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US-China tech war and the US intelligence community China’s 5G leadership means US eavesdropping will be blocked, spies unemployed David Goldman

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/07/article/us-china-tech-war-and-the-us-intelligence-community/

The US intelligence community’s alarm at Chinese leadership in 5G mobile broadband has less to do with a threat of Chinese eavesdropping than with the likelihood that electronic eavesdropping will become next to impossible, thanks to quantum cryptography. I have had a number of conversations on the topic with US as well as Chinese sources, but this conclusion appears obvious from public sources.

America’s intelligence community spends nearly $80 billion a year, including $57 billion for the National Intelligence Program and $20 billion for the Military Intelligence Program. Signals intelligence (SIGINT), mainly electronic eavesdropping, takes up the lion’s share of the budget. Among other things the National Security Agency recorded more than half a billion calls and text messages of Americans in 2017. In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Security Agency admitted — for the second time — that it improperly eavesdropped on Americans. The spooks’ ability to tap the conversations of prospective terrorists, foreign leaders like Germany’s Angela Merkel and pretty well anyone it wants is a source of enormous power as well as justification for continued funding.

All of that is about to come to an end and the spooks will have to find something else to do. That has a great deal to do with the incipient tech war between China and the United States.

The US intelligence services argue that if China’s national champion Huawei dominates the installation of 5G mobile broadband, it can build “back doors” into its hardware to steal information, and perhaps even sabotage communication and industrial control networks in case of conflict. The US has threatened its allies with a cutback on intelligence sharing if they use Huawei equipment. So far, no country but Japan has acceded to American demands. Huawei denies that it has the capacity or intention to steal data, but charges of this sort are hard to disprove.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

The real way to do American diplomacy is leader to leader – Thatcher and Reagan did it, and so can Boris and Trump Charles Moore

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/07/07/real-way-do-american-diplomacy-leader-leader-thatcher-regan/

In leaked emails, the British Ambassador to the United States, Sir Kim Darroch, describes President Trump as “radiating insecurity”, and speaks of his White House as a “uniquely dysfunctional environment”. 

Sir Kim deserves a smidgeon of sympathy: it is no secret that dealing with the ever-changing Trump team can be tricky. But, overall, his memos raise a question: “What is the valued-added here?” We send diplomats abroad so that they can get closer insight into foreign powers. Sir Kim is effectively saying that he and his team cannot manage this. He blames Mr Trump’s shortcomings for their failures. The information contained in his missives is the sort of stuff you can read every day in posh newspapers and seems to contain nothing from the inside. 

It is not true that no one British can get close to Donald Trump. I can immediately think of at least four people who have managed this in recent years. Three of them – Nigel Farage, Conrad Black and Piers Morgan – are outside the normal systems with which diplomats are familiar; but one was Foreign Secretary when Sir Kim first started writing his plaintive emails. Now that same man, Boris Johnson, is almost certain to become our next Prime Minister. 

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Slavery’s Decision Day In Mauritania Anti-slavery activist takes second place in dubious election — in one of the world’s worst slave states. Stephen Brown

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274214/slaverys-decision-day-mauritania-stephen-brown

Mauritanian anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Obeid, a much-jailed human rights protester on behalf of his country’s approximately 500,000 chattel slaves, took second place in contested presidential elections in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania last month.

Dah Obeid announced his candidacy for the president’s office only days after his being released from prison last December for once again angering the government. He had been incarcerated, and tortured, many times before.

Dah Obeid won 18.75 per cent of the vote last month for his Radicals For Global Action Party, an increase of 10 per cent over his 2014 election showing. Presidential elections are held every five years in Mauritania.

The third place opposition finisher, a former prime minister, backed by the country’s main Islamic party, received 17.87 per cent.                                            

The winner was former defense minister Mohamed Ould Ghazouni, a retired general, with 52 per cent of the vote. Ghazouni was handpicked by outgoing president Abdel Mohamed Ould Aziz, another general, leading Mauritanians to wonder whether their country will always have a military figure as leader. Ould Aziz couldn’t run again because the Mauritanian constitution only allows two terms.

Ould Aziz seized power in Mauritania in a coup in 2008. He won an election in 2009 and again in 2014 — where he received 82 per cent of the vote, not unusual in an African dictatorship. Dah Obeid hotly contested that result — just as he is contesting the recent election.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Using U.S., Qatari Funding, Duke University Teaches K-12 Teachers Biased Info About Islam By Sloan Rachmuth

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://thefederalist.com/2019/07/08/using-u-s-qatari-funding-duke-university-teaches-k-12-teachers-biased-info-islam/

Documents shed light on the workings of Duke University’s unique influence operation targeting the U.S school system with funds from a global terrorism supporter.

By accepting more than $111,000 from Qatar Foundation International to provide U.S. teachers anti-Israel training, Duke University is abusing its status as one of only 14 Middle East National Resource Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education to provide guidance on curriculum materials and teacher training for K-12 Middle East studies.

From June 30 to July 5 on the Duke campus this year, “Dimensions of the Middle East” was an immersion program for grades 6-12 U.S. educators. Presented by the Duke Islamic Studies Center, Duke University Middle East Studies Center, and Qatar Foundation International, the institute trains 40 teachers who are hand-selected by QFI, according to a Duke University spokesman.

Qatar Foundation International (QFI), based in Washington, DC, is a subsidiary of the Qatar Foundation (QF), with direct ties to the Sharia-law government of Qatar. While QFI cuts a moderate, even scholarly image in public, its parent QF has been tied to supporting terrorist organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood. QFI partners with other elite universities for student outreach, but will resort to lawsuits to keep the financial details of these programs secret once the public begins to ask questions.

Documents received by the Haym Salomon Center shed light on the workings of Duke University’s unique influence operation targeting the U.S school system.

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Stop The U.S. — I Want To Get Off Bob Maistros

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://issuesinsights.com/2019/07/08/stop

Sometimes commentary is real work. Other times all that’s necessary is to let facts speak for themselves.

For example, in the last two weeks:

10 presidential candidates all stood on a stage and pledged to make U.S. taxpayers — who would lose their private insurance under most of their plans — subsidize health care for illegal immigrants.
One candidate promised to make the selfsame taxpayers pay for abortions for men who become women.
A prominent United States Congresswoman — who had previously referred to border detention facilities as “concentration camps” — charged that detainees were told by immigration officials to drink out of toilets. After which a group of Latino pastors and immigration advocates toured the facilities, with one insisting that there were “no deplorable conditions and no lack of basic necessities.”
A leading athletic equipment company recalled an Independence Day commemorative shoe that displayed — no, not the Confederate Stars and Bars — but the Betsy Ross version of Old Glory. According to reports, a paid endorser, infamous for his National Anthem protests, complained that the flag seen by many as one of the last emblems of national unity was instead “an offensive symbol because of its connection to an era of slavery.” An MSNBC commentator raised the stakes by comparing the flag to a swastika or burning cross.
Meanwhile, the latest “Pride Month” was capped by now familiar parades in which participants shamelessly march down the streets of our largest cities in various stages of undress — including “full frontal.” These days, barely an eye was batted at such seemingly unlawful behavior, including by event sponsors that encompassed, in New York City alone, T-Mobile, MasterCard, Hyatt, TD Ameritrade, Target, Coca Cola, Procter & Gamble, Chase, Nissan, American Airlines, Airbnb, United Airlines, IBM, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, New York Life, the NBA, Uber, Lyft, Microsoft, Kellogg, Johnson & Johnson and Starbucks. (Message: resistance is futile if you plan to converse, charge, compute, lodge, launder, invest, bank, fly, drive, drink, eat, medicate, spectate or be transported.)
The President of the United States engaged in a spur-of-the-moment summit meeting with the world’s most unstable and murderous dictator, taking an unprecedented stroll into North Korean territory that he called a “great honor.” After decades in which successive administrations had withheld such a prized photo op as the ultimate diplomatic bargaining chip. And took along his daughter and a Fox News commentator while dispatching his hawkish National Security Advisor on a trip to Mongolia. All days after joking with Russia’s president on-camera over the former’s interference in U.S. elections. And barely a week after the same Commander-in-Chief recalled a retaliatory attack while planes were reportedly in the air. Then publicized the fact of the aborted assault in a tweet and interviews that certainly misrepresented the facts about what the president knew and when he knew it. Followed up by leaked accounts of White House conversations that didn’t just throw that very national security adviser under the bus, but backed it up and ran over him again. In the same time frame that the chief executive was making and then withdrawing a promise to round up undocumented immigrants, just as he previously threatened and withdrew a threat to close the border. And dealt with yet another accusation of sexual assault.
Not to mention a brazen Antifa assault on a journalist in front of police. A married gay candidate again lecturing Christians on Christianity. The Supreme Court disallowing a citizenship question on the Census because it subjectively doubted a Cabinet official’s perfectly legal rationale for it. Special Counsel Robert Mueller rolling over and agreeing to appear before Congress to testify on the report he previously insisted must speak for itself. Charlottesville, Virginia — during the week of Independence Day — replacing a holiday celebrating the author of the Declaration of Independence (who lived in their town) with one celebrating the emancipation of slaves.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Gov’t Dependency Plunges Under Trump — Why Aren’t We Celebrating? John Merline

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://issuesinsights.com/2019/07/08/govt

Friday’s jobs report showed that the economy created 224,000 new jobs, yet the unemployment rate edged up to 3.7%.

Both are welcome news. The unemployment rate went up because 158,000 rejoined the labor market. These are people who previously didn’t have a job and weren’t looking for one.

The labor market is tight enough that people who’d given up on work are getting lured back into the job market. And they’re finding work.

As of June, there were 5.6 million more people with jobs than when President Trump took office — despite claims by prominent economists that the economy was already at full employment when he was sworn in.

The healthy labor market has resulted in something even more important yet little noticed: A sharp trend away from dependency on federal welfare and other benefits.

Take a look at the numbers:

Food Stamps. The Department of Agriculture reports that April enrollment in food stamps — which is officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — was down more than 308,000.

So far this year, SNAP enrollment has declined by nearly 1.2 million. And since Trump took office, the number of people collecting food stamps has plunged by more than 6.7 million.

Enrollment is now lower than it’s been since August 2009.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Pelosi, AOC Clash over Reach of Progressives’ Influence By Mairead McArdle

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/nancy-pelosi-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-clash-over-reach-of-progressives-influence/

House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) clashed over the weekend with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) after making dismissive remarks about the influence of Ocasio-Cortez and other young progressives in the caucus.

“All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi told the New York Times. “But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”

Pelosi, 79, was referring to Ocasio-Cortez, 29, and Representatives Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. The four freshman members, nicknamed “the Squad,” voted against the $4.6 billion emergency-disaster-aid bill signed into law last month, or “our bill,” as Pelosi called it. The bill included funding for more resources to address the increasing flow of migrants over the southern border, and the four congresswomen said it did not contain strong enough protections for migrant children.

Ocasio-Cortez did not appear to appreciate the speaker’s comments and responded with a few choice words on her Twitter account, which has 4.7 million followers.

POLITICS Comments turned off

No-Hope Presidential Candidates and the Emperor’s New Clothes By Jim Geraghty

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/no-hope-presidential-candidates-and-the-emperors-new-clothes/

Today’s hot rumor is that Representative Eric Swalwell — the trying-too-hard, gun-confiscation-promoting, nuclear-strike-on-Americans endorsing, Biden-death-speculating white man who’s running to increase diversity —  will quit the presidential race today.

But Tom Steyer, the billionaire who financed a campaign calling for Trump’s impeachment, is reportedly jumping in. To paraphrase Andy Warhol, in the future, everyone will run for the Democratic presidential nomination for 15 minutes.

There are a lot of reasons why no-hopers jump in, but a big one is the fact that the vast majority of elected officials and wealthy people live in a bubble, where they are surrounded by brown-nosers who tell them their ideas are brilliant and constantly tell them things like, “Of course the American people are yearning for inspiring leadership like yours, sir.”

The moment you become an elected official, people start to look at you a little differently. Occasionally you’ll encounter protesters or an angry crowd at your town hall, but by and large, people usually seem happy to see you — particularly people who come into your office in government. Many of the people you encounter ask for favors or describe problems in their community and hope you are the one who can fix them. Often you are indeed a person who can help them — whether it’s getting the town zoning board to move a little faster or get that pothole filled, or help enact that legislative change your company has been hoping for, or even just get one of those nifty U.S. Capitol flags. You also become a valuable friend and a potentially dangerous enemy. Until you’re out of office and can no longer use the levers of government to help friends and punish foes, it’s best to avoid irking you too much.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Impeachment-Obsessed Environmentalist Billionaire Tom Steyer Considering 2020 Run By Tyler O’Neil

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/impeachment-obsessed-environmentalist-billionaire-tom-steyer-considering-2020-run/

Tom Steyer, the hedge fund billionaire who emerged as the biggest individual donor in American politics and launched a campaign demanding President Donald Trump’s impeachment, is reconsidering his decision not to run for president in 2020. Sources confirmed the 2020 consideration to The Atlantic and The Washington Post.

“You never know with Tom until he actually pulls the trigger, but he’s telling a lot of people he works with and trusts that he’s going to do it,” one of the Democrats with knowledge of Steyer’s plans told The Post. “He wants in.”

Last week in San Francisco, the billionaire told staffers at Need to Impeach and NextGen America — two organizations he funds — that he is launching a 2020 campaign and that he intends to make the formal announcement on Tuesday, The Atlantic reported.

Steyer has changed his mind before, however. In January, he told his people to expect a presidential run. He even took a trip to Iowa for the launch, only to reverse course at the last minute. Instead of starting a 2020 race, he hosted a Townhall for Need to Impeach, which has 8 million members and has become the largest liberal activist group in the country.

Steyer has emerged as one of the biggest single donors in American politics over the last decade. In 2013, he founded the NextGen Climate super PAC (now called NextGen America), which contributed about $74 million to Democratic causes in the 2014 midterms, making Steyer the single biggest individual donor in American politics that a year. The group also spent $96 million in 2016 and nearly $61 million in the 2018 midterms.

According to The Post’s Robert Costa, Steyer may already have a campaign manager lined up. Heather Hargreaves, a Democratic field organizer who worked on President Obama’s 2008 campaign and currently executive director of NextGen America, is expected the manage the campaign, according to Costa’s sources.

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Fact Check: Antifa Is for Angry White Fascists By Stephen Green

Posted By on July 8th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/fact-check-antifa-is-for-angry-white-fascists/

Babylon Bee and Christian Daily Reporter founder Adam Ford tweeted, “Portland Antifa mugshots have been released and I’m sure you’ll agree that the lack of diversity is extremely problematic.”

So problematic. TMZ has more diversity in their collection of mugshots from New Hampshire’s North Country. You’ll find a better cross-section of intersectionality on Martha Stewart’s mailing list. Or maybe these are just everyone’s headshots from a recent casting call for a reboot of “Fargo.”

After sending journalist Andy Ngo to an overnight hospital stay for a brain-bleed last week for the crime of reporting while Asian (or was his crime being gay?), Antifa thugs took their audacity to new lows over the weekend. In more Portland street violence last week, the Rose City Antifa account blamed John Blum for getting in the way of their fists and clubs.

Valerie Richardson reported:

“Oregon III% member John Blum rushed into a crowd of anti-fascist protesters swinging a metal baton at them … the protesters defended themselves,” tweeted Always Antifascist, the Rose City Antifa account.

Mr. Blum insisted that’s not the way it happened. He said he was trying to help a friend who was under siege as well as protect himself after being sprayed by mace. He suffered bruises, a cut over his eye and a gash to his head that required four staples at the emergency room, while his attackers appeared to escape unscathed.

Or as Blum put it in an interview, “The whole reason we do this is because in my opinion, they’re trying to stop us from doing this. Why do they have a right to stop people from doing what they feel is right? To be able to express themselves?”