-Lurid Crime Tales- | |
Man allegedly connected to California fertility clinic bomber arrested at JFK: source | |
2025-06-05 | |
[FoxNews] Suspect arrested at New York airport following last month's explosion that killed bomber and injured four An individual allegedly linked to the primary suspect in a car bombing outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic has been arrested, Fox News has learned. The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Daniel Park, was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City overnight, and is charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist. Park waived his identity and probable cause hearings in a Brooklyn federal courtroom Wednesday and is set to be transported to California to face prosecution. Park allegedly supplied Guy Edward Bartkus with the materials needed to construct the explosives, with the last shipment arriving just days before the attack, according to United States Attorney Bill Essayli. "Law enforcement learned that Park spent approximately two weeks visiting [the primary suspect’s] residence in 29 Palms in late January and early February of this year, spending time together running experiments [in the suspect’s] garage, where the FBI recovered large quantities of chemical precursors and laboratory equipment after the bombing," Essayli said in a news conference. Authorities used a cellphone recovered from the crime scene to identify Park, according to the criminal complaint. Park allegedly used an AI chatbot to search for
Park traveled to Poland four days after the bombing, where he was arrested by local authorities on May 30 and deported back to the United States. Authorities were unable to confirm if Park initially traveled abroad in an attempt to flee the country. A search of Park's home in Kent, Washington revealed six packages of explosive materials, according to authorities, leading them to believe the items were allegedly mailed to Southern California prior to the attack. Fox News Digital was unable to immediately identify an attorney representing Park. Attorney General Pam Bondi worked to secure the expulsion and subsequent arrest of Park, according to the Department of Justice. "Bringing chaos and violence to a facility that exists to help women and mothers is a particularly cruel, disgusting crime that strikes at the very heart of our shared humanity," Bondi said in a statement. "We are grateful to our partners in Poland who helped get this man back to America and we will prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law." Last month, 25-year-old Bartkus was identified as the perpetrator behind the bombing outside the American Reproductive Centers facility. Four people were injured and Bartkus was killed in the blast. Surveillance footage and online postings show Bartkus parking behind the building before ingesting drugs and detonating the explosive device. Authorities allege Park and Bartkus targeted the center in an attempt to destroy human embryos stored on-site after being motivated by a fringe "pro-mortalism" ideology movement, which views human reproduction as immoral while believing death is preferable to life. | |
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Government Corruption |
Nellie Ohr, Justice Department official's wife, perjured herself with ‘demonstrably false' Trump-Russia testimony: bombshell FBI records |
2025-05-29 |
![]() The wife of a former Justice Department official gave “demonstrably false” testimony to Congress about her involvement in drafting and disseminating since-debunked dossiers about Donald Trump’s purported collusion with Russia in 2016, according to a bombshell trove of internal FBI records released Wednesday by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Nellie Ohr worked for research firm Fusion GPS when it was hired in the lead-up to the 2016 election to dig up dirt on the Trump campaign’s alleged links to Russian organized crime — but later told a House panel she did not know about the DOJ’s parallel investigation into the matter. Evidence assembled by the FBI indicates that Ohr helped compile two dossiers — including the notorious file pushed by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele — that helped launch the bureau’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The Fusion GPS research repeated errors or included information similar to that discovered later in the Steele dossier. Ohr also sent emails — some of which she later deleted — directly to DOJ prosecutors, not all of whom she admitted to interacting with in subsequent congressional testimony. Ohr’s husband Bruce, then a deputy associate attorney general, received more emails as well as a thumb drive from Nellie containing Fusion GPS research that was passed on to the FBI. The couple personally met Steele at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on July 30, 2016, and discussed allegations — later relayed to the bureau — that Trump campaign aide Carter Page had met with Russian officials and that Kremlin intelligence had the Republican candidate “over a barrel.” While the Ohrs invoked spousal privilege before Congress on the question of whether they discussed the Trump-Russia probe, the declassified FBI files put out by Grassley reveal the bureau determined there was “little distinction” between the couple’s professional and personal lives. “There is probable cause to believe that Bruce and Nellie did communicate with each other about their respective activity in furtherance of the Russia-collusion investigations and/or narrative,” the 43-page FBI document written in September of 2019 states. The records were compiled in response to a criminal referral made that year by then-Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) that claimed Nellie Ohr knowingly gave false testimony about her involvement with the collusion investigation to the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees in October 2018. Related: Nellie Ohr 05/18/2023 Durham report: Ex-DOJ official and wife had bigger roles in Steele dossier than known Nellie Ohr 05/17/2022 Christopher Steele says sources tell him Putin is seriously ill Nellie Ohr 05/15/2022 Confirmed: Nellie Ohr Lied About Ham Radio To Congress… |
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
Some Secret - Satellite Overheads Reveal 'Secret' Iranian Nuke Facility | |
2025-05-10 | |
[RedState] On Thursday, Fox News revealed some satellite imagery of a formerly secret Iranian nuclear facility.Fox News has exclusively obtained satellite imagery revealing what an opposition group says is a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility – raising fresh concerns amid ongoing negotiations between Tehran and the Trump administration. This is the chilling part: According to NCRI sources, the primary function of the Rainbow Site is the extraction of tritium – a radioactive isotope used to enhance nuclear weapons. Unlike uranium enrichment, tritium has virtually no peaceful or commercial applications, casting further doubt on Iran’s longstanding claims that its nuclear ambitions are solely for energy or civilian use. Tritium, we should note, isn't used in producing fission weapons of the sort that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tritium is used to boost fission bombs for a substantial increase in yield, and it is used as a primary fuel source in thermonuclear weapons, or hydrogen bombs. This would indicate that Iran is looking to take their nuclear weapons to the next level. Fusion weapons are orders of magnitude more powerful than fission weapons. Talks with Iran are still going on, undeterred by the release of these images. The revelations come as the Trump administration navigates sensitive negotiations with Tehran. When asked about the U.S. position on whether Iran can maintain a nuclear enrichment program short of weapons development, President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday, "We haven’t made that decision yet. We will, but we haven’t made that decision yet."
NCRI Reveals Iran’s Secret ‘Rainbow’ Facility Linked to Nuclear Weapons and Missile Program | |
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Home Front: Politix |
Judge blocks Trump admin from targeting Democratic law firm after attorneys warn of firm's demise |
2025-03-13 |
[FoxNews] 'It truly is life-threatening,' lawyers for the firm said of the executive order. 'It will spell the end of the law firm.' A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order seeking to penalize Democrat-linked law firm Perkins Coie, siding with plaintiffs from the firm who argued that the order was unconstitutional and a violation of due process protections. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell comes just one day after attorneys representing the law firm Perkins Coie filed a request for an emergency restraining order blocking Trump's executive order from taking force. Among other things, the order called for the firm's employees to be stripped of their security clearances and banned from accessing government buildings. It also called for the termination of the firm's existing contracts with government clients— actions Judge Howell appeared to agree with. "That’s pretty extraordinary power for the president to exercise," she noted during the hearing. Attorneys for Perkins Coie argued that the executive order is a violation of due process protections, free speech, and free association protections under the U.S. constitution, and argued it would effectively force the firm's business to a halt. "It truly is life-threatening," attorneys for Perkins Coie told the judge. "It will spell the end of the law firm." Judge Howell appeared to uphold their concerns, noting at one point in the hearing that it "sends little chills down my spine" that the Trump administration moved to label the firm as a threat and deny them access to government entities and businesses. Lawyers for Perkins Coie argued the executive order would be "like a tsunami waiting to hit the firm" in terms of damaging impact. Already, they said, there is evidence that some of the firm's clients have withdrawn legal work from their firm or are considering doing so, moves they said would cause the firm to lose "signifcant revenue." The order, signed by President Donald Trump last week, sought to penalize Perkins Coie, which has long represented Democratic-linked causes and candidates, including Trump's former opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election. The firm also played a role in hiring Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that commissioned the so-called "Steele Dossier" and published it shortly before the 2016 election. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, appeared in federal court to represent the Trump administration in the lawsuit. The hearing, and rare court appearance from Mizelle, a senior member of the U.S. attorney general's office, comes one week after Trump signed the executive order. The order, titled "Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP," accused Perkins Coie of "dishonest and dangerous activity" that they alleged undermines "democratic elections, the integrity of our courts, and honest law enforcement," as well as "racially discriminating against its own attorneys and staff" through its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. Trump told reporters last week it was an "absolute honor" to sign the order, adding that "weaponization" against a political opponent "should never be allowed to happen again." However, Perkins Coie attorneys argue the Trump administration has done just that by targeting the firm. "Its plain purpose is to bully those who advocate points of view that the President perceives as adverse to the views of his Administration, whether those views are presented on behalf of paying or pro bono clients," they noted in the emergency lawsuit. Attorneys representing Perkins Coie told Howell that roughly 25% of total firm revenue comes from its contracts with government clients, which they noted would be terminated by Trump's executive order. Notably, this is not the first time the Trump administration has sought to restrict the work of certain law firms he sees as potentially opposed to his interests. Earlier this year, Trump also issued an executive order targeting the law firm Covington & Burling, which represents former special counsel Jack Smith, who was tapped by Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate Trump in his handling of classified documents and actions related to the 2020 election. The order against Covington & Burling was slightly less restrictive, however, and revoked the security clearances of just two lawyers at the firm. Like Perkins Coie, it orderd the review of all the firm's government contracts and clients, though it is unclear if the review has forced any terminations of the contracts. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Related: Perkins Coie 10/15/2024 Lawfare is Jihad Against Our Country - Kunstler Perkins Coie 02/20/2024 Did Our Intelligence Agencies Suggest The Russia Hoax To Hillary Clinton's Campaign? Perkins Coie 06/23/2023 John Durham Gives Chilling Response to Harriet Hageman Question About Two-Tiered Justice System: ‘The Nation Can't Stand' (VIDEO) Related: Beryl A. Howell 03/10/2025 Jalisco Cartel's Supreme Boss's Son Sentenced to Life in U.S. Prison Related: Fusion GPS 10/15/2024 Lawfare is Jihad Against Our Country - Kunstler Fusion GPS 07/03/2024 Russia Hoaxer Marc Elias' Firm Sues To Let Foreign Billionaires Buy Ohio Elections Fusion GPS 02/20/2024 Did Our Intelligence Agencies Suggest The Russia Hoax To Hillary Clinton's Campaign? Related: Steele Dossier: 2025-02-23 Allies in Europe & NATO looking for ways to safeguard Top-Secret Information from the Trump Administration Steele Dossier: 2025-01-24 Trump's CIA Director John Ratcliffe: John Brennan's ‘Tenure One of Worst Things That Ever Happened to Agency,' Need to Depoliticize Intelligence Steele Dossier: 2024-12-31 Nunes vows oversight of U.S. intel from White House panel Related: Jack Smith 03/11/2025 Note how they were exited from the building-Is the Pardon Attorney's Dismissal Sign of an Investigation Into Biden's Last-Minute Pardons? Jack Smith 03/06/2025 Where's Hunter Biden? Jack Smith 03/03/2025 Tulsi Gabbard Identifies Biggest National Security Threat, and It's Not What We've Been Told |
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-Lurid Crime Tales- | |
Power lesbian Corey Burke murders her father with an ice axe in Election Night meltdown at Seattle home | |
2024-11-13 | |
![]() Corey Burke, 33, allegedly struck, stabbed and strangled her father, 67-year-old Timothy Burke, in a fatal attack at her $800,000 Seattle home on November 5. Burke, a training manager at Jeff Bezos' rockets and spacecraft company, confessed to killing her father after he refused to turn off the lights, according to charging documents seen by DailyMail.com. After emerging from the house with blood 'dripping' down her face, she confessed to police that she 'freaked out,' claiming there was 'something important about Election Day.' Burke reportedly told detectives that 'she knew that she could not convince her father to keep the lights off', so went upstairs and retrieved the murder weapon. She then tripped her father and strangled him before attacking him with the ice axe. Burke then bit him and hit him several times in the head and side with the blunt and sharp ends of the ice axe, cops say. His body was found in the basement. Burke claimed she knew the killing 'needed to happen today,' according to a police report. She allegedly told police she had to bite her father while choking him because 'he was too strong.' Burke added that she felt better once her father 'went limp.' Burke also told police that as her father labored to breathe after the attack, 'the defendant sat next to him until he stopped breathing.' Investigators say Burke came out of the Rainier Valley home with a bloody face and appeared to be having a mental health crisis. Burke had apparently smashed several windows and later told police she did so in an 'act of liberation' after she killed her father. She had reportedly been 'clapping inside her home' when cops arrived. The police report also includes her claims that she'd been 'reborn' on her 33rd birthday last month. She initially did not [let] police enter the home, and detectives only went in after neighbors expressed concern for her father. A neighbor first dialed 911 after spotting her smashing picture windows. The officer who responded to that call discovered the horror she'd unleashed inside. Police say they recovered a bloody silver-and-blue ice climbing pick at the crime scene. Burke was initially taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. The day after the murder she reportedly whispered to one police officer, 'I killed him.' Burke added that she had a strained relationship with her father and said she had been 'overwhelmed' on election day. She added that she wanted to help people 'change their attachment to their parents.' According to police documents, Burke allegedly described how she killed her father, saying 'it was really hard, really fu****g hard' and 'there were points where she felt she wasn’t going to be able to.' Burke was charged with first-degree murder on Friday and is being held on $2million bail. She is due in court on November 21. Neighbors told police the father and daughter lived in the home together, and that Timothy was mostly home-bound because of health issues. She purchased the home she shared with her father in 2023. Her wife, Samantha Leigh Allen is an editor at Conde Nast's transgender news website Them.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Blue Origin for comment on this story. | |
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Government Corruption | |
Lawfare is Jihad Against Our Country - Kunstler | |
2024-10-15 | |
Marc Elias was the original expeditor of the RussiaGate hoax in 2016 from his perch at Perkins Coie, then Hillary Clinton’s campaign law firm, which laundered payments to Christopher Steele, front-man for Glenn Simpson’s Fusion GPS political PR shop, which concocted the fraudulent “dossier” and set in motion a train of DC intel blob legal shenanigans aimed at defenestrating Donald Trump from the White House — the Mueller Investigation, impeachment, etc. While all that was going on through the Trump term, and with the Covid-19 Op providing cover, Mr. Elias engineered the 2020 changes in many states’ election laws and bylaws to permit large-scale mail-in voting, organized ballot-harvesting activities, and introduce the use of drop-boxes for receiving bundled votes. He and his George Soros-financed staff lawyers sued states that attempted to require voter-identification, and provided legal protection for Mark Zuckerberg’s $419-million-dollar assault on election precinct staffing in swing states. When the 2020 election concluded suspiciously, Mr. Elias and his gang joined lawsuits in every case where the balloting was contested and got more than sixty of them dismissed on the basis of “standing,” without the merits of the cases being heard. This is Lawfare. This time around, 2024, Mr. Elias has done everything possible to ensure that millions of illegal aliens stuffed into swing states will have their putative identities attached to harvested mail-in ballots from addresses such as Walmart parking lots and storage units, and has filed lawsuits wherever a state threatens to require proof of citizenship for voting. He has also filed sixty peremptory lawsuits to obstruct attempts to audit any election count after November 5 — as if it is an affront to democracy to even ask questions about official misconduct. A parallel Lawfare scam underway is the Democratic Party-sponsored 65 Project that seeks to disbar Trump-adjacent lawyers who attempt to challenge any voting irregularities in this year’s election. Its mission statement reads: The 65 Project is a bipartisan effort to protect democracy from these once-and-future abuses by holding accountable Big Lie Lawyers who bring fraudulent and malicious lawsuits to overturn legitimate election results, and by working with bar associations to deter future abuses by establishing clear standards for conduct that punish lies about the conduct or results of elections. Related: Benjamin Wittes 06/23/2017 Public Accounts by Friends Show James Comey Leaked While FBI Director Benjamin Wittes 05/22/2017 Comey pal sez Director thought POTUS hug was off-putting Benjamin Wittes 10/25/2016 Ex-Klingon director calls Hannity a ‘true propagandist' Related: Marc Elias 07/15/2024 Trump's enemies make him stronger Marc Elias 07/03/2024 Russia Hoaxer Marc Elias' Firm Sues To Let Foreign Billionaires Buy Ohio Elections Marc Elias 05/20/2024 Turley: Judge ‘Hand-Picked’ to Oversee Trump Persecution Illegally Donated to Biden and the Democrats | |
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Government Corruption |
Russia Hoaxer Marc Elias' Firm Sues To Let Foreign Billionaires Buy Ohio Elections |
2024-07-03 |
[Federalist] A prominent Democrat law firm, founded by an architect of the Trump-Russia hoax, is suing to let foreign billionaires meddle in Ohio elections. Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 1 on June 2, banning foreign nationals from spending money on state ballot measures. Elias Law Group, founded by Russia hoaxer Marc Elias, challenged the bill in court on June 27, according to The Associated Press. Elias, while working for a law firm whose client was Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, paid Fusion GPS for the infamous Steele dossier that accused former President Donald Trump of ties to Russia. He then peddled the dossier to bureaucrats and legacy media. Elias founded the Elias Law Group in 2021 to do the bidding of Democrat politicians, according to Influence Watch. The group, along with the law firm Cooper Elliott, sued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, claiming that the state’s election integrity measure would harm public discourse. "All noncitizens are now threatened with investigation, criminal prosecution, and mandatory fines if they even indicate they intend to engage in any election-related spending or contributions — including to support or oppose ballot questions in virtually any capacity," the lawsuit reads, according to the AP. The Ohio law prohibits foreign nationals including green card holders, foreign political parties, foreign governments, and foreign businesses from contributing funding for "ballot issues or candidates." So perhaps Elias’ real issue with Ohio’s ban on foreign campaign funding is that it keeps Democrats from doing what he falsely accused Trump of doing. The law simply bans foreign funders from interfering in Ohio elections to boost partisan turnout. Caitlin Sutherland, director of Americans for Public Trust, pointed out the hypocrisy of Democrats who pretend to care about "foreign interference." "For those following along at home, this means the attorney for a foreign billionaire is suing to make sure he can keep spending in Ohio," Sutherland wrote on X about Elias’ client, Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. "I thought Dems said foreign interference is a problem?" Compromised Interests According to Influence Watch, Elias’ firm took $5 million from George Soros "sometime before 2016" to "challenge what left-wing activists allege to be restrictions that deter Democrats and left-wing constituencies from voting." The firm also represented the left-wing dark-money behemoth Arabella Advisors in 2022. Wyss — known as the "new Soros," according to Bloomberg — has also given some $52 million through the Wyss Foundation to Arabella groups from 2010 to 2020. The groups have worked closely together over the years. The Daily Caller revealed in 2016 that Wyss had given $41,000 to Democrat causes in 1998-2003, violating the federal ban on foreign nationals giving to campaigns. Americans for Public Trust filed a complaint in 2021 alleging illegal election interference from Wyss, the Wyss Foundation, and Arabella’s Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund, and the Berger Action Fund, which was previously the Wyss Action Fund. Wyss has also interfered in Ohio elections, reportedly funding groups that sent a total of $3.9 million to help codify a supposed right to abortion in the state’s constitution. The ballot measure passed in November. So essentially, a lawyer for Wyss’s interests is now suing to return the levers of power in Ohio to people like the foreign billionaire. Wyss clearly has political aims, as the Wyss Foundation worked with John Podesta, former adviser to President Barack Obama, in 2015 to expand the Democrat voter base with election policy. The Elias’ Law Group’s suit is not about fair treatment for foreigners residing in America. It is simply a desperate power grab for the dark-money influencers that seek to co-opt American elections for their own ends. This bill overcame plenty of conflict to become law. Now Elias’ firm hopes to undo this protection for Ohio voters. Like some of Elias’ previous work, the judge in this case should treat it as an "absurd interpretation" of the law for partisan ends. |
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Government Corruption |
Did Our Intelligence Agencies Suggest The Russia Hoax To Hillary Clinton's Campaign? |
2024-02-20 |
If a Biden campaign adviser conspired with some of the biggest names in the intelligence community a month before the 2020 election to bury the damaging scandal, it is no stretch to think the Hillary Clinton campaign might have sought an assist from the same folks to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. We’ve also long known the Clinton campaign funded the Steele dossier, the primary evidence used by the FBI to obtain four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act wiretap orders against a Trump campaign associate. The Clinton campaign’s efforts to peddle the Russia-collusion hoax to the FBI and the media are likewise well-established. But did the Clinton campaign’s plot to portray Trump as a Russian asset also involve the intelligence community, and if so, when did those efforts start? Open-source material suggests the Clinton campaign’s efforts to push the Russia angle against Trump began in June 2016, when the Democrat law firm Perkins Coie contracted with Fusion GPS, which in turn retained Christopher Steele to investigate Trump’s connections to Russia. While there are several connections between the Clinton campaign and members of the intelligence community beginning in July, there is a dearth of evidence suggesting coordination between the two before then. |
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Africa Horn |
Malta-flagged ship remains hijacked off Somalia |
2023-12-31 |
[Garowe] A Maltese-flagged commercial ship hijacked two weeks ago in the Arabian Sea is anchored off Somalia. Transport Malta said in a statement it was monitoring the situation aboard the Malta-flagged ship RUEN together with the Armed Forces of Malta and the European Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta. The ship, hijacked on December 14, was being managed by a Bulgarian company and had a crew of 18 seafarers of Bulgarian, Angolan, and Myanmar nationalities aboard. "The RUEN crossed the Arabian Sea initially headed towards the northeastern coast of Somalia and then navigating southwards towards Eyl. "The military assets deployed from EU Operation Atalanta and the Information Fusion Centre - Indian Ocean Region continued to follow and monitor closely the RUEN vessel movements on her southbound heading," TM said, adding the ship was currently anchored at 2.5 nautical miles of the coast at Baqbaq Somalia. |
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-Lurid Crime Tales- |
Owner Of California Biolab Tied To Chinese Government And Military, House Report Finds |
2023-11-16 |
![]() Jia Bei Zhu, 62, allegedly served as a "corporate officer" within Chinese "military-civil fusion organizations," according to materials shared by the Select Committee on the CCP. Zhu was arrested in October for "manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices in violation of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and for making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)." (RELATED: Biden To Lift Sanctions On Chinese Human Rights Abuser In Exchange For Xi’s Latest Promise To Combat Fentanyl: REPORT) "Zhu is a PRC citizen who served as a corporate officer on military-civil fusion organizations within the PRC and private organizations affiliated with or partially controlled by the PRC government," the committee’s film stated. Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) is a CCP "strategy to develop the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into a ’world class military’ by 2049," according to the State Department. "The CCP’s MCF strategy allows a growing number of civilian enterprises and entities to undertake classified military R&D and weapons production." Zhu also served as an executive at several "PRC government-controlled and directed companies," according to the committee’s report. Between April and June 2023, officials in Fresno, California, discovered at least 20 potentially infectious agents, such as HIV and Malaria, as well as mice genetically engineered to carry COVID-19, at an "unlicensed" laboratory in Reedley, California, operated by Prestige Biotech Inc. (PBI), the successor of defunct Universal Meditech Inc. (UMI), Fresno County court records state. Zhu allegedly admitted that he operated his many companies in order to "further PRC policy and to meet the city demands of a PRC premier," according to the committee. While living in the U.S., Zhu "operated under the false alias David He ," according to the committee’s findings, and received "large unexplained money transfers from PRC bank accounts" amounting to over $2 million. |
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-Lurid Crime Tales- |
Disgraced FBI Official Charles McGonigal Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy |
2023-08-17 |
[RedState] As anticipated, former FBI official Charles McGonigal pled guilty on Tuesday to one count of conspiracy in federal court in New York arising out of his efforts to aid Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in evading U.S. sanctions. The Information filed Tuesday (and which can be viewed in its entirety below) alleged one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which authorizes the president to regulate international commerce, including investigating and imposing controls on transactions and freezing foreign assets under U.S. jurisdiction when a national emergency is declared as to any external "unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States." The Information alleges that in furtherance of the conspiracy, McGonigal: a. From in or about August 2021 through in or about November 2021, McGONIGAL and others, acting at the behest of Oleg Deripaska, whom the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated as a Specially Designated National on or about April 6, 2018, sought to gather derogatory information about a rival of Deripaska, in violation of IEEPA. McGonigal was originally charged with five counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering (and conspiracy to commit same), and violating the IEEPA (and conspiracy to commit same). Pursuant to Tuesday's plea, the remaining four charges will be dismissed. McGonigal, 55, was formerly the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau's counterintelligence division from 2016 to 2018, which ironically meant that he was involved in investigating former President Donald Trump for Russian collusion, then essentially engaged in it himself. As streiff explained in January: McGonigal was a key figure in creating the Russian Hoax. He’s the guy who received the allegation made by Australian High Commissioner to the UK Alexander Downer that Trump campaign aid George Papadopoulos said the Russians have “dirt on Hillary.” For a trip down memory lane, read Was a Drunken Conversation Really All the Probable Cause the FBI Needed to Investigate a Presidential Campaign? At the plea hearing on Tuesday, McGonigal expressed remorse for his actions. The former FBI special agent in charge of the agency's counterintelligence division from 2016 to 2018 told the federal judge that he took over $17,000 from Deripaska in exchange for collecting derogatory information on a different Russian oligarch. Deripaska was a business competitor with the person McGonigal was paid to find derogatory information on. In addition to facing up to five years in prison, McGonigal must forfeit $17,500 pursuant to his plea agreement. He is scheduled to be sentenced in December. Charges against McGonigal for misleading the FBI regarding his contacts with foreign nationals and concealing $225,000 he allegedly received from an Albanian intelligence employee remain pending in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. |
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Science & Technology |
US scientists recreate nuclear fusion in lab, achieve higher yields |
2023-08-08 |
[GEO.TV] Scientists in the US achieved greater energy after conducting nuclear fusion, as they were also behind a breakthrough of a historic nuclear fusion carried out in December last year, reported AFP Monday. The world was amazed in December as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced it had carried out an experimental nuclear reaction that put out more energy than was put into it — a holy grail of science in the quest for unlimited — clean power to bring an end to the use of fossil fuels. "We can confirm the experiment produced a higher yield than the December 2022 experiment," public information officer Paul Rhien said Monday in a statement, without providing further details. He added: "The Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, lab planned to report the results at upcoming scientific conferences and in peer-reviewed publications." The nuclear fusion was first reported by the Financial Times. Nuclear fusion is regarded as a clean, abundant, and safe source of energy that could eventually allow humans to ditch coal, crude oil, natural gas, and other hydrocarbons that are behind the global climate crisis. However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... it is a long journey before fusion is viable on an industrial scale, providing power to residences and commercial spaces. Nuclear power plants around the world currently use fission — the splitting of a heavy atom’s nucleus — to produce energy. Fusion on the other hand combines two light hydrogen atoms to form one heavier helium atom, releasing a large amount of energy in the process. On Earth, nuclear fusion reactions can be provoked by heating hydrogen to extreme temperatures inside specialised devices. Like fission, fusion is carbon-free during operation, and has additional critical advantages: it poses no risk of nuclear disaster and produces much less radioactive waste. During December’s experiment, the lab used 192 ultra-powerful lasers to deliver 2.05 megajoules of energy to a tiny capsule smaller than a pea containing isotopes of hydrogen. It produced 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy output. While the result was a net energy gain, 300 megajoules of energy were needed from the electrical grid to power the lasers. |
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