Giuliani won’t testify in front of Senate Intel Committee until there is a formal impeachment vote…
October 8, 2019
FBI’s Use of Surveillance Database Violated Americans’ Privacy Rights, Court Found…
October 8, 2019
The ruling identified tens of thousands of improper FBI searches of intelligence databases in 2017 and 2018, according to the ruling, which found these searches may have been used to vet personnel and cooperating sources. It also found that the FBI was not properly identifying and documenting which searches were connected to people in the U.S... The ruling found improper use of the database by individuals, including at least one FBI contractor who searched an intelligence database for information on himself, relatives and other personnel...
The Trump administration failed to make a persuasive argument that modifying the program to better protect the privacy of Americans would hinder the FBI’s ability to address national-security threats, wrote U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who serves on the FISA Court, in the partially redacted 167-page opinion released Tuesday.
What?
The intelligence community disclosed Tuesday that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court last year found that the FBI’s pursuit of data about Americans ensnared in a warrantless internet-surveillance program intended to target foreign suspects may have violated the law authorizing the program, as well as the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.
The FISA court exists to prevent exactly that from happening.
Federal law requires that the database only be searched by the FBI as part of seeking evidence of a crime or for foreign intelligence information... “The court accordingly finds that the FBI’s querying procedures and minimization procedures are not consistent with the requirements of the Fourth Amendment,”
Sounds exactly like what has been used against DJT and his campaign.
PG&E to proactively shut off power to nearly 800K California customers…
October 8, 2019
A Red Flag Warning is in effect for all Bay Area counties except San Francisco. The warning goes into effect tomorrow at 5 a.m. to Thursday at 5 p.m.. Gusts are expected to reach 45-55 mph and humidity will reach 10-20 percent... The main period of weather risk is early Wednesday morning through Thursday midday. The dry, windy weather pattern is expected to reach from the northern portions of PG&E's service territory and down through the Sacramento Valley before spreading into the central areas of the state including most of the Bay Area. PG&E said they will continue to monitor weather conditions and provide updates to customers.
Twitter used phone numbers provided for security to target ads…
October 8, 2019
According to Twitter, no personal data was shared with the company’s third-party partners, and the “issue that allowed this to occur” has been addressed. As of September 17th, phone numbers and email addresses are now only collected for security purposes, Twitter said.
House Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and House Republicans speak to the press on the impeachment inquiry. This takes place after EU Ambassador is blocked from testifying today by the Trump Administration…
October 8, 2019
Jim Jordan: "I think the American people have a right to know who this whistleblower is. If we're talking about the impeachment of the President of the United States, I think that's important..."
Judge Threatens Betsy DeVos With Jail her ongoing failure (or refusal) to comply with court orders in a student loan case…
October 8, 2019
By way of background, in 2016 the Obama administration finalized rules for the Borrower Defense to Repayment program. This program was created to allow federal student loan borrowers to request loan forgiveness on the basis that their school engaged in unfair, deceptive, or illegal practices. When DeVos took over the U.S. Department of Education in 2017, she stopped processing Borrower Defense applications, and ordered the department to rewrite the rules governing the program, effectively gutting it.
Consumer advocates filed suit against her and the Department, and they won. As part of the 2018 court ruling on the collapse of for-profit college chain Corinthian Colleges, the federal judge ordered DeVos and the Department of Education to cease all collections activities on federal student loans used to attend Corinthian schools, given that they would likely be eligible for discharge under Borrower Defense to Repayment. DeVos ignored the ruling, and the Department of Education continued to pursue defaulted former Corinthian students...
US sees STD numbers rise for 5th straight year; 1.7 million chlamydia cases reported…
October 8, 2019
The health agency noted an increase across the three most commonly reported STDs between 2017 and 2018, wherein more than 115,000 syphilis cases were reported, more than 580,000 cases of gonorrhea were reported, and a whopping 1.7 million cases of chlamydia were reported.
In total, the CDC reported 2.5 million cases of STDs in the U.S. in 2018. It also noted cases of congenital syphilis, which is when a mother passes the STD to her baby during pregnancy, increased 40 percent from 2017 to 2018. The number of newborn deaths related to syphilis also increased 22 percent, resulting in 94 fatalities.
Lindsey Graham invites Rudy Giuliani to testify about ‘disturbing allegations’ of Ukraine corruption…
October 8, 2019
Senate Republicans are hosting their own challenge to the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry by inviting President Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani to come testify on Ukraine, Sen. Lindsey Graham announced Tuesday morning... Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said she would love the chance to ask Mr. Giuliani about the role he played in “seeking the Ukrainian government’s assistance to investigate one of the president’s political rivals.”
Nearly 1 million migrants arrested along Mexico border in fiscal year 2019, most since 2007…
October 8, 2019
Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told reporters at a White House briefing that just more than 52,000 migrants were taken into custody — including those deemed inadmissible to the country — in September at U.S. ports of entry and between them. It was a decline of 18 percent from August. Overall, U.S. border authorities made more than 975,000 arrests during the 2019 fiscal year, according to the latest data. Morgan said arrests increased 88 percent during the 2019 fiscal year, calling it a “staggering” increase.
professional gamer has been yanked from a tournament and stripped of his prize money for making pro-Hong Kong comments…
October 8, 2019
After making a statement in support of the 2019 Hong Kong protests during a "Grandmasters" competition for the video game Hearthstone, pro player Chung "Blitzchung" Ng Wai has been removed from the tournament by Blizzard. The company also ruled that he's "ineligible to participate in Hearthstone esports for 12 months."
Blizzard, the company behind both the game Hearthstone and the competition, said in a statement that Blitzchung had broken a rule. The rule in question involved "engaging" in an act that, "in Blizzard's sole discretion" brings into "public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public or otherwise damages" Blizzard's image.
White House Declares War on Impeachment Inquiry, Claiming Effort to Undo Trump’s Election…
Read the Letter...
October 8, 2019
In a letter to House Democratic leaders, the White House said the inquiry had violated precedent and denied President Trump’s due process rights in such an egregious way that neither he nor the executive branch would willingly provide testimony or documents.
The CIA Just Declassified the Document That Supposedly Justified the Iraq Invasion. It tells a much different story than the Bush administration told 12 years ago…
October 8, 2019
For the first time, the public can now read the hastily drafted CIA document that led Congress to pass a joint resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq, a costly war launched March 20, 2003 that was predicated on "disarming" Iraq of its (non-existent) WMD, overthrowing Saddam Hussein, and "freeing" the Iraqi people...
Gowdy in talks to join Trump’s impeachment defense team…
UPDATE - Trey Gowdy has signed on to help Trump through impeachment inquiry...
October 8, 2019
Former Rep. Trey Gowdy has agreed to a request from the White House to assist President Trump as the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry moves forward. "Confirmed, per a senior White House official, who says Trump has blessed the move," Washington Post White House reporter Josh Dawsey tweeted on Tuesday night. "Trey Gowdy is on the Trump team."...
Burlington City Council passes proposal to let noncitizens vote…
October 8, 2019
On Monday, councilors voted 10-2 in favor of the resolution written by Adam Roof, I-Burlington City Council. He argues that since everyone in Burlington is impacted by decisions made by the local government, they should get a say in what goes on in the city... Only one person spoke during the public hearing portion of the meeting. He told councilors he disapproves of the resolution and accused them of political pandering.
Trump’s attorney, Jay Sekulow says second whistleblower doesn’t matter because “it is not an impeachable offence, period”…
October 8, 2019
Keep an eye out for Draconid meteors…
October 8, 2019
Draco the Dragon is now spitting out meteors, also known as shooting stars. This is one shower that’s best to watch at nightfall or early evening, not after midnight. No matter where you are on Earth, watch as close to nightfall as possible. The shower is active between October 6 and 10. The best evening to watch is likely October 8... This shower favors the Northern Hemisphere, but Southern Hemisphere observers might catch some Draconids, too.
Senior FBI official resigned after lying about getting baseball tickets from CNN reporter…
October 8, 2019
The FBI’s top press officer during the Hillary Clinton and Trump-Russia investigations accepted tickets to a Washington Nationals game from a CNN correspondent and lied about it repeatedly during interviews with the Justice Department’s inspector general, according to a report obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Michael Kortan, who served as assistant director of public affairs, displayed a “lack of candor” during multiple interviews under oath with the DOJ watchdog about how he obtained the tickets, who he went with, and whether he reimbursed the CNN journalist, according to the report.
We covered how the mockingbirds payoff intelligence officials in order to get intel last year in our report OPERATION MOCKINGBIRD 2.0 – A Social-Engineered Reality. In Fact, we explain how the IG report that was released last June, shows just how many intelligence officials were controlled by reporters.
Democrats Keeping Key Impeachment Witness Transcripts Secret…
October 8, 2019
The Democrat-led House Committees on Oversight and Reform, Intelligence, and Foreign Affairs pursuing the impeachment inquiry are refusing to release the full transcripts of the testimony provided by the first two witnesses. Last week, former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and Intelligence Community (IC) Inspector General (IG) Michael Atkinson provided their testimony behind closed doors.
University to pay nearly $200G after professor used federal grant money at strip clubs, sports bars for 10 years…
October 8, 2019
The Department of Justice announced Monday an agreement with the Philadelphia-based school where Drexel agreed to pay $189,062 to “resolve liability” after it was discovered that Dr. Chikaodinaka D. Nwankpa “submitted improper charges against federal grants.” Nwankpa was serving as the head of Drexel’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering when prosecutors said he spent the majority of federal research funds on “gentlemen's clubs and sports bars.”
New Peer-Reviewed Danish Academic Study Finds Diversity Is Not A Strength…
October 8, 2019
The study, entitled ‘Ethnic Diversity and Social Trust: A Narrative and Meta-Analytical Review’, was conducted by Peter Thisted Dinesen and Merlin Schaeffer from the University of Copenhagen and Kim Mannemar Sønderskov from Aarhus University. Seeking to answer whether “continued immigration and corresponding growing ethnic diversity” was having a positive impact on community cohesion, the study found the opposite to be the case. Studying existing literature and also carrying out a meta-analysis of 1,001 estimates from 87 studies, the researchers concluded, “We find a statistically significant negative relationship between ethnic diversity and social trust across all studies”... In other words, mass immigration is eroding community trust and harming society.