Privacy Warning: Detective Permitted to Override Privacy Settings of 1.2 Million Users of DNA Site

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Last week, a Florida detective made a startling public announcement: a judge had ruled he could permit him to have access to the privacy settings of the 1.2 million users of GEDmatch, a personal genomics database and genealogy website that was used by police to identify a suspect in the Golden State Killer case in California in 2018.

Detective Michael Fields of the Orlando Police Department, determined to solve a decades-old case of a serial rapist, appealed to Judge Patricia Strowbridge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida to approve a warrant permitting him to override the privacy settings of GEDmatch’s users, according to The New York Times. Once Patricia Strowbridge consented, GEDmatch let Fields have access less than 24 hours later, according to Fields.

20 million people have uploaded their genetic profiles to consumer DNA sites, but the two major sites, Ancestry.com, which has 15 million users, and 23andMe, which boasts 10 million, have stated they will respect their customers’ privacy. The Times added, “GEDmatch, severely restricted police access to its records this year.”

After the judge’s decision had been rendered, NYU law professor Erin Murphy warned, “That’s a huge game-changer. The company made a decision to keep law enforcement out, and that’s been overridden by a court. It’s a signal that no genetic information can be safe.” She added, “I have no question in my mind that if the public isn’t outraged by this, they will go to the mother lode: the 15-million-person Ancestry database. Why play in the peanuts when you can go to the big show?”

Yaniv Erlich, the chief science officer at MyHeritage, a genealogy database, echoed, “They won’t stop here.” (Read more from “Privacy Warning: Detective Permitted to Override Privacy Settings of 1.2 Million Users of DNA Site” HERE)

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Report: Ex-Twitter Employees Charged for Spying for Saudi Arabia

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The Department of Justice announced on Wednesday charges against two former Twitter employees for allegedly spying for Saudi Arabia which analysts believe is the first time that the United States government has accused Saudi Arabia of spying in the United States.

The two former Twitter employees that were charged are Ahmad Abouammo, who reportedly is a U.S. citizen, and Ali Alzabarah, who is a Saudi citizen.

In a statement, the DOJ wrote that the “information could have been used to identify and locate the Twitter users who published these posts.”

Prosecutors alleged that Abouammo “spied on the accounts of three users — including one whose posts discussed the inner workings of the Saudi leadership – on behalf of the government in Riyadh,” The Washington Post reported. Abouammo was also charged for allegedly “falsifying an invoice to obstruct an FBI investigation.

Prosecutors accused Alzabarah of “accessing the personal information of more than 6,000 Twitter accounts in 2015 on behalf of Saudi Arabia,” The Post added. “One of those accounts belonged to a prominent dissident, Omar Abdulaziz, who later became close to Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was killed by Saudi government agents last year.” (Read more from “Report: Ex-Twitter Employees Charged for Spying for Saudi Arabia” HERE)

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Despicable: Guess Who Slithered into the VA State Senate After a Teen Sex Scandal?

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Well, Virginia is now a blue state. We’re no better than Maryland trash and the rest of the northeast and a parade of horribles is set to befall the state. It’s really a sad joke. Any Republican would’ve been forced from office concerning the scandals that have rocked Richmond. The lieutenant governor was slapped with multiple allegations of rape and the attorney general and governor—all Democrats—engaged in blackface during their youth. Blackface, folks. And yet, the Democrats were rewarded last night. For the first time in two decades, the Democrats will control all aspects of political power in the Old Dominion. And while we can focus on the blackface and (alleged) rape escapades that engulfed Richmond for a hot second, let’s not forget that a politician who was jailed for a teen sex scandal is now back, garnering 60 percent of the vote. Yes, it’s Joe Morrissey, who had a sexual relationship with his then-17-year-old secretary when he served as a House delegate (via WJLA):

A former Virginia lawmaker who made headlines after being accused of having sex with his teenage secretary has won a Senate seat.

Democrat Joe Morrissey won the senate seat for the 16th District in Tuesday night’s election.

He faced off against Independent Waylin Ross and got more than 60 percent of the votes.

Morrissey was jailed four years ago after the sex scandal involving his secretary, who Morrissey later married. The couple now has three children.

(For more from the author of “Despicable: Guess Who Slithered into the VA State Senate After a Teen Sex Scandal?” please click HERE)

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Mexican Cartel Massacre of American Women and Children Was Targeted

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According to law enforcement officials and a family relative, the massacre of three American mothers, Rhonita Maria LeBaron, Christina Langford Johnson and Dawna Langford, and their six children in Mexico this week was targeted. Initially, it was reported they got caught in the crossfire between two rival cartels while traveling north to the United States.

“Nothing about that [attack] says unintentional hit,” a law enforcement official close to the situation tells Townhall, adding one of the women got out of her vehicle with her hands up in surrender before she was shot.

The official stated the family had received threats and reported them. The family also made statements against increased cartel violence in the region. . .

As more details about the attack emerge, experts on the region and cartel violence are weighing in on what happened.

“These [Mormon] sect members were residing in the area basically as guests of the cartel. They were tolerated, but they were also an irritant to the cartel. There’s not a chance in the world that this was random or some crossfire situation,” former Assistant to the FBI Chris Swecker told America’s Newsroom Wednesday.

(Read more from “Mexican Cartel Massacre of American Women and Children Was Targeted” HERE)

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Mexican President Rejects Trump’s Offer for War Against Drug Cartels; Nine Members of Mormon Family, Dual U.S.-Mexican Citizens, Killed in Attack; Slain U.S. Citizens Were Part of Mormon Offshoot with Sordid History

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By Daily Caller. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador flatly rejected President Donald Trump’s offer to “wage war” on drug cartels following the massacre of a U.S.-Mexican family along the border.

During a Tuesday press conference, López Obrador rejected Trump’s public offer to send U.S. military forces to Mexico and help his government combat organized crime. The leftist president — reiterating a position he’s long held — argued that war with the drug cartels was not the best approach.

“We have to act independently and according to our constitution, and in line with our tradition of independence and sovereignty,” López Obrador said Tuesday. “War is irrational. We are for peace. It is a characteristic of this new government.”

The statements came a day after at least nine members of Mormon family, all of whom were dual U.S.-Mexican citizens, were killed in a gruesome ambush while traveling near the border.

Members of the LeBaron family were traveling in three separate vehicles between the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora Monday when they were shot at by individuals suspecting of belonging to a drug cartel. Surviving members recounted a horrific scene: victims burning alive in a flaming vehicle and one child gunned down while trying to run away. Of the nine who were killed, three were women, four were children and two were infants. (Read more from “Mexican President Rejects Trump’s Offer for War Against Drug Cartels” HERE)

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Nine Members of Mormon Family, Dual U.S.-Mexican Citizens, Killed in Attack in Northern Mexico; Trump Offers Support

By Washington Post. Assailants killed at least nine members of a fundamentalist Mormon community in Northern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday, shooting and incinerating women and children in a brutal assault that highlighted the increasing grip of organized crime on parts of the country.

Mexican Public Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo said three women and six children of the extended LeBaron family were killed in attacks on three vehicles Monday in the northern state of Sonora. The victims were part of a community of U.S.-Mexican dual citizens who have lived in Mexico for decades. . .

President Trump offered to help Mexico strike back at the traffickers. “This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth,” he tweeted. He called López Obrador on Tuesday afternoon to offer support. (Read more from “Nine Members of Mormon Family, Dual U.S.-Mexican Citizens, Killed in Attack in Northern Mexico; Trump Offers Support” HERE)

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Slain U.S. Citizens Were Part of Mormon Offshoot with Sordid History

By NBC News. The nine U.S. citizens who were killed in a brutal ambush by drug cartel gunmen Monday while traveling in Mexico belonged to a Mormon offshoot group that has been touched by cartel violence before.

The group was part of the extended LeBaron family, Mormon fundamentalists who first came to Mexico nearly a century ago — when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City started cracking down on members who were still practicing polygamy.

To escape persecution in the U.S., Alma Dayer LeBaron brought his wives and children across the border to Mexico in 1924 and founded the LeBaron colony in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It was there in 2009 that drug cartels took another member of the family, anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron, for ransom, and murdered him. . .

The family has had a sordid history, Bowman said. Its founder’s sons fell victim to infighting. One, Ervil LeBaron, formed his own church that took on a cult following, said Anna LeBaron, who was one of Ervil’s 51 children with 13 wives. She was born at the LeBaron colony and escaped her father’s cult when she was 13; she detailed her experience in a 2017 book, “The Polygamist’s Daughter.” . . .

“My father would order mob-style hits and those would be carried out by his cult members if they stopped believing in him or his practice or religion and left, or sometimes it was rival cult leaders that were blood-atoned for being false prophets,” she said, adding that media outlets dubbed him the “Mormon Manson.” (Read more from “Slain U.S. Citizens Were Part of Mormon Offshoot with Sordid History” HERE)

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Media Got Impeachment Probe Witness’s Opening Statement Before Lawmakers; Schumer Claims No One Knows Who Whistleblower Is

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By Breitbart. A copy of a witness’s opening statement during the closed-door impeachment inquiry was given to the Washington Post before copies were provided to members of Congress and staffers engaged in the inquiry, a recently released transcript shows.

Witnesses’ opening statements have frequently been leaked to the media, allowing for their claims to reach the public uncontested before any other information from the closed-door testimonies.

A staffer for the Republican side pressed former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch during her October 11 closed-door deposition on how the Post may have gotten a copy of her opening statement, but her lawyers refused to let her answer.

During the deposition, Steve Castor, the staffer representing Republicans for the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, asked Yovanovitch for copies of her opening statement. (Read more from “Media Got Impeachment Probe Witness’s Opening Statement Before Lawmakers” HERE)

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Schumer: No One Knows Who Whistleblower Is, ‘If You Do, You Should Let Me Know’

By Breitbart. During a press conference on Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) denounced calls to publicize the identity of the whistleblower and stated that “no one knows who he is, or if you do, you should let me know.”

(Read more from “Schumer: No One Knows Who Whistleblower Is, ‘If You Do, You Should Let Me Know’” HERE)

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Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Roger Stone

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Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of Roger Stone, a longtime Republican provocateur and former confidant of President Donald Trump, who faces charges related to his alleged efforts to exploit the Russian-hacked Hillary Clinton emails for political gain.

The trial in Washington promises to revive the specter of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as the impeachment inquiry against Trump proceeds in the House. . .

Stone’s indictment in January was an offshoot of Mueller’s investigation. Stone is accused of lying to lawmakers about WikiLeaks, tampering with witnesses and obstructing a House intelligence committee probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. (Read more from “Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Roger Stone” HERE)

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1 Million ‘Cannibal’ Ants Found Trapped in Soviet-Era Bunker

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. . .Nearly 1 million “cannibal” ants have been found trapped in an abandoned Soviet-era bunker in Poland used to store nuclear weapons, according to a new study. The insane insects, which have been trapped “for years,” have resorted to eating the corpses of their dead brethren to survive. . .

“Here we show that the ‘colony’ in the bunker survived and grew thanks to an influx of workers from the source nest above the bunker and mass consumption of corpses of the imprisoned nestmates,” the study’s abstract states.

The abstract added that the “imprisoned ants” used an “experimentally installed boardwalk” to get through the ventilation pipe to get to their nest on the top of the bunker.

Given the bunker’s location and the lack of available food sources, researchers concluded that the surviving ants had resorted to cannibalism to survive.

“It is known that wood ants consume dead bodies of their conspecifics left in masses on the ground during spectacular ‘ant wars’ early in the season,” the authors wrote in the study. “The function of such wars is to settle the borders of neighboring conspecific colonies, but the corpses also add substantially to the scarce food resources available when the colony lives commence after winter.” (Read more from “1 Million ‘Cannibal’ Ants Found Trapped in Soviet-Era Bunker” HERE)

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Video Shows Worker Save Drunken Man from Tracks as Train Rapidly Approaches

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A Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) supervisor is being celebrated as a hero after he saved a drunken man who had fallen onto the tracks just as a train was approaching the Oakland station.

In surveillance video shared Tuesday on YouTube by BART, we see the moment supervisor John O’Connor, who has worked for the company for 24 years, was quick to act when he spotted the man fall onto the tracks at the Northern California station, per the Associated Press.

It almost happens so fast, if you blink while watching the video you will miss it. Check it out.

At one point in the clip, we see O’Connor, almost effortlessly, reach down and yank the man up by his shoulders and put him back onto the platform within seconds of the train’s arrival. (Read more from “Video Shows Worker Save Drunken Man from Tracks as Train Rapidly Approaches” HERE)

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Violent Robbery Reported at Burger Joint Was Actually a Racially Motivated Hoax to Avoid Deportation

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Law enforcement officials say that a violent assault and robbery reported at a SeaTac burger restaurant was actually a hoax with a racial component perpetrated in order to obtain immigration visas for the participants.

A customer walked into the Bob’s Burgers and Teriyaki restaurant to find employees and customers tied up. They said that they had been robbed by two masked men who also sexually assaulted two females.

When police interviewed the witnesses, they began to notice discrepancies in their stories. . .

“Make no mistake, false reporting is a crime,” police said. “Falsely reporting a violent crime puts officers and the public at risk and, in this case, it undermines the true intent of the U-Visa program – to protect real victims, mostly women, of violent crime and human trafficking.”

The participants are accused of staging the hoax in order to help them avoid deportation and apply to the U-Visa program, which is intended to give legal status to immigrants who aid police investigating crimes.

(Read more from “Violent Robbery Reported at Burger Joint Was Actually a Racially Motivated Hoax to Avoid Deportation” HERE)

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