A well nourished Sudanese man steals maize from a starving child during a food distribution at a feeding center in Sudan in 1998. Photo by Tom Stoddart.
The CIA runs the USA, and other countries, using the 'Deep State'.According to John Glaser (The American Deep State by John Glaser - Antiwar.com):
"The US defense budget is the largest piece of the budget...
"The intelligence community is ... as a Washington Post investigation put it, 'so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs...
"The 'deep state' in America seems more threatening and out of control than does Pakistan's".
20111231
DEEP STATE - MAFIA, MEDIA, MILITARY, MOSLEMS, MASONS, MOSSAD...
20111230
Sniper Detectors Coming To America's Heartland
AP
Members of a SWAT unit take aim at a second floor apartment window during a 2006 standoff in which a shooter wounded three police officers and a state trooper.
Gunshots ring out in the dead of night, and not a single person reports it. Yet police know exactly where the shots came from, even before they arrive on the scene.
It sounds like a scene from The Minority Report, but it's real. A new technology called ShotSpotter enables law enforcement officials to precisely and instantaneously locate shooters, and it has been quietly rolling out across America. From Long Island, N.Y., to San Francisco, Calif., more than 60 cities in the U.S. have been leveraging ShotSpotter to make their streets safer.
via foxnews.com
MICROWAVE MIND CONTROL by Tim Rifat
As a scientist researching into microwave weapons used on the general public, evidence that the GM900 microwave network as used by Vodaphone and British Telecom, is a major health hazard, has come to my attention. Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) documents entitled: Biological Effects Of Electromagnetic Radiation (Radiowaves and Microwaves) Eurasian Communist Countries, show that microwave frequencies similar to those of the cellular phones can cause health problems in the following areas:
- Blood.
- Cardiovascular System.
- Cells.
- Central Nervous System.
- Digestive System.
- Glands.
- Metabolism.
- Reproduction.
- Visual System.
- Internal Sound Perception.
Equipment to test the frequency and intensity of microwave phones shows that they produce signals similar to microwave ovens. Two Vodaphone cellular phones were producing 100mW/cm2 and 50 mW/cm2 respectively. The danger level for microwave ovens is 5mW/cm2 and the Russians regularly used 10 mW/cm2 for weapon research. These Vodaphones will therefore cause significant health problems if used. A variety of cell phones can be tested to see how dangerous they are.
via whale.to
The Spy Who Bilked Me: Meet Bush's War Profiteering Chief Bin Laden Hunter
You've probably never heard of Marty Martin. He spent most of his life as an anonymous CIA operative. But he very recently came out of the closet as the man Bush put in charge of finding Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of 9/11, and guess what? It turns out the man Bush put in charge of finding bin Laden is an extremely shady and allegedly corrupt war profiteer. Who would have thought?
Martin, of course, never succeeded in catching bin Laden. He ran the CIA's bin Laden unit from 2002 to 2004, a fact that we now know only because he emerged to grab some credit for bin Laden's death and celebrate the agency's discontinued torture program: "We got beat up for it, but those efforts led to this great day," he told the Associated Press three weeks ago. Prior to that, he was just a nondescript former agency official who went into the security consulting business after retiring. The closest hint to just how key an official he was came from references to a "Marty M."—described as a sort of Jack Bauer of the bayou—in former CIA director George Tenet's memoir.
via gawker.com
History of FBI doing TCSM
Courtesy of Cryptome’s link distribution, we get to review http://www.governmentattic.org/5docs/FBI-62-HQ-97308-PhoneSecurity_1952-1995.pdf. We get a glimpse into the mind of 1952 (an era when crypto on land lines was very limited, indeed). We get to see how the US tapped and how it worked with the phone company to tap others – in the course of determining that standard US techniques for taps were not present (2-wire pair line tampering, inductive tapping of the 2-wire pair on local telephone pole, tapping of the “multiplying line” extensions). Let’s not forget jus “how physical” was telephony, in 1952.
20111228
Pentagon Finds No Fault In Its Ties to TV Analysts
A Pentagon public relations program that sought to transform high-profile military analysts into “surrogates” and “message force multipliers” for the Bush administration complied with Defense Department regulations and directives, the Pentagon’s inspector general has concluded after a two-year investigation.
The inquiry was prompted by articles published in The New York Times in 2008 that described how the Pentagon, in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks, cultivated close ties with retired officers who worked as military analysts for television and radio networks. The articles also showed how military analysts affiliated with defense contractors sometimes used their special access to seek advantage in the competition for contracts. In response to the articles, the Pentagon suspended the program and members of Congress asked the Defense Department’s inspector general to investigate.
In January 2009, the inspector general’s office issued a report that said it had found no wrongdoing in the program. But soon after, the inspector general’s office retracted the entire report, saying it was so riddled with inaccuracies and flaws that none of its conclusions could be relied upon. In late 2009, the inspector general’s office began a new inquiry.
The results of the new inquiry, first reported by The Washington Times, confirm that the Pentagon under Donald H. Rumsfeld made a concerted effort starting in 2002 to reach out to network military analysts to build and sustain public support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
via nytimes.com
20111227
ACARS CONFIRMED - 9/11 AIRCRAFT AIRBORNE LONG AFTER CRASH
Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) is a device used to send messages to and from an aircraft. Very similar to text messages and email we use today, Air Traffic Control, the airline itself, and other airplanes can communicate with each other via this "texting" system. ACARS was developed in 1978 and is still used today. Similar to cell phone networks, the ACARS network has remote ground stations installed around the world to route messages from ATC, the airline, etc, to the aircraft depending on it's location and vice versa. ACARS Messages have been provided through the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) which demonstrate that the aircraft received messages through ground stations located in Harrisburg, PA, and then later routed through a ground station in Pittsburgh, 20 minutes after the aircraft allegedly impacted the South Tower in New York. How can messages be routed through such remote locations if the aircraft was in NY, not to mention how can messages be routed to an aircraft which allegedly crashed 20 minutes earlier? Pilots For 9/11 Truth have briefly touched on this subject in 9/11: Intercepted through the excellent research of "Woody Box", who initially discovered such alarming information in the released FOIA documents(1). We now have further information which confirms the aircraft was not in the vicinity of New York City when the attacks occurred.
These are the 'text' (ACARS) messages in question -
While Drafting SOPA, the U.S. House Harbors BitTorrent Pirates
In recent weeks we discovered BitTorrent pirates at the RIAA, Sony, Fox, Universal and even law-abiding organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security. By now it should be clear that people are using BitTorrent pretty much everywhere, and not only for lawful downloads. Today we can add the U.S. House of Representatives to that list, the place where lawmakers are drafting the much discussed “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA).
YouHaveDownloaded is a treasure trove full of incriminating data on alleged BitTorrent pirates in organizations all across the world.
Unauthorized downloads occur even in the most unexpected of places, from the palace of the French President, via the Church of God, to the RIAA.
Although we don’t plan to go on forever trawling the archives, we felt that there was at least one place that warranted further investigation – the U.S. House of Representatives. Since it’s the birthplace of the pending SOPA bill, we wondered how many of the employees there have engaged in unauthorized copying.
The answer is yet again unambiguous – they pirate a lot.
via torrentfreak.com
TSA screenings aren't just for airports anymore
Reporting from Charlotte, N.C.—Rick Vetter was rushing to board the Amtrak train in Charlotte, N.C., on a recent Sunday afternoon when a canine officer suddenly blocked the way.Three federal air marshals in bulletproof vests and two officers trained to spot suspicious behavior watched closely as Seiko, a German shepherd, nosed Vetter's trousers for chemical traces of a bomb. Radiation detectors carried by the marshals scanned the 57-year-old lawyer for concealed nuclear materials.
When Seiko indicated a scent, his handler, Julian Swaringen, asked Vetter whether he had pets at home in Garner, N.C. Two mutts, Vetter replied. "You can go ahead," Swaringen said.
via latimes.com
20111226
JASON on Severe Space Weather and the Electric Grid
The U.S. electric power grid is vulnerable to damage from severe electromagnetic solar storms and remedial measures should be taken to reduce that vulnerability, a new study (large pdf) from the JASON scientific advisory panel concluded.
On the other hand, the JASONs said, catastrophic worst-case scenarios advanced by some are not plausible, and they should not serve as a basis for policy making.
Public disclosure of the new JASON study was blocked by the Department of Homeland Security, which sponsored the analysis. But a copy was obtained by Secrecy News.
via fas.org
IBM: Mind reading is less than five years away. For real.
The world is changing fast--maybe faster than we ever thought. And within five years, science fiction is going to turn into non-fiction. We'll be able to read each other's minds, forget all our passwords, and create all our own homes' energy.
These are just three of the five predictions IBM announced this morning as part of its annual "5 in 5" prognostication project.
The list is meant to promote long-term work being done under Big Blue's Smarter Planet initiative--and the company says "5 in 5" already has a track record of success. In 2008, IBM says, it suggested that within five years, consumers would talk to the Web--and the Web would respond.
This time, the predictions are perhaps a bit more fanciful:
via news.cnet.com
#Anonymous target US security think tank “Thank you! Defense Intelligence Agency”
The loose-knit hacking movement “Anonymous” claimed Sunday to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of U.S.-based security think tank Stratfor. One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals’ accounts to give away as Christmas donations, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions linked to their credit cards.Anonymous boasted of stealing Stratfor’s confidential client list, which includes entities ranging from Apple Inc. to the U.S. Air Force to the Miami Police Department, and mining it for more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses.
“Not so private and secret anymore?” Anonymous taunted in a message on Twitter, promising that the attack on Stratfor was just the beginning of a Christmas-inspired assault on a long list of targets.
Anonymous said the client list it had already posted was a small slice of the 200 gigabytes worth of plunder it stole from Stratfor and promised more leaks. It said it was able to get the credit card details in part because Stratfor didn’t bother encrypting them — an easy-to-avoid blunder which, if true, would be a major embarrassment for any security-related company.
Pak PM's PRO admits he is Headley's half-brother
NEW DELHI: Investigations into the connections of jailed US-based Lashkar terrorist David Coleman Headley have reached Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's office. ( Watch Video )
Danyal Gilani, PRO in the PM's office, confirmed on Saturday that he was Headley's half-brother. Headley dumped his original name, Daood Gilani, to mask his antecedents as a drug smuggler and escape profiling as a Muslim.
The acknowledgement, reported by PTI from Islamabad, came in response to a report in TOI. However, Danyal distanced himself from Headley saying he had very "little contact" with Daood since 2002 when he began living in Islamabad after passing the civil service exam.
Mossad ran 9/11 Arab "hijacker" terrorist operation
British intelligence reported in February 2002 that the Israeli Mossad ran the Arab hijacker cells that were later blamed by the U.S. government's 9/11 Commission for carrying out the aerial attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. WMR has received details of the British intelligence report which was suppressed by the government of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.
A Mossad unit consisting of six Egyptian- and Yemeni-born Jews infiltrated "Al Qaeda" cells in Hamburg (the Atta-Mamoun Darkanzali cell), south Florida, and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates in the months before 9/11. The Mossad not only infiltrated cells but began to run them and give them specific orders that would eventually culminate in their being on board four regularly-scheduled flights originating in Boston, Washington Dulles, and Newark, New Jersey on 9/11.
The Mossad infiltration team comprised six Israelis, comprising two cells of three agents, who all received special training at a Mossad base in the Negev Desert in their future control and handling of the "Al Qaeda" cells. One Mossad cell traveled to Amsterdam where they submitted to the operational control of the Mossad's Europe Station, which operates from the El Al complex at Schiphol International Airport. The three-man Mossad unit then traveled to Hamburg where it made contact with Mohammed Atta, who believed they were sent by Osama Bin Laden. In fact, they were sent by Ephraim Halevy, the chief of Mossad.
20111225
State Department scrambling to move the MEK -- to a former U.S. military base?
The Iraqi government has promised to shutter Camp Ashraf -- the home of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK) -- by Dec. 31. Now, the United Nations and the State Department are scrambling to move the MEK to another location inside Iraq, which just may be a former U.S. military base.
The saga puts the United Nations and President Barack Obama's administration in the middle of a struggle between the Iraqi government, a new and fragile ally, and the MEK, a persecuted group that is also on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The Marxist-Islamist group, which was formed in 1965, was used by Saddam Hussein to attack the Iranian government during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and has been implicated in the deaths of U.S. military personnel and civilians. The new Iraqi government has been trying to evict them from Camp Ashraf since the United States toppled Saddam in 2003. The U.S. military guarded the outside of the camp until handing over external security to the Iraqis in 2009. The Iraqi Army has since tried twice to enter Camp Ashraf, resulting in bloody clashes with the MEK both times.
Riot shields could scatter crowds with 'wall of sound'
RIOT shields that project a wall of sound to disperse crowds will reduce violent clashes with police, according to a patent filed by defence firm Raytheon of Waltham, Massachusetts.
The device looks similar to existing riot shields, but it incorporates an acoustic horn that generates a pressure pulse. Police in the US already use acoustic devices for crowd control purposes that emit a loud, unpleasant noise.
The new shield described by Raytheon produces a low-frequency sound which resonates with the respiratory tract, making it hard to breathe. According to the patent, the intensity could be increased from causing discomfort to the point where targets become "temporarily incapacitated".
via newscientist.com
DARPA’s New Spy Satellite Could Provide Real-Time Video From Anywhere on Earth
Artist concept of the Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE). Credit: DARPA
“It sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake” could be the theme song for a new spy satellite being developed by DARPA. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s latest proof-of-concept project is called the Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE), and would provide real-time images and video of any place on Earth at any time — a capability that, so far, only exists in the realm of movies and science fiction. The details of this huge eye-in-the-sky look like something right out of science fiction, as well, and it would be interesting to determine if it could have applications for astronomy as well.
20111222
On the Dark Side in Al Doura - A Soldier in the Shadows
via vimeo.com
"U.S. Army Ranger John Needham, who was awarded two purple hearts and three medals for heroism, wrote to military authorities in 2007 reporting war crimes that he witnessed being committed by his own command and fellow soldiers in Al Doura, Iraq. His charges were supported by atrocity photos which, in the public interest, are now released in this video. John paid a terrible price for his opposition to these acts. His story is tragic.
CBS reported obtaining an Army document from the Criminal Investigation Command suggestive of an investigation into these war crimes allegations. The Army's conclusion was that the "offense of War Crimes did not occur." However, CBS also stated that the report was “redacted and incomplete; 111 pages were withheld.”
This video is placed with the context of Vice President, Dick Cheney, insistence that this nation's efforts "must go to the dark side;" which included ignoring the Geneva Conventions.
John's story is told, here, by his father, Michael Needham. It is produced in the spirit of the public interest and towards promoting justice and the rule of law."
20111221
Finnish police find Patriot missiles in cargo
HELSINKI —Finnish police say they are investigating a cargo of 69 Patriot surface-to-air missiles found in a ship destined for the Chinese port of Shanghai.
The National Bureau of Investigation says the British-flagged M/S Thor Liberty arrived from northern Germany on Dec. 15 and docked in a Finnish port to load up with anchor chains.
The bureau said Wednesday that the vessel was held in port because it also contained materials for the manufacture of explosives.
It said police and customs officials are investigating whether the shipment broke Finnish laws on weapons trading.
U.S. Asks Journals to Censor Articles on Bird Flu Virus
For the first time ever, a government advisory board is asking scientific journals not to publish details of certain biomedical experiments, for fear that the information could be used by terrorists to create deadly viruses and touch off epidemics.
In the experiments, conducted in the United States and the Netherlands, scientists created a highly transmissible form of a deadly flu virus that does not normally spread from person to person. It was an ominous step, because easy transmission can lead the virus to spread all over the world. The work was done in ferrets, which are considered a good model for predicting what flu viruses will do in people.
The virus, A(H5N1), causes bird flu, which rarely infects people but has an extraordinarily high death rate when it does. Since the virus was first detected in 1997, about 600 people have contracted it, and more than half have died. Nearly all have caught it from birds, and most cases have been in Asia. Scientists have watched the virus, worrying that if it developed the ability to spread easily from person to person, it could create one of the deadliest pandemics ever.
via nytimes.com
20111220
2002: U.S. Reopens Arms Case In Probe for Taliban Role
Federal investigators are reexamining a recent arms smuggling case in Florida to determine whether agents of the Pakistani government tried to buy missiles and nuclear weapons components in the United States last year for use by terrorists or Pakistan's military.
The original criminal case -- a sting operation in which intermediaries allegedly tried to buy the weapons from a diamond thief-turned-informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- attracted little public notice when arrests were made in June 2001. It resulted in a single guilty plea and the sealing of court files for another defendant.
One reason, informed sources said, was that prosecutors, in an unusual step, removed references to Pakistan from public filings because of diplomatic concerns.
The alleged weapons buyers repeatedly said in conversations taped by authorities that they represented the Pakistani government and were arranging the purchases for Pakistani intelligence, the then-Taliban government of Afghanistan or terrorists.
20111219
RANDY GLASS AND OPERATION DIAMONDBACK
Spring 1999 (B): Randy Glass is a con artist turned government informant participating in a sting called Operation Diamondback. [Palm Beach Post, 9/29/01] He discusses an illegal weapons deal with an Egyptian American named Mohamed el Amir. In wiretapped conversations, Mohamed discusses the need to get false papers to disguise a shipment of illegal weapons. His brother, Dr. Magdy el Amir, has been a wealthy neurologist in Jersey City for the past twenty years. Two other weapons dealers later convicted in sting operation involving Glass also lived in Jersey City, and both el Amirs admit knowing one of them, Diaa Mohsen (see June 12, 2001). Mohsen has been paid at least once by Dr. el Amir. In 1998, Congressman Ben Gilman was given a foreign intelligence report suggesting that Dr. el Amir owns an HMO that is secretly funded by bin Laden, and that money is being skimmed from the HMO to fund terrorist activities. The state of New Jersey later buys the HMO and determines that $15 million were unaccounted for and much of that has been diverted into hard-to-trace offshore bank accounts.MSNBC, 3/18/03 (B)]
via s3.amazonaws.com
20111218
Drone-Ethics Briefing: What a Leading Robot Expert Told the CIA
Robots are replacing humans on the battlefield--but could they also be used to interrogate and torture suspects? This would avoid a serious ethical conflict between physicians' duty to do no harm, or nonmaleficence, and their questionable role in monitoring vital signs and health of the interrogated. A robot, on the other hand, wouldn't be bound by the Hippocratic oath, though its very existence creates new dilemmas of its own.
The ethics of military robots is quickly marching ahead, judging by news coverage and academic research. Yet there's little discussion about robots in the service of national intelligence and espionage, which are omnipresent activities in the background. This is surprising, because most military robots are used for surveillance and reconnaissance, and their most controversial uses are traced back to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in targeted strikes against suspected terrorists. Just this month, a CIA drone --a RQ-170 Sentinel--crash-landed intact into the hands of the Iranians, exposing the secret US spy program in the volatile region.
via theatlantic.com
20111217
20111211
Sun Innovation's BrandAuthen
BrandAuthen is a covert product authentication technology used to protect brands against counterfeits. BrandAuthen enhances your brand security by providing a covert authentication mechanism which is all but impossible to duplicate, but very easy to authenticate.
Transmission electron microscopy image of BrandAuthen
(1 yard or 1 meter =1,000,000,000 nm)BrandAuthen particles are about 10,000 times thinner than the human hair. This small size makes them to be undetectable to the naked eye, so they can be printed in completely transparent layers over other graphics. By contrast, older flourescent particles are visible to the naked eye due to their large particle size, some 1,000 times larger than BrandAuthen. To achieve the small particle size and advanced functionality of BrandAuthen, a counterfeiter would need a large group of specialized PhD’s. Because globally there are only a handful of individuals with the requisite expertise, counterfeiters are unable to conduct this type of reverse engineering. Thus, BrandAuthen provides a very high level of security.
via brandauthen.com
New critique of APA’s detainee interrogation policies
Interrogation of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, age 15, at Guantanamo
Cyber-intruder sparks response, debate
The first sign of trouble was a mysterious signal emanating from deep within the U.S. military’s classified computer network. Like a human spy, a piece of covert software in the supposedly secure system was “beaconing” — trying to send coded messages back to its creator.
An elite team working in a windowless room at the National Security Agency soon determined that a rogue program had infected a classified network, kept separate from the public Internet, that harbored some of the military’s most important secrets, including battle plans used by commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The government’s top cyberwarriors couldn’t immediately tell who created the program or why, although they would come to suspect the Russian intelligence service. Nor could they tell how long it had been there, but they soon deduced the ingeniously simple means of transmission, according to several current and former U.S. officials. The malicious software, or malware, caught a ride on an everyday thumb drive that allowed it to enter the secret system and begin looking for documents to steal. Then it spread by copying itself onto other thumb drives.
The Chertoff Group Expands With New Office in San Francisco
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- The Chertoff Group, a global security advisory firm founded by Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in San Francisco. Founded in 2009, The Chertoff Group provides consulting, business development, and merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory services for clients in the security, defense and government services industries.
"We are excited to be expanding our presence in Silicon Valley - the heart of innovation and home to so many truly transformative technologies," said Michael Chertoff, Chairman of The Chertoff Group. "This office will enable us to share our analysis and insight in the homeland security, defense and intelligence space with this unique community that is developing many of the critical technologies needed to confront today's global security challenges. Our team has helped an array of companies grow and meet their business objectives especially in the federal and international markets and we look forward to continuing this work on the West Coast."
Brian White, Managing Director at The Chertoff Group, will oversee the San Francisco office and its continued growth throughout the region and in Asia. Mr. White specializes in providing strategic advice on M&A activity as well as on issues relating to cyber security, border and supply chain security, and international homeland security matters.
via sacbee.com
Dismantling the Master's House: Psychologists and Torture
Amid disturbing reports that psychologists were involved in the abuse and torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, the American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS) met in the summer of 2005. Over two days they considered whether the Bush Administration's no-holds-barred "enhanced interrogation" policies crossed ethical boundaries for military psychologists. Six of the nine voting Task Force members were on the payroll of the military/intelligence establishment, and some of them worked in the chains of command when and where instances of abuse and torture had reportedly occurred. So we should not be surprised by the Task Force's conclusion that psychologists play an important role in keeping detainee interrogations "safe, legal, ethical, and effective." This assessment affirmed, nearly verbatim, the military's own description of Behavioral Science Consultation Team (BSCT) psychologists -- a description that had been provided to the Task Force in writing before their deliberations even began.
Professional psychology has made valuable contributions to national security through collaborative efforts with government agencies -- and it will undoubtedly continue to do so. But does anyone truly believe that crucial determinations about psychological ethics should ever be guided by the views and agenda of the Secretary of Defense or the Director of the CIA? The many glaring flaws associated with the PENS Report are especially revealing since the APA is, after all, an organization of psychologists . It's therefore very unlikely that the Task Force organizers were somehow unaware of the potent psychological influences of power differentials on group dynamics; of authority structures and conformity pressures on independent decision-making; and of self-interest on objective, unbiased analysis. It's far more likely the organizers knew exactly how to create the conditions that would reliably produce the outcome they sought.
via opednews.com
20111210
Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth: FAQ # 7: Squibs
Q:
What caused the "squibs"? Could they have been just puffs of dust being pushed out of the Towers by falling floors? Are they visual evidence of explosive charges?
A:
The isolated ejections 20-60 stories below the demolition front appear to be composed of pulverized building materials, including concrete. There was no known mechanism by which pulverized building materials being created up at the zone of destruction could have been transported so far down through the building and to the exterior. Air conditioning vents would not have tolerated such pressures, and there was no other "channel" in the building to deliver “compressed air”.
Images like this one reveal that the squibs were not merely puffs of air, as they have the same hue and consistency as pulverized solid building materials
via 911blogger.com
2600 NEWS: BEYOND HOPE VIDEO ARCHIVE GOES ONLINE THIS WEEKEND
Following up on the release of our first HOPE conference videos last month on blip.tv, we're going to be releasing the 18 videos from Beyond HOPE online this weekend. Beyond HOPE was our second conference which took place in 1997, from August 8th to the 10th, and the only HOPE conference not to take place at the Hotel Pennsylvania. As we did last month, we will be rolling out the talks hour by hour, in the order in which they were given.
The fun starts at 6 in the morning (ET) on Friday. The reason we began at this ungodly hour was because Beyond HOPE was held in conjunction with Hacking In Progress (HIP), an outdoor hacker event taking place in Holland. Through a video connection, we were able to address the opening ceremonies across the ocean. (We wish we could say that they could understand what we were saying, but the technology wasn't exactly optimal back then.) Later in the evening on Friday, we will be unveiling our press conference and panel of 2600 people, who answer questions from over 14 years ago. Then the festivities resume at noon on Saturday.
There are many crowd shots in this collection, including extended scenes of hackers gazing at the World Wide Web on a huge screen and a random selection of some of the web pages of the day. It's really rather poetic and you might be surprised at who you see wandering by.
via 2600.com
20111205
C|Net's DownloadCom is bundling Nmap with malware!
----- Forwarded message from Fyodor ----- Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 14:35:30 -0800 "Hi Folks. I've just discovered that C|Net's Download.Com site has
started wrapping their Nmap downloads (as well as other free software
like VLC) in a trojan installer which does things like installing a
sketchy "StartNow" toolbar, changing the user's default search engine
to Microsoft Bing, and changing their home page to Microsoft's MSN. The way it works is that C|Net's download page (screenshot attached)
offers what they claim to be Nmap's Windows installer. They even
provide the correct file size for our official installer. But users
actually get a Cnet-created trojan installer. That program does the
dirty work before downloading and executing Nmap's real installer. Of course the problem is that users often just click through installer
screens, trusting that download.com gave them the real installer and
knowing that the Nmap project wouldn't put malicious code in our
installer. Then the next time the user opens their browser, they
find that their computer is hosed with crappy toolbars, Bing searches,
Microsoft as their home page, and whatever other shenanigans the
software performs! The worst thing is that users will think we (Nmap
Project) did this to them! I took and attached a screen shot of the C|Net trojan Nmap installer
in action. Note how they use our registered "Nmap" trademark in big
letters right above the malware "special offer" as if we somehow
endorsed or allowed this. Of course they also violated our trademark
by claiming this download is an Nmap installer when we have nothing to
do with the proprietary trojan installer. In addition to the deception and trademark violation, and potential
violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, this clearly violates
Nmap's copyright. This is exactly why Nmap isn't under the plain GPL.
Our license (http://nmap.org/book/man-legal.html) specifically adds a
clause forbidding software which "integrates/includes/aggregates Nmap
into a proprietary executable installer" unless that software itself
conforms to various GPL requirements (this proprietary C|Net
download.com software and the toolbar don't). We've long known that
malicious parties might try to distribute a trojan Nmap installer, but
we never thought it would be C|Net's Download.com, which is owned by
CBS! And we never thought Microsoft would be sponsoring this
activity! It is worth noting that C|Net's exact schemes vary. Here is a story
about their shenanigans: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/93504-download-com-wraps-downloads-in-bl... It is interesting to compare the trojaned VLC screenshot in that
article with the Nmap one I've attached. In that case, the user just
clicks "Next step" to have their machine infected. And they wrote
"SAFE, TRUSTED, AND SPYWARE FREE" in the trojan-VLC title bar. It is
telling that they decided to remove that statement in their newer
trojan installer. In fact, if we UPX-unpack the Trojan CNet
executable and send it to VirusTotal.com, it is detected as malware by
Panda, McAfee, F-Secure, etc: http://bit.ly/cnet-nmap-vt According to Download.com's own stats, hundreds of people download the
trojan Nmap installer every week! So the first order of business is
to notify the community so that nobody else falls for this scheme.
Please help spread the word. Of course the next step is to go after C|Net until they stop doing
this for ALL of the software they distribute. So far, the most they
have offered is: "If you would like to opt out of the Download.com Installer you can
submit a request to cnet-installer@cbsinteractive.com. All opt-out
requests are carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis." In other words, "we'll violate your trademarks and copyright and
squandering your goodwill until you tell us to stop, and then we'll
consider your request 'on a case-by-case basis' depending on how much
money we make from infecting your users and how scary your legal
threat is. F*ck them! If anyone knows a great copyright attorney in the U.S.,
please send me the details or ask them to get in touch with me. Also, shame on Microsoft for paying C|Net to trojan open source
software! Cheers,
Fyodor"
started wrapping their Nmap downloads (as well as other free software
like VLC) in a trojan installer which does things like installing a
sketchy "StartNow" toolbar, changing the user's default search engine
to Microsoft Bing, and changing their home page to Microsoft's MSN. The way it works is that C|Net's download page (screenshot attached)
offers what they claim to be Nmap's Windows installer. They even
provide the correct file size for our official installer. But users
actually get a Cnet-created trojan installer. That program does the
dirty work before downloading and executing Nmap's real installer. Of course the problem is that users often just click through installer
screens, trusting that download.com gave them the real installer and
knowing that the Nmap project wouldn't put malicious code in our
installer. Then the next time the user opens their browser, they
find that their computer is hosed with crappy toolbars, Bing searches,
Microsoft as their home page, and whatever other shenanigans the
software performs! The worst thing is that users will think we (Nmap
Project) did this to them! I took and attached a screen shot of the C|Net trojan Nmap installer
in action. Note how they use our registered "Nmap" trademark in big
letters right above the malware "special offer" as if we somehow
endorsed or allowed this. Of course they also violated our trademark
by claiming this download is an Nmap installer when we have nothing to
do with the proprietary trojan installer. In addition to the deception and trademark violation, and potential
violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, this clearly violates
Nmap's copyright. This is exactly why Nmap isn't under the plain GPL.
Our license (http://nmap.org/book/man-legal.html) specifically adds a
clause forbidding software which "integrates/includes/aggregates Nmap
into a proprietary executable installer" unless that software itself
conforms to various GPL requirements (this proprietary C|Net
download.com software and the toolbar don't). We've long known that
malicious parties might try to distribute a trojan Nmap installer, but
we never thought it would be C|Net's Download.com, which is owned by
CBS! And we never thought Microsoft would be sponsoring this
activity! It is worth noting that C|Net's exact schemes vary. Here is a story
about their shenanigans: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/93504-download-com-wraps-downloads-in-bl... It is interesting to compare the trojaned VLC screenshot in that
article with the Nmap one I've attached. In that case, the user just
clicks "Next step" to have their machine infected. And they wrote
"SAFE, TRUSTED, AND SPYWARE FREE" in the trojan-VLC title bar. It is
telling that they decided to remove that statement in their newer
trojan installer. In fact, if we UPX-unpack the Trojan CNet
executable and send it to VirusTotal.com, it is detected as malware by
Panda, McAfee, F-Secure, etc: http://bit.ly/cnet-nmap-vt According to Download.com's own stats, hundreds of people download the
trojan Nmap installer every week! So the first order of business is
to notify the community so that nobody else falls for this scheme.
Please help spread the word. Of course the next step is to go after C|Net until they stop doing
this for ALL of the software they distribute. So far, the most they
have offered is: "If you would like to opt out of the Download.com Installer you can
submit a request to cnet-installer@cbsinteractive.com. All opt-out
requests are carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis." In other words, "we'll violate your trademarks and copyright and
squandering your goodwill until you tell us to stop, and then we'll
consider your request 'on a case-by-case basis' depending on how much
money we make from infecting your users and how scary your legal
threat is. F*ck them! If anyone knows a great copyright attorney in the U.S.,
please send me the details or ask them to get in touch with me. Also, shame on Microsoft for paying C|Net to trojan open source
software! Cheers,
Fyodor"
20111204
U.S. Drug Agents Launder Profits of Mexican Cartels
WASHINGTON — Undercover American narcotics agents have laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington’s expanding role in Mexico’s fight against drug cartels, according to current and former federal law enforcement officials.
The agents, primarily with the Drug Enforcement Administration, have handled shipments of hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal cash across borders, those officials said, to identify how criminal organizations move their money, where they keep their assets and, most important, who their leaders are.
They said agents had deposited the drug proceeds in accounts designated by traffickers, or in shell accounts set up by agents.
The officials said that while the D.E.A. conducted such operations in other countries, it began doing so in Mexico only in the past few years. The high-risk activities raise delicate questions about the agency’s effectiveness in bringing down drug kingpins, underscore diplomatic concerns about Mexican sovereignty, and blur the line between surveillance and facilitating crime. As it launders drug money, the agency often allows cartels to continue their operations over months or even years before making seizures or arrests.
Agency officials declined to publicly discuss details of their work, citing concerns about compromising their investigations. But Michael S. Vigil, a former senior agency official who is currently working for a private contracting company called Mission Essential Personnel, said, “We tried to make sure there was always close supervision of these operations so that we were accomplishing our objectives, and agents weren’t laundering money for the sake of laundering money.”
via nytimes.com
CSIS head urged government to fight ban on information obtained through torture
Canada’s spy agency was so reliant on information obtained through torture that it suggested the whole security certificate regime, used to control suspected terrorists in the country, would fall apart if they couldn’t use it.
That’s the essence of a letter written in 2008 by the former director of CSIS, Jim Judd, obtained by The Gazette.
It suggests a disturbing acceptance by the national security agency of torture as a legitimate strategy to counter terrorism.
What’s Driving Projected Debt?
As we’ve noted, my colleagues Kathy Ruffing and Jim Horney have updated CBPP’s analysis showing that the economic downturn, President Bush’s tax cuts, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire federal budget deficit over the next ten years. So, what about the public debt, which is basically the sum of annual budget deficits, minus annual surpluses, over the nation’s entire history?
The complementary chart, below, shows that the Bush-era tax cuts and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — including their associated interest costs — account for almost half of the projected public debt in 2019 (measured as a share of the economy) if we continue current policies.
Cheney's Law | Documentary
Love documentaries? So do we! Browse through our great collection of documentary films and watch free interesting and educational documentaries online.
DocumentaryWIRE is a community driven search engine designed to bring you the very best documentaries on the internet. Check out our vast collection of top documentaries spanning across every genre out there. Share your thoughts and enjoy. Don't forget the popcorn!
20111203
Research team finds disk encryption foils law enforcement efforts
(PhysOrg.com) -- A joint U.S./UK research team has found that common encryption techniques are so good that law enforcement, from local to highly resourceful federal agencies, are unable to get at data on a computer hard disk that could be used to prove the guilt of people using the computer to perpetuate crimes. In looking at the current technology, the team, as they describe in their paper published in Digital Investigation, find that if criminals use commonly available hard drive encryption software, law enforcement very often is unable find anything that can be used against them.
via physorg.com
Convicted RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan seeks prison release
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Sirhan Sirhan, convicted of the 1968 assassination of presidential candidate Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, should be freed from prison or granted a new trial based on "formidable evidence" asserting his innocence and "horrendous violations" of his rights, defense attorneys said in federal court papers filed this week.
In a U.S. District Court brief, Sirhan's lawyers also say that an expert analysis of recently uncovered evidence shows two guns were fired in the assassination and that Sirhan's revolver was not the gun that shot Kennedy.
Attorneys William F. Pepper and Laurie D. Dusek also allege that fraud was committed in Sirhan's 1969 trial when the court allowed a substitute bullet to be admitted as evidence for a real bullet removed from Kennedy's neck.
The attorneys further assert that Sirhan was hypno-programmed to be a diversion for the real assassin and allege that Sirhan would be easily blamed for the assassination because he is an Arab. Sirhan, 67, is a Christian Palestinian born in Jerusalem whose parents brought him and his siblings to America in the 1950s.
via edition.cnn.com
US judge orders hundreds of sites "de-indexed" from Google, Facebook
After a series of one-sided hearings, luxury goods maker Chanel has won recent court orders against hundreds of websites trafficking in counterfeit luxury goods. A federal judge in Nevada has agreed that Chanel can seize the domain names in question and transfer them all to US-based registrar GoDaddy. The judge also ordered "all Internet search engines" and "all social media websites"—explicitly naming Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Bing, Yahoo, and Google—to "de-index" the domain names and to remove them from any search results.
The case has been a remarkable one. Concerned about counterfeiting, Chanel has filed a joint suit in Nevada against nearly 700 domain names that appear to have nothing in common. When Chanel finds more names, it simply uses the same case and files new requests for more seizures. (A recent November 14 order went after an additional 228 sites; none had a chance to contest the request until after it was approved and the names had been seized.)
How were the sites investigated? For the most recent batch of names, Chanel hired a Nevada investigator to order from three of the 228 sites in question. When the orders arrived, they were reviewed by a Chanel official and declared counterfeit. The other 225 sites were seized based on a Chanel anti-counterfeiting specialist browsing the Web.
via arstechnica.com
Beyond brain scanning: Simultaneous high-resolution 3D neural imaging and photostimulation
(Medical Xpress) -- Neuroanatomy and neurophysiology are inherently three-dimensional domains. Neuronal cell body projections – axons and dendrites – can interconnect large numbers of neurons distributed over large cortical distances. Since the brain processes sensory, somatic, conceptual, and other classes of information in this 3D structural space, the need to (1) image neural structures and (2) stimulate and record neural signals are essential to understanding the relationship between brain structure and function. While 3D imaging and 3D photostimulation using scanning or parallel excitation methods have been used, they have not previously been combined into an optical system that can successfully decouple the corresponding optical planes when using a single lens – a shortcoming that has limited investigators to small neural areas. Recently, however, scientists at Université Paris Descartes have combined digital single photon holographic stimulation with remote-focusing-based epifluorescent functional imaging to overcome these limitations.
Researchers Francesca Anselmi and Cathie Ventalon in the Emiliani Wavefront-Engineering Microscopy Group led by Dr. Valentina Emiliani, along with Aurélien Bègue and David Ogden, work at the intersection of physics and biology. As such, they encountered several challenges in designing and performing their experimental demonstration.
20111202
The article Newsweek gutted--more proof of FBI corruption
When citizen investigative journalist Mike Vanderboegh reported earlier this week that an article that appeared in Newsweek Magazine this week was supposed to contain explosive information damaging to the current Administration and that of Bill Clinton, he had a good idea of what was cut by editor Tina Brown due to his numerous contacts in the government. Today, however, Vanderboegh has an unedited copy of the original version of the article, complete with credible evidence of corruption that exposes Eric Holder, Janet Reno, the FBI, and two Administrations as threats not only to the truth but to the very lives of American citizens.
The original article written by reporter R.M. Schneiderman and approved by his immediate editor John Solomon is extensive. An abbreviated step-by-step overview of that article is provided below.
via examiner.com
Drones to patrol the skies above Olympic Stadium
Unmanned drones equipped with surveillance cameras will be flown across the skies of London during next year's Olympic Games, The Independent has learnt.
It is understood that the Metropolitan Police has taken part in discussions with the Civil Aviation Authority over whether they can use small radio controlled devices in heavily built-up areas, as part of efforts to increase their number of "eyes in the sky".
Next year's Olympics will be the largest security operation the Met has ever had to run, as tens of thousands of athletes and millions of spectators flock to the games in Stratford.
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