Saturday, August 17, 2019

Huawei Has Been Helping African Countries Spy On Political Opponents: WSJ Investigation

Huawei employees helped African officials spy on political opponents, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Officials in Uganda and Zambia hired Huawei employees who used their own technology along with products from outside companies to hack into the social media of political opponents.
Huawei officials have denied the reports, saying the company does not have the “contracts, nor the capabilities, to do so.”

Huawei, a Chinese tech company President Donald Trump placed sanctions on, helped African countries spy on political opponents in at least two instances, The Wall Street Journal found.
Intelligence officials in Uganda and Zambia hired technicians from Huawei to support domestic spying using the company’s technology and other companies’ products, WSJ reported Wednesday.

Huawei dominates Africa’s digital industry as the country’s most successful supplier of 4G and 5G mobile networks and government surveillance systems.

In Kampala, Uganda, WSJ found that six intelligence officials working for President Yoweri Museveni, who has held his position for more than 33 years, allegedly recruited Huawei technicians to hack into the Skype and WhatsApp accounts of Museveni’s opponent.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) invites Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (L) to view an honour guard during a welcoming ceremony inside the Great Hall of the People on March 31, 2015. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

“The Huawei technicians worked for two days and helped us puncture through,” said one senior officer at the surveillance unit.

The Chinese employees reportedly used Israeli-made spyware purchased by the Ugandan government to encrypt communications from Bobi Wine, a pop-star-turned-politician with U.S. support — and Museveni’s most threatening...

THE COMPLETE COLLECTION: OBAMA’S SCANDALS, GAFFES, AND POWER-GRABS [UPDATED!]

New Documents Expose How Barack Obama, James Clapper, And John Brennan Used The Deep State To Illegally Spy On Congress And Subvert The 4th Amendment Rights Of All Americans...

Six-Year-Old Saying, 'Why Don't We Just Give Everything Away For Free?' Surges To Top Of Democratic Polls

U.S.—A new candidate has come out of nowhere to surge in the polls in the Democratic primary, and she’s only six years old. Susie Peters of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was on a local news segment where children gave their opinions on world problems, and she asked, “Why can’t we just give everyone everything they want for free?” The message quickly went viral and really resonated with Democratic voters, propelling Susie from unknown to third in most polls, ahead of Bernie Sanders and just behind Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.

"She really has a plan for everything,” said Melinda Carlson, one of Susie’s enthusiastic supporters. “While Elizabeth Warren only has a plan for getting people free health care and free college, Susie has a plan to get everyone free everything. She’s truly a visionary.”

Her new candidacy has upset some of the other candidates, with Bernie Sanders accusing Susie of stealing all his ideas. Others say the math in her plans doesn’t add up, to which Susie says she doesn’t like math and instead likes “Twilight Sparkle.” And President Trump has taken notice, vowing to trounce Susie in the general since Trump himself can “read and write at the level of an eight-year-old.” There are also concerns Susie may be gaffe-prone like Joe Biden, as one day at school Susie referred to her teacher as "Mommy" by mistake, prompting a round of laughter from her classmates.

Still, Susie has unveiled her new popular campaign slogan, “But I want it!” and has already qualified for the next Democratic presidential debate, though she may not be able to attend since it will be on past her bedtime.

FBI Lawyer Squeals; Implicates Obama Officials for “Unusual” FISA Application

Smoking Gun Proof Might Damn James Comey, FBI & Possibly the DOJ

BREAKING NEWS: FISA Court Says FBI Lied to Them, Illegally Spied

Carter Page Blows The Lid Off Deep State FBI Informant

Former FBI Official: ‘Trump Supporters Are Like Terrorists’

“If you call Trump followers racist en masse, they simply coalesce around each other”

Former FBI official turned MSNBC analyst Frank Figliuzzi, who sees Hitler in everything Trump does, stated on a live broadcast this week that Trump supporters are a lot like terrorists rallying around a figurehead.

The former Assistant Director for Counterintelligence at the FBI, was discussing racism (shocker) with MSNBC host Chris Jansing, when the pair suggested that it would be a good idea for Democrats to keep accusing Trump supporters of being racist.

Jansing spewed:

“I think one of the things, Frank Figliuzzi, is that this president has always, from anyone who was around him, Anthony Scaramucci knows this as well as anybody else, demanded this blind loyalty, right? ‘I say it, it must be so. Or even if you don’t think it’s so, you don’t criticize me for it.’”

And Figliuzzi responded:

“Well, this is why it’s so important to look through the lens of radicalization when you look at this president and then apply counterradicalization techniques. Because you’re right, attacking his followers is going to be counterproductive. He demands that loyalty, and they are loyal. So if you call Trump followers racist en masse, they simply coalesce around each other and become even more defensive and protective of the leader, just as they would in, say, a terrorist organization …”

That was enough to get the attention of Fox News analyst Dan Bongino, who said “I can’t believe this guy is still allowed on the air.”

“MSNBC is willing to put complete lunatics on the air who will say absolutely anything at any time, as long as it makes...

10 Rare Artifacts With Fascinating Backstories

Like a shadow, history is attached to every pot shard, pebble, and bone. Nothing on this Earth is without a backstory. Archaeology is all about finding these missing shadows and sewing them together to better understand bygone times.Rare stories are particularly valuable. They offer glimpses into the personal lives of ancient business owners and why neighboring cities fought. Unique finds also solve mysteries, create new world records, and even challenge the current timelines.

10Earliest Down Syndrome

Photo credit: Live Science
The genetic disorder known as Down syndrome is ancient. Throughout the centuries, artists have depicted the condition in paintings and sculptures. The oldest case involving human remains came from France. A necropolis in the northeast produced 94 skeletons, and one of them was a child. Found in 1989, it was determined that the youngster was between five and seven, gender unknown, and lived during the fifth or sixth century.Preliminary analysis suggested that the child had Down syndrome, although it was never confirmed. Modern technology gave scientists that chance. A scan of the skull found strong signs of the condition—extra bone, abnormalities with the sinuses and teeth, thin cranium, and flattened base.The findings offered a unique opportunity to see how an ancient community treated the child. Everyone in the necropolis was buried with a certain body posture, including this youngster. This suggested that he or she was neither discriminated against in life nor ostracized in death.[1]

9Ediacaran Mystery Solved

Photo credit: Live Science
The Ediacaran period ran from 635 to 541 million years ago. From this era, a fossil type stumped the scientific community. Nobody could agree on its nature. Some felt that Palaeopascichnus linearis was fossilized poop. Others voted for ancient organisms or the markings left by them. Getting a clear answer was difficult since many Palaeopascichnus sites were protected areas.In 2018, scientists caught a break. Over 300 specimens were discovered in Siberia, plus an extra batch was found in old collections from the 1980s. This combined cache allowed researchers the chance to dismantle the mysterious fossils.After they were sliced, diced, and viewed under microscopes, the truth dawned. They were exoskeletons. Remarkably, this “armor” was made of sediment and served as extra protection for a sea-dwelling species.Dating between 613–544 million years old, P. linearis became the oldest, non-microscopic critters with skeletons. The organisms could have been amoebas since they resemble xenophyophores, living amoebas that build their own sandy exoskeletons.[2]

8Ancient Hashtag

Photo credit: sciencealert.com
Archaeologists who love cave doodles recently enjoyed two milestones. In 2015, they discovered the oldest art made by humans. Then, in 2018, they found the (slightly younger) oldest figurative art. The latter turned up in Borneo.[3]The image, a cow of some sort, was large and painted between other colorful endeavors, including ancient hand stencils. Tests pinpointed the bovine creature’s creation between 40,000 and 52,000 years ago. While that wins the trophy for the world’s oldest figurative drawing, the most ancient human art came from South Africa.In the past, Blombos Cave had already produced notable hominid artifacts. More recently, researchers puttered through Blombos sediment when they found a small flake. Incredibly, around 73,000 years ago, somebody used red ocher to draw something resembling a hashtag.Although this is a stunning find, the oldest-known art does not belong to humans. That honor goes to a Homo erectus local in Indonesia who engraved zigzags on a shell 540,000 years ago.

7Oldest Footprints

Photo credit: Live Science
The planet is crisscrossed with ancient tracks. The oldest was found in 2018 and belonged to a mysterious animal. Around 551–541 million years ago, a creature traipsed around modern-day China. Today, the site is known as the Dengying Formation, but back then, the region was an ocean.While paddling near the seafloor, the animal left behind two rows of footprints. There is only so much that spoor can reveal, but researchers determined that the creature was a bilaterian species. As strange as it sounds, that means the animal had a head on one end, a bum on the other, and symmetrical left and right sides.In addition, the marine wonder had appendages that left the prints. These limbs are the main suspects in the creation of several burrows found nearby. The fossilized grooves suggested that the creature dug to satisfy a need, perhaps looking for food.[4]Not only does the mud-scooping thing beat all dinosaur tracks by millions of years, it also proved that limbs evolved much sooner than previously believed.

6Unique Sumerian Artifact

Photo credit: Smithsonian Magazine
After being forgotten for 150 years, a pillar recently resurfaced at the British Museum. The marble was inscribed with Sumerian cuneiform and told the story of...