NYT Publishes Report ‘Debunking’ FBI Use Of Dossier, Immediately Shredded For Fake News

According to the New York Times, the FBI investigation into Russian collusion began after drunken Trump campaign volunteer, George Papadopoulos, reportedly told Australian diplomat Alexander Downer at a London bar in May, 2016 that “Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.” When DNC emails began to leak, Australia apparently contacted US intelligence to report the drunken admission by Papadopoulos – igniting the Russia probe.

This is in stark contrast to GOP leaders who say that a salacious and unverified 34-page opposition research dossier triggered the probe, a claim repeated by President Trump on Tuesday:

WOW, @foxandfrlends “Dossier is bogus. Clinton Campaign, DNC funded Dossier. FBI CANNOT (after all of this time) VERIFY CLAIMS IN DOSSIER OF RUSSIA/TRUMP COLLUSION. FBI TAINTED.” And they used this Crooked Hillary pile of garbage as the basis for going after the Trump Campaign!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2017

Four days later, the New York Times crafted an alternate explanation involving Papadopoulos:

WASHINGTON — During a night of heavy drinking at an upscale London bar in May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, made a startling revelation to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain: Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.

About three weeks earlier, Mr. Papadopoulos had been told that Moscow had thousands of emails that would embarrass Mrs. Clinton, apparently stolen in an effort to try to damage her campaign.

Exactly how much Mr. Papadopoulos said that night at the Kensington Wine Rooms with the Australian, Alexander Downer, is unclear. But two months later, when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online, Australian officials passed the information about Mr. Papadopoulos to their American counterparts, according to four current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians’ role.

The NYT’s Adam Goldman – who worked on the article as part of a six-person effort, tweeted the report, stating “Dossier had nothing to do with @FBI opening July 2016 investigation into Russian election meddling. George Papadopoulos outreach op and Russian hacking did,” which the NYT’s Maggie Haberman retweeted.

Unfortunately for the New York Times – much like CNN’s botched “Bombshell” report from a few weeks ago that Donald Trump Jr. was told about the WikiLeaks emails before their release, only to issue a major correction because Trump Jr. was told after they were made public (by a random person), this “startling revelation” ny the NYT that Papadopoulos spilled the beans about Russia having dirt on Clinton was already public information.

Cue the NYT getting split like a cord of wood by the Conservative Treehouse‘s TheLastRefuge, who dressed down the entire Papadopoulos narrative in a 21-tweet dissertation (below).

3.) [@maggieNYT ] ABC in Australia is reporting it was Alexander Downer (Australian High Commissioner to UK) who then let counterparts in US know that George Papadopolous was talking about the Sidney Blumental hack via Clinton Emails.

4.) The @maggieNYT is also nonsense based on common sense. Papadopoulos was so important that:

July 15th 2016 Comey opens counterintel investigation into Russian collusion.

January 15th 2017 FBI visits Papadopoulos for first time.

FBI waited for six months to talk to him?

5. @maggieNYT If George Papadopoulos was so important to the FBI “investigation” why did all “intelligence” agencies released their final JAR report without ever speaking to him?
Not even once?

6. No @maggieNYT what you have in your article is a well constructed and brutally familiar pattern of what journalism looks like when the IC use reporters to cover their tracks and create a justification based on a false premise.

7. The Fusion GPS, Glenn Simpson, Mary Jacoby, Nellie Ohr etc. and subsequent Christopher Steele origin of the FISA application source material is a risk to the former leadership within the DOJ National Security Division and FBI Counterintelligence Division.

8. @maggieNYT That’s why both FBI and DOJ sides of this intelligence operation need to create a false origin. The actual FISA application content is a much more explosive risk. Use your common sense logic hat and see when you are being played.

9. @maggieNYT USE COMMON SENSE: If a Papadopolous conversation in May 2016 was the origin, the source material, of the FBI counterintelligence operation, then why were they denied a FISA application in June/July 2016 ?

10. @maggieNYT The wife of Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS), Mary B. Jacoby, with years of Russia-angled reporting –including Donald Trump– visits the White House on April 19th 2016. white-house-logs.insidegov.com

11. @maggieNYT Mary B Jacoby is a deep part of Clinton’s political camp going all the way back to the Rose Law Firm. You know that because you know her.

After the April 19, 2016, WH visit, the DNC and Clinton campaign hire Mary and Glenn (Fusion GPS) for the “trump project”.

12. @maggieNYT Immediately after Fusion was paid, Glenn Simpson and Mary Jacoby (Fusion GPS Patriarchs), hire Nellie Ohr.

13. @maggieNYT As you know, Nellie Ohr is the wife of DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr. The same Bruce Ohr who was demoted for meeting with Glenn Simpson and Christopher Steele, along with FBI agent Peter Strzok, w/out telling DOJ leadership.

14. @maggieNYT Again, you know this stuff. Nellie Ohr, Bruce Ohr and Glenn Simpson have known each other for years; and have worked on CIA *open source* projects together for a long time.

15 @maggieNYT As you know all of these people are SME’s on everything Russia and everything Russia intelligence. It is all of this activity in April and May, not innocuous George Papadopolous reading newspapers, that assembled data and eventually led to the “Russia Probe”.

16. @maggieNYT on June 24th 2017 Mary Jacoby even publicly stated on her facebook that her work with Glenn is what specifically led to the FBI beginning the “Russia Probe”.

Did President Obama Read the ‘Steele Dossier’ in the White House Last August?To date the investigation into the Fusion GPS-manufactured collusion scandal has focused largely on the firm itself, its allies in the press, as well as contacts in the Department of Justice and FBI.…http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/251897/obama-steele-dossier-russiagate

17. @maggieNYT After the initial July 2016 FISA Court denial, the FBI and DOJ team leaned heavily on the external team of Jacoby, Simpson, Ohr, Steele etc. who created the “dossier” that enhanced the application that gained the FISA warrant in Oct.

18. @maggieNYT as you know, because of the legal framework around them, FISA warrants can be applied retroactively. Wiretaping and monitoring can technically begin while evidence is gathered to justify a DOJ-NSD warrant application later.

19. @maggieNYT Which is exactly what former DOJ Attorney General John P. Carlin, National Security Division head, admitted to the FISA Court (October 2016) right before he quit his job.

Top Secret FISA Court Order – President Obama Spying on Political EnemiesA newly released court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) found that the National Security Agency, under former President Obama, routinely violated American privacy protect…https://www.scribd.com/document/349542716/Top-Secret-FISA-Court-Order-President-Obama-Spying-on-Political-Enemies

20. So @maggieNYT the question I have for you is: Did you write that nonsense about George Papadopolous because the IC (FBI/DOJ) tricked you into it?….. OR were you a willing participant in helping transmit political disinformation in an effort to help them cover their tracks?

21. Happy New Year @maggieNYT !!

Meanwhile, as pointed out by The Gateway Pundit‘s Cristina Laila, the Washington Examiner’s Byron York further tore into the NYT report:

So: 1) If Papadopoulos actions drove FBI probe, why wait til nearly Feb 2017 to interview him? If done to keep probe quiet before election, why wait more than two months after vote? 2/4

— Byron York (@ByronYork) December 30, 2017

2) When did officials brief Congress about Papadopoulos? They briefed Congress about Carter Page in late summer 2016. 3/4

— Byron York (@ByronYork) December 30, 2017

3) Did officials seek a surveillance warrant on Papadopoulos? They reportedly got one on Carter Page in summer 2016. Did they try to get one on Papadopoulos? If not, why not? 4/4

— Byron York (@ByronYork) December 30, 2017

One add: Not saying Papadopoulos played no role. But questions about whether his part was so central in starting FBI probe in July 2016.

— Byron York (@ByronYork) December 30, 2017

Perhaps the most embarassing part for the New York Times isn’t that they appear to have published yet another massive case of Fake News – but that it took six of their ‘best and brightest’ to cobble it together. 

Several bitcoin investors in Australia are claiming that the country’s “Big Four” banks are freezing their accounts, while CoinSpot said it was placing a “temporary restriction on all forms of AUD deposits” until next week as a result of issues with Australian banks.

As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, “Cryptocurrency trader and Youtuber Alex Saunders called out National Australia Bank, ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corporation on Twitter for freezing customer accounts and transfers to four different bitcoin exchanges  – CoinJar, CoinSpot, CoinBase and BTC Markets.”

So @NAB @CommBank @WestpacNZ and @ANZ_AU are all freezing customer accounts and transfers to @BTCMarkets @coinspotau @GetCoinJar @coinbase . #Banks can fight it, but people want control of their money #ausbiz #auspol

— Nugget's News Australia (@nugget_alex) December 28, 2017

Another twitter user, Machaela Juric who goes by the handle “Bitcoin Babe,” said her business accounts were closed by 30 banks (!?), posting a picture of an account closure letter.

This is a letter I received a few weeks ago. Also included was a T&C's booklet. I've highlighted the clause they are referring to.
I have a PTY/LTD company, paying tax, registered with the OAIC and conduct all relevant KYC/AML/CTF checks. pic.twitter.com/DShAZPIjyi

— Bitcoin Babe (@BitcoinBabeAU) December 29, 2017

Juric shared account closure letters with Farifax Media from 10 institutions, with one suggesting she had received fraudulent funds. 

She said banks were not the “be all and end all of accepting payments” for Bitcoin and there were other avenues to transfer funds.

An ANZ spokeswoman said it “does not prohibit customers buying digital currencies”.

The banks won’t say whether bitcoin activity was causing specific accounts to be frozen or closed, however some banks’ terms and conditions reference bitcoin.

Counspot halts Australian transactions

As a result of Australian banking difficulties, cryptocurrency exchange CoinSpot issued a “temporary restriction on all forms of AUD deposits” until next week.

“We assure you we are just as unhappy with the situation as you, but unfortunately Australian banks have been so far unwilling to work with the digital currency industry which leads to frequent account closures and strict limits on accounts whilst they remain operational, in effect debanking our industry,” the company said in a statement.

Global crackdown?

Things could get interesting for Bitcoin and its crypto-peers as central banks begin to enact long-threatened regulations on digital currencies.

On Thursday, Bitcoin was down over 11 percent after South Korea – thought to be around 20% of global bitcoin trades, announced new regulations aimed at money laundering – which include the closure of anonymous accounts next month and a ban on new anonymous accounts. Regulators can also close virtual exchanges at will.

Oddly, after the South Korea announcement, Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum all struggled to stay aloft, while Ripple took off:

The new South Korea regulations are said to target money laundering and other financial crimes, and include the closure of anonymous accounts next month, a ban on new anonymous accounts, the ability for regulators to close virtual currency exchanges at will. 

“Officials share the view that virtual currency trading is overheating irrationally … and we can no longer overlook this abnormal speculative situation,” Hong Nam-ki, thw South Korean minister for government policy co-ordination said. Anonymous accounts currently in use will be closed next month, it added, without explaining how it planned to do this. –The Telegraph

South Korea’s announcement follows Vietnam’s central bank banning bitcoin as a “lawful means of payment” in October – ruling that the “issuance, supply, use of bitcoin and other similar virtual currency as a means of payment is prohibited.” When the law goes into effect on January 1, 2018 – illegal use of cryptocurrencies will result in fines between $6,600 – $8,800 USD.

Moreover, India’s Finance ministry issued an official statement Friday cautioning against trading in cryptocurrencies – likening them to “Ponzi schemes” and suggesting that participants in digital currencies do so “entirely at their risk and should best avoid participating therein.”

“There is a real and heightened risk of investment bubble of the type seen in Ponzi schemes”, which could result in a sudden and prolonged crash, the ministry said, adding that encrypted cryptocurrency transactions were likely used in things such as “terror-funding, smuggling, drug trafficking and other money laundering acts.”

Slowly but surely – the likes of Jamie Dimon realize they can’t shit-talk cryptocurrencies out of existence – so they’re doing the next best thing; regulating them until they’re no fun anymore. And if Australian banks are indeed freezing accounts of crypto traders, it looks like the war between central banks and cryptocurrencies is only heating up.

Following two weeks of excitement involving WikiLeaks, journalist Cassandra Fairbanks took to Twitter to implore President Trump to issue a preemptive pardon to founder Julian Assange – whose Twitter account was mysteriously deactivated for several hours on Christmas, several days after a WikiLeaks attorney’s office was broken into.

Sporting an “I’m with WikiLeaks” top like the one she wore to a January Senate hearing on hacking, Fairbanks begins her plea which was Retweeted by both official WikiLeaks accounts, by reminding people that the US has never filed any formal charges against Julian Assange:

 “I think that we should be pressuring Donald Trump to do more to help Julian Assange. It’s probably one of the most important things that he get out of that Embassy. The United States has never filed any formal charges against Assange.”

Trump has the ability to grant a preemptive pardon, which means that he would never have to face trial or be extradited here at all.” –Cassandra Fairbanks

Fairbanks then points out that the media thrives on leaked information, which is often false, and sometimes results in “disastrous consequences, sometimes even deadly – like the case in the Iraq War,” adding “unlike the fake news published by outlets like the NYT to sell war to the public, Assange has published true, real information that has influenced the public to want to get out of wars.”

She then notes that Assange was “once held in the absolute highest regard by the left for the publishing of the Iraq and Afghan war logs,” crippling the agenda of the “war-hungry swamp” and dealing a massive blow to the Bush administration.

We elected Trump because of his rejection of the war-monger establishment, and the fake news media. With what he represents, Trump should be giving Assange a medal and throwing him a parade instead of allowing his political persecution to continue. Assange is the bravest and most heroic man on the planet, and every day he is without freedom is a tragedy.

If Trump really wanted to stick it to the deep state, this would be how to do it. 

“Wikileaks doesn’t hack or steal documents – they simply publish things they obtain or are given to them. You know, like what Buzzfeed did when they published that debunked bullsh*t f*cking potty-dossier from John McCain,” said Fairbanks.

Watch below:

The only three things I believe in are the First Amendment, boobs, and WikiLeaks pic.twitter.com/lPGrWaXDFh

— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) December 27, 2017

Last week, three hooded figures dressed in black broke into the Madrid office of WikiLeaks lawyer Baltasar Garzon at dawn on Monday morning, in what police are describing as a “very professional” operation they are treating as an attempted robbery, according to Spain’s largest newspaper, El País. Garzon heads Assange’s legal defense, in particular working to avoid extradition to Sweden and preparing to face charges thought to be pending by U.S. authorities.

The intruders covered security cameras with tape, and there were no signs that anything was taken – however police are analyzing Garzon’s computer equipment to determine whether or not any files were taken or copied. “They have not taken what they have been looking for,” Garzon told El Periodico, and told Ser magazine that his clients’ security “has not been affected,” and that the people “acted very quickly.”

Hours after the break-in, and shortly before WikiLeaks tweeted the original article from El País, Julian Assange called a Jimmy Dore video “Brilliant” which prominently features Assange’s interview with a Dutch television host in which the WikiLeaks founder all but used sign language to indicate slain DNC Seth Rich was his source.  (Assange clip at 21:30)

Then, on Christmas Eve, Julian Assange’s Twitter account was mysteriously deleted, only to be restored hours later with no explanation. Meanwhile, the US Navy’s official Twitter account shot off the following tweet later that day:

Shortly after, the Navy deleted the tweet, explaining that “an inadvertent keystroke by an authorized user of the U.S. Navy Office of Information’s Digital Media Engagement Team caused the trending term “Julian Assange” to be tweeted from the Navy’s official Twitter account” and in a follow up tweet added that “the inadvertent tweet was briefly posted for a few second before it was quickly deleted by the same authorized user. The inadvertent tweet was sent during routine monitoring of trending topics.”

Adding to the mystery, in an official statement, WikiLeaks noted that apart from increased surveillance at the Ecuadorian embassy, the 46-year-old Australian was fine. “Despite some oddities from the US Navy and Twitter today and increased physical surveillance @JulianAssange’s physical situation at the embassy remains unaltered–confined without charge in violation of two UN rulings requiring the UK to set him free,” the statement read.

Between the break-in at their lawyer’s office, the strange Twitter account incident and the weird tweet from the Navy – perhaps Cassandra Fairbanks is WikiLeaks’ last hope.

Goldman Sachs has accelerated nearly $100 million in stock awards to top executives before the end of the year in order to avoid unfavorable changes in the new tax code, according to public filings posted Friday.

The most sweeping overhaul of U.S. tax code in 30 years includes a provision which caps a corporate deduction for executive pay; under current law, corporations can deduct up to $1 million per executive’s base salary, however there’s no cap on deductions for performance-based pay, such as bonuses.

Under the new provisions, both base salary and performance bonuses count towards to $1 million cap – which is why Goldman accelerated $94.8 million in bonuses originally scheduled for January, 2017, reports CNN.

Most of Goldman’s executives received early payouts – including of course, CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

Accelerated bonuses aren’t the only thing at least temporarily grinding Goldman’s gears about the new tax code. According to another Friday filing with the SEC, Trump’s “repatriation tax” is going to knock approximately $3.3 billion off its profits in Q4 2017.

[T]he enactment of the Tax Legislation will result in a reduction of approximately $5 billion in the firm’s earnings for the fourth quarter and year ending December 31, 2017, approximately two-thirds of which is due to the repatriation tax.

The repatriation tax is designed to encourage companies like Apple – with their $250 billion offshore cash hoard, to bring trillions of dollars home in exchange for a one-time break on taxes – which were at 35% before the new provisions were signed into law.

Citigroup estimates that US companies hold $2.5tn of capital overseas, with executives justifying the tax-dodge as a measure to look out for shareholder interests.

The remaining 1/3 of Goldman’s $5 billion hit “includes the effects of the implementation of the territorial tax system and the remeasurement of U.S. deferred tax assets at lower enacted corporate tax rates,” making it more difficult for them to deduct past losses from future tax bills.

Barclays estimates this change will cost them around £1 billion ($1.35bn usd).

Barclays said the change had reduced the value of its “deferred tax assets” and would result in an associated one-off charge of about £1bn after tax.

It is expected to drag Barclays’ full-year earnings further into the red. The bank lost £628m in the first nine months of the year due to write-offs related to pulling out of African ventures. –The Guardian

On the bright side, the US corporate tax rate has been cut from 35% to 21% with the new law.

As The Guardian notes, the tax changes were overseen by treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin – a 17 year Goldman vet who declared the bill to be “great for hardworking workers.”

originally published by ZeroHedge

The liberal media elite has painted itself into a corner of lies, setting the GOP up for a massive victory in 2018, says Newt Gingrich.

In a Fox News op-ed, the former Speaker of the House slams the MSM for flat-out lying to the American public in their attempt to denigrate the Trump administration. Unfortunately for them, Gingrich says, it will be their undoing come midterms.

“As I listened to the end of the year “analysts,” I was struck by how little they know, how little they have questioned their own mistakes, and how mutually reinforcing their false information has been,” wrote Gingrich, adding “These are not analysts. These are liberal propagandists. Much of what they assert is just plain wrong. Fake news is, sadly, an accurate term. And the topic about which they have been the most fake is the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.”

The tax cuts will be the 2018 proving ground of media liberal bias and dishonesty. –Newt Gingrich

In their quest to slam Trump, says Gingrich, the media first lied about the tax bill, convincing Americans that their taxes would go up. Next, they took surveys of people who opposed the GOP bill based on false information.

After that, liberal talking heads slammed the GOP tax plan over and over ad nauseum – talking about how unpopular it was based on their tainted polls, and concluding that it was going to weaken Republican candidates in 2018.

As an example of how bad midterms are going to go for the left, Gingrich pointed to a massive propaganda fail by CBS news in which they interviewed three families to ask how they thought the GOP tax bill would affect them. Then they had a CPA tell them, on camera, what they would actually be paying in taxes next year.

And what do you know – while the liberal hosts and all three families clearly expected to pay more in taxes or not save any money, it turned out that they would all pay less under the GOP tax cuts than under current law.

A North Carolina single mother with an income slightly under $40,000 who didn’t think she would be affected will keep about $1,300 more per year under the GOP bill.

Two college teachers in Rhode Island with a joint income of over $150,000 a year thought they would pay more taxes, but they will actually pay about $650 less under the GOP tax cut.

The biggest surprise in the CBS report was the impact the tax cuts would have on a California couple with three children, a small business, and earning an income of approximately $300,000. The family believed that because California is a high-tax state, that capping state and local tax deductions would really hurt them. Instead, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will save them nearly $13,000 in taxes.

The CBS analyst was forced to admit that “every one of the families will have more money in their pocket next year.”

Gingrich says that the “gap between the news media falsehoods and the dramatically better reality of the GOP tax cuts will have three huge effects on the 2018 campaign:

1. The American people will be positively surprised and pleased by the degree to which Republicans kept their word and actually put more money in taxpayer pockets.

2. The news media’s dishonesty will be vivid at a personal level. People will be able to compare their personal experience with the news media’s fake reporting and endless bias. As the truth sinks in, the ability of the liberal media to shape opinion will decline even further.

3. Democrats who voted against the bill will live to regret it as people look at their family budgets and realize Democrats in the House and Senate wanted Washington bureaucrats to have more money, rather than hard-working Americans. This will certainly be a losing proposition for the 10 Senate Democrats up for re-election in states President Trump won in 2016.

In closing, Gingrich states “If Republicans can learn to tell the truth better than the elite media and Democrats lie, the GOP will win an astonishing victory in 2018.”

NYU professor Justin Lerner is reportedly encouraging fellow teachers to require their students wear name tags which identify their chosen gender – a suggestion intended to eliminate ‘microagressions’ by people who assume a person’s gender, when in fact said life form has chosen to identify as something different.

Lerner wrote an 11-page article along with Simmons College Professor Anjali Fulambarker, entitled “Beyond Diversity and Inclusion; Creating a Social Justice Agenda in the Classroom,” which you can rent for 24-hours at the low price of $42.50!

Via Campus Reform: 

To rid classrooms of microaggressions, their first recommendation for professors involves requiring students to wear ‘name cards with gender pronouns’ so that students ‘can avoid being mislabeled from the 1st day.’

‘Each week, for the entirety of the semester, students should wear these name tags, which also may help the instructor take attendance by picking up the name tags at the end of class each week,’ they explain.

Other microagressions to avoid so that students aren’t faced with uncomfortable words, are “guys,” “pow-wow,” and “American.”

A CNBC director has been busted for spying on his teenage live-in nanny, according to the Daily News.

Dan Switzen, 44, was arrested and charged with unlawful surveillance by Pleasantville NY police after his 18-year-old au pair and her two friends, also 18, discovered a hidden camera inside of a tissue box in her bathroom on November 13, according to authorities.

The shocked teenagers took the camera to Pleasantville police just before 8pm that night, which was found to contain incriminating images on the memory card.

“He intentionally installed a video recording device in a tissue box located in his family’s bathroom to surreptitiously view a person dressing or undressing…at a place and time when (the victim) had a reasonable expectation of privacy without (her) knowledge or consent,” –Pleasantville Police

Unlawful surveillance is a class E felony in New York, punishable by probation or up to four years in prison.

Switzen, a New York native, was the director of CNBC’s Power Lunch was formerly the director of CNBC’s Suze Orman show for over a decade. He was released without bail according to his lawyer, Jeffrey Chartier, who said with a straight face: “He’s a very decent family man. I don’t want to litigate these allegations in the press,” adding “We will defend him accordingly.”

Along with Switzen’s work for CNBC, he runs a “beachbody” coaching service with his wife, operating a website – which has been yanked down (but archived) – promoting his fitness business – “Get Fit With Dan.”

“Having my wife as my work ot partner has been a great inspiration. Seeing her work hard and getting results makes me work harder. We push and encourage each other which definitely gets us through the work outs. Working out should be fun and not a chore. By working out together we have enhanced our relationship.” –Dan Switzen

CNBC declined to comment…

After getting busted last week for purposefully throttling its older iPhones, Apple, Inc. issued a second statement on the matter – this time an apology: “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize,” the company said, adding “we have never – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.”

The culprit, says Apple, is degrading older batteries which can’t handle the demands of newer processors. To make up for their throttling, which only came to light after they were BUSTED, the company is now offering the following (full letter below):

• Reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 — from $79 to $29 — for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January and available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com.

In early December, Reddit user TeckFire posted a report in the iPhone subreddit, noting that after experiencing a painful slowdown on his iPhone 6S, a brand new battery resulted in significant improvement in benchmark scores – as can be seen in photos posted to the thread:

After testing performed by Geekbench developer John Poole, it was indeed confirmed that iPhones were being throttled to preserve battery life or avoid unexpected shutdowns while the battery degrades.

So it's true Apple intentionally slow down old iPhones. Proof: My iPhone 6 was bought 3years ago and recently got really slow. APP 'CPU DasherX' shows iPhone CPU is under clocked running at 600MHz. After a iPhone battery replacement. CPU speed resumed to factory setting 1400MHz. pic.twitter.com/pML3y0Jkp2

— Sam_Si (@sam_siruomu) December 20, 2017

The Cupertino, CA company responded to the internet sleuths, admitting in a statement “Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.”

“Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future,” said the company.

As TechCrunch explained:

Basically, iPhones were hitting peaks of processor power that the battery was unable to power and the phones were shutting off. Apple then added power management to all iPhones at the time that would “smooth out” those peaks by either capping the power available from the battery or by spreading power requests over several cycles. This is clearly shown in Poole’s charts in his post:

Many pointed out how bad it looks for Apple – which has been accused of throttling older phones to make them buy new ones, was caught throttling phones. No matter how legitimate the reason, the fact that they were caught – and forced to admit – is going to fuel conspiracy theories for a while.

For years, we’ve reassured people that no, Apple doesn’t secretly slow down their older iPhones to make them buy new ones.

If this must be done, it should be a setting. If it’s on by default, the user should be alerted the first time it happens.https://t.co/kRRmd7mN72

— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) December 20, 2017

The reputation damage from secretly slowing down old iPhones, regardless of the reason, will likely linger for a decade.

— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) December 20, 2017

—

Apple’s full letter below (link):

A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process. We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we’re making.

First and foremost, we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.

How batteries age

All rechargeable batteries are consumable components that become less effective as they chemically age and their ability to hold a charge diminishes. Time and the number of times a battery has been charged are not the only factors in this chemical aging process.

Device use also affects the performance of a battery over its lifespan. For example, leaving or charging a battery in a hot environment can cause a battery to age faster. These are characteristics of battery chemistry, common to lithium-ion batteries across the industry.

A chemically aged battery also becomes less capable of delivering peak energy loads, especially in a low state of charge, which may result in a device unexpectedly shutting itself down in some situations.

To help customers learn more about iPhone’s rechargeable battery and the factors affecting its performance, we’ve posted a new support article, iPhone Battery and Performance.

It should go without saying that we think sudden, unexpected shutdowns are unacceptable. We don’t want any of our users to lose a call, miss taking a picture or have any other part of their iPhone experience interrupted if we can avoid it.

Preventing unexpected shutdowns

About a year ago in iOS 10.2.1, we delivered a software update that improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE. With the update, iOS dynamically manages the maximum performance of some system components when needed to prevent a shutdown. While these changes may go unnoticed, in some cases users may experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance.

Customer response to iOS 10.2.1 was positive, as it successfully reduced the occurrence of unexpected shutdowns. We recently extended the same support for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in iOS 11.2.

Of course, when a chemically aged battery is replaced with a new one, iPhone performance returns to normal when operated in standard conditions.

Recent user feedback

Over the course of this fall, we began to receive feedback from some users who were seeing slower performance in certain situations. Based on our experience, we initially thought this was due to a combination of two factors: a normal, temporary performance impact when upgrading the operating system as iPhone installs new software and updates apps, and minor bugs in the initial release which have since been fixed.

We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices, many of which are still running on their original batteries.

Addressing customer concerns

We’ve always wanted our customers to be able to use their iPhones as long as possible. We’re proud that Apple products are known for their durability, and for holding their value longer than our competitors’ devices.

To address our customers’ concerns, to recognize their loyalty and to regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple’s intentions, we’ve decided to take the following steps:

• Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 — from $79 to $29 — for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January and available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com.
• Early in 2018, we will issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.
• As always, our team is working on ways to make the user experience even better, including improving how we manage performance and avoid unexpected shutdowns as batteries age.

At Apple, our customers’ trust means everything to us. We will never stop working to earn and maintain it. We are able to do the work we love only because of your faith and support — and we will never forget that or take it for granted.

A bikini-clad Tiffany and Ivanka Trump took to Instagram to wish the world a warm Merry Christmas from the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. The pair was looking quite angelic with Instagram’s angel-wing and halo filter, blowing kisses at the camera while “O holy night” blared in the background.

❄️ @ivankatrump

A post shared by Tiffany Ariana Trump (@tiffanytrump) on Dec 26, 2017 at 11:59am PST

Here’s the pair at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting from early December:

?❣️ lovely night at the annual National Christmas Tree Lighting! @ivankatrump [Official White House Photo- Allaina Parton]

A post shared by Tiffany Ariana Trump (@tiffanytrump) on Dec 1, 2017 at 2:45pm PST

First Lady Melania Trump also took to Instagram to wish everyone a Merry Christmas using Instagram’s Santa hat filter with glowing reindeers.

Merry Christmas! ???

A post shared by First Lady Melania Trump (@flotus) on Dec 25, 2017 at 5:39am PST

On Christmas Eve, Melania posted this picture of she and President Trump chatting with children who called NORAD’s Santa Tracker:

@POTUS and I had fun helping children track #Santa tonight. Wishing everyone a wonderful #ChristmasEve ?

A post shared by First Lady Melania Trump (@flotus) on Dec 24, 2017 at 3:05pm PST

“But I wanted to talk to Santa!”

An All Nippon Airways flight en route from Los Angeles to Tokyo was forced to turn around four hours into the eleven hour journey to remove an “unauthorized person” from the flight, angering passengers who were told by the airline that passenger had a ticket for another airline.

A twitter user claiming to have been on board flight ANA 175 said that four people were questioned and detained; “1 Muslim,2 white, and 1 asian lady.” 

Police said the massive U-turn was due to a “mix up, and was straightened out,” according to ABC7, and that the flight has been rescheduled to depart Wednesday morning.

Model Christine Teigen was aboard and documented the incident over Twitter.

a flying first for me: 4 hours into an 11 hour flight and we are turning around because we have a passenger who isn’t supposed to be on this plane. Why…why do we all gotta go back, I do not know

— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) December 27, 2017

.@chrissyteigen is on an international flight that turned around 4 hours in because a passenger isn’t supposed to be on plane. Look at this flight path! This is my Twilight Zone. pic.twitter.com/II06VmfOah

— Jensen Karp (@JensenClan88) December 27, 2017

Police were interviewing people seated near the mystery passenger, according to Teigen.

Police were interviewing all the people seated around the mystery person once we got off the plane. Why would they do this! I MUST KNOW MORE

— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) December 27, 2017

There is a 20 minute interview before we can get off the plane!! This is my dream. Police! Talk to me talk to me

— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) December 27, 2017

ok I’m officially ready to say something is up

— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) December 27, 2017

One twitter user said that four passengers were detained:

Im on the flight. 4 people were detained

— Devante Sison (@heat_nation6mvp) December 27, 2017

There were 4 people questioned. 1 Muslim,2 white, and 1 asian lady

— Devante Sison (@heat_nation6mvp) December 27, 2017

3 male and 1 female and they didnt get handcuffed

— Devante Sison (@heat_nation6mvp) December 27, 2017

Another twitter user claims that passengers had to sign an NDA:

Person removed from plane that turned around halfway to Tokoyo and returned to LAX must have been a big fish! All the passengers had to sign a NDA!

— ??Malenkaya?? (@Malenkayame555) December 27, 2017

My first tweet can’t be more epic than this: just survived an 8-hour LAX-LAX flight with @chrissyteigen and @johnlegend on #ANA #NH175 pic.twitter.com/yY0vIqfcja

— Raffy (@Raffywu) December 27, 2017