RT

While many American parents think ‘smart toys’ are a great idea, the FBI has issued an unprecedented warning that internet-enabled items may pose a privacy and safety risk for children by harvesting personal information.

Smart toys and entertainment devices for children typically contain sensors, microphones, cameras, data storage chips and multimedia capabilities such as speech recognition or global positioning (GPS).   Continue reading “They see you: FBI warns about dangers of internet-connected toys”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration slapped 18 Iranian individuals and groups with sanctions Tuesday for aiding the country’s non-nuclear weapons programs, in a bid to show that President Donald Trump is staying tough on Iran despite his moves to let the nuclear deal stay in place for now.

The latest attempt to clamp down on Iran’s military financing ranged from an Iranian-based company that aided the country’s drone program to a Turkey-based provider of naval equipment and a China-based network that helped secure electronics for Tehran. The sanctions freeze any assets in the U.S. and prevent Americans from doing business with them.   Continue reading “US sanctions more Iranians, but nuclear deal stands for now”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump blasted congressional Democrats and “a few Republicans” Tuesday over the collapse of the GOP effort to rewrite the Obama health care law. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a vote on a backup plan simply repealing the statute, but that idea was on the brink of rejection, too.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said they opposed McConnell’s Plan B. If a third GOP senator opposes it — and several are expected to — it would be defeated, and that might send a message to conservative Republicans that it is time to abandon efforts to tear down Obama’s law.  Continue reading “Trump blasts Congress over failure of GOP health care bill”

Mail.com

CHICAGO (AP) — Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was released from prison in Minnesota and transferred to a Chicago re-entry facility, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison in April 2016 in a banking violations case that revealed accusations he had sexually abused teenagers while coaching wrestling at a suburban Chicago high school.

The Bureau of Prisons said in an email that Hastert left the Minnesota prison on Monday and is now “under the jurisdiction” of a Chicago residential re-entry management office. It’s unclear whether Hastert was staying at a halfway house or whether he could be transferred to home confinement. Hastert’s release date is listed as Aug. 16.  Continue reading “Dennis Hastert released from prison in Minnesota”

MassPrivateI

According to an article in the Texas Tribune, beginning September 1st., 2017, first responders can avoid prosecution by having ‘first responder specialty courts’ hear their cases. (“public safety employee” means a peace officer, firefighter, detention officer, county jailer, or emergency medical services employee…”)

“Texas police officers and other first responders who have job-related mental health issues can soon be diverted into pretrial treatment programs if they commit a crime..” 
Continue reading “‘Police Specialty Courts’ will let officers avoid prosecution”

NPR – by Scott Neuman

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recertified Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal late Monday, but senior administration officials emphasized that Tehran is a dangerous threat to both U.S. interests and Middle East stability.

Under U.S. law, the State Department is required to recertify to Congress Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal every 90 days. Despite President Trump’s harsh criticism of the agreement forged under his predecessor, it is the second such certification since he took office.   Continue reading “State Department Certifies Iran’s Compliance With Nuclear Deal”

Fox News

House Republicans on Tuesday released a 10-year budget blueprint that includes proposed increases to military spending while attempting to balance the federal budget with cuts to programs like Medicaid and food stamps — setting up GOP efforts to overhaul the tax code this fall.

“It will lay out a path to balance, promote job creation, give our military the resources they need to protect our nation, and hold Washington accountable,” said House Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black, R-Tenn. “This budget also sets out reconciliation instructions to fix our broken tax code and make long-overdue reforms to mandatory spending.”   Continue reading “GOP House budget plan boosts military spending, cuts domestic programs”

The Denver Post – by Kirk Mitchel

PICEANCE CREEK — The frenzied cows circled recklessly in a dust cloud, desperately searching for their missing calves amid a tangled maze of sagebrush on a mountain slope.

Their high-pitched wails were like nothing Susan Robinson had ever heard in five decades of working her mountain ranch in Rio Blanco County, and the pitiful bellowing left her frightened and nauseous.

Boot prints in the dirt told her what she had already suspected: Someone had stampeded her prime Black Angus cattle through a barbed-wire fence, driving them away from windmill-fed water holes and leaving them parched, injured and separated.   Continue reading “Old West-style land war in Colorado Rockies pits ranch widow against oil company”

Yahoo News

DALLAS (AP) — A white former Texas police officer has been indicted on a murder charge in the April shooting death of a black teenager who was leaving a party, prosecutors said Monday.

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson announced that a grand jury indicted former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver in the death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Oliver was fired in May for violating department policies after police department officials reviewed body camera footage of the incident, which showed Oliver shooting his rifle into a moving vehicle that was traveling away from him and another officer.   Continue reading “Ex-Texas officer indicted on murder charge in teen’s death”

Reuters

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.8 off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula triggered a tsunami warning but the threat has now passed, the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Pacific Tsunami Center said.

The quake struck at 11:34 a.m. on Tuesday (2334 GMT on Monday) some 125 miles (200 km) from the city of Nikolskoye on Bering island off the Kamchatka Peninsula. The epicenter was west of Attu, the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands.   Continue reading “Magnitude 7.8 quake hits off Russia’s Kamchatka: USGS”

Giza Death Star – by Joseph P. Farrell

When then-President-elect Trump appointed former neurosurgeon and presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson to be Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, I had to turn to my friend and colleague Catherine Austin Fitts, and exchange the “knowing wink.” Seriously, folks, we weren’t even in the same room when the announcement came. We were, in fact, hundreds of miles away, but nonetheless, I strongly suspect we both turned in that “metaphorical higher-dimensional imaged-space” that we all create when such things happen, and winked at each other. Indeed, later, during a phone call as we were discussing the various cabinet appointments that were rolling out, we both had to speculate on just how long it would take Dr. Carson to find major financial problems. I forget who said what, but one of use gave it about “six months.”  Continue reading “HUD Secretary Dr. Carson Finds A Mere Half A Trillion In Errors…”

LA Times – by Veronica Rocha

A rider was killed Sunday after he stood on his motorcycle during an illegal stunt on the 15 Freeway in Corona and tumbled onto the road, officials said.

Leslie Elliott, a 28-year-old Garden Grove resident, was pronounced dead at Corona Regional Medical Center, according to the Riverside County coroner’s bureau.

Elliott was one of 20 to 30 members of the motorcycle group, Ruthless Ryderz, who were riding on the northbound 15 Freeway near Weirick Road just before 10 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.   Continue reading “Rider dies after standing on motorcycle and falling on 15 Freeway in illegal stunt show”

CNN

In the sometimes hostile waters of the Persian Gulf looms the US Navy’s first — in fact, the world’s first — active laser weapon.

The LaWS, an acronym for Laser Weapons System, is not science fiction. It is not experimental. It is deployed on board the USS Ponce amphibious transport ship, ready to be fired at targets today and every day by Capt. Christopher Wells and his crew.   Continue reading “CNN witnesses US Navy’s drone-killing laser”

The Daily Sheeple – by Lily Dane

Earlier today, we reported that Justine Damond, an Australian woman, was shot by a police officer in Minneapolis after she called 911 to report hearing a possible assault in the alley behind her home.

Three sources with knowledge of the incident said Sunday that two officers in one squad car, responding to the 911 call, pulled into the alley. Damond, in her pajamas, went to the driver’s side door and was talking to the driver. The officer in the passenger seat pulled his gun and shot Damond through the driver’s side door, sources said.  Continue reading “Cop Who Shot Justine Damond Identified; Many Questions About her Death Remain”