Bombshell Twitter files suggest censorship driven by politics and connections, not facts - John Solomon

 

by John Solomon

"This is a battle for the future of civilization," Musk says in explaining why he released the files. "If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead."

 

Elon Musk allowed Americans a glimpse inside his explosive "Twitter files" in a process certain to take many more days. But the first release of memos gave a sobering look suggesting censorship on the platform during the 2020 election was driven by politics and political connections more than facts.

Twitter's new owner used independent journalist Matt Taibbi to release a small first batch of internal documents Friday night, detailing how efforts to censor thought on the platform began, then accelerated during the last presidential election, building to a crescendo with the momentous October 2020 decision by the platform to block dissemination of a New York Post story about alleged corruption detailed on Hunter Biden's laptop.

Though fragmentary and framed by Taibbi's personal narrative, screenshots of the first memos made a compelling case that Twitter's executives censored the Hunter Biden laptop story in the final days of the 2020 campaign even though they lacked substantiation for the justification that the materials were derived from hacking and therefore in violation of the platform's rules of conduct.

"Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?" Twitter's former VP of Global Comms Brandon Borrman wrote in one such memo.

Former FBI General Counsel Jim Baker, then-Twitter deputy counsel, laid out the lack of evidence even more clearly. "I support the conclusion that we need more facts to assess whether the materials were hacked," he wrote. "At this stage, however, it is reasonable for us to assume that they may have been and that caution is warranted."

Taibbi wrote he saw "no evidence ... of any government involvement in the laptop story."

The memos, according to Taibbi's narrative, also make clear that then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was left out of the initial decision-making. Dorsey would later repudiate the censorship decision, calling it a mistake.

As Twitter scrambled and failed to find evidence to back its initial hacking claims, one of its research firms took a quick sounding of congressional reaction and gave an ominous warning.

The NetChoice firm surveyed nine Republicans and three Democrats and warned the social media giant a "blood bath" was brewing in the nation's capital, suggesting the censorship episode was poised to become Big Tech's "Access Hollywood moment."

California Democratic Rep. Rho Khanna wrote the company asking to discuss the backlash to the censorship of the story, making clear he believed Twitter had made an error of constitutional proportions.

"This seems a violation of the 1st amendment principles," Khanna wrote a top Twitter executive.

Taibbi augmented the screenshots of memos with commentary he said he got from current and former Twitter employees. "Hacking was the excuse, but within a few hours, pretty much everyone realized that wasn't going to hold. But no one had the guts to reverse it," Taibbi wrote, quoting one ex-employee.

Musk has cast the release of the files as part of larger battle to fight censorship in America, and he vowed Friday night that more of Twitter's internal files would be released Saturday along with his hosting of a question and answer session.

"This is a battle for the future of civilization," Musk tweeted Monday ahead of the release of the files. "If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead."

Some of the documents he and Taibbi released Friday night suggested that the Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee were able to manipulate speech on the platform through tools that Twitter made available.

The emails cited requests from "the Biden team" and "DNC" and include confirmations that Twitter "handled" their requests to delete posts.

Taibbi said that the censorship machine impacted both "celebrities and unknowns alike" and that while both Republicans and Democrats had access to it, the censorship was skewed by a liberal bias among the Twitter workforce.

"It is a Frankensteinian tale of a human-built mechanism grown out the control of its designer," Taibbi wrote, as he slowly narrated the release of the documents with more than three dozen individual tweets.

Taibbi posted a lengthy series of threads, which Musk retweeted, detailing the censorship, which included screenshots showing that Democratic operatives could submit requests to the platform to remove tweets and that these requests were honored.

One tweet showed a screenshot of Democratic operatives doing exactly that. "By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine," Taibbi wrote. "One executive would write to another: 'More to review from the Biden team.' The reply would come back: 'Handled.'"

John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/satbombshell-twitter-files-suggest-censorship-driven-politics-and

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Apple Crushes Dissent in America and China - Daniel Greenfield

 

by Daniel Greenfield

Suppressing protests in China and censoring Twitter in America.

 

The largest lockdown uprising in China took place at facilities run by Apple’s Foxconn supplier where workers had previously jumped to their deaths. After thousands fled the Apple gulag, making their way through the woods and rural areas to freedom, other employees battled with Communist authorities over abusive conditions and treatment in the iGulag.

Apple had nothing to say about the rights of those workers who thought differently enough to break free and fight back. If they were foolish enough to have iPhones, there’s little doubt the company would have eagerly helped authorities track them down to be imprisoned or killed.

“Think Different”, Apple’s slogan, actually means collaborating with a Communist dictatorship where thinking differently is a crime. And it also means suppressing free speech in America.

That’s why Apple is threatening free speech on Twitter just as it’s threatening it in Shanghai.

But that is what the company has always been behind the reality distortion field of its ads. “Think Different” has never meant anything other than, “Shut up and do what the visionaries tell you.”

In the 90s, to celebrate the return of its co-founder, Apple launched an ad campaign with the slogan, “Think Different.”  The campaign with its images of Einstein, MLK, Lennon, Edison and Picasso was meant to suggest that Apple was a unique creative company for aspiring geniuses.

And soon Steve Jobs joined the pantheon of those geniuses. But behind the ad campaign meant to appeal to narcissistic hipsters with disposable incomes was a harder truth.

Jobs, the talented marketer who had positioned Apple as the company fighting totalitarianism with its 1984 ad, was aggressively offshoring the company’s labor to Communist China.

What China had to offer was mass production under a ruthlessly totalitarian system that would, when Jobs decided to revamp the iPhone a month before launch, wake up 8,000 workers at midnight for a 12 hour shift.

At an Obama dinner, Jobs bluntly confirmed, “Those jobs aren’t coming back.”

“What U.S. plant can find 3,000 people overnight and convince them to live in dorms?” Apple’s supply manager asked.

The dorms, where 12 workers live to a tiny room, everyone is monitored and so many have committed suicide that nets were put up to catch the bodies, were the real “Think Different”.

Steve Jobs loved China and the Communist dictatorship loved him back. His famous black turtleneck appeared to echo the Mao suit. There are golden busts of Jobs in China looking like a Communist dictator.When Jobs died, there was hysterical mourning in China. There was no mourning for the deaths of workers at the Foxconn plants where Apple products were made.

A year before Jobs died, fourteen men and women jumped from buildings at Apple’s Foxconn Chinese contractors. Their deaths occasioned much less interest than the outpouring of grief for the author of their misery.

In a notion that could have only come from a satirical story by Kafka and Philip K. Dick or a real life Communist dystopia, workers were forced to sign contracts promising not to kill themselves.

Afterward nets were hung up to catch the falling bodies.

Think Different.

After Jobs’ death, his widow took the money to build the Emerson Collective, pushing social justice in the fine tradition of atoning for evil with more evil, while CEO Tim Cook developed an even more incestuous relationship with Communist China that included signing a secret $275 billion pact to help Communist China develop “the most advanced manufacturing technologies” and vowed to use even more Chinese technology in Apple’s products.

When the Hong Kong protests began, the streets filled with young men and women, most of whom not only owned Apple products, but believed the hype that it was a noble company that didn’t just make gadgets, but aspired to harness human creativity for a better world.

Instead, Apple quickly moved to suppress the protests by removing an app used by the protesters to avoid police. Apple sanctimoniously declared that the protests were endangering “law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong” and claimed that it was responding to “concerned customers” worried that the popular protests threatened “public safety”.

That statement could have been and may have been written by the Communist regime. It should have been enough to finally expose the myth that Apple is animated by a creative spirit, rather than power, greed, and a willing collaboration with Communist mass murderers.

But with protests breaking out against Zero COVID tyranny breaking out in China, people were once again surprised when Apple rushed to aid Communist China’s crackdown by preventing protesters from using AirDrop to communicate and coordinate their activities.

The company wasn’t just once again collaborating with a Communist dictatorship responsible for the murder of countless millions, but it was screwing its own users, the naive students who had paid premium prices for its slave labor products because they believed in Apple.

They believed, like so many Americans and Europeans, that Apple stood for something.

And Apple does. It stands for tyranny.

That’s why Apple is threatening Twitter’s place in its app store because under Elon Musk the platform has begun to offer the very thing Apple is helping China stamp out: freedom.

It’s a mistake to believe that Apple is just doing what it’s told. That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the company as unfortunate as the one by the protesters risking their lives while believing that Apple wouldn’t kick the chair out from under its users and their movement.

Apple isn’t a great American company, it’s a great Chinese company. Its fundamental worldview  is Maoist. Its simplicity of control isn’t just about manipulating interfaces, but people. Its ad campaigns, from ‘1984’ to ‘Think Different’, have always been regime propaganda. Jobs, unlike his genuinely talented co-founder, Steve Wozniak, held people in contempt. His vision of technology was essentially Communist: depriving people of control for their own good.

China had always understood Steve Jobs, with his Maoist turtleneck, his minimalist aesthetics, ruthlessness and conviction of his own genius, far better than we ever did. The real message of “Think Different” wasn’t that everyone ought to think differently, but that geniuses are a superior group who ought to have the unlimited power to rigorously implement their vision. That is what China offered Jobs. And what Apple offers the Communist elite is the power behind their vision.

Americans haven’t cared very much about Chinese workers hurriedly assembling smartwatches in freezing temperatures or children laboring in mines, but Apple’s tyranny doesn’t stay in China.

Apple’s vision for America isn’t any different than for China. In both countries, Apple helps a leftist elite implement its collectivist vision by offering customers a poisoned chalice of convenience in exchange for data harvesting and control. The company doesn’t empower its customers, it tricks them into giving up control so that they can be better controlled.

That is why it’s coming for Twitter and threatening it over its newfound free speech.

“We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology,” a Big Brother analogue intoned in Apple’s famous 1984 commercial, “secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts.”

Jobs was a fan of Orwell’s book. Unfortunately he viewed it as a manual.

Apple has used its illegal app store monopoly to create a walled garden of apps along a pure ideology, secure from contradictory thoughts. Now, much as China is purging political opposition, the company that helped define its new age, is doing the same thing here.

Jobs, who once claimed that PCs were totalitarian and Apple was “the only force that can ensure their future freedom” helped build an oppressive operating system tethered to an app store calculated to deprive users of their freedom. That integrated hardware and software monopoly is one of the great threats to freedom in America and China.

As we approach a 2024 election, more legislators are waking up and fighting back against Apple’s walled app store of ideology. And if the Communist collaborating company comes after Twitter, it may discover that the whirling sledgehammer from its 1984 ad is coming its way.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/apple-crushes-dissent-in-america-and-china/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Rail workers speak out after Biden forces unions to accept deal: 'He turned his back' - Julio Musto

 

by Julio Musto

President Biden says fight for more paid sick leave was not over but rail workers still concerned about quality of life

 

Rail workers are speaking out after Congress voted last week to avoid an industry strike that could have had catastrophic economic consequences.

BNSF railroad conductor Justin Schaaf told The Associated Press that he had to choose between getting a cavity filled or attending his son's 7th birthday party.

"Ultimately I decided to take the day off for my kid’s birthday party," he said. "Then when I am finally able to get into the dentist four, five, six months later, the tooth is too bad to repair at that point, so I have to get the tooth pulled out."

Schaaf said that if he had the option of taking a sick day, he "would have never been in that situation" and said recent actions by Congress were discouraging but not surprising. 

BIDEN SIGNS BILL FORCING RAIL UNIONS TO ACCEPT AGREEMENT, AVERTING CRIPPLING STRIKE

On Friday, President Biden signed bipartisan legislation, congratulating lawmakers for helping to avert "what could have been a real disaster." 

The president acknowledged that more work needs to be done. 

"Look, I know this bill doesn't have paid sick leave, that these rail workers and, frankly, every worker in America deserves. But that fight isn't over," he said. 

FILE - A worker rides a rail car at a BNSF rail crossing in Saginaw, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022.  (AP Photo/LM Otero, File / AP Newsroom)

Roadway mechanic Reece Murtagh was more direct, telling CNN Friday that unionized workers' collective bargaining rights have been "trampled on."

"Their voice has not been heard, they voted against the contract," Murtagh said. "We have a pro-labor president who loves to, you know, pat himself on the back for that, and when the going got tough, he turned his back on the people he’s supposed to be looking out for."

The newly enacted law codifies a July deal negotiated by rail unions and the administration that would raise workers' pay by 24% over a five-year period from 2020 through 2024, including an immediate payout on average of $11,000 upon ratification. 

The agreement passed by Congress was approved by eight of 12 transportation unions involved in negotiations. 

The four dissenting unions said the deal was unfair because it included insufficient paid-sick leave time. They had asked for seven paid sick days, but Congress did not include their demand in the bill, despite an effort from progressive lawmakers and even some conservatives, to amend the legislation. 

Biden defended the contract, citing wage increases.

"What was negotiated was so much better than anything they ever had," he said at a news briefing with French President Emmanuel Macron.

President Biden signs H.J.Res.100, a bill that aims to avert a freight rail strike, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Friday, Dec. 2, 2022, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Newsroom)

The rail unions said they weren’t able to get more concessions out of the railroads because the big companies knew Congress would intervene and railroads refused to add paid sick days to the deal because they didn’t want to pay much more than a special board of arbitrators appointed by Biden recommended this summer. 

In addition, the railroads said that unions have agreed over the years to forego paid sick leave in favor of higher wages and strong short-term disability benefits.

FILE - A locomotive driver, is seen as a locomotive engine arrives at the Selkirk rail yard Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, in Selkirk, N.Y. ((AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File) / AP Newsroom)

The railroads agreed to offer three unpaid days for engineers and conductors to tend to medical needs as long as they are scheduled at least 30 days in advance and promised to negotiate further.

The head of the Association of American Railroads trade group, Ian Jefferies, acknowledged that there is more to be done but said the compromise deals should help make schedules more predictable while delivering the largest raises rail workers have seen in more than four decades.

Workers and their unions say that the deal did not do enough to address quality-of-life concerns.

FILE - A CSX freight train runs through a crossing in Homestead, Pa., on Sept. 14, 2022.  ((AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) / AP Newsroom)

"You hear when you hire out on the railroad you’re going to miss some things. But you’re not supposed to miss everything," said retired engineer Jeff Kurtz, who remains active even in retirement with the Railroad Workers United coalition. "You shouldn’t miss your kids growing up. You shouldn’t miss the seminal moments in your family’s life."

FOX Business' Chris Pandolfo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 
Julio Musto

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/rail-workers-speak-out-biden-forces-unions-accept-deal-he-turned-back

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Air Force unveils B-21 Raider stealth bomber - Julio Musto

 

by Julio Musto

Northrop Grumman said its B-21 Raider will join the nation's strategic triad as a 'visible and flexible deterrent'

 

The U.S. military unveiled the U.S. Air Force B-21 Raider on Friday in Palmdale, California. 

The B-21 Raider is the first new American bomber aircraft in more than three decades and almost every aspect of the program is classified, with images showing that it resembles the B-2 Spirit. 

Manufacturer Northrop Grumman said that the rollout of the newest nuclear stealth bomber marks the first time the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft would be seen by the public. 

"When delivered to the Air Force, the B-21 will join the nation’s strategic triad as a visible and flexible deterrent; supporting national security objectives and assuring the nation’s allies and partners," the company said in a release. 

APPEALS COURT SAYS AIR FORCE 'WRONGLY RELIED' ON BROAD FORMULA TO DENY RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS TO VAX MANDATE

The B-21 Raider was unveiled on Friday in California. ((U.S. Air Force photo))

The nuclear triad includes silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads.

Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden told The Associated Press the way the B-21 operates is extremely advanced. 

Unveiled today, the B-21 Raider will be a dual-capable, penetrating-strike stealth bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. The B-21 will form the backbone of the future Air Force bomber force consisting of B-21s and B-52s. ((U.S. Air Force photo))

The company said it is optimized for the high-end threat environment, using agile software development, advanced manufacturing techniques, digital engineering tools and cloud technology. 

Northrop Grumman said it is continuously working to ensure that the B-21 "will defeat the anti-access, area-denial systems it will face."

This undated artist rendering provided by the U.S. Air Force shows a graphic of the Long Range Strike Bomber, designated the B-21. (U.S. Air Force via AP)

Warden could not discuss the specifics of those technologies but said that the bomber was more stealthy and slightly smaller than the B-2.

"When we talk about low observability, it is incredibly low observability," she said. "You’ll hear it, but you really won’t see it."

The B-21 Raider will not make its first flight until next year. Northrop Grumman has been testing its performance using a virtual replica.  (Northrop Grumman)

Other changes likely include advanced materials used in coatings to make the bomber harder to detect, new ways to control electronic emissions and the use of new propulsion technologies, per several defense analysts.

PENTAGON AWARDS RAYTHEON $1.2B BID TO SUPPLY UKRAINE WITH ADVANCED SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE SYSTEMS

 

The B-21 is a testament to the best of America’s vibrant and diverse industrial base. It’s this sort of advance that makes us great and this sort of advance doesn’t just happen. It takes investment. It takes cooperation. And it takes partnership. pic.twitter.com/4Gx1O1w009

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) December 3, 2022

 

While six of the B-21 Raiders are currently in production, the Air Force plans to build 100 that can be used with or without a human crew. 

The cost of the bombers remains unknown — although it was projected to cost approximately $550 million each in 2010 dollars, or about $750 million in today's inflation-adjust dollars — and the Raider will not make its first flight until next year.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a press briefing after a virtual Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on Nov. 16, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The company has been testing its performance using a virtual replica.

Since the contract was awarded in 2015, Northrop Grumman assembled a team of more than 8,000 from the company, industry partners and the Air Force, consisting of more than 400 suppliers across 40 states.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other invited guests witnessed the bomber’s public unveiling.

"We needed a new bomber for the 21st century that would allow us to take on much more complicated threats, like the threats that we fear we would one day face from China, Russia," Deborah Lee James, the Air Force secretary, said in 2015. "The B-21 is more survivable and can take on these much more difficult threats."

"The B-21 Raider is the first strategic bomber in more than three decades," Austin said during the ceremony. "It is a testament to America’s enduring advantages in ingenuity and innovation. And, it’s proof of the Department’s long-term commitment to building advanced capabilities that will fortify America’s ability to deter aggression, today and into the future."

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

Julio Musto is a reporter for Fox News and Fox Business Digital.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/tech/air-force-unveils-b-21-raider-stealth-bomber

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Biden Administration Turns a Blind Eye to Iranian Regime's Brutal Crackdown - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

Will the Biden administration ever start standing with Iranian -- and Chinese, Brazilian and Venezuelan -- men and women asking only for what we purport to care about -- liberty and freedom -- but who suffer brutality and suppression from their own governments?

• The Biden administration appears to be repeating Obama administration's policy of choosing to be silent in the face of the Iranian regime's bloodshed, human rights violations, and crackdowns that kill and wound peaceful protesters -- and has the same policy regarding brave Chinese protestors as well.

• One hospital staff member wrote in a message to CNN about a female detainee: "When she first came in, [the officers] said she was hemorrhaging from her rectum... due to repeated rape. The plainclothes men insisted that the doctor write it as rape prior to arrest...." -- CNN Special Report, "How Iran's security forces use rape to quell protests," November 21, 2022.

• Will the Biden administration ever stop appeasing the regime of Iran, called by the US Department of State "the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism"?

• Will the Biden administration ever start standing with Iranian -- and Chinese, Brazilian and Venezuelan -- men and women asking only for what we purport to care about -- liberty and freedom -- but who suffer brutality and suppression from their own governments?

The Biden administration appears to be repeating Obama administration's policy of choosing to be silent in the face of the Iranian regime's bloodshed, human rights violations, and crackdowns that kill and wound peaceful protesters. Pictured: An anti-regime protest at Amirkabir University in Tehran, Iran on September 20, 2022. (Image source: Darafsh/Wikimedia Commons)

When millions of citizens poured into the streets of Iran in June 2009 to protest against the country's regime, the Obama administration was silent as many people in Iran cried out, "Are you with us, or are you with them [the ruling mullahs]?" Now, the Biden administration appears to be repeating Obama administration's policy of choosing to be silent in the face of the Iranian regime's bloodshed, human rights violations, and crackdowns that kill and wound peaceful protesters -- and has the same policy regarding brave Chinese protestors as well.

More than 2,000 academics from universities across the United States, including 10 Nobel laureates, signed a letter to President Joe Biden calling for "urgent attention to a dire situation in Iranian universities," and taking "further tangible actions." These include ending diplomacy, ending nuclear talks, and continuing punitive sanctions "until all violators of human rights in Iran are held accountable."

Among the human rights violations committed by the Iranian authorities is targeting children and unarmed university students who voice their opposition to the theocratic establishment.

Many Iranians have started calling the government the "child-killing regime" and calling Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the "Child-Killing Khamenei". So far, 35 children killed by the regime's security forces, have been identified. They include a two-year-old boy in Zahedan, Kian Pirfalak, a 10-year-old boy, and two teenage girls, Nika Shakamari and Sarina Esmailzadeh, who were reportedly beaten to death for protesting.

Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) have reported that 46 boys and 12 girls under 18 have so far been killed. Amnesty International posted in tweet:

"As the world's attention is turned to the #ENGIRN; game, let's remember the faces of children killed by Iran's security forces during the popular uprising Since September. Let's use #WorldCup2022 to amplify the voices from Iran calling for a better future."

Iran's security forces are resorting to rape and sexual assaults to quell protesters, particularly women. As the slogan "Women, Life, Freedom" continues to reverberate across the nation, female detainees have reported rape and sexual assaults while in the custody of the security forces. Several healthcare workers have leaked information about this abuse. One hospital staff member wrote in a message to CNN about a female detainee:

"When she first came in, (the officers) said she was hemorrhaging from her rectum... due to repeated rape. The plainclothes men insisted that the doctor write it as rape prior to arrest... After the truth became obvious to all, they changed the whole script... To make it short, they screwed up... They screwed up and they don't know how to put it together again."

The regime is increasing arrests, as nearly 14,000 people, including children, have so far been detained. It is worth noting that 227 lawmakers from Iran's 290-seat parliament voted to impose the death penalty against the protesters. "We ask the judiciary to deal decisively with the perpetrators of these crimes," the lawmakers wrote in a statement, "and with all those who assisted in the crimes and provoked rioters". The regime has already handed down death sentences to protesters.

The Biden administration is undoubtedly aware that this is a regime known for committing the 1988 massacre, in which it secretly carried out the mass execution of thousands of imprisoned dissidents and opposition activists, dumping the victims' bodies in unmarked mass graves. Ultimately, an estimated 30,000 people were killed in that slaughter. The human rights group Amnesty International released a comprehensive 200-page report on it. The victims, according to the report, "were mostly young men and women, some just teenagers, unjustly imprisoned because of their political opinions and non-violent political activities."

Will the Biden administration ever stop appeasing the regime of Iran, called by the US Department of State "the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism"?

Will the Biden administration ever start standing with Iranian -- and Chinese, Brazilian and Venezuelan -- men and women asking only for what we purport to care about -- liberty and freedom -- but who suffer brutality and suppression from their own governments?

• Follow Majid Rafizadeh on Twitter

 
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19176/iran-brutal-crackdown

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

China Operating Illegal Police Stations Worldwide - Judith Bergman

 

by Judith Bergman

Beijing, not surprisingly, has denied all wrongdoing.

• China has set up at least 54 overseas police stations in 30 countries, including in the United States (New York), Canada, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Argentina and Nigeria, according to a recent report from Safeguard Defenders, a human rights NGO.

• The police stations are part of China's campaign to "persuade" Chinese citizens suspected of criminal acts – particularly telecommunications fraud, but also political "crimes" such as political dissent – to return to China to face criminal prosecution. China not only threatens the Chinese citizens themselves but also members of their families who have stayed behind in China. Such threats have been continuing for years, as FBI Director Christopher Wray pointed out in 2020, when he mentioned a case from the US in which a Chinese government "emissary" visited a target in the US and told him that he could choose between returning to China or committing suicide.

• China's overseas police stations purport merely to have administrative or consular functions, but function as means of threatening Chinese abroad to return to China, thereby skipping the necessary legal requirements under international law.

• Crucially, the police stations operate without the consent and knowledge of the host countries, such as in the Netherlands, where one of the police stations operates out of a plain ground-floor apartment in Rotterdam belonging to a small Chinese handyman business.

• Beijing, not surprisingly, has denied all wrongdoing. "The organizations you mentioned are not police stations or police service centers," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian Zhao insisted. "Their activities are to assist local Chinese citizens who need to apply for expired driver's license renewal online...."

• Safeguard Defenders has appealed to countries to take swift action against the police stations.

• "Action needs also be taken to protect a quickly growing Chinese diaspora in the target countries, unless the latter are content with having a foreign government police minority groups on their territory, often to the intentional detriment of the target country and its policies, and aimed at intimidating the diaspora into obedience to the CCP anywhere in the world. Dedicated reporting and protection mechanisms must urgently be made available." – Safeguard Defenders, January 18, 2022.

(Image source: iStock)

China has set up at least 54 overseas police stations in 30 countries, including in the United States (New York), Canada, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Argentina and Nigeria, according to a recent report from Safeguard Defenders, a human rights NGO. Most of these police stations are located in Europe, with nine such police stations in major Spanish cities, four in Italy, and three in Paris, among others.

According to Peter Dahlin, director of Safeguard Defenders, those are just the tip of the iceberg:

"We are convinced that there are many more, because these only belong to two jurisdictions – Fuzhou and Qingtian, where most of the Chinese in Spain come from – and China itself admits that it has launched the project in ten. So it could be up to five times more."

The police stations are part of China's campaign to "persuade" Chinese citizens suspected of criminal acts – particularly telecommunications fraud, but also political "crimes" such as political dissent – to return to China to face criminal prosecution. China not only threatens the Chinese citizens themselves but also members of their families who have stayed behind in China. Such threats have been continuing for years, as FBI Director Christopher Wray pointed out in 2020, when he mentioned a case from the US in which a Chinese government "emissary" visited a target in the US and told him that he could choose between returning to China or committing suicide.

On August 17, China's Ministry of Public Security stated:

"The number of cross-border telecom fraud cases targeting Chinese residents has been significantly decreased in China, with 230,000 telecom fraud suspects being educated and persuaded to return to China from overseas to confess crimes from April 2021 to July 2022..."

"Official guidelines explicitly outline the different tools made available to 'persuade' the targets to voluntarily return to China to face charges," Safeguard Defenders wrote.

"These include targeting the purported suspects' children in China, denying them the right to education, as well as targeting family members and relatives in a similar fashion. In short, a full-on 'guilt by association' punishment to 'encourage' suspects to return from abroad."

China's overseas police stations purport merely to have administrative or consular functions, but function as means of threatening Chinese abroad to return to China, thereby skipping the necessary legal requirements under international law. According to Safeguard Defenders:

"These methods allow the CCP and their security organs to circumvent normal bilateral mechanisms of police and judicial cooperation, thereby severely undermining the international rule of law and territorial integrity of the third countries involved... In eschewing regular cooperation mechanisms, the CCP manages to avoid the growing scrutiny of its human rights record and the ensuing difficulties faced in obtaining the return of 'fugitives' through legal proceedings such as formal extradition requests. It leaves legal Chinese residents abroad fully exposed to extra-legal targeting by the Chinese police, with little to none of the protection theoretically ensured under both national and international law...

"Openly labeled as overseas police service stations... for example in renewing Chinese driver's licenses remotely and other tasks traditionally considered of a consular nature... [the stations] also serve a more sinister goal as they contribute to 'resolutely cracking down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving overseas Chinese.'"

The police stations are obviously also used to target Chinese abroad who disagree with the regime.

"One of the aims of these campaigns, obviously, as it is to crack down on dissent, is to silence people," Laura Harth, a campaign director with Safeguard Defenders said. "So people are afraid. People that are being targeted, that have family members back in China, are afraid to speak out."

Crucially, the police stations operate without the consent and knowledge of the host countries, such as in the Netherlands, where one of the police stations operates out of a plain ground-floor apartment in Rotterdam belonging to a small Chinese handyman business. Several countries, such as Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Portugal and Spain, are now investigating the matter and some have already demanded the closure of the Chinese overseas police stations on their soil.

"[We] have asked the Chinese ambassador for full clarification on the so-called police service stations carrying out tasks in the Netherlands on behalf of the Chinese government," Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra wrote on Twitter.

"As no permission was sought from the Netherlands for this, the ministry has informed the ambassador that the stations must close immediately. In addition, the Netherlands itself is also investigating the stations to find out their exact activities."

In the US, FBI Director FBI director Christopher Wray said that the FBI was investigating the matter.

"We are aware of the existence of these stations. To me, it is outrageous to think that the Chinese police would attempt to set up shop, you know, in New York, let's say, without proper coordination. It violates sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes."

Wray added that the FBI was "looking into the legal parameters," and stated that the FBI has opened charges related to Chinese government harassment, stalking, monitoring and blackmailing Chinese in the US who were critical of China's President Xi Jinping.

"It's a real problem and something that we're talking with our foreign partners about, as well, because we're not the only country where this has occurred."

Beijing, not surprisingly, has denied all wrongdoing. "The organizations you mentioned are not police stations or police service centers," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian Zhao insisted.

"Their activities are to assist local Chinese citizens who need to apply for expired driver's license renewal online, and activities related to physical examination services by providing the venue."

Nevertheless, the Spanish newspaper El Correo quoted an unnamed official from the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Shanghai, who reportedly acknowledged that the police stations abroad are part of how China operates:

"The bilateral treaties are very cumbersome, and Europe is reluctant to extradite to China. I do not see what is wrong with pressurizing criminals so that they are brought to justice."

Safeguard Defenders has appealed to countries to take swift action against the Chinese police stations.

"We call on Members of Parliament to raise this issue with their Governments: ask if and how this practice is being monitored; to what extent such operations take place in their country, and what measures are being formulated to counter them. Action needs also be taken to protect a quickly growing Chinese diaspora in the target countries, unless the latter are content with having a foreign government police minority groups on their territory, often to the intentional detriment of the target country and its policies, and aimed at intimidating the diaspora into obedience to the CCP anywhere in the world. Dedicated reporting and protection mechanisms must urgently be made available."

• Follow Judith Bergman on Twitter

 
Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19152/china-police-stations-worldwide

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Rising wokeness in medical schools is a problem for patients everywhere - John Mac Ghlionn

 

by John Mac Ghlionn

Hat tip: Dr. Jean-Charles Bensoussan 

According to the World Top 20 Project, an international organization that gathers educational data from more than 200 countries, the U.S. lags well behind countries like Finland, Denmark, and South Korea.

Contrary to popular belief, the United States is no longer home to the best education system in the world. According to the World Top 20 Project, an international organization that gathers educational data from more than 200 countries, the U.S. lags well behind countries like Finland, Denmark, and South Korea. From elementary schools to colleges and universities, the U.S. education system is in crisis. Academic standards have drastically slipped, with a woke madness gripping classrooms across the country. And no school is immune—not even the most prestigious medical schools in America. 

In September, Stanley Goldfarb, a UPenn medical school professor, warned Americans that “anti-racism” policies have lowered admission and teaching standards, corrupting the world of medicine. Instead of focusing on recruiting the “best and brightest,” Goldfarb argued that an increasing number of medical schools are more interested in picking students based on their skin color. The blame for these recent shifts should be laid at the feet of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.  

For the uninitiated, DEI focuses on building diverse workplaces and classrooms, on creating environments that are equitable and inclusive. To many, this sounds like progress. But on closer inspection, DEI is dangerous and unmeritocratic. Accidents of birth like race, sex, and ethnicity are the only things that matter in a world where DEI reigns supreme. As Goldfarb shows, these initiatives punish white and Asian applicants. Contrary to the ideology that underlies DEI, individual academic achievement and the ability to finance are the only things that should matter when applying for medical school.  

Of course, medical schools aren’t alone in their desire to eliminate certain groups from the academic equation. It’s one thing when a high-achieving individual is forbidden from entering a MBA program, but it’s quite another when he or she is prevented from entering a medical school. Medicine deals in matters of life and death, and a healthy country requires medical professionals of the highest standards. In other words, the “best” and the “brightest.” 

The push to make medical schools go woke is also creating a dangerous environment for professors. It has become common for students at top medical schools to berate tenured professors, forbidding them from using inoffensive, entirely logical terms like “pregnant woman” and “breastfeeding.” For those who laugh at such developments, just do a quick thought experiment: the people policing language today could be your doctor tomorrow. Not so funny now, is it? 

Fortunately, some doctors are working to halt and reverse the rise of wokeness in the field of medicine. Goldfarb is the chairman of Do No Harm, a national association of medical professionals dedicated to protecting the healthcare system from nefarious ideologies. According to its website, the organization is “united by a moral mission” to combat “radical, divisive, and discriminatory” agendas. The members have quite a task on their hands—as its website notes, 72 percent of top-ranked medical schools have injected woke ideology into their programs, which undoubtedly poses a grave threat to the country.  

I reached out to the people at Do No Harm for comment on the matter. Peter R. Robbio, Goldfarb’s colleague, told me that the organization is focused on fixing the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), a nonprofit that oversees the country’s academic medicine community. Robbio said that AAMC must be stopped from “injecting identity politics in the hiring process for medical school professors, requiring agreement with identity politics as a prerequisite for tenure, and making it part of the admission requirements for future doctors.” The AAMC, he continued, is only interested in “recruiting and creating activists,” not “great medical professionals.” He’s right. Take a look at AAMC’s first-ever report on “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Medical Schools,” which makes for a rather alarming read. The report, which has received very little coverage, clearly demonstrates “just how deep woke ideology has infected medical schools,” according to Robbio.  

Some highlights from AAMC’s report include: 

• Faculty Litmus Tests: 43 percent of medical schools “have promotion and tenure policies that specifically reward faculty scholarship and service on DEI topics.” 

• Political Advocacy: 75 percent “advocate for policies and/or legislation at a local, state, or federal level related to its diversity, inclusion, and equity mission.” 

• Affirmative Action: 100 percent “have admissions policies and practices for encouraging a diverse class of students (e.g., holistic admissions policy).” 

• Diversity over Merit in Faculty Hires: 67 percent “require departments/units to assemble a diverse pool of candidates for faculty positions.” 

• Wasting Money: 85 percent have “taken action to modify communications, branding, icons, or displays” to better reflect DEI goals, etc. 

• Politicized Leadership: 99 percent of “institutional leaders [are] active within local, regional, and national forums to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion.” 

• Doubling Down: 85 percent of “senior leaders used demographic data to promote change within the institution/ school.” 

As more medical schools hop on the diversity train, more Americans are in danger of putting their lives in the hands of ill-trained doctors. The country’s healthcare sector is already a hot mess. Reckless, unscientific, unmeritocratic initiatives are making things considerably worse. 

John Mac Ghlionn is a researcher and essayist. Twitter @ghlionn.

Source: https://americanmind.org/salvo/dei-in-the-er/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Turkish Delight: Depravity in Northern Cyprus - Abdullah Bozkurt

 

by Abdullah Bozkurt

The hotels, universities and casinos with their gambling, drug and sex businesses were designed to lure Turks as well as foreigners in entrapment schemes.

This is an abridged version of an article published originally under the title "Erdoğan and His Cronies Set to Turn Northern Cyprus into Lawless Country for Criminal Organizations."

Documents mentioned in this article are available in the original Nordic Monitor version.

Turkish President Erdoğan selected Metin Feyzioğlu, an anti-Western, neo-nationalist lawyer who has no experience in diplomacy, as the new envoy to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The appointment of a neo-nationalist figure as the ambassador of Turkey to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) is the latest in a series of events that indicate President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is bent on turning the breakaway region on the Mediterranean island into a "sin-city," where organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, gambling and sex trafficking networks can operate with impunity and no crackdown on their activities.

It is certainly not a random choice by Erdoğan, who selected Metin Feyzioğlu, an anti-West, neo-nationalist lawyer who has no experience in diplomacy, as the new envoy to the Turkish-controlled north of the divided island. There is a well-thought-out, sinister plot behind this considering Feyzioğlu has long been associated with the dark forces of the neo-nationalist (Ulusalcı) networks that like to operate beyond the realm of the law and were in the past incriminated in murders, plots and schemes that at times targeted non-Muslims in Turkey.

Feyzioğlu has a long track record with neo-nationalists, helped Erdoğan turn the judiciary into a political tool in 2014 and successfully campaigned for the release of notorious figures who plotted against the West and NATO interests in Turkey. He was one of the key people who empowered Erdoğan in his quest to consolidate control over all levers of the Turkish state. As a reward for his service, he was appointed Turkish ambassador to the KKTC on October 31, 2022, effectively making him a "governor" who will rule the KKTC, a self-declared state that is recognized only by Turkey.

Northern Cyprus, where Turkey maintains tens of thousands of troops, is already a lawless country for organized crime syndicates and mafia groups that were protected by their masters in Ankara. Such criminal enterprises have long operated there with impunity and at times do the bidding of Turkish intelligence agency MIT for various clandestine operations beyond Turkish borders.

The hotels, universities and casinos with their gambling, drug and sex businesses were designed to lure Turks as well as foreigners in entrapment schemes that would promote the secret agenda of those who wield power and influence behind the scenes in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

Erdoğan struck a bargain with these nefarious groups that were also nested within Turkish government institutions and purged veteran police chiefs and prosecutors who cracked down on them. Today, most neo-nationalists within these groups have been enlisted as willing partners who help Erdoğan govern Turkey as well as the breakaway KKTC.

The secret playbook on how the neo-nationalists use the KKTC for their goals was revealed in a court case back in 2011, when police in the western province of Izmir started investigating a complaint about a prostitution ring, only to find a sophisticated network of espionage, blackmail and extortion in honey trap schemes where sex with escort women was used to lure targets, develop assets and extract critical information.

As the investigation deepened, not only dozens of military officers but also intel agents, police, diplomats and other government officials were incriminated. The network also targeted officers from NATO member states including Americans who were posted at the NATO facility in Izmir.

One of the key documents seized from the suspects featured a detailed clandestine operation in the KKTC that provides a blueprint for how President Erdoğan and his nationalist/neo-nationalist associates have used the breakaway territory and continue to exploit the island to further their political goals.

It is worth remembering that many of those suspects in the 2011 case who were involved in running illegal KKTC operations were later rewarded by the Erdoğan government. The appointment of Feyzioğlu was simply the latest part of the puzzle that clarifies the picture for observers of Turkish politics. At the same time, it is also worrisome for those who have been watching the neo-nationalist and far-right nationalist groups and studying their game plans.

Therefore, it would not be wrong to predict that the KKTC will be used as a springboard to shore up support for the Erdoğan regime and his /nationalist neo-nationalist associates, break the resistance within the Turkish bureaucracy and opposition bloc and shape public opinion to obtain the desired outcome.

The seized plan for Cyprus gives a clear picture of what to expect. The plan was among a cache of documents discovered in an encrypted file named Pandora on a hard drive that was seized during the execution of a search and seizure warrant in the summer home of the main suspect, organized crime boss Bilgin Özkaynak, on May 9, 2012. The encryption was cracked by IT specialists who were authorized by the court, and the content of the file revealed the names of assets, operatives, marks and a huge archive of secret military and government documents obtained through honey-trap and other schemes.

The PowerPoint file, named KKTC Yapı.pptx, was prepared by Eray Ercan, then a lieutenant and now a colonel in the military. "Cyprus is a very important place for us. We can easily do everything we want here without being hindered by the police or the judiciary," the document concluded under a chapter titled "Cyprus Opportunities."

The document was submitted for review to former Col. Coşkun Başbuğ, code-named Coco, who was in military intelligence and started working as a deputy to Özkaynak after retirement. Ercan lay out the current operations in Cyprus, revealing the identities of their assets and making recommendations on how they can boost their capabilities.

Stating that drugs, illicit sex and alcohol were widespread in Cyprus, Ercan said the environment was ripe for operations that target prominent figures, bureaucrats, academics and rich people. He said nightclubs such as Playboy, Sexylady, Lipstick, Crazy & Kings, Yakamoz, and Mexico, where women trafficked from foreign countries work, were the most important venues for illicit sex. Drugs were also available at nightclubs and bars.

A VIP sex service was provided in hotels, with the document naming such places as Merit, Cratos, Jasmine Court and GoldenTulip as hotels where the neo-nationalist group had its own escort team that worked on targets. Gambling is also another draw in hotels, and nearly all officers in the Turkish military garrison on the island gamble even though military regulations prohibit such activity.

According to the document, a similar sex ring also existed in universities, especially Girne American University and Near East University.

The entire operation on the island was run by Col. Fikret Haluk Vergül, who oversaw teams that worked at nightclubs, hotels and universities. Under him, a special VIP escort team was managed by Col. Birol Kahraman. Vergül was forced to retire from the military in 2014 and subsequently starting working in the private sector. Escort teams at universities were managed by Col. Reşat Timuçin Özkan, who provided special services for clients who wanted to have sex with underage girls. Escort teams at nightclubs were run by Col. Kahraman.

Abdullah Bozkurt, a Middle East Forum Writing Fellow, is a Swedish-based investigative journalist and analyst who runs the Nordic Research and Monitoring Network and is chairman of the Stockholm Center for Freedom.

Source: https://www.meforum.org/63845/turkish-delight-depravity-in-northern-cyprus

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

As 71% in poll say Maricopa County issues tipped Senate race, judge sanctions Kari Lake lawyers - Natalia Mittelstadt

 

by Natalia Mittelstadt

"It is very very rare to sanction a party in public interest suits," Kari Lake's campaign said in a statement.

 

Even as a new poll finds a whopping majority of likely voters believe Election Day problems in Maricopa County likely swayed the outcome of the Senate election in Arizona, a federal judge imposed rare sanctions against attorneys representing GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake in her legal challenge to the county's administration of the 2022 election.

A recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that 71% of likely U.S. voters "believe it's Likely — including 40% who say it's Very Likely — that problems with the election in Maricopa County affected the outcome of the Senate election in Arizona." Among Republicans, 52% said "very likely," and 27% said "somewhat likely." Meanwhile, 23% of Democrats said "very likely," while 42% said "somewhat likely."

Majorities of Democrats and Liberals see the recent @maricopacounty problems much like other voters across America. This is no surprise. @DougDucey @katiehobbs @KariLake @kelliwardaz @RealMarkFinchem @GeneralBrnovich @bgmasters @AbrahamHamadeh @Adrian_Fontes @stephen_richer https://t.co/VZibzrIfDA pic.twitter.com/oSsCFmWCAt

— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) November 30, 2022

A total of 23% of voters do not believe it's likely that the issues in Maricopa County affected the election.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly defeated GOP Senate nominee Blake Masters 51% to 47%.

Following widespread reports of malfunctioning election machines, repeatedly rejected votes and hours-long wait times at polling centers in Maricopa County, Lake said the election was "botched and broken beyond repair."

"This isn't about Republicans or Democrats," Lake said in a statement. "This is about our sacred right to vote, a right that many voters were, sadly, deprived of on November 8th."

According to the Rasmussen Reports survey, 72% of likely voters agree with Lake's statement, while only 18% disagree. Among Republicans, 60% strongly agree and 18% somewhat agree with Lake's statement, while Democrats were more evenly split, with 35% strongly agreeing and 34% somewhat agreeing.

Lake, the consistent leader in preelection opinion polling, lost the Arizona gubernatorial election by less than 17,000 votes, or less than 0.7%.

The survey was conducted on Nov. 27-28 of 750 likely U.S. voters.

In a related legal ruling on Thursday, an Obama-appointed judge ordered sanctions against Lake's lawyers for the "baseless" lawsuit filed by Lake and Arizona GOP Secretary of State nominee state Rep. Mark Finchem against Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. Alleging there were issues with the election machines in the county in the August primary, the complaint sought the use of paper ballots for the 2022 general election instead.

After ruling for the defendants on Aug. 26, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi slapped plaintiffs' counsel with sanctions, opining in scalding language "that Plaintiffs made false, misleading, and unsupported factual assertions in their [first Amended Complaint] and [Motion for Preliminary Injunction] and that their claims for relief did not have an adequate factual or legal basis grounded in a reasonable pre-filing inquiry."

The sanctions require the lawyers to pay the Maricopa County defendants' attorneys' fees. The defendants are to file with the court the amount for attorneys' fees, and the plaintiffs will then be allowed to respond.

The lawyers "acted at least recklessly in unreasonably and vexatiously multiplying the proceedings by seeking a preliminary injunction based on Plaintiffs' frivolous claims," the judge charged.

In explaining his rationale for his harsh action, the judge acknowledged he hoped to deflect scrutiny of election irregularities and deter efforts to seek transparency through the courts. 

"Imposing sanctions in this case is not to ignore the importance of putting in place procedures to ensure that our elections are secure and reliable," Tuchi said. "It is to make clear that the Court will not condone litigants ignoring the steps that Arizona has already taken toward this end and furthering false narratives that baselessly undermine public trust at a time of increasing disinformation about, and distrust in, the democratic process. It is to send a message to those who might file similarly baseless suits in the future."

"This case is not about money or gain," the Lake campaign responded in a statement to The Arizona Sun Times. "It was essentially a public interest lawsuit seeking electoral integrity. It is very very rare to sanction a party in public interest suits. All in all this reads like an angry Obama appointee who wants to send a message. The message is if you lose shut up and don’t come to court. The message is not that you lost a case or acted in bad faith."

The decision doesn't list the sanctioned attorneys, but Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Parker, and Kurt Olsen on Lake's legal team signed the opposition to Maricopa's request for sanctions.

"I have not challenged the results of any Arizona elections," Dershowitz told Law&Crime. "I have given legal advice about the future use of machine counting by companies that refuse to disclose the inner workings of their machines. I support transparency in elections."

At least 72 vote centers in Maricopa County experienced issues on Election Day, from ballots rejected by tabulators to improper checkout procedures and hours-long lines for voting, according to reporting by Republican election observers filed with the Arizona attorney general's office.

The attorney general's office raised concerns regarding the county's administration of the Nov. 8 election in a Nov. 19 letter to the Maricopa County Attorney inquiring into the widespread irregularities reported in the county on Election Day. The letter gave a deadline of Nov. 28 for the county to respond.

"The Elections Integrity Unit ('Unit') of the Arizona Attorney General's Office ('AGO') has received hundreds of complaints since Election Day pertaining to issues related to the administration of the 2022 General Election in Maricopa County," Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright wrote.

"These complaints go beyond pure speculation, but include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa's lawful compliance with Arizona election law," she said.

On Nov. 27, the county replied to the letter, saying that it followed the law on Election Day and the election problems were "regrettable." The county insisted, however, that "every lawful voter was still able to cast his or her ballot."

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted to certify its election on Monday, after listening to a flood of voter complaints regarding issues they experienced trying to vote on Election Day.

Cochise County was sued by Hobbs after its board of supervisors didn't certify the county's vote by the deadline for Arizona counties on Monday. On Thursday, a judge ruled that the county must certify by the end of the day, which the board of supervisors did.

There is currently a lawsuit against Hobbs and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to prevent state certification of the governor, U.S. Senate, attorney general and secretary of state elections.

Meanwhile, lawsuits brought by Lake and GOP attorney general nominee Abe Hamadeh cannot move forward until the state certifies the election.

 

Natalia Mittelstadt

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/judge-sanctions-lake-lawyers-71-voters-believe-maricopa-county-issues

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter