The $200M Smuggling Bust at the Long Beach Port

Posted on January 28, 2025January 28, 2025 by Denise Simon

LA Ports smuggling bust: Feds arrest 8 suspected of smuggling $200M in Chinese goods

LOS ANGELES – Federal authorities have arrested eight individuals in connection with a large-scale smuggling operation that allegedly brought counterfeit and illegal goods from China into the United States through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The operation, involving logistics companies, warehouse owners, and corrupt truck drivers, is believed to have smuggled at least $200 million worth of goods. An additional defendant, believed to be the lead orchestrator, remains at large and is thought to be in China. The defendants face multiple charges, including conspiracy, smuggling, and breaking customs seals.

9 charged in 15-count indictment

What We Know: Federal law enforcement has charged nine defendants in a 15-count indictment with conspiracy, smuggling, and breaking customs seals. The defendants allegedly collaborated with partners in China to manipulate shipping containers flagged for inspection, using logistics companies to facilitate the smuggling of counterfeit goods into the U.S. Investigators have seized over $130 million in contraband, and the organization is believed to have smuggled at least $200 million worth of goods through this scheme. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest container ports in the Western Hemisphere, were the focal points of the operation.

How the crime ring operated

According to Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally, the scheme involved logistics companies, warehouse owners, and corrupt truck drivers working together to defy U.S. customs laws. The defendants and their partners in China filled shipping containers with contraband, including counterfeit goods and illegal chemicals. They circumvented the security system by learning the unique serial numbers of security seals and creating duplicate fake seals. These counterfeit seals were sent from China to the U.S. When shipments arrived at the port, instead of going to secondary inspection sites, corrupt truck drivers took the containers to offsite warehouses. There, the seals were cut, contraband removed, and new counterfeit seals applied before presenting the containers to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for inspection. Truck drivers were paid significantly above normal rates to transport the containers illegally.

Timeline: The indictment details a conspiracy that operated from at least August 2023 to June 2024. The scheme involved filling shipping containers in China with contraband, counterfeit goods, and illegal chemicals. These containers were sealed with unique security seals, whose numbers the conspirators obtained in advance to create duplicate fake seals. Upon arrival in the U.S., the containers were diverted to offsite warehouses instead of secondary inspection sites, where the contraband was removed, and new counterfeit seals were applied before presenting the containers for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspection. Seven defendants were arrested on Friday, with an eighth taken into custody on Saturday. The arraignment for the seven arrested took place on Friday, where they pleaded not guilty, and a trial date was set for March 18. The eighth defendant is expected to be arraigned soon.

The Backstory: The smuggling operation involved executives from logistics companies, warehouse owners, and corrupt truck drivers who coordinated the shipment of contraband from China to the U.S. through the Port of Los Angeles. The defendants allegedly circumvented customs inspections by breaking security seals on containers, removing contraband, and replacing the seals with counterfeit ones to evade detection.

Media Critical that Trump has not Fixed the Price of Eggs

Posted on January 28, 2025January 28, 2025 by Denise Simon

VP J.D. Vance sat for an interview with Margaret Brennan where she questioned him regarding all the executive orders but the price of eggs are too high..Mr. Vice President?

Exactly where was the media for the last four years?

So to be sure, while VP Vance did a relatively good job in answering why the price of eggs are high…he did miss the moment to call out CBS and other media regarding the Biden ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ which has not brought down the price of anything. Furthermore, not one single Republican voted for that law, why you ask?

After the expert at Forbes took a long look at the IRA, here are their major takeaways:

The Inflation Reduction Act is a slimmed-down version of the Build Back Better bill, which aimed to make historic investments in the nation’s social safety net. The new bill makes the largest investment in combating climate change in U.S. history, lowers the cost of prescription drugs and raises taxes on corporations.

Here are the big provisions:

Creation of a 15% corporate minimum tax rate: Corporations with at least $1 billion in income will have a new tax rate of 15%. Taxes on individuals and households won’t be increased. Stock buybacks by corporations will face a 1% excise tax.

Prescription drug price reform: One of the most significant provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act will allow Medicare to negotiate the price of certain prescription drugs, bringing down the price beneficiaries will pay for their medications. Medicare recipients will have a $2,000 cap on annual out-of-pocket prescription drug costs, starting in 2025.

IRS tax enforcement: The IRS has been sounding the alarm for years about being underfunded and being unable to deliver on its duties. The bill invests $80 billion in the nation’s tax agency over the next 10 years.

Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidy extension: Currently, medical insurance premiums under the ACA are subsidized by the federal government to lower premiums. These subsidies, which were scheduled to expire at the end of this year, will be extended through 2025. Approximately 3 million Americans could lose their health insurance if these subsidies weren’t extended, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Energy security and climate change investments: The bill includes numerous investments in climate protection, including tax credits for households to offset energy costs, investments in clean energy production and tax credits aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

The bill passed with all 50 Democratic votes in the Senate on Aug. 7. Democrats were able to secure two key votes, from Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), after the pair opposed earlier versions of the bill. Sinema, the last party holdout, expressed support for the bill after the carried-interest loophole provision was dropped.

Nothing reduces the price of eggs Margaret….but what did the Biden White House admit about the Inflation Reduction Act really? It was all about climate change.

On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, marking the most significant action Congress has taken on clean energy and climate change in the nation’s history. With the stroke of his pen, the President redefined American leadership in confronting the existential threat of the climate crisis and set forth a new era of American innovation and ingenuity to lower consumer costs and drive the global clean energy economy forward.

This guidebook provides an overview of the clean energy, climate mitigation and resilience, agriculture, and conservation-related investment programs in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, including who is eligible to apply for funding and for what activities.

Pass this along to VP Vance when you get a chance please….

Longshoreman Pres Threatens America with Destruction

Posted on October 1, 2024October 1, 2024 by Denise Simon

It is almost an act of war, it is a threat to everyone in America, it is insurrection…where is the White House of the Department of Justice? This threat and contract negotiations is about a year old…and Biden Harris have done nothing.

The Biden-Harris administration’s Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo admitted on Monday that she has not been concerned about a strike that could create shortages of food, pharmaceuticals and hundreds of consumer goods.

Daggett outlined a virtual nightmare for the American economy if the strike continues, threatening that dealers “can’t sell cars because the cars ain’t coming in off the ships. They get laid off. Third week, malls start closing down. They can’t get the goods from China. They can’t sell clothes,” he said. A delay in the longshoremen returning to work could take months for the nation to recover from.

“Everything in the United States comes on a ship. They go out of business. Construction workers get laid off because the materials aren’t coming in, the steel’s not coming in, the lumber is not coming in. They lose their jobs,” Daggett said, insisting that the companies would be “better off sitting down and let’s get a contract.”

International Longshoremen Association President Harold Daggett: “I will cripple you and you have no idea what that means”

pic.twitter.com/kCumQzIVa1

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 1, 2024

Meanwhile:

That yacht he used to own? Check it out…

***

Did Joe know about his mafia ties?

The Justice Department, which has reportedly lost two cases against Mr Daggett, has accused him of being an “associate” of the Genovese crime family — one of the infamous “Five Families” of the US Mafia.

Charged with racketeering in 2005, Mr Daggett, took the witness stand and portrayed himself as a mob target, despite evidence against him from a turncoat Mafia enforcer saying he was under the mob’s control, the New York Times reported.

During that trial, one of Mr Daggett’s co-defendants, a renowned mobster named Lawrence Ricci, disappeared. His decomposing body was found in the trunk of a car outside a New Jersey diner several weeks later, with the killing still unsolved.

Despite his union serving as a historic symbol of the grip of organised crime on union members, as depicted in the 1954 film “On the Waterfront”, Mr Daggett was acquitted in both cases.

The union leader has previously criticised the Waterfront Commission, set up to combat Mafia control of the port, calling the allegations of mob influence “total bulls—”, and a “dark, ugly attack on Italian Americans”.

“It’s a damn tragedy for the Waterfront Commission to enjoy free rein and target Italian Americans as part of their historic anti-worker campaign. Let’s be real here. The Waterfront Commission has, for decades, claimed good jobs went to only those with so-called ‘mob ties,’” he said in 2022.

As industry goes to automation and technology from fast food the manufacturing…Daggett refuses that at our container ports…“Plus, we want absolute airtight language that there will be no automation or semi-automation, and we are demanding all Container Royalty monies go to the ILA.”

Jack Pennington

Soap Box Time: “Automation”

As everyone has heard by now my Boss is taking a hard stand on the never ending threat of automation that is infiltrating our industry, and I have heard the remarks from those that say we need to learn how to deal with it! Well I have a message for those people “kiss my fat A$$”! I got some news for those same naïve people that think it’s a good thing and by going to automation it’s going to save the consumer money, let me shed some light with some facts and history that nobody can dispute!

For instance, when the big 3 automakers decided to install robotic welders, painters, upholsterers, machinists, assemblers and countless other robots into production with the false pretense and promises that it would “remember this quote” (save the consumer money) well I ask you this question, did it cut costs of an automobile? The answer is an Easy NO! In fact, the cost of the standard car went up to pay for the robots and them being installed and thousands of workers were left jobless!

This fact goes for countless companies today Sam’s, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart and many and many more have continually sold the general public on the premises that by going with automation it will save the public money, with the FACT being thousands of good tax paying jobs went away and the CEO’s and CORPORATE EXECUTIVES are getting rewarded and richer by getting raises and bonuses for making record breaking profits while your dads, moms, brothers and sisters are pushed out of work, not to mention the same retailers that sold “you the general public” on the idea that it will save you money has actually gone up on the price of groceries and supplies of all kinds!

Exploding Pagers vs Hezbollah

Posted on September 17, 2024September 17, 2024 by Denise Simon

An exceptional tactic….cell phones were too easily tracked, so an order was given to use pagers….the clandestine operatives went to ground on that order.

At its core, the AP-900 alphanumeric pager functions as a wireless communication device that receives messages via radio signals. / Photo: TRT World

Exploding Pagers in Lebanon Injure Hundreds, Ambassador — At its core, the AP-900 alphanumeric pager functions as a wireless communication device that receives messages via radio signals. / Photo: TRT World

**Can the AP-900 Be Hacked?**

Theoretically, yes, the AP-900 can be hacked, but it would require specialised knowledge and equipment, information from open sources show.

The most straightforward method of compromise would involve intercepting and decoding the radio signals.

Since pagers receive messages over radio frequencies, these signals can be intercepted by anyone with the right equipment.

Although the messages are encoded, they are not typically encrypted, meaning that an intercepted message can be easily decoded.

More sophisticated attacks could involve compromising the messaging infrastructure or physically tampering with the devices during distribution. source

***

The Associated Press has published the following:

NEW YORK (AP) — In what appears to be a sophisticated, remote attack, pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria Tuesday, killing at least nine people — including an 8-year-old girl — and wounding thousands more.

The Iran-backed militant group blamed Israel for the deadly explosions, which targeted an extraordinary breadth of people and showed signs of being a long-planned operation. How the attack was executed is largely uncertain and investigators have not immediately said how the pagers were detonated. The Israeli military has declined to comment.

Here’s what we know so far.

Why were pagers used in the attack?

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track the group’s movements. As a result, the organization uses pagers to communicate.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the exploded devices were from a new brand the group had not used before. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, did not identify the brand name or supplier.

Nicholas Reese, adjunct instructor at the Center for Global Affairs in New York University’s School of Professional Studies, explains smart phones carry a higher risk for intercepted communications in contrast to the more simple technology of pagers.

This type of attack will also force Hezbollah to change their communication strategies, said Reese, who previously worked as an intelligence officer, adding that survivors of Tuesday’s explosions are likely to throw away “not just their pagers, but their phones, and leaving their tablets or any other electronic devices.”

How could sabotage cause these pagers to explode?

With little disclosed from investigators so far, multiple theories have emerged Tuesday around how the attack might have been carried out. Several experts who spoke with The Associated Press suggest that the explosions were most likely the result of supply-chain interference.

Very small explosive devices may have been built into the pagers prior to their delivery to Hezbollah, and then all remotely triggered simultaneously, possibly with a radio signal.

By the time of the attack, “the battery was probably half-explosive and half-actual battery,” said Carlos Perez, director of security intelligence at TrustedSec.

A former British Army bomb disposal officer explained that an explosive device has five main components: A container, a battery, a triggering device, a detonator and an explosive charge.

“A pager has three of those already,” explained the ex-officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he now works as a consultant with clients on the Middle East. “You would only need to add the detonator and the charge.”

After security camera footage appeared on social media Tuesday purporting to show one of the pagers explode on a man’s hip in a Lebanese market, two munitions experts also said that the blast appeared to be the result of a tiny explosive device.

“Looking at the video, the size of the detonation is similar to that caused by an electric detonator alone or one that incorporates an extremely small, high-explosive charge,” said Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordinance disposal expert.

This signals involvement of a state actor, Moorhouse said. He adds that Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, is the most obvious suspect to have the resources to carry out such an attack.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, an expert in military arms who is director of the Australian-based Armament Research Services, agreed that the scale and sophistication of the attack “almost certainly points to a state actor,” and that Israel had been accused of carrying out such operations in the past. Last year, AP reported that Iran accused Israel of trying to sabotage its ballistic missile program through faulty foreign parts that could explode, damaging or destroying the weapons before they could be used.

How long was this operation?

It would take a long time to plan an attack of this scale. The exact specifics are still unknown, but experts who spoke with the AP shared estimates ranging anywhere between several months to two years.

The sophistication of the attack suggests that whoever is behind it has been collecting intelligence for a long time, Reese explained. An attack of this caliber requires building the relationships needed to gain physical access to the pagers before they were sold; developing the technology that would be embedded in the devices; and developing sources who can confirm that the targets were carrying the pagers.

And it’s likely the compromised pagers seemed normal to their users for some time before the attack. Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based veteran and a senior political risk analyst with over 37 years experience in the region, said he has had conversations with members of Hezbollah and survivors of Tuesday’s pager attack. He said the pagers were procured more than six months ago.

“The pagers functioned perfectly for six months,” Magnier said. What triggered the explosion, he said, appeared to be an error message sent to all the devices.

Based on his conversations with Hezbollah members, Magnier also said that many pagers didn’t go off, allowing the group to inspect them. They came to the conclusion that between 3 to 5 grams of a highly explosive material were concealed or embedded in the circuitry, he said.

What else could have happened?

Another possibility is that malware could have been inserted into the operating system of the pagers — somehow causing the device batteries to all overload at a specific time, causing them to burst into flame.

According to a Hezbollah official and Lebanese security officials, the pagers first heated up and then exploded in the pockets, or the hands, of those carrying them Tuesday afternoon.

These pagers run on lithium ion batteries, the Hezboolah official said, claiming the devices exploded as the result of being targeted from an Israeli “security operation,” without elaborating further.

When overheated, lithium ion batteries can smoke, melt and even catch on fire. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Lithium battery fires can burn up to 590 C (1,100 F).

Still, Moorhouse and others noted that images and video footage seen Tuesday more strongly resembled the detonation of small explosive charge, not an overheating battery.

“A lithium ion battery fire is one thing, but I’ve never seen one explode like that. It looks like a small explosive charge,” said Alex Plitsas, a weapons expert at the Atlantic Council.

Among those pointing to the likelihood of a supply chain attack is Jenzen-Jones, who adds that “such a large-scale operation also raises questions of targeting” — stressing the number of causalities and enormous impact reported so far.

“How can the party initiating the explosive be sure that a target’s child, for example, is not playing with the pager at the time it functions?” he said.

Biden’s Admin Lost 291,000 Unaccompanied Migrant Children

Posted on August 21, 2024August 21, 2024 by Denise Simon

Remember when the Democrats launched a huge attack on President Trump for disconnecting families/children of illegal migrants? Well…hold on…seems things are bubbling to the surface that the Biden administration and that pesky Border Czar, Kamala don’t care about who they lost….noting that an estimated 290,000 children have been exploited, trafficked or are in a forced labor condition.

Where is the joy now Kamala? Where is the child safety of these unaccompanied children? Inspector General Joseph Cuffari did the investigation and is shouting for immediate action. That ‘border bill’ that was killed and blamed on Trump never addressed the matter of the chaos and scandals at the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

DHS Secretary Defends Response to 20-Year-High Surge of Unaccompanied ...

38 Senators wrote a letter about this chaos and failure…radio silence from the FBI, DHS, HHS and the White House. Note the Department of Justice such as it is…does not care either. Human Rights? nah….

READ THE INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT HERE

Table 1. UCs transferred to ORR, FYs 2019-2023 FY UCs released to ORR FY 2019 67,987 FY 2020 15,128 FY 2021 120,859 FY 2022 127,057 FY 2023 117,789 Total 448,820

Source: DHS OIG analysis of ICE data

According to OPLA officials, ICE ERO has no authority over UCs beyond managing their immigration cases. Therefore, even if ICE were to identify UCs in unsafe conditions, the agency has limited authority to respond. ICE personnel at two field offices affirmed this and explained they had identified UCs in unsafe conditions but were unable to intervene. One ICE officer expressed concern with not being able to take action in a case involving a UC whose sponsor claimed the UC was in an inappropriate relationship with her husband.

Also included in the report is this text:

We issued this management alert as part of an ongoing audit of ICE’s ability to monitor UCs who were released from DHS and HHS custody between FYs 2019 and 2023. The objective of our ongoing audit is to determine ICE’s ability to monitor the location and status of UCs once released or transferred from DHS and HHS’ custody. As part of our audit, between October 2023 and May 2024, we: • Interviewed more than 100 officials from ICE ERO, OPLA, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Center for Countering Human Trafficking, as well as external stakeholders from DOJ and HHS. The interviews included meetings with ICE field offices located in Miami, Los Angeles, St. Paul (Minnesota), Philadelphia, San Diego, Baltimore, Houston, Dallas, New York, and Chicago. • Reviewed relevant laws, reports, and policies, such as the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Immigration and Nationality Act, appropriations acts, prior DHS and HHS OIG reports, and internal ICE policies and handbooks. Additionally, we reviewed and analyzed multiple memorandums of agreement between DHS and HHS regarding UCs. • Reviewed and analyzed ICE data to determine the number of UCs ICE released to ORR from FY 2019 through FY 2023, UCs not served NTAs to date, and UCs who did not appear in court. We conducted this work pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978, 5 U.S.C. §§ 401-424, and in connection with an ongoing audit being performed according to generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require we plan and perform our audit work to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. Additional information and recom

9 charged in 15-count indictment

How the crime ring operated

Jack Pennington

Why were pagers used in the attack?

How could sabotage cause these pagers to explode?

How long was this operation?

What else could have happened?