[MSN] U.S. authorities and their European partners have dismantled a massive malware network that has been used by prolific ransomware groups to extort tens of millions of dollars from victims worldwide.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that the FBI has gained access to more than 700,000 computers throughout the world, including 200,000 in the United States, that have been infected with the Qakbot malicious software and was in the process of removing it from victimized devices.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California described Qakbot during a press conference Tuesday as "one of the most notorious and pernicious botnets in the world" and the law enforcement effort that took it down as the "most significant technological and financial operation ever led by the Department of Justice against a botnet."
First detected in 2008, Qakbot was malicious software that infected computers worldwide. An unnamed cybercriminal organization then sold access to this botnet to other criminal organizations, who would use it coerce funds from their victims via ransom for either access to information on their infected computers or to prevent such information from being publicly distributed.
Estrada told reporters that Qakbot was "the botnet of choice" for cybergangs and that they have evidence of it being used in some 40 different ransomeware attacks that have cost governments and businesses roughly $58 million in the last 18 months alone.
[American Liberty] Law enforcement officials have confirmed a homicide investigation has begun following the suspicious death of a prominent New Hampshire Republican.
The body of Alexander Talcott was found at his Durham home on Saturday morning. An autopsy found he died from a stab wound to the neck.
The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office confirmed Talcott, 41, served as the state director for the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA), an organization committed to "advancing open, fair and honest elections."
"The RNLA is at the tip of the spear for our party in courtrooms and polling places all across the country. You ensure that Republicans get a fair shake and that Democrats, hard as this may be for them, play by the rules," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has said, praising the group's efforts. "When [a] Republican campaign needs a legal brief drafted at 3 a.m. on election night, they call you in their home states."
NBC Boston has more on Talcott's homicide, including remarks from William L. O'Brien, the former speaker of New Hampshire's House of Representatives:
[HISTORY HIT] After 9 months of fighting, including heavy, sustained losses, the Third French Republic signed an armistice with Nazi Germany. The new regime, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, was known as Vichy France.
Noted for its authoritarian, anti-Semitic and xenophobic tendencies, the new regime worked in collaboration with the Nazis and oversaw the rounding up and deportation of French Jews, bolstered the Nazis with forced labour, foodstuffs and raw materials and persecuted other ’undesirables’.
Debates have raged amongst historians about whether Vichy France was simply a puppet state of the Germans, whether it had its own agenda and how Vichy France can be viewed in relation to the French Republic. Only 4 senior Vichy officials were tried for crimes against humanity: a tiny number compared to how many were involved in upholding the new regime. Here are 5 of the most important figures in Vichy France.
#1
...Read William Shirer's The Fall Of The Third Republic. Seventy years old but probably still the best single volume account of why and how things went so horribly wrong. Petain was a senile puppet, Laval a malevolent sociopath, and the others arrogant, anti-semitic opportunists.
One thing they all had in common: they (with the qualified exception of Petain) were perfectly willing to see France go down to brutal, grinding defeat just so they could be in charge.
#3
Petain was a hero who stepped up to be the leader his country needed when the alternative was mass chaos. He knew he'd be villainized and accepted it.
The government that left Paris was still France's legitimate government. Degaulle, you say? You mean a colonel? A colonel who deserted his men and his nation to become a tool of foreigners? Petain isn't the only one who needs re-thinking.
#4
/\ Sorry HT, have we learned nothing from doddering old men seeking renewed relevance? No Gaullist here, but perhaps we should pick another French hero ?
May I suggest Mme Odette Brailly? There are many others of course.
#6
"After the fall of the government, Pétain was tried for treason by the new provisional government, led by Charles de Gaulle. He was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death, although due to his advanced age, this was commuted to life imprisonment. " It was the promises of "others" that Vichy kept that prompted this famous scene from Casablanca I suspect...
#1
Having lost Straight 2 friends due to Aids contaminated blood.
One who was given blood at a US Army Hospital in Germany after a C-section birth (1983) and the other here in the US given blood after a car wreck arm related injury (1988).
[Last Refuge] The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) released an urgent consumer notification that Citgo fuel services from the Port of Tampa accidentally mixed Diesel Fuel into gasoline tanker trucks that offloaded product at gas pumps in Tampa, Fort Myers, Cape Coral and other areas. [FDACS Notice HERE]
Customers who purchased Citgo gas at the affected areas after August 26th are at risk. Those fuel stations pumped diesel instead of unleaded gasoline.
#3
Seems like the problem would have been obvious once the first car fueled up. And should have been obvious to the delivery driver when he unhooked his hose and got the wrong odor.
#9
CITGO is still owned by the Venezuela state owned oil company. It's said that Venezuela "does not profit" from CITGO operations in the US due to "sanctions." I'd imagine all that money goes somewhere, and it isn't the widows and orphans of communism fund.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/30/2023 11:11 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Why do I think there is a "CRAPTON" of equity, money, and fungible assets belonging to CITGO moving offshore right now? Pretty sure those responsible have alternative residence locations outside Caracas or even Havana.
[GEO.TV] Idalia is projected to build into a major hurricane and make landfall early on Wednesday somewhere around Florida's Big Bend region, where the panhandle meets the peninsula.
Expected to strengthen to a Category 3 hurricane, Idalia could deliver sustained winds of at least 111 mph (178 kph), create dangerous coastal surges and drench parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas with up to 10 inches (25 cm) of rain, the National Hurricane Center reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2023 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Unlikely.
Back in 1935 a hurricane (not named back then) hit the Florida Keys with winds up to 180mph and barometric pressure of 892 milibars.
Idalia will likely get up to 125 mph (maybe 135) and maybe down to 940 mb.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/30/2023 0:08 Comments ||
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#5
^ Yes, and that's funny, because they built it up so as to build him up for failure. Now they have to find a "person of color" who had a gutter blown off their uninsured house so it can be reported that "DeSantis rayciss policies" are to blame.
I like the guy, but he is not going to be president. I think he ruined his political stock bu not sitting 2024 out.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/30/2023 10:08 Comments ||
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#6
It's a shame that they stopped using math in meteorology school.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/30/2023 10:28 Comments ||
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#7
Hurricane Camille, a Category 5 storm, made landfall in Mississippi with 175 mph winds, 24 feet of storm surge.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/30/2023 11:35 Comments ||
Top||
#8
What's the pool on DeSantis withdrawing to deal with the [storm] damage?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/30/2023 12:21 Comments ||
Top||
#10
#8 - Suspend (temporarily), because it's the right thing to do
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2023 12:30 Comments ||
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#11
In this case, yes. He is s till the governor here. Still, I am reminded of McShame "suspending" his "campaign" during the "financial crisis," which "of course," he was in a position to "solve."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/30/2023 13:14 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Worst part about the storm, Fla-NG 1-111 AV is distributing water and RAT food.
Whatever happened to Coke and Twinkies in a crisis?
#13
I don't think there's any way this can be built up to Katrina level excuses for ongoing failures by individuals a decade or two hence.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/30/2023 14:46 Comments ||
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#14
I read the article, but failed to grasp why Idalia "may be the most powerful". The lowest pressures only show up in the comments, not in the article.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/30/2023 15:05 Comments ||
Top||
[Fox via Gateway] For months, Democrats have been engaged in an effort to delegitimize the U.S. Supreme Court.
They have taken special aim at conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, using a smear campaign intended to attack his integrity.
Now over 100 former clerks have come to Thomas’ defense, co-signing a letter in response to the claims.
FOX News
Over 100 former clerks of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote an open letter defending him after recent news articles accused him of bending court ethics, saying that his "integrity is unimpeachable" and "his independence is unshakable."
"As his law clerks, we offer this response. Different paths led us to our year with Justice Thomas, and we have followed different paths since. But along the way, we all saw with our own eyes the same thing: His integrity is unimpeachable," the letter reads.
"And his independence is unshakable, deeply rooted seven decades ago as that young child who walked through the door of his grandparents’ house for a life forever changed," they wrote.
The 112 signatories on the letter include current solicitors general, general counsels, partners at litigation firms and law professors. Three circuit court judges also signed the letter: David Stras on the 8th Circuit, Jim Ho of the 5th Circuit, and Allison Rushing, 4th Circuit.
The lawyers described Justice Thomas’ upbringing, having "descended from West African slaves and born to a young mother, not more than 20, in segregated Georgia."
The left’s attacks on Thomas are shameful, and everyone knows why they’re doing it.
[AFRICANEWS] China and Algeria have joined forces in a significant partnership to construct an expansive 6,000 kilometers of railway lines within the North African nation, a move lauded by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune as pivotal in advancing his country's socio-economic progress. I miss President Bouteflika Combover
Earlier this month, Tebboune said in a regular interview with representatives of the national media that strengthening the railway sector is the "best guarantee of development", stressing that "our Chinese friends have agreed to this project, which will cover a distance of around 6,000 km." The aim is to facilitate the exploitation of mines, promote trade and create economic vitality in Algeria.
The ambitious railway project is part of the two countries' broader cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the massive China-proposed project to boost global trade and commerce by improving infrastructure and connectivity.
A member of the Algerian parliament said the project, which is to be supported by Chinese technical know-how and construction expertise, will connect all cities and regions in Algeria, and also pave the way for economic development in several African countries.
"China views Algeria as a gateway to Africa. It's a win-win partnership for both sides. This is the spirit of the Belt and Road Initiative and Algeria's development plan. Algeria views China as a trusted partner," said Said Hamsi, an Algerian MP, in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Saturday.
Algerian economist Karim Allam also said he believes that the mega railway project will provide significant opportunities for economic growth and job creation in the country.
"The Algerian President expressed his intention to entrust this mega project to the Chinese partners who have the experience and the expertise in this field. China is the second largest economic power in the world. Developing 6,000 kilometers of railway will allow Algeria to achieve a phenomenal economic growth," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2023 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#2
"Developing 6,000 kilometers of railway will allow Algeria to achieve a phenomenal economic growth," he said." What are they going to do, grow opium poppy? If a 6,000km. railroad offered significant economic growth it would have already been built.
[Gateway] After 90,000 supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters chanted "Kill the Boer, kill the Farmer" in Johannesburg July 30, the New York Times claimed the violent "struggle song" was not meant "literally", even as farm attacks spiked after the event (Gateway reported). On Aug. 17, a couple was brutally attacked by four men chanting "Kill the Boer." Thanks to quick reaction by civilian security structures, six culprits were apprehended. Very interesting series of reader comments.
[AFRICANEWS] Police in Nigeria said Tuesday they detained at least 67 people celebrating a gay wedding in one of the largest mass detentions targeting homosexuality, which is outlawed in the West African country.
The "gay suspects" were arrested in southern Delta state's Ekpan town at about 2 a.m. on Monday at an event where two of them were married, state police front man Bright Edafe told news hounds. He said that homosexuality "will never be tolerated" in Nigeria.
Arrests of gay people are common in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, where gay people can face up to 14 years in prison under the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. Accomplices face 10 years in prison. Enacted in 2013, the law has been condemned locally and internationally though it is also supported by many in the country.
Amnesia Amnesty International's Nigeria office condemned the arrests and called for "an immediate end to this witch-hunt."
"In a society where corruption is rampant, this (same-sex) law banning same-sex relationships is increasingly being used for harassment, extortion and blackmail of people," Isa Sanusi, the organization's director in Nigeria, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
Police in Delta stormed a hotel in Ekpan where the gay wedding was being held and initially arrested 200 people, Edafe told news hounds. Later, 67 of them were detained after initial investigations, he said.
He spoke at a cop shoppe where the suspects were being paraded.
"The amazing part of it was that we saw two suspects, and there is a video recording where they were performing their wedding ceremony," he said. "We are in Africa and we are in Nigeria. We cannot copy the Western world because we don't have the same culture.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2023 00:00 ||
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[AFRICANEWS] Zim-bob-we's main opposition on Tuesday called for fresh elections after its presidential candidate lost to incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa in a vote it lashed as flawed and illegal.
The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) urged the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... (AU) and southern Africa's regional bloc to help mediate a solution to the crisis that followed last Wednesday's vote.
"Zim-bob-we needs a fresh and broad and proper election to exit the current crisis," the CCC's deputy front man Ostallos Siziba told a presser in Harare.
Mnangagwa, 80, won a second term with 52.6 percent against 44 percent for the CCC's Nelson Chamisa, 45, according to official results announced late Saturday by the Zim-bob-we Electoral Commission (ZEC).
International observers said the vote fell short of democratic standards.
Balloting was troubled by delays, purportedly caused by the printing of ballot papers, that forced voting to spill into a second unprecedented day.
The opposition said the poll was marred by rigging and voter suppression and claimed victory.
Mnangagwa has rebuffed criticism saying the polling "demonstrated that we are a mature democracy."
He challenged those who contested his re-election to go to court.
"Those who feel the race was not run properly should know where to go to," he said.
Siziba appealed for African help in finding a way out of the crisis.
"The solution lies in calling upon our African brothers and those in the region, particularly SADC (and) the African Union, to help us to facilitate, to meditate, to scaffold and more importantly to guarantee a process that will lead our return to legitimacy," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Calling for fair elections seems unpopular these days.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/30/2023 16:50 Comments ||
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[Gateway] If this is the word on the street among many black voters, Democratic hopes for 2024 just got dimmer.
In a man-on-the-street interview by conservative activist and journalist Benny Johnson, a black man in Nashville let loose with a stream of criticisms of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris that should have had some ears burning in the D.C. Beltway.
The language takes a bit of getting used to, but once that’s out of the way, the message comes through loud and clear.
In his introduction to the video posted to YouTube on Sunday, Johnson said he was "reporting from Nashville, asking a question that didn’t have anything to do with Donald Trump."
"And one man just wanted to come and tell us what he thinks about our president, and it blew our minds," Johnson said.
#3
For ever Ice Cube there are 90 black influencers shilling for the Dem status quo. I appreciate that if Trump ends up behind bars, he will have some commissary headed his way.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/30/2023 18:20 Comments ||
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#2
/\ It would appear to be a common sense survival technique.
....followers of Haredi Judaism segregate themselves from other parts of society to an extent. However, many Haredi communities encourage their young people to get a professional degree or establish a business.
#5
I thought he was a jobless "professor" tutoring high school students.
Posted by: Cleared Cookies Lost Nic ||
08/30/2023 12:47 Comments ||
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#6
^ He was clearly beloved by all.
/sarc
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/30/2023 13:12 Comments ||
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#7
I seem to remember we had a Russian here that ghost wrote term papers.
And I was good at it because I'm a good schoolar: somebody who can look at a few despartate pieces and correctly figure the big picture.
On the other hand, the ultra-orthodox are fake schoolars because their study is mostly rote memorization of Halacha.
And they're fake Jews because their deification of their founding Rabbis - they f#cking pray to them the way Catholics pray to their Saints. Which is completely contrary to basic principles of Judaism.
#8
Not scholars, merely students. Of those multitudes who memorize for three years to get law degrees, what small percent make meaningful insights of use to society afterward? How many cannot earn much more than minimum wage from the work even after investing all that time and money?
My personal opinion is that Israeli tax dollars should not be supporting the generality of those who want to study Torah, but only the most gifted, who will provide a return on the investment, though I have no quarrel with private donations for the next tier. And especially, study of Torah should not be used as escape from military service or actual self-supporting work.
Rabbi Tzadok used to say: Do not make the Torah a crown with which to aggrandize yourself, nor use it as a spade with which to dig. As Hillel used to say: He who makes worldly use of the crown of the Torah shall perish. Thus you may infer that any one who exploits the words of the Torah removes himself from the world of life.
#9
Regardless of your faith tradition or creed, it seems obvious that if all God wanted us to do was study scriptures and worship, he could have just made us all angels in the first place. Instead, he put us here to be fruitful, multiply, accomplish a great number of things, accomplish great things, always strive for a reach that exceeds our grasp and make Him smile as we try against all to become worthy of being made in His image.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/30/2023 16:54 Comments ||
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#10
Or he would have created us with instilled divine knowledge instead of leaving us to find it (as someone else said yesterday?) via our own free will and limited intellect.
I am still on the path, with side-snark intervening. Mea culpa
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2023 18:22 Comments ||
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#11
Scum who called himself g(r)om wished death to people like me.
Wished failure of my business and all who depend on me. Death to all who disagreed that the vax was the holy grail for salvation. Death to all who disagreed.
(r) is scum. ESAD.
I changed my nic just to piss this punk off.
Sorry you're not dead.
I'd like to meet you....
The United States military plans to start using thousands of autonomous weapons systems in the next two years in a bid to counter China’s growing power, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks announced in a speech on Monday. In 97 genders?
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
08/30/2023 04:17 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/30/2023 9:29 Comments ||
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#9
These aren't meant for any foreign enemy. These are the ones who will be fighting us. With the Army crapping out due to wokism and low morale, the robot soldiers will step in. They don't have morale, and feel nothing about being ordered to fire on Americans.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[MSN] U.S. authorities and their European partners have dismantled a massive malware network that has been used by prolific 
/\ Sorry HT, have we learned nothing from doddering old men seeking renewed relevance? No Gaullist here, but perhaps we should pick another French hero ?
[GEO.TV] Idalia is projected to build into a major hurricane and make landfall early on Wednesday somewhere around Florida's Big Bend region, where the panhandle meets the peninsula.
[AFRICANEWS] China and Algeria have joined forces in a significant partnership to construct an expansive 6,000 kilometers of railway lines within the North African nation, a move lauded by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune as pivotal in advancing his country's socio-economic progress.
[AFRICANEWS] Police in Nigeria said Tuesday they detained at least 67 people celebrating a gay wedding in one of the largest mass detentions targeting homosexuality, which is outlawed in the West African country.
[AFRICANEWS] Zim-bob-we's main opposition on Tuesday called for fresh elections after its presidential candidate lost to incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa in a vote it lashed as flawed and illegal.
