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CIA moderating Wikipedia – former editor

Wikipedia is one of many tools used by the US liberal establishment and its allies in the intelligence community to wage “information warfare,” the site’s co-founder, Larry Sanger, has told journalist Glenn Greenwald.

Speaking on Greenwald’s ‘System Update’ podcast, Sanger lamented how the site he helped found in 2001 has become an instrument of “control” in the hands of the left-liberal establishment, among which he counts the CIA, FBI, and other US intelligence agencies.

“We do have evidence that, as early as 2008, that CIA and FBI computers were used to edit Wikipedia,” he said. “Do you think that they stopped doing that back then?” 

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Cigarettes in Canada to be individually labeled with health warnings

Cigarettes will be individually labeled in Canada. The messages, in English and French, include warnings such as “poison in every puff” and “cigarettes cause cancer.”

By July 2024 manufacturers will have to ensure the warnings are on all king-size cigarettes sold, and by April 2025 all regular-size cigarettes and little cigars with tipping paper and tubes must include the warnings. …In May, Health Canada said the new regulations “will make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings” on tobacco products. …The move is part of Canada’s effort to reduce tobacco use to less than 5% by 2035 and follows a 75-day public consultation period that was launched last year.

Though the prevalence of smoking is vastly reduced since the middle of the 20th Century, about 10% of teens regularly smoke cigarettes, according to the American Lung Association. Canadian cigarette packets already have spectacularly unpleasant warnings featuring photos of diseases caused by smoking.

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Feds Recommend Buying A Map To Avoid Bringing Marijuana Into National Forests In Minnesota Following Legalization

The U.S. Forest Service is reminding people that Minnesota’s new marijuana legalization law enacted this week does not mean people can possess or use cannabis at national forests in the state—so it recommends buying a map to know where you can and can’t indulge.

On Tuesday—the same day that adult-use marijuana legalization took effect in Minnesota—the Forest Service issued an alert, notifying the public that possessing any amount of cannabis “is still prohibited on all National Forest lands and at all National Forest campgrounds and facilities.”

“Forest officials ask visitors to be mindful of National Forest System boundaries and to become familiar with relevant federal and state regulations prior to visiting the Chippewa and/or Superior National Forests,” it says.

The agency, which also sent out a notice last month to remind federal workers that they remain barred from using marijuana even in legal states, said that it’s received questions from visitors about the “legality of marijuana use on public lands” since the Minnesota legislature moved to end prohibition at the state level.

“While recreational cannabis use may be legal in the State of Minnesota, effective August 1, 2023, Chippewa and Superior National Forest officials are reminding visitors that it is illegal on National Forest System lands,” it said.

An FAQ section explains how national forests are federally regulated and, therefore, federal law applies and supersedes the state’s newly implemented policy.

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Leah Remini sues Scientology over alleged ‘harassment, intimidation, surveillance and defamation’

Actress Leah Remini has filed a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology for being “dead set on making her life a living hell now that she’s no longer a part of the church,” TMZ reported on Tuesday.

Remini is “being stalked and harassed by the Church of Scientology as part of a coordinated campaign to destroy her life because she left the religion,” TMZ learned from the complaint.

“According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Leah claims Scientology is stalking her and invading her privacy because the church is determined to silence her and others who are critical of the religion,” TMZ wrote. “Leah claims the alleged abuse coming her way is part of a broader policy and practice of intimidation within the Church of Scientology … which she says dates all the way back to founder L. Ron Hubbard.”

Remini posted a statement to Instagram outlining her reasons for suing the faith.

“After 17 years of harassment, intimidation, surveillance, and defamation, I am filing a lawsuit against Scientology and David Miscavige,” Remini said. “While advocating for victims of Scientology has significantly impacted my life and career, Scientology’s final objective of silencing me has not been achieved. While this lawsuit is about what Scientology has done to me, I am one of thousands of targets of Scientology over the past seven decades. People who share what they’ve experienced in Scientology, and those who tell their stories and advocate for them, should be free to do so without fearing retaliation from a cult with tax exemption and billions in assets.”

Remini added that she is advocating for Scientology’s alleged victims.

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Democrat State Attorneys General File Brief In Support of Biden Censorship Power

In a move that underscores the unceasing tension between free speech and the control of information online, 20 Democratic state attorneys general have made appeals through federal court to restore their power in urging social media entities to censor user content.

Headlined by New York Attorney General Letitia James, the collective is adamant that federal court decisions are hindering their capability to prevent the circulation of misleading information.

July 4 saw US District Judge Terry Doughty issue a directive that greatly restrains government officials’ influence over social media moderation, after there was enough evidence already presented to show possible First Amendment violations.

Stemming from a lawsuit filed in May 2022 by Republican attorneys in Louisiana and Missouri, the verdict argued that both the presiding Biden administration had unjustly pressured social media platforms into suppressing posts perceived as potential triggers for vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 crisis or destabilizers for electoral processes.

This pursuit for moderation by government officials, the suit asserted, unjustly infringed upon the First Amendment right to free speech. In particular, these assertions were aimed at tech conglomerates like Meta’s Facebook and Google’s YouTube, accused of commencing the limitation of information dissemination allegedly deemed misleading circa 2019.

Currently held in suspension due to an appeal by the Biden administration, the order, should it be reactivated by the 5th Circuit, will prevent government departments, including the likes of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, from communication with social media companies for the removal or suppression of content considered as protected free speech under the First Amendment.

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‘Scientist’ Neil deGrasse Tyson claims biology is ‘insufficient’ during unhinged rant defending radical trans agenda

Astrophysicist and noted science personality Neil deGrasse Tyson spoke out in favor of gender ideology and the ability of a person to actually change their sex. He made the remarks on the Stephen A Smith podcast “K[no]w Mercy.”

“Apparenly the XX/XY chromosomes,” he said with obvious derision, “are insufficient because when we wake up in the morning, we exaggerate whatever feature we want to portray the gender of our choice. Either the one you’re assigned, the one you choose to be—whatever it is!”

“And so now,” he went on as though swapping sex was the most obvious thing in the world, “just to tie a bow on this, I say to you, somewhere I read— somewhere, I think I read— that the United States was a land where we have the pursuit of happiness. Suppose no matter my chromosomes today, I feel 80 percent female, 20 percent male. Now I’m gonna, I’m gonna put on makeup. Tomorrow, I might feel 80 percent male. I’ll remove the makeup and I’ll wear a muscle shirt. Why do you care? What businesses is it of yours to require that I fill your inability to think of gender on a spectrum?”

Detransitioner Chloe Cole took issue with Tyson, noting that in his assessment, he conflates appearance and cosmetics with biology, as though a person’s external presentation has an effect on their biological reality.

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Researchers claim US-registered cloud host facilitated state-backed cyberattacks

A little-known cloud company provided web hosting and internet services to more than two dozen different state-sponsored hacking groups and commercial spyware operators, according to researchers at cybersecurity company Halcyon.

In a report released on Tuesday, Halcyon said it had identified that the U.S.-registered company Cloudzy was “knowingly or unwittingly” acting as a command-and-control provider (C2P) to well-known state-sponsored hacking groups. C2Ps are internet providers that allow hackers to host virtual private servers and other anonymized services used by ransomware affiliates to carry out cyberattacks and extortion.

Halcyon said that the two-dozen groups that rely on Cloudzy include the China-backed espionage group APT10; North Korea-backed hackers Kimsuky; and Kremlin-backed groups Turla, Nobelium and FIN12.

FIN12 was the subject of a joint FBI-CISA advisory in October 2020 after carrying out a spate of ransomware attacks targeting the U.S. healthcare industry. In its report, Halcyon said that Cloudzy — then doing business as Router Hosting — hosted at least 40 command and control servers used by FIN12 during its cyberattacks.

The list of groups facilitated by Cloudzy also includes hacking groups from Iran, Pakistan and Vietnam, along with Tel Aviv-based malware maker Candiru, which sells its phone-snooping spyware to government customers. Candiru was sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2021 for engaging in activities contrary to U.S. national security.

Halcyon says that about half of the total servers hosted by Cloudzy appear to be directly supporting malicious activity.

The cybersecurity firm concluded that although the cloud host is registered in the U.S., Halcyon says it has “high confidence” that the cloud host is a cutout for AbrNOC, a cloud host that operates out of the Iranian capital of Tehran, which could put American customers in conflict with U.S. government sanctions.

Cloudzy, which claims to operate out of New York City, is registered in Wyoming, while a support phone number listed by the company is linked to a different address in Las Vegas. AbrNOC shares the same logo as Cloudzy, albeit in a different color, and also shares the same fictitiously named employees, according to Halcyon researchers. A man named Hannan Nozari is listed as abrNOC’s CEO and identifies himself as the founder of both web hosts companies in his Twitter bio, as well as a “Noob on the Internet.”

Nozari did not respond to messages sent by TechCrunch via LinkedIn and email, and TechCrunch was unable to reach anyone at Cloudzy via the number listed on the company’s website.

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U.S. Capitol Police to open Texas field office, citing rising threats against members of Congress

In response to increasing threats against members of Congress, the U.S. Capitol Police plans to open regional field offices across the country, including in Texas.

Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger announced the plans at a joint oversight hearing of the Capitol Police Board, describing a 300% increase in threats to members of Congress over the past seven years.

In addition to an office in Texas, the agency plans to open field offices in Milwaukee and Boston, Manger told the committee Wednesday. A Texas location has not yet been determined, a department spokesperson said.

The Capitol Police department, which is responsible for protecting Congress and its members, opened its first field offices in Florida and California after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The offices have helped his officers respond to threats more quickly and efficiently, Manger said.

“Due to the increased threat environment, our protective responsibilities have increased, requiring additional protection details, increased coverage of CODELs [official travel by members of Congress] and field hearings, as well as other enhancements to our current protective details,” he said in his written testimony to the committee.

According to the police department, the new offices will “ensure our department resources are adequately dispersed to safeguard Members of Congress and to investigate threats when in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.”

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The LK-99 superconductor could be world changing or a total hoax. Here’s why you should care either way

Outside of Sheldon Cooper and The Big Bang Theory, physics generally isn’t part of the day-to-day conversation for most people. But a recent claim from scientists has everyone paying attention. A trio of physicists claims to have created a superconductor, dubbed LK-99, that works at room temperature and ambient pressure. 

In basic terms, that means they might have discovered a material that can conduct electricity with no notable resistance, meaning it loses zero energy. And, if that’s true, it could be world altering.

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When Our Weapons Go Missing

Fears of loose weapons in Ukraine have become reality: Once American weapons arrive, Ukrainian criminals steal them. If U.S. arms transfer policies are not changed, Washington will inevitably accidentally arm groups that actively want to harm the United States.

In June, two separate Department of Defense inspector general reports revealed poor monitoring when U.S. weapons are transferred to Ukraine. Challenges in Ukraine’s war zone have made it nearly impossible to track the weapons.

The first report found that the personnel responsible for ensuring accountability were given no “training or guidance.” It concluded that the Pentagon does “not have accountability controls sufficient enough to provide reasonable assurance that its inventory of defense items transferred to [Ukraine] via the air hub in Jasionka was accurate or complete.”

The second report discovered that the Office of Defense Cooperation–Kyiv was unable to monitor how American military equipment was put to use. Indeed, monitors could not “visit areas where equipment provided to Ukraine was being used or stored.”

Such problems are not unique to Ukraine, but the Biden administration has been open to accepting the possibility of weapons dispersion when it comes to Ukraine’s war. Yet discounting these perils comes with four long-term security risks.

First, larger weapons systems have a high value on the black arms market. In Afghanistan, for example, the Taliban has been able to continue funding itself through its already existing smuggling networks by selling U.S. weapons left behind in the withdrawal. These weapons are now used in attacks in Pakistan, Kashmir, and the Gaza Strip.

Even before the war, Ukraine had one of the largest illegally trafficked arms markets in Europe, according to the 2021 Global Organized Crime Index. This has only intensified since the Russian invasion. For example, in August 2022 a criminal organization in Ukraine stole and intended to sell 60 rifles and 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

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