[Breitbart] Raytheon, a subsidiary of major American defense contractor RTX, will pay more than $950 million to resolve fraud and bribery charges, the US Justice Department announced Wednesday.
“Raytheon engaged in criminal schemes to defraud the US government in connection with contracts for critical military systems and to win business through bribery in Qatar,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kevin Driscoll said in a Justice Department statement.
The company has agreed to enter into two three-year deferred prosecution agreements, the Justice Department said, in which criminal charges will be dismissed if Raytheon complies with the terms of the deal during that period.
The agency also said that from the 2000s into 2020, Raytheon paid more than $30 million to a Qatari agent who was a relative of the Qatari Emir and who had no prior background in military defense contracting.
“RTX is taking responsibility for the misconduct that occurred. We have worked diligently during the investigations to remediate that misconduct and continue to do so,” the company, which was formed by the merger of Raytheon and United Technologies in 2020, said in a statement.
“We are committed to working closely with the incoming independent monitor to improve and further enhance our ethics and compliance program.”
As part of one agreement, Raytheon admitted to “two separate schemes to defraud the Department of Defense (DOD) in connection with the provision of defense articles and services, including PATRIOT missile systems and a radar system,” the Justice Department said.
The other agreement relates to two counts stemming from a scheme to bribe a Qatari official and then failing to disclose those bribes in an application to the State Department.
“Both agreements require that Raytheon retain an independent compliance monitor for three years, enhance its internal compliance program, report evidence of additional misconduct to the Justice Department, and cooperate in any ongoing or future criminal investigations,” the statement said.
“Raytheon also reached a separate False Claims Act settlement with the department relating to the defective pricing schemes,” it added.
In a separate statement, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which assisted in the investigation, said Raytheon used sham subcontracts with a supplier to pay bribes of nearly $2 million to military and other officials from 2011 to 2017 to obtain Qatari military defense contracts.
The agency also said that from the 2000s into 2020, Raytheon paid more than $30 million to a Qatari agent who was a relative of the Qatari Emir and who had no prior background in military defense contracting.
Raytheon has “agreed to pay more than $124 million to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” the SEC said.
[BBC] A man arrested in connection with a hack of the US markets regulator's X account searched "how can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI," according to court documents.
Eric Council Jr, 25, of Athens, Georgia, is also alleged to have searched for "signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement... even if you have not been contacted by them".
He is accused of being part of a group which hacked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) social media in January to make a fake post about Bitcoin, causing the cryptocurrency to surge in value.
The regulator previously admitted a key security step to access its X account had been removed.
The post sent by hackers on the SEC's X account made the false claim the regulator had allowed Bitcoin to be part of mainstream investment funds.
This caused the price of the cryptocurrency to rise by about $1,000 (£770), according to the US Department of Justice, before falling by $2,000 when it was found to be untrue.
Despite the confusion caused by the hack, the SEC later approved Bitcoin to be a part of mainstream investment, through what are known as spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
According to court documents, Eric Council Jr went under the aliases Ronin, Easymunny, and AGiantSchnauzer online, and searched "SECGOV hack" and "Telegram sim swap".
He is also alleged to have searched "federal identity theft statute" and "how long does it take to delete Telegram account".
Telegram is a messaging app with more than 950 million monthly active users.
HOW WAS THE SEC HACKED?
The SEC has confirmed its account was compromised by a Sim swap attack.
This is when someone fraudulently gets a mobile phone carrier to apply an existing telephone number to a new Sim card.
In this case, the alleged perpetrator is accused of creating a fake ID with the details of an SEC employee which were passed on to him by co-conspirators.
He is then alleged to have used these details to get the employee's mobile number transferred to a new Sim.
Co-conspirators are alleged to have used access codes sent to the phone to login to the SEC's X account.
This was made easier due to a lack of adequate protection on the account.
SEC staff had asked X in July 2023 to suspend multi-factor authentication (MFA), a security measure used to help verify the person logging in.
It subsequently re-enabled MFA after the hack.
Eric Council Jr is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
If found guilty, he could face up to five years in prison.
#1
The Google results included:
Attended school board meeting
Attended Latin Catholic Mass
Veteran with Trump Bumper sticker on a Pick-up truck in Red State
[FoxNews] Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd calls out US government for being complicit with 'aiding and abetting human trafficking'
Florida law enforcement officials arrested 157 people during a human trafficking sting, including 25 illegal immigrants, some of whom allegedly received benefits from the federal government after stepping foot into the country.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd was joined with representatives from various other law enforcement agencies from places like Marion County, Lake County, Auburndale, Clermont, Davenport, Winter Haven, Lakeland and Tampa, when he announced that "Operation Autumn Sweep" resulted in the arrest of 157 suspects involved in illegal acts related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, and aiding and abetting prostitutes. Three others were arrested for traveling to sexually batter children.
Out of the 157 people who were arrested, the sheriff explained, 25 were in the U.S. illegally from countries like Cuba, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela.
The operation began on Oct. 2, and the investigation found that four possible human trafficking victims were identified out of the 47 prostitutes who showed up to undercover locations to commit prostitution.
Judd’s office said 96 suspects were arrested for soliciting prostitution, and out of the 157 people arrested, there were 35 felonies, and 201 misdemeanors issued.
"The approach of Hurricane Milton caused us to end our investigation earlier than planned, but it’s still amazing that in such a short amount of time we were able to put 157 people in jail, and three child predators," Judd said.
Out of the 157 people who were arrested, the sheriff explained, 25 were in the U.S. illegally from countries like Cuba, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela.
"Sixteen percent of these total arrests were people who should not even have been in this country," the sheriff said. "But they were here, and they were here because we have a federal government that enabled these criminals to come into the country, and they treated them very well after the criminals came here illegally."
Judd shared the story of a female suspect who came to the U.S. with her child. The woman told investigators she flew into Mexico from Venezuela and then walked across the border from Mexico into El Paso, Texas, with her child.
Judd said when the woman arrived in Texas, she was greeted by the Border Patrol.
"There is no border security at the southern border. Zero. It doesn’t exist," Judd said.
He continued, saying the woman went to the Border Patrol processing center where she completed the process and was placed in a housing facility for migrants. The woman said she was given a DNA test to make sure her DNA matched her child’s, and once that was done, she was told about the benefits she could get in the U.S. According to Judd, the woman was told she was eligible for programs like Medicaid and SNAP. She allegedly then got a free trip from Texas to Chicago, and after arriving there, she could not find employment. Judd said the woman decided to go to Florida and was even given a free flight to the Sunshine State.
"She was given free housing, all because the United States paid for that. That’s right. Use the taxpayers," Judd said. "This was not a stealthful act, and they gave her free travel, free housing, free food, free medical care. All while people from the hurricane are still waiting for help."
Judd also said four of the women listed as human trafficking victims were smuggled across the border, two of whom admitted to having to pay off a coyote debt of $6,000.
"Make no mistake about it, the government is complicit and is aiding and abetting human trafficking in the United States," Judd said. "In addition to that, there is a wide-open border where fentanyl is coming across, and that is encouraged, and as a result of that, we have thousands upon thousands of people dying in the United States. And then the best that our federal politicians can say was, ‘well, it didn't kill as many people this year as last year.’"
The Polk County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
In addition to the illegal immigrants, Judd’s office said 26 suspects told detectives they are married; nine said they received government assistance; 10 brought illegal drugs like cocaine, MDMA and marijuana to the locations where they planned to meet; 10 firearms were brought to the undercover location; and 131 suspects were from outside of Polk County, including nine states and the United Kingdom.
The oldest person arrested in the sting was 61, while the youngest was 15.
Judd’s office also said three suspects were active-duty military or veterans, three worked at Disney World; three had previously been arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in similar stings; and several said they left their spouse or fiancé at home while they were at work, going to a store or hitting the gym.
[NY Post] A nightmare scenario played out at a Kentucky hospital as a transplant donor woke up on the operating table just as doctors prepared to remove his heart, according to witnesses.
Thomas T.J. Hoover was taken to Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Kentucky in October 2021 after overdosing on drugs. Doctors declared him braindead and proceeded to conduct tests to see whether his organs were worth harvesting, NPR reported.
Natasha Miller was one of the people tasked with preserving organs at Baptist Health Richmond Hospital that day. She told the publication that when nurses wheeled Hoover, 36, into the room, he still seemed very much alive.
"He was moving around — kind of thrashing," Miller told NPR. "And then when we went over there, you could see he had tears coming down. He was crying visibly."
His condition shocked several people in the operating room and caused two doctors tasked with the procedures to refuse to participate.
Most sickening of all — Miller says she overheard the case coordinator for Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates callously request new doctors to perform the unethical procedure.
"So the coordinator calls the supervisor at the time. And she was saying that he was telling her that she needed to ’find another doctor to do it’ — that ’we were going to do this case. She needs to find someone else’," Miller told the outlet.
Another KODA worker says that while reviewing Hoover’s case she made a jarring discovery. Nyckoletta Martin says that she was shocked to find out that the donor had previously showed signs of life as doctor’s examined his heart to see if it was viable for transplantation.
"The donor had woken up during his procedure that morning for a cardiac catheterization. And he was thrashing around on the table," Martin says. According to case file records, the Hippocratic oath takers merely sedated the struggling Hoover when he arose — and proceeded with their plans to harvest his organs.
The incident caused several members of the KODA team to resign their positions.
"I’ve dedicated my entire life to organ donation and transplant," Martin told NPR, "It’s very scary to me now that these things are allowed to happen and there’s not more in place to protect donors."
Hoover’s sister says that the overdose victim opened his eyes while being wheeled from an intensive care unit and into an operating room — but were told that the movement was reflexive and didn’t mean Hoover was still alive.
"It was like it was his way of letting us know, you know, ’Hey I’m still here’," Donna Rhorer, Hoover’s older sister and current guardian told NPR.
KODA officials have denied that any member of their organization instructed doctors to proceed with an organ harvesting operation on a living patient.
Kentucky’s state attorney general said investigators were reviewing the matter.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/18/2024 05:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11138 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
Might be an introspective moment for the potential donor.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/18/2024 12:34 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Some people are less than, to others.
Give those people a reason, say you lack certain purities, and they will gladly steal your organs and give them to someone they feel is more deserving. Dark, evil, and twisted.
There are a ton of stories out there, people on ventilators, post stroke, heart attack, ODs - people who were examined by medical folks, people who were cleared to have their organs harvested, but had determined family members or loved ones advocating on their behalf.
The stories always start, I wouldnt be here today... always end, I am no longer an organ donor.
Outliers? Does it matter? I wouldnt want to be an outlier here. But you do you.
Random cherry pick from internet:
@spacekat4129
5 years ago
They were going to take my organs. I was on a ventilator and thankfully my mom drove 13 hours to help me and she removed consent. Here I am to this day. If my mom hadn't gotten there just in time I wouldn't be here. The transplant team had already examined me and was ready. Be careful. I'm no longer an organ donor.
[The Blaze] Adam Smith-Connor now has a criminal record for silently asking God for forgiveness for having his son aborted.
British Army veteran Adam Smith-Connor of Southampton traveled to the English county of Dorset in 2022 to silently pray near an abortion clinic for his son Jacob and "for other babies who have lost their lives to abortion, for their grieving families, and for abortion clinic staff."
A pair of officers then accosted the grieving 51-year-old father and notified him that in his silence, he had breached a Public Spaces Protection Order. Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council subsequently charged and slapped Smith-Connor with a hefty fine, which the veteran challenged.
Bournemouth Magistrates' Court ultimately found Smith-Connor guilty on Wednesday, claiming his prayer amounted to "disapproval of abortion."
The faith-based freedom advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom International, which represented Smith-Connor, indicated that Smith-Connor was sentenced to a conditional discharge and ordered to pay prosecution costs amounting to nearly $12,000.
#3
Not satisfied with destroying their own nation, Labour now sends paid political offerings on behalf of their commie cousins across the pond. Instead of bitching, we should just nuke London and let em figure it out.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/18/2024 15:36 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"I approve of abortion because
Of the wonderful things that it does...
Like keep free women free...
To get pregnant... like me...
And extinguish the Britain that was...
For I am a pinkish man! Yes, I am a pinkish man!"
[cue chorus of coppers]
[BBC] Children as young as 10 will soon be able to be jailed once again in Australia's Northern Territory (NT), after the government there lowered the age of criminal responsibility.
Australian states and territories have been under pressure to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, in line with other developed countries and UN advice.
Last year the NT became the first jurisdiction to lift it to 12, but the new Country Liberal Party government elected in August has said a reversal is necessary to reduce youth crime rates.
It has argued that returning the age to 10 will ultimately protect children - despite doctors, human rights organisations and Indigenous groups disputing that logic.
They say the research indicates the laws will not reduce crime and will disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
The NT already jails children at a rate 11 times higher than any other jurisdiction in the country, and almost all of them are Aboriginal.
The territory’s new government says it has a mandate after an overwhelming election victory following a campaign that promised being tough on crime.
It argues being able to criminalise children younger will help divert them away from future crime.
#1
They need to be in jail ad it is safer than the place they came from
They need early intervention
You just have to see it to believe it, the rampaging through the streets at 4am, stealing cars etc yes at age 10
#3
Because aboriginals are black, and blacks have a bad habit of raising fatherless kids which have a societal consequence. It should be noted that nothing a white person did caused an aborigine to be a good-for-nothing-dead-beat-dad.
#4
No mossomo wrong
Not because black
Not because single mother either
Aboriginal men are disproportionately drunk and violent. Aboriginal kids in single mother homes do better
These street kids roam alice springs at 4am stealing cars because their parents are drunk and high
Because their homes are filled with distant relatives who abuse and sometimes rape them
Because communities are on aboriginal land that is communally owned in perpetuity so nobody can have individual ownership of a house that they can lock the door and be secure in
Because of communal ownership in perpetuity nobody can get a loan to start a bakery or business as there is no security of tenure so then there are no jobs at all
You cant own anything
Everything provided by govt
Ruled over by a land council
The adults mostly drunk and gambling dont care
Plus aboriginal culture traditionally lets kids be independent much earlier than the weird extended childhood in western society
[Washington Examiner] Phillips 66 announced plans to end operations at its Los Angeles oil refinery just days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law mandating stringent requirements for oil refineries in the state.
The oil company said that the closure, scheduled for the end of next year, was not a direct response to the new law, but it added to a lack of refining that has pushed up gas prices in the Golden State.
"With the long-term sustainability of our Los Angeles Refinery uncertain and affected by market dynamics, we are working with leading land development firms to evaluate the future use of our unique and strategically located properties near the Port of Los Angeles," Mark Lashier, chairman and CEO of Phillips 66 said in a statement Wednesday.
"Phillips 66 remains committed to serving California and will continue to take the necessary steps to meet our commercial and customer demands," he added.
#1
"The oil company said that the closure, scheduled for the end of next year, was not a direct response to the new law, but it added to a lack of refining that has pushed up gas prices in the Golden State."
The Democrats have made it impossible to initiate new drilling, and have imposed sanctions on small drillers in the Kern County oil patch. Known finds located farther to the north remain untouched given the State impositions. Refining in the San Francisco Bay Area is now operating at only one site. The result will be an increase in the price of gas for Californians who already suffer the highest prices nationally.
#4
Newsom is insuring gas prices in the west rise after Trump wins office.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/18/2024 11:18 Comments ||
Top||
#5
It is hard to keep track of all the buffoonery, but didn't Cali ban internal combustion engines after 2030 or so? No ICE vehicles should greatly reduce demand for refined petroleum.
[Gizmodo] How soon will the Minority Report-style supermarket arrive?
Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib recently sent a letter to Kroger over the grocery giant’s purported plan to introduce digital price tags that could be changed in an instant to raise or lower prices for shoppers based on the time of day, the weather, or any other number of factors. But one particular detail in Kroger’s plan is raising the most eyebrows: The company intends to put cameras in stores that would be used for facial recognition.
News leaked over the summer that grocery giant Kroger was partnering with Microsoft to use electronic shelf labels, shortened in the grocery industry as ESLs, as part of an AI push to institute dynamic pricing at its grocery stores. The plan also includes so-called Enhanced Display for Grocery Environment (EDGE) shelf displays that would reportedly include cameras to capture customer information, including images of faces to better tailor ads.
But Rep. Tlaib, whose home state of Michigan has 120 Kroger locations, expressed concern about these technologies in her letter dated Oct. 11 and shared Tuesday for the first time publicly.
“Studies have shown that facial recognition technology is flawed and can lead to discrimination in predominantly Black and brown communities,” Tlaib said in her letter. “The racial biases of facial recognition technology are well-documented and should not be extended into our grocery stores.”
Kroger is the largest grocery store chain in the U.S. by revenue and owns a number of different brands, including Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Pick’n Save, Food 4 Less, and Dillions, among a host of others. Tlaib is worried that ESLs will allow Kroger’s stores to “use customer data to build personalized profiles of each customer” in such a way that it will be able to “determine the maximum price of goods customers are willing to pay.”
The plan for dynamic pricing and highly individualized advertising has drawn comparisons to the 2002 futuristic sci-fi movie Minority Report, in which Tom Cruise’s character gets served ads targeting someone with a Japanese surname because he’s been implanted with another man’s eyes.
#7
Break the AI Programming Parameters by asking does a shopper get a discount driving an EV for being green, or get sur-charged for having money?
But my point, there is a base price point to start with, and surcharges get added based on -whatever-.
So I ask, so Joe's Late Nigt Diner Chain picks this up, and customers who fit a 'they do not tip' profile gets an auto 15% gratuity charge, how is it not profiling? Is the price of umbrellas going up 20% during a storm not price gauging?
But obviously,
This road leads to rationing.
Remember that little skit about the dude ordering a pizza and getting a background check? "I see your cardiologist has made a recommendation against red meat." or some shit?
🚨 BREAKING: DEEP RED county in North Carolina has just received a RECORD turnout today - the first day of early voting in the state.
Yancey County voted for Trump by 33 points in 2020. It also got hit VERY HARD by the hurricane - but that didn't stop voters from coming out.… pic.twitter.com/f6p6ajQPBe
Trump supporters in PA are getting threatening letters not to vote for Trump.
“We know where you live, you are in the data base," "there is no knowing what may happen," and "your family may be impacted, your cat may get shot." pic.twitter.com/elZUq5um9k
#4
Do you want to know what extent sociopaths who value their magic government paycheck more than the lives of their neighbors will go to in order to get 0.000001% more job security?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/18/2024 16:10 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Oh I look forward to seeing them try to come. Oh, btw I'm absolute hell in a gunfight. You come, you die. 'nuff said.
#2
OK, they've gone after the Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church, when do we go after the legions of nose ring danger hairs diddling our school children? I see Loudon County School Dist is back in the news. Shocker!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/18/2024 15:38 Comments ||
Top||
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] NASA has halted all future Boeing space mission due to its malfunctioned Starliner that left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS).
The agency revealed this week that Elon Musk's SpaceX will become the frontrunner 2025 launches, leaving Boeing completely off the schedule.
SpaceX has been tapped to rescue astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore who have been on the ISS for four months when it brings them back to Earth next February, while the mission was schedule for about one week.
NASA said on Tuesday that the decision to remove Boeing was to get a better understand of what went wrong when the spacecraft failed its mission, which saw several leaks during the 24-hour journey to the orbiting laboratory in July.
'The timing and configuration of Starliner’s next flight will be determined once a better understanding of Boeing’s path to system certification is established,' NASA stated Tuesday.
'This determination will include considerations for incorporating Crew Flight Test lessons learned, approvals of final certification products, and operational readiness,' the agency added.
Prior to Starliner's disastrous first crewed test flight, NASA had high hopes for the spacecraft, targeting early 2025 for the launch of its first operational mission.
[BBC] As Florida has been hit by several devastating hurricanes, homes designed to withstand these extreme storms have gone through a serious test.
In 2018, Hurricane Michael made history, becoming the first category five hurricane on record to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle. It caused widespread destruction and damage, sweeping entire buildings off their foundations, and impacting almost 50,000 structures.
But in a small gulf-front community in Mexico Beach, Florida, something unexpected could be seen amidst the chaos. One home, an unusual caterpillar-like dome-shaped structure, remained standing, barely touched by the 160mph (260km/h) windspeeds. The home, called "Golden Eye", belonged to Margaret Clayton, who had designed and built the house in 2015 with a construction company called Monolithic Domes.
Clayton's neighbour's house "exploded", sending a transformer flying into her house and smashing into the wall. "All the homes around me were destroyed or uninhabitable," she says. Golden Eye, meanwhile, remained intact.
"The wow factor comes when you see those photos," says Landolf Rhode-Barbarigos, an assistant professor in the University of Miami's civil, architectural and environmental engineering department. "Total destruction next to a dome house that's still standing. It's quite impressive."
In the US, hurricanes cause more death and destruction than any other extreme weather event. Since 1980, there have been 363 billion-dollar weather disasters in the US, and hurricanes have caused the most damage – more than $1.3 trillion (£993bn) in total, with an average cost of $22.8 billion (£17.4bn) per event. As of 2023, they had caused 6,890 deaths.
With hurricanes rapidly becoming more intense due to climate change
…not because of climate change but because the population has grown, and with it more buildings. But lets not quibble over the greater point…
– and even category one storms being capable of causing severe damage – building storm-resilient homes is becoming increasingly important.
"This type of [climate-resilient] architecture combined with the right engineering solutions could save lives in the face of extreme weather," says Rhode-Barbarigos. "We need to explore building more climate-resistant structures because we know that certain forms are better for certain environments."
Building for risks and pleasures of the local conditions is wise, yes.
#7
After a big cyclone, cyclone Tracy, just about wiped out Darwin there was a lot of thought in Australia put into cyclone proofing houses. One promising design was an all steel bungalow style house with four hinged, drop down verandas. The big wind is coming, you lower the verandas down to the ground and fix them to bolts in the concrete floors. There is a gap at each corner when they are up, filled in with a removable insert. When lowered and fixed down, there are no gaps or projections for the wind to enter, and with the structural strength of the house itself combined with the bolted down perimeter, it has a tremendous grip on the ground.
I haven’t seen the design used at all since, probably costs too much.
#8
I imagine you could use peristalsis to move from one end to the other?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/18/2024 18:21 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I shit you not:
In order to increase their bid for a Stuper Bowl Hosting, Kansas City proposed building what is basically a giant, lack of a better term, half cylinder aircraft hanger, mounted on rails, which could traverse back and forth between the baseball and football stadiums, so it would have to be open ended.
My peers were all excited even with the tax increase, natch, until I pointed out:
Nevermind the weird wind currents it makes and sounds like, nevermind that thing getting covered in two inches of ice, what happens when a tornado comes through?
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.