When I told my mum I was taking my younger sister to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she could barely contain her excitement.
Thirty years before we set foot in Goma, our mother arrived in the same city on a dusty Bedford truck that had carted a swag of lanky youths all the way from London. Back then, the DRC was called Zaire and civil war had yet to tear the region apart. Mum remembers Goma as being quite cosmopolitan.
A mountain gorilla in Virunga national park, north of Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photograph: Petrina Darrah
When my sister and I passed through, there were “no firearms” signs tacked to ATM booths. Virunga national park rangers stuck with us at all times. We weren’t allowed to walk alone. My sister had never travelled outside New Zealand or Europe.
It might seem reckless, visiting a country considered so risky for foreigners. Most travel insurance policies refuse to cover it. But we were dogged in our pursuit of reaching the peak of the Nyiragongo volcano our mother had climbed decades earlier.
Selections from the photo album of Darrah’s mother’s travels – the middle-right image shows her standing on top of Nyiragongo volcano. Photograph: Petrina Darrah
I didn’t always plan to retrace my mother’s travels around the world. Yet some quirk of nature or nurture has landed me in many of the same places she journeyed through, back before she was anyone’s mother.
Shrugging in the face of convention, Mum spent the late 70s and early 80s pursuing a series of adventures that became steadily more outlandish. At 20, she worked in Greece as a groom in a stable of Arabian stallions. She lived on a kibbutz in Israel. There she met a man and travelled with him to the United States.
They hitchhiked from a ranch in Wyoming to California, catching rides with young men who had driven three states away from home for the hell of it. They slept under bridges and on beaches and, camped alongside Vietnam vets who were trying to outrun themselves. She drew the line at jumping on to trains.
Eventually, Mum hitchhiked all the way down to the Pacific coast of Mexico. Later, she backpacked solo through Indonesia, guided by a well-thumbed 1982 copy of Lonely Planet Southeast Asia on a Shoestring, which still sits on her bookshelf. She went to New Zealand to hike. She ended up getting married instead.
Mum travelled because of the stories told by her Jamaican born and raised father. She grew up in rural England listening to his memories of custard apples and alligators on a hot and humid island far away.
Petrina Darrah and her sister at Virunga national park. Photograph: Petrina Darrah
Similarly, when I was young, I pored over sepia-toned photographs of my mother as a young woman, with a feathery haircut and skimpy shorts, feeding an okapi, standing on top of Kilimanjaro, posing on a volcano.
These stories planted the seed: I wanted to see beyond New Zealand’s small horizons. As soon as I was old enough, I shot off overseas on a one-way ticket. While my peers found jobs, saved for houses and settled into long-term relationships, I emptied my bank account over and over, going wherever I could find a cheap flight, a temporary job, or a new adventure.
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From the travel photo album of Darrah’s mother, including images of the Bedford truck that transported her from London to Goma. Photograph: Petrina Darrah
Comparing notes with Mum, somewhere along the line I realised my travels echoed hers. It might have been sheer chance, or perhaps an unconscious direction set by her stories. Or maybe it just goes to show the backpacker routes carved out by travel guidebooks have stood the test of time. Whatever it was, I have trodden some of the same paths unintentionally as well as on purpose.
I moved to Tanzania for a job and stood at the foot of Kilimanjaro. I crossed the Serengeti in a dusty safari Jeep.
Darrah’s mother’s 1982 copy of Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia on a Shoestring. Photograph: Petrina Darrah
I made it to Indonesia and sent her a photo of myself, lying among a dozen other bodies prone with sea sickness, on a boat from Lombok to Flores. She flipped through her album and sent back a photo of travellers puddled on a deck, suffering the same affliction on the same route. I washed up on the Pacific coast of Mexico, with a laptop instead of a tent. The small towns along this coast have Starlink now.
Many things have changed since she travelled. I don’t send letters home – I share my location on Instagram and hundreds of people, not just my immediate family, know where I am. Instead of precious rolls of film carefully meted out on special moments, I take endless smartphone photos that will probably never be printed. Hippies have been replaced by digital nomads.
But the lure of travel is as compelling as ever. Where does it end? Her restlessness ran out – mine is still burning. Maybe I’ll stick out my thumb in a foreign country and end up meeting the man I’ll marry, like she did. In the meantime, I’ll keep collecting stories to pass on.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Why do you generally choose not to talk about the characters you have played? It seems unusual for an actor.tttophonks
Because that’s not what I do. I play them. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that actors go on their bonus DVD interviews and explain what they were doing. That’s not what an actor does. An actor plays the part for you to make up your mind. I always quote Harrison Ford: “My job is not to tell you what I think about my character. My job is to tell you what you think about my character.” It’s completely counterproductive for an actor to talk about his part. If it requires explanation, you have to ask yourself a few questions. That’s why I don’t talk about the characters.
I’ve always wanted to know what you would be doing if you weren’t acting. I’ve always imagined you as some kind of fixer for international hitmen.wildsville
I don’t even know what a fixer for an international hitman does, but it’s a nice, poetic description of people’s image of me. It’s far too late to think about what I would have done. I wanted to be an artist, I wanted to be a cinematographer, then I became an actor. Why? That is open to speculation, especially on my part. I’ve been doing this for over 45 years. So you understand my hesitance to think about what I would have done had I not become an actor. Maybe I’d have become an alcoholic, or a bank president – or both.
I can remember a very early interview in which you actually predicted that you would win an Oscar …Red_Roland
That’s incorrect. I never predicted that. If I did, then it was facetious. People run around thinking they will win the lottery, otherwise they wouldn’t be dumb enough to spend all that money. The chances that you win are millions to one. The chances that you will get run over when you cross the street are infinitely higher. Do you leave your house in the morning, thinking, “I’m going to be run over today”? Of course not. You go about your day, otherwise you couldn’t function. That’s exactly why I never said I would win an Oscar.
Christoph Waltz as SS officer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009). Photograph: c Weinstein/Everett/Rex Featur
You won Oscars for your supporting roles in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained.Which role in another Quentin Tarantino movie would you most – and least – like to have played?TopTramp
Here’s a big misconception perpetuated by the dreadful bonus DVD crap that is slung around. You do not choose roles by what you see. The end product is inseparably connected to the personality of the person who played it. You choose roles from what you read. To watch a movie and say, “Oh, I would’ve liked to play that part,” means you think you could have played it better. It’s a very immature thought to entertain. It’s counterproductive and completely misses the point to say: “Oh, I would’ve liked to play Robin Hood in Men in Tights,” because maybe I don’t even look good in tights.
Why do you think directors predominantly cast you as the bad guy?persekabpas
Well, that again is a limited vision. I don’t know how many roles I’ve played in movies over the course of my career. It’s probably 150, and I may have played 50 bad guys. Directors do not predominantly cast me as bad guys. This person predominantly saw me as the bad guy. But that’s a different question.
Christoph Waltz as Regus Patoff in the Prime Video thriller The Consultant. Photograph: PR
Given your recent roles in The Consultant and Old Guy, what is your personal attitude to ageing? Valeriecath
Helplessness? I’m not sure that personal attitude will give you a choice. Just this morning I saw another breakthrough in the discovery of how cells age. That doesn’t mean that we can or should reverse it. Human beings are faced with many situations that, in most aspects, are beyond our influence. We make ourselves extremely unhappy by falling into the trap that we have choices about everything. In my little book, the most important aspect is that we overlook the realm, aspects and points where we really do have an influence on our lives, existence or situation on this world. When we actually have a choice and influence, we sacrifice them for the sake of choices that go beyond our scope. Hence, I think ageing is beyond our influence. We age, we try to live a decent life, and the rest is unforeseeable.
Did you get much backlash for calling out Nigel Farage in the days after the Brexit referendum?brucevayne1000
My only regret is that I didn’t attack him enough. When he gloriously announced his retreat from politics, I said that the head rat is leaving the sinking ship, because clearly he saw that he had overshot in the face of Brexit, so he retired. Britain goes down, Nigel Farage is sitting on his money in the Cayman Islands and laughing himself silly. It’s beyond comprehension. I was at a press junket in London when I said it, and the person who did the interview took his SD card and fed it straight on to the internet.
Christoph Waltz as a young actor in 1977. Photograph: United Archives/Getty Images
Do you still mourn the fact that a career in opera didn’t pan out as you maybe hoped as a younger man? Kevtb1987
It’s rather pompous to say, “Do I mourn”. I studied opera but it was never really a viable option to become an opera singer.
If they remade Die Hard, would you play Hans Gruber? Ker555
No!
I think you’d make a fantastic Doctor in Doctor Who. Would you be up for it? Felis_Lunar
You can answer these questions on the silly level that they were asked, or you can answer them more sensibly. The question is rather: would the studio be up for that? Yes, I would, gladly, and I’m sure audiences all over the world would welcome it with jubilant enthusiasm.
Would you like to play Dracula?teabags12
It’s a funny question. You can’t play a concept. Dracula is a whole concept of horror. It defines the genre of the vampire movie. An actor cannot do that. I can play a very specific part. So if the right Dracula script comes along, most definitely. Will the right Dracula script come along? Not necessarily.
In Inglourious Basterds, was that a real or a stunt apple strudel that you stubbed your cigarette in?wenders14
A precise answer to that question would require a more precise definition of the term “stunt strudel”.
Have you seen Rob Brydon’s impersonation of you? ColonelFlustered
Seeing this question, I tried to find the clip online, then I got bored looking for it. It is easy to do any impression of me. It’s not difficult. Everybody who has a distinct way of speaking is easy to impersonate. When it’s easy to recognise, it’s easy to impersonate. Someone did an impression of me on Saturday Night Live. I saw it and didn’t recognise myself, but they thought it was hysterically funny. But they always do.
Christoph Waltz with Kate Winslet in Roman Polanski’s 2011 film Carnage. Photograph: Constantin Film/Allstar
What kept you going when you were a struggling actor? Jonnieog
I needed to support a family, so I didn’t have problems doing shitty jobs. The chances that I would have ended up as a cantankerous, frustrated old fart were pretty high, so I am seriously grateful that I managed to escape that. There are endless cop shows on German television, but it feels like in Germany they have more regional cop shows than anywhere else. So I played regional cops and regional murderers for what seemed like an eternity.
The Allianz adverts you star in are really clever; it’s clear you’re a good match for the campaign. Is there anything you’ve seen and wished you had invested in at the time? ChristophWaltzVaultz
Yes, I wish I had invested in Apple and Microsoft very early on! It’s a little in the vein of the lottery win. Allianz takes the other angle: what can I do to use what money I have in a meaningful and constructive way? How can I make sense with my money and create a situation that corresponds with my philosophy of life? The one term that is swirling around lately is empowerment, but education is the best annuity.
Waltz lathers up. Photograph: PR company handout
I see Allianz as an educational, informative campaign to say there is more to know than you may gather from first sight. Why not have fun with it? After all, it’s your money.
You seem like a nice guy. But should we trust you?Twist27
No. On both counts.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
One area in which Haley was clear, however, was her expectation that nothing far-reaching would hit her desk, should she end up in the White House. “We have to face this reality. The pro-life laws that have passed in strongly Republican states will not be approved at the federal level,” Haley said. “That’s just a fact.”
Haley’s struggle to articulate a clear position on abortion in an address that was billed as a chance to do just that highlights how fraught the issue is for Republicans on the national campaign trail. GOP candidates have lost a number of races to Democrats who championed abortion rights in the post-Dobbs era, and, over the past few weeks, presidential aspirants have walked on eggshells when discussing the topic.
Haley is seeking to position herself as a candidate uniquely capable of tackling the debate. On Tuesday, she spoke from her own perspective as a woman and mother — identities unmatched among a slate of male Republican opponents. Haley said her husband’s adoption out of foster care as a young child and her own struggle with infertility made her opposed to abortion — “not because the Republican Party told me to be.” She discussed her friend’s rape and subsequent fear of becoming pregnant.
“I don’t judge someone who is pro-choice any more than I want them to judge me for being pro-life,” said Haley, who as governor of South Carolina, signed a law restricting abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Haley’s address Tuesday came hours before Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to join abortion rights groups in D.C. for a “rally for reproductive freedom,” an event celebrating a Supreme Court decision to temporarily block a lower court’s restriction of access to abortion pill mifepristone.
In an interview Monday, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, stressed the need for candidates to show “boldness in communicating” their positions on abortion laws. Dannenfelser has maintained that her organization will oppose Republican presidential candidates who don’t embrace, at minimum, a national 15-week limit on abortions. A week prior, the group had taken the extraordinary step of criticizing former president Donald Trump for saying that he believed abortion policy should be left to the states, essentially swearing off support for any federal legislation.
That had left an opening for Haley. But as Dannenfelser looked on during Haley’s speech Tuesday, the former governor and United Nations ambassador didn’t articulate the extent to which she believes the federal government should go in restricting abortion access. In fact, Haley downplayed the likelihood of any highly restrictive national law being passed, noting that the Senate lacks the votes. Haley instead noted policies that she believes most Americans can agree on, including opposing “abortion up to the point of birth” or jailing women who receive abortions.
Afterward, a spokesperson for Haley clarified that she has not called for a 15-week national restriction, even as SBA released a statement applauding Haley’s pledge to do so. An SBA spokesperson told POLITICO that Haley “has assured us that she will commit to 15 weeks.”
Later, a person familiar with the conversation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Haley privately told SBA officials “exactly what she said in her speech today,” and did not commit to a 15-week law, but rather only to “find a consensus to ban late-term abortion.”
“I think that potential Republican voters are getting to know each of the candidates, and they deserve to know exactly where they stand on this issue, which is at its peak of importance given the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” Dannenfelser said in the interview.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who hasn’t yet officially declared his candidacy but has launched an exploratory committee, spent days earlier this month publicly working through his answer to the abortion question, initially declining to provide any specifics before agreeing he would sign a national law limiting the procedure to 20 weeks, a measure he has supported in the Senate. Later, Scott said he would sign “the most conservative pro-life legislation” Congress would pass.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has been perhaps the clearest on his intentions to restrict the procedure if elected president, saying last month he would support a six-week federal limit. More recently, Pence has floated a 15-week restriction as something that should be “part and parcel of debate.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, another Republican seeking the nomination, in an interview Monday said he has been “unapologetically pro-life” since high school, as well as an “unapologetic defender of the Constitution.” And he said he believes abortion is a “form of murder,” but shouldn’t be regulated federally.
“Federal law does not govern murder. State laws do,” Ramaswamy said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an as-of-yet-undeclared presidential hopeful, drew national headlines this month for signing into law an abortion prohibition after six weeks, though he has shied away from commenting on what kind of national abortion law he would support as president. DeSantis failed to tout his state’s new wide-reaching abortion restriction when he spoke the following day at Liberty University, the nation’s leading evangelical Christian college.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, another candidate, has said he would support a national ban on the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Jim McLaughlin, a Republican pollster whose clients include Trump, suggested there’s wisdom to Trump walking a fine line between touting his past accomplishments for anti-abortion activists, while leaving the door open to appeal to abortion-rights supporters going forward.
“I think President Trump, you know, he could take credit with the pro-life movement because it was his judges that have changed the laws, and they’ve been making progress,” McLaughlin said. “But I also think … pro-choice voters do not feel threatened with Donald Trump’s position on abortion. So I think he’s got the best of both worlds there.”
Adam Wren contributed to this story.
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#Nikki #Haley #promised #address #abortion #openly #didnt
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“[DeSantis] is in a much weaker position now than he was a few months ago. Trump is in a much stronger position,” said Sarah Longwell, a moderate Republican strategist. DeSantis, she said, has “had a tough few weeks.”
While DeSantis stays out of the race — he’s planning an entrance after Florida’s legislative session ends in the coming weeks — Trump has begun to consolidate support. The former president and a PAC boosting him are using the time to hammer away at the Florida governor.
Three Florida Republicans joined four of their colleagues in endorsing Trump this week: Rep. Greg Steube announced his backing of the former president Monday night on Newsmax, Rep. John Rutherfordtweeted his support Tuesday afternoon and Rep. Brian Masttold CNN he would be with Trump. He later confirmed his support to POLITICO, adding he might chair a committee of veterans backing the ex-president.
In yet another slight, Republican Texas Rep. Lance Gooden issued a statement Tuesday noting he had a “positive meeting” with DeSantis but is still backing Trump.
At the same time, a PAC backing Trump took to the airwaves with an ad claiming DeSantis will cut Social Security and Medicaid — while mocking him for reportedly once eating chocolate pudding with his fingers. (DeSantis laughed off the jab in an interview with Piers Morgan last month, saying he had no recollection and calling it nonsense.)
A DeSantis spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment, but his allies have begun pushing back.
A PAC supporting him has released an ad of its own, showing a clip of him promising to keep the entitlement programs intact and contrasting it with another video of Trump indicating he would consider reducing them.
The Never Back Down PAC sought to compete with Trump for Florida endorsements on Tuesday, announcing the support of Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), who had worked as his secretary of state. In her statement, Lee cited his “character” and “commitment to core conservative principles” before focusing on what is expected to be DeSantis’ main contrast with Trump: “Ron DeSantis fights for what matters, and he wins when it matters most.”
In Washington, DeSantis spoke to a jam-packed room at The Heritage Foundation, where congressional staff and family attended with members.
Many lawmakers weren’t ready to endorse DeSantis, but expressed curiosity about his platform and record. DeSantis drew a solid turnout, even as protesters chanted outside.
“I want to see a really robust primary. I think it would be healthy for the Republican Party to have a really robust debate on issues,” Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) said. “And I’d love to see whether it’s Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis or some of the others that may run that haven’t announced … There’s some very sharp potential Republican presidential candidates. I would go see any of them.”
Still, several Republican strategists who have been critical of Trump are voicing concern about DeSantis’ prospects. FiveThirtyEight’s polling average shows him trailing Trump by 23 points but still far outpacing anyone else in the field.
“In many ways he was the frontrunner even ahead of Trump. He struggled a little bit with how best to handle that,” said Wisconsin Republican operative Mark Graul, who believes DeSantis remains “a very strong contender.”
“DeSantis is in D.C. to try locking up some endorsements for himself because every time Trump picks up another endorsement, he gets a whole news cycle out of it,” added Longwell, who runs focus groups and publishes The Bulwark. “DeSantis is on the precipice of Trump seeming inevitable.”
Some donors and supporters are starting to worry about DeSantis’ viability. They’re worried about Trump’s apparent strength, bolstered by backlash to the Manhattan district attorney’s indictment. And in one unusual instance, top GOP donor Thomas Peterffy told the Financial Times he is withholding monetary support for DeSantis’ bid, due to “his stance on abortion and book banning.”
The move is not just a financial blow; it undercuts DeSantis’ argument that only “woke” Democrats are troubled by his support for legislation that removes flagged books from school library shelves until the book is either banned or deemed appropriate.
If DeSantis was struggling to get the star treatment in Washington, it wasn’t exactly smooth for him in his home state, either. His long running fight with Disney attracted new criticism from other Republicans — including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former New Jersey. Gov. Chris Christie.
“He looks like a governor. He peaked months ago,” said one Republican ex-politician from New York who is backing Trump but likes DeSantis and was granted anonymity to speak freely about the dynamics of the race. “I don’t think the party moves forward until we get through [Trump’s] comeback chances. The road to DeSantis 2028 goes through Trump 2024.”
The person added, “Redemption today, DeSantis tomorrow.”
Gary Fineout and Ally Mutnick contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Rep George Santos had just $25,000 cash on hand at the end of the quarter. That figure came despite having made not a single reported campaign expense during the quarter. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
Rep. George Santos’s (R-N.Y.) congressional campaign officially lost money during the first quarter of 2023 after it reported having to issue refunds in excess of the contributions it received.
The New York Republican, who has been beleaguered from before he was sworn in after it was revealed he’d fabricated major portions of his biography, raised a scant $5,333.26 during the first three months of the year. But his campaign also refunded $8,352; meaning that he actually took in less than $3,000 than he paid out.
Only one person gave enough to Santos to require that their name be listed on his FEC form. That individual, Sacha Basin, gave $245.95. There was no clear online history for an individual with that name nor is there a record of them previously giving more than $200 to any candidate in the FEC database.
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#George #Santos #campaign #didnt #spend #dime #managed #lose #money
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Friday accused the Enforcement Directorate of “lying” before the court and claimed that no mobile phones were destroyed by former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
In March, the ED had claimed before a Delhi court that Sisodia was involved in “large scale destruction of digital evidence to impede investigation” in the Delhi excise policy case and had changed and destroyed 14 phones.
Sisodia was arrested in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise case.
“The Enforcement Directorate has been lying before the court all this while. They said 14 mobile phones were destroyed by Sisodia but the reality is, no mobile phones were destroyed by the former deputy chief minister,” Singh claimed.
“In fact, five out of those 14 phone are in ED and CBI custody,” the senior AAP leader added.
However, ED sources said the charge sheets in this case are based on “credible evidence” and that, the court “has taken cognisance of them.”
“According to an ED report, all the phones are functioning and five out of the 14 phones have already been seized by the ED and CBI,” AAP’s Rajya Sabha member claimed.
Lashing out at the probe agency, Singh alleged that the phone numbers listed by the ED included the ones that belonged to Sisodia’s househelp, driver and other staff.
“They have made a mockery of an investigation. Those BJP leaders who have been alleging that Manish Sisodia destroyed 14 mobile phones and ED officers who defamed the best education minister of Delhi, should apologise publicly,” Singh said.
The Senior AAP leader also read out the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers of the mobile phones allegedly listed by the ED.
Senior officials inside the national security apparatus were briefed on the documents on April 6, the same day the leak was first reported by The New York Times, according to two other senior U.S. officials. And the Biden administration began looking into the leak only last week.
The delay has current and former officials asking why the breach went unnoticed for so long. And it suggests that there may be a large online blind spot in the U.S. intelligence gathering process.
“Federal government agencies do not proactively monitor online forums looking for threat-related activity,” said John Cohen, the former acting undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. “If a person or entity were to post classified information on one of those forums, there’s a high likelihood that government officials would not detect it.”
Officials at the top ranks of the Pentagon, the intelligence community and at the Department of Justice are still scrambling to understand who first leaked the documents, how many classified U.S. documents may still be circulating and why they went unnoticed.
Current and former officials said while each agency is responsible for investigating breaches of intelligence within their own departments, there is no one office that is responsible for monitoring, for example, social media sites for classified leaks.
The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Pentagon declined to comment.
The U.S. government — including the Pentagon and agencies in the intelligence community — maintains that it does not spy on Americans, and there’s an argument that monitoring these online forums — even for illegally leaked materials — could be considered just that.
“Do we really want the government monitoring everything said on social media sites? The answer to that is no. If you do that, you automatically get into civil liberties issues,” said a former U.S. intelligence official familiar with the document probe. “We haven’t yet figured out a way to square that circle between on the one hand protecting people’s rights to speak and on the other hand finding out what’s going on.”
Cohen argued this leak is a potential crime and threat to national security that means the First Amendment may not apply. “Depending on the circumstances, it is possibly illegal and likely not considered protected speech,” he said.
It’s still unclear exactly when the original leak took place and who is responsible for disseminating the classified material. But the story of how the documents ended up online in recent days, including on Twitter and Telegram, can be traced back to a small group of users on the messaging app known as Discord, a platform popular with gamers.
Members of a now-defunct server on Discord first began seeing sensitive government information about global topics, including about the war in Ukraine, this winter, according to two people who viewed content from that group.
One of the users of the group — who has since deleted his profile — first started posting the information in written, summary form sometime in the winter. Weeks later, beginning in January, the user began to post images of what appeared to be internal U.S. classified documents that had been printed and folded in half. Some of them were labeled “Secret” and “Top Secret.”
Weeks later, in March, one of the users from the Discord server reposted the images on a second group on the platform known as WowMao.
“He posted 30 plus … documents concerning the Russia-Ukraine war,” said the person who started that group, a well-known Filipino YouTuber named Mao. Mao described his server as “edgy” and said the person who posted the documents might have been trying to be “cool” or “funny.”
“He must have been around circles where there were hackers,” Mao said. “There are Discord servers where people post hacks they found and stuff they found off the dark web and they are only shared within those circles. And sometimes stuff gets leaked out from there.”
After being posted on WaoMao, the documents appeared on other social media sites including Twitter, Telegram and 4Chan. At least one of the images that appeared on those sites was altered to show higher Ukrainian and lower Russian death totals.
Over the past several years, multiple government agencies have become aware of the potential upside of monitoring specific online forums, Cohen said. The problem, however, is that there are certain legal limitations on what government officials can do to track Americans’ social media activity.
The FBI is allowed to go onto social media sites and other online forums to monitor activity when it has opened a specific case, Cohen said. The Department of Homeland Security can also monitor certain online activity — but only on forums that are open to the public. The intelligence community can also monitor social media messages, as well as other communications, of foreigners.
But in this case, the individual was not threatening acts of violence and there aren’t signs that the person was known to law enforcement for any other reason.
Various agencies throughout the U.S. government often communicate with social media platforms about content that deals with everything from misinformation and disinformation to election security, hate speech and posts that threaten violence. But it is unclear the extent to which the government asks companies to remove specific content from their sites, and whether companies comply.
Discord said in an emailed statement that in regard to the breach of classified material, the company is “cooperating with law enforcement.”
“When we are made aware of content that violates our policies, our safety team investigates and takes the appropriate action, including banning users, shutting down servers and engaging with law enforcement,” said Discord spokesperson Madeline Sarver, adding that the company uses a “mix of proactive and reactive tools” to keep content that violates its policy off the platform.
Officials in Washington are wary of developing methods that would allow them to detect and analyze threats online — a stance that has sometimes disturbed lawmakers.
In a House congressional hearing in December with Ken Wainstein, the head of DHS’s office of intelligence and analysis, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said she was frustrated that she and other people in her state had to learn about threats posed by right-wing extremists from outside the government.
“My district is where the raids happened for the plot to kidnap and kill my governor. But the government agencies — I understand it is a sensitive issue — but I couldn’t feel more strongly about the importance of you all getting left and right limits, getting really clear about it and then coming up to proactively talk to us about this issue,” Slotkin said. “No one wants to go after someone for free speech, but when you have double the incidents of antisemitism in my state, the question remains what is my government doing to help?”
Cohen argued that the government needs to find a way to more closely monitor activity online that does not threaten acts of violence or relate to terrorism but may still be illegal, such as the leaking of classified information. But he said that leaning on research or academic institutions that track illicit activity on the internet may be an easier path than asking law enforcement or intelligence agencies to do the monitoring.
In recent days, officials inside the Biden administration have also faced tough questions from allies about how the leak occurred and why the U.S. is just now racing to investigate. U.S. officials have also discussed with allies in Europe and Kyiv whether it plans to restrict the dissemination of classified intelligence about the war in Ukraine.
Top officials at the Pentagon and National Security Council have not answered detailed questions from the podium since the leaked documents appeared, but have said they take the leak seriously and are still investigating. NBC News reported Wednesday the administration is considering changing the way it tracks social media content.
It’s unclear exactly how many documents have circulated online since the original posting on Discord. Many of the users and servers where they first appeared have since vanished. But one person who viewed the documents on the original Discord server said they believe there are perhaps dozens of additional classified documents that have not been made public.
The winding trajectory of how the classified documents spread through social media is likely muddying the investigation into the leak.
“This is not your typical leak where it goes to the media or to a foreign power,” the former U.S. intelligence official said. “It’s going to make it a bit of a challenge for the FBI to try to figure out what’s going on here.”
Alexander Ward and Mohar Chatterjee contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Mumbai: Laying bare the differences within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar claimed on Tuesday that Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Maharashtra Chief Minister 10 months ago without consulting the two allies – NCP and Congress.
Pawar’s statement pertained to the political upheaval in the state in June 2022 caused by a split in the Shiv Sena following which Thackeray, the Shiv Sena President, resigned as the Chief Minister on June 28.
After Pawar’s comments to a private Marathi TV channel, Shiv Sena (UBT) President Thackeray and MP Sanjay Raut rushed to meet the NCP chief at the latter’s home late on Tuesday night.
What transpired in the 75-minute long meeting is still not clear, though the NCP promptly released photos of Pawar, MP Supriya Sule, Thackeray and Raut, all looking cheerful and relaxed.
“He (Thackeray) should have taken his supporting parties into confidence,” Pawar said.
Justifying his stand, Pawar pointed out that the three parties were jointly involved in all this, raising the issue 10 months after the MVA regime was unceremoniously toppled.
“If someone takes the decision to resign, he has the right. But the other partners in the alliance should have been consulted. Taking decisions without discussion has consequences. The fact that there was no discussion at that time cannot be denied,” Pawar added.
Interestingly, Pawar’s statement came ahead of the Supreme Court verdict on the Shiv Sena split and the related issues.
Hyderabad: Former Member of Legislative Council and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader N Ramchander Rao on Saturday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Telangana five times in 14 months but Chief Minister of the state K Chandrasekhar Rao received him not even once.
Talking to ANI, Rao said, “In the last 14 months PM visited the state five times and not even a single time CM received the PM as per the protocol.”
“The CM of Telangana is not behaving according to the status and stature and not following the protocol of the state. CMs like Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala and MK Stalin of Tamil Nadu are also politically and ideologically opposed. But they both have the humility to receive PM Modi as per the protocol though they are politically opposed to BJP”, Rao added.
He said that the people of Telangana will teach KCR a lesson. “Earlier Rajiv Gandhi and NTR had bitter political differences, yet NT Rama Rao came to receive Rajiv Gandhi. That is the political culture a democracy requires. Today the behaviour of CM is deplorable, and condemnable and Telangana people are being insulted by CM KCR. The people in Telangana will teach him a lesson”, he said.
Earlier in a veiled attack on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao-led government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Telangana needs to be very careful of people who nurture dynastic rule, nepotism and corruption.
Prime Minister Modi said he was pained at the non-cooperation of state government in the Centre’s projects.
Addressing a gathering at Parade Ground, Hyderabad, PM Modi said, “Serving people with utmost devotion is our primary goal. But I am very pained about one thing… It hurts a lot when the development and welfare measures by the central government do not fructify well due to hindrances posed by state governments. This has been happening in Telangana.”
In the programme at Parade Ground, Hyderabad, PM Modi laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Secunderabad Railway Station and other infrastructure projects.
He said due to the lack of cooperation from the state government, many central projects were getting delayed and it is the people who are the ultimate sufferers.
He said the state government should not allow any hindrance to development projects.
“I appeal to the Telangana government to not allow any obstruction to development measures, not make the people of Telangana the victims, not to deprive the state of prosperity,” he added.
Attacking the ruling BRS in Telangana without taking names, PM Modi said dynasty politics and corruption are not different. He said corruption flourishes where dynasty politics prevails.
Prime Minister Modi said, “In today’s new India, it is our priority to fulfil the aspirations of the countrymen. But a handful of people are very agitated by these development works. People, who keep nurturing dynastic rule, nepotism and corruption, are irked by those who work honestly. They are not concerned with the interest of the country and society. Such people only like to see their families flourishing. Telangana needs to be very careful about such people.”
He said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has been dedicated to fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of Telangana’s people.
“In the last nine years, around 70 km of the Metro network has been laid in Hyderabad only,” the PM said.
He said Telangana is reaping the benefits of the efforts being taken to modernise railways in the entire country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Hyderabad on Saturday. He was received by Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad. Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Bandi Sanjay was also at the airport.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao did not receive PM Modi at the airport. Instead, the CM deputed state minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav to welcome the Prime Minister at Begumpet airport in his absence.
The Telangana CM also skipped Prime Minister Modi’s programme in the state on Saturday. Chief Minister KCR was invited following the protocol.
KCR’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has been at loggerheads with the BJP, which is trying to make political and electoral inroads into Telangana. Assembly election in the state is due this year.
KCR, on the other hand, is trying to expand his party to other states as part of its national ambitions.
Last year, KCR renamed his party – the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) – to Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), marking the first step toward becoming a national party to counter the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He was also seen putting in efforts to unite the opposition parties for a united fight against BJP in next year’s general elections.
Mumbai: When two mature persons have had a relationship, one of them can not allege rape later when the relations turn sour or do not culminate in marriage, the Bombay High Court has said.
Justice Bharati Dangre passed the ruling on March 29 while discharging a man from a case of rape lodged against him by a woman at the suburban Versova police station in 2016. The judgement became available this week.
“Two matured persons coming together and investing in a relationship, one cannot be blamed only because the other complained of the act at some point of time when the relationship did not go well and for whatever reason need not ultimately culminate into a marriage,” the court said.
The 26-year-old woman had claimed in her complaint that she met the man through social media, and he had a physical relationship with her by making false promises of marriage. The man subsequently moved the court seeking to be discharged from the case, pleading innocence. The judge, while granting his plea, noted that he and the woman were in a relationship for eight years.
“Admittedly, the prosecutrix (the complainant) was major at the time when the relationship was established, both emotionally and physically. She was at the age where she is presumed to have sufficient maturity of understanding the consequences of her act and according to her own version, on some occasions, the relationship was consensual, but some times it was forcible,” HC said.
The relationship had continued for “a considerable length of time” and this fact does not lead to the conclusion that “on every occasion, only on the promise of marriage the sexual relationship was established,” it added.
Further, Justice Dangre noted that merely because the relationship had turned sour it cannot be inferred that the physical relationship on every occasion was against her will. As per her own version, she consented to physical relationship not only because of the promise of marriage but also because she was in love with him, the judgement said.
