Blog

Dead deputy probable suspect in 1983 murder of 11-year-old girl

St. Lucie County Chief Deputy Brian Hester announced Thursday that they have closed the 1983 cold case murder of 11-year-old Lora Ann Huizar.

Based on information obtained during the investigation, detectives have named former deputy James Howard Harrison as the only probable suspect in this case. The sheriff’s office is unable to pursue charges against Harrison because he died in 2008.

“We have established probable cause to determine that Harrison abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered the juvenile victim and later altered the crime scene by placing the victim in a drainage ditch in an attempt to destroy physical evidence,” said Chief Deputy Brian Hester.

On Nov. 6, 1983, a uniformed patrol deputy, later confirmed to be Harrison, observed Huizar walking toward her home from a local gas station around the time of her disappearance.

On Nov. 9, 1983, deputies recovered Huizar’s body nearby.

Keep reading

FBI to form new digital currency unit as Justice Dept taps new crypto czar

The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team and announced on Thursday that the FBI is launching a unit for blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure. The creation of the “virtual asset exploitation” unit at the FBI comes on the heels of the Justice Department’s largest-ever financial seizure. Earlier this month, it charged a married New York couple with allegedly laundering bitcoins now valued at over $4.5 billion that were stolen in the 2016 hack of the digital currency exchange Bitfinex.

Keep reading

New Zealand Threatens to Use Military Against Civilian Anti-Mandate Protesters

The New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) warned Wednesday it was poised to deploy “Defence Force assets” to Wellington to disband an anti-coronavirus vaccine mandate protest near New Zealand’s parliament building after the rally pushed into its ninth consecutive day.

“An NZDF spokeswoman said discussions on the possible deployment of Defence Force assets remain ongoing, and no decisions have been made,” New Zealand’s Stuff news site reported on February 16.

“Four Defence Force vehicles have arrived in Wellington and are on standby should they be required,” the NZDF spokeswoman confirmed.

“They are being pre-positioned should they be required, but as stated no decisions have been made about their use to assist the towing operation,” she told reporters.

“[The] four army vehicles travelled to Wellington from Linton and Waiouru on Wednesday,” according to Stuff.

Keep reading

California Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Boost COVID-19 Vaccination Rates

As California pushes for more residents to receive the COVID-19 jab, Democratic lawmakers introduced a series of new bills to achieve higher vaccination rates among Californians. However, critics are concerned that the laws will lead to infringement on individual freedom.

Assembly Bill 2098: Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell)

Low introduced the bill on Feb. 15 to deter licensed physicians and surgeons who spread COVID-19 misinformation. Under this law, any care provider caught promoting disinformation will be subject to disciplinary actions by the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California.

“The spread of misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19 and vaccination continues to jeopardize public health,” Low wrote on Twitter on Feb. 15. “The spreading of inaccurate COVID-19 information further erodes public trust in the medical profession & puts all patients at risk.”

Some commenters immediately responded to Low on Twitter asking for further clarification, saying that the proposed legislation doesn’t have a clear definition of “misinformation” and can lead to the state’s health agency interfering with doctors’ judgment in medical practices.

“Who defines what constitutes misinformation?” a commenter wrote. “Would doctors not be allowed to form their own opinions from reviewing studies, data, and evidence?”

Senator Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) also wrote on Twitter the same day that the bill would “punish doctors if they dare [to] provide information to their patients that differs from the state narrative. So if you need medical advice, just ask the state medical board.”

Keep reading

DeepMind Has Trained an AI to Control Nuclear Fusion

THE INSIDE OF a tokamak—the doughnut-shaped vessel designed to contain a nuclear fusion reaction—presents a special kind of chaos. Hydrogen atoms are smashed together at unfathomably high temperatures, creating a whirling, roiling plasma that’s hotter than the surface of the sun. Finding smart ways to control and confine that plasma will be key to unlocking the potential of nuclear fusion, which has been mooted as the clean energy source of the future for decades. At this point, the science underlying fusion seems sound, so what remains is an engineering challenge. “We need to be able to heat this matter up and hold it together for long enough for us to take energy out of it,” says Ambrogio Fasoli, director of the Swiss Plasma Center at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

That’s where DeepMind comes in. The artificial intelligence firm, backed by Google parent company Alphabet, has previously turned its hand to video games and protein folding, and has been working on a joint research project with the Swiss Plasma Center to develop an AI for controlling a nuclear fusion reaction.

Keep reading

“Russian Propaganda” Means Disputing US Propaganda

The Associated Press has published yet another article based on unevidenced assertions by anonymous government officials about the scary horrifying frightening Russian menace, this time to accuse another media outlet of promoting propaganda. Without a trace of irony.

“U.S. intelligence officials on Tuesday accused a conservative financial news website with a significant American readership of amplifying Kremlin propaganda and alleged five media outlets targeting Ukrainians have taken direction from Russian spies,” AP reports. “The officials said Zero Hedge, which has 1.2 million Twitter followers, published articles created by Moscow-controlled media that were then shared by outlets and people unaware of their nexus to Russian intelligence. The officials did not say whether they thought Zero Hedge knew of any links to spy agencies and did not allege direct links between the website and Russia.”

“The officials briefed The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence sources,” AP adds, repeating the refrain we’re all familiar with now which is always used to justify a complete absence of evidence or accountability for incendiary claims about governments the United States doesn’t like.

Keep reading

Tow-Truck Drivers Could Face Arrest For Refusing To Help Clear Canadian Freedom Convoy Trucks

Tow truck drivers may face arrest for refusing to help move trucks involved with Canada’s Freedom Convoy in Ottawa and border areas after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the nation’s Emergencies Act on Monday.

“Tow-truck operators, who have been reluctant to cooperate with the police, will also now be compelled to work with law enforcement agencies to clear Ottawa’s streets and the border crossings at Coutts, Alberta. If they don’t cooperate, they could face arrest,” The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The development comes as Trudeau doubled down against Freedom Convoy protesters on Monday, invoking emergency powers to stop those opposing his COVID-19 vaccine mandates for truck drivers.

“We’ll always defend the rights of Canadians to peaceful assembly and to freedom of expression. We’ll also do whatever is necessary to reinforce the principles, values, and institutions that keep all Canadians free – and that’s what we’re doing with the Emergencies Act,” Trudeau tweeted on Tuesday.

Keep reading

White House email shows Facebook and CDC Foundation formed ‘social media alliance to drive uptake of vaccines’

Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) has obtained a White House email showing that Facebook, Merck, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Foundation, whose corporate partners includes Pfizer, have formed an alliance “to use social media and digital platforms to build confidence in and drive uptake of vaccines.”

That’s according to the advocacy group.

On Aug. 12, 2021, ICAN submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for communications between White House staff and Facebook, Google, and YouTube. In response, ICAN received a copy of a June 15, 2021 email sent by Facebook’s then-Public Policy Manager, Nkechi “Payton” Iheme, to several White House employees. 

In the email, Iheme announced a new initiative: the “Alliance for Advancing Health Care.” It was formed among Facebook and several major companies and organizations, including vaccine maker Merck, the Vaccine Confidence Project, the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and the CDC Foundation. One of the CDC Foundation’s corporate partners is Pfizer.

In the email, Iheme explains that the Alliance is “focused on advancing public understanding of how social media and behavioral sciences can be leveraged to improve the health of communities around the world” and states that its first project is to “provide grants to researchers and organizations for projects that explore how to use social media and digital platforms to build confidence in and drive uptake of vaccines.”  

Keep reading

U.S. Cops To Become Brain Scanning Marijuana Detectors

If Mass General Hospital (MGH) has its way, law enforcement officers in the United States will soon be using portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) scanners on motorists.

A recent Boston Globearticle describes fNIRS as a “breakthrough” in detecting marijuana impairment.

“Boston researchers say they’ve developed a new, noninvasive technique for detecting marijuana highs that can reliably tell the difference between people who are truly impaired by the drug and those who merely used it recently.”

What has happened to so-called Drug Recognition Experts (DRE)? Have the courts finally realized that police officers using pupil dilation charts to determine which type of drugs a motorist is under is junk science?

Nope, because soon, DRE police officers across the country will be using pupil dilation charts and portable fNIRS brain scanners to determine if someone is under the influence of drugs.

“For so long, our model has been alcohol, so there’s been a lot of focus on breath and blood levels,” Dr. Jodi Gilman, who led the research, said. “Our thought was, ‘What about looking directly at the brain?’ “

The MGH study claims that fNIRS scanners are accurate 76 percent of the time.

Keep reading