Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
December 18, 2020
Good morning
Thank you to all of you who so generously donated to my fundraising campaign. It is greatly appreciated. But to be blunt, the campaign has not raised the amount that I had hoped for. I know that the pandemic has harmed many of you financially, and I understand that some simply cannot contribute. But if you are able to help with even a small amount, especially if you have not donated before, please go to the GoFundMe page here and contribute, or you can give via PayPal. It is an enormous help. Thanks again, and have a nice weekend. Keith
Leading the News . . .
Russian hack looks more and more grave . . . A massive suspected Russian cyber campaign is being called the biggest breach in American history and a 'grave threat' to the government and private companies, with the Senate's No. 2 Democrat demanding a 'response in kind.' The sprawling attack, which targeted critical government infrastructure using a Trojan horse hidden in network management software from SolarWinds Corp, also compromised broad
swathes of the private sector, including Microsoft and likely most of the Fortune 500, it emerged on Thursday. Officials say the attack went undetected for nearly nine months, allowing the hackers free range in the affected networks, including at the Pentagon, FBI, Treasury, State Department and nuclear security agencies, and that the true scale of the stolen information may never be known. Daily Mail
Attack suggests surprising sophistication . . . The suspected Russian hack that compromised parts of the U.S. government was executed with a scope and sophistication that has surprised even veteran security experts and exposed a potentially critical vulnerability in America’s technology infrastructure, according to investigators.] Security specialists are uncovering new evidence that indicates the operation is part of a broader, previously
undetected cyber espionage campaign that may stretch back years. The attack blended extraordinarily stealthy tradecraft, using cyber tools never before seen in a previous attack, with a strategy that zeroed in on a weak link in the software supply chain that all U.S. businesses and government institutions rely on—an approach security experts have long feared but one that has never been used on U.S. targets in such a concerted way. Wall Street Journal
Nuclear weapons agencies breached . . . The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected at least half a dozen federal agencies, officials directly familiar with the matter said. Politico
Moderna vaccine will provide critical help . . . Health officials across the U.S. are counting on the arrival of a second Covid-19 vaccine to boost scarce supplies and sidestep logistical issues encountered by the first vaccine, which began distribution this week. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration may issue an emergency authorization for a vaccine from Moderna as early as Friday after an advisory panel
recommended the agency approve its use. Moderna’s vaccine will join a vaccine from Pfizer that received authorization on Dec. 11. The green light would nearly double this month’s expected U.S. supply of Covid-19
vaccine doses and help meet a federal goal of getting a vaccine to anyone who wants one by the spring or summer of 2021. The Wall Street Journal
Fauci uncancels Christmas . . . White House coronavirus taskforce member Dr. Anthony Fauci responded Thursday to critics who have claimed he wants to "cancel Christmas" on account of the coronavirus pandemic. Fauci said he has never recommended that Americans completely scrap holiday gatherings, but rather exercise caution when it comes to who they get together with. "I’m not saying that everyone should cancel
the family gathering, I’m saying that people will need to make individual choices," Fauci said. Fox News
CNN's Don Lemon demands universal mask mandate . . . CNN host Don Lemon battled with colleague Chris Cuomo on what public health rules should be forced by the government in response to the coronavirus. "It's not 'you should wear a mask'. It should be mandated to wear a mask," Lemon said. Washington Examiner
Don Lemon himself does not need a mask since he usually has his foot in his mouth.
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Biden says Hunter tax investigation being "used to get me" . . . President-elect Joe Biden said he suspects a political agenda is the driving force behind accusations surrounding the federal tax investigation into his son Hunter. "We have great confidence in our son. I'm not
concerned about any accusations that have been made against him. It's used to get to me. I think it's kind of foul play, but look, it is what it is," the incoming president told CBS's The Late Show on Thursday.
Biden added, "And he's a grown man. He is the smartest man I know, I mean, in pure intellectual capacity. As long as he's good, we're good." Washington Examiner
I imagine such protestations will be accepted by the same media that never believed Trump when he said the the Russia investigation was being used to destroy him.
Today's Trump Schedule
Radicals may not steer agenda even if Republicans lose Georgia seats . . . Georgia’s Republican senators warned of a "radical liberal" Congress controlled by the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders if they lose their seats. But the
Democratic Party’s moderate flank would be well-positioned to rain on the progressive parade. West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin ranked the 53rd most "politically right" senator overall and first among Democrats, according to GovTrack’s record of his voting from the 115th Congress. He ranked further to the right than three GOP senators -- Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Fox News
Trump blasts McCain for leaking dossier to Carl Bernstein . . . President Donald Trump has vented his fury at late Senator John McCain, following the release of newly declassified text messages from former FBI agent Peter Strzok indicating that McCain leaked the
infamous 'dirty dossier' to legendary journalist Carl Bernstein.
'Check out last in his class John McCain, one of the most overrated people in D.C.' Trump tweeted late on Wednesday of the Arizona Republican who died
of brain cancer in 2018, linking to a report on the new messages. Daily Mail
Michael Flynn calls for Trump to invoke martial law . . . Former national security adviser General Michael Flynn has doubled down on his calls for President Donald Trump to use the military to force an election 'rerun' in battleground states - saying such
action is 'not unprecedented'. 'There is no way in the world we are going to be able to move forward as a nation. [Trump] could immediately, on his order, seize every single one of these [voting] machines,' Flynn said in apparent reference to the conspiracy theory that voting software flipped Trump votes for Biden. Daily Mail
Biden Interior nominee smeared Covington students . . . Biden announced he will nominate a New Mexico Democrat who smeared students from Covington Catholic High School last year to lead the Department of the Interior. Rep. Deb Haaland (D., N.M.), a freshman congresswoman and one of two Native-American women in Congress, accused the high school students of "hate" and "intolerance" in January 2019 after a selectively edited
video clip of an encounter between pro-life student activists and counterprotesters in Washington, D.C., went viral. Washington Free Beacon
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Iran begins construction of new underground nuclear facility . . . Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained Friday by The Associated Press show.
Iran has not publicly acknowledged any new construction at Fordo, whose discovery by the West in 2009 came in an earlier round of brinkmanship before world powers struck the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. Associated Press
House Dems strip China provisions from Defense bill . . . House Democrats stripped down an anti-China bill that unanimously passed in the Senate by removing language reining in Chinese government influence on U.S. campuses. The Senate's National Defense Authorization Act included a provision that authorized
the Department of Education to withhold funding from U.S. universities that host Chinese government-backed Confucius Institutes on campus. House Democrats removed the measure from the final version of the bill following negotiations. Washington Free Beacon
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Kidnapped Nigerian schoolboys freed . . . More than 300 Nigerian schoolboys, freed after being kidnapped last week in an attack on their school, have arrived in the capital of Katsina state to celebrations of their release. The boys were abducted on the night of Dec. 11 from the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara village in Katsina state in northwestern Nigeria. Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadist rebels claimed
responsibility for the abduction. Leader Abubakar Shekau said they attacked the school because they believe Western education is un-Islamic. Associated Press
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Corporations profit while small businesses suffer under pandemic . . . As the coronavirus pandemic devastated small businesses and plunged millions of Americans into poverty this summer and fall, executives at some of the country’s largest corporations sounded surprisingly upbeat. “These are times when the strong can get stronger,” Nike chief John Donahoe told analysts in September. A Post analysis found 45 of the 50
biggest U.S. companies turned a profit since March. The majority of firms cut staff and gave the bulk of profits to shareholders. Washington Post
Thirty states file suit demanding breakup of Google . . . More than 30 states filed an antitrust suit against Google on Thursday that demands a breakup of the search giant, accusing it of abusing its control over online search to squeeze out competitors and make inroads into new markets such as home speakers. The suit — the third major antitrust complaint against Google since late October, and the second in two days — adds to the mounting effort by
multiple governments to rein in the world’s biggest tech companies. Politico
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ATF decision could lead to new gun registrations, turn-in efforts . . . New guidance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) could put millions of Americans in legal jeopardy.
The ATF published a notice Thursday that could require millions of AR-15 pistols and similar firearms—which are designed with braces that strap on to a shooter's forearm—to be either registered, turned in, destroyed, or dismantled. But the standards laid out for determining the devices' legality, such as caliber or weight,
provide no objective measures, and the agency said it may also use undisclosed factors to judge the legality of the devices. Washington Free Beacon
Hillsong church rife with inappropriate sex . . . Hillsong staffers used the church like a seedy dating service, “sleeping around” with volunteers and asking them to send nude pictures — according to a group of volunteers who allegedly complained about the situation. The whistleblowers also claimed the organization — which has been rocked by recent revelations that its former leader, Carl Lentz, had multiple tawdry affairs— was “a breeding
ground for unchecked abuse.” In 2018 a group of former “high-level” volunteers — and one who was still a volunteer at the time — sent a letter to the trendy ministry’s leaders warning of “verified, widely circulated stories of inappropriate sexual behavior amongst staff/interns.” New York Post
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Chinese "iron crotch" kung fu masters fight to preserve tradition . . . Wang Liutai is no ordinary kung fu master. The 65-year-old from a village in central China practices a unique and excruciating-looking strand of martial arts coined “iron crotch kung fu”. Its most famous technique involves a steel-plate capped log, 2 metres in length and weighing 88 pounds that swings through the air and smashes into a man’s crotch. “When you
practice iron crotch kung fu, as long as you push yourself, you will feel great,” said Wang, head of the Juntun Martial Arts Academy. Reuters
Seems like there are probably other ways to get in shape.
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Have a great day.
Keith
Keith Koffler
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