Message from @SuperDrBacon
Discord ID: 591985336683331614
🇷🇺 **40,000-year-old wolf's head preserved by permafrost found in Siberia**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/XoxFU>
A 40,000-year-old wolf's head was discovered in northern Russia — with its ears, fangs, brain and tongue perfectly intact in the permafrost. Scientists believe the beast
from the Ice Age belonged to a now-extinct subspecies of wolf that lived during the same era as mammoths.
The furry head of the wolf was found in the Russian Arctic region of Yakutia last summer, according to a Russian newspaper, The Siberian Times. The wolf's head is about 40
centimeters (almost 16 inches) long, and the wolf was estimated to be between the ages of 2 and 4 when it died.
"This is a unique discovery of the first ever remains of a fully grown Pleistocene wolf with its tissue preserved," Albert Protopopov, a top researcher at the Russian Academy
of Sciences, told the newspaper.
"We will be comparing it to modern-day wolves to understand how the species has evolved and to reconstruct its appearance," he added.
The Associated Press reported scientists said the Ice Age wolf was about 25% bigger than today's wolves. Experts at the Swedish Museum of Natural History will further examine its DNA, according to The Siberian Times.
The discovery was announced at the opening of a woolly mammoth exhibit at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo.
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🇮🇱 **Israel launches 'Trump Heights' on Golan, but construction may lag**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/ewkIZ>
Israel approved in principle on Sunday a new community named after U.S. President Donald Trump on a contested frontier zone with Syria - but construction looked likely to lag
given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political stumbles.
The “Trump Heights” project is intended to cement ties after Trump broke with other world powers to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the plateau in March.
At a special cabinet session in Beruchim, a sparse clutch of homes just 12 km (7.5 miles) from the Golan Heights armistice line with Syria, Netanyahu unveiled a sign labeled “Trump Heights”
in English and Hebrew.
The sign was decorated with the Israeli and U.S. flags and planted on a patch of synthetic grass.
Israel captured the Golan from Syria in a 1967 war and later annexed and settled it - moves not accepted by most world powers, who deem it to be occupied Syrian territory.
Ongoing hostilities between Israel and Syria, and internal Syrian fighting that drew Iranian-backed auxiliaries to back Damascus and deploy near the Golan, helped Netanyahu make his case
for Trump to recognize the Israeli claim of sovereignty.
Trump similarly delighted Israelis - while appalling other world powers - by recognizing Jerusalem as their capital and withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“Trump is a great friend of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
“He has torn the mask off this hypocrisy which doesn’t recognize the obvious.”
----------------
🇨🇳 **China stands by Hong Kong leader after days of street protests**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/emfTc>
China redoubled its support for Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Monday after days of protests against a planned extradition bill, and a source close to Lam said Beijing was unlikely to let her go even if she tried to resign.
Lam’s attempts to pass a bill that would allow people in Hong Kong to be extradited to China for trial triggered the biggest and most violent protests in decades in the former British colony, now under Chinese rule.
As the crisis entered its second week, demonstrators and opposition politicians braved intermittent rain to gather near the government’s offices and urge her to kill the bill and quit.
The upheaval comes at a delicate time for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is grappling with a deepening U.S. trade war, slowing economic growth and regional strategic tension.
Hong Kong has been governed under a “one country, two systems” formula since its return to Chinese rule in 1997, enjoying freedoms not granted to the mainland, including an independent judiciary but short of a fully democratic vote.
Many residents are increasingly unnerved by Beijing’s tightening grip and what they see as the erosion of those freedoms. Many say changes to the rule of law could imperil Hong Kong’s status as a global financial center.
“The Chinese government, the central government, has always fully affirmed the work of chief executive Carrie Lam and the Hong Kong government,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a news conference in Beijing.
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🇺🇸 **Study: Only 3% of straight people are willing to date a transgender person**
*InfoWars* - <http://archive.is/u6L1Z>
A new study which found that only 3 per cent of heterosexuals were willing to date a transgender person proves society has a problem with “transprejudice” and must be re-educated, according to its author. In the study, which was published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, participants were asked to check which of the following they would “consider as a potential dating partner”.
– a cisgender person
– a transgender person
– a person identifiying as nonbinary
The study found that only 3.1 per cent of heterosexuals were willing to date a trans person compared to 55 per cent of people “with queer or bisexual sexual orientations”. According to its author Karen L. Blair Ph.D., the results showed that many heterosexuals rejected dating trans people because they thought they had “make believe” identities and that this is a form of “transprejudice”.
“These types of responses questioned the legitimacy of transgender and non-binary identities and took a very dehumanizing tone in referring to trans people,” writes Blair, noting that even people who rejected trans partners because they “mentioned a desire to only date people with whom they could have biologically related children” did so “using dehumanizing language, such as saying that a trans man “was not a natural man” or a “real man”.
There definitely appears to be some kind of innate stigma that straight people have towards transgenders when it comes to having romantic and possibly sexual relationships with them. Some transgender commentators have previously asserted that it is bigoted for heterosexuals to choose not to date transgenders.
Is this really something that can be changed with enough re-education and social engineering, or is it a completely normal preference to hold? *yes is it is a normal preference very much so*
----------------
🇮🇱 **Cash or custody: Israel kicks off deportation of African migrants**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/AJoQ4>
Israel has started handing out notices to 20,000 male African migrants giving them two months to leave the country or risk being thrown in jail.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is offering the migrants, most of whom are from Sudan and Eritrea, $3,500 and a plane ticket to what it says is a safe destination in another country in sub-Saharan Africa.
The fate of some 37,000 Africans in Israel is posing a moral dilemma for a state founded as haven for Jews from persecution and a national home. The right-wing government is under pressure from its nationalist voter base to expel the migrants, while others are calling for them to be taken in.
The government says the migrants are “infiltrators” looking for work rather than asylum, but there is a growing liberal backlash against the plan, including from rabbis, a small group of survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and ordinary people who say Israel should show greater compassion to the migrants.
The first eviction notices were handed out on Sunday and job advertisements for immigration inspectors to implement the deportation plan have been posted on government websites.
Rights groups advocating on behalf of the migrants say many fled abuse and war and their expulsion, even to a different country in Africa, would endanger them further.
“I don’t know what to do. Rwanda, Uganda are not my countries, what will a third country help me?” said Eritrean Berihu Ainom, after receiving an eviction notice on Sunday.
The deportation notices do not name the country migrants will be flown to but Netanyahu has said it will be a safe destination. Rights groups have named Uganda and Rwanda as possible host countries.
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🇺🇸🇬🇹🇸🇻🇭🇳 **U.S. to withhold hundreds of millions in Central America aid**
*Daily Mail/Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/BUxFo>
President Donald Trump's administration announced on Monday plans to permanently reprogram hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, after Trump blasted the three countries because thousands of their citizens had sought asylum at the U.S. border with Mexico.
Congressional aides said the administration told them it would reprogram $370 million in aid to Central America that lawmakers had approved for fiscal 2018, and suspend an additional $180 million Congress had approved for fiscal 2017.
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🇺🇸 **Trump says ICE planning ‘millions’ of immigration arrests**
*Boston Globe* - <https://archive.fo/Du7SB>
President Trump said in a tweet late Monday that starting next week, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will remove “millions” of immigrants who have entered the United States illegally.
“They will be removed as fast as they come in,” Trump wrote.
The tweet was in apparent reference to an administration plan for ICE to round up large groups of migrants in a widespread move across major US cities.
An administration official says the effort will focus on people who have been issued final deportation orders by federal judges but remain at large in the country.
It is unusual for law enforcement agencies to announce raids before they take place. Some in Trump’s administration believe that decisive shows of force — like mass arrests — can serve as effective deterrents, sending a message to those considering making the journey to the U.S. that it’s not worth coming.
Trump has threatened a series of increasingly drastic actions as he tries to stem the flow of Central American migrants crossing the southern border, which has risen dramatically on his watch.
An ICE immigration sweep in December resulted in 58 arrests across New England.
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🇺🇸 **Depraved sex cult leader Keith Raniere is found guilty on all counts: Jury takes just four HOURS to convict Nxivm founder after six weeks of testimony from 'branded slaves he starved and forced into orgies'**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/VKIYz>
It took just four hours of deliberation for a jury to find Nxivm founder Keith Raniere guilty on all counts.
He now faces life in prison after being convicted of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and attempted sex trafficking.
The trial lasted for six weeks, during which time multiple women came forward to describe how they served as 'sex slaves' to Raniere and were forced to have his initials branded on their bodies.
Another witness described how Raniere imprisoned her in a room for two years, while an FBI agent showed jurors the graphic nude photos of a 15-year-old Nxivm member that he discovered on Raniere's hard drive.
Raniere had entered a plea of not guilty to all charges.
The cult leader's lawyer Marc Agnifilo tried to discredit the weeks of testimony in its closing argument on Tuesday after calling no witnesses to the stand to testify, including Raniere who refused to speak in his own defense.
He also filed a motion asking the court to declare a mistrial in the case.
Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis ultimately ruled against that motion following a brief hearing on Wednesday morning.
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🇺🇸 **Florida city pays $600,000 to hackers who seized its computer system**
*CBS/AP* - <https://archive.fo/BbcVj>
A Florida city agreed to pay $600,000 in ransom to hackers who took over its computer system, the latest in thousands of attacks worldwide aimed at extorting money from governments and businesses.
The Riviera Beach City Council voted unanimously this week to pay the hackers' demands, believing the Palm Beach suburb had no choice if it wanted to retrieve its records, which the hackers encrypted. The council already voted to spend almost $1 million on new computers and hardware after hackers captured the city's system three weeks ago.
The hackers apparently got into the city's system when an employee clicked on an email link that allowed them to upload malware. The city had numerous problems, including losing its email system and 911 dispatchers not being able to enter calls into the computer.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ransomware is the fastest growing malware threat, targeting both individuals and organizations. In 2018, the massive "SamSam" virus disrupted the flight information system, baggage displays and email at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, while another attack crippled computers at the Port of San Diego.
City governments in Atlanta, Newark, N.J., and Sarasota, Fla., also have been hit by ransomware schemes. And hackers have taken the information systems of dozens of U.S. hospitals hostage.
"Ransomware is commonly delivered through phishing emails or via 'drive-by downloads,'" according to Homeland Security. "Phishing emails often appear as though they have been sent from a legitimate organization or someone known to the victim and entice the user to click on a malicious link or open a malicious attachment."
The FBI, Homeland Security and U.S. Secret Service are investigating the Florida attack, according to The Palm Beach Post.
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🇺🇸 **Acting ICE chief confirms operation targeting migrant families **
*CBS/AP* - <https://archive.fo/jqcgq>
The acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mark Morgan, provided some details Wednesday on plans to execute an operation targeting families who have gone through their legal proceedings.
"If you're here illegally, then you should be removed," Morgan told reporters during a call. "And in this case, that includes families."
President Donald Trump tweeted Monday night that ICE was preparing to deport "millions" of undocumented immigrants next week, but he fell short of offering details. The vague announcement was striking, given the figure and the decision to disclose an operation prior to its execution.
Morgan on Wednesday refrained from providing a time frame or details on the scope of the operation. The intent, Morgan said, is to deter migrants from coming to the US-Mexico border, and the operation is expected to include families who are on an expedited court docket. It remains unclear if the President was referring to this operation in his tweet.
Last year, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the nation's immigration courts, announced that it had begun tracking family cases filed by the Department of Homeland Security in 10 immigration court locations: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York and San Francisco.
The cases are being expedited to try to process the families in under a year.
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🇺🇸🇮🇷 **Trump says Iran made ‘big mistake’ in downing US drone**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/Q3J5s>
President Donald Trump declared Thursday that “Iran made a very big mistake” in shooting down a U.S. drone.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says Trump was briefed Wednesday night and again Thursday morning about the incident. She says the administration also will keep in touch with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Trump made his comment on Twitter in midmorning.
American and Iranian officials are disputing the circumstances of the incident.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it shot down the drone over Iranian airspace. The U.S. military is calling the downing an “unprovoked attack” and said it occurred over international airspace in the Strait of Hormuz.
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🇺🇸🇮🇷 **US prepped for strikes on Iran before approval was withdrawn**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/lfSIl>
A U.S. official said the military made preparations Thursday night for limited strikes on Iran in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. surveillance drone, but approval was abruptly withdrawn before the attacks were launched.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the targets would have included radars and missile batteries.
The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump had approved the strikes, but then called them off. The newspaper cited anonymous senior administration officials.
The White House on Thursday night declined requests for information about whether Trump changed his mind.
According to the official who spoke to the AP, the strikes were recommended by the Pentagon and were among the options presented to senior administration officials. It was unclear how far the preparations had gone, but no shots were fired or missiles launched.
The military operation was called off around 7:30 p.m. Washington time, after Trump had spent most of Thursday discussing Iran strategy with top national security advisers and congressional leaders.
Asked earlier in the day about a U.S. response to the attack, he said, “You’ll soon find out.”
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🇺🇸 **Jussie Smollett incident isn't over: Chicago judge appoints special prosecutor to investigate**
*Yahoo/USA Today* - <https://archive.fo/9ALhP>
A Cook County judge on Friday appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the abrupt decision by state prosecutors to drop a 16-count indictment against actor Jussie Smollett, who had been accused of staging an attack on himself for publicity.
Judge Michael Toomin suggested that State’s Attorney Kim Foxx had mishandled the case by appointing a top aide to handle it after she had purportedly recused herself.
In his ruling,Toomin said that Foxx, having recused herself, did not have legal authority to turn the case to over to another prosecutor in her office.
"Here, the ship of the State ventured from its protected harbor without the guiding hand of the captain," Toomin wrote. "There was no master on the bridge to guide the ship as it foundered through unchartered waters. And it ultimately lost its bearings."
Former state appellate Judge Sheila O’Brien, who had pushed for a special prosecutor, argued that Foxx’s actions created “a perception that justice was not served here, that Mr. Smollett received special treatment,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
Toomin said the prosecutor would be empowered to pursue a case "of any crime as may be suspected" and could even end up charging Smollett if the probe found suspicion of wrongdoing by others.
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🇺🇸 **Judge Awards $4.1 Million in Neo-Nazi Case**
*NY Times/AP* - <https://archive.fo/9ALhP>
A federal judge has awarded $4.1 million to a Muslim-American radio host who accused a neo-Nazi website operator of falsely accusing him of terrorism.
U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. had previously agreed to enter a default judgment against The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin and his company.
On Wednesday Sargus ruled in favor of SiriusXM Radio show host Dean Obeidallah (oh-bee-DAHL'-ah) and his request for financial damages and for an injunction ordering the website to take down articles about Obeidallah.
Obeidallah says Anglin falsely labeled him the "mastermind" behind a deadly bombing at a concert in England.
Anglin hasn't responded to the lawsuit, and his whereabouts are a mystery. His father, Greg Anglin, testified briefly Wednesday but wouldn't talk about his son.
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🇺🇸 **FBI Clears Infowars in Child Porn Hoax**
*Infowars* - <https://archive.fo/f6g10>
Infowars has been cleared of accusations of sending child porn by the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department in a letter which confirms that Infowars and Alex Jones were actually the victims in the case.
On Monday, the mass media falsely reported that Infowars had sent child porn to Sandy Hook lawyers, despite the fact that the malicious files were sent to Infowars by a third party and contained “hostile threats”.
The press erroneously made this claim despite the fact that the emails were turned over to lawyers as part of routine discovery in the case.
“As we discussed last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) in New Haven has conducted a forensic examination of the hard drive provided by the Koskoff firm,” states the letter which was sent to attorney Norman Pattis. “During that analysis, the FBI examiner discovered emails that contained possible images of child pornography. The file paths for these emails are set out in Attachment A hereto, along with the two email addresses that the emails originated from and a folder located on the drive that also contains this data.”
“I request that to the extent you have any of these files or emails on any device here in the District, you should take all necessary steps to delete that data. The Government represents that because any such deletion is coming at our request, your deletion of these files will not be considered destruction of evidence or obstruction of justice. The FBI will maintain physical custody of the hard drive in New Haven.”
Infowars gladly complied and immediately deleted the files from its servers. The FBI also sent Infowars tracking data for the emails which will help in finding the actual culprit.
The DOJ’s instruction for Infowars to delete the files confirms that the investigation is over and that Infowars has been vindicated as being the victim of being sent child porn in a possible attempt to frame Alex Jones.
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🇺🇸 **General Electric to scrap California power plant 20 years early**
*reuters* - <https://archive.is/DA9vh>
General Electric Co said on Friday it plans to demolish a large power plant it owns in California this year after only one-third of its useful life because the plant is no longer economically viable in a state where wind and solar supply a growing share of inexpensive electricity.
Still, premature closure of a turbine marketed as “H-Class” is a negative for GE as it struggles to restore profits at its power business, the expert noted. Power, once GE’s largest division, lost $22.8 billion last year as the company grapples with slack demand for fossil-fuel plants. The company is set to lose up to $2 billion in cash this year.
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🇰🇵🇨🇳 **Kim, Xi agree to grow ties whatever the external situation: North Korean media**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/liF81>
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and China’s President Xi Jinping reached a consensus on “important issues,” and agreed to build on their countries’ friendly relations “whatever the international situation,” North Korean state media reported.
Xi left the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Friday after a two-day visit, the first by a Chinese leader in 14 years. State-run news agency KCNA issued a report on Saturday of the results of the visit.
China is North Korea’s only major ally and Xi’s visit was aimed at bolstering the isolated country against pressure from United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes and stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.
The visit comes a week before Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump are due to meet at a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, amid a trade dispute that has rattled global financial markets.
KCNA reported that during a luncheon on the final day of Xi’s visit the leaders discussed plans to strengthen collaboration, as well as their countries’ “major internal and external policies”, while exchanging views on domestic and international issues of mutual concern.
An editorial in the official China Daily on Saturday warned that Xi’s short visit to Pyongyang would not solve all the region’s problems, but pledges to help develop the North Korean economy were the right way forward.
----------------
🇺🇸 **Judge Appoints Prosecutor In Jussie Smollett Case To Investigate Dropped Charges**
*Daily Caller* - <https://archive.is/TxUHk>
Cook County Judge Michael Toomin ruled that Kim Foxx, the state attorney, had the right to withdraw from prosecuting the case against the 37-year-old actor, according to a Chicago Tribune report published Friday. But she did not have the authority to appoint her top deputy to handle the case, according to the ruling.
However, by the end of the investigation, police concluded the attack on the “Empire” actor was a hoax. Soon after, he was arrested and faced 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for making a false police report.
Less than three weeks later, all charges against him were dropped by the State attorney’s office.
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🇺🇸 **Insider Blows Whistle & Exec Reveals Google Plan to Prevent “Trump situation” in 2020 on Hidden Cam**
*Project Veritas* - <http://archive.is/gzTm0>
Project Veritas has released a new report on Google which includes undercover video of a Senior Google Executive, leaked documents, and testimony from a Google insider. The report appears to show Google’s plans to affect the outcome of the 2020 elections and “prevent” the next “Trump situation.”
Jen Gennai is the head of “Responsible Innovation” for Google, a sector that monitors and evaluates the responsible implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. In the video, Gennai says Google has been working diligently to “prevent” the results of the 2016 election from repeating in 2020.
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🇬🇧🇷🇺 **No evidence Russia influenced Brexit via Facebook, says Clegg**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/AvcEx>
There is “absolutely no evidence” that outside forces such as Russia used Facebook to target users and influence Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the world’s biggest social network said on Monday.
Nick Clegg, head of global affairs at Facebook and Britain’s former deputy prime minister, said the network had run two full analyses of its data held in the run up to the 2016 referendum and found no evidence
of a significant attempt by outside forces to influence the outcome.
Opponents of Brexit have repeatedly questioned whether the Kremlin played a role in the vote by promoting stories online on issues such as immigration in a bid to sway opinion. Britain has said it found no
evidence that Russia interfered in the vote and Moscow has repeatedly denied even trying.
Clegg, deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015 and a strong campaigner to remain in the European Union, said the roots of British Euroscepticism existed long before Facebook launched, and had for many years
been driven by traditional media.
“Much though I understand why people want to sort of reduce that eruption in British politics to some kind of plot or conspiracy - or some use of new social media through opaque means - I’m afraid the roots
to British Euroscepticism go very, very deep,” he told BBC Radio.
A consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica has also come under scrutiny over its role in the 2016 referendum after it obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their permission. It was hired by
Donald Trump for his 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.
Clegg said any claim that that data was used in the Brexit referendum was also false.
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🇺🇸 **YouTube Censors Project Veritas Video Exposing Google’s Electoral Manipulation and Thought Control**
*Big League Politics* - <http://archive.is/OsmZO>
Earlier today, whistle-blower James O’Keefe of Project Veritas released a bombshell video exposing Google’s manipulation of algorithms in an attempt to prevent Donald Trump from winning re-election in 2020. That video can no longer be seen on YouTube, which is owned by Google. They are trying to cover-up the exposé after getting caught red handed committing thought control and electoral manipulation.
Jen Gennai, the Google Responsible Innovation Head, was forced to respond to the video earlier today in a post on Medium where she admitted that “Project Veritas got me. Well done.”
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🇺🇸 **Dem Staffer Who Leaked Lindsey Graham’s Personal Info Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison**
*MAGA Conservatives* - <http://archive.is/LoibB>
A federal judge just dropped the hammer on a major Dem leaker. Jackson Cosko leaked personal information on Lindsey Graham and other GOP Senators after they defended Brett Kavanaugh from a political hit job. A former aide to Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is headed to prison Wednesday for what prosecutors said was the largest known data theft in Senate history.
n a sentencing memo, prosecutors described “a months-long series of burglaries and sophisticated data theft offenses directed at the office of United States Senator Maggie Hassan; to a separate set of ‘doxxing’ offenses through which he maliciously released personal information of Senators Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell; and to obstruction of justice, because he attempted to silence a witness by threatening to release the private health information of a Senator’s children, because he corrupted another person and persuaded her to attempt to ‘wipe down’ the scene of his burglaries, and because he attempted to destroy evidence in his own apartment.”
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🇺🇸 **Body pulled from the East River is that of missing YouTuber Etika, New York police say**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/QNMpP>
A body pulled from the East River has been identified as that of missing YouTuber Desmond Amofah, better known by his online name, Etika, New York police said Tuesday.
The body was recovered Monday near the South Street Seaport in Manhattan, authorities said.
A backpack and phone believed to belong to Amofah were found on the Manhattan Bridge on Sunday, according to police sources.
Amofah, 29, was last heard from Wednesday night, according to the New York Police Department.
He vanished after posting a video to his channel in which he appeared to express suicidal thoughts, prompting concern among his fans. The video has since been taken down.
Amofah had more than 130,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he vlogged about video games.
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🇺🇸 **Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Offender Plea Deal Must Stand, Federal Prosecutors Say**
*NPR* - <https://archive.fo/fZG6s>
Federal prosecutors say a lenient plea deal struck more than a decade ago with multimillionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should be allowed to stand.
Epstein was charged with recruiting dozens of girls, some as young as 13, for massages and sex at his mansion in Palm Beach, Fla. Under a plea deal reached in 2007 with then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, Epstein was given immunity from federal prosecution and pleaded guilty to lesser state charges. The financier served just 13 months in county jail and was granted work release, allowing him to spend his days at his Palm Beach office. Acosta now serves as President Trump's Labor secretary.
For more than a decade, attorneys representing sex abuse victims in the case have said their clients weren't informed of the plea deal beforehand or given the opportunity to testify about it in court. In February, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that the omission by prosecutors violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act. He ordered the government and lawyers for the victims to propose a remedy.
In a motion filed last month, lawyers for two victims, identified only as "Jane Doe 1 and 2" asked that the investigation be reopened and that they receive an apology from prosecutors.
This week, prosecutors responded. In their motion, they concede the government should have told abuse victims about the plea deal before it was presented in court. But they say the law gives the government broad discretion in deciding whether or not to prosecute. And at this point, prosecutors say victims have no right to demand an apology or anything from the government.
As for requests that the court invalidate the plea deal and order the government to reopen the investigation, prosecutors say the court simply doesn't have the authority.
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🇺🇸🇰🇵 **Trump meets Kim Jong Un, becomes first sitting U.S. president to step into North Korea**
*NBC News* - <https://archive.fo/NglGJ>
Taking an unprecedented step onto North Korean soil, President Donald Trump announced Sunday that Washington and Pyongyang will relaunch stalled nuclear talks during an extraordinary
last-minute meeting with Kim Jong Un.
Side-by-side with Kim in the heavily-fortified demilitarized zone, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to cross the 1953 armistice line separating North and South Korea,
then joined Kim for a roughly 50-minute meeting.
It was their third since Trump took office, but none have yet yielded a nuclear deal.
"Stepping across that line was a great honor," Trump said, later adding that it was "something incredible."
Trump deemed the meeting a victory, announcing that nuclear talks would resume "within weeks" and that the two countries were designating teams of officials to take the lead.
He even invited Kim, who rarely leaves the country, to visit him at the White House.
Yet for all the fanfare, there were no signs that the U.S. and the North had made any concrete progress on denuclearization, the issue that has led to North Korea's estrangement from the world.
And veteran nuclear negotiators and North Korea experts immediately questioned whether Trump, by staging a high-profile photo-op absent nuclear concessions, was bestowing legitimacy
on Kim and undermining global pressure to force the North to accept a denuclearization deal.
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🇩🇪 **Angela Merkel seen shaking at event in Berlin, second time in just over a week**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/F49LW>
For the second time in just over a week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared unsteady and began visibly shaking at a public event in Berlin on Thursday, rekindling concerns about her health.
Merkel was standing alongside President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a ceremony in Berlin where Germany's new justice minister was being formally appointed when she was seen trembling as she
folded her arms across her chest.
The 64-year-old chancellor was handed a glass of water but rejected it
About a half hour later, when she arrived in parliament, Merkel appeared to be fine, according to Sky News. She then set off a few hours later to Japan for the annual summit of the Group of 20 global powers.
A spokesman for the German leader, Steffen Seibert, dismissed any concerns over her health, telling news agency dpa that "everything is going ahead as planned. The chancellor is fine."
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🇮🇹 **Captain of migrant vessel arrested, accused of trying to sink police boat**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/BBMEO>
The German captain of a ship that rescued 53 migrants off the coast of Libya was arrested and accused of trying to sink a police boat after reaching landfall in Italy.
The vessel, named Sea-Watch 3, had reached the Italian port of Lampedusa on Saturday after a two-week standoff with police.
Captain of the migrant ship, Carola Rackete, 31, was arrested upon arrival and subsequently accused by Matteo Salvini, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister, of trying to sink a police boat during
the ordeal, according to the BBC.
"She tried to sink a police launch with officers on board at night," Salvini said. "They say 'we're saving lives', but they risked killing these human beings who were doing their job, it's clear from the videos."
Salvini added that Rackete's actions could be classified as an act of war.
"A vessel weighing hundreds of tonnes tried to ram... a police launch with officers aboard, who managed to get out of the way to save their lives. That's a criminal act, an act of war."
E.U. countries have agreed to take on 40 of the migrants, while the BBC reported that 13 have been taken into custody for health reasons.
Rackete was recorded walking off the ship into the hands of Italian police custody, who led her away without handcuffs and into a police vehicle.
She could face 10 years in prison if convicted of attacking a police boat.
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🇳🇱🇪🇺 **Dutchman Timmermans in pole position for top EU job**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/VRyJY>
Dutch socialist politician Frans Timmermans is on course to be named as the EU’s next chief executive, diplomats and officials said on Sunday, hours before European Union
leaders meet to decide who wins the bloc’s top posts in Europe.
Barring unexpectedly tough resistance from eastern European countries, Timmermans is set to be chosen after talks between France and Germany at the G20, two diplomats and one European Parliament adviser said.
If confirmed, the choice would mark a victory for centrists and liberals, who challenged what they saw as an increasingly German-dominated EU at the top ranks in Brussels.
“It looks to be Timmermans for the European Commission president,” one diplomat involved in the talks told Reuters, a view echoed by a second envoy when asked about the process of
selection for five top posts for a new five-year mandate.
Up for grabs are the presidencies of the EU’s executive Commission, the parliament, the European Council of EU governments, the EU’s foreign policy chief and the head of the
European Central Bank, which governs the euro currency.
Timmermans, who is currently a senior European Commission official and was a Dutch foreign minister, is expected to be confirmed as the choice to replace Jean-Claude Juncker at a
summit dinner of 28 leaders in Brussels starting at 1600 GMT.
German parliamentary adviser Tobias Teuscher told Reuters that European Council President Donald Tusk has proposed giving the post to the Socialist and Democrats political bloc,
of which Timmermans was the lead candidate in May European Parliament elections.
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🇨🇳 **The Dalai Lama insists his female successor should have an "attractive face"**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/15Lk2>
Ahead of his 84th birthday, the Dalai Lama is once again insisting that, if his successor is a woman, she must be physically attractive. The Nobel Peace Prize winner doubled down on the
idea during an interview with BBC News Thursday.
"If a female Dalai Lama comes, she should be more attractive," the 14th Dalai Lama told reporter Rajini Vaidyanathan. If not, "people, I think prefer, not see her, that face."
Vaidyanathan tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. "It's about who you are inside, isn't it?"
"Yes, I think both," he said. "Real beauty is inner beauty, that's true. But we're human beings. I think the appearance is also important."
This isn't the first time the Tibetan religious leader has brought up the physical beauty of a potential successor. In a 2015 BBC interview, he made similar comments,
noting that a female Dalai Lama should be attractive, otherwise she would be of "not much use."
His comments immediately sparked outrage online.
The Dalai Lama also discussed his views on President Donald Trump during the interview. The two have never met, despite his close relationships with some former presidents.
He specifically criticized Mr. Trump for what he believes is his "lack of moral principle."
"When I saw pictures of some of those young children, I was sad," he also said of the situation at the border. "America should take a global responsibility."
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🇺🇸 **U.S. Oil Production Hits 12 Million Barrels a Day for First Time**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.li/Lbi3z>
The report said production grew from 2.1 percent in April to 12.16 million barrels a day. Shale production in areas such as the Permian Basin of West Texas have recently experienced a boom, causing U.S. oil production to overtake that of Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Rystad Energy said earlier this year that the United States would likely produce 12.5 million barrels of oil per day during the month of May. Reports state that an estimated 4 million of those barrels will come from shale oilfields and those numbers are expected to rise by the end of 2020.
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🇭🇰 **Police say they will clear Hong Kong legislature**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/SUrUH>
Hong Kong police have announced that they plan to clear Hong Kong’s legislative building after it was taken over by a group of protesters.
Police said in an announcement on Facebook on Monday night that they would clear the area in a short period of time, and warned they would use appropriate force if they encounter resistance.
They asked unrelated protesters to leave the area around the building as soon as possible.
Hundreds of protesters broke into the building at about 9 p.m. and spray-painted slogans on the walls of the main chamber.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of others marched through the city to demand expanded democracy on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.
The protesters’ demands include the withdrawal of an extradition bill and the resignation of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam.
A group of protesters in Hong Kong has taken over the legislative chamber, spray painting slogans on the wall and over the territory’s emblem.
Some stood on the desks of lawmakers Monday night while others climbed up to leave their messages on the soaring wooden wall.
Police appear to have retreated to avoid a confrontation, giving the protesters the run of the building.
They smashed and tore down portraits of legislative leaders after prying open metal gates to gain access.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of others marched through the city to demand expanded democracy on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.
The protesters say the Hong Kong government is not responding to their demands for a full withdrawal of contentious extradition legislation and the resignation of city leader Carrie Lam.
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🇮🇹 **Italy court lifts house arrest on German captain, says she was protecting life**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/zSZmd>
An Italian judge ruled on Tuesday that the captain of a charity ship had not broken the law by crashing through a naval blockade, saying that by bringing rescued migrants to port she was carrying out
her duty to protect life.
Judge Alessandra Vella ordered the 31-year-old German captain, Carola Rackete, released from house arrest where she had been held since Saturday when she disobeyed Italian military orders and entered
the port of Lampedusa.
Rackete had faced up to 10 years in prison on possible charges of endangering the lives of four policemen for hitting a patrol boat at the quay as she brought some 41 African migrants to land in the
Sea-Watch rescue vessel.
She still could face separate charges of aiding illegal immigration, but the judge said she had no charges to face over the crash itself.
The ruling was swiftly denounced by Italy’s hardline interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who has campaigned to bar charities from bringing refugees to Italian ports.
“I am indignant, I am disgusted, but I will not give up,” Salvini said in a statement saying he had expected much more robust action by the Italian justice system and promising to expel Rackete from
the country as soon as possible.
“We will restore honor, pride, well-being, hope and dignity to Italy, whatever it costs,” he said.
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🇮🇱 **Israel says it is bracing militarily for possible U.S.-Iran escalation**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/HVynp>
Israel is preparing for its possible military involvement in any escalation in the Gulf confrontation between Iran and the United States, the Israeli foreign minister said on Tuesday.
The unraveling of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under U.S. diplomatic pressure, Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone and its alleged role in the holing of oil tankers in the Gulf have driven
up tensions and stirred war worries.
Israel has encouraged the Trump administration to press ahead with sanctions against its arch-foe, predicting that Tehran will eventually renegotiate a more limiting nuclear deal.
But Foreign Minister Israel Katz told an international security forum that Iran might accidentally stumble out of what he termed the “gray zone” of contained confrontation.
“It should be taken into account that mistaken calculations by the (Iranian) regime...are liable to bring about a shift from the ‘gray zone’ to the ‘red zone’ - that is, a military
conflagration,” he said in a speech to the Herzliya Conference.
“We must be prepared for this, and thus the State of Israel continues to devote itself to building up its military might for the event that it will have to respond to escalation scenarios.”
Israel has long threatened to take preemptive military action to deny Iran the means of making nuclear weapons. Tehran says it has no such designs. One of its senior lawmakers warned on
Monday that Israel would be destroyed within “only half an hour” should the United States attack Iran.
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🇬🇧 **UK PM candidate Johnson says he backs Hong Kong people 'every inch of the way'**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/KKGHR>
Boris Johnson, who could be Britain’s prime minister by the end of the month, said he backed the people of Hong Kong every inch of the way and cautioned China that “one country, two systems” should not be cast aside.
Britain has repeatedly pressed China to honor its commitment to protect freedoms in Hong Kong after police fired tear gas to disperse protesters rallying in the former British colony against a now-suspended extradition bill.
Hong Kong has been rocked by the largest protests in China since crowds demonstrated against the bloody suppression of pro-democracy activists in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989.
“The people of Hong Kong are perfectly within their rights to be very skeptical, very anxious about proposals for extradition to the mainland that could be politically motivated, that could be arbitrary and could
infringe their human rights,” Johnson told Reuters in an interview during a visit to a police training center in southern England.
“So yes I do support them and I will happily speak up for them and back them every inch of the way,” the former foreign secretary said. “And I would stress to our friends in Beijing that the ‘one country,
two systems’ approach has worked, is working and should not be cast aside.”
Late on Monday, hundreds of protesters in Hong Kong besieged, and broke into, the legislature after a demonstration marking the anniversary of its 1997 return to Chinese rule.
The turbulence in Hong Kong was triggered by an extradition bill critics say will undermine Hong Kong’s independent judiciary and give Beijing powers to prosecute activists in mainland courts, which
are controlled by the Communist Party.
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🇨🇳 **China to Britain: Keep your 'colonial' hands off Hong Kong**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/5rFE0>
China told Britain to keep its hands off Hong Kong on Wednesday while London called for Beijing to honor the agreements made when the city was handed over in 1997, escalating a diplomatic spat over the former British colony.
Beijing denounced British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt as “shameless” and said it had made a diplomatic complaint to London after he warned of consequences if China neglected its commitments to guarantee basic freedoms.
“In the minds of some people, they regard Hong Kong as still under British rule. They forget ... that Hong Kong has now returned to the embrace of the Motherland,” China’s ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, said.
“I tell them: hands off Hong Kong and show respect. This colonial mindset is still haunting the minds of some officials or politicians,” Liu told reporters.
The growing war of words between China and Britain follows mass protests in Hong Kong against a now suspended bill that would allow extradition to mainland China.
Hundreds of protesters in the former British colony besieged and broke into the legislature on Monday after a demonstration marking the anniversary of return to Chinese rule.
China called the violence an “undisguised challenge” to the “one country, two systems” model under which Hong Kong has been ruled for 22 years.
On Tuesday, Hunt warned of consequences if China did not abide by the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 on the terms of the return of Hong Kong, which allows freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, including the right to protest.
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🇪🇸 **Three people gored on first day of Spanish bull-running festival**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/cd3uQ>
Three people were gored and a further two people suffered head trauma during the first day of Spain’s best-known bull-running festival in the northern town of Pamplona on Sunday, the Red Cross said.
One man was loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher shortly after the dash through the medieval town center’s narrow streets to the bullring, which lasted two minutes and 41 seconds.
Thousands of runners, dressed head to toe in white, with bright-red neckerchiefs, gather every year for the traditional morning run, after which the animals are kept in the bullring until the afternoon’s fights.
A total 53 people were treated by the Red Cross. Runners often get injured at traditional bull-runs in Spain, but no one has died at Pamplona’s San Fermin festival since Spaniard Daniel Jimeno was gored in the neck by a Jandilla bull in 2009.
This year, the bulls were from cattle breeder Puerto de San Lorenzo, whose bulls have been responsible for one goring in the past. One person was gored on the opening day of the festival last year.
Locals and tourists alike will join in the 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) run every morning until next Sunday.
The festival regularly stokes debate about the treatment of animals. On Friday, protesters lay half-naked on the street with fake spears coming out of their backs to protest against what they see as cruelty.
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🇮🇷 **Iran makes new nuclear threats that would reverse steps in pact**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/nHkCt>
Iran threatened on Monday to restart deactivated centrifuges and ramp up enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity as its next potential big moves away from a 2015 nuclear agreement that Washington abandoned last year.
The threats, made by Tehran’s nuclear agency spokesman, would go far beyond the small steps Iran has taken in the past week to nudge stocks of fissile material just beyond limits in the pact.
That could raise serious questions about whether the agreement, intended to block Iran from making a nuclear weapon, is still viable.
The two threats would reverse major achievements of the agreement, although Iran omitted important details about how far it might go to returning to the status quo before the pact, when Western experts
believed it could build a bomb within months.
In a separate standoff, Iran’s foreign minister accused Britain of “piracy” for seizing an Iranian oil tanker last week. Britain says the ship was bound for Syria in violation of European Union sanctions.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, confirmed that Tehran had enriched uranium beyond the deal’s limit of 3.67% purity, passing 4.5%, according to news agency ISNA.
U.N. nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, confirmed it had verified Iran’s enrichment was beyond 3.67%.
Iran has said it will take another, third step away from the deal within 60 days. Kamalvandi said options included enriching uranium to 20% purity or beyond, and restarting IR-2 M centrifuges dismantled under the deal.
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