September, 2019

In Vietnam, citizens were enlisted to post pro-government messages on their personal Facebook pages. The Guatemalan government used hacked and stolen social media accounts to silence dissenting opinions. Ethiopia’s ruling party hired people to influence social media conversations in its favor... the use of the techniques by governments around the world is growing, according to a report released Thursday by researchers at Oxford University. Governments are spreading disinformation to discredit political opponents, bury opposing views and interfere in foreign affairs.

The Washington Blade, an LGBT news outlet, reports that Donald Trump has tried two times "to confirm a gay U.S. prosecutor to a federal appeals court despite objections from Sen. Kamala Harris over his qualifications for a lifetime judicial appointment."
[...]
Bumatay's nomination has been stymied by objections from both Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). This disagreement led to the president removing Bumatay's nomination for the Ninth Circuit and nominating him for a seat on the U.S. District Court in Southern California instead. However, when U.S. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski left the Ninth Circuit Court because of sexual misconduct allegations that included showing pornography to employees in his chambers, the president nominated Bumatay again...

We were wondering what Feinstein has been up to lately. She's been very silent and lowkey. What is she up to these days?

Here's Solomon explaining what sort of documents he was given. Interestingly he says that some of the documents were given to him on the record by the Ukrainian government ($100 says Rudy had something to do with that part). pic.twitter.com/I6DRkycf7P

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) September 26, 2019

Facebook also faces probes by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a group of state attorneys general led by New York and the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee...

"More than $640 million was allocated to Flint after the water poisoning. Today, it's hard to see where it went. I am told by two sources that there are sealed indictments, a grand jury and confidential informants involved."
https://t.co/aa94VQqb6U

— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) September 25, 2019

A federal jury in Houston convicted Rodolfo “Rudy” Delgado, 66, of Edinburg, July 11, 2019, following a six-day trial of one count of conspiracy, three counts of federal program bribery, three counts of travel act bribery and one count of obstruction of justice. Delgado was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett who also ordered Delgado to serve two years of supervised release. Delgado was a justice in the 13th Court of Appeals for the State of Texas, having been elected in November 2018. He resigned from that positon following his conviction.

In the 24 hours since news of Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment announcement, @realDonaldTrump’s campaign & @GOP have BLOWN OUT fundraising!

✅$5 Million combined in 24 hrs
✅Donors in all 50 states

Huge groundswell of support leading to Trump landslide in 2020!

— Brad Parscale (@parscale) September 25, 2019

A former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer, who pleaded guilty in March to attempting to communicate, deliver, or transmit information involving the national defense of the United States to the People’s Republic of China, will serve 10 years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson imposed the sentence Tuesday afternoon in Salt Lake City.

Ron Rockwell Hansen, 60, of Syracuse, Utah, was arrested June 2, 2018, on his way to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle, Washington, as he was preparing to board a flight to China while in possession of SECRET military information...

Most people use artificial intelligence and probably don't even realize they're using it -- whether it's asking Siri a question or trying to avoid a traffic jam using GPS or even using our faces as a password to access our smartphones. Artificial intelligence is defined as the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior. This is already apparent in the workforce, as machines are increasingly building other machines and people are using AI reminders instead of personal assistants. In certain areas of pathology and radiology, a computer sometimes does a better job detecting cancer in a patient than a doctor does.
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Tech adviser and investor John Meyer said, for a lot of workers, robots are already taking jobs and many people don’t even realize it... the use of AI in the workforce is expanding to more industries.“I think it started for sure in manufacturing," Meyer said. "Now we’re about to see it in trucking and vehicle driving in the next five years, tops. I think this is where we’re going to see the most societal change in just jobs lost.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday assured Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides that any unilateral actions by Turkey to reopen Varosha would be against UN resolutions and would hamper any efforts to resume peace talks, state news agency ANA-MPA reported.
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The town of Varosha has been fenced-off by Turkish occupation troops since 1974. Last week, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay reiterated Turkey’s plans to open Varosha in the Turkish-occupied part of Famagusta and that properties would be returned to their rightful owners “on the basis of historical evidence.”...

What company gains over 100% revenue in a year? Someone is working overtime to keep #Crowdstrike fat and happy.https://t.co/aFwqa4HDVo pic.twitter.com/vtCndbq38a

— Rosie memos (@almostjingo) September 26, 2019

They have 103% yearly revenue growth this year, and just completed an IPO raising $659 Million.

The quantum superposition principle has been tested on a scale as never before in a new study by scientists at the University of Vienna in collaboration with the University of Basel. Hot, complex molecules composed of nearly two thousand atoms were brought into a quantum superposition and made to interfere. By confirming this phenomenon—"the heart of quantum mechanics," in Richard Feynman's words—on a new mass scale, improved constraints on alternative theories to quantum mechanics have been placed. The work will be published in Nature Physics...

A huge step closer towards teleportation machines, not time-travel like others would imagine since time and space are separate things.

Naples attorney Dudley Goodlette was appointed by the Florida Senate to review Israel's case and make a recommendation to the state's upper chamber. In a report released Tuesday and obtained by the Miami Herald, Goodlette determined, "Sheriff Israel and the BSO are not blameless for the tragedy at Stoneman Douglas. That said, the evidence offered has not demonstrated that Sheriff Israel should be removed from office based on this incident"... Florida's Republican-led Senate will now decide whether or not Israel should reinstated as Broward County Sheriff.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, follows a similar challenge filed last month by several environmental groups, including the Humane Society and the Sierra Club. The new rules begin taking effect Thursday.

Andrew Bakaj, founder and managing partner of D.C.-based law firm Compass Rose Legal Group, is the lead counsel working on behalf of the Ukraine whistleblower. Bakaj earmarked a $100 donation on April 26 through ActBlue, a fundraising nonprofit that helps facilitate contributions for Democrats, to Biden's presidential campaign, the Federal Election Commission's website shows. Biden appears to be the only recipient of campaign cash from Bakaj this year.