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Not content to prevent women from obtaining abortions in his own state, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is doing his best to prevent them from traveling to states where the procedure remains legal. Fortunately, a federal judge just ruled that the Constitution won’t let him. Unfortunately, we might have more of this kind of zealotry heading our way.
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Software developer at a big library, cyclist, photographer, hiker, reader. Email: chris@improbable.org
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An Arizona woman has been accused of helping generate millions of dollars for North Korea’s ballistic missile program by helping citizens of that country land IT jobs at US-based Fortune 500 companies.
Christina Marie Chapman, 49, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, raised $6.8 million in the scheme, federal prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed Thursday. Chapman allegedly funneled the money to North Korea’s Munitions Industry Department, which is involved in key aspects of North Korea’s weapons program, including its development of ballistic missiles.
Part of the alleged scheme involved Chapman and co-conspirators compromising the identities of more than 60 people living in the US and using their personal information to get North Koreans IT jobs across more than 300 US companies.
In the indictment, prosecutors wrote:
The conspiracy perpetrated a staggering fraud on a multitude of industries, at the expense of generally unknowing US companies and persons. It impacted more than 300 US companies, compromised more than 60 identities of US persons, caused false information to be conveyed to DHS on more than 100 occasions, created false tax liabilities for more than 35 US persons, and resulted in at least $6.8 million of revenue to be generated for the overseas IT workers. The overseas IT workers worked at blue-chip US companies, including a top-5 national television network and media company, a premier Silicon Valley technology company, an aerospace and defense manufacturer, an iconic American car manufacturer, a high-end retail chain, and one of the most recognizable media and entertainment companies in the world, all of which were Fortune 500 companies.
As another part of the alleged conspiracy, Chapman operated a “laptop farm” at one of her residences to give the employers the impression the North Korean IT staffers were working from within the US; the laptops were issued by the employers. By using proxies and VPNs, the overseas workers appeared to be connecting from US-based IP addresses. Chapman also received employees’ paychecks at her home, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors said that Chapman and three North Korean IT workers—using the aliases of Jiho Han, Chunji Jin, Haoran Xu, and others—had been working since at least 2020 to plan a remote-work scheme. In March of that year, prosecutors said, an individual messaged Chapman on LinkedIn and invited her to “be the US face” of their company. From August to November of 2022, the North Korean IT workers allegedly amassed guides and other information online designed to coach North Koreans on how to write effective cover letters and résumés and falsify US Permanent Resident Cards.
Under the alleged scheme, the foreign workers developed “fictitious personas and online profiles to match the job requirements” and submitted fake documents to the Homeland Security Department as part of an employment eligibility check. Chapman also allegedly discussed with co-conspirators about transferring the money earned from their work.
“The charges in this case should be a wakeup call for American companies and government agencies that employ remote IT workers,” Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said. “These crimes benefited the North Korean government, giving it a revenue stream and, in some instances, proprietary information stolen by the co-conspirators.”
The indictment came alongside a criminal complaint charging a Ukrainian man with carrying out a similar multiyear scheme. Oleksandr Didenko, 27, of Kyiv, Ukraine, allegedly helped individuals in North Korea “market” themselves as remote IT workers.
Chapman was arrested Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately known when she or Didenko were scheduled to make their first appearance in court. If convicted, Chapman faces 97.5 years in prison, and Didenko faces up to 67.5 years.
White Gladis, the orca that likely started the attacks on boats in Iberian waters, may have been so hellbent on stopping boats that she neglected her calf, experts say.
Experts think White Gladis was hit by a vessel or entangled in a fishing net — an event believed to have triggered the behavior that has since spread to over a dozen orcas.
"She went to the boats with this calf, so she preferred to stop the boats rather than keeping her baby safe," Mónica González, a marine biologist with the Coordinadora para o Estudo dos Mamíferos Mariños, or Coordinator for the Study of Marine Mammals (CEMMA), said in a webinar held June 11.
The timeline of the attacks also suggests White Gladis was pregnant when she first started targeting boats.
Unusual interactions between boats and orcas (Orcinus orca) off the coasts of Spain and Portugal began in the summer of 2020, which is when experts think White Gladis experienced the "aversive moment" that sparked the behavior.
White Gladis then gave birth at some point in 2021 following a 15 to 18-month gestation period.
The number of encounters involving physical contact between orcas and boats has increased year on year since those first interactions, resulting in three sunken boats and over 100 more damaged.
Related: Orca rams boat off Scottish coast, 2,000 miles away from original attacks
Orca calves rely on their mother for protection and nourishment for at least two years, until they learn how to hunt. Females have, on average, only five young during their lifetime and are fiercely protective of each, according to Robert Pitman, a marine biologist at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute.
However, White Gladis' maternal instincts didn't stop her from approaching and ramming vessels along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts. Her decision to potentially jeopardize her newborn's safety suggests she'd suffered a severely traumatic incident, potentially related to a sailing boat towing a fishing line, González said in the webinar.
For White Gladis, "it was more important to stop the boats" than to protect her calf (called Gladis Filabres), which led experts to think that "something bad happened," González said.
Moving structures on boats, such as the rudder and propeller, could severely injure an orca calf.
Gladis Filabres is one of 11 identified juveniles that are now targeting the rudders of boats off the Iberian coast with ruthless and speedy efficiency. "Orcas have echolocation, so they can see the rudder inside and outside, and they know how to touch it to break the rudder," González said.
The behavior appears to be spreading through the Iberian population through social learning. Juveniles and calves imitate adults and each other, reproducing behaviors they deem advantageous or interesting, Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist and representative of the Grupo de Trabajo Orca Atlántica, or Atlantic Orca Working Group (GTOA), previously told Live Science.
While juveniles and calves likely engage in the behavior out of curiosity and playfulness — "like a child playing with a football in the kitchen and breaking a window" — adults are more likely to interact with boats due to anguish or trauma, González said.
And the orcas show no signs of stopping their attacks anytime soon. On June 22, three orcas attacked a boat participating in an endurance sailing race near the Strait of Gibraltar, ramming its rudders and hull. The crew immediately dropped the sails to slow the boat. The vessel was not damaged and resumed the race after the encounter, which lasted 15 minutes.
On Sunday (June 25), another boat was attacked east of the entrance to the Faro channel, off the coast of southern Portugal. Responding to a Facebook post about the encounter, Troy Torres, the boat's captain, said three orcas — two smaller ones and one large, aggressive one — rammed the boat for 45 minutes until the rudder was disabled. "One orca returned and batted the rudder one last time, as if to confirm it was broken. It was a harrowing experience," he wrote.
And on the same day, a catamaran was targeted off Culatra Island by six orcas for 50 minutes, Bertrand d'Enquin, who was on the boat, wrote in a Facebook post.
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) filed for divorce earlier this month and is rumored to be romantically involved with House GOP colleague Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas).
The Georgia Republican filed for divorce from his wife of 12 years, Debra Miller, on May 3, Gwinnett County court records show.
A mutual restraining order was also filed, as is standard in all divorce cases in the central Georgia county.
McCormick, 55, and Van Duyne, 53, have been rumored to be an item since at least January, one source told The Post.
Another source said they’ve been canoodling for over a year.
The Daily Mail first reported McCormick’s breakup and alleged relationship with Van Duyne.
In recent months, the pair were spotted “holding hands under the table” during a Republican Study Committee lunch, a GOP member told the outlet.
The Post confirmed this account with a third source.
The member has also witnessed McCormick “’grab the small of her back” on the House floor.
Two individuals separately told the Daily Mail that they’ve run across McCormick and Van Duyne holding hands.
Van Duyne divorced her ex-husband in 2012, according to the Dallas Morning News.
A spokesperson for McCormick told The Post that the congressman and his oncologist wife are separated, but wouldn’t say for how long that’s been the case.
“Congressman McCormick and Dr. Miller have been separated for quite some time,” the spokesperson said. “He has kept that private and will continue to keep his personal life out of the media spotlight.”
McCormick’s rep also told The Post that the “rumor mill” on Capitol Hill related to McCormick and Van Duyne is “old news,” but wouldn’t confirm or deny that the lawmakers were in a relationship.
Van Duyne’s office did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
When asked about the reason for the divorce, McCormick’s wife told the Daily Mail, “I’m sure that he will not be forthcoming.”
“You should ask Rich and his colleague,” Miller said about allegations of infidelity.
The first-term congressman, who represents Georgia’s 6th District, shares seven children with Miller.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) accused McCormick of getting “physically aggressive” with her last year after both lawmakers introduced competing resolutions to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Greene lodged a complaint with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) alleging that her colleague “grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.”
McCormick later said he was simply trying to “encourage” Greene after he opposed her censure resolution and the House advanced his, and that he immediately apologized to her.
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Family values!
Washington, DC
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This from the guy who shuns the State of the Union speech to avoid breaking the impression of neutrality
Washington, DC
In one of its biggest steps yet to keep fossil fuels in the ground, the Biden administration announced Thursday that it will end new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, which produces nearly half the coal in the United States.
Climate activists have long pushed the Interior Department to stop auctioning off leases for coal mining on public lands, and they celebrated the decision. It could prevent billions of tons of coal from being extracted from more than 13 million acres across Montana and Wyoming, with major implications for U.S. climate goals.
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