Monthly Archives: May 2023

Former Air Force linguist Reality Winner was charged in June 2017 with sharing classified National Security Agency materials with a news organization. Now shes the subject of an HBO movie.

Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria) will portray the 25-year-old whistleblower who leaked classified documents to The Intercept about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Winner was formally charged under the Espionage Act and sentenced to five years and three months in jail in 2018.

The docudrama, set to debut on May 29, focuses on the investigation into Winners motivations behind printing and sharing the documents.

Im trying to deploy, Im not trying to be a whistleblower. Thats crazy, she says in one scene.

Winner is portrayed in the beginning of the trailer as a quirky, but ordinary person, but as the serious nature of her actions begin to close in the walls around her, her unflappable demeanor slowly dissolves.

In 2019, Tina Satter put together a play, titled This is a Room, based on the transcript of Winners FBI interview. The play served as the basis for the HBO treatment.

Ultimately, Winner pleaded guilty and served a prison term until 2021, when she was moved to a halfway house.

Reality premieres May 29 on Max.

Observation Post is the Military Times one-stop shop for all things off-duty. Stories may reflect author observations.

Sarah Sicard is a Senior Editor with Military Times. She previously served as the Digitial Editor of Military Times and the Army Times Editor. Other work can be found at National Defense Magazine, Task & Purpose, and Defense News.

Read more:
HBO film based on NSA leaker Reality Winner slated for May 29 ... - Military Times

Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, has shared with his colleagues that heplans to step down from the dual-hatted role in the coming months, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

An individual informed on the matter said that Nakasone intends to depart from his positions in August or September, while others said the possible retirement ofGeorge Barnes, deputy director at NSA, may alter the generals plans.

It was not clear whether Nakasone would retire or take on a new position within the Biden administration, according to multiple sources.

With Nakasone at the helm, NSA has improved its collaboration with Silicon Valley and CYBERCOM has advanced the persistent engagement and defend forward doctrines, the report said. Nakasone has served in these positions for over five years.

The current administration has not yet named a possible replacement for the NSA chief, but sources said Air ForceLt. Gen. Tim Haugh, deputy commander of CYBERCOM, has been included in the shortlist of names.

Follow this link:
Gen. Paul Nakasone Plans to Step Down as NSA Director ... - Executive Gov

Readout of NSA Jake Sullivans Meeting with CCP Politburo Member and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi - U.S. Embassy & Consulates in China

",c,">"].join("")}var c="body",e=h[c];if(!e)return setTimeout(q,100);a.P(1);var d="appendChild",g="createElement",i="src",k=h[g]("div"),l=k[d](h[g]("div")),f=h[g]("iframe"),n="document",p;k.style.display="none";e.insertBefore(k,e.firstChild).id=o+"-"+j;f.frameBorder="0";f.id=o+"-frame-"+j;/MSIE[ ]+6/.test(navigator.userAgent)&&(f[i]="javascript:false");f.allowTransparency="true";l[d](f);try{f.contentWindow[n].open()}catch(s){a.domain=h.domain,p="javascript:var d="+n+".open();d.domain='"+h.domain+"';",f[i]=p+"void(0);"}try{var r=f.contentWindow[n];r.write(b());r.close()}catch(t) { f[i]=p+'d.write("'+b().replace(/"/g,String.fromCharCode(92)+'"')+'");d.close();'}a.P(2)}; a.l&&setTimeout(q,0)})()}();c[b].lv="1";return c[b]}var o="lightningjs",k=window[o]=g(o);k.require=g;k.modules=c}({}); if(!navigator.userAgent.match(/Android|BlackBerry|BB10|iPhone|iPad|iPod|Opera Mini|IEMobile/i)) {window.usabilla_live = lightningjs.require("usabilla_live", "//w.usabilla.com/a5fe257d2b93.js"); } else {window.usabilla_live = lightningjs.require("usabilla_live", "//w.usabilla.com/3c6fd89a0c77.js"); }/*]]>{/literal}*/

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .govA .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPSA lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Local Emergency Information and Contacts

Read alerts for U.S. Citizens

Readout of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivans Meeting with Chinese Communist Party Politburo Member and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi

MAY 11, 2023

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met from May 10-11 with Chinese Communist Party Politburo Member and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi in Vienna. The two sides had candid, substantive, and constructive discussions on key issues in the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, global and regional security issues, Russias war against Ukraine, and cross-Strait issues, among other topics. This meeting was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition. The two sides agreed to maintain this important strategic channel of communication to advance these objectives, building on the engagement between President Biden and President Xi in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2022.

###

Read more from the original source:
Readout of NSA Jake Sullivan's Meeting with CCP Politburo ... - US Embassy & Consulates in China

As with previous giveaways, this gives young sheep enthusiasts aged 18 to 35 the opportunity to win one of five MV accredited, performance recorded Romney rams, kindly provided by Rob and Jo Hodgkins, of Kaiapoi Romneys, through the Frank Parkinson Agricultural Trust. But new for 2023, NSA is also teaming up with the Dutch Spotted Sheep Society to giveaway five ram vouchers, each to the value of 750, to be redeemed at an official Dutch Spotted Sheep Society sale in 2023.

NSA communications manager, Katie James, who is co-ordinating the giveaway, said: The addition of the Dutch Spotted ram vouchers to the giveaway will mean even more young shepherds will be able to benefit from this initiative. The two breeds will offer sheep farmers from contrasting systems the opportunity to benefit from top class genetics that will help them progress their systems.

Edward Adamson, for the Dutch Spotted Sheep Society, added: As a relatively new breed in the UK the Dutch Spotted Sheep Society understands the difficulties of getting started and is pleased to take this opportunity to help some enthusiastic young sheep farmers establish their businesses and realise the qualities of the Dutch Spotted breed.

READ MORE:National Sheep Association slam Lynx reintroduction plans

The giveaway is just one element of the programme that encourages and supports the sheep farmers and service providers of the future. The programme is inviting applications from enthusiastic young sheep farmers in the UK who would like to be considered as a recipient of a Kaiapoi Romney ram or a Dutch Spotted ram voucher to apply and be considered by submitting a short video clip explaining the reasons for their application and an overview of why they believe they should be considered as a chosen recipient.

Applications opened on Monday, May 15 and will remain open until Monday, June 19. All applicants will be notified of whether they have made it to the next stage of the application process. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an online selection interview during the week beginning Monday, July 17, 2023 via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and the successful applicants informed within 48 hours.

For full entry guidance and terms and conditions of the giveaway visit https://go.nationalsheep.org.uk/GENE-eration.

The rest is here:
Young sheep farmers to be given genetic boost by new NSA giveaway - The Scottish Farmer

Few actresses under 30 could claim as much success as Sydney Sweeney over the last two years. Her breakout performance on HBOs Euphoria scored Sweeney a well-deserved Emmy Award nomination for Best Drama Supporting Actress in 2022 one of two nominations the 25-year-old landed last year (the other being Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress for The White Lotus). That creative recognition has led her to numerous high-profile projects, including a key part in the Spider-man spinoff Madame Web opposite Dakota Johnson and a lead role with Glen Powell in the Sony romantic comedy Anyone But You.

But the prolific Sweeney who also maintains numerous brand partnerships and a heavy social media presence as well had never come across a project like Reality before. The new HBO film, co-written and directed by Tina Satter and based on her own play, is about the arrest of NSA whistleblower Reality Winner and unfolds in real-time, taking its dialogue and structure directly from the FBIs arrest transcript.

More from GoldDerby

SEEReality trailer: Sydney Sweeney stars as Reality Winner in new Max movie [Watch]

I am always searching for characters that I havent done before or challenged me in new ways than previous ones have, Sweeney tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview. So when Reality came across my table, I was very much drawn to it because of the challenge. And just the script itself. It was just a completely different thing than Ive ever seen before.

Reality opens with Winner being confronted outside her suburban home by two FBI agents (played by Josh Hamilton and Marchant Davis) and eventually moves to a back room in Winners house for the lengthy interrogation scene, which Sweeney estimates comprised almost 60 pages of the economical script. (Reality clocks in at under 90 minutes in total running time.)

Story continues

Once we got into that room, we were there and it was basically one scene, Sweeney explains. Tina did such an amazing job of flawlessly finding places to be able to cut because we couldnt film all of that in one day we filmed the whole movie in 16 days. And so we had 10 to 15 pages per day to film, and you kind of just start to feel the weight and the gravity of the situation as the walls slowly come closer and closer in as youre filming, because we filmed most of it in order.

When playing a fictional person like Cassie Howard on Euphoria, Sweeney spends months writing lengthy character bibles filled with details that help her understand the person shes tasked to create onscreen. But for Reality, Sweeney adopted a hybrid approach that combined her own creative imagination with actual conversations she had with Winner over Zoom and text message.

I wanted to find a mixture of the two [research methods] because I wanted to, of course, learn as much as I possibly could about Reality, she says. I knew the box within what her life was and her memories, and I wanted as much as I could learn from her. Then I took all of that knowledge, and I put it into my books, and I just expanded it from there so that I had it was more fleshed out.

Winner was arrested on June 3, 2017, and was sentenced in 2018 to five years and three months in jail for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. She received the longest sentence ever for releasing classified documents to the media but was released from prison in 2021 on account of good behavior. Sweeney says what surprised her about Winner was the former NSA translators sense of humor.

She has quite an interesting sense of humor about herself, Sweeney says. So once I learned that, and I got to know her, and I reread the transcript in the script, I saw so much of that in there that I didnt see before.

Sweeney says Winner supports Reality and her family attended the films premiere at the Berlin Film Festival this year, where Satters feature premiere to rave reviews for its star.

Its a different muscle playing someone who is real, Sweeney says of what shell take from the film. I definitely loved that. And I think that Id really enjoy finding another character thats based off of a real person and diving into the research on that person.

Reality premieres May 29 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and will stream on Max.

PREDICTthe 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12

Make your predictionsat Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app forApple/iPhone devicesorAndroid (Google Play)to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See ourlatest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Dont miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in ourfamous forumswhere 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

SIGN UPfor Gold Derbys free newsletter with latest predictions

Best of GoldDerby

Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.

Read the original here:
Sydney Sweeney wanted to be challenged by Reality: Its a different muscle playing someone who is real [Exclusive Video Interview] - Yahoo...

On September 26, 2022, at approximately 2:03 a.m. local time in the Baltic Sea off the southeast coast of the Danish island of Bornholm, the Nord Stream 2 underwater pipeline was rocked by a blast. That explosion, followed by a series of other targeted detonations on the older Nord Stream 1 pipelines some 17 hours later, were swiftly assessed to be the result of deliberate sabotage. The explosions off the Swedish and Danish coasts set off an international mystery with unimaginably high stakes. There are a variety of international players, including powerful nation states, who would have had the motive, capability, and opportunity to conduct such an operation.

This week on Intercepted, investigative journalist and author James Bamford takes us on a tour of what he calls the biggest Whodunnit of the century. Bamford is one of the most respected experts on U.S. intelligence operations and covert action. He is the author of several best-selling books, including The Puzzle Palace: A Report on Americas Most Secret Agency and The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA From 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America. His most recent book is Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of Americas Counterintelligence.

Last week, The Nation published a story by Bamford in which he argues that Ukraine and Poland should be viewed as the top suspects in the sabotage and that the U.S. government almost certainly knows exactly who bombed the pipelines and how. That story is titled The Nord Stream Explosions: New Revelations About Motive, Means, and Opportunity.

Transcript coming soon.

Correction: May 17, 2023, 12:36 p.m. ETA previous version of this episode incorrectly numbered the initial blast on the Nord Stream 2 underwater pipeline at 2:03 a.m. The show description and audio have been updated.

Go here to see the original:
Intercepted: The Biggest Whodunnit of the Century - The Intercept

Are you taking advantage of the greatest marketing opportunity that has been available to chiropractors in its 127 years of practice? It is called the No Surprises Act (NSA), and here is something that might surprise you: This regulatory act is, in fact, a huge chance to turn personal injury patients into long-term wellness care patients.

Thats right: Injury care can work as a feeder to wellness care. If you approach this correctly, you have a huge profit advantage before you. Patients entering your practice through injury care, and especially through personal injury (PI), are more likely to enter into, commit, and see through longer-term wellness care plans. You profit more, and your business is worth more as a result.

Lets start by considering the problem with the business of chiropractic.

Most people who seek chiropractic care do so when they have back or neck pain. They come in for an adjustment here and there. And many others still consider chiropractic care to be quackery.

But we all know chiropractic care has much more to offer, addressing adrenal fatigue, headaches, gut problems, stress, insomnia and other maladies. Chiropractic is science-based, noninvasive injury and preventive wellness care, helping relieve (if not remove) pain, leading to a healthier life.

And yet, rare is the person who includes chiropractic care as part of a long-term wellness plan. They go to the gym, get massages and pluck their eyebrows on a routine basis, but chiropractic care is sought out on an as-needed basis, if at all.

Whether they realize it or not, most chiropractors fuel that perception by seeing patients on a per visit model. Under this model, you, the chiropractor, see the patient today, and then determine if you will see them again. You repeat the cycle at each visit.

The problem, then, is that a chiropractor must hustle continuously to fill those daily and weekly patient slots. Instead of having a steady stream of wellness patients already committed to a visit regimen, the business chases one-off patients, hoping they come back. And this lowers the business valuation because it has no roster of long-term care patients who have already committed to care over months, if not years.

Much like personal-injury patients who are traditionally slotted in advance for 15-30 visits, so, too, are term wellness care patients. If you can find more of these patients, your upcoming patient visit slots will already be filling up, which is great for you now, and also when you want to sell your practice.

The foundation for success, then, is transitioning your chiropractic office to one that has a healthy stream of patients who see you for a term of care, not just one or a few visits. These patients have committed to a treatment plan over time, in advance, which is a far more profitable and value-driven business model.

Having a loyal, pre-committed client base as a business asset increases the value of your business, which is important when it comes time to exit your business and sell it. Rather than simply being valued for the treatment beds and medical equipment owned by your business, plus gross annual revenues, your business valuation increases when you have patients committed to treatment over time.

That increase can be quite substantial. After all, you have a proven business that is not reliant upon that days walk-ins. Indeed, walks-ins should end up being 20% of your daily patient flow, if that.

This is a doable goal over time, and both the synergy between injury care and wellness care, along with the effects of the No Surprises Act, can rocket your practice to another level.

To be sure, great business owners start with the end in mind. They think like chess players, considering how they will establish a profitable business they can sell for the highest amount possible, and they know the moves it takes to get there.

Whether you realize it or not, every PI patient starts off as a term-care-plan patient. The secret is turning those term PI patients into term-wellness-care-plan patients. In fact, any practice focusing only on injury care is missing the synergy and gold of wellness care.

Injury care and wellness care go hand-in-hand. Those injured at some point heal, but need further care for maintenance and prevention of further injury. Those undergoing wellness care, like it or not, get into PI or other injury care situations. Each exists alongside the other, in a wonderful symbiotic dance.

When you combine injury care and the No Surprises Act, you can get a true business advantage that can fuel your term-care-plan wellness patients to the advantage of both your patients, your practice and your pockets.

In January of 2022, Congress passed the No Surprises Act (NSA) to curtail surprise billings. The meat of the NSA is something called a good faith estimate, or a GFE. Essentially, the NSA wants patients to be given a GFE before treatment begins so their medical bill does not surprise them, and so they have an opportunity to shop for alternative treaters, should they believe the GFE is too high.

Heres how it fits into personal injury and chiropractic care. The No Surprises Act mandates term-care plan estimates. When any uninsured or self-pay patient personal injury, cash or otherwise schedules a visit for treatment, you should (and generally must) provide a GFE that covers your anticipated medical care up to a full years worth. And that GFE must be provided in advance of care depending upon when the appointment was scheduled.

The NSA is intended to apply to all uninsured and all self-pay patients, which includes your PI patients, even if they have insurance and even if they have medical expense or personal injury protection (MedPay or PIP) as part of their auto policy coverage. Self-pay essentially means the patient may have to pull money out of their own pocket. Given there is no guarantee a PI patient will win a claim or lawsuit, or that MedPay or PIP will for sure cover your bill, the NSA likely will be deemed to apply to your PI patients.

And guess what a GFE is? Essentially, it is a long-term-care plan just a very detailed one, having all the what, when and how much fully laid out so there are no surprises.

Before the NSA was passed, at best, you likely provided a fee schedule to your patient. Now, you are required to detail all diagnosis codes, treatment codes, frequency of treatment and cost. You are also required to include any co-providers or co-facilities, such as imaging, into your GFE if you are the primary provider and in PI cases, the chiropractor usually is.

That GFE needs to be provided in advance of care or by the second visit, depending upon when the first appointment was scheduled. And this is to your advantage.

Consider, for instance, how you are training your patients. Estimates can change, which means you will likely issue updated GFEs throughout treatment for the patients to sign off on. This puts you and your patients in the habit of thinking long-term.

Even better, the attorney, upon seeing the price tag of your GFE, will shout, Yes! Do that!

The patient benefits, too, through exposure to chiropractic care the No. 1 specialty in PI cases in most regions. All too often, though, it is also the first time that patient has ever been to a chiropractor. Even if they think chiropractic care is a bit unorthodox, they get treated, given that the value of their PI case increases as their medical bills increase.

And PI patients show up as scheduled and comply with a longer treatment plan because of that potential financial gain. If they fail to comply with your treatment plan, their PI recovery can be negatively impacted. This is why PI patients generally have a higher percentage of positive health outcomes, which makes sense. If the patient shows up as the doctor advises, he or she gets healthier, faster.

As a result, your patient also is going to walk away from chiropractic care with the positive impression that your treatment made them healthier perhaps even significantly better. That creates loyal patients who are going to be more likely to move from injury care to maintenance care by becoming wellness patients.

Now, when you present a term care plan to a post-PI patient, that patient is far more likely to both agree and comply. What a wonderful thing for both the patients physical health and your businesss financial health.

Now, more patient visits are filled in advance, you have more contracted term patients, and as a result, life is easier and your business is worth more.

Long story short: Dont be afraid of PI or the No Surprises Act. Embrace both. Use the symbiotic relationship between injury and wellness care to the advantage of your patients, your practice and your profits.

MICHAEL COATES, ESQ, is a national authority on personal injury medical lien recovery and the founder of PIMadeEasy.com, which educates, coaches and trains medical providers and their staff to accelerate their success in personal injury. For more information, go to Facebook.com/groups/pimadeeasy.

Go here to read the rest:
Personal injury + the No Surprises Act - Chiropractic Economics