US Intel Report Reveals No Incident Occurred at Wuhan Lab That Could Have Caused Pandemic, along with some observations and sarcasm

*But anonymous sources, at the State Department, told me that ‘patient zero’ had COVID-19! 🙄

Cleared by Congress, legislation later signed by US President Joe Biden in March ordered the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to declassify information regarding the potential origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The measure forced the DNI to declassify its report within 90 days.

US Intel Report Reveals No Incident Occurred at Wuhan Lab That Could Have Caused Pandemic

H/T: Unorthodox Truth

*Some observations: WCWP does not seem to prove that Ben Hu was ‘patient zero’. They link to a Daily Caller article, whose source is David Asher, who served in Trump’s State Department. He also happens to be a former Adjunct Senior Fellow at the ‘liberal’ hawkish think tank, Center for a New American Security. He’s currently a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and on the board of advisors of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (more neocon/hawkish think tanks). They also quote former FDA Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, whom happens to be a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (neocon think tank) and on the boards of directors for Illumina, Inc and Pfizer (Big Pharma). See a pattern, here?!

Related:

Ridiculous,’ says Chinese scientist accused of being pandemic’s patient zero (archived)

Hu and two of his WIV colleagues were thrown into the furious COVID-19 origin debate on 13 June when an online newsletter called Public said the three scientists developed COVID-19 in November 2019. That was prior to the outbreak becoming public when a cluster of cases at the end of December 2019 surfaced in people linked to a Wuhan marketplace. Public’s report was quickly embraced by a camp that argues COVID-19 came from a virus stored, and possibly manipulated, at WIV, rather than from infected animal hosts, perhaps being sold at the Wuhan market. A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article on 20 June that said it had “confirmed” the allegations against the three, without referring to any public evidence or named sources with direct knowledge, fueled the flames even more. Social media and other publications spread the charges—and the scientists’ names.

Sudan’s warring sides send envoys for talks in Saudi Arabia

ASWAN, Egypt (AP) — Sudan’s two warring generals sent their envoys on Friday to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at firming up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, three Sudanese officials said.

Sudan’s warring sides send envoys for talks in Saudi Arabia

Related:

Role of US troops in Sudan to shift as Biden administration sees no quick end to fighting

H/T: Emil Cosman

How The FBI Helps Ukrainian Intelligence Hunt ‘Disinformation’ On Social Media

The Federal Bureau of Investigation pressures Facebook to take down alleged Russian “disinformation” at the behest of Ukrainian intelligence, according to a senior Ukrainian official who corresponds regularly with the FBI. The same official said that Ukrainian authorities define “disinformation” broadly, flagging many social media accounts and posts that he suggested may simply contradict the Ukrainian government’s narrative.

How The FBI Helps Ukrainian Intelligence Hunt ‘Disinformation’ On Social Media (archived)

A Front Company and a Fake Identity: How the U.S. Came to Use Spyware It Was Trying to Kill.

A Front Company and a Fake Identity: How the U.S. Came to Use Spyware It Was Trying to Kill.

The secret contract — which The New York Times is disclosing for the first time — violates the Biden administration’s public policy, and still appears to be active. The contract, reviewed by The Times, stated that the “United States government” would be the ultimate user of the tool, although it is unclear which government agency authorized the deal and might be using the spyware. It specifically allowed the government to test, evaluate, and even deploy the spyware against targets of its choice in Mexico.

The secret November 2021 contract used the same American company — designated as “Cleopatra Holdings” but actually a small New Jersey-based government contractor called Riva Networks — that the F.B.I. used two years earlier to purchase Pegasus. Riva’s chief executive used a fake name in signing the 2021 contract and at least one contract Riva executed on behalf of the F.B.I.

The deal unfolded as the European private equity fund that owns NSO pursued a plan to get U.S. government business by establishing a holding company, Gideon Cyber Systems. The private equity fund’s ultimate goal was to find an American buyer for the company.

Related:

Read More »

Bill to Ban Tik Tok Would Give Government Sweeping Powers to Crackdown on Tech

Bill to Ban Tik Tok Would Give Government Sweeping Powers to Crackdown on Tech

A person who violates the act could be fined up to $1 million or punished with up to 20 years in prison. The broad and vague definitions in the legislation caused many to wonder if people could be handed such harsh punishments for using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to get around future government censorship that could come as a result of the bill.

A spokesperson for Warner insisted that the legislation wasn’t designed to target individual users and pointed to the language that says someone “must be engaged in ‘sabotage or subversion’ of American communications technology products and services, creating ‘catastrophic effects’ on US critical infrastructure, or ‘interfering in, or altering the result’ of a federal election, in order to be eligible for any kind of criminal penalty.”

But the bill will give the Commerce Secretary the authority to deem what is considered “sabotage or subversion” or any of the other threats listed above. The legislation has grave implications for civil liberties and could be used against any individuals or tech and media companies the Biden administration, or any future administration would want to target.

Previously:

Tik-Tok bills could dangerously expand national security state

Congressional Rep Who Discovered His Info Was Illegally Searched By The FBI Likely Has No Legal Remedy

from the but-this-is-the-system-Congress-wants…. dept

The FBI has long enjoyed its close relationship with the NSA… or at least the NSA’s collections. Data and communications collected under the NSA’s Section 702 program contain plenty of “incidental” snooping on Americans. That’s because even though it’s a foreign-facing collection, Americans who communicate with people outside of the United States are swept up in the dragnet.

Congressional Rep Who Discovered His Info Was Illegally Searched By The FBI Likely Has No Legal Remedy

Well that’s unfortunate. If only he were part of some kind of body that had the power to change the law.” [1]

A second ex-Guantanamo detainee says Ron DeSantis attended brutal forced feedings

A second ex-Guantanamo detainee has stepped forward to say that Gov. Ron DeSantis, while a U.S. Navy JAG officer in 2006, watched and allowed the brutal forced feedings of detainees that U.N. human rights authorities, an international physician’s group and others have condemned as a form of torture.

A second ex-Guantanamo detainee says Ron DeSantis attended brutal forced feedings