Stephen K. Bannon's Blog, page 732

Leaked Internal Meetings Reveal China’s TikTok Repeatedly Accessed U.S. User Data

Recently leaked audio from over 80 internal meetings reveals that China-based employees of the massively popular app TikTok repeatedly accessedU.S. user data, despite the company’s claims to the contrary.
BuzzFeed News reports that leaked audio from over 80 internal TikTok meetings reveals that China-based employees of the popular video sharing app have accessed U.S. user data on a repeated basis. The recordings are dated between September 2021 and January 2022 and include 14 statements from nine TikTok employees meeting to discuss “Project Texas,” a classified effort by U.S. employees to stop engineers in China from retrieving U.S. data.
ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming (STR/Getty)
(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
One of the audio clips includes a TikTok director referring to a engineer of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance as a “Master Admin,” who has “access to everything.” TikTok made an announcement after the report was published, attempting to head off the bad news by stating that “100% of US user traffic is being routed to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure,” instead of being hosted at data centers in the U.S. and Singapore.
In a comment to the Daily Mail, a TikTok spokesperson said:

As we’ve publicly stated, we’ve brought in world class internal and external security experts to help us strengthen our data security efforts.
This is standard industry practice given the complexity of data security challenges. In May, we created a new in-house department, U.S. Data Security (USDS), with US-based leadership, to provide a greater level of focus and governance on US data security.
The creation of this organization is part of our ongoing effort and commitment to strengthen our data protection policies and protocols, further protect our users, and build confidence in our systems and controls.

In August of 2020, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning TikTok and the Chinese app WeChat in the U.S. The reasoning behind the ban was the former President’s belief that TikTok’s “data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.”
That executive order was revoked by President Joe Biden last year, unbanning the app …

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WHO Finally Admits Lockdowns Caused Dramatic Rise in Mental Health Problems

The World Health Organization (WHO) has admitted that the very lockdown policies it advocated for have been instrumental in a drastic increase in mental health issues on a global scale.
In a report published on Friday, the World Health Organization claimed that anxiety and depression rose globally by a staggering 25 per cent in the first year of Chinese coronavirus lockdowns, alone. As a result, the report estimated that over one billion people worldwide are now suffering from mental health issues.
“Restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic for example had significant mental health consequences for many, including stress, anxiety or depression stemming from social isolation, disconnectedness and uncertainty about the future,” the W.H.O. stated.
The W.H.O. not only was instrumental in spreading Communist Chinese propaganda about the ability of the coronavirus to spread from human to human but was also a keen supporter of lockdown policies in response to the virus, which were inspired by Beijing’s draconian reaction to the Wuhan virus.
The Marxist chief of the W.H.O., Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who came to power — despite never working as a medical doctor — with the backing of Beijing, was an early a …

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Is Iran On the Brink of Building an ICBM?

Is Iran marching towards an ICBM? On June 15th, the Islamic Republic of Iran acknowledged its plans to conduct a test launch of its new solid-fueled rocket in the near future. One day prior, satellite images captured by Maxar Technologies depicted a rocket positioned on a desert launch pad that has been used by the regime to launch tests in the past. While Iran’s Defense Ministry announced these plans on Wednesday, the government did not admit to this imminent test launch initially. A spokesperson with Iran’s Defense Ministry described the country’s test launch last year as “successful,” yet the history of Iran’s space program is unquestionably riddled with failures. Despite the outcome of Iran’s approaching test launch, the regime is sending a message to its adversaries including the United States. By carrying out the test, the regime is defying a United Nations resolution that restricts Iran’s ballistic missile development. As tensions between Iran, the U.S., and its regional adversaries have increased in recent months, the regime’s test launch could be considered an escalation.
Launch Sites Redied, But Are They Reliable?
According to Iranian state news sources, two test launches …

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Drone Mothership for the U.S. Navy? Here’s How It Could Happen

The United States Navy’s fleet of amphibious transport docks – also known as “landing platform, dock” (LPD) – don’t typically get the same level of attention as aircraft carriers or even destroyers. Yet, these vessels remain critical workhorses that provide the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps with modern, sea-based platforms that can ferry troops, aircraft, land vehicles, and landing craft to distant shores.It was just last week on June 11 that the builder of the vessels, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), announced that its Ingalls Shipbuilding division christened the 13th and final San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29). The ship was named to honor U.S. Navy Capt. Richard M. McCool Jr., who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in rescuing survivors from a sinking destroyer and for saving his own landing support ship during a World War II kamikaze attack. In addition, his rescue efforts took place exactly 77 years before the day LPD-29 was christened.  
“Richard M. McCool Jr. truly embodied the spirit of service above self,” said Under Secretary of the Navy Erik Raven, the ceremony’s keynote speaker. “The sailors and Marines who will sail on this future ship carry on that legacy following the example of spirit, patriotism and selflessness set by Richard M. McCool Jr.”
A Drone Mothership or Drone Aircraft Carrier? 
In addition to transporting troops and material around the globe, the San Antonio-class LPDs could soon be used as drone motherships. HII announced on Monday that it completed the successful demonstration of capabilities enabling amphibious warships to launch, operate with, and recover HII-built large-diamete …

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Over 60% of CEOs Expect a Recession Soon — 15% Say We’re Already in One

A significant majority of CEOs are worried about an upcoming potential recession, while many are also worried about the issue of margin compression, according to the latest survey by business research firm The Conference Board.More than 60 percent of global CEOs are expecting a recession in their primary location of operation within the next 12 to 18 months, the June 17 survey said (pdf). This sentiment is shared by other C‑suite executives. Fifteen percent of CEOs claimed that their regions were already in recession.
CEO confidence is seeing a “significant drop” owing to various factors like heightened geopolitical risks, renewed supply chain disruptions, high energy prices, the war in Ukraine, and COVID-19 lockdowns in China that are putting “downward pressure” on economic growth. Together with restrictive fiscal and monetary policies, these factors are fueling “recession expectations,” said the report.
“In the U.S., the Measure of CEO Confidence fell to 42, levels not seen since the start of COVID-19, while confidence levels in Europe dropped to 37. At 34, confidence levels w …

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Following Blessing by EU, Ukraine Vows to Prevail in its Battle Against Russian Assaults

Breadcrumb Trail Links PMN Business Author of the article: Reuters Pavel Polityuk and Max Hunder Article content KYIV — With a blessing for its EU ambitions and a pledge of unwavering support from Britain, Ukraine vowed on Saturday to prevail against Moscow as it battled Russian assaults near a key eastern city and multiple locations came under shell and missile attack. European Union countries are expected at a summit next week to grant Ukraine EU candidate status following a recommendation from the bloc’s executive on Friday, putting Kyiv on course to realize an aspiration seen as out of reach before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, even if actual membership could take years. Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Friday and offered training for Ukrainian forces. Back in Britain on Saturday, he stressed the need to avoid “Ukraine fatigue” after nearly four months of war. “The Russians are grinding forward inch by inch and it is vital for us to show what we know to be true, which is that Ukraine can win and will win,” he told reporters. “When Ukraine fatigue is setting in, it is very important to show that we are with them for the long haul and we are giving them the strategic resilience that they need.” On the battlefields on Saturday, Sievierodonetsk, a prime target in Moscow’s offensive to seize full control of the eastern region of Luhansk, was again under heavy artillery and rocket fire as the Russian forces attacked areas outside the ind …

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INSIDE ROYAL SPLIT: BROTHER VS BROTHER…

Turning 40 is a milestone in anyone’s life. But for the Duke of Cambridge it is also a time of reckoning.He is on an inexorable journey to becoming king, a prospect that once scared him. Yet William is more at peace with himself than ever before, as the happy family scenes at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations demonstrated.His marriage to Kate is strong and fatherhood has given him contentment beyond his dreams.Even his notoriously prickly relationship with his father, Prince Charles, is more harmonious than it has been since his early teens.The biggest worry is the fractured bond with his brother, Prince Harry. Relations are still at ‘rock bottom’, friends tell me.‘He alternates between grieving for what he has lost and feeling really, really angry about what his brother has done,’ said one.‘He truly loves Harry and feels he has lost the only person, aside from his wife, who understood this strange life of theirs.‘But he believes there are things you just don’t do. And Harry has 100 per cent crossed that line.‘The revelations come as Harry tries to put his troubles behind him by playing polo in Santa Barbara, as wife Meghan watched on.In a new series for the Daily Mail — ahead of Prince William’s landmark birthday on Tuesday — I have spoken to impeccable source …

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Late-Night Show Host Stephen Colbert Staffers Arrested At US Capitol

U.S. Capitol Police arrested several hirelings for late-night talk-show host Stephen Colbert on Thursday after they allegedly tried to enter the Longworth House Office building illegally.

The group of individuals was allegedly arrested in the Longworth House Office Building after it was closed to public visitors, according to a Fox News report. They took videos and pictures near the offices of California Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, Fox News reported.

“On June 16, 2022, at approximately 8:30 p.m., U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) received a call for a disturbance in the Longworth House Office Building. Responding officers observed seven individuals, unescorted and without Congressional ID, in a sixth-floor hallway,” Capitol Police said in a statement to Fox News. “The building was closed to visitors, and these individuals were determined to be a part of a group that had been directed by the USCP to leave the building earlier in the day.”

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Sen. Cornyn Booed at State GOP Convention for Negotiating “Bipartisan” Gun Control Bill

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Texas Sen. John Cornyn got booed by attendees at the state’s GOP convention on Friday over his involvement in negotiating a bipartisan bill focused on gun reform and mental healthcare after recent mass shootings in America.Cornyn’s speech at the Texas GOP convention on Friday was nearly 20-minutes long and attendees shouted at the Senator for almost the entire speech, according to The Houston Chronicle.“No gun control!,” the crowd shouted, according to the report.“I’m as passionate as you are about something called the United States Constitution,” Cornyn said during the speech, according to the report.SEN. CORNYN DEFENDS BIPARTISAN GUN DEAL AFTER CONSERVATIVE CRITICISM OF PROPOSED ‘RED FLAG LAWS’
Sen. John Cornyn, R‑Texas, questions Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 22, 2022.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)Cornyn began negotiating the bipartisan gun control and gun violence prevention bill with Democrats after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas at Robb Elementary School on May 24, which left 19 children and two adults dead.After being booed at the event, Cornyn’s Twitter account re-tweeted a journalist who reported that the Senator told several people “I’ve never given in to mobs and I’m not starting today.“The incident comes amid Cornyn’s involvement in a bipartisan group focused on crafting a gun control and gun violence prevention bill. A framework for the potential bill was announced last week, and included the Texas senator’s support.The framework includes measures to implement an enhanced review process for people who want to purchase firearms and are under the age of 21, penalties for straw purchases, more funding for school resource officers, an expansion of mental health programs in schools, and an expansion of mental health services for children and families.Specific deals are still being ironed out; however, Cornyn left Washington, D.C. on Thursday without a deal with Democrats, and said that “we’re not ready to release any smoke. So we don’t have a deal yet.“TOP SENATE G …

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Lawmaker Says Uvalde Police Not Cooperating With Texas State House Investigation

The Uvalde Police Department hasn’t been cooperating with a Texas state House committee tasked with investigating May’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, said a state lawmaker.State Rep. Dustin Burrows said that police officials Uvalde were asked to appear in front of the House committee after the incident that left 19 students and two teachers dead. However, those officials haven’t voluntarily agreed yet.
“The House Committee is simply seeking the truth. Most have fully cooperated and want to help determine the facts for the Uvalde community and all Texans. I do not understand why Uvalde PD, who routinely questions witnesses itself, would not want the same,” Burrows, a Republican, wrote in a Twitter post on Thursday.
During a hearing on Thursday, Burrows said that the Uvalde City Independent School District and its police department, which serves Robb Elementary, is cooperative with their panel’s requests, according to local news outlet KENS‑5 TV.
“The Uvalde [School] Police Department is being cooperative. We look forward to their testimony. We are very appreciative of that. There is a question mark about the Uvalde Police Department itself, about whether or not they will visit with us voluntarily, and we will see if they do that or not,” he said.
The vice-chair of the panel,  Democrat Rep. Joe Moody, said they do have subpoena power. It’s not clear if they will …

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