[FoxNews] FBI accused of breach of duty investigating Jeffrey Epstein's child sex crimes
A dozen of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government alleging that the FBI failed to properly investigate the financier's sex-trafficking crimes as far back as the 1990s.
"Jeffrey Epstein’s penchant for teenage girls was an open secret in the high society of Palm Beach, Florida and the Upper East Side of Manhattan which was disregarded by the FBI," reads the lawsuit on behalf of 12 Jane Does. "Epstein orchestrated an illegal sex trafficking ring for the elite and the FBI failed to adequately investigate the abuse, failed to interview the victims, failed to investigate the crimes and did not follow routine procedure or offer victim assistance notwithstanding credible reports and tips."
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleges that all 12 women were victimized by Epstein and "co-conspirators" because of the FBI's alleged past failures and that current FBI Director Christopher Wray has done nothing to "right that wrong," as Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn requested he do in a December 2023 hearing.
[NYPost] The US Marine Corps’ deadliest sniper, Charles “Chuck” Mawhinney, who went nearly two decades avoiding any recognition for his kill record until it was revealed in a book, has died.
Mawhinney died at his home in Baker City, Oregon, on Feb. 12, the Baker City Herald reported.
He was 75.
Born in Lakeview, Oregon, Mawhinney began his legendary career in 1967 after he graduated from high school and enlisted in the Marine Corps that year to fight in Vietnam.
Upon joining the service, he attended Scout Sniper School at Camp Pendleton and, following his graduation in April 1968, received orders to South Vietnam on a 16-month rotation, according to the US Marine Corps.
From 1968 to 1969, Mawhinney — still only a teenager — was credited with 103 confirmed kills.
An additional 216 kills were listed as “probable” since the enemies’ bodies were risky to verify in the active war zone.
Mawhinney had confirmed kills over 1,000 yards, with the average kill shot for snipers during the Vietnam War taken at a distance of 300 to 800 yards.
He received a Bronze Star with Combat Valor, Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat Valor, and two Purple Hearts.
Despite having the highest kill count of any sniper in the branch’s history, Mawhinney returned home in 1970, slipped back into everyday life without recognition, and secured a job with the US Forest Service.
For years, it was believed that fellow Marine Corps legend Carlos Hathcock held the highest kill count as a sniper with 93: He still has one of the longest kills ever recorded at 2,500 yards.
It wouldn’t be until 1991 when one of Mawhinney’s spotters in Vietnam, Joseph T. Ward, wrote the book “Dear Mom: A Sniper’s Vietnam” and credited him with holding the record, citing his 101 kills.
At first, many weren’t aware of the book — Mawhinney included.
However, word slowly began to spread in the years to follow that Mawhinney was being credited with the most confirmed sniper kills in Marine Corps history.
It caused controversy among members of the sniper community, who still believed Hathcock held the record.
Peter Senich, a military historian and author specializing in sniping and small arms, went to verify Ward’s claim in the Marine Corps archives and found he was wrong. Mawhinney didn’t have 101 kills — he had 103.
Mawhinney, a man who valued his privacy and was not seeking any fame for his actions in Vietnam, agreed to an interview with Senich in 1997, which was featured in the Baker City Herald.
“It’s an opportunity for me to get some recognition for a lot of the Vietnam vets that didn’t receive any recognition,” Mawhinney said.
“We were all there together. If I have to take recognition for it, that’s OK, because every time I talk to someone, I can talk about the vets. It gives me an opportunity to talk about what a great job they did.”
Following his interview and newfound fame among the military community, Mawhinney retired from the US Forest Service in 1997 and began attending events across the country with his wife, Robin.
The legendary sniper told his life story to author Jim Lindsay, who wrote the book “The Sniper: The Untold Story of the Marine Corps’ Greatest Marksman of All Time” in March 2023.
“He was a good man,” said Lindsay in an interview with The Oregonian Wednesday, sharing that Mawhinney never boasted about his kills and said he “did what I was trained to do.”
“He was a good father, a good husband and an asset to the community. He was a pretty cool cat.”
Mawhinney leaves behind a wife and three children.
[SpokesmanReview] A few years ago, Jubilant HollisterStier
...a wholly-owned subsidiary of India-based pharmaceutical company Jubilant Pharmova Ltd...
was the only Washington company producing COVID-19 vaccines.
This past week, the company announced progress to several substantial expansions to their Spokane facility that will dwarf its current capacity when completed.
About three dozen politicians and industry professionals attended an event at the HollisterStier building Thursday in east Spokane to attend two announcements: One expansion project is complete and another one is commencing.
When both are completed, the plant’s total footprint will be more than 423,580 square feet.
The projects are estimated to cost a total of $285 million.
[BBC] Japan joins other Asian countries in releasing a digital nomad visa, but barriers to entry might be too high for most.
Japan's Immigration Services Agency just announced it will start issuing its long-anticipated digital nomad visa within the next few weeks. According to the Japan Times, the visa will be available to nationals of 49 countries, a list that includes the United Kingdom and the United States. Once obtained, visa holders can legally live and work remotely from anywhere in the country for up to six months.
It has come as welcome news to the global digital nomad community, with the announcement garnering plenty of praise in online communities such as Reddit's r/DigitalNomad sub and hundreds more comments on the social platform's r/Japan page. However, would-be digital nomads have been quick to point out that, like many new digital nomad visas, this one comes with some rather hefty requirements for eligibility.
As Japan Times reported, applicants must show they earn a minimum income of ¥10 million (about £54,356 or $66,622). Applicants must also hold private health insurance, and visa holders will not be allowed to obtain a residence card. The visa expires after six months and is not eligible for renewal. Although it comes with steep terms, the visa is likely to be a popular one. It's the result of a survey of digital nomads, who overwhelmingly indicated they'd prefer to be able to stay longer than the current, 90-day visa-free tourist stays allow.
And why not allow for an extended stay? After all, Japan ranked as the fastest-growing remote working hub in 2023, according to data shared with CNBC by Nomad List, a website for remote workers, which analysed more than 300,000 check-ins on its database.
But, beyond simply providing supply for the growing demand, Japan is also likely hoping to cash in on the economic benefits that can come with digital nomads moving in. As the BBC previously reported, a 2023 survey by Carlos Grider estimates that digital nomads contribute nearly $800bn to the global economy annually. A lot of that cash was flowing to places such as Portugal and its neighbouring nation of Spain. The former was home to nearly 16,000 digital nomads in December 2023, according to Nomad List, thanks to its Golden Visa residency program for expats looking to make Portugal a permanent home – plus a newly launched digital nomad visa of its own. As for Spain, VisaGuide.World named the country the top destination for nomads thanks to its visa's low barrier of entry, requiring proof of income at just €2,600 (£2,225, $2,394) per month, which equates to less than half the yearly salary Japan will soon require. Japan's high-income requirement also appears to be a trend across several countries in Asia that are dipping their toes in the digital nomad visa waters.
"AI images are acting as a gateway"
[BBC] A charity that helps people worried about their own thoughts or behaviour says an increasing number of callers are feeling confused about the ethics of viewing AI child abuse imagery.
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation (LFF) says AI images are acting as a gateway.
The charity is warning that creating or viewing such images is still illegal even if the children are not real.
Neil, not his real name, contacted the helpline after being arrested for creating AI images.
The 43-year-old denied that he had any sexual attraction to children.
The IT worker, who used AI software to make his own indecent images of children using text prompts, said he would never view such images of real children because he is not attracted to them. He claimed simply to be fascinated by the technology.
He called the LFF to try to understand his thoughts, and call handlers reminded him that his actions are illegal, regardless of whether or not the children are real.
The charity says it has had similar calls from others who are expressing confusion.
Another caller got in touch after discovering that her 26-year-old partner viewed indecent AI images of children, but said they were not serious because the pictures "aren't real". The offender has since asked for help.
A teacher asked for the charity's advice because her 37-year-old partner was viewing images that seemed illegal, but neither of them was sure if they were.
The LFF's Donald Findlater says some callers to its confidential Stop It Now helpline think that AI images are blurring the boundaries for what is illegal and morally wrong.
"This is a dangerous view. Some offenders think this material is in some way OK to create or view because there are no children being harmed, but this is wrong," he says.
In some cases, AI abuse images might also be wrongly labelled or advertised as AI-made and the difference in realism is becoming harder to spot.
Mr Findlater says that deviant sexual fantasy is the strongest predictor of reoffending for anyone convicted of a sexual crime.
"If you feed that deviant fantasy, then you're making it more likely you're going to do harm to children," he said.
The charity says the number of callers citing AI images as a reason for their offending remains low, but is rising. The foundation is urging society to recognise the problem and lawmakers to do something to reduce the ease in which child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is made and published online.
#2
“The IT worker, who used AI software to make his own indecent images of children using text prompts, said he would never view such images of real children because he is not attracted to them. He claimed simply to be fascinated by the technology.”
Why would he think his story was believable?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/17/2024 14:45 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Why would he think his story was believable?
Because this is what passes for high cunning in the nerd world.
The case does bring up some interesting questions though. Kiddie stuff is pervy, but is it a crime if you just think about it? I'm not sure I buy the 'gateway drug' theory, but what are you going to do with people that are mis-wired?
[LettersFromAustralia] Australians are more likely to be attacked by a shark than they are to die of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).
But last month the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved a new RSV vaccine for Australians aged over 60 - and British corporation GSK wants it put on the National Immunisation Program so your taxes can pay for it, the ABC reports.
This one product has so far earnt £1.2 billion ($2.3 billion) in global sales for GSK, contributing to total 2023 sales of £30.3 billion ($58.45 billion), but they want more.
RSV is a mild and common respiratory virus which the Health Department said is best treated by rest and plenty of fluids.
It’s not like rabies or tetanus where you’ll die without a vaccine.
There were only 82 recorded hospital deaths in adults aged over 65 from RSV in the decade from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2015 across Australia, according to the Medical Journal of Australia.
That is 8.2 per year.
That is less than the number of shark attacks in 2022 (nine), or in 2021 (24) or in 2020 (23).
If you are under 65 the rate of RSV death is even lower, at 56 in the decade. That is 5.6 per year.
No matter what age you are, you are more likely to be attacked by a shark in Australia than you are to die of RSV.
RSV wasn’t even a nationally notifiable illness until then-Health Minister Greg Hunt made it one in 2021.
Now it’s on the notification list there are thousands of cases counted every year. Shazaam! A new and unmet medical need. Look how many there are.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen: “Americans should feel confident that inflation will come down to levels that will no longer really be noticeable or worrisome to them.” Ht @judyshel
Translated: Yellen: Soon we will get inflation to a level where you won’t notice and we can…
[Breitbart] The latest demographic data from Canada showed the male population increasing by 3.4 percent, while females grew by only 2.9 percent, the widest disparity between the sexes in almost half a century.
Analysts pointed to heavy immigration from military-age males as a driving force in the demographic shift.
Bloomberg BNN noted on Thursday that almost all of Canada’s net population growth is due to immigration, “especially among foreign students and temporary workers.”
“From the late 1970s to around the early 2010s, Canada’s population increasingly skewed female, but the trend has been reversing over the past decade as the male cohort grew faster. In 2022, the gap between men and women was at its narrowest in more than 30 years,” BNN said.
The male-female imbalance in Canada is even more pronounced among young people, where the male population grew 4.8 percent but females grew only 3.9 percent. Demographic analysts pointed out that older, homogenous populations in advanced economies usually skew female because women live longer, but heavy immigration tends to bring in large numbers of young men.
Canada’s two largest sources of immigrants are India and the Philippines. The Indian Canadian community has been much in the news lately due to the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver in June 2023. A major diplomatic conflict broke out in September after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of assassinating Nijjar.
2023 saw a remarkable 167-percent increase in the number of students from Ghana studying in Canada, with particular enthusiasm for earning degrees in information technology and medicine. Overall, India has the most students in Canada, followed by China and the Philippines.
Like most industrialized nations, Canada is aging – lower birth rates and longer life spans are shifting the median age higher, which is a big problem for countries that expect young workers to finance benefits for elderly retirees and pensioners.
Canada has long been enthusiastic about addressing this problem by importing young workers from other countries. As of 2023, immigrants comprised about one-sixth of the Canadian population. Most of the countries experiencing the most severe population collapses, like China, Japan, and South Korea, have traditionally been more reluctant to encourage large-scale immigration.
#1
Most of the countries experiencing the most severe population collapses, like China, Japan, and South Korea, have traditionally been more reluctant to encourage large-scale immigration.
..cause they have a distinct identity, history, and culture they wish to preserve and have pride in.
[CNBC 13 Sep 2013] John Brennan, President Obama’s nominee to be director of the CIA, like many government employees took a three-year turn through the private sector before rejoining the administration — but it was nothing like the blandly profitable corporate stints of other federal bureaucrats.
When Brennan went to work for a private intelligence contractor called The Analysis Corporation, he entered a murky milieu of transnational private spy firms with taxpayer-fueled profits. And he found himself working for a Ferrari-driving foreign boss who made much of his money on the dangerous streets of Iraq.
In that world, Brennan was forced to deal with a situation he would never have faced in his earlier days at the CIA: Brennan’s corporate parent was looking for lucrative contracts from Chinese state-owned companies at the same time Brennan’s unit worked on sensitive US intelligence issues in Washington.
Brennan wound up as an employee inside a multi-layered company with offices in Baghdad, where it sought sensitive security business from the Iraqi government; suburban Virginia, where it sought sensitive intelligence business from the US government: and Beijing, where it sought sensitive security business from the Chinese that involved providing physical security and gathering information about potential security threats for Chinese business interests in Iraq.
#2
Never let the memory hole swallow the Brennan-Obama State Department Passport File story. The whole question of Barry's early travels that somehow disappeared.
"The CEO of a company whose employee is accused of improperly looking at the passport files of presidential candidates is a consultant to the Barack Obama campaign, a source said Saturday.
Analysis Corp. President John Brennan, shown here in 2004, advises Barack Obama, a source tells CNN."
[X] A new report says Russia didn't want Trump to win in 2016, they wanted Hillary and the CIA knew it. Obama's CIA director, John Brennan, manufactured evidence for the Russia hoax, according to @shellenberge and @mtaibbi.
#1
Denver Post 4 Nov 2017 - BLUF: So yes, it does matter that the Clinton campaign financed the Trump-Russia dossier, and that the Clintons had cozy relationships with Russians as a major uranium contract was being approved, and that Clinton lied about being the target of spy operations. And it’s time for all fair-minded people to say so.
[NYPost] Sen. Joni Ernst is demanding information about President Biden’s Department of Agriculture spending $1 million in US taxpayer funds on “dangerous bird flu experiments” in cooperation with the Chinese government — and a researcher connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to a letter exclusively obtained by The Post.
Ernst (R-Iowa) wrote to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday for details about the project, which involves “a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus” and is being conducted “in collaboration” with the UK, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Wenjun Liu, a researcher “affiliated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Center for Biosafety Mega-Science Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens.”
The Biden administration awarded the $1 million grant from April 2021 to March 2026 for “wet-lab virology” experiments involving “strains of avian influenza virus” that “pose the greatest risk to avian or human populations.”
The Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing will help with tests to infect vaccinated chickens, mallard ducks, species of Chinese geese and Japanese quail to evaluate the virus’s transmissibility and “potential to jump into mammalian hosts.”
Ernst told Vilsack to hand over any departmental information about whether there are any safeguards in place, if the experiments constitute risky gain-of-function research, and what portion is being done in China.
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.
[Breitbart] The latest demographic data from Canada showed the male population increasing by 3.4 percent, while females grew by only 2.9 percent, the widest disparity between the sexes in almost half a century.
[NYPost] Sen. 
