Thursday, December 17, 2020
What is it about Utah?
Mike Lee blocks legislation to create Smithsonian museums for Latinos and women
Sen. Mike Lee blocked bipartisan legislation Thursday that would establish national museums dedicated to the histories of Latino Americans and American women, arguing the museums would create further division.
In an exchange with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who sought to pass the National Museum of the American Latino Act by voice vote, Lee said that the history of Latino Americans and women should be a part of the National Museum of American History, rather than in a separate museum.
“The last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation within an array of separate but equal museums of hyphenated identity groups,” Lee said. “At this moment, in the history of our diverse nation, we need our federal government and the Smithsonian Institution itself to pull us closer together and not further apart.”
Menendez shot back at Lee, saying that he was standing “in the way of the hopes and dreams and aspirations of seeing Americans of Latino descent having their dreams fulfilled and recognized.”
“I don’t know if these arguments were made against the Native Americans. I don’t know if these arguments were made against African Americans, but I don’t see them as being separate and apart,” Menendez said. “I see them as part of the collective history mosaic that is coming together under the Smithsonian.”
But Lee again blocked the measure. . .
The Utah Republican said that while “all racial, ethnic, religious groups in America are worthy of celebration, even to the extent of having their own museums,” he argued that in “many instances” those museums do not take federal dollars.
“There is a brand that comes along with the Smithsonian Institution and a lot of money that’s taken from the American people in the form of tax revenue,” Lee said. “And so as a result of that, the Smithsonian Institution has a unique role.”
Collins described Lee’s actions as a “sad moment.”
“I had hoped that we could proceed with both of these bills and pass them before the end of this year,” Collins said. “Surely in a year where we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, this is the time. ... I regret that that will not occur this evening, but we will not give up the fight.”
MAKING THEIR OWN NEWS IN THE TIMES OF COVID-19 EPIDEMIC CRISIS...By doing what???
For details regarding safety protocols and guidelines at other City of Mesa facilities, please visit mesaaz.gov/coronavirus.
Contact: Casey Blake
Mayor's Office
casey.blake@mesaaz.gov
480-644-6620
City of Mesa mandates strict compliance and enhanced safety protocols on sports tournaments
December 15, 2020 at 3:59 pmWith COVID-19 cases on the rise in Arizona and healthcare facilities reaching capacity, the City of Mesa worked with hospitality, visitor and sports industry leaders on a public health strategy that places new requirements on sports tournaments.
MINUTES: DESIGN REVIEW BOARD MEETING Tue 12.15.2020 @ 4:30 PM
1 Call meeting to order. Chair Carter called meeting to order at 4:31 PM
2 Approval of minutes from the November 10, 2020 Design Review Board Work Session.
2-a November 10, 2020 Design Review Board meeting minutes It's 18 pages long!
Tuesday, November 10, 2020 Virtual Platform 57 East 1st Street 4:30 PM
A work session of the Design Review Board was held by Virtual Platform at 4:30 p.m
| File #: | DSN 20050 |
| Type: | DSN Minutes | Status: | Agenda Ready |
| In control: | Design Review Board |
| On agenda: | 12/15/2020 |
| Title: | November 10, 2020 Design Review Board meeting minutes. |
| Attachments: | 1. 11.10.2020 DRB Minutes Final |
3Presentation and discussion about the role of the Design Review Board.
3-a Presentation about the role of the Design Review Board 18 Slides
Nana Appiah, PhD., AICP
Design Review Board (Mesa Code of Ordinance, Title 2)
Composition: Seven members appointed by the Mayor with City Council’s approval
Qualifications: Two architects Two other design professionals (i.e. planning, landscape architecture, interior design, etc.) One contractor Two Mesa citizens
| File #: | DSN 20057 |
| Type: | DSN Presentation | Status: | Agenda Ready |
| In control: | Design Review Board |
| On agenda: | 12/15/2020 |
| Title: | Presentation about the role of the Design Review Board. |
| Attachments: | 1. Presentation |
Receive an update and discuss the status of the City's Historic Design Guidelines and Zoning Ordinance Update with the project consultant.
4
4-a Historic Design Guidelines and Zoning Ordinance Update.
Discuss and provide direction on the following Preliminary Design Review cases:*
5
5-a DRB20-00575 District 3. Within the 1300 block of South Gilbert Road (east side). Located south of Southern Avenue on the east side of Gilbert Road. (1.23± acres). Requesting the review of a restaurant with a drive-thru. Edin Coralic, Coralic Architecture, applicant; Global New Millennium Partners Ltd, owner.
Staff Planner: Wahid Alam 5-b DRB20-00654 District 6. Within the 7200 through 7500 blocks of East Ray Road (south side). Located east of Power Road on the south side of Ray Road. (11.7± acres). Requesting the review of an industrial development. Wesley Balmer, Applicant; GTCC Ventures LLC, Owner
Staff Planner: Ryan McCann 5-c DRB20-00685 District 3. Within 2000 to 2300 blocks of West Southern Avenue (South side) and within the 1200 to 1600 blocks of South Dobson Road (West side). Located west of Dobson Road and south of Southern Avenue. (76± acres). Requesting the review of an addition to an existing medical campus. Tracy Lauer, Applicant; Banner Health System, Owner.
Staff Planner: Ryan McCann
Page 1City of Mesa
December 15, 2020Design Review Board Meeting Minutes
5-d DRB20-00697 District 3. Within the 100 block of South Dobson Road (west side). Located south of Main Street on the west side of Dobson Road. (2.5± acres). Requesting the review of a multi-tenant commercial building. Rick Daugherty, 3rd Story Architecture; WJC LLC, owner. (Continue to the January 12, 2021 meeting)
Staff Planner: Cassidy Welch 5-e DRB20-00703 District 6. Within the 4800 to 5000 blocks of South Ellsworth Road (west side). Located on the west side of Ellsworth Road north of Ray Road. (46.5± acres). Requesting the review of an industrial development. Glenn Hurd, Applicant; Sunbelt Land Holdings LP, owner
Staff Planner: Evan Balmer 5-f DRB20-00707 District 1. Within the 1100 block of North Dobson Road (east side). Located north of Rio Salado Parkway on the east side of Dobson. (1± acres). Requesting the review of a restaurant with a drive-thru. Steven Albrecht, PM Design Inc., applicant; Sachs Ranch Co. LLC/Hurley Land Co. LLC, owner. (Continue to the January 12, 2021 meeting)
Staff Planner: Kellie Rorex
7Planning Director Update:
7-aOngoing Projects.
8Adjournment.
Approved (Vote: 6-0 Boardmember Placko left the meeting at 5:37 PM)
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Pseudo Patriots 'Amistad Project' (Now Calling Itself An Election Integrity Watchdog) Unleashes Another Barrage
Amistad Project Releases Report on Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Dark Money’ in 2020 Elections
The Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society released a report Wednesday documenting the effect of donations by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to private-public partnerships that turned out the vote in key Democratic counties in 2020.
The report, titled “The Legitimacy and Effect of Private Funding in Federal and State Election Processes,” alleges that when Zuckerberg gave money to government institutions to assist with elections during the coronavirus pandemic, the donations were targeted at Democrat-heavy areas in swing states with the specific purpose of tilting the election to Joe Biden.
The report, according to Amistad Project director Phil Kline, documented the use of “more than one half of a billion dollars, more than the federal government expended [$400 million] in the CARES Act, to fund the election during the COVID crisis.
“This, effectively, is a shadow government running our elections,” he added. “A half a billion dollars into the hands of state and local officials who, in turn, allowed those private organizations, and private interests, to have access to sensitive and private information of American citizens that was of value to political parties, and monetized for interests on the left.”
Kline said that Zuckerberg’s money had encouraged states to violate their own laws, and act contrary to federal law, in turning out specific groups of voters and suppressing turnout among other groups of voters, violating the Constitution . . .
The lawsuit, based on a report authored by the organization, will claim that Zuckerberg used $500 million of “dark money” to unlawfully tip the scales in battleground states that Democrat Joe Biden won by narrow margins, said Mark Serrano, a Trump 2020 campaign adviser who runs a communications firm that handles media relations for the Amistad Project. The lawsuit is expected to be filed by today in the District Court for the District of Columbia and will cover alleged election irregularities that took place in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia.
NEW lawsuit will be filed against Zuckerberg dark money that enabled the fraud in key states.@PhillDKline@ThomasMoreSocpic.twitter.com/yuTN2ilufb
— TheSharpEdge (@TheSharpEdge1) December 16, 2020
According to Serrano, the legal complaint takes aim at “the ecosystem” that caused “fraud on a massive level to take place” during the 2020 contest. He accused Zuckerberg of using his vast financial resources and influence to undermine the presidential election in the months leading up to, and continuing after, November 3.
A billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, was allowed in the counting room because he funded it, and the American people were kicked out.
The lawsuit announcement coincided with the release of a report by the Amistad Project which outlines how Zuckerberg allegedly used private funding to “improperly” influence the election outcome.
BIG TECH.💻🚨"Funded by HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars from FACEBOOK founder Mark Zuckerberg & other high-tech interests, activist orgs. created a two-tiered election system..."This is "contrary to both federal law & state election plans" according to SCATHING new report.🔻 pic.twitter.com/jDGmeqgd3g
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) December 16, 2020
Joe Biden was declared president-elect by the Electoral College on Monday, but US President Donald Trump and his allies continue to argue that the Democrats’ victory is illegitimate due to large-scale fraud. "
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Want some more ?? 
". . .According to the Amistad Project, a research report shows that “the December 8 ‘safe harbor’ deadline for appointing presidential Electors does not apply to states where flagrant violations of state election laws affected the outcome of the popular vote. In fact, the only Constitutionally-set date in the election process is the assumption of office by the President on January 20.
. . .The research paper cited by Amistad examined the history of the Electoral College deadlines. These dates are “not only elements of a 72-year old federal statute with zero Constitutional basis, but are also actively preventing the states from fulfilling their constitutional—and ethical—obligation to hold free and fair elections,” the group said in the release.
“Experts believe that the primary basis for these dates was to provide enough time to affect the presidential transition of power, a concern which is fully obsolete in the age of internet and air travel,” their news release added.
. . .“Through rigorous investigations supporting our litigation, we demonstrate that state and local officials brazenly violated election laws in several swing states in order to advance a partisan political agenda,” stated Phill Kline, the head of the Amistad Project. “As a result, it is impossible for those states to determine their presidential Electors in line with the arbitrary deadline set forth via federal statute in 1948, and thus, the only deadline that matters is January 20, 2021.”
Their news release posited that the Constitution places the plenary authority in designating electors to legislatures. As a result, the elected representatives should “judge the relevant facts and appoint an appropriate slate of Electors, subject only to the sole deadline set forth in the U.S. Constitution.”
After the Electoral College votes, members of the House and Senate will read the votes during the Joint Session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. Inauguration Day is Jan. 20, 2021.
The group’s claim came after Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis lobbied the state legislatures in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to assert their power to call up electors
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
HOLY SHIT HOW BAD IS THIS Part 2: Anyone Could Access SolarWinds' Password "solarwinds123"
Here's the "OMFG are you goddamn kidding me" news via Reuters, which first broke the news of the malicious hacking.
Security researcher Vinoth Kumar told Reuters that, last year, he alerted the company that anyone could access SolarWinds’ update server by using the password “solarwinds123”.
All five branches of the military. The NSA. The IRS. The USPS. DHS. The Treasury Department. Nearly every Fortune 500 company. All ten of the top ten telcos. The list goes on and on. And with this access, attackers could move laterally, using compromised credentials to eavesdrop on mutuals of targeted entities.
And all of this "secured" by a password so simple an idiot could have created it.
We're fucked. And we're fucked by people making far more money than we are who take our security far less seriously than we do. Say what you will about the security ambivalence of the general public, but it's the "experts" who endanger us with lax security measures who do the most damage . . ."
Filed Under: dhs, hackers, infrastructure, passwords, security
Companies: solarwinds
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Security Researcher Reveals Solarwinds' Update Server Was 'Secured' With The Password 'solarwinds123'
from the [checks-luggage-combination] dept
"As was noted here earlier, up to 18,000 customers of globally-dominant network infrastructure vendor SolarWinds may have been compromised by malicious hackers. The hackers -- presumed to be operating on behalf of the Russian government -- deployed tainted updates (served up by SolarWinds) that gave them backdoors to snoop on internal communications and exfiltrate sensitive data.
The attack was so widespread and potentially catastrophic, the DHS's cyber wing issued an emergency directive that stated the only way to mitigate damage was to airgap devices and uninstall affected Orion software. Meanwhile, SolarWinds filed an update with the SEC detailing the extent of the damage. It was limited, but only if you consider 18-33,000 potential infections "limited." It's only a small percentage because Solarwinds's customer base is so large. The company boasts 300,000 customers, among them several government agencies and all five branches of the military. (It's not boasting much these days. It has memory-holed its "Customer" page during this trying time.)
Unfortunately, the directive from CISA was delivered a bit too late. CISA itself was compromised by the hack, something acknowledged by the DHS less than 24 hours after its dire directive was issued.
The fallout from this hacking -- which may have begun as early as March of this year -- will continue for a long, long time . . ."
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Flash News: Ukraine Intercepts Russian Kh-59 Cruise Missile Using US VAMPIRE Air Defense System Mounted on Boat. Ukrainian forces have made ...
