Cliven Bundy Refuses to Leave Jail Amid Ongoing Trial

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Cliven Bundy, the 71-year-old rancher who sparked a national debate over states’ rights, refused a federal judge’s offer to be released from jail during his ongoing trial on Wednesday.

Bundy, who engaged in an armed standoff with government agents over a cattle round-up in 2014, turned down the judge’s option of house arrest while others involved in the standoff are still jailed awaiting trial.

A federal grand jury in Nevada indicted Cliven and four others on 16 charges related to the armed standoff near his ranch over unpaid grazing fees last year.

U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro, meantime, said Ammon Bundy and co-defendant Ryan Payne can be freed Thursday to home detention.

The judge also said another Bundy son, Ryan, can now split time between home and a halfway house while serving as his own attorney in the case. (Read more from “Cliven Bundy Refuses to Leave Jail Amid Ongoing Trial” HERE)

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Lauer Sexted Intern, Other Women at NBC; Video Catches Disgraced Reporter in the Act

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By Nicole Darrah. Matt Lauer, the former NBC News anchor who was fired for “inappropriate sexual behavior,” has been accused of sexting network employees — including an intern.

Lauer, according to a New York Post report Wednesday night, allegedly sent “lewd messages and revealing pictures” to women working at NBC.

One of those women, an intern, is believed to have been the staffer who brought the news anchor’s career with the company tumbling down after she approached executives about an incident that allegedly occurred with Lauer during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The intern allegedly provided a photo “which was a major part of the evidence which is why the firing came so quickly.” It “was so damning that they had no other option but to fire him,” a source told the Post. The photo, sources told the Post, “showed incontrovertible proof of inappropriate sexual behavior on his part.”

Lauer’s sexual misconduct, however, reportedly didn’t end with the Olympics. His involvement with the intern continued after they returned home from Russia, the Post reported. (Read more from “Matt Lauer Sexted Intern, Other Women at NBC; Video Catches Disgraced Reporter in the Act” HERE)

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Matt Lauer Caught Telling Meredith Vieira to ‘Keep Bending Over Like That’ in 2006 Video Clip

By Nicole Darrah. In a video unearthed by TMZ on Wednesday, former NBC News star Matt Lauer is seen and heard on camera whispering inappropriate comments to his then-co-anchor Meredith Vieira.

“Keep bending over like that, it’s a nice view,” Lauer told Vieira on the set of “The Today Show,” reportedly in October 2006.

The comments from Lauer, according to TMZ, were made when the NBC morning show cut to commercial — however, a local affiliate kept the show live on air with the network’s in-studio camera feed.

Lauer’s co-anchor in the video was initially identified as Katie Couric.

TMZ had posted another video earlier on Wednesday in which Couric, during a 2012 appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” said Lauer “pinches me on the ass a lot.” (Read more from “Matt Lauer Caught Telling Meredith Vieira to ‘Keep Bending Over Like That’ in 2006 Video Clip” HERE)

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Amazon Just Released an AI-Powered Camera

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Amazon’s newest product won’t tell you a joke or turn on your lights.

The new DeepLens camera is instead custom-built for artificial intelligence developers, who will be able to build AI systems on Amazon Web Services and have them run on the camera, according to the company. This means the camera itself will be able to recognize objects, look for faces, or label what actions people are doing, all without needing to call back to Amazon’s servers . . .

But the camera still has some limitations; it can detect if there are faces in the camera’s sight, but to process who those people are, it will need to call back to an Amazon cloud service that’s already been trained to know specific faces. (Read more from “Amazon Just Released an AI-Powered Camera” please click HERE)

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Special Counsel Delays Grand Jury Testimony Amid Signs of Flynn Deal Talks

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Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team has postponed an anticipated grand jury testimony linked to his investigation into Michael Flynn amid growing indications of possible plea deal discussions.

Additional witnesses were expected to be questioned soon including a public relations consultant hired by Flynn’s lobbying firm who was given an early December date deadline to appear before the grand jury, according to a person at the company.

Ahead of the delay, the impression was that the testimony needed to happen soon, the source said . . .

The grand jury testimony was postponed, the person said, with no reason given. There could be many reasons for a delay, including scheduling issues. (Read more from “Special Counsel Delays Grand Jury Testimony Amid Signs of Flynn Deal Talks” HERE)

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Documents Prove Obama Used ‘Illegal Propaganda’ on Americans

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By Bob Unruh. The Obama administration admitted in newly obtained documentation that it used illegal propaganda to try to persuade the American people to adopt its views on environmental issues, according to the Washington watchdog Judicial Watch.

“The Obama EPA knowingly did an end run around federal law to push another Obama environmental power grab,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said Monday.

“These documents show how these Obama-era bureaucrats seem to be more like social activists than public employees. Let’s hope President Trump does some major housecleaning at the EPA,” Fitton said.

The organization posted online hundreds of pages it obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency in a federal Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Obama’s EPA moved to grab authority over waters nationwide with its Waters of the U.S. rule. The regulation essentially granted the Washington bureaucracy authority to monitor, control and protect just about any accumulation of water, including temporary rivulets from rain storms. (Read more from “Obama Used ‘Illegal Propaganda’ on Americans” HERE)
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Federal Records Prove Illegal Use of Social Media by Obama Administration

By Judicial Watch Press Room. Judicial Watch obtained 900-pages of documents from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which reveal the agency’s use of the mass-sharing Thunderclap social media platform to covertly promote its policies in violation of federal law.

The documents show that EPA staffers, via the Thunderclap platform, recruited outside groups to lobby in support of the Clean Water Rule or “Waters of the United States.” Thunderclap shares member messages across multiple Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr accounts simultaneously.

Federal law prohibits agencies from engaging in propaganda, which is defined as covert activity intended to influence the American public. Federal law also prohibits agencies from using federal resources to conduct grassroots lobbying to prod the American public to call on Congress to act on pending legislation.

The EPA’s Director of Web Communications Jessica Orquina, in a September 10, 2014, email, wrote to Karen Wirth, an EPA team leader in the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, urging the covert use of the Thunderclap technology. “I don’t want it to look like EPA used our own social media accounts to reach our support goal,” Orquina wrote to Wirth.

The Clean Water Rule, now in the process of being repealed by the Trump administration, was a significant and legally controversial increase in federal authority over streams and other small bodies of water. (See more from this presser on how Obama used propaganda illegally HERE)

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Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes to Be Released in 20 States

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The US Environmental Protection Agency has approved the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes in 20 US states and Washington D.C – what are the implications of this mass experiment?

In early November the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of mosquitoes which have been genetically engineered to carry a common bacterium designed to kill mosquitoes that carry dangerous viruses. The news was reported in Nature, and later confirmed to Gizmodo by MosquitoMate, the company behind the GE mosquitoes, and the EPA. The EPA said they officially registered MosquitoMate’s Asian Tiger mosquito with a five-year license to sell their lab mosquitoes in 20 states across the nation.

Nature reported:

On 3 November, the agency told biotechnology start-up MosquitoMate that it could release the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis into the environment as a tool against the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Lab-reared mosquitoes will deliver the bacterium to wild mosquito populations.

The decision — which the EPA has not formally announced — allows the company, which is based in Lexington, Kentucky, to release the bacteria-infected mosquitoes in 20 US states and Washington DC.

The goal is to have MosquitoMate release the Wolbachia-infected A. albopictus male mosquitoes into the wild to mate with wild females in the hopes that the fertilized eggs do not hatch due to faulty paternal chromosomes. As with all mosquitoes, the laboratory grown male mosquitoes do not bite. MosquitoMate believes that over time the infected males will help shrink the population of A. albopictus mosquitoes.

Stephen Dobson, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and founder of MosquitoMate, told Nature that other species of mosquito and other insects are not harmed by the release of the lab mosquitoes. Dobson also stated that MosquitoMate plans to begin selling the mosquitoes locally in Lexington, Kentucky and then from there expand to nearby cities.

The EPA’s decision came after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes designed to prevent the spread of the Zika virus. The FDA’s approval was in relation to a field test of genetically modified mosquitoes engineered by the British biotechnology company Oxitec.

Oxitec is the same company involved in a controversial vote in the Florida Keys during the 2016 Election. In that vote, residents of the Key Haven voted against the release of the mosquitoes in their community. However, shortly after, the trials were approved for a different location in the Keys. Despite the approval, opposition to the controversial project has not ceased. In late November 2016, Health News Florida reported that a coalition of groups, including the Center for Food Safety and the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, have filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Earlier this year the Houston Chronicle reported that Oxitec is working on a deal with Harris County officials to release GE mosquitoes in the Houston area. Oxitec is attempting to sway Houston officials by stating that their product has a nearly 100% success rate. Gizmodo reported:

The company claims that trials in Brazil, Panama and the Cayman Islands have reduced mosquito populations by 90%, calling the success “an unprecedented level” of human control over nature. (The World Health Organization, for it’s [sic]part, has stated that while the technology “has demonstrated the ability to reduce the [mosquito] populations in small-scale field trials” there is still “an absence of data on epidemiological impact.”)

Interestingly, in October 2017, the FDA made another announcement which clarifies that “mosquito-related products intended to function as pesticides” are not “drugs” under the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act, and “will be regulated by the EPA under the Federal Insecticide Act.” This decision led to the November announce from the EPA and now sets the stage for future experiments with genetically engineered mosquitoes.

Will the first site of genetically engineered mosquitoes be in Houston, the Florida Keys, or one of the newly approved 20 states? Time will tell. For now, it is important to express your thoughts and concerns to local officials. If this is happening in your area and you have concerns, do not sit around doing nothing, or only complain online. Take some type of action. Educate your neighbors and hold your public officials accountable. (For more from the author of “Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes to Be Released in 20 States” please click HERE)

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Rand Paul Is Still Being a Weirdo About That Lawn Attack

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Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky gave his first-person take Tuesday on the surprise lawn attack in early November that left him with a handful of broken ribs.

Paul’s neighbor in Kentucky tackled him from behind, causing the senator to lung contusions, broken ribs and a number of other complications.

“I was working in my yard with my earmuffs on you know to protect my hearing from the mower and I had gotten off the mower, facing downhill and the attacker came running full-blown. I never saw him, I never had conversation – in fact the weird thing is I haven’t talked to him in 10 years,” Paul, a Republican, told Fox News’ Dr. Mark Siegel in his first on-camera interview since the attack.

“After my ribs were broken then he said things to me to try to indicate why he was unhappy but I think the, I guess to me the bottom line is it isn’t so important – if someone mugs you is it really justified for any reason,” Paul said. (Read more from “Rand Paul Is Still Being a Weirdo About That Lawn Attack” HERE)

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Report: Trump Continues to Hit Obama for His Fake Birth Certificate, Ineligibility for POTUS

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President Donald Trump has continued to question the legitimacy of former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate during private conversations in recent months, The New York Times reported, citing advisers who discussed Trump’s statements . . .

One sitting US senator quoted by the Times, “who listened as the President revived his doubts” about the issue, “chuckled” when speaking about what was said. Trump “has had a hard time letting go of his claim that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States,” the senator, who “asked not to be named to discuss private conversations,” told The New York Times . . .

Although Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, Trump publicly questioned Obama’s citizenship for several years before saying in a news conference during the 2016 election that he believed the nation’s first African-American president was born in the US.

In September 2016, Trump said, “President Barack Obama was born in the United States.” (Read more from “Report: Trump Continues to Hit Obama for His Fake Birth Certificate, Ineligibility for POTUS” HERE)

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Bannon to Campaign for Moore in Alabama U.S. Senate Race

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Former White House strategist Steve Bannon is set to return to Alabama to campaign for embattled Republican U.S. Senate nominee Roy Moore.

Bannon is expected to appear at a Moore rally next week – as the Dec. 12 election between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones draws closer. The candidates are vying for the Senate seat once occupied by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The appearance by Bannon would mark a strong show of support for Moore, a candidate engulfed in sexual misconduct allegations . . .

“I look forward to standing with Judge Moore and all of the Alabama deplorables in the fight to elect him to the United States Senate, and send shockwaves to the political media elites,” Bannon told CNN.

It remained unclear what exactly prompted the reversal. Last week, President Donald Trump effectively endorsed Moore, tweeting Sunday: “Can’t let Schumer/Pelosi win this race. Liberal Jones would be BAD!”

(Read more from “Bannon to Campaign for Moore in Alabama U.S. Senate Race” HERE)

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Trump’s FCC Chairman Hammers Twitter, Facebook for Censorship, Viewpoint Discrimination Against Conservatives

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The head of the Federal Communications Commission is going on the offensive against tech companies in an effort to make his case for repealing net neutrality rules.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai on Tuesday accused Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) and other tech companies of being disingenuous by arguing for a free and open internet while they “routinely block or discriminate against content they don’t like.”

The remarks came as part of a speech on his recently revealed plan to unravel Obama-era net neutrality protections at a telecom policy event in Washington DC. The 2015 rules were intended to keep the internet open and fair by preventing broadband providers from playing favorites with online content . . .

Pai, a Republican commissioner appointed to head the agency by President Trump, specifically called out Twitter for appearing to have a “double standard when it comes to suspending or de-verifying conservative users’ accounts as opposed to those of liberal users. (Read more from “Trump’s FCC Chairman Accuses Twitter of Silencing Conservatives” HERE)

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