is comparatively small, and the Pacific offers an alternative for goods out of Asia. The Houthis say the assaults are a response to the Israel-Hamas war.

Ethnic killings in one Sudan city left up to 15,000 dead—UN report (Reuters) Between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed in one city in Sudan’s West Darfur region last year in ethnic violence by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militia, according to a United Nations report seen by Reuters on Friday. The monitors also described as “credible” accusations that the United Arab Emirates had provided military support to the RSF “several times per week” via Amdjarass in northern Chad. A top Sudanese general accused the UAE in November of backing the RSF war effort. In a letter to the monitors, the UAE said 122 flights had delivered humanitarian aid to Amdjarass to help Sudanese fleeing the war. The United Nations says about 500,000 people have fled Sudan into eastern Chad, several hundred kilometers south of Amdjarass.

#headlines #news

[pashterlengkap]

Keep your Thanks: Here’s the justice queer Native Americans really hunger for

The “first Thanksgiving” of 1621 between the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and English Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts wasn’t as friendly as people think. In fact, many Native Americans feel that the occasion marked the start of 400 years of colonization and oppression. Some choose instead to observe the Friday after Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage Day, a day for recognizing Indigenous communities and their contributions to the nation. Many present-day queer and Two-Spirit Native American activists are working to reclaim Indigenous lands, rituals, culture, and mental health. While some public events have begun reciting “land acknowledgments” — defined by NPR as “formal statements recognizing Indigenous communities’ rights to territories seized by colonial powers” — some see such statements as a well-intentioned but empty gesture, while others see them as a necessary first step towards restorative justice. On that road to justice, however, here are some of the political goals sought by Indigenous activists: Related: Watch this adorable gay Native American couple break barriers with a pow wow dance The couple, who met on the pow wow circuit, have performed couples “sweetheart” dances, and are in awe of the warm responses they have received. Legal recognition by federal and state governments Get the Daily Brief The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you: Subscribe to our Newsletter Some tribes were forced into reservation territory and allowed sovereignty to oversee its land, businesses, and governance. But other tribes haven’t been legally recognized at all — something that severely limits tribe members’ ability to claim ancestral lands and receive financial restitution. The federal government didn’t legally recognize the aforementioned Mashpee Wampanoag tribe until 2007, even though the tribe had existed for 12,000 years beforehand. Others continue to fight for legal recognition, even though their existence may already be well documented in historical records. Restoring ancestral lands Many tribes desire sovereignty over the lands that their ancestors once inhabited. This includes the Lakota Sioux, whose ancestors lived in the Black Hills, an area that now contains Mount Rushmore. The tribe oversaw the hills until the U.S. government violated a treaty, massacred their tribe members at Wounded Knee, and then carved the faces of four former U.S. presidents into the mountainside. Predictably, many state and federal governments oppose restoring tribal lands, but it can be done. In 2015, the federal government pledged to restore 300 acres to the aforementioned Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, though former President Donald Trump’s Department of the Interior reversed the decision in 2018. In 2009, the Wiyot people of California’s northern coast raised $106,000 to buy 1.5 acres on their ancestral land of Duluwat Island. The Eureka City Council voted to give the tribe 240 additional acres of island that the city had controlled. Around 2020, a United Methodist Church in Ohio also returned some land to the Wyandotte Nation. This restoration can neither completely restore the ecological damage nor the lost relationships the tribes once had to their lands. But for many, it’s an important way to ensure that tribe members have a home and community dedicated to preserving their culture. Preserving Indigenous knowledge Although Indigenous communities only comprise an estimated 5% of the world’s population, they safeguard an estimated 80% of the planet’s biodiversity, according to the World Wildlife Federation. This safeguarding includes centuries-old practices of hunting, agriculture, and preservation that foster a respectful, reciprocal relationship with the land while providing sustainable alternatives to widespread deforestation, fossil fuel use, industrial over-farming, and species’ extinction. These are particularly important considering the increased natural disasters that have… http://dlvr.it/SzHt8r

[wikiuntamed]

On this day in Wikipedia: Tuesday, 8th August

Welcome, Willkommen, 안녕하세요, Bienvenue 🤗 What does @Wikipedia say about 8th August through the years 🏛️📜🗓️?

8th August 2022 🗓️ : Event - Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executes a search warrant at former president Donald Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida. "The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, the FBI is also a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community..."

Image by Federal Bureau of Investigation

8th August 2018 🗓️ : Death - Nicholas Bett Nicholas Bett, Kenyan track and field athlete (b. 1990) "Nicholas Kiplagat Bett (27 January 1990 – 8 August 2018) was a Kenyan track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres hurdles. His personal best for the event is 47.79 seconds. He was a world champion in the event, having won in 2015, and a two-time bronze medallist at the African..."

Image licensed under CC BY 2.0? by filip bossuyt from Kortrijk, Belgium

8th August 2013 🗓️ : Event - August 2013 Quetta bombing A suicide bombing at a funeral in the Pakistani city of Quetta kills at least 31 people. "On 8 August 2013, a suicide attacker exploded a bomb at a funeral being held for a police officer in Quetta, Pakistan, and killed as many as thirty-seven people and injured over fifty people. No group has taken responsibility for the bombing, but it is believed that the Taliban were behind the..."

8th August 1973 🗓️ : Event - Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped. "Kim Dae-jung (Korean: 김대중; Hanja: 金大中; Korean pronunciation: [kim.dɛ.dʑuŋ]; 6 January 1924 – 18 August 2009), often referred to by his initials DJ, was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He was a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize..."

Image licensed under KOGL Type 1? by 대한민국 국가기록원

8th August 1922 🗓️ : Birth - Rory Calhoun Rory Calhoun, American actor (d. 1999) "Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922 – April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). ..."

Image by movie studio

8th August 1822 🗓️ : Birth - George Stoneman George Stoneman, Jr., United States Army cavalry officer (d. 1894) "George Stoneman Jr. (August 8, 1822 – September 5, 1894) was a United States Army cavalry officer and politician who served as the fifteenth Governor of California from 1883 to 1887. Stoneman trained at West Point (where his roommate was Stonewall Jackson), graduating in 1846, and served in the..."

Image by Unknown photographer

8th August 🗓️ : Holiday - Nane Nane Day (Tanzania) "Nane Nane Day on 8 August celebrates to recognize the important contribution of farmers to the national Tanzanian economy. Nane Nane means "eight eight" in Swahili, the national language of Tanzania (and of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the two countries whose union created the United Republic of..."

#OnThisDayInWikiHistory #WikiUntamed #GemsOfWikipedia #WikiExplorer

[swldx]

RNZ Pacific 1207 11 May 2023

7425Khz 1154 11 MAY 2023 - RNZ PACIFIC (NEW ZEALAND) in ENGLISH from RANGITAIKI. SINPO = 45434. English, music until pips and news @1200z anchored by Vicki McKay. Whangārei Boys High student Karnin Ahorangi Petera died on Tuesday in the Abbey caves after a school trop there went ahead despite forecast bad weather. Fourteen others and two adults managed to escape to safety. The school and its board are refusing to answer questions about what safety assessments were carried out and who signed off on the expedition. Hundreds of striking secondary and area school teachers marched on Parliament to protest for better pay and conditions. The strike affected South Island schools and was scheduled to move to the remainder of the North Island on Thursday. PPTA acting president Chris Abercrombie told the rally at Parliament the teachers' collective agreement negotiations were proving to be a long battle. "It is not good enough that in Aotearoa New Zealand we have teachers going to food banks. And I know this to be true because I've had to do it myself," he said. District Council is asking the government to help ease a 17 million dollar deficit caused by huge cyclone recovery costs. Council officials estimate 70 million dollars would have been spent on the recovery by the end of June, including 60 million on roading, 7 million or welfare support, and more than 3 million on collecting flood damaged waste. New Zealand is advising shoppers to buy their produce in-season as prices continue to soar. Food price inflation is at its highest level in 36 years. Stats NZ's food price index rose 12.5 percent in the year ended April, the highest annual rate since late 1987. The main drivers over the year were a 14 percent rise in grocery prices, and more than 22 percent for fruit and vegetables prices. Thousands of migrants have been rushing to the US-Mexico border just hours before a Trump-era policy that allowed for their swift removal is set to expire. As the policy, known as Title 42, nears its end, about 10,000 migrants have been crossing the 3218km border each day, record numbers nearly double the average seen just two months ago. Auckland High School will be dumping NCEA level one from next year, In a newsletter to parents and cuthbert's college says, it will no longer teach the qualification saying, proposed government changes to the level will not provide sufficient in-depth learning for students as it lacks rigour and coherence and will not prepare students for the rest of high school or tertiary education. Instead it is going it own way, developing an entirely new diploma. Google has announced artificial intelligence enhancements to its search engine as it seeks to rival Microsoft. Calling it "Generative Search", Google says it can craft responses to open-ended queries, while keeping the already familiar list of links to the web. Google is rolling out features to 180 countries. The firm hopes, the improvements will help it keep the lion's share of the nearly 400 billion dollar annual online, advertising market. @1205z trailer for RNZ "9 to Noon". @1206z Weather Forecast: Showers clearing by afternoon, some heavy. frosts possible. @1206z "All Night Programme" anchored by Vicki McKay. Backyard fence antenna, Etón e1XM. 100kW, beamAz 325°, bearing 240°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 12912KM from transmitter at Rangitaiki. Local time: 0654.