🇺🇸 **DC Antifa Leader Charged With ‘Ethnic Intimidation’ Related To Attack On Marines**
*The Daily Caller* - <https://archive.fo/B2uMk>

Washington, D.C. Antifa leader Joseph “Jose” Alcoff, also known as “Chepe,” was arrested and charged with multiple felonies in Philadelphia on Jan. 10 in connection to the Antifa mob attack against two Marines in November.

Alcoff faces 17 charges, including multiple counts of aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation, conspiracy and terroristic threats, and one count of robbery while inflicting serious bodily injury.

An affidavit filed in the case reveals that The Daily Caller News Foundation’s reporting on Alcoff’s connection to violent Antifa groups was an integral factor leading to his arrest.

The Marines, Alejandro Godinez and Luis Torres, testified in December that a group of 10 to 12 Antifa members called them “Nazis” and “white supremacists” and attacked them on the street despite their denials that they had no association with the right-wing group demonstrating nearby.

During the attack, Godinez said he shouted “I’m Mexican” at the mob, which allegedly led the attackers to call him a “spic” and “wetback.”

Thomas Keenan and Thomas Massey were arrested in November in connection to the beating. Keenan, who has been called a “leader” of the Antifa contingent in the Philadelphia area, was arrested and charged with rioting alongside Alcoff in New Jersey in 2011.

Alcoff is an organizer of Smash Racism DC, the Antifa group responsible for mobbing Fox News host and DCNF co-founder Tucker Carlson’s house in November and for chasing Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz from a D.C. restaurant in September.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Facebook pays users to sideload data-gathering VPN in apparent violation of Apple privacy policies**
*Apple Insider* - <https://archive.fo/n1l3y>

Outlined in a exposé by TechCrunch, Facebook's latest gambit to acquire user data pays participants $20 plus referral fees for nearly unfettered access to iOS usage patterns and activity.

Through the Facebook Research app for iOS, which has been available since 2016, the company is able to collect data by enabling root access to a user's device. Marketed as a "social media research study," the VPN app is distributed through beta testing services Applause, BetaBound and uTest, the report says.

Importantly, Facebook relies on the three software testing platforms to enable sideloading of the Research app, effectively bypassing Apple's App Store and its stringent guidelines. Facebook does not disseminate Research through Apple's TestFlight, presumably because the system involves an app review process and 10,000 user limit.

Security expert Will Strafach, who was contracted to investigate Research, said the app could make use of the root privilege to collect data pertaining to "private messages in social media apps, chats from in instant messaging apps - including photos/videos sent to others, emails, web searches, web browsing activity, and even ongoing location information by tapping into the feeds of any location tracking apps you may have installed."

Interestingly, the Research app directs data to an address associated with Onavo Protect, a Facebook VPN app that was found to violate App Store privacy regulations in 2018. At the time, Apple said Onavo Protect ran afoul of data collection restrictions and parts of the iPhone maker's developer agreement covering customer data usage. Facebook pulled Onavo Protect from the App Store shortly after Apple revised its App Store guidelines to reflect stricter policies on data collection.
----------------

🇻🇪🇷🇺 **$840M in gold bars prepared for loading onto Russian jet at Venezuelan airport: report**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/meOAa>

About 20 tons of gold from Venezuela's central bank was ready to be hauled away Tuesday on a Russian airline's Boeing 777 that landed in Caracas a day earlier, a Venezuelan lawmaker wrote on Twitter.

The destination of the $840 million in gold bars was unknown, but a source told Bloomberg News that it represented about 20 percent of the country's holding of the metal. The gold was set aside for loading, the report said.

The news outlet, which first reported on the tweet, identified the lawmaker as Jose Guerra. The lawmaker did not provide evidence for his claim but is identified in the report as a former economist at the country's central bank with close ties to workers still there.

Noticias Venezuela, a news outlet in the country, posted a photo of what it identified as a Nordwind Airlines plane from Moscow that made the trip with only a crew aboard.

Simon Zerpa, Venezuela's finance minister, did not comment about the gold when reached by Bloomberg and denied there was a Russian plane at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas.

A plane belonging to a Moscow-based company was reportedly seen Monday heading to an international airport near Caracas, according to flight tracking records.

Reuters reported that there had been speculation about the jet that was “parked by a private corner of the airport.” And Reuters reported that it was the first time the plane made the trip.
----------------

🇺🇸 **George Soros calls Xi Jinping ‘the most dangerous enemy’**
*NY Daily News* - <http://archive.is/vyxEv>

Billionaire investor George Soros slammed Chinese President Xi Jinping as “the most dangerous enemy” to those who believe in open society and warned against Beijing’s high-tech surveillance regime.

The Hungarian-born philanthropist’s comments came as China plans a broad ranking system to monitor its citizens, issuing them a social credit score.

“This makes Xi Jinping the most dangerous opponent of open societies,” added.

Soros “confused right and wrong in a meaningless statement, and it is not worth refuting,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing.
---------------

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/4chan-trolls-flood-laid-huffpost-buzzfeed-reporters-death-threats-n963001

THE HACKER KNOWN AS 4CHAN STRIKES AGAIN

🇺🇸 **Nellie Ohr Researched Trump’s Kids For Fusion GPS**
*The Daily Caller* - <https://archive.fo/dKKCM>

The wife of a Justice Department official who worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 campaign told Congress in 2018 that one of her tasks at the opposition research firm was to research President Donald Trump’s children, including their business activities and travel.

Nellie Ohr, a former contractor for Fusion GPS, also told lawmakers during an Oct. 19 deposition that she recalls that Christopher Steele gave her husband, Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, materials from the infamous anti-Trump dossier funded by Democrats.

Ohr said during the testimony that Steele, who like her was a contractor for Fusion GPS, hoped that her husband would pass the materials to the FBI.

“My understanding was that Chris Steele was hoping that Bruce could put in a word with the FBI to follow up in some way,” Ohr testified to members of the House Oversight and House Judiciary Committees, according to transcripts confirmed by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Ohrs met with Steele and an unidentified British associate on July 30, 2016 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Bruce Ohr testified to Congress on Aug. 28 that the meeting covered three main topics. He said Steele claimed that a former official with Russia’s SVR claimed that the Kremlin had Trump “over a barrel.”

Steele also relayed information about Carter Page, the former Trump campaign adviser who Steele claims in his dossier met with two Kremlin insiders during a trip to Moscow in early July 2016. Page has denied Steele’s allegations, saying he did not meet with the two Kremlin officials.
----------------

🇺🇸🇨🇳 **U.S. charges 19 in Chinese 'birth tourism' scheme in California**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/Igdwh>

Nineteen people have been charged in three “birth tourism” schemes that operated in Southern California to bring pregnant Chinese women into the United States in order to secure birthright citizenship for their children, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles said on Thursday.

The 17 cases unsealed on Thursday are the first federal charges brought against operators and customers of birth tourism businesses, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Three defendants were arrested on Thursday morning, while the 16 others named in the indictments unsealed on Thursday are “fugitive defendants,” the prosecutors said.

The defendants are accused of links to three “birth houses” operating in Southern California that catered to wealthy women from China and were dismantled by federal agents in March 2015.

The indictments charge that Chinese customers were coached on how to pass U.S. Consulate interviews in China by falsely stating they would stay in the United States for only two weeks and to trick U.S. Customs at entry ports by wearing loose clothing to conceal their pregnancies, prosecutors said in the statement.

“These cases allege a wide array of criminal schemes that sought to defeat our immigration laws – laws that welcome foreign visitors so long as they are truthful about their intentions when entering the country,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement.

“Some of the wealthy clients of these businesses also showed blatant contempt for the U.S. by ignoring court orders directing them to stay in the country to assist with the investigation and by skipping out on their unpaid hospital bills,” Hanna said.
----------------

🇺🇸🇷🇺 **US pulls out of Cold War-era nuclear treaty, blaming Russia**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/zjth1>

The United States announced Friday that it is pulling out of a landmark nuclear arms treaty with Russia, arguing that it should not be constrained by a deal Moscow is violating with “impunity” by deploying banned missiles. Democrats in Congress and some arms control advocates slammed the decision as opening the door to an arms race.

President Donald Trump repeated a yearslong U.S. accusation that Russia secretly developed and deployed “a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad.” He said the U.S. had adhered to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty since it was signed in 1987, but Russia had not.

“We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty, or any other,” Trump said in a written statement.

The Trump decision reflects his administration’s view that the arms treaty was an unacceptable obstacle to more forcefully confronting not only Russia but also China. China’s military has grown mightily since the treaty was signed, and the pact has prevented the U.S. from deploying weapons to counter those being developed in Beijing.

Pulling the plug on the INF pact, however, risks aggravating relations with European allies, who share the administration’s view that Russia is violating the treaty but who have not endorsed a U.S. withdrawal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking to reporters after Trump’s statement, said Russia will be formally notified on Saturday that the U.S. is withdrawing from the treaty, effective in six months. In the meantime, starting Saturday, the U.S. will suspend its obligations under the treaty.
----------------

🇺🇸 **VA Gov. Northam: No ‘Regrets’ on Childbirth Abortion Comments**
*Breitbart* - <https://archive.fo/fkEN7>

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam refused to recant his comments in support of legislation that would have allowed women in his state to request an abortion, even as they are about to give birth.

At a press conference Thursday, Northam responded, “I don’t have any regrets,” to a reporter’s question citing criticism that his comments about the legislation were not helpful.

Many Republicans, pro-life leaders, and physicians condemned both the legislation for allowing “infanticide” and Northam for backing it.

President Donald Trump tweeted, “Democrats are becoming the Party of late-term abortion,” and said during an interview with the Daily Caller that he was “surprised” to hear of Northam’s comments that a newborn infant could be left to die if the parents wished.

The Repeal Act – which has since been tabled – would have repealed most of Virginia’s abortion restriction laws and allowed abortion even as a woman is about to give birth, as stated by Democrat Delegate Kathy Tran, who introduced the measure.

Appearing as a guest on WTOP-FM Wednesday, Northam said the fierce reaction to the bill was “really blown out of proportion.”
----------------

🇺🇸 **Cory Booker announces he is running for president**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/gijtJ>

Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat who rose to prominence as Newark's charismatic and ambitious mayor, announced Friday that he is running for president.

Booker chose the first day of Black History Month to launch his campaign, timing that nods to Booker's own heritage and suggests he will put it at the center of his pitch to voters.

"The history of our nation is defined by collective action; by interwoven destinies of slaves and abolitionists; of those born here and those who chose America as home; of those who took up arms to defend our country, and those who linked arms to challenge and change it," Booker narrates in a video released on Friday morning, which features him walking through his Newark neighborhood.

"I'm Cory Booker and I'm running for president of the United States of America," he says in the video.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Elizabeth Warren apologizes to Cherokee Nation for taking DNA test to prove Native-American roots**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/tNrac>

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has apologized to the Cherokee Nation for taking a DNA test to prove she had Native-American ancestry, taking a step to smooth over the lingering controversy as she prepares to formally launch her 2020 presidential campaign.

“Senator Warren has reached out to us and has apologized to the tribe. We are encouraged by this dialogue and understanding that being a Cherokee Nation tribal citizen is rooted in centuries of culture and laws, not through DNA tests,” Cherokee Nation spokeswoman Julie Hubbard said in a statement.

The October DNA test by Warren angered some tribal leaders and sparked plenty of political pushback against the senator at the time.

The New York Times and The Intercept first reported the apology, a break from Warren's past reluctance to issue one. But the Times reported Warren privately expressed concern she may have hurt her standing with Native-American groups and her own supporters in her handling of the test.

“We are encouraged by her action and hope that the slurs and mockery of tribal citizens and Indian history and heritage will now come to an end,” Hubbard added.

The move comes just over a week before Warren is expected to formally declare her candidacy for president, after having launched an exploratory committee. On Thursday, her campaign teased that Warren would have an announcement on Feb. 9.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Federal prosecutors subpoena Trump's inaugural committee**
*Yahoo/AP* - <https://archive.fo/mXwtT>

Federal prosecutors in New York issued a subpoena Monday seeking documents from Donald Trump's inaugural committee, furthering a federal inquiry into a fund that has faced mounting scrutiny into how it raised and spent its money.

Inaugural committee spokeswoman Kristin Celauro told The Associated Press that the committee had received the subpoena and was still reviewing it.

"It is our intention to cooperate with the inquiry," she said.

A second spokesman, Owen Blicksilver, declined to answer questions about which documents prosecutors requested. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, which issued the subpoena, declined to comment.

The investigation is the latest in a series of criminal inquiries into Trump's campaign and presidency. Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia and whether the president obstructed the investigation. In a separate case in New York, prosecutors say Trump directed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to make illegal hush-money payments to two women as a way to quash potential sex scandals during the campaign.
----------------

🇺🇸 **“SHARIA POLICE”: MUSLIMS PATROLLING BROOKLYN IN VEHICLES ALMOST IDENTICAL TO NYPD**
*Info Wars* - <https://archive.is/dmRx7>

Muslims in NYC are carrying out “community patrols” in Brooklyn while driving cars that look almost identical to NYPD vehicles, leading some to describe the situation as “Sharia Police”. The New York Times wrote a lengthy, glowing piece about the patrols, with one hijab-wearing Muslim woman commenting that they made her feel safe from harassment.

Similar “patrols” in East London didn’t turn out to be so community-friendly, with hardline Islamists attempting to “impose Sharia law on unsuspecting members of the public.” A CNN report shows Muslim men harassing alcohol drinkers, gay men and women wearing skirts above their knees.
---------------

🇲🇽🇺🇸 **Migrant caravan arrives at town on Texas border**
*The Hill* - <https://archive.fo/Fuh1R>

A group of roughly 1,700 Central American migrants traveling as a caravan has reached a Mexican town along the country’s border with Texas.

The caravan arrived at the Mexican city of Piedras Negras, just west of Eagle Pass, Texas, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

U.S. agents in riot gear stood on the bridge separating Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned that no member of the “lawless caravan” would be allowed to enter the country.

"Approximately 2,000 aliens have arrived in northern Mexico as part of a 'caravan' seeking to cross the border into Texas. Illegal entry will not be tolerated and we stand ready to prevent it," DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen wrote in a statement.

“DHS will take all steps to ensure the safety and security of law enforcement personnel on the frontlines,” she added.

Border Patrol agents have already detained some migrants who were caught attempting to cross the border illegally overnight.

The group of about 1,700 migrants arrived in the Mexican border state of Coahuila on Sunday abroad 49 buses from the cities of Saltillo and Arteaga, Gov. Miguel Ángel Riquelme told the AP. Another group is approaching the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon, a region that has been long been dominated by the Zetas cartel.

The migrants have been staying at an unused maquiladora factory after traveling from Central America with military and police escorts. They have been provided with sleeping mats, blankets, food and wireless access, as well as access to public health exams.

An estimated 46 unaccompanied youths between the ages of 15 and 17 were in the caravan, AP reported.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Socialist Crackpot Bernie Sanders Scowls As President Trump Proclaims “America Will Never Be a Socialist Country!”**
*Gateway Pundit* - <https://archive.fo/YCvIx>

The President called for unity, celebrated economic prosperity and touted record low unemployment due to his business-friendly policies and deregulation.

President Trump took a shot at the radical left-wing Democrats openly embracing socialism.

“We are alarmed by the new calls to adopt socialism in our country,” Trump said to audible boos in the House Chamber.

“America was founded on liberty and independence and not government coercion, domination and control.”

“We are born free and we will stay free!” Trump said to thunderous applause from the Republicans who broke out into chants of “USA! USA!”

The camera panned in on Socialist crackpot Senator Bernie Sanders who was scowling after the President rejected Socialism.

President Trump received a standing ovation after he proudly proclaimed, “Tonight we renew our resolve that America will never be a Socialist country!”
----------------

🇺🇸 **Covington Catholic teen sues 54 news outlets, lawmakers and celebrities**
*The Washington Times* - <https://archive.fo/bPjl9>

Last month’s incident involving the boys from Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School at the Lincoln Memorial may be over — but the legal battle has just begun.

Attorneys for Covington junior Nick Sandmann made a splash this week when they sent letters to 54 news outlets, lawmakers, celebrities, media figures and Catholic institutions asking them to preserve information related to the episode and warning of a possible lawsuit.

“There was a rush by the media to believe what it wanted to believe versus what actually happened,” attorney Todd McMurtry told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Libel and defamation cases are notoriously difficult to win, but Mr. McMurtry is working with famed attorney L. Lin Wood of Atlanta, who represented the family of 1996 murder victim JonBenet Ramsey as well as Richard Jewell, the falsely accused Olympic Park bomber.

“I think the whole fighting-back part benefits Sandmann in some way, to restore his reputation in the court of public opinion as well as in the court of law,” said Clay Calvert, who teaches media law at the University of Florida.

“Agenda-driven mainstream & social media attack & threaten a 16-year old student based on incomplete 30 second video clips,” Mr. Wood tweeted. “Who will take less than 15 minutes to learn the truth about what was done to Nick Sandmann?”

Those receiving the preservation letters included The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, National Public Radio, The Hill, The Atlantic, and TMZ, as well as more than two dozen journalists such as MSNBC’s Joy Reid and NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, who interviewed Mr. Sandmann on the “Today” show.
----------------

🇺🇸 **House intelligence chair announces sweeping investigation into Trump's finances and Russia**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/oKGTm>

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announced Wednesday a broad investigation his committee would undertake "beyond Russia" into whether President Donald Trump's financial interests are driving his actions.

Schiff said the investigation would "allow us to investigate any credible allegation that financial interests or other interests are driving decision-making of the President or anyone in the administration."

"That pertains to any credible allegations of leverage by the Russians or the Saudis or anyone else," Schiff told reporters after the House Intelligence Committee's first meeting in the new Congress.

In a statement, Schiff said the investigation would include a continued probe into Russia's actions during the 2016 election and contacts between the Russia and Trump's team, as well as an examination of "whether any foreign actor has sought to compromise or holds leverage, financial or otherwise, over Donald Trump, his family, his business, or his associates."

Schiff said the investigation, which could involve additional congressional committees, would also look at whether Trump or his associates have "sought to influence US government policy in service of foreign interests" and any potential obstruction into the various investigations.

Schiff's announcement is the most detailed look yet into how congressional Democrats will investigate Trump's finances and possible ties to foreign entities, and how Democrats are sure to continue probing Trump and his team well after special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation had concluded.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Justice Department conducting professional misconduct probe in Epstein case**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/LGYOe>

A U.S. Justice Department office is investigating whether department attorneys committed professional misconduct in a criminal case involving a wealthy Florida financier accused of sex crimes, the department said in a letter to a senator released on Wednesday.

The investigation comes after the Miami Herald published a report looking at U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta’s role in negotiating a non-prosecution agreement for hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, when Acosta was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

In a letter to Senator Ben Sasse, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd revealed that the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), a unit that looks into internal misconduct, “has now opened an investigation” into whether lawyers mishandled the Epstein settlement.

“OPR will thoroughly investigate the allegations of misconduct that have been raised and, consistent with its practice, will share its results with you at the conclusion of its investigation as appropriate,” Boyd said.

The letter does not mention Acosta by name. The Miami Herald reported that its investigation found that Acosta gave Epstein a preferential settlement that effectively shut down an FBI probe into Epstein’s crimes.

A Labor Department spokesperson said in a statement that Acosta “welcomes the OPR’s additional review of this matter.”

“For more than a decade, this prosecution has been reviewed in great detail by newspaper articles, television reports, books, and Congressional testimony,” the spokesperson said.
----------------

🇨🇳 **China ‘forcing Muslims to eat pork and drink alcohol’ for lunar new year festival**
*Independent* - <https://archive.fo/qbjd4>

Chinese authorities have reportedly forced Muslims in the Xinjiang region to eat pork and drink alcohol during the country’s lunar new year holiday amid an alleged crackdown on Islam.

People living in the Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture were invited to events marking the celebration and told they could be taken to re-education camps if they did not take part, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).

“Kazakh people in Xinjiang have never [eaten pork]. Starting last year, some people have been forced to eat pork so they can celebrate a festival belonging to the Han Chinese,” the US government-run station quoted an anonymous resident on its website as saying.

Eating pork is strictly forbidden in Islam.

Officials have delivered pork directly to Muslim households and insisted that traditional Chinese new year decorations are displayed outside, RFA’s report claimed.
----------------

Maybe they should move to an Islamic country if they dont like it

🇺🇸 **New Gun Bill Would Require Buyers To Reveal Social Media History**
*CBS Chicago* - <https://archive.fo/SyRwf>

“This is something my community is demanding action on,” said Rep. Daniel Didech (D-Buffalo Grove).

That’s why Didech is proposing gun buyers reveal their public social media accounts to Illinois police before they’re approved for a firearm license.

“A lot of people who are having mental health issues will often post on their social media pages that they’re about to hurt themselves or others,” Didech said. “We need to give those people the help they need.”

Pro-gun groups are outraged.

“When people look at this everyone who has a Facebook account or email account or Twitter account will be incensed or should be,” said Richard Pearson with the Illinois State Rifle Association.

But the ACLU is opposed as well.

Rebecca Glenberg with ACLU Illinois says the bill “doesn’t say anything about how that list will be retained and for how long and what uses it might be put to.”

The first amendment group worries police scanning social media may show bias.

“A person’s political beliefs, a person’s religious beliefs, things that should not play a part in whether someone gets a FOID card,” Glenberg said.

But Didech isn’t deterred.

“It gives Illinois State Police additional tools to make sure that dangerous weapons aren’t getting into the hands of dangerous people,” he said.

Didech says his bill is a less intrusive version of a similar measure that’s been proposed in New York state. That version allows police to recover a gun license applicant’s entire browsing history. Even Didech says that goes too far.
----------------

_us: **Netflix paid NOTHING in federal or state taxes in 2018 despite posting record profits of $845million - and even got a $22million rebate**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/cxJtN>

Netflix didn't pay a cent in state or federal income taxes last year, despite posting its largest-ever U.S. profit in 2018 of $845million, according to a new report.

In addition, the streaming giant reported a $22 million federal tax rebate, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

Senior fellow at ITEP Matthew Gardner said corporations like Netflix, which has its headquarters in Los Gatos, California, are still 'exploiting loopholes' and called the figures 'troubling'.

Netflix says they paid $131 million in taxes in 2018 and this is declared in financial documents. But Gardner says this figure relates to taxes paid abroad, according to a separate part of their statements.

He told DailyMail.com: 'It is pretty clearly true that Netflix’s cash payment of worldwide income taxes in 2018 was $131 million. But that is a worldwide number—the amount Netflix actually paid to national, state and local governments worldwide in 2018. This tells us precisely nothing about the amount Netflix paid to any specific government, including the U.S.'

Gardner added: 'Fortunately, however, there is another, more complete geographic disclosure of income tax payments.

'The notes to the financial statements have a detailed section on income taxes. And what this tells us is that all of the income taxes Netflix paid in 2018 were foreign taxes. Zero federal income taxes, zero state income taxes in the US.'
----------------

🇺🇸 **Tests suggest scientists achieved 1st ‘in body’ gene editing**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/BgClH>

Scientists think they have achieved the first gene editing inside the body, altering DNA in adults to try to treat a disease, although it’s too soon to know if this will help.

Preliminary results suggest that two men with a rare disorder now have a corrective gene at very low levels, which may not be enough to make the therapy a success.

Still, it’s a scientific milestone toward one day doctoring DNA to treat many diseases caused by faulty genes.

“This is a first step,” said Dr. Joseph Muenzer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who helped test the treatment. “It’s just not potent enough.”

He gave the results Thursday at a conference in Orlando, Florida, and has consulted for the therapy’s maker, California-based Sangamo Therapeutics. Researchers are working on a stronger version of the treatment.

Gene editing is intended as a more precise way to do gene therapy, to disable a bad gene or supply a good one that’s missing. Trying it in adults to treat diseases is not controversial and the DNA changes do not pass to future generations, unlike the recent case of a Chinese scientist who claims to have edited twin girls’ genes when they were embryos.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Suspects who allegedly entered a Brevard County, Florida, home Thursday and pointed a gun at woman’s head were shot dead by the woman’s son.**
*Breitbart* - <https://archive.is/4W7dX>

News 6 reported that 20-year-old Alvin Smalls and 18-year-old Amir Rashad Lynn allegedly broke into the home at a time when the mother’s son was in the house asleep. The son awoke to strange sounds, only to discover the suspects allegedly had his mother at gunpoint.

The son shot the suspects. Smalls died in the home and Lynn fled, only to die later at a hospital.

The son called 911 after shooting the suspects.

A grieving suspect's mother was caught on camera at the scene, crying for her baby.
----------------

🇩🇪 **Hitler paintings go unsold at Nuremberg auction**
*The Washington Times* - <https://archive.fo/xQZGu>

Five watercolors attributed to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler from his early days as a struggling artist have failed to sell at auction in the southern German city of Nuremberg, possibly over fears they could be fakes.

The Nuremberger Nachrichten newspaper reported Sunday that no bids were received on the paintings, which had starting prices of between 19,000 euros ($21,500) and 45,000 euros ($50,900).

Three days before Saturday’s auction, prosecutors seized 63 other paintings attributed to Hitler from the auction house to investigate allegations they were fakes.

In Berlin last month, prosecutors seized three other Hitler watercolors after receiving a complaint questioning their authenticity.

As a young man, Hitler is thought to have painted some 2,000 pictures as he unsuccessfully struggled to succeed as an artist in Vienna before World War I.
----------------

🇨🇭 ** Julian Assange could be given ASYLUM in Switzerland after vote held in Geneva**
*Daily Star* - <https://archive.fo/URhIG>

The Geneva City Parliament adopted a motion to give the controversial Wikileaks founder a safe haven in the country nearly seven years after he first entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

An hour-long debate was held in the Swiss city this week to discuss how whistleblowers can be protected.

At the end of the debate, right-wing People’s Party politician Eric Bertinat proposed a measure to offer the Wikileaks founder asylum – something that was backed by the majority of the chamber.

Assange, 47, first took refuge in his embassy hide-out in 2012 amid fears he would be extradited to the United Staes on espionage charges.

He originally went into hiding after an arrest warrant was issued so he could be sent to Sweden over sexual assault and rape allegations.

He consistently denied the charges, but said travelling to Sweden to clear his name would eventually lead to him on to America.

Although the vote is a positive sign for Assange, it is unclear if it will resolve the question marks surrounding his future.

The central Swiss Government attempted to downplay suggestions it could open the doors to Assange, saying asylum is for human rights’ defenders, which it says Assange is not.
----------------

🇪🇸 **Thousands rally in Madrid, demand Socialist prime minister resign**
*Washington Times* - <https://archive.fo/ntyXT>

Thousands of Spaniards joined a right-wing rally in Madrid on Sunday to demand that Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez step down.

Many in the crowd gathered in the capital’s Plaza de Colon, waving Spanish flags. They chanted slogans in favor of the nation’s security forces and for Sanchez to resign.

The conservative opposition Popular Party and the center-right Citizens party organized the rally, which was also backed by the upstart far-right Vox and other marginal far-right parties. They claim that Sanchez must resign for holding talks with separatists in the northeastern region of Catalonia.

“The time of Sanchez’s government is over,” said Popular Party president Pablo Casado, who asked voters to punish Sanchez’s Socialists in upcoming European, local and regional elections in May.

The political tensions come as a highly sensitive trial at Spain’s Supreme Court starts Tuesday for 12 Catalan separatists who face charges, including rebellion, for their roles in a failed secession attempt in 2017.
----------------

🇨🇦 **Sex offences against minors: Investigation reveals more than 200 Canadian coaches convicted in last 20 years**
*CBC* - <https://archive.fo/ImVWx>

At least 222 coaches who were involved in amateur sports in Canada have been convicted of sexual offences in the past 20 years involving more than 600 victims under the age of 18, a joint investigation by CBC News and Sports reveals.

And the cases of another 34 accused coaches are currently before the courts.

In Ontario, for example, karate coach Satnam Rayat was charged in 2016 with sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching against a nine-year-old student. His trial is set for this summer.

In B.C., basketball coach Codie Hindle is accused of sexual touching against three young players. He is expected in court for a pretrial hearing in April.

The analysis by CBC shows the charged and convicted coaches were involved in 36 different sports.

The investigation involved searching through thousands of court records, media articles and visiting courthouses across Canada. What's emerged, for the first time, is a detailed database of sexual offences committed by amateur athletic coaches in this country.

The charges include offences such as sexual assault, sexual exploitation, child luring and making or possessing child pornography. Most but not all of the victims were athletes training with the coach.
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What a shock. Canadians are pedos.

🇺🇸 **Senate has uncovered no direct evidence of conspiracy between Trump campaign and Russia**
*NBC* - <https://archive.fo/M5Txl>

After two years and 200 interviews, the Senate Intelligence Committee is approaching the end of its investigation into the 2016 election, having uncovered no direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to both Democrats and Republicans on the committee.

But investigators disagree along party lines when it comes to the implications of a pattern of contacts they have documented between Trump associates and Russians — contacts that occurred before, during and after Russian intelligence operatives were seeking to help Donald Trump by leaking hacked Democratic emails and attacking his opponent, Hillary Clinton, on social media.

"If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don't have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in an interview with CBS News last week.

Burr was careful to note that more facts may yet be uncovered, but he also made clear that the investigation was nearing an end.

"We know we're getting to the bottom of the barrel because there're not new questions that we're searching for answers to," Burr said.

Democratic Senate investigators who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity did not dispute Burr's characterizations, but said they lacked context.
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🇺🇸 **First female Viper demo team pilot relieved of command after two weeks**
*Air Force Times* - <https://archive.fo/TVVyN>

Capt. Zoe Kotnik, the first female pilot to head the F-16 Viper demonstration team, was relieved of command Monday.

“Col. Derek O’Malley, 20th Fighter Wing commander, relieved Capt. Zoe Kotnik from command Feb. 11 due to a loss of confidence in her ability to lead and command the Air Combat Command F-16 Viper demonstration team,” said Col. Allen Herritage, director of public affairs at ACC, in a statement. “The Viper demonstration team is working to minimize impacts on scheduled performances and looks forward to inspiring crowds around the country during the upcoming season as soon as a new commander is selected.”

Herritage would not comment further on what led to Kotnik’s removal, citing privacy concerns.
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🇫🇮 **Migrant Arrested in Latest Child Rape Case in Finland**
*InfoWars* - <http://archive.is/P21qs>

A foreign man has been arrested in Oulu, Finland, as police investigate the latest child sexual assault case to rock the city, this one involving two girls and possibly multiple perpetrators, according to local media. Criminal Commissioner Eveliina Karjalainen told local outlet Kaleva that police suspect the female victims, one 18-years-old and the other under 16, were raped by more than one offender in a private residence.

"The investigation is still in the beginning," she said. "This fact, like many other things, is under investigation. The case is being investigated, among other things, as gross rape," Kaleva reports. "Other offenses are assault and coercion. For the younger girl, the police are also investigating the act as a gross sexual abuse of a child because of the victim's age."

The suspect in custody is reportedly a "foreigner with a residence permit in Finland," who has lived in the country for several years.

New Gallup polling indicates that a majority of Finns believe the cultural values and religion of migrants are to blame for an explosive sexual assault crisis gripping the Nordic nation, with Oulu at its epicenter.

Finnish officials recently proposed that migrants in Finland who are guilty of serious crimes should have their citizenship revoked.

"People with a foreign background are responsible for a quarter of all reported sex crimes, despite constituting only 6.9 percent of the Finnish population," Sputnik reports, citing Finnish police.
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🇺🇸 **It's true, Trump really did start building more wall in Texas**
*Washington Examiner* - <http://archive.is/bM59C#20%>

When President Trump said Monday at a campaign rally in El Paso that, “We’ve actually started a big, big portion of the wall today at a very important location, and it’s going to go up pretty quickly over the next nine months," I assumed it was nonsense he was spreading in hopes that his supporters might not mob him on stage for so far failing to keep the central promise of his campaign.

He similarly said Tuesday at the White House, "We just started a big, big section [of wall] on the Rio Grande."

I'm happy to say I was wrong. Trump was telling the truth.
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🇺🇸 **Watch: Jussie Smollett Cries in First Interview Since Alleged Attack**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.is/fvQeH>

Empire actor Jussie Smollett welled up in his first interview since his alleged attack last Month. The interview comes after the 36-year-old actor said he redacted some information from his phone before giving it to Chicago police investigating a reported assault in order to protect the privacy of contacts and people who are not relevant to the attack.

However, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Monday that the phone records turned over by Smollett are in a heavily redacted document file and the records from the manager Smollett says he was talking to when the attack occurred were a screenshot of phone calls.

Smollett also told detectives that before they ran off, the attackers yelled “This is MAGA country, ” a reference to the “Make America Great Again” slogan President Donald Trump uses.
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🇺🇸 ** ‘Build the Wall’ jersey at Kings game sparks outrage. Wearer says it’s just for laughs **
*Sacramento Bee* - <https://archive.fo/vY3en>

A photo of two fans sporting customized Sacramento Kings jerseys reading “Build the Wall” and “Trump” in the front row of a recent Kings game led to some heated debate on social media. But the men in the photo said it was meant as a joke, not a political statement.

Daniel Goldsmith, a South Lake Tahoe resident who says he’s a lifelong Kings fan, told The Sacramento Bee by phone Tuesday that he’s the one who wore the white and purple “Build the Wall” No. 19 jersey, next to his friend, Pete Molinelli, who wore a black No. 1 jersey reading “Trump” on the back.

A photo of the friends was taken during Friday’s win over the Miami Heat at Golden 1 Center and got viral attention online, Goldsmith said.

“At the venue nobody really said anything except smiles and laughs, they thought it was funny,” Goldsmith said. “Nobody really had any opinions until the next day when I saw my phone and it was blowing up on Twitter.”

A tweet posted Saturday that has since been deleted – but acquired thousands of likes and retweets – said: “Just wait until they find out the owner of the team is an immigrant,” referring to Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé.

Outrage at the men followed in social media comments. Some users called it offensive to Kings fans who were trying to enjoy the game, claiming “Build the Wall” is an inherently racist phrase, while others defended the jerseys as expressions of free speech and said they did not do any harm.
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🇺🇸 **The great Equifax mystery: 17 months later, the stolen data has never been found, and experts are starting to suspect a spy scheme**
*CNBC* - <https://archive.fo/wQLSD>

On Sept. 7, 2017, the world heard an alarming announcement from credit ratings giant Equifax: In a brazen cyberattack, somebody had stolen sensitive personal information from more than 140 million people, nearly half the population of the U.S.

It was the consumer data security scandal of the decade. The information included Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, information from credit disputes and other personal details. CEO Richard Smith stepped down under fire. Lawmakers changed credit freeze laws and instilled new regulatory oversight of credit ratings agencies.

Then, something unusual happened. The data disappeared. Completely.

CNBC talked to eight experts, including data "hunters" who scour the dark web for stolen information, senior cybersecurity managers, top executives at financial institutions, senior intelligence officials who played a part in the investigation and consultants who helped support it. All of them agreed that a breach happened, and personal information from 143 million people was stolen.

But none of them knows where the data is now. It's never appeared on any hundreds of underground websites selling stolen information. Security experts haven't seen the data used in any of the ways they'd expect in a theft like this — not for impersonating victims, not for accessing other websites, nothing.

But as the investigations continue, a consensus is starting to emerge to explain why the data has disappeared from sight. Most experts familiar with the case now believe that the thieves were working for a foreign government and are using the information not for financial gain, but to try to identify and recruit spies.
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🌍🇮🇷 **U.S. meeting on Middle East brings together Israel, Gulf Arab states**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/glQTv>

A U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference aimed at building a coalition against what Washington sees as the threat posed by Iran also produced signs of a warming of ties between Israel and some Arab countries on Wednesday.

Foreign ministers and other officials from more than 60 countries were gathering for the conference in Warsaw, which was starting on Wednesday evening and whose agenda included Iran, conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Israeli-Palestinian peace.

On the sidelines, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Oman’s foreign minister.

“Many are following this (Omani) lead, and may I say, including at this conference,” a video released by Netanyahu’s office showed him telling Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, whose Gulf state hosted the Israeli leader in October.

Oman does not formally recognize Israel. Nor do Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, which also sent envoys to Warsaw and which share Israel’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and involvement in several regional flashpoints.

Speaking to Netanyahu, bin Alawi said: “People in the Middle East have suffered a lot because they have stuck to the past. Now we say, this is a new era, for the future.”

“We’re trying to expand the number of nations who are engaged and have a stake in the future of a peaceful and prosperous Middle East,” Brian Hook, the State Department’s special representative for Iran, told Reuters.

Arab nations and Israel faced a common threat of Iranian regional aggression and Washington was working closely with these nations to counter this, he said.

“Iran isn’t behaving like a normal country. They have a very expansionist foreign policy and that destabilizes other countries,” said Hook when asked whether the absence of Germany and France’s top diplomats at the meeting mattered.
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🇮🇱🇮🇷 **Netanyahu appears to say war with Iran is common goal**
*NBC News* - <https://archive.fo/O48ah>

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu startled Iranians and even the White House on Wednesday with a strident call for Israeli-Arab action against the government in Tehran that was translated by his office as urging "war with Iran."

Although Israeli officials tried to soften the reference by altering the English translation, the provocative comment was likely to further the perception that Israel, its Gulf Arab neighbors and the United States are interested in using military action to topple the government of Iran. It comes at a particularly delicate moment, as the Trump administration uses a U.S.-organized summit in Warsaw and this week's 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution to try to rally the world against the government in Tehran.

Netanyahu, in a short video recorded on the sidelines of the summit, emphasized the significance of Israeli and Arab officials appearing in the same venue, noting that the summit was "not in secret, because there are many of those."

Netanyahu's office also tweeted his statements on its English-language Twitter account, and used the word "war." Shortly after, as Netanyahu's comments ricocheted around the world, the tweet was deleted and replaced with another one that changed it from "war with Iran" to "combating Iran."

What is important about this meeting – and it is not in secret, because there are many of those – is that this is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries, that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of combating Iran.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 13, 2019
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Original (deleted) tweet

🇮🇱🇺🇸 **Pro-Israel Lobby Caught on Tape Boasting That Its Money Influences Washington**
*The Intercept* - <https://archive.fo/B6IBP>

The debate over the influence of pro-Israel groups could be informed by an investigation by Al Jazeera, in which an undercover reporter infiltrated the Israel Project, a Washington-based group, and secretly recorded conversations about political strategy and influence over a six-month period in 2016. That investigation, however, was never aired by the network — suppressed by pressure from the pro-Israel lobby.

In November, Electronic Intifada obtained and published the four-part series, but it did so during the week of the midterm elections, and the documentary did not get a lot of attention then.

In it, leaders of the pro-Israel lobby speak openly about how they use money to influence the political process, in ways so blunt that if the comments were made by critics, they’d be charged with anti-Semitism.

David Ochs, founder of HaLev, which helps send young people to American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference, described for the reporter how AIPAC and its donors organize fundraisers outside the official umbrella of the organization, so that the money doesn’t show up on disclosures as coming specifically from AIPAC. He describes one group that organizes fundraisers in both Washington and New York. “This is the biggest ad hoc political group, definitely the wealthiest, in D.C.,” Ochs says, adding that it has no official name, but is clearly tied to AIPAC. “It’s the AIPAC group. It makes a difference; it really, really does. It’s the best bang for your buck, and the networking is phenomenal.” (Ochs and AIPAC did not immediately return The Intercept’s requests for comment.)

(Great undercover video in original link - Spicy)
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