Seems so… Politico: The Federal Reserve is taking what may be the first significant step toward launching its own virtual currency, a move that could shake up banks, give millions of low-income Americans access to the financial system and fortify the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. The idea of creating a fully digital version of the U.S. dollar, which was unthinkable just a few years ago, has gained bipartisan interest from lawmakers as diverse as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) because of its potential benefits for consumers who don’t have bank accounts. But it’s also sparking strong pushback from those with the most to lose: banks. “The United States should not implement a [central bank digital currency] simply because we can or because others are doing so,” the American Bankers Association said in a statement to lawmakers this week. The benefits “are theoretical, difficult to ...
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Any officials investigating for criminal activity other than the strident journalists at the New York Post? (rhetorical) Hat tip: As federal prosecutors continue their criminal probes into Hunter Biden’s taxes and international business dealings, the President’s son — shuttling between Washington DC and a sprawling Los Angeles home — is lying low, consulting with lawyers and focusing on his new career in art..The Georges Berges Gallery at 462 West Broadway in Soho. Helayne Seidman Biden, who turns 51 next week, is prepping a solo show with Soho art dealer Georges Berges, who currently represents Sylvester Stallone. Berges was once arrested for “terrorist threats” and assault with a deadly weapon in California and has strong ties to China. Biden, who continues to hold business interests in a billion-dollar Chinese investment firm, recently moved to a sprawling Venice Beach rental with his wife Melissa Cohen and 10 month old son, according to ...
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Primer question: Will social media shut down this article? It has evidence and comes from renowned scientists including at MIT. Back in early 2020, during the middle of the nationwide lockdown, this site published two items, here and here regarding the Wuhan Institute of Virology and that bats were in fact at the center of the cause of the pandemic. Recently, former President Trump told media that the United States should demand at least $10 trillion from China due to the various forms of destruction and death by China. He is right. Frankly, the United States should declare all the debt load that China carries in the form of loans for the United States paid in full. Further, President Trump was exactly right to defund the World Health Organization and in fact it should be criminally charged for death and destruction. *** The WIV had been genetically sequencing the mine ...
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In full disclosure, I personally have met several of the victims in recent years in Washington DC. Biden admin closes office that helps victims of crimes committed by immigrants, opens immigrant services center On Friday, the Biden administration announced that it would be closing a government office set up to help victims of crimes committed by immigrants, to be replaced with an office aiding in immigration services, according to the Associated Press. Created by the Trump administration during his first week in office, the Victim Of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, or VOICE, would be replaced with what the US Immigration and Customs enforcement called a “more comprehensive and inclusive victim support system.” Replacing VOICE is the The Victims Engagement and Services Line, “which will combine longstanding existing services, such as methods for people to report abuse and mistreatment in immigration detention centers and a notification system for lawyers and others ...
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The private login information belonging to tens of millions of people was compromised after malware infiltrated over 3.2 million Windows-based computers during a two-year span. According to a report by cybersecurity provider NordLocker, a custom Trojan-type malware infiltrated the computers between 2018 and 2020 and stole 1.2 terabytes (TB) of personal information.
As a result, hackers were able to get their hands on nearly 26 million login credentials including emails, usernames and passwords from almost a million websites, according to Nordlocker’s report, which was conducted in partnership with a third-party company specializing in data breach research. The targeted websites include major namesakes such as Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Dropbox and LinkedIn. The malware was transmitted through email and “illegal software” which included a pirated version of “Adobe Photoshop 2018, a Windows cracking tool, and several cracked games,” according to the report. To steal the personal information, the malware ...
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On March 4, 2021, SITA, an international provider of IT services for the air transport industry worldwide, said it had suffered a security incident. The announcement, however, was not getting the attention it deserved until Air India, one of SITA’s customers, reported a massive passenger data breach on May 21 caused by an earlier attack against SITA. Between March and May, various airline companies, including Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and others, disclosed data breaches. All of those companies were SITA customers. After Air India revealed the details of its security breach, it became clear that the carriers were most likely dealing with one of the biggest supply chain attacks in the airline industry’s history. Using its external threat hunting tools, Group-IB’s Threat Intelligence team attributed the Air India incident with moderate confidence to the Chinese nation-state threat actor known as APT41. The campaign was codenamed ColunmTK. On May 21, Air ...
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At least 30% of unemployment claims are fraudulent. 70% of the money has left our shores…oh don’t worry…the Biden administration has set aside $2 billion to stop this. What? Axios: Criminals may have stolen as much as half of the unemployment benefits the U.S. has been pumping out over the past year, some experts say. Why it matters: Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion, according to some estimates, and the bulk of the money likely ended in the hands of foreign crime syndicates — making this not just theft, but a matter of national security. Catch up quick: When the pandemic hit, states weren’t prepared for the unprecedented wave of unemployment claims they were about to face.

• They all knew fraud was inevitable, but decided getting the money out to people who desperately needed it was more important than laboriously making sure all of them ...
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Reuters: JBS USA, subsidiary of Brazilian firm JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), confirmed in a statement on Wednesday the company paid the equivalent of $11 million in ransom in response to a criminal hack against its operations. The world’s largest meat producer canceled shifts at its U.S. and Canadian meat plants last week, after JBS said it was hit with a crippling cyberattack that threatened to disrupt food supply chains and inflate food prices. *** “This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally,” JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira said in a statement. “However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.” The company said it paid the ransom to “mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated.” According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, ransomware is ...
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source In part from USA Today: GUATEMALA CITY – Vice President Kamala Harris, during a trip to Guatemala, announced initiatives Monday to address corruption and human trafficking in Central America and urged people from the region not to come to the U.S.-Mexican border. Harris announced that a task force would be created to work with the Justice, Treasury and State Departments to investigate corruption in the region. U.S. officials will train law enforcement in Guatemala to conduct their own investigations. Joint Task Force Alpha was established to enhance U.S. law enforcement efforts against human smuggling and trafficking groups in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. “I have personally worked on these cases in my career and can say that when we see some of the most vulnerable in our communities being taken advantage of, being sold for profit, being abused, it should be a priority for ...
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We have watched for years the chaos at the U.S. Southern border with Mexico. While there is has been a single focus on Latin Americans crossing into the United States, very little has been reported about the volume of Chinese. This should stimulate some critical thinking and questions. Is this espionage, operatives or the building of a force for other reasons? In February of 2020, NBC News was asking some of the same questions. A Chinese student walked around a perimeter fence at a U.S. naval base in Key West, taking pictures of government buildings. Stopped by police, he said he was trying to capture images of the sunrise. And nine days after that, two more Chinese students drove past a guard at the same naval base. When stopped by security 30 minutes later, they voluntarily displayed the videos and photos they had taken of the base. The first Chinese ...
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