During the 2016 election season, Russian hackers went after the national Republican and Democratic Party servers. Now according to the FBI, China is setting its sights on state parties, which likely have lower resources available for tech security.
The Washington Post revealed that government hackers are scanning domains looking for possible vulnerabilities. Thus far, none of the possible targets have been hacked or breached.
“The FBI is being considerably more proactive,” a senior U.S. official told the Post. “It’s part of a larger move that the FBI isn’t waiting for the attack to occur. They’re increasingly trying to prevent.”
The official explained that scanning a network is likely part of a “comprehensive broad campaign” against the targets. “This is what they do.”
The FBI said that they visited at least a dozen Republican Party headquarters offices. Agents spoke to Democratic parties in several states, but apparently didn't visit them personally.
"The DNC and state parties have been in contact with the FBI,” the official said. “There is no evidence that any systems have been compromised.”
“The RNC remains secure and we have not been compromised,” Republican National Committee spokesperson Emma Vaughn said in a statement to the Post. “Cybersecurity remains a top priority for the entire Republican ecosystem, which is why we place a premium on ensuring our stakeholders have the necessary tools, resources and training on best practices so that our Party remains protected and vigilant.”
Facebook’s algorithm is considering two sponsored posts that feature the same chicken. In the first post, she is alive and struggling, confined in a tiny cage, on her way to her premature death. In the second, she is dead, beheaded, and roasted. Can you guess which post was approved? It turns out that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is deceiving its consumers in more ways than one.
There’s a strange and troubling disconnect between the food we’re happy to see on our plate and the true story of the living animal who eventually becomes that food—often under painful and distressing circumstances. A drumstick was once the leg of a living chicken who did not want to die. But Facebook only allows one of these images to be advertised. A clue: It’s the one intended to appeal not to your head or your heart, but rather to your stomach.
Ads are placed on Facebook feeds by animal rights organizations like The Humane League, the group I work for, to raise awareness about the reality of factory farming. These ads depict chickens raised for food (commonly known as broiler chickens) and their experiences on factory farms. But Facebook’s algorithm often rejects those ads under its “sensational content” policy. Facebook requires posts that share “violent” or “graphic content” information and images to come with a content warning, which cannot be included in paid ads.
The miserable, tortured lives endured by chickens raised for human consumption are upsetting from beginning to end. Broiler chickens live under some of the most brutal conditions experienced by any nonhuman animal. When they hatch, chicks are packed on conveyor belts leading to forced immunizations as well as mutilations, which often include severing beaks, toes, and combs without pain relief. They live in indoor sheds among hundreds of thousands of other birds, in cramped and often filthy conditions.
Over the years, the meat industry has bred birds to grow unnaturally large, all so that consumers can get more meat per meal. The birds grow so large, so fast that their bodies can’t support their own weight, resulting in painful conditions and broken bones. Finally, chickens suffer through their final moments in a slaughterhouse, usually after only 47 days of life—drastically shorter than their typical lifespan of up to seven years. Slaughterhouse deaths are frequently haphazard and inhumane. The techniques used to knock out a bird before her death often fail, and many chickens venture wide awake and conscious to their own slaughter.
It’s not a surprise that telling these animals’ stories provokes horror and sadness—it’s not exactly the kind of content you might be excited to see on a morning scroll of your social media feed. I understand the rationale behind Facebook’s sensational content policy. But isn’t it ironic that while Facebook rejects The Humane League’s ads, companies selling chicken products are free to advertise the final result of a broiler chicken’s tragic life?
Cheerful young people celebrate over meals of chicken sandwiches; a family digs into a fried chicken bucket. These ads aren’t just limited to Facebook—you’ll find them everywhere both online and off, from a YouTube ad to a billboard at a bus stop. Facebook and companies like it deem these images as harmless advertising. But underneath the happy feasting lies the grim story of an animal in pain.
The painful truth is that behind the everyday images of meat consumption that most people barely register, cruelty and violence prevail. If more people knew about the reality behind the chicken they eat every day—whether purchased at a fast-food chain or bought from the supermarket—they could play a more active role to end this suffering by making more conscious food or life choices.
If this were to happen, for example, then some people might consider a vegan lifestyle; others could campaign for serious change and reform in the way broiler chickens are raised. It’s part of the reason why animal protection organizations work to open people’s eyes to the ways animals are treated to end up on the table. But the very nature of the violent treatment means that social media algorithms like the ones used by Facebook restrict the ability of organizations like mine to inform people about the cruelty suffered by animals behind the meat they eat for their meals. It’s a catch-22 that chickens and other farm animals are paying for.
It also reveals a broader problem that goes beyond the sponsored posts that Facebook’s algorithm allows animal rights organizations like ours to promote. It’s about the choices we make around our food consumption. Most people are kind and empathetic: Of course, we don’t want to see a chicken in pain over our morning coffee. But that chicken is in pain, whether or not we choose to see her. The decision to prioritize our own comfort and convenience by looking away might feel easier, but it comes at a terrible cost.
If a chicken experiences enough violence that we have to flag her story with a content warning, doesn’t that make it obvious that we should not be putting her through the experience in the first place? Unlike other upsetting content that might be flagged with a warning, the way we treat animals farmed for food is not a failure of the system of industrial agriculture, but rather is a feature of it—one baked right in with the herbs and spices.
That means that it’s not simply Facebook’s algorithm that needs review, nor the question of what makes content palatable. After all, consider the flip side of this coin: Those who understand the truth about how chickens raised for meat are typically treated before their deaths might consider an ad featuring a chicken dinner to be worthy of a content warning. But content warnings alone won’t change anyone’s mind or lead to productive conversations between the two groups triggered by the finished meat product or the story behind it. It also raises larger questions about how we can take more responsibility for the food we consume by being aware of the torture animals go through because of the flawed system that is the meat industry. It will take work to get more people to reconnect those two images—the chicken before her death and the chicken after. And that work is an essential part of reforming the system that encourages cruelty and pain in the name of profit and convenience.
This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.
On Monday, Canadian transgender internet activist Clara Sorrenti, better known as Keffals, announced that the harassment hub website Kiwi Farms is officially dead.
"After the announcement that Cloudflare would drop Kiwi Farms as a customer, the site came online again with a Russian domain and switched to DDoS-Guard," wrote Keffals. "Less than 24 hours later, DDoS-Guard, a Russian company that specializes in DDoS protection, has also dropped Kiwi Farms. Their Russian domain is now offline, and [founder] Joshua Moon has stated, "I do not see a situation where Kiwi Farms is simply allowed to operate. It will either become a fractured shell of itself like 8chan, or jump between hosts and domains like Daily Stormer."
This comes just days after NBC correspondent Ben Collins published a devastating exposé of how Kiwi Farms operates — and the security threats and real-world casualties their coordinated trolling and hate speech campaigns have caused.
"For years, there was one site extremist researchers warned me not to cover because publicizing it would be dangerous. But it's time people know KiwiFarms — and how they're chasing political enemies around the world," Collins wrote. "How is KiwiFarms worse than 4chan and 8chan? Three people the site targeted later died by suicide. Why is KiwiFarms more dangerous than any other site? Its far-right userbase abuses all of the private data companies have accrued over the last decade — then weaponizes it against perceived enemies."
According to that report, Kiwi Farms primarily targets transgender people active online, both "doxxing" their personal information and engaging in "swatting," or calling in fake mass casualty events into the houses of victims so heavily armed police raid them — something that happened to Keffals herself.
Prior to that report, Cloudflare had resisted all calls to drop Kiwi Farms; however, this week, they abruptly made the decision to pull the plug.
Now they're being welcomed into Trump's personal social media site, where they can organize their conspiracy theories.
"Researchers with media watchdog group NewsGuard reported Monday that there were 88 users with more than 10,000 followers regularly posting QAnon nonsense," said the report. "More than half of those accounts were “verified,” similar to Twitter’s own verification system. More than that, former President Donald Trump actively platformed 30 of these accounts a total of 54 times in the few months since he came onto the platform earlier this year."
They also noticed that "pariah" CEO Devin Nunes and former White House adviser Kash Patel both tag QAnon's account which has 214,000 followers. The billion-dollar investor of the site, Patrick Orlando, also likes to repost the QAnon slogan, “WWG1WGA,” or “Where we go one, we go all.”
Earlier this spring, Trump reposted a QAnon post that suggested a "civil war" was coming. He also reposted a quote from John F. Kennedy, which the QAnon world is obsessed with. They believe that JFK Jr. will come back to life and run on a ticket with Trump in 2024.
Facebook and its parent company Meta left the progressive conference Netroots Nation after protesters didn't give them the warm welcome they anticipated.
Attendees and 101.1 The Wiz radio station revealed that the Facebook Users Union organizers attacked the company's signs with their own, attacking them for collecting private and sensitive data from those seeking abortions.
There was a report earlier this month about Facebook turning over information about a teenager who had a pharmaceutical abortion after the cutoff date in Nebraska.
At the same time, Facebook has allowed fake pharmaceutical producers to offer "abortion pill reversal" drugs, Media Matters reported.
"Netroots Nation attendees entered the area around the Meta booth to the call and response chant," the Wiz reported, "When abortion rights are under attack, what do we do…stand up, fight back."
Facebook has had a long and complicated relationship with progressives after allowing former President Donald Trump to violate terms of service with posts and ads during the 2016 campaign season. Facebook also made money off of international companies that were driving wedges and stoking fears targeting races.
A 2021 analysis by The Washington Post revealed that the site gives an advantage to conservatives on the platform. Facebook says that the right-wing is just better at stoking fears and responses than progressives. The reality is that Facebook has allowed false information to stand from conservative sources. While there are supposed to be protections in place to stop fake news, it typically takes so long for the review and removal that the story has already spread across the platform. As a result, the top 25 posts on Facebook are very rarely from Democratic sources.
Late last year, a Facebook whistleblower told Congress "she studied how the social network's algorithm amplified misinformation and was exploited by foreign adversaries."
Frances Haugen told Congress that the social media site always chose to increase the user base over implementing safeguards. When there were studies that revealed the harms of the site, they intentionally hid it from the public.
"The result has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats and more combat. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people," Haugen testified.
"During my time at Facebook, I came to realize a devastating truth: Almost no one outside of Facebook knows what happens inside Facebook," Haugen said. "The company intentionally hides vital information from the public, from the U.S. government, and from governments around the world."
Netroots Nation isn't merely a conference for progressive people, it's for progressive activists who seek to be better activists and organizers. The attendees are incredibly well versed in news, as Netroots Nation came out of "Yearly Kos," a gathering of bloggers. Until Meta fixes its problems with progressives, they're likely to continue seeing an angry response.
The protests took place on Friday, and by Saturday their booth was gone from the exhibit hall and a panel they intended to host had been canceled.
See some of the videos and videos from the action below:
\u201cAin\u2019t no power like the power of the people, because the power of the people don\u2019t STOP! \n\n@meta (Facebook) is no longer at @Netroots_Nation, shoutout to everyone who showed up in solidarity, and for NN organizers for doing the work\n\n#NN22 #netrootsnation\u201d
\u201cActivists at #netrootsnation just protested @meta's coffee booth in the exhibitor hall.\n\nIt's unclear why a giant corporation known for spreading hate and disinformation has a presence at a progressive political conference. #NN22\u201d
\u201cSome seriously mixed feelings about @Meta @facebook being a sponsor of #NN22 there\u2019s a protest underway in the town hall (vendor area) asking @Netroots_Nation & @dailykos to do better, ask tougher questions and support workers.\u201d
A person purporting to be a Chicago police officer has been posting on the anonymous message board 4chan in the politics board. It has prompted a conversation over whether the poster is an actual officer, reported Fox23. Users of the site only get a serial number when they post.
Many of the posts are racist or homophobic and they include photos of the Chicago police uniforms, ID badge and a gun, but they're covered so that the owner can't be identified.
"The person making the posts claimed to be a military veteran and a beat cop who worked in the Rogers Park and Chicago Lawn police districts. Among other things, the user bragged about racially profiling people and being involved in two on-duty shootings," said the report.
The site has long been a gathering place for antisemitism, racism and white supremacy and far-right extremist ideologies. It became the spot where QAnon launched the conspiracy theories that continue to cause problems for the Republican party and, indeed, law enforcement themselves.
In 2017 a person claiming to be a high-level government official began posting on the site. According to the person they had "Q-level clearance," which is a clearance level used at the Environmental Protection Agency. Conspiracies persisted throughout former President Donald Trump's administration.
Someone reached out to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability to issue a complaint on Monday about the possible officer, which sparked the probe.
Motherboard revealed that Facebook turned over data to police so that they could prosecute a teenager for seeking an abortion.
In states around the country, abortion has been banned, but in a few states, legislatures passed bills that allowed vigilantes to track down people who had abortions. What is problematic in this case, is that the incident happened in a state where abortion isn't illegal. However, it happened later in the pregnancy, which is against Nebraska's cut-off date.
At the same time, the abortion wasn't a procedure, it was a pharmaceutical abortion, meaning the teen and her mother legally purchased the medicine for the abortion and used them. Nothing illegal took place, but Facebook turned over the information nonetheless.
"According to court records, Celeste Burgess, 17, and her mother, Jessica Burgess, bought medication called Pregnot designed to end pregnancy," the report explained. "Pregnot is a kit of mifepristone and misoprostol, which is often used to safely end pregnancy in the first trimester. In this case, Burgess was 28 weeks pregnant, which is later in pregnancy than mifepristone and misoprostol are recommended for use. It's also later than Nebraska's 20-week abortion ban (abortion at 28 weeks is legal in about half the country; Nebraska's abortion laws have not changed Roe v. Wade was overturned)."
The teen is being charged as an adult with a felony "removing/concealing/abandoning dead human body" and two misdemeanors, concealing the death of a person and false reporting. Her mother is being charged with five felonies.
All of it happened prior to the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
An autopsy shows that the fetus was stillborn but the final autopsy wouldn't make any conclusions.
"An exact cause [of death] was unknown, but the lungs didn't indicate they'd ever contained any air." A final autopsy report "stated the cause of death was undetermined. The findings were consistent with the fetus being stillborn but the placement of the fetus into a plastic bag raise the possibility of asphyxia due to suffocation."
Facebook always complies with subpoenas, as do most other tech companies.
Facebook sent Raw Story the following statement: “We received valid legal warrants from local law enforcement on June 7, before the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The warrants did not mention abortion at all. Court documents indicate that police were at that time investigating the alleged illegal burning and burial of a stillborn infant. The warrants were accompanied by non-disclosure orders, which prevented us from sharing information about them. The orders have now been lifted.”
According to Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX), the legislation from the Senate that would invest in manufacturing semiconductors on U.S. soil was a suggestion from former President Donald Trump's secretaries.
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Thursday, McCaul couldn't figure out why his GOP colleagues refused to back the bill.
"I'm going to vote what's right for the country and national security. I'm not going to vote against my own bill," McCaul said.
When Raw Story asked about the GOP opposing the law, McCaul said he couldn't figure it out.
"Look, you know, the inception of this bill came to me from the prior administration," he told Raw Story. "Trump's national security team, Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser, Secretary Wilbur Ross, [Robert] Lighthizer, that we have to protect our semiconductors capacity. We need to manufacture them in this country and not let it go offshore, particularly when you look at Taiwan having 90 percent of the semiconductor manufacturing capability."
"Imagine with the threat from China right now, if China takes over Taiwan, they will own the global market of 90 percent of semiconductor production and manufacturing in your phones, in your automobiles, even our most advanced weapons systems, which I'm most concerned about."
McCaul went on to say that in his role on the foreign affairs committee he gets classified briefings that other members don't get. The bill, he said, is "vitally important to our national security."
He went on to complain that two years ago he passed the same piece of legislation in the national defense reauthorization and that it got unanimous support at the time from both sides.
"It's been hijacked for two years by the Senate primarily, for political reasons, for other things to get passed on it," McCaul continued. "And, you know, that's a shame about politics today. A national security bill getting hijacked by politics? Come on."
San Francisco (AFP) - Uber will offer several million dollars in compensation to tens of thousands of passengers with disabilities who were charged extra fees, US prosecutors said Monday.
The case brought by the US Department of Justice centered on disabled passengers allegedly being made to pay wait charges because they needed extra time to board vehicles.
Under the settlement, Uber will issue credits to more than 65,000 eligible riders that are worth double the amount of wait time fees they were ever charged, which could potentially amount to millions of dollars.
The ride-share company also agreed to pay over $1.7 million to riders who complained to Uber about the fees, and $500,000 to other impacted people.
"People with disabilities should not be made to feel like second-class citizens or punished because of their disability, which is exactly what Uber's wait time fee policy did," said assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke.
Uber said it was "pleased" by the settlement.
"Prior to this matter being filed we made changes so that any rider who shares that they have a disability would have wait time fees waived automatically," the company said.
Uber charges a fee if a driver has to wait more than two minutes to pick up any passenger, but the Department of Justice said applying those fees to riders with disabilities amounts to unlawful discrimination.
Under the terms of a two-year agreement, Uber will continue to waive wait time fees for riders who need more time to board because of disabilities, and ensure refunds are easily available in event such fees are wrongly charged, prosecutors said.
Has Elon Musk developed cold feet? Is he experiencing buyer’s remorse? Or is he trying to create drama for the markets, true to his public persona? Or could Musk be negotiating for a better price?
Musk started buying Twitter stock in January. On March 14, he announced a 9.2 per cent stake in the company. On April 5, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced that Musk would join Twitter’s board of directors, and called it a “welcome” move that would make Twitter “stronger in the long-term.” On April 10, Agrawal announced that Musk decided against joining the board.
On April 21, Musk presented a detailed plan to finance the US$44 billion deal. Importantly, Musk would pay US$21 billion of his own funds that would largely come from the sale of his Tesla stock holdings, and he would further borrow US$13 billion against his Tesla holdings. Having seen a concrete financing plan, Twitter’s board accepted Musk’s offer on April 25.
On May 19, Bloomberg reported that the Twitter deal would be going ahead without any re-negotiations.
Happily ever after?
It should have been happily ever after for Twitter and Musk, but on May 17, Musk expressed concerns that 20 per cent of Twitter accounts are fake, that his offer was based on Twitter’s subscriber count being accurate, and that he would not proceed with deal unless there was proof that fewer than five per cent of accounts are fake.
Besides, Musk never made his calculations based on price per subscriber multiplied by Twitter’s subscriber count. His move was primarily about what he wanted to make of Twitter. Or it may have been a vanity purchase: acquiring a modern-day newspaper, like many rich people do (Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post and Rupert Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal).
If Musk really believed that many Twitter accounts are fake, why did he tweet so often? Musk made so many important announcements on Twitter, including his notorious tweet about taking Tesla private.
Ripple effects
So, what happened since his earlier announcements? In my opinion, two factors changed Musk’s mind. First, a meltdown in technology stocks, particularly media stocks, meant that Twitter as a standalone company was no longer as valuable as it was in early January.
Second, Tesla’s shareholders were shaken by Musk’s moves. They became worried that Musk would spend his time changing Twitter, instead of paying undivided attention to championing electric vehicles. They must also be worried about their highly indebted CEO, who now plans to sell or pledge Tesla’s shares to indulge his personal whims. Tesla’s stock fell from US$1,091 on April 5, when Twitter announced Musk’s joining the board of directors, to US$728 on May 17, just before Musk questioned Twitter’s subscriber count.
This price drop amounts to a US$380 billion loss. Musk owns about 175 million shares in Tesla, which means that he personally suffered a US$64 billion loss, far exceeding the US$44 billion he planned to pay for Twitter.
Musk is a shrewd businessman and a smart negotiator — one doesn’t become the world’s richest person by just smoking weed. He now likely realizes that going after Twitter is not worth it and he has more to lose than gain from this deal.
Cutting losses
In my opinion, he has now started laying the groundwork to pull out from the deal.
It is not easy to simply walk away from a signed deal. While the preliminary merger agreement provides for the possibility of a breakup, it can happen only under specified circumstances. In this situation, Musk must pay US$1 billion as a termination fee.
In addition, Twitter may “specifically enforce the obligations under the merger agreement,” meaning that Twitter can enforce the agreement. Indeed, the Twitter board of directors recently indicated that it intends to pursue this option, including with court action.
Where do we go from here? Twitter stock is trading at a 30 per cent discount to Musk’s offer price, which means that investors seriously doubt the deal would go through. A protracted legal battle is on the cards. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would become even more cautious in future deals with Musk.
Musk has already suffered financial losses, and his reputation has taken a hit. He mocked executives at Twitter with a wave of abusive tweets.
As far as Twitter is concerned, my advice would be to collect the US$1 billion termination fee from Musk and move on. By pursuing a protracted legal battle, Twitter would lose employees and subscribers.
Let Musk focus on what he does best, that is, to innovate with new technologies. And let Twitter focus on what it does best, to create a digital town square for global news and public opinion.
The House Intelligence Committee held the first hearing on UFOs and unidentified areal phenomena (UAPs) in 50 years on Tuesday, but the connoisseurs of such research and information weren't happy with what they saw.
At one point, deputy director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray was asked about transparency on the part of the Pentagon and the American public. He and under Secretary for Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie explained that very little is actually shared with the public.
The UFO enthusiast community wasn't surprised, with some explaining that the U.S. government has never been forthcoming about projects researching such phenomena. The military program codenamed Project Blue Book took place between March 1952 and Dec. 17, 1969. It wasn't revealed to the public until amateur historian John Greenewald posted 100,000 pages of documents on the program online on a site called The Black Vault. Prior to that, the government began researching UFOs after the Roswell incident in 1947, under an operation called Project Sign.
Bray and Moultrie insisted that as far as they knew, no program existed between Project Blue Book and the existing task force, which began in 2020. Prior to the task force, a research project was funded by the U.S. Senate at the urging of former Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) to research the reports of UAPs. It existed between 2007 and 2012, only becoming public after a whistleblower came forward to report his observations while working as a U.S. Navy pilot on "60 Minutes." He reported he saw UFOs every day for at least two years.
UFO enthusiasts disputed that the government has ever stopped following or researching the phenomena after Roswell.
#UAPHearings Carson asks abt secret DOD programs- Is there a process to rule out our own black programs? Does this new agency have the access to find out?
Hopefully, in twenty years, they will be seen as heroes. \n\nCourage to speak comes from a place of truth. They witnessed something inexplicable, and when that comes from pros, that says something we should listen to. \n\n#uaptwitter #UFO #ufotwitter #UFOHearings #UAPHearings
They can call human reverse engineered alien antigravity technology \u201cterrestrial objects or technology\u201d and be considered telling the truth. \n\nThese people are playing word games.\n\n#UAPHearings #UAPHearing #ufotwitter
— A devilishly real curious cat (@A devilishly real curious cat)
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This was one of the pivotal moments of #UAPHearings. This was nothing short of the US Congress's declaration of war on those who, for decades, have profited from the truth behind the UFO phenomenon and from its exploitation.\n\n#ufotwitter #uaptwitterhttps://twitter.com/Peloquin1977/status/1526572698171736065\u00a0\u2026
— Daniel del Vecchio (@Daniel del Vecchio)
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Whether intended or not, Bray & Moultrie\u2019s testimonies come across as disingenuous to the US public (\u201cYou want the truth? You can\u2019t HANDLE the truth!\u201d springs to mind). @rosscoulthart what are ur thoughts on the linguistic gymnastics the DoD are employing in these #uaphearings?
Other viewers were angry that there weren't any questions about the March 24, 1967 Malmstrom incident when unidentified flying objects managed to disable all nuclear weapons simultaneously. Captain Robert Salas told the Science Channel in 2014 that a terrified guard stationed above the nuclear bunker called to report a glowing red object moving like nothing they've ever seen before.
The lights in the bunker turned from green to red, which indicates to those working at the nuclear missile controls that they couldn't launch. Sales feared they were under attack and noted it was an "inexplicable incident." A week earlier, the missile crew at a nearby base observed the same thing. Their nukes also went off-line at the same time when the lights were over them.
Speaking in the Tuesday hearing, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) asked about the incident and entered into the congressional record the "Wilson Memo." The 2002 document is known to ufologists as an alleged leak from the military yet on UFOs. A retired Defense Intelligence Agency official, an Adm. Wilson turned over a transcript of a meeting that reveals secret government groups that possess alien bodies and UFO crash retrievals.
The document, which has never been verified by the Defense Department, claims among other things that the men in the meeting "knew about intelligence on US mil/intell ufo close encounters — and foreign gov't encounters. Seen records. Told [Will] Miller." Will Miller owned and operated Miller Investigations and Polygraph Services for years. He grew up in Roswell, New Mexico and his father was a state police officer.
Entering the memo into the record from a member of congress is being considered by some as validation, but neither military leader had ever heard of the memo.
Wow. That was far from a nothing burger. The Wilson docs got validated. They said they are working with space force and space command. Mr. Moultrie said there was no \u201cofficial\u201d programs in between blue book and AATIP. This is a big day. #ufotwitter #UAPtwitter #UAPHearings
@MikeforWI Nice work bringing up Malmstrom. NORAD and Air Force have data. Air Force mysteriously absent on the UAP session. No surprise. When can we expect Dr. Eric Davis and Admiral Wilson to testify on validity of the memo? #uaptwitter #ufotwitter #UAPHearing #UAPHearings
Actually, not much. Lots of hedging. No knowledge of Malmstrom incident? Either these guys are inept and not engaged, or BS-ing us. \nI believe, based on their body language, they are inept and don\u2019t have answers. \n#UAPHearings #UAPHearing #ufotwitter #UFOHearings #uaptwitter
Members followed that same line of questioning throughout the hearing, with one asking if the men knew of any recovered crashed crafts. The officials said that it wasn't something they could talk about outside of a classified setting. Among the many things the operation has focused on, however, is the use of international technology that could be used to spy on the United States. Alleged UAPs simply mean they weren't identified and that falls under any international aircraft.
Krishnamoorthi: Do you have any wreckage or knowledge of crashed alien spaceships?\n\nBray: That\u2019s a secret question that I can\u2019t answer on camera. *wink* #UAPHearings
Other observers were miffed that the military testified that they don't coordinate with public reports of UAPs in a given area. So, groups like Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), which tracks reports of what has been observed by the public, aren't adding to the data set of what the military observes and reports. The only things that are being recorded are that which the military and FAA observe.
These #UAPHearings are a joke so far. No mention of MUFON reports when asked about civilian data captures. No Malmstrom case review? Witewash
In the next stages of the project, the military leaders said that they do intend to begin incorporating public accounts into their data sets.
"Everything you can't explain is in a bucket called data. Is that correct?" asked Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT). "That would mean data collected by sensors, observations and everything that we can't explain quote, unquote is in a bucket called data. A narrative report, the victims had a little information on it would be in our database and unresolved."
"I would add that it's insufficient data, I mean, that's one of the challenges that we have," explained Moultrie. "Insufficient data on the event itself, the object sits he have, or insufficient data to plugin with some other organization or agency that may have had something in that space at that time. So, it's a data issue that we're facing in some instances, congressman."
Gallagher then asked about incorporating public data, which Moultrie explained they don't have the resources to research. They don't chase down every UFO report, for example, made by a rancher in Idaho somewhere. They only deal with data collected by the government that uses the same intelligence gathering using sources and methods consistent across the board.
Pentagon's top official vows to seek information & analysis on unidentified aerial phenonena\n\nThey're taking this serious finally\n#UAPHearings #UFOs\n#ResistanceUnited \n\n"US House subcommittee holds public hearing on unexplained aerial sightings "https://twitter.com/i/events/1526229204957769729\u00a0\u2026
— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6Noelle\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 Detests the Stench from the Bench (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6Noelle\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 Detests the Stench from the Bench)
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A congressional Democrat has regularly slammed Facebook's tolerance of disinformation as a serious problem -- but it's not serious enough for her to drop her $1 million to $5 million investment in the company.
The Daily Beast is pointing out that Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) has regularly blamed the site for adding to the "divisiveness" in the U.S. and while demanding that the government “hold tech companies accountable."
“I know that Facebook, Twitter, and other tech companies have been asked to testify before Congress about the algorithms, about the implications of them, as well," she said at a recent town hall.
She also blames the site for helping connect those organizing ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. While most of the militias organized their activities using encrypted apps, one of those, WhatsApp, is also owned by Facebook parent company Meta. Meanwhile, the casual supporter of Donald Trump who hadn't joined a militia was gathering information and organizing on Facebook.
According to 2021 financial disclosure documents, however, the Democrat and her husband own between $1 million and $5 million in Meta stock, the Facebook parent company. It's the largest investment in the company in all of Congress. It's unknown if Luria has attempted to use her investments as leverage to address reforms in the company.
Luria hasn't received any money from the Facebook political action committee, and it's unclear if the reason is her outspoken opposition to the company. She also might not even accept such a donation as many Democrats refuse corporate campaign dollars, particularly from companies they oppose.
Like many campaigns, however, hers is using Facebook to advertise, to the tune of $354,540. While it may seem like a hefty sum to most, the multi-billion dollar company might see such an investment as nothing more than coffee money.
Ethics laws like the STOCK Act were supposed to regulate the corporate investments of companies that elected officials hold by ensuring that they couldn't use information not publicly available to make their investment decisions. Democrats have argued that the 2012 law is too weak and are demanding a more souped-up version.
The New York Times reported Monday that the US's international intelligence agency is using the dark web upload details in a way to bypass any of the Russian monitors. They're also using social media platforms like YouTube to explain to Russians how they can use private networks and a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt information.
"The instructions, written in Russian, are meant to be relatively simple to follow," said the report. "Russians are told to use a VPN to contact the CIA They can also download the Tor browser, which allows users to access the dark web and submit information anonymously, without either the agency knowing where it came from or Russian security services knowing someone was contacting the Americans."
CIA spokesperson Susan Miller explained that they're working to ensure that any Russian who wants to help the "unjust war" can do so "safely." The report also indicated they're using other means to push out information, but didn't disclose them.
Tor browsers protect the identity of those using it using encryptions bouncing through various different way-points around the world making it difficult to trace.
For the past months, anti-Putin Russians have protested in whatever ways they could. Putin responded by passing new laws that effectively outlaw using the words "war" or "invasion" to describe the attacks on Ukraine. Thousands of Russians have been arrested for what they're calling "fake news" that opposes the Russian military.
“The Kremlin is wiping out all options for dissent to ensure that brave anti-war protesters do not return to the streets,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “When President Putin goes after such a fundamental right – the cornerstone of democracy – with such totalitarian tactics, he is dispensing with any pretense that his government has any respect for rule of law, human rights, or democracy.”
After Ovsyannikova was arrested, Channel One colleague Zhanna Agalakova also quit her job as the Europe correspondent for the Russian state television outlet. Two other journalists at Channel One's rival station NTV left as well. One of those was 30-year veteran reporter Vadim Glusker and Lilia Gildeyeva who has worked for the channel since 2006.
On Twitter, people post comments like "Russians, you can stop this war." But as Maya Volf, a producer for Russian YouTuber Ilya Varlamovexplained, they can't. "Even just getting information and sharing it with others is really dangerous for us and our families. For example, my husband is in Turkey right now because I am afraid for him."
