5 Senators Threaten the Supreme Court

Posted on August 13, 2019August 13, 2019 by Denise Simon

In a case where the National Rifle Association is suing the City of New York, 5 U.S. Senators decide to put their signatures to a letter to the Supreme Court telling the entire panel of judges they are not well and have become too political.

In what is know in legal terms as an Amicus brief, consisting of 25 pages, SENATORS SHELDON WHITEHOUSE,MAZIE HIRONO,RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, RICHARD DURBIN, AND KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND essentially write out this diatribe.

So, we have a legislative branch essentially threatening the Supreme Court. Consider the implications here and read on. Maybe even take notes.

These senators state the court itself needs to heal.

In part: With bare partisan majorities, the Court has influenced sensitive areas like voting rights, partisan gerrymandering, dark money, union power, regulation of pollution, corporate liability, and access to federal court, particularly regarding civil rights and discrimination in the workplace.

Yet this is precisely—and explicitly—what petitioner’s ask the Court to do in this case, in the wake of a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to shape this Court’s composition, no less, and an industrial-strength influence campaign aimed at this Court.Indeed, petitioners and their allies have made perfectly clear that they seek a partner in a“project”to expand the Second Amendment and thwart gun-safety regulations. Particularly in an environment where a growing majority of Americans believes this Court is “motivated mainly by politics,” rather than by adherence to the law, the Court should resist petitioners’ invitation

Every single time, the corporate and Republican political interests prevailed. The pattern of outcomes is striking; and so is the frequency with which these 5-4 majorities disregarded“conservative” judicial principles like judicial restraint, originalism, stare decisis, and even federalism. Today, fifty-five percent of Americans believe the Supreme Court is “mainly motivated by politics”(up five percent from last year);fifty-nine percent believe the Court is “too influenced by politics”;and a majority now believes the “Supreme Court should be restructured in order to reduce the influence of politics.”Quinnipiac Poll, supranote 2. To have the public believe that the Court’s pattern of outcomes is the stuff of chance(or “the requirements of the law,”The Supreme Court is not well. And the people know it. Perhaps the Court can heal itself before the public demands it be “restructured in order to reduce the influence of politics.”Particularly on the urgent issue of gun control, a nation desperately needs it to heal.

CONCLUSION:

For the foregoing reasons, the Court should vacate and remand with instructions to dismiss. Respectfully submitted,

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse

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Hey Bernie and Kamala, Government Can’t Run Medicare

Posted on August 8, 2019August 8, 2019 by Denise Simon

Legitimately that is. The crimes and fraud within the system are so bad already that the FBI is and has been overwhelmed with cases.

Image result for Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF)
Heck, just last month, the FBI announced the results of Operation Brace Yourself. 24 people were arrested due to Medicare fraud billing amounting to over $1 billion. Get that? One case, over a billion dollars. A medical equipment company out of the Philippines recruited people, there were kickbacks, money-laundering, yachts, luxury real estate deals all inside of at least 100 equipment companies. This FBI investigation involved 20 field offices, agency partners, the IRS, the IRS, Health and Human Services, the Department of Veteran Affairs and even Secret Service.

But wait, that was just one case.

How about a few more?

District of Columbia Physician Indicted for Alleged Role in $12.7 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme
A physician with a practice in the District of Columbia was charged in an indictment unsealed today for his role in an alleged $12.7 million health care fraud scheme to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare for complicated medical procedures he never provided.

Telemarketer And His Companies Agree To Pay $2.5 Million To Settle Allegations That They Operated Telemedicine Schemes Involving Illegal Kickbacks And Unnecessary Prescriptions
United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez and U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey for the Eastern District of Tennessee announce that Scott Roix, together with several entities through which he ran his telemarketing business, including HealthRight, LLC; Health Savings Solutions, LLC; Vici Marketing, LLC; and Vici Marketing Group, LLC (hereinafter collectively referred to as “marketing companies”), have agreed to pay $2.5 million to resolve allegations that Roix and these marketing companies violated the False Claims Act by causing the submission of false claims to federal healthcare programs in connection with telemedicine health care fraud schemes.

Patient Recruiter Found Guilty in $1.3 Million Medicare Kickback Scheme
A federal jury in Detroit, Michigan found a patient recruiter guilty today for his role in a scheme involving approximately $1.3 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for home health care that were procured through the payment of kickbacks.

Medical Business Owner Sentenced to More Than 10 Years in Federal Prison for Medicare Fraud
AUGUSTA, GA: The owner of a Thomson, Ga., medical equipment company was sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison Tuesday, July 30, for a wide-ranging Medicare fraud scheme.

Millcreek Community Hospital Will Pay $2,451,000 to Settle Claims for Medically Unnecessary Inpatient Rehabilitation Services
PITTSBURGH – Millcreek Community Hospital, located in Erie, Pennsylvania, has agreed to pay $2,451,000 to resolve claims that the hospital violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary inpatient rehabilitation services, Scott W. Brady announced today.

32 Arrested Major Drug Bust San Francisco

Posted on August 8, 2019August 8, 2019 by Denise Simon

Attention to AOC, Booker, Castro, Biden, O’Rourke and the rest…remember when President Trump said they dont send us their best? Check it, mostly Hondurans.
Hey Pelosi, hey Feinstein, what say you? Maybe someone can alert Shepard Smith too.

Fentanyl…..

U.S. Attorney David Anderson announces a new federal crime-fighting initiative in San Francisco on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019. Seventeen federal law enforcement agencies will team up for a yearlong crackdown on a notorious area of San Francisco where open drug use has been tolerated for years. (AP Photo/Samantha Maldonado) photo

The alleged leaders of the two organizations were Andy Reanos-Moreno and Eduardo Alfonso Viera-Chirinos, according to federal criminal complaints filed on Aug. 1 and July 29 and made public Wednesday.

Nielsen said the two cases were the first time in his law enforcement experience that he had seen the model of the leaders of a drug ring renting housing to the drug sellers.

The residences included apartments and houses in Oakland, Hayward and elsewhere and as many as five dealers, sometimes with partners and children, lived in each unit, according to the complaints.

In part: (AP) — The first step in a sweeping crackdown on crime ranging from drugs to sex trafficking in a notorious San Francisco neighborhood yielded 32 arrests of mostly Honduran nationals tied to two international operations that poured heroin and cocaine into the community, U.S. prosecutors announced Wednesday.

In his first news conference since being appointed by President Donald Trump in January, U.S. Attorney David Anderson said he could no longer stand by as tourists, government workers and residents wade through a daily slog of crime. He said an enforcement initiative by more than 15 federal agencies would not affect “innocent” homeless people or drug users but would tackle high-level drug dealing, fraud, identity theft and firearms.

“My belief is that the Tenderloin, in fairness, deserves the rule of law every bit as much as other fine neighborhoods in San Francisco,” he said. “This is not an immigration initiative. This is not a deportation initiative. This is a public safety initiative.”

Still, San Francisco is a city that strongly opposes federal immigration sweeps, and immigration agents are among those joining the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and others in the effort. San Francisco was a sanctuary city before the rest of California largely pledged not to work with federal authorities on deporting people in the country illegally.

Chris Nielsen, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Francisco, said an investigation launched in late 2017 uncovered two independent operations stretching from Mexico to Seattle in which mostly Honduran nationals living on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay Area commuted daily to the Tenderloin to sell drugs.

He said the “commuter drug dealers” acted like “independent contractors,” selling drugs in exchange for housing.

“Each morning, drugs were dropped off with dealers in the East Bay and then commuted into the city to sell to people from all over the area,” he said.

The federal crackdown, however, was criticized by San Francisco’s Coalition on Homelessness, whose officials say the Trump administration is targeting immigrants and the poor. “We are deeply concerned that low level offenders, drug users and individuals who do not have homes and are therefore more likely to come in contact with law enforcement will be disparately impacted,” said Sam Lew, the coalition’s policy director.

Others say the neighborhood desperately needs help. Andrea Fogelbach opened her “Slingshot Cafe” coffee shop two months ago in the neighborhood, where discarded needles litter the streets and people sleep in tents or out in the open.

“It’s pretty bad. They’re just shooting up right in front of you,” she said. “I’m afraid for my dog stepping on needles most of the time. If I had children, I don’t think I could live here.”

The organized nature of drug peddling in the Tenderloin was cited in an April city report, which stated that more than half of nearly 900 people booked into jail or cited for incidents tied to drug sales in 2017-18 were cited or arrested by police in the Tenderloin. It said a high percentage of drug sales involve organized crime and “sellers often give drugs to homeless people who are addicted in exchange” for holding the drugs.

The U.S. attorney’s office said it is devoting 15 prosecutors to the crackdown for at least a year.

North Korea Stole $2 billion for its WMD programs

Posted on August 6, 2019August 6, 2019 by Denise Simon

Primer: North Korea has launched 4 rounds of missiles in less than 2 weeks. Talks between the United States and North Korea have stalled. The missiles tested during the recent launches are short range, however can reach South Korea and can travel as far as an estimated 400 miles. These test missiles allegedly are very advanced such they are being advertised as having the abilities to evade missile defense systems. Additionally, each launch took place from a different ground location.

Image result for kim jong un missile launches

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – North Korea has generated an estimated $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programs using “widespread and increasingly sophisticated” cyber attacks to steal from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, according to a confidential U.N. report seen by Reuters on Monday.

Pyongyang also “continued to enhance its nuclear and missile programmes although it did not conduct a nuclear test or ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) launch,” said the report to the U.N. Security Council North Korea sanctions committee by independent experts monitoring compliance over six months.

The North Korean mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on the report, which was submitted to the Security Council committee last week.

The experts said North Korea “used cyberspace to launch increasingly sophisticated attacks to steal funds from financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to generate income.” They also used cyberspace to launder the stolen money, the report said.

“Democratic People’s Republic of Korea cyber actors, many operating under the direction of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, raise money for its WMD (weapons of mass destruction) programmes, with total proceeds to date estimated at up to two billion US dollars,” the report said.

North Korea is formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Reconnaissance General Bureau is a top North Korean military intelligence agency.

The U.N. experts said North Korea’s attacks against cryptocurrency exchanges allowed it “to generate income in ways that are harder to trace and subject to less government oversight and regulation than the traditional banking sector.”

The Security Council has unanimously imposed sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke off funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The Council has banned exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capped imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

U.S. President Donald Trump has met with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un three times, most recently in June when he became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas.

They agreed to resume stalled talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program. The talks have yet to resume and in July and early August, North Korea carried out three short-range missiles tests in eight days.

The U.N. report was completed before last week’s missile launches by North Korea, but noted that “missile launches in May and July enhanced its overall ballistic missile capabilities.”

The U.N. experts said that despite the diplomatic efforts, their “investigations show continued violations” of U.N. sanctions.

“For example, the DPRK continued to violate sanctions through ongoing illicit ship-to-ship transfers and procurement of WMD-related items and luxury goods,” the U.N. report said.

Fancy Bear, APT28, IoT, Hacking via Printers

Posted on August 6, 2019August 6, 2019 by Denise Simon

Image result for jon huntsman moscow photo

Primer: U.S Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman just issued his letter of resignation to President Trump. He states that he wants to return home to Utah due to a growing family. Gotta wonder if Amb. Huntsman ever really challenged Moscow on hacking and security intrusions of the United States.

Image result for fancy bear russia

MIT: A group of hackers linked to Russian spy agencies are using “internet of things” devices like internet-connected phones and printers to break into corporate networks, Microsoft announced on Monday.

Fancy Bear never hibernates: The Russian hackers, who go by names like Strontium, Fancy Bear, and APT28, are linked to the military intelligence agency GRU.

The group has been active since at least 2007. They are credited with a long list of infamous work including breaking into the Democratic National Committee in 2016, the crippling NotPetya attacks against Ukraine in 2017, and targeting political groups in Europe and North America throughout 2018.

Insecurity of Things: The new campaign from GRU compromised popular internet of things devices including a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) phone, a connected office printer, and a video decoder in order to gain access to corporate networks. Microsoft has some of the best visibility into corporate networks on earth because so many organizations are using Windows machines. Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center spotted Fancy Bear’s new work starting in April 2019.

The password is password: Although things like smartphones and desktop computers are often top of mind when it comes to security, it’s often the printer, camera, or decoder that leaves a door open for a hacker to exploit.

In multiple cases, Microsoft saw Fancy Bear get access to targeted networks because the IoT devices were deployed with default passwords. In another case, the latest security update was not applied. Using those devices as a starting point, the hackers established a beachhead and looked for further access.

“Once the actor had successfully established access to the network, a simple network scan to look for other insecure devices allowed them to discover and move across the network in search of higher-privileged accounts that would grant access to higher-value data,” Microsoft warned in a blog post published on Monday.

The hackers moved from one device to another, establishing persistence and mapping the network as they went, communicating with command and control servers all the while.

Global targets: Microsoft has been closely watching this group over the last year.

Of the 1,400 notifications the company delivered to those targeted or compromised by Fancy Bear, 20% have been to global non-governmental organizations, think tanks, or politically affiliated organizations. The remaining 80% have been to various sectors including government, technology, military, medicine, education, and engineering.

“We have also observed and notified STRONTIUM attacks against Olympic organizing committees, anti-doping agencies, and the hospitality industry,” Microsoft’s blog warned.

Last year, the FBI took disruptive action against a Fancy Bear campaign known as “VPNFilter” which targeted routers and network storage devices with malware with destructive capabilities of “bricking” a device by deleting firmware and rendering the device unusable. That campaign especially targeted Ukraine, a favorite target of Fancy Bear.