Boy Scouts consider bankruptcy amid sex abuse lawsuits…
December 13, 2018
The Wall Street Journal reported Boy Scout leaders have hired Chicago law firm Sidley Austin for help in a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
The Scouts, which are based in Irving, have faced numerous sexual abuse lawsuits in the past few years.
NY Times: U.S. Diplomats With Mysterious Illness in Cuba Had Inner-Ear Damage, Doctors Say…
December 13, 2018
The American government employees in Cuba who suffered mystifying symptoms — dizziness, insomnia, difficulty concentrating — after hearing a strange high-pitched sound all had one thing in common: damage to the part of the inner ear responsible for balance, according to the first doctors to examine them after the episodes.
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To some of the 26 people affected, the episode felt like something out of “Star Trek”: A few minutes of a high-pitched noise, often accompanied by a high-pressure sensation, described as a “force field,” felt in their homes and hotel rooms in Cuba over several months starting in late 2016, changed their lives and, in some cases, ended careers.Ships infected with ransomware, USB malware, worms…
December 13, 2018
The fact that ships are vulnerable to hacking and malware infections isn't anything new. Ships have been a disaster waiting to happen for years, because ship makers have had an obsession with putting all of a vessel's systems online.
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Many of these ship-designed IT systems either use default credentials or feature backdoor accounts, putting the ship, cargo, and passengers in harm's way due to sheer negligence.Well, they do go from Port to Port (You sea what we did there?).
Pope cuts 2 cardinals from cabinet named in abuse scandal…
December 13, 2018
Pope Francis has removed two cardinals from his informal cabinet after they were implicated in the Catholic Church’s sex abuse and cover-up scandal, shedding embarrassing advisers ahead of a high-stakes Vatican summit on abuse early next year.
The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis in October had written to Chilean Cardinal Javier Errazuriz and Australian Cardinal George Pell thanking them for their five years of service on the so-called Group of Nine, or C-9.
UN Exploits Autistic Child to Promote Climate Scam…
December 13, 2018
After being brainwashed in a government school to believe that human activities were causing dangerous global warming, Greta Thunberg, an autistic Swedish teenager, is being exploited and paraded around by the United Nations as the poster child of the “youth climate movement.” The one positive development: She is boycotting the government school that brainwashed her to make her point. And she is “inspiring” other children to do the same.
36 convicted in largest international sex trafficking ring brought down by feds…
December 13, 2018
Dozens of people have been convicted for their role in a massive international sex trafficking organization based out of Thailand, which sold women in a variety of U.S. cities, including Minneapolis.
A federal jury handed down the convictions for five defendants Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. Thirty-one other defendants had previously pleaded guilty in the case. At a press conference, officials stated that this was the largest sex trafficking ring ever dismantled by the federal government.
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The victims, all women in their 30's, were smuggled from Bangkok, Thailand and sold in cities all over the country, including Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and D.C.11 People Arrested Massive Heroin and Fentanyl Drug Ring Bust…
December 13, 2018
Eleven men and women were arrested for allegedly operating a massive heroin and fentanyl ring that raked in $8 million worth of product in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, officials announced Wednesday.
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In all, police found more than 130 pounds of heroin and fentanyl, bundles of cash totaling about $32,000 wrapped in rubber bands, records indicating the amounts of heroin and fentanyl packaged inside the house, and a fully-loaded handgun, officials said.
Taylor Swift tracked stalkers with facial recognition tech at her concert…
December 13, 2018
Swift’s facial recognition system was built into a kiosk that displayed highlights of her rehearsals, which would secretly record onlookers’ faces. According to Rolling Stone, which spoke with a concert security expert who observed the kiosk, attendees who looked at the kiosk were immediately scanned. Afterward, the data was sent to a “command post” in Nashville, Tennessee that attempted to match hundreds of images to a database of her known stalkers.
Camp Fire: PG&E confirms Bullet holes, damaged arm found where fire started…
December 13, 2018
PG&E’s equipment in Butte County, a region scorched by the disastrous and deadly Camp Fire, was damaged before the inferno began, including with bullet holes, a fallen hook and a broken tower arm, the embattled utility disclosed in a new letter to state regulators. The latest revelations from PG&E confirmed prior suspicions that a damaged transmission tower caused a power line to fail in the origin area of the blaze. The letter also said it was a PG&E worker who first noticed the fire and called 911.
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San Francisco-based PG&E is already under pressure because its equipment was found to be the cause of multiple lethal wildfires that scorched the North Bay Wine Country and nearby regions in October 2017 and killed 44... a federal jury in 2016 found PG&E guilty of crimes it committed before and after a fatal natural gas explosion in 2010 that killed eight and destroyed a San Bruno neighborhood. In January 2017, PG&E was sentenced for its crimes and is now a convicted felon.PG&E’s shoddy maintenance and flawed record keeping were determined to have caused the San Bruno explosion. In the wake of the infernos of 2017 and 2018, some have criticized PG&E for inadequate maintenance and repair efforts on its electricity system.
Trump hotel window washer dies after fall in Las Vegas…
December 13, 2018
A man washing windows outside Trump International hotel fell to his death Wednesday afternoon, according to Las Vegas police.
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The man was not an employee of the hotel, the Review-Journal has learned.
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“We are deeply saddened to learn of the incident today,” Trump International officials said in a statement. “We are working diligently with the owner of the third-party company to investigate the details. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and his family.”U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber won’t testify before House panel on Clinton probe…
December 13, 2018
Huber's spokeswoman, Melodie Rydalch, confirmed that Huber wouldn't testify.
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The hearing will instead feature Tom Fitton, the head of the right-leaning Judicial Watch, a law professor and two tax professionals.Bill Mitchel On Twitter Says:
"If Huber does not testify tomorrow, it will be because there are new witnesses and this is an ongoing investigation so he cannot quite yet."Sounds plausible.
Trump turns down Meadows for White House chief of staff, removing leading contender…
December 13, 2018
What Does Everyone Want For Christmas?…
December 13, 2018
Man who owns Raleigh mansion raided by FBI indicted in murder-for-hire plot…
December 13, 2018
The man who owns the mansion at the center of an FBI raid in Raleigh on Dec. 5 has been indicted in a murder-for-hire plot that allegedly sought to get his wife's lover killed -- or at the least -- deported to Russia.
Federal court documents show that Leonid Isaakkovich Teyf was indicted Nov. 8 on more than two dozen criminal counts, including the use of a cell phone in the facilitation of the alleged murder plot, trying to bribe a public official, and possessing a handgun with the serial number "removed, altered and obliterated."
Teyf is also accused of being part of a kickback scheme that illegally brought $150 million from Russia to the United States during a two-year span.