[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] …accused fraudsters - as all seven defendants are arrested for bribery
A juror was dismissed after a woman left $120,000 in cash at her home
She was offered even more money for voting to acquit seven defendants
They were charged with stealing over $40million from a pandemic food program, Feeding Our Future
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson added who noted how the woman who delivered the cash was identified as Somali. The seven defendants on trial are East African.
Thompson said how a woman, 'possibly Somali, with an accent, wearing a long black dress' went to the juror's house at 8:50pm on Sunday.
The seven who are on trial are the first of 70 defendants expected to go to trial, being tried on a total of 41 criminal charges, including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering, in a conspiracy that cost taxpayers $250 million.
Eighteen others have already pled guilty, and authorities said they recovered about $50 million in one of the nation's largest pandemic-related fraud cases.
Prosecutors say just a fraction of the money went to feed low-income kids, while the rest was spent on luxury cars, jewelry, travel and property.
#2
NN, the judge went ballistic. Locked down the courtroom, seized the defendent's cellphones, revoked bail, told the jury "you're now sequestered, lunch and dinner will be brought to the the courthouse."
Cellphones to be held pending the warrant that the FBI was working on, and then received.
He was not amused.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/04/2024 8:14 Comments ||
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#3
I guess it's rayciss of me to wonder if the defendants have US passports. Oh, and was S0r0s involved in the funding of the defendants 'humanitarian work'?
Anybody know of a good re-education camp for me?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/04/2024 8:54 Comments ||
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#10
Somali's have a kleptocratic tribal culture and operate as a multi-generational, familial criminal enterprise. Any collective business or non-profit structure they operate should be high suspect. This level of government-program fraud is surprising only to those who are naive or racially intimidated from facing the obvious!
[BBC] Gunmen have killed the female mayor of a town in Mexico just hours after the country celebrated the election of Claudia Sheinbaum as the nation's first woman president.
Yolanda Sánchez was shot in the town of Cotija, which she had governed since September 2021.
She was the first woman to be elected to the post.
Widespread violence against politicians has overshadowed Mexico's general election, which saw two women run for the presidency.
Yolanda Sánchez was ambushed by gunmen in the centre of Cotija, Michoacán, on Monday.
Local media say she was shot 19 times and died in hospital shortly after the attack. Her bodyguard was also killed in the gun battle.
No arrests have been made so far in connection with the attack but it is widely thought that the gunmen belonged to an organised crime group.
Ms Sánchez had reported receiving death threats after taking up office in September 2021.
#3
The event in question: the waitress keeps forgetting orders, and doesn't write them down.
I can understand the yelling.
The ditz that the story comes from needs to hire the waitress and deal with it herself.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/04/2024 10:06 Comments ||
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#4
I can understand the yelling.
Yet another reason to hire robots: they don't mind being yelled at.
[ScienceAlert] AR 3664, responsible for several X-class flares, including the most powerful of the current solar cycle, rotated away from view onto the far side of the Sun in the middle of May. We couldn't see it as it made its way around, but then it re-emerged in style.
As it made its way back around the Sun's horizon with a brand new name; AR 3697; on 27 May, the sunspot erupted with another powerful X-class flare, this time an X 2.8....
the chance for more X-class flares is high, at around 30 percent, according to Spaceweatherlive.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Queen Mary and King Frederik have likely infuriated thousands of Danes by sending a 'clear message' about their new reign - after months of scrutiny surrounding their rumoured marriage troubles.
The newly-minted royals have decided to slash the amount of charities and community groups which are able to be supported by the royal family at any time.
In doing so, 118 groups have been cut from the official list of royal patronages leaving 140 to be represented by the family.
Continued on Page 49
#2
A model for all. Stop mindless giving to organizations you've given to for years and make sure they're still the organizations you thought they were those years ago.
#4
Children's homes in your community or near by are usually a good bet. If you are a regular, they put you on newsletter distribution. Seeing kids go to farm pond fishing tournament or singing at an old folk s home is personally rewarding.
#5
Agreed #2 Pk. I stopped giving to umbrella organizations, even when pressured at work, when I took a look at all the politicized NGOs they were supporting nationally... Target your charity.
[CNBC] Epoch Times CFO Bill Guan is charged in alleged $67 million global money laundering scheme.
The finance chief of conservative global news outlet The Epoch Times was arrested and charged with leading a yearslong scheme to launder at least $67 million in illicit funds.
The alleged scheme by Weidong Guan and others involved cryptocurrency, prepaid debit cards, fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and stolen personal identification information, according to federal prosecutors.
The money laundering scheme caused tens of millions of dollars to be transferred to bank accounts linked to the media company, prosecutors alleged.
Weidong “Bill” Guan, 61, is charged in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of bank fraud.
Guan was arrested Sunday morning, and pleaded not guilty on Monday afternoon before a federal magistrate judge in Manhattan, according to a court notice. He was released on a $3 million personal recognizance bond, and his travel is restricted to parts of New York and New Jersey, among other restrictions.
Guan “conspired with others to benefit himself, the media company, and its affiliates by laundering tens of millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and other crime proceeds,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
“When banks raised questions about the funds, Guan allegedly lied repeatedly and falsely claimed that the funds came from legitimate donations to the media company,” Williams said.
The Epoch Times in a statement said it has temporarily suspended Guan.
“The company intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Mr. Guan,” a spokesperson for the outlet told CNBC.
“In the interim, although Mr. Guan is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the company has suspended him until this matter is resolved.”
Guan, a resident of Secaucus, New Jersey, managed the Epoch Times’ “Make Money Online team,” which carried out the scheme to buy “crime proceeds” and transfer them to bank accounts linked to the media outlet, according to his indictment.
From 2020 to 2024, the team allegedly used a crypto platform to buy tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds at discounted rates, of 70 to 80 cents on the dollar, in exchange for cryptocurrency. The crime proceeds, which came from sources including “fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits,” were loaded onto tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards, prosecutors alleged.
After purchasing the crime proceeds, participants allegedly used stolen personally identifiable information to open various types of accounts and transfer the proceeds into bank accounts linked with the media outlet and related entities.
They were often laundered again through other accounts, including Guan’s own personal bank and crypto accounts, according to prosecutors.
To hide the illegal nature of the proceeds, Guan and his co-conspirators allegedly lied to banks and other entities about their sources.
NBC News and other outlets have reported on The Epoch Times’ affiliation with the Chinese religious group Falun Gong, which in recent years has supported former President Donald Trump as an ally in its opposition to the country’s ruling Chinese Communist Party.
The Epoch Times is not mentioned by name in the indictment. But Guan is listed as Epoch Times’ chief financial officer on the nonprofit media company’s most recent tax return, filed in late 2023.
Prosecutors alleged the money laundering scheme benefited “a multinational media company headquartered in Manhattan, New York.” The Epoch Times is headquartered on West 28th Street in Manhattan.
Prosecutors allege the scheme by Guan and his co-conspirators caused the company’s revenue to jump from “approximately $15 million to approximately $62 million” between 2019 and 2020.
The bank fraud counts each carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, while the conspiracy holds a 20-year maximum prison sentence. The charges against Guan “do not relate to the Media Company’s newsgathering activities,” the Department of Justice noted in a press release.
Given the way NY selectively applies and conducts justice. I guess some NON-MSM digging is in order to see the underlying or actual reason for the arrests so close to Elections.
#3
CNBC even got to drag Orange Man Bad Trump in this: NBC News and other outlets have reported on The Epoch Times’ affiliation with the Chinese religious group Falun Gong, which in recent years has supported former President Donald Trump as an ally in its opposition to the country’s ruling Chinese Communist Party.
The Epoch Times is not mentioned by name in the indictment. But Guan is listed as Epoch Times’ chief financial officer on the nonprofit media company’s most recent tax return, filed in late 2023.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/04/2024 9:59 Comments ||
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#4
nonprofit media company
There is that word again. Can't we just say "scammy"? Or "scamulous", if you want a little more class.
#8
^ They also think the USA would not exist without them.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/04/2024 14:10 Comments ||
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#9
Just skimmed a highly biased Wiki cite about the Epoch Times and it's anti-communist, pro Falun Gong roots. It is very Pro-Trump and while the underlying charges may well have merit, timing is massively suspicious as another suppression action by DOJ before the election!
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An NYC park officer was seen tackling a 14-year-old migrant girl to the ground over selling fruit with her family.
Frightening footage showed the moment an unidentified officer handcuffed the teen in Battery Park on Sunday around 2.00pm.
As he tried to arrest the minor, a group of livid bystanders tried their best to pull her away from him while others shouted in protest.
The unidentified migrant girl was allegedly selling fruit from an unlicensed cart with her family when the cop intervened.
'NYPD first tried to detain the girl, then released her – then Parks got a hold of her and tried to cuff her. That’s when people started crowding around and trying to get the Parks officer off of her,' Marc Rebillet, who recorded the video, told Storyful.
Video of the chaotic moment starts with one officer trying to detain the girl's mother, dressed in a bright yellow shirt, while another attaches handcuffs to her daughter's wrists.
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation told DailyMail.com that the incident took place during a 'joint operation with NYPD and PEP officers.'
'Our Parks Enforcement Patrol’s (PEP) first course of action is to educate in order to bring violators into compliance,' a spokeswoman with the department said.
'When individuals have repeatedly flouted the law, we take additional enforcement actions, and there are instances when it is necessary to place violators and individuals obstructing the law under arrest.'
The department added that officers 'confiscated perishable items from unlicensed vendors in the park.'
'While officers were attempting to destroy the items which were unsafe for consumption, two individuals intervened,' the department added.
The officer, who was not named, had been 'assigned administrative duties' while the incident is investigated, according to the spokeswoman.
How do we know the female identified as a child really is only fourteen, and how do we know the two females are related?
[GatewayPundit] UN, WHO, and WEF Have Just Been Declared Terrorist Organizations By a Republican County Assembly in Florida.
The Lee County Republican Assembly, which is a grassroots conservative Republican organization, passed a resolution introduced by Joseph Sansone, declaring the UN, WHO, and WEF, terrorist organizations.
The resolution additionally brands cooperation with these organizations as an act of treason against the United States and the State of Florida. Unfortunately, the Executive Board of the Lee County Republican Party refused to allow the declaration to come up for a vote by the full Executive Committee, which would have likely passed the resolution as well.
The resolution passed by the Lee County Republican Assembly calls on the Florida Legislature and Governor to pass legislation declaring cooperation with the United Nations, World Health Organization, and World Economic Forum, an act of treason against the United States, and the State of Florida.
#1
From the headline, I thought it was something about lawyers.
This works, too.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/04/2024 6:43 Comments ||
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#2
I heard yesterday that although the treaty to change WHO from an advisory body into a sovereign fell through, they achieved the same outcome by backdoor charter amendments.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/04/2024 10:11 Comments ||
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#3
There was a note in the original article that said Louisiana had already passed a law to this effect, but I couldn't find it again.
#8
You people have no imagination. Three-pronged snagging hooks tied to an angry bull, running free through a cloud of bumblebees until the hooks let go.
Rape and pedophelia are two things I place even above murder as unacceptable.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/04/2024 18:35 Comments ||
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#9
Lots of imaginative notions about how to handle those types in genpop.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/04/2024 19:22 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Retired US Marine Corps intelligence officer and military analyst Scott Ritter
…whose life story demonstrates the difference between intelligent and wise…
said US Customs and Border Protection officers seized his passport “on orders” from the State Department as he boarded a plane flying to St. Petersburg from New York.
“As I was boarding the flight, three Customs and Border Protection officers pulled me aside and took my passport. When I asked why they were doing this, they answered that it was on the orders of the State Department. No further information was given,” Scott Ritter explained to reporters.
Joe Biden’s state department did this?? What on earth could have triggered them to to that
The American added that his luggage was also removed from the flight, and he was forcibly removed from the airport.
The expert was going to take part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which is scheduled for June 5–8.
At the same time, ex-Judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey Andrew Napolitano, who was also flying to the forum, was removed from the flight along with Ritter.
Ah. Nothing personal then.
As Regnum reported, 136 countries and territories have confirmed their participation in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, said Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, Executive Secretary of the SPIEF Organizing Committee Anton Kobyakov on May 31.
Participation rates and interest in SPIEF have reached pre-Covid levels, Kobyakov explained. According to the presidential adviser, the period of restoration of business activity has ended and the growth phase has begun. In terms of the number of participants, the forum has already exceeded the figures for 2019.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to speak at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 7.
#4
Rules and laws are suspended for Alex Jones and Scott Ritter, who I don’t care for particularly. Why should I not expect the same treatment?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/04/2024 10:14 Comments ||
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#5
No idea about the cause of this, but everywhere you look it seems, you find examples that the traditional "rules" and norms about our individual freedoms are being altered or ignored with Soviet-style impunity. Perhaps it's just paranoia well nourished in the past 4 years, but most of the events can be perceived as having a political motive, and it seems to always favor one side.
#6
#3 Many things are sounding Soviet these days. Most likely this deboarding at the orders of State was because the U.S. has sided with Ukraine in the Russia Ukraine conflict.
#NorthKorea says it will stop sending balloons carrying trash over the border to #SouthKorea but vows to resume the practice if anti-North Korean leaflets are flown over again from the South.https://t.co/l7WTyaCEMh
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) June 2, 2024
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
When the payloads were honey-bucket waste, I was thinking of Cholera and Dengue Fever. Candy wrappers, not so much.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Foreigners will be able to join the Australian Defence Force under a fast-track to citizenship.
As part of the national defence strategy unveiled in April, eligibility criteria will be expanded to allow more people to join the defence force.
From July, eligible New Zealanders will be able to apply to join the Australian military.
Permanent residents from all other nations will be able to do the same from January 2025.
Once they have served for 90 days, they will be expected to become Australian citizens.
Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said the recruitment drive would not take people out of other countries.
'These are people that have already made Australia home and we are providing them a fast-track to citizenship through joining the Australian Defence Force as well,' he told reporters in Canberra.
Mr Keogh clarified in the press briefing that the option was available to all foreign nationals after the initial statement indicated a set group of nations.
Australia's low unemployment rate made it difficult to hire defence staff and this announcement was aimed at increasing potential recruits, Mr Keogh said.
Non-citizens who want to join the military must have lived in Australia for at least one year before applying, must not have served in a foreign military in the previous two years and must be able to attain Australian citizenship.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said this was necessary to 'meet the nation's security challenges through the next decade and beyond'.
#2
I seem to recall from history that this is a very, very bad idea. Especially so for a disarmed nation with so few citizens. Fealty and patriotism are rarely baked in to a mercenary military, especially when they discover they have all the firearms.
[MAIL] More than one million United Methodists have quit the church overnight over new rules about homosexuality.
During a North Carolina conference in early May, the United Methodist Church - a global denomination of Protestantism based in the US - changed some regulations to allow gay pastors and same-sex marriage.
The Ivory Coast division - which has an estimated 1.2 million followers - responded by accusing the international leaders of 'deviating from the Holy Scriptures' and 'sacrificing its honor and integrity to honor the LGBTQ community'.
Bishop Benjamin Boni, who is president of the division, said it voted to separate from the umbrella church during a May 28 gathering in the Jubilee Temple of Cocody, Abidjan, on the southern coast of the West African country.
He said in a statement that the decision to separate after more than 20 years was made 'for reasons of conscience'.
Our family help physically built the original Gracewood Methodist Church in Gracewood Ga.
When it decided to join the "United" movement in the later 70's, a majority of the family members found other protestant Christian churches and joined those.
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.
