Our picksMichigan Kidnappers & Race War | The Conspiracy Election | Terrorists & Biological Warfare, and more

Published 2 November 2020

·  Accused Neo-Nazi Leader Had Manifesto, Wanted Race War, Prosecutors Say

·  Ahead of Election, Police Prepare for Violence and Disruption

·  The Conspiracy Election: How Americans Embraced the Russian Fake News Model

·  In a first, ICE Agents Are Poised to Respond to Potential Election Day Unrest

·  Islamic State Finds Biological Warfare Best Weapon amid Pandemic: Study

·  Is France Fueling Muslim Terrorism by Trying to Prevent It?

·  French Terror Attack: Sanctions Are Needed to Keep Islamic Terrorism at Bay

·  US Cyber Command Exposes New Russian Malware

·  The Inside Story of How Trump’s COVID-19 Coordinator Undermined the World’s Top Health Agency

·  The False Promise of Herd Immunity for COVID-19

Accused Neo-Nazi Leader Had Manifesto, Wanted Race War, Prosecutors Say (Robert Snell, Detroit News)
white supremacy group was granted bond Friday as state prosecutors portrayed his gang as a dwindling crew committed to inciting a race war in the United States.
Accused leader of the Base, Justen Watkins, 25, of Bad Axe, and associate Alfred Gorman, 35, of Taylor, represent the “last vestiges” of the neo-Nazi group that has been the target of repeated arrests and raids nationwide, Assistant Attorney General Sunita Doddamani said.
“These are the last vestiges of this group,” the prosecutor said. “Their goal is to create a race war and white ethnostate,” a nation open only to white people.

Ahead of Election, Police Prepare for Violence and Disruption(Neil MacFarquhar and Shaila Dewan, New York Times)
Many law enforcement officials have attempted to inject calm while warning of dire consequences for those who try to disrupt voting.

The Conspiracy Election: How Americans Embraced the Russian Fake News Model(Laurence Dodd, The Telegraph)
In 2016 it was foreign interference. But this time domestic disinformation poses a greater threat to American democracy

In a first, ICE Agents Are Poised to Respond to Potential Election Day Unrest(Julia Ainsley, NBC News)
The officers are among other Department of Homeland Security agents who have been told to be ready to deploy to protect federal property in Washington.

Islamic State Finds Biological Warfare Best Weapon amid Pandemic: Study(Sentinel)
The Islamic State and Al-Qaeda propagandists instead of blaming Western or Chinese powers for creating and spreading

Is France Fueling Muslim Terrorism by Trying to Prevent It?(Vincent Geisser, New York Times)
Emmanuel Macron’s government may unwittingly be breeding the kind of communalism it wants to ward off.

French Terror Attack: Sanctions Are Needed to Keep Islamic Terrorism at Bay(Jonathan Michanie, National Interest)
The terrible response by several Middle East leaders to the terror attacks in France requires a firm response.

US Cyber Command Exposes New Russian Malware(Catalin Cimpanu, ZDNet)
Together with CISA and the FBI, US Cyber Command wish Russian state hackers a “Happy Halloween!”

The Inside Story of How Trump’s COVID-19 Coordinator Undermined the World’s Top Health Agency(Charles Piller, Science)
When Deborah Birx, a physician with a background in HIV/AIDS research, was named coordinator of the task force in February, she was widely praised as a tough, indefatigable manager and a voice of data-driven reason. But some of her actions have undermined the effectiveness of the world’s preeminent public health agency, according to a Science investigation. Interviews with nine current CDC employees, several of them senior agency leaders, and 20 former agency leaders and public health experts—as well as a review of more than 100 official emails, memos, and other documents—suggest Birx’s hospital data takeover fits a pattern in which she opposed CDC guidance, sometimes promoting President Donald Trump’s policies or views against scientific consensus.
The agency’s loss of control over hospital data is emblematic of its decline in nine short months. Since the pandemic began, CDC has foundered. It has committed unforced errors, such as shipping out faulty coronavirus tests, and has been squelched or ignored amid continual political interference.
CDC employees with whom Science spoke—who requested anonymity because they fear retaliation—along with other public health leaders, say Birx’s actions, abetted by a chaotic White House command structure and weak leadership from CDC Director Robert Redfield, have contributed to what amounts to an existential crisis for the agency. And her disrespect for CDC has sent morale plummeting, senior officials say. During a May task force meeting, The Washington Post reported, Birx said: “There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust.”

The False Promise of Herd Immunity for COVID-19(Christie Aschwanden, Nature)
Why proposals to largely let the virus run its course — embraced by Donald Trump’s administration and others — could bring “untold death and suffering”.