All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

′Largest illegal darknet marketplace′ DarkMarket taken offline | News | DW | 12.01.2021

German prosecutors in the cities of Koblenz and Oldenburg said on Tuesday that they had shut down what was “probably the largest illegal marketplace on the Darknet” called DarkMarket and arrested the man believed to operate it near Germany’s border with Denmark.

The detained man, believed to be DarkMarket’s operator, is a 34-year-old Australian national.

Authorities say drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards and malware were all traded on the site, which had a half a million users and transacted business in cryptocurrencies equivalent to a value of €140 million ($170 million).

Oldenburg police said the raid took place over the weekend. “Investigators were able to shut down the marketplace and turn off the server on Monday,” prosecutors said.

Source: ′Largest illegal darknet marketplace′ DarkMarket taken offline | News | DW | 12.01.2021

This Is the Arsenal That an Alabama Man Brought to Washington

On Wednesday morning, Lonnie Coffman, a 70-year-old man from Alabama, parked his pickup truck near the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC, and joined the mob walking toward the Capitol. Later that day, Capitol Police officers saw a handgun in Coffman’s car while investigating reports that pipe bombs had been left in the area. When the officers searched the vehicle, they found a staggeringly large arsenal that included a shotgun, an assault rifle, a crossbow, a stun gun, and Molotov cocktails.

Alongside the weapons were handwritten notes that divided Americans into “good guys” and their enemies. One note listed two phone numbers for offices belonging to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who helped lead efforts to overturn the results of the election. Another stated that Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.) is one of two Muslims serving in Congress.

When he came back to get his pickup truck Wednesday evening, Coffman, carrying two pistols, told law enforcement officials that the Molotov cocktails were made of gasoline and melted Styrofoam, a combination designed to ensure they stuck to their targets as they burned. Now he is facing 17 counts of weapons charges.

Exhibits filed in federal court by the Justice Department on Tuesday show the extent of what Coffman had in a truck parked blocks from the Capitol. 

A 9mm handgun.

 Justice Department

A Windham Weaponry assault rifle.

A Hatfield Gun Company SAS shotgun.

Justice Department

Ammunition for the various weapons found in Coffman’s car.

Justice Department

A crossbow and crossbow bolts.

Justice Department

Camo Smoke. According to one product description, the “military style white smoke allows plenty of time to escape.”

Justice Department

A 200,000-volt stun gun.

Justice Department

Eleven Molotov cocktails in mason jars plugged at the top by golf tees.

Justice Department

One of the handguns Coffman allegedly carried with him on Wednesday.

Justice Department

The other handgun Coffman allegedly carried on Wednesday.

A handwritten note found in Coffman’s car that lists various “good guys.” It also notes that Rep. Carson is one of two Muslims in Congress.

Justice Department

A handwritten note that lists phone numbers for two of Cruz’s Senate offices.

Justice Department

Hope

Unlocking The Hidden Me

# poetry

Even in the darkest hour

With no light, strength and power

I do hope for the best

For life is nothing but a test

I just sit and wait down

For the brightest light in the town

To make its way through the dark

To enlighten me with a spark

When people drifts away

Leaving me marooned to find my own way

I take a deep breath

Fanning away my wrath

And walk miles alone

Though not becoming a rolling stone

I take a leap of faith

To open every closed gate

When life becomes shrewd and shatter me into pieces

Contravening my expectations yet it also teaches

How to mend and glue my fragments

How to re-color each and every segment

And augment myself to never break again

No matter how much I have to endure pain

I search for possibilities infinite

To brush me up and…

View original post 84 more words

Republican Staten Island candidate apologizes for Hitler reference | TheHill (Remarks in heat of the moment and when drunk – reveal…)

“I absolutely regret the choice of words,” she added, saying they came “in the heat of the moment.”

Remauro reiterated these sentiments in a Facebook post, writing “This is a VERY BAD ANALOGY and I am apologizing heartily for my choice of words in this video.”

Source: Republican Staten Island candidate apologizes for Hitler reference | TheHill

Top Republican congressional aide resigns, rips GOP lawmakers who objected to Biden win | TheHill

“Anyone who watched those horrible hours unfold should have been galvanized to rebuke these insurrectionists in the strongest terms,” Schmid wrote.

“Instead, some members whom I believed to be leaders in the defense of the nation chose to put political theater ahead of the defense of the Constitution and the republic,” he added. “The decision to vote to set aside legitimate electors harmed the ability of every service member, intelligence officer, and diplomat to defend the nation and advance American interests.”

Source: Top Republican congressional aide resigns, rips GOP lawmakers who objected to Biden win | TheHill

FBI agents raid Brooklyn home of pelt-wearing Orthodox man in Capitol mob

ABC7 New York reported that Mostofsky was arrested, citing a source who said he faces four charges, including felony theft of government property. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for information. State police referred inquiries to the FBI.
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The arrest comes amid a nationwide crackdown on the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol building last week.

Study: 3 in 4 COVID patients still have symptoms 6 months after getting sick

Doctor listening to coronavirus / COVID-19 patient having trouble breathing

WUHAN, China — For COVID-19 patients, their battle with the deadly virus can last weeks or even months. A new study finds even after patients leave the hospital the symptoms of coronavirus may linger for a long time. Researchers in China say 76 percent of hospitalized COVID patients still experience at least one symptom of their…

The post Study: 3 in 4 COVID patients still have symptoms 6 months after getting sick appeared first on Study Finds.

Third lawmaker in lockdown tests positive for COVID-19

GOP members who refused masks should be expelled from Congress!

By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — A third Democratic member of the House who was forced to go into lockdown during last week’s violent siege at the U.S. Capitol has tested positive for COVID-19.

Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., said on Twitter that he tested positive Tuesday morning. He said he is not feeling symptoms but expressed dismay at the spate of positive test results and blamed Republican members of Congress who declined to wear a mask when it was offered to them during the lockdown.

“Today, I am now in strict isolation, worried that I have risked my wife’s health and angry at the selfishness and arrogance of the anti-maskers who put their own contempt and disregard for decency ahead of the health and safety of their colleagues and our staff,” Schneider said.

Schneider’s comments came a few hours after similar remarks from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who said she had tested positive and criticized GOP members of Congress.

“Too many Republicans have refused to take this pandemic and virus seriously, and in doing so, they endanger everyone around them,” Jayapal said. “Only hours after President Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, our country, and our democracy, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution” and simply wear a mask in a crowded room.

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey said Monday that she had tested positive for COVID-19.

They were among dozens of lawmakers whisked to a secure location when pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the Capitol. Some members of Congress huddled for hours in the large room, while others were there for a shorter period.

All three lawmakers are isolating. Jayapal called for “serious fines to be immediately levied on every single member who refuses to wear a mask in the Capitol.”

Any member who refuses to wear a mask should be removed from the floor by the sergeant at arms, she said.

“This is not a joke,” she said. “Our lives and our livelihoods are at risk, and anyone who refuses to wear a mask should be fully held accountable for endangering our lives because of their selfish idiocy.”

Over the weekend, the Capitol’s attending physician notified all lawmakers of possible virus exposure and urged them to be tested.

CDC is asking states to start delivering COVID-19 vaccine to people 65 and older, not hold back 2nd dose

Mistake upon mistake will not make up for no planning or coordination – please stick with originally planned schedule for shots – get one then another 2 weeks later! You will destroy what little confidence people have left in your integrity CDC!

By ZEKE MILLER | The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is asking states to speed delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to people 65 and older and to others at high risk by no longer holding back the second dose of the two-dose shots, officials said Tuesday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that “the administration in the states has been too narrowly focused.”

As a result, he said, the Trump administration is now asking states to vaccinate people age 65 and over and those under 65 with underlying health conditions that put them at high risk. He said the vaccine production is such that the second dose of the two-shot vaccine can be released without jeopardizing immunization for those who got the first shot.

“We now believe that our manufacturing is predictable enough that we can ensure second doses are available for people from ongoing production,” Azar told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “So everything is now available to our states and our health care providers.”

Each state has its own plan for who should be vaccinated, based on recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommendations give first priority to health care workers and nursing home residents.

But the slow pace of the vaccine rollout has frustrated many Americans at a time when the coronavirus death toll has continued to rise. More than 376,000 people have died, according to the Johns Hopkins database.

Azar said it was now time to move “to the next phase on the vaccine program” and expand the pool of those eligible to get the first dose.

That also means expanding the number of places where people can be vaccinated by adding community health centers and additional drug stores.

“We’ve already distributed more vaccine than we have health care workers and people in nursing homes,” Azar said. “We’ve got to get to more channels of administration. We’ve got to get it to pharmacies, get it to community health centers.”

He said the federal government “will deploy teams to support states doing mass vaccination efforts if they wish to do so.”

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said hundreds of thousands of people are getting vaccinated every day across the nation, but the pace of inoculations needs to improve.

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“We’re in a race against this virus and quite frankly, we’re behind,” Adams told “Fox & Friends.” “The good news is that 700,000 people are getting vaccinated every single day. We’re going to hit 1 million people and we need to continue to pick up that pace.”

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to give a speech Thursday outlining his plan to speed vaccines to more people in the first part of his administration. His transition team has vowed to release as many vaccine doses as possible, rather than continuing the Trump administration policy of holding back millions of doses to ensure there would be enough supply to allow those getting the first shot to get a second one.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires a second shot about three weeks after the first vaccination. Another vaccine, this one produced by Moderna, requires a second shot about four weeks afterward. One-shot vaccines are still undergoing testing.