[DallasNews] A mystery package arrived last week in my mailbox. The contents inside scare my family and friends who fear it's a threat to steal my identity.
The big envelope contains a 59-page dossier on my life built from public records. If a criminal got hold of these 59 pages, he or she could take over my life. Like in a movie.
The dossier shocks me in its detail. Every possible piece of information needed to steal my identity is included.
Fast forward:
I do not feel threatened. I feel relieved that someone in Data World has come forward ‐ at personal risk ‐ to leak this document to The Watchdog so I could share this with you.
The leaker is saying, I believe, "Watchdog, you are only skimming the surface in your Equifax breach reporting. Check this out."
I'm only guessing. There is no cover letter, no return address, no postmark on the envelope (as sometimes happens).
But don't for a moment believe that the same type of file doesn't exist on you, too. It does.
Fast forward:
Who created the dossier?
Thomson Reuters, headquartered in Toronto, calls itself "The Answer Company." It is the answer to my questions.
"The intelligence, technology and human expertise you need to find trusted answers."
I'll say.
I send the Thomson Reuters PR department a copy of the first seven pages. The company confirms this is one of their reports.
The company runs a program called CLEAR that it markets to law enforcement, government agencies and corporate security. The stuff is not supposed to leak out, like it does here.
After I contact the company, spokesman Scott Augustin tells me, "What has happened here is entirely unacceptable, and we are investigating the situation."
He continues: "Thomson Reuters is taking this situation very seriously, and takes the privacy and security of our data within its control just as seriously. It is unfortunate that a vetted user would choose to send a report to you in violation of their user agreement."
I hope they don't catch the leaker. Otherwise, we might never know about CLEAR and how easy it is to lose control of its information. You see how easy it is to leak? (If you're reading this, leaker, thank you.)
Everybody is crazed about the Equifax leakage. That's nothing compared with the potential damage caused by this product.
[Wash Times] The House Intelligence Committee plans to compel testimony from a career Justice Department attorney who met during the election campaign with the writer of the infamous unverified Trump-Russia dossier. Writer-author, none other than 'former' MI6 operator Mr. Christopher Steele, a man conveniently disappeared somewhere amidst the boggy moors.
The committee has learned that Bruce Ohr, an associate attorney general, not only spoke with dossier writer Christopher Steele but also met after the election with Glenn Simpson, whose Fusion GPS hired Mr. Steele with Democratic Party money. Bruce, the envelopes please.
"Pursuant to the House Intelligence Committee’s prior subpoenas and information requests, the Department of Justice should have provided the committee with information on contacts that DOJ official Bruce Ohr had with Fusion GPS representatives and Christopher Steele.," said committee chairman Devin Nunes, California Republican. "The Committee will issue a subpoena to Bruce Ohr for information on this matter." Soon to exercise his 5th Amendment rights no doubt.
The committee is investigating Fusion’s financial arrangements, including the reasons for paying three journalists. It was Mr. Nunes’ first subpoena for Fusion bank records that forced Democrats to admit that the party and Hillary Clinton campaign paid for the dossier beginning in June 2016. Houston, we have a very significant problem aboard the Bureau orbiter. How your copy over ?
The dossier has taken on immense importance. The FBI relied on it in July 2016 to begin an investigation into the Trump campaign and any collusion with Russia over the hacking of Democratic Party computers. It relied on the dossier to obtain at least one eavesdropping warrant on a Trump associate. If the Steele dossier was NOT used to support the FISA surveillance effort then why not end the tiring obfuscation and permit someone to simply say it was not used? Oh, I see. No one wants to be that someone.
[Stars and Stripes] RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany ‐ Capt. Sharior Rahman, an imam at Ramstein Air Base and one of only a handful of Muslim clerics in the Air Force, was convicted by a military judge Tuesday of larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny in a shoplifting incident last year.
The judge, Col. Mark Milam, ordered the chaplain to forfeit $3,000 of his pay for one month but did not dismiss him from the service.
Whether Rahman will remain in the chaplaincy with a general court-martial conviction still needs to be determined by the organization that endorsed him as a military chaplain, officials said.
The charges stem from a shopping trip last year at an Edeka store in Homburg, where Rahman and his wife, Sanam, a civilian, shoplifted about 70 euros worth of groceries, according to court testimony. A second shoplifting involving the couple occurred two weeks later at the Exchange on Ramstein, though no criminal charges were filed in the latter incident.
Sharior Rahman pleaded not guilty to the larceny charges in the Edeka case, which occurred on Nov. 11, 2016, and requested a trial before a military judge alone. Milam announced his verdict Tuesday afternoon, after about a day and a half of testimony.
Rahman, a former Navy medic who has nearly 20 years of military service, could have faced a possible maximum punishment of dismissal from the Air Force, up to a year in prison, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a fine.
#2
A second shoplifting involving the couple occurred two weeks later at the Exchange on Ramstein, though no criminal charges were filed in the latter incident.
Yes, that's the same BX where visiting US military retirees are prohibited from shopping. And yes, it's only a few minutes drive from the US Landstuhl Regional Medical Center where US military retirees cannot be provided medical treatment.
[ArsTechnica] On Wednesday, a US District judge in Detroit sentenced Oliver Schmidt, a former Volkswagen executive, to seven years in prison for his role in the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal of 2015. Schmidt was also ordered to pay a criminal penalty of $400,000, according to a US Department of Justice (DOJ) press release. The prison term and the fine together represent the maximum sentence that Schmidt could have received under the plea deal he signed in August.
Schmidt, a German citizen who lived in Detroit as an emissions compliance executive for VW, was arrested in Miami on vacation last January. In August, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to making a false statement under the Clean Air Act. Schmidt’s plea deal stated that the former executive could face up to seven years in prison and between $40,000 and $400,000 in fines.
Last week, Schmidt’s attorneys made a last-minute bid requesting a lighter sentence for Schmidt: 40 months of supervised release and a $100,000 fine. Schmidt also wrote a letter to the judge, which surfaced over the weekend, in which the executive said he felt “misused” by his own company and claimed that higher-ranked VW executives coached him on a script to help him lie to a California Air Resources Board (CARB) official.
Instead, Schmidt was sentenced to the maximum penalties outlined in the plea deal. Only one other VW employee has been sentenced in connection with the emissions scandal: former engineer James Liang, who received 40 months in prison and two years of supervised release as the result of his plea deal. Although six other VW Group executives have been indicted, none is in US custody.
Volkswagen Group, the umbrella company that owns VW, Audi, and Porsche, has paid about $30 billion in fines and buyback costs since regulators discovered it was including emissions-cheating software on its diesel vehicles. The software allowed the cars to pass emissions tests under lab conditions, while disabling the emissions-control software under real-world driving conditions so the cars would have better performance. As VW Group rolled out its massive “clean diesel” marketing campaign appealing to environmentally conscious car buyers, those same cars were actually emitting nitrogen oxide (NOx) many times in excess of the legal limit.
#1
Why is he going to jail? I didn't think we still had the rule of law here. Thought we were operating on Zimbabwe rules. Conspiracy and lying? I see that in Congressional hearings all the time and no one goes to jail.
Many major cities saw snow on Thursday, including San Antonio, Austin and Houston. The snowfall came even before Northeast cities like New York and Boston have seen the white stuff this season. Missed Dallas completely - not even a flake.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/08/2017 18:48 ||
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[GunsAmerica] National concealed-carry reciprocity moves forward today as the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 cleared the House floor. If the act becomes law, people with concealed-carry permits will be able to carry concealed firearms in every state where permitted.
"You’re not going to see mobs of people carrying concealed [weapons] into Times Square," said North Carolina Republican Richard Hudson, who sponsored the law. "But law-abiding citizens who may be passing through one state to get to grandma’s house in the next state aren’t automatically going to become a criminal."
"There are more than 16 million concealed carry permit holders in America," explained Gahanna, Ohio Police Chief Dennis Murphy. "That number has surged in the last decade, and at the same time, violent crime has declined nearly in half. Law-abiding gun owners are not to be feared or mistrusted. We should focus our attentions on those who commit offenses against others, not those who simply wish to protect themselves."
The act passed largely on party lines although there were outliers on both sides of the aisle. The version was passed as-is without a motion to recommit with instructions.
#3
How is this different than how things are now? A person can carry in every state that his/her state has reciprocity with now. You still won't be able to carry in states such as NY or NJ if you are out-of-state?
[Reuters] Japan is to acquire medium-range, air-launched cruise missiles, capable of striking North Korea, a controversial purchase of what will become the longest-range munitions of a country that has renounced the right to wage war.
Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera did not refer to North Korea when announcing the planned acquisition and said the new missiles would be for defence, with Japan still relying on the United States to strike any enemy bases.
"We are planning to introduce the JSM (Joint Strike Missile) that will be mounted on the F-35A (stealth fighter) as ’stand-off’ missiles that can be fired beyond the range of enemy threats," Onodera told a news conference.
Japan is also looking to mount Lockheed Martin Corp’s extended-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM-ER) on its F-15 fighters, he said.
The JSM, designed by Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace , has a range of 500 km (310 miles). The JASSM-ER can hit targets 1,000 km away.
#4
#2 Yes, DV, that is the unanswered question here: Will these missiles carry nuke warheads?
Posted by: Abu Uluque 2017-12-08 13:11
The Japanese are nothing if not polite and subtle. The purchase of the JSMs and JASSM-ERs is the two minute warning. If the Chinese and the Norks don't get the message now, they have only themselves to blame for what comes next.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/08/2017 19:14 Comments ||
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Unexpectedly! Obama says you can thank him
*snort*
[Finance.Yahoo]The November jobs report is out and it's a beat.
In November, the U.S. economy added 228,000 jobs, more than expected by economists, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%.
Wall Street economists were forecasting nonfarm payroll gains of 195,000 in November, down from October's 261,000 jobs added to the economy; this figure was revised down slightly on Friday to show that 244,000 jobs were created in October. The unemployment rate, which fell to its lowest since December 2000 in October, was expected to remain unchanged at 4.1%.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/08/2017 09:20 ||
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#1
Given that most journalists are Progressive, including those who report on busines/finance, this one must have been grinding his teeth as he pulled the report together.
ZH. HT Insty
The case against former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn has taken a strange turn, as U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras abruptly recused himself Thursday night with no explanation. Contreras is an Obama appointee who also sat on the FISA court while the Trump team was under surveillance by the Obama administration. Judge Emmet Sullivan, an Bill Clinton appointee, was randomly assigned to take over the case after Contreras' recusal.
Of note, Contreras was appointed to the FISA court on May 19, 2016 - before the warrant to surveil one-time Trump advisor Carter Page was issued "in the summer" of 2016. It is unknown whether or not Contreras was involved in the decision, or whether he was involved in surveillance on Michael Flynn.
In fact every single FISA Court judge was appointed during the Obama administration:
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/08/2017 10:42 ||
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#1
In fact every single FISA Court judge was appointed during the Obama administration
Yeah... that wasn't set up to attack your enemies.
#2
Instapundit also posted the Zero Hedge link. In the comment thread was this:
WildernessLawyer
an hour ago
Judge Sullivan, to whom the Flynn case has been reassigned, presided over the Ted Stevens prosecution, so he has bitter first hand experience with DOJ misconduct. In the Stevens case, after he learned of government misconduct, he went so far as to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether the government lawyers who ran the Stevens case should themselves be prosecuted for criminal wrongdoing. It makes you wonder if the reassignment of the case to Sullivan was truly random. If it was indeed random, Flynn may have caught a very lucky break -- and the Mueller gang may have caught about the worst break imaginable because, if Sullivan decides they have stepped over the line, their licenses to practice law could be in jeopardy. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel here.
#7
I don’t have an American Thinker account, so newc’s link only got me access to the comments, not the article. But this blogger posted the whole thing, which I share with others in my predicament.
[Gateway Pundit] Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) grilled FBI director Christopher Wray Thursday morning. The conservative firebrand demanded Wray confirm whether or not Trump-hating FBI agent Peter Strzok applied for the FISA warrant to spy on Trump officials.
Jordan kicked off his line of questioning with the following, "Director, did Peter Strozk help produce and present the application to the FISA court to secure a warrant to spy on Americans associated with the Trump campaign?"
#1
Knowing he'd get nothing from Wray, Congressman Jordan uses his allotted time wisely to 'connect the dots' and provide a very excellent synopsis of at least a portion of FBI Agent Peter Strozk's chain of involvement.
I would not be at all surprised to soon learn that a tragic motorway accident in the north of Scotland has claimed the life of former M16 officer Christopher Steele. After the Nidal Hasan cock-up, the other end of that operation (US Citizen terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki) did not last long either. Operational termination does bring closure. The conduit for funneling US taxpayer dollars to Russian intelligence operatives simply cannot be fully revealed.
FBI director Christopher Wray needs to find new employment, and in my opinion, very soon. Later this morning would be excellent.
#2
Besoeke agreed with a loud applause. One nagging problem with Jordan and Trey for that matter, is all indinate talk. Just talk.
When is the last time there were any demands for firing or better yet prison for the swampers?
All bark and zero bite. Making them almost as bad. That being said it was fascinating dare I say refreshing to see such a clear dot line laid out. If he would have topped it off with, "Wray what are you going to do to prosecute these criminals?" A public dance that has yet to come. And I fear we will never see. A question that should have been asked at his confirmation hearing...
In the meantime I fear the FBI 7th floor is laughing there arses off. Which begs another question. Has anyone interviewed the FBI agents that quit over the massive Clinton Foundation bribery scam?
#3
One nagging problem with Jordan and Trey for that matter, is all indinate talk. Just talk.
I agree! The politically appointed "leadership" of these agencies appears to be notional at best, our current Attorney General being a prime example. These people, these beltway denizens, report to an entirely different chain of command. We used to refer to it as 'B Company.'
B Company - Be there when you get there, Be there when you leave.
#4
Interesting how the Director said that they (the FBI) will fully investigate their (the FBI's) own wrongdoing and they won't release anything until that is done. (I suspect maybe in the year 2040).
The fact that the FISA court can be used by the FBI to do just about anything they want - without any oversight or accountability seems pretty scary to me.
#9
Mrs. JohnQC says to me, let me know when someone goes to jail. She tends to a bit of a skeptic. Trump might need a new team in DOJ to push the ball over the line.
#10
Jordan's request was modest. He was only asking for a copy of the FBI FISA warrant application which would have on it the justification for the warrant to unmask. Congress, as charged with oversight has a right to such documents.
[Free Beacon] The House Ethics Committee announced on Thursday that Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) had done nothing wrong after being accused of leaking classified information.
Nunes was accused of disclosing intelligence improperly in connection with the probe of the Trump campaign and collusion with Russia.
In a letter released by the bipartisan committee, it was announced that classification experts from the intelligence community were brought in to provide their expertise as to what Nunes had mentioned during an improptu press conference after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House.
"In the course of this investigation, the Committee sought the analysis of Representative Nunes's statements by classification experts in the intelligence community,"the letter said. "Based solely on the conclusion of these classification experts that the information that Representative Nunes disclosed was not classified, the Committee will take no further action and considers this matters closed."
The committee had announced in early April 2017 that it was investigating Nunes over the matter. Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has stepped aside in the committee's investigations of Russian involvement in the 2016 elections.
[Reuters] With a worrying number of children who play contact sports in the US reporting having had concussion, doctors and researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle are developing an app to make diagnosing such brain injuries simpler. Stuart McDill reports.
The Pentagon’s newest anti-ship missile uses technology from the B-2 stealth bomber to home in on and sink enemy ships. The Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), the U.S. Military’s first new anti-ship missile in more than thirty years, homes in on the very radar signals an enemy ship broadcasts to defend itself. The result is a missile that can work in so-called "denied" environments when navigational assets such as the Global Positioning System are unavailable.
The Navy’s main anti-ship missile, the Harpoon, first entered service in 1977. Called an "anti-ship cruise missile," the Harpoon launched from a ship, aircraft, or submarine, and uses an active radar system to detect enemy ships and home in on them. Although progressively updated over the years, Harpoon has grown pretty long in the tooth and is due for a replacement.
The active radar guidance system on many older anti-ship missiles has always been problematic. Anti-ship missiles are launched in the enemy’s direction and fly close to the surface to the water‐in the case of Harpoon just thirty feet above the wavetops‐in order to stay off the enemy’s radar screens for as long as possible.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ||
12/08/2017 00:00 ||
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Ok so I’m assuming the Chinese have already stolen the design and are now capable of the same thing?
[AnNahar] The Philippines said Friday it had suspended use of a landmark vaccine for the potentially deadly dengue virus after its manufacturer warned it could worsen the disease in some cases.
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi announced Wednesday that its world-first dengue vaccine could lead to more severe symptoms for people who had not previously been infected.
The Philippines has vaccinated more than 700,000 children with Dengvaxia since 2016 when it became the first country to start using it on a mass scale.
But it said Friday the programme had been suspended.
"In the light of this new analysis, the DOH (Department of Health) will place the dengue vaccination programme on hold while review and consultation is ongoing with experts, key stakeholders, and the WHO (World Health Organization)," a government statement said.
Sanofi had initially said its Dengvaxia vaccine was "critical" in the fight against dengue, the world's most common mosquito-borne virus.
It said Wednesday that a new study has confirmed Dengvaxia's benefits for "those who had prior infection".
[CBSSports] Lindsey Vonn hopes to win more Olympic medals at February's Winter Games in Pyeongchang, but she said she won't be attending the White House to meet Donald Trump afterward if she's invited. Vonn, the most successful female alpine skier of all time and one of the stars of the U.S. contingent set to compete in South Korea, took aim at the president with pointed remarks in an interview with CNN. Go figure.
“Well, I hope to represent the people of the United States, not the president," Vonn told CNN. "I take the Olympics very seriously and what they mean and what they represent, what walking under our flag means in the opening ceremony. I want to represent our country well. I don't think that there are a lot of people currently in our government that do that.” Click on the vid for the meat of the interview. Nice Red Bull stocking cap, who may be contacted HERE, if you would like to comment on the Loverly Ms. Vonn's interview.
The fit young lady clearly keeps her brains in her feet. Half of the Americans who are not President Trump that she wants to represent voted for him.
#1
How about just skiing for yourself lady?
The country jacket is just your sponsor. You are building your brand. If some positive branding accrues to your sponsor or fans that is nice but the bottom line is it's about you. Think about that.
#6
Bonn is virtually guaranteeing that she will ski into a tree, just like her hero did in 2016.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
12/08/2017 7:37 Comments ||
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#7
From Forbes. Nov 30, 2017 - 20: Age Vonn – then known as Lindsey Kildow -- was when she was her first World Cup race in, you guessed it, Lake Louise in 2004. She has reached the podium there 25 times. 6: Sponsors: Under Armour, Head, Oakley, Vail Resorts, GoPro and Red Bull. 1: Clothing collection in her name.
She's come a long way from $4 "gifts" in Vail's back alleys. But not that far.
But that's a wish for good luck, right? Vaudeville?
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/08/2017 17:32 Comments ||
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#12
Lindsey, you don't need to go out of your way for this person. Along with the NFL, I'll be sure to put you on my list of people/teams/Hollywood wierdos to boycott. FYVM.
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.
[DallasNews] A mystery package arrived last week in my mailbox. The contents inside scare my family and friends who fear it's a threat to steal my identity.
[Stars and Stripes] RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany ‐ Capt. Sharior Rahman, an imam at Ramstein Air Base and one of only a handful of Muslim clerics in the Air Force, was convicted by a military judge Tuesday of larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny in a shoplifting incident last year.
[ArsTechnica] On Wednesday, a US District judge in Detroit sentenced Oliver Schmidt, a former Volkswagen executive, to seven years in prison for his role in the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal of 2015. Schmidt was also ordered to pay a criminal penalty of $400,000, according to a US Department of Justice (DOJ) press release. The prison term and the fine together represent the maximum sentence that Schmidt could have received under the plea deal he signed in August.
A wild one. Boeing CEO just challenged Musk on who gets people to Mars first and Musk said "Do It!" Boeing "Game On!”
[Free Beacon] The House Ethics Committee announced on Thursday that Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) had done nothing wrong after being accused of leaking classified information.![]("https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fsheville.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FPetard-1.jpg")
[AnNahar] The Philippines said Friday it had suspended use of a landmark vaccine for the potentially deadly dengue virus after its manufacturer warned it could worsen the disease in some cases.
