Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

USAHitman | Conspiracy News

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Posted: 21 Oct 2013 07:54 PM PDT
ndeNear Death Programming
(**note: the content of this article discusses traumatic programming in some detail, and could be very triggering to survivors who have undergone this type of abuse. If you are a survivor, please do not read unless you are with a safe person, or with your therapist)
This is part of an ongoing series on complex programming that I am writing as an outline for a sequel to my first book, “Breaking the Chain”. In this article, I will be discussing one of the most traumatic forms of programming that a survivor can undergo.
This programming involves the use of Near Death Experiences.
The Illuminati have studied human neurophysiology for years, and the effects of traumatic conditioning on the human brain and psyche. In their search for better and more reliable methods of ingraining programming, they have utilized research from a variety of sources: governmental agencies; totalitarian regimes, and their own experimentation that is ongoing on a continuous (and secretive) basis.
But some of the foundations for this type of programming have been in place for centuries. One of the oldest rituals that the Illuminati utilize is the “resurrection ceremony”. In fact the Phoenix, symbol of death and new life, is one of their highest symbols and symbolizes the coming of the New Order and its leader.
How is resurrection programming done, or its variations? I will share what I have undergone and/or witnessed.
A young child of around two or three will be very heavily traumatized during an occult ceremony. They will be abused, beaten, shocked and even suffocated, and given drugs to create a state that is near death. The child will almost always at this point feel that they are suspended above their body, watching the unconscious body beneath that has been tortured to the point of being near death.
There will always be medical personnel involved in programming at this depth, who are skilled at monitoring the child’s physical state, and of resuscitating them. Resuscitation equipment and medications are on hand at all times.
The child in this extremity will have their deepest core called out at this point, and brought to consciousness in extreme pain. They will then be told that they have a “choice”: to face certain death, or to choose life if they will invite a powerful demon inside. The child chooses life. The demon enters, the child goes unconscious, and then awakens later in clean clothing, in a soft bed, with healing ointments on.
They are extremely weak and shaky, and are told by a kind, caring, soft voiced woman (or man) that the child had died, but the demon “brought them back to life”, that they owe their very life and heart beat to it and those who “saved them”. The child is also told that if they ask the demonic entity to leave, that they will revert to the near death/dying state they were in when it made its entrance.
This is one type of near death experience used to control and terrify a very young child, and to force it to accept a demonic spirituality under the most traumatic and coercive circumstances imaginable. The child feels marked and chosen for life by this experience, and it profoundly influences the child’s core beliefs about him/herself and their deepest reality. It is also one of the most horrible manipulations of a young child that can occur, and is designed to take away their free choice or will.
Another form of near death programming will occur in a situation that has often been called “governmental mind control” but which I always viewed as linked to the Illuminati programming (since the trainers/scientists in each crossed over from one to the other and shared information).
For example, at Tulane Medical Center, nearby, was a place known as the “Institute”. The Institute was involved in experimentation in mind control techniques put in under the most extreme circumstances, including at the point of near physical death. For some of this programming, a “subject” (how I hate that word, used by trainers to emotionally distance themselves from the fact that this was a human being, with feelings and emotions being worked on) would be in a hospital ward, isolated from others by blank grey white walls.
The subject was tied down by four points, and also across the waist and neck. They were then wrapped in a cocoon like manner with soft gauze, to limit movement or any feeling or sensation in the limbs. Usually, “subjects” were fed intravenously, and then underwent severe sensory deprivation, broken by bombardment with extremely loud noises. A darkened room would be broken by glaring white lights in the middle of the night, and the “subject” loses orientation of night or day.
The subject, when near breaking, is then shocked heavily and drugged. They may be placed temporarily on a respirator, and given paralytic drugs. The anxiety level reaches extreme points as this abuse continues, and I had heard of people literally having a heart attack from fear at this point. The person is drugged and shocked again, and then told that they are dying. They watch their body from above, and are actually glad that finally release will come from the days of torment at this place.
At this point, a trainer with a kind, soothing voice will come in and repetitiously say, “You deserve to live, I won’t let you die. You owe your life to me.” Recorded messages are also played over and over, repetitiously, at this point, which describe the “subjects” future destiny for “family”, etc. Finally, slowly, the subject is allowed to awaken, to come out of unconsciousness, with the constant message of being “reborn” for the “family group” being played.
Kind faced people soothe the subject as they recover from this hideously traumatic programming sequence. The person feels insanely grateful to be alive, to be released from the horrors of the days when they lay near death in the Institute, and will cling like a preverbal child to the adults around them. They are extremely vulnerable at this point, and extremely receptive to the messages placed in under trauma. I should know. I was a “subject’ at the Institute as a child in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, and later visited as an adult as a “consultant”.
This is deep level programming put in under extreme circumstances, and the fear level for the survivor when they begin to remember this type of trauma can be extremely high. I wish I could whitewash it, say that it isn’t this bad, but it is. I know that this may stretch the believability of some people, but this type of programming really, truly occurs (along with other types of sophisticated mind control methods). Near death programming has many variations, and I have only touched on two (there are other forms as well).
Programming put in when in a near death state will be at core level, since the survival level at that point touches the person’s core, no matter how well protected. The person who has undergone it may believe that if they try to break it, they might die. That they will enter a near death state. That their heart will stop. I went through all of these fears, and more, when dealing with this type of programming inside, and to this day I struggle at times with the residual terror it left.
The lies ground in at this almost unconscious state will be believed deeply at a core level, since the child undergoing it is desperately needing to believe the adults who literally hold the power of life and death over them. The child has been completely broken down by the planned, horrific trauma, and will embrace these messages at their deepest core as being true.
This is why core beliefs and messages are so very hard to undo at this level. It means excellent support, a safe environment, and spiritual awareness and discernment, since the demonic stronghold will also be severe at this point. Help from a therapist knowledgeable about programming, and spiritual help from those who know about deliverance, is a vital part of therapy at this point.
The survivor who reaches this level of programming inside will have reached core level. The programming will be some of the most deeply held and believed, and will be almost impossible to reach at a conscious level, until there is deep system cooperation and safety and trust in the outside people helping the survivor. This is also where faith in God, and His ability to heal ANYTHING, including the most severe of physical, emotional, and spiritual traumas, will make all the difference.
This type of programming may need to be worked on in a safe inpatient setting, or with extreme safety externally, since fear may cause panic and acting out when it begins to come out.
Reality orientation may be lost for a bit as the programming sequences surface, and it will take the strength of the entire system to help slow the memories down and make them manageable. Medication will probably also be needed, to help with the severe sense of depression, loss, abandonment, and betrayal that this type of programming will bring out. Despair over choices made, and wondering if the survivor can survive remembering will come up. A hopeful, supportive, nurturing, and encouraging attitude can make the difference.
Scripture verses that remind the person of God’s love and ability to heal, of His care, and promises of forgiveness and caring, will be very important.
Breaking this type of programming is immensely tiring and plenty of rest and nutritious food is important. This is NOT the time to take on extra stressors. Allowing the survivor to vent their fear, reassuring them, praying with them, and caring for them will become a lifeline. Hearing their rage at what was done as they discuss the “SOBs who did this to me” will be healing, and don’t rush them towards premature or false forgiveness.
The survivor will have to look at and acknowledge the trauma, the damage, and then find hope that they are surviving the remembering of core trauma. Bringing in gentle, non-taxing good experiences such as a playtime, drawing, or a nature walk can be healing. Outlets such as journaling and talking about how they feel will be very important in processing this type of programming.
I have described some of the most viciously traumatic programming that can be done to a child or young teen in this group. It is possible to work it through, slowly, with time and caring support and prayer.
My wish in discussing this has not been to be gory or graphic, but to help others understand that this type of programming does occur, and may need to be worked through by the survivor of occultic/ritualistic abuse.
Source
Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:54 PM PDT
france-nsa-shocking-spying.si
France has called for an explanation for the “unacceptable” and “shocking” reports of NSA spying on French citizens. Leaked documents revealed the spy agency records millions of phone calls and monitors politicians and high-profile business people.
The US Ambassador to France Charles Rivkin was summoned by the French Foreign Ministry to account for the espionage allegations on Monday morning.
“I have immediately summoned the US ambassador and he will be received this morning at the Quai d’Orsay [the French Foreign Ministry],” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told press. He added that “we must quickly assure that these practices aren’t repeated.”
In addition, citing the report on French publication Le Monde, Interior Minister Manuel Valls spoke out on national television against US spy practices.
“The revelations on Le Monde are shocking and demand adequate explanations from the American authorities in the coming hours,” said Valls on television channel Europe 1.
He went on to say that it is totally unacceptable for an allied country to spy on France.
Ambassador Rivkin refrained from commenting on the spy allegations on Monday morning and told Reuters that French-US ties are the “best they have been for a generation.”
Le Monde revealed in a report based on the security leaks of former CIA worker Edward Snowden that the NSA recorded 70.3 million phone calls between December 10, 2012, and January 8, 2013.
The NSA reportedly carries out its espionage in France using a program called ‘US-985D’ which is able to listen in on specific telephone calls and pick up on text messages according to key words used.
Moreover, Le Monde also wrote that it had reason to believe that the spying was not just limited to citizens suspected of being involved in terrorism. According to the data released by Snowden the NSA also eavesdropped on politicians and prominent business figures.
The newspaper did not give any indications as to the identity of the high-profile people.
France is not the only EU nation to be targeted by NSA surveillance. Germany took issue with the US government after it was revealed the NSA was tapping phone lines and recording electronic data in the country.
The EU will take steps to curtail US data mining on Monday in a vote to change data protection rules. The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties is expected to decide on the issue that would authorize fines for violation of EU data protection.
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Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:23 PM PDT
surveillance-leaks-threaten-police-use-of-new-technologies.si
Police agencies have a plethora of new tools that have only recently become available due to modern technological marvels. According to some officers, though, an increasingly suspicious public is putting all of that at risk.
Law enforcement officials from around the world congregated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this weekend for the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, or IACP 2013, an annual event attended by thousands of individuals each year who are searching for a “concentrated and invaluable forum for learning, collaborating and experiencing new technology,” according to its website.
During one presentation, though, a top official cautioned his fellow cops that the pace at which agencies adopt exciting new tools could soon slow down.
While controversial new gizmos and gadgets such as drones and license plate readers have made work easier for law enforcement officials across the world, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan said on Sunday that all of that may have been ruined by unauthorized disclosures recently made by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
Reuters journalist Chris Francescani was quick to pounce on comments made during Kennan’s presentation, ‘Using Social Media as an Investigative Tool,’ in which the director acknowledged that Snowden’s leaking of classified National Security Agency documents has caused Americans to question tactics implemented not just by federal agencies, but also by local law enforcement.
“The scrutiny that the NSA has come under filters down to us,” Francescani quoted from the presentation.
A video copy of the speech has since surfaced, thanks to independent journalist and Philly Declaration blogger Kenneth Lipp. The speech seems to suggest that Keenan is more than just a little concerned over what effect Snowden’s disclosures will have on the future of law enforcement, especially with regards to the high-tech tools used during investigations.
At one part in his presentation, Keenan acknowledged that intelligence gathering has become extremely sophisticated in the years since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. However, he suggested that a new wave of concern caused by the Snowden leaks may mean law enforcement is less likely to use everything in their arsenal – at least not without generating skepticism from the greater public.
“Since 9/11, we’ve greatly increased the ability of all of us to collect and share information – collect, share and retain information,” Keenan said. “And as we’ve been doing this, American citizens are concerned about how our abilities to use social media and how our ability to use technology are being employed.”
“I don’t think I’d be shocking anyone here to say, if you look at what is happening with the NSA today, the scrutiny they are coming under for the abilities they have to collect information, analyze information, share information – that’s their problem. But the scrutiny that they come under filters down to us, because I’m sure many of you may have been questioned by public officials in your agency if you’re doing things similar to what the NSA does.”
From there, Keenan accused “the very liberal side of the political equation” of joining with ultra-conservatives to question law enforcement’s latest tactics and in turn raising civil liberty concerns in communities where high-tech tools are used in investigations.
As those concerns grow, new rules could be forced on agencies so that investigative tools can’t be abused, Keenan said. During his presentation, he suggested that skepticism could soon keep agencies from being able to fully implement those technologies – or at least to the degree that they are used today.
“There will always be a balancing of interest between privacy and information access. That is the nature of the beast. That is not going to change. What the test is for all of us is to keep…things getting out of balance,” he said. “That there be so many restrictions in the use of social media and technology, so many restrictions because of the concerns about privacy, civil liberties, that we lose the use of that technology.”
Keenan added that he attended a meeting with the IACP investigation operations committee earlier in the week in which the public’s growing concerns about new tools were considered.
“The consensus of that committee was if we’re not very careful, law enforcement is going to lose the use of technology,” Keenan reiterated.
During another part of his presentation, Keenan acknowledged that license plate reader technology first adopted by police agencies over a decade ago is now coming under attack. Indeed, the American Civil Liberties Union just recently published a lengthy report about the devices, which has as a result only raised further questions about the possible privacy violations caused by them.
“My goodness, I came to IACP 15 years ago and they were selling license plate readers. But you look at the scrutiny that is coming into play with that now-old technology: various states are now restricting the use of law enforcement with license plate readers,” Keenan said.
“Fast forward to where we’re at here today with social media, and all of the new software products, all the new technology that is out there that can be used in social media, and they haven’t even gotten around to scrutinizing what we’re doing and what law enforcement is doing in the use of social media,” he said.
Leaks attributed to 30-year-old former NSA contractor Snowden have revealed that the intelligence community has adopted a number of tactics in secret since 9/11. Those tactics reportedly include systems in which the social media habits of innocent persons are collected and analyzed by investigators.
Source
Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:20 PM PDT
navy-bribery-military-contractor.si
Two senior naval officers have been arrested in what is being billed as the worst scandal to hit the U.S. Navy in years.
The officers – U.S. Navy Commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Supervisory Special Agent John Bertrand Beliveau II – are accused of accepting bribes from the CEO of Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. in exchange for preferential treatment regarding contracts, as well as for tipping the company off to federal fraud investigations.
The CEO of Glenn Defense Marine, Leonard Glenn Francis, was arrested last month in San Diego, CA along with another company official after federal investigators set up a sham meeting with Navy officials.
According to federal prosecutors, Misiewicz directed Navy ships to certain ports where Glenn Defense Marine could overcharge the Navy for maintenance services. CBS News is reporting that maintenance for one ship, the aircraft carrier Stennis, cost the Navy $2.7 million, which is about double the average price charged by other ports.
Since 2011, Glenn Defense Marine has been awarded more than $200 million Navy contracts. The company has been working with the Navy for more than two decades.
In exchange for informing Glenn Marine of the Navy’s movements, Misiewicz was reportedly gifted with all-expense paid trips for him and his family, prostitutes, cash, luxury hotel rooms, and tickets to shows such as “The Lion King” and Lady Gaga concerts.
Beliveau, meanwhile, is being accused of downloading confidential reports of the NCIS’ investigations into Glenn Marine and using them to tip off Francis and his colleagues. He stands accused of accepting paid travel, prostitutes, and money in return for the information. That one of the NCIS’ own investigators is being charged with bribery is especially concerning for the department.
“That’s, of course, troubling,” Jordan Tama, a specialist in national security issues at American University, told CBS. “And it just underscores that even the people who do investigations in the Navy and elsewhere in the federal government themselves need to be monitored.”
A third Naval officer – Captain Daniel Dusek – was also implicated in the bribery scandal, and has been relieved of his duties. He has yet to be charged with any wrongdoing.
“Allegations of bribery and kickbacks involving naval officers, contracting personnel and NCIS agents are unheard of,” retired Adm. Gary Roughead, a former chief of naval operations who is now a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said to the Post.
The Navy is not commenting on the situation yet, as the investigation is ongoing. Even more officials are expected to be involved in the case going forward.
Source
Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:11 PM PDT
ground-drones-to-take-over-battlefields-in-5-years.si
The United States Army is one-step closer to deploying weaponized robots to the front lines of battlefields following a recent demonstration that’s being largely considered a success.
Defense contractors and other companies brought their deadliest on-the-ground drones to Fort Benning, Georgia earlier this month for the Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) Robotics Limited Demonstration — or “Robotic Rodeo — and according to those who were there, the future of fighting might soon revolve around a whole new type of arsenal.
The annual event is billed by the Army as “an opportunity for industry to demonstrate new and innovative unmanned ground systems,” and four companies did just that by unveiling an unusual breed of robots that can be equipped with lethal weaponry and sent into battle, replacing human soldiers with space-age specimens straight out of science fiction.
HDT Robotics, iRobot, Northrop Grumman and QinetiQ all tested before a live audience their latest inventions at last week’s “rodeo,” and it looks like it won’t be long before those semi-autonomous killing machines see themselves being deployed abroad.
“We were hoping to see how they remotely control lethal weapons,” Lt. Col. Willie Smith, chief of Unmanned Ground Vehicles at the fort, told Computerworld. “We were pleased with what we saw here. The technology is getting to be where it needs to be. It’s a start.”
According to Wired reporter Allen McDuffee, the robots could be deployed in only five years’ time.
The companies that participated in this year’s event took turns demonstrating how a M240 machine gun can be affixed to a fuel-powered machine that can transverse rough terrain on the battlefield and then hone in on enemy targets, shooting to kill from hundreds of feet away.
Someday those robots might replace traditional soldiers, but for now developers are determined to perfect a land-drone that doesn’t just emulate actual troops, but alleviates the tasks that currently make going into battle all the more burdensome.
“Robots are a way to get more firepower in quickly,” Donald Sando of the Maneuver Center of Excellence said to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. “Soldiers can only carry so much equipment.”
Indeed, items like HDT’s Protector eliminate that issue by not just being about to shoot on demand, but by also being able to carry 750 pounds successfully up inclines of 45 degree grades — a tough task for even the most physically fit soldier.
Of course, hauling goods alongside troops is only one of the perks that the machines come with. Arguably even more impressive is how the robots can use traditional weapons with accuracy that would make the most venerable sharp shooter jealous. According to Computerworld, Northrop Grumman’s Carry-all Mechanized Equipment Landrover — or CaMEL — can identify targets from 3.5 kilometers away by honing in with the help of a telescope and thermal imaging software. Once a machine like the CaMEL catches a target in its sight, a soldier — either a few feet away or operating remotely on the other side of Earth — gives the robot the go-ahead to open fire.
“The robot may acquire an enemy target, but it will still always ask a human for permission to fire,” Tollie Strode Jr. of Fort Benning’s Maneuver Battle Lab added to the report.
“They’re not just tools, but members of the squad. That’s the goal,” added Smith of the Unmanned Ground Vehicles division. “A robot becoming a member of the squad, we see that as a matter of training … I think there’s more work to be done, but I’m expecting we’ll get there.”
How soon exactly? According to Strode, it will be “probably five or 10 years” until a robot will be able to acquires and assess a target on its own — something a human soldier must be relied on to do. For now.
Source
Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:08 PM PDT
fearing_.siFormer US Vice President Dick Cheney was once so worried an assassin would kill him by overriding the defibrillator in his heart that he asked his doctor to disable the wire that acted as a wireless safeguard, Cheney has revealed in an upcoming memoir.
Cheney has a long history of cardiac problems, enduring his first of five heart attacks when he was just 37 years old, approximately a decade into his political career. His ongoing condition once nearly killed him, when the former vice president under George W. Bush was rushed into emergency surgery in 2010. Then, two years later, he underwent a seven hour heart transplant procedure at the advanced age of 71.
In his new book, co-written with cardiologist Jonathan Reiner, titled “Heart: An American Medical Odyssey,” Cheney reveals that Reiner replaced a defibrillator near Cheney’s heart in 2007.
The medical device is designed to identify irregular heartbeats and correct them with a series of minor electric shocks. Yet the pair agreed to turn off the defibrillator remote function in the event that a terrorist tried to kill Cheney by hacking the equipment and sending him into a cardiac arrest.
Coincidentally, Cheney saw the same situation years later as a plot point on the popular espionage TV series “Homeland.”
“I was aware of the danger, if you will, that exists, but I found it credible,” Cheney said in an interview with “60 Minutes” set to broadcast this weekend. “Because I know from the experience we had and the necessity for adjusting my own device that it was an accurate portrayal of what was possible.”
Cheney served as chief of staff under President Gerald Ford before moving to the House of Representatives, and then as the Secretary of Defense under President George HW Bush before moving to the private sector during the Clinton presidency. When the elder President Bush delivered his famous “Read My Lips” speech, Cheney wrote that he was watching from a hospital bed as a nurse shaved hair off his body in preparation for bypass surgery.
He has said that he smoked roughly three packs of cigarettes every day for upwards of 20 years, yet denied that health issues ever clouded his decision-making ability. Dr. Reiner, in the same “60 Minutes” interview, said he was concerned about Cheney on September 11, 2001 and in the direct aftermath of the terrorist attacks. A medical test administered that very morning showed Cheney had unusually high levels of potassium in his blood, indicating a potentially fatal condition known as hyperkalemia.
“Oh, great, the vice president is going to die tonight from hyperkalemia,” Reiner recalled thinking.
However, Cheney says that he feels the stress from his position in no way affected his disease.
“You know, I was as good as I could be given the fact I was a 60-some years old at that point and a heart patient,” he said. “I simply don’t buy the notion that it contributed to my heart disease. I always did what I needed to do in order to deal with the health crisis in the moment.”
By the time Cheney left office he reported difficulty breathing and, in 2009, he fell unconscious while backing out of his driveway. That was followed by nosebleeds and a loss of appetite. By 2010, just before the surgery that ultimately saved his life, Reiner wrote that “Cheney was dying.”
Source
Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:05 PM PDT
imdfageBefore long, every move we make may be tracked without our full knowledge. It just seems like we are headed towards that sort of “big brother” way of life. Paul Mulshine of the Star-Ledger recently wrote a blog about an infuriating experience he had with these automated license-plate readers at the Freehold Raceway Mall, one of the busiest shopping centers in the tri-state area.
A card was left on the windshield of his wife’s car stating that the registration had expired and that she will be issued a summons. Upon further investigation, Mulshine said,
I got even more ticked off the next day when I called Dave Jones. Jones recently retired from the State Police, but for years he was the spokesman for the State Police Fraternal Association (not FOP, as a reader noted) unit. In that capacity, he often complained about policies that make the police “sing for their supper” — i.e., hand out enough tickets to cover their salaries.
I had to see this for myself, so I hung up and drove to Freehold. Sure enough, over every entrance to the mall were scanners that record the plate numbers of every car coming and going. The scan instantly shows whether the registration is current, Jones said. While the driver is shopping, the police are writing out a ticket. The project was funded with a $285,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office claims these license-plate readers are being used as a security measure against potential terrorist attacks.
Source
Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:04 PM PDT
cryptoseal-vpn-close-grant-nsa.si
CryptoSeal, a virtual private network that has guaranteed its customers would be insulated from internet surveillance, announced that it will close down rather than risk exposure to government monitoring and the costly fees that accompany compliance.
CryptoSeal issued a Monday statement indicating that the company will still offer its VPN for businesses, but its customer-only service will no longer be available. For a small fee, an individual user can establish their own encrypted internet connection through a VPN service and reroute all of their traffic through that point.
“With immediate effect as of this notice, CryptoSeal Privacy, our consumer VPN service, is terminated. All cryptographic keys used in the operation of the service has been zerofilled [purged], and while no logs were produced (by design) during operation of the service, all records created incidental to the operation of the service have been deleted to the best of our ability,” the statement read.
“Essentially, the service was created and operated under a certain understanding of current US law, and that understanding may not currently be valid. As we are a US company and comply fully with US law, but wish to protect the privacy of our users, it is impossible for us to continue offering the CryptoSeal Privacy consumer VPN product.”
Monday’s announcement is hardly unique. A number of privacy companies have made headlines in the months following the revelation that the US National Security Agency has secretly forced internet and telecommunication companies to install so-called backdoors that will allow the government to database emails and other messages.
CryptoSeal’s business VPN is not designed to block government access and, if the company is served with a pen register order, the NSA could technically access protected messages, SSL keys, and infiltrate other privacy safeguards. A pen register is capable of automatically recording a vast number of telephone numbers and internet access information.
“CryptoSeal Connect is not designed as a BitTorrent or other file-sharing VPN and is not designed to give you anonymity against the legal system,” the company told Ars Technica. “We fully comply with all warrants and subpoenas and are located in the United States. We suggest using systems such as the Tor Project for anonymity requirements.”
The statement continued, outlining “a Government theory that if a pen register order is made on a provider, and the provider’s systems do not readily facilitate full monitoring of pen register information and delivery to the Government in realtime, the Government can compel production of cryptographic keys via a warrant to support a government-provided pen trap device.”
The same issue forced the hand of Ladar Levison, founder and owner of Lavabit, the email service used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Levison opted to shut Lavabit down instead of complying with a government order compelling him to turn over the service’s SSL key, which would have granted the NSA access to all of Lavabit’s customers.
Although Levinson had no choice but to turn over the SSL key, he did terminate the email service, giving the NSA nothing to comb through.
Lavabit pointed out in a recent court filing that officials also forbade the service from informing anyone – including its customers and partners – that it has compromised their security. According to the brief, government officials “insisted that all of those parties be affirmatively misled into believing that the system remained secure against exactly the kind of secret monitoring that the government was proposing.”
While the federal government charged Levison $5,000 each day he denied them, CryptoSeal founder and CEO Ryan Lackey reportedly posted a comment on Hacker News detailing the costs he was facing.
“The financial issue was the potentially huge liability due to a legal action or battle, not the [small] costs of operating the service,” a user thought to be Lackey wrote.
“If we were the legally best VPN option, I would have probably pushed to keep it going anyway and just shut down when/if that happened, but as it is, non-US providers run by non-US people [there are several good ones] are an objectively better option, so in good conscience there’s no reason to continue running a US privacy VPN service without technical controls to prevent being compelled to screw over a user.”
Source
Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:03 PM PDT
monsanto-argentina-health-problems.siPesticides sold by Monsanto are behind health problems ranging from birth defects to elevated rates of cancer in Argentina, a report has revealed. A lack of regulations has led to widespread misuse of Monsanto’s products in the Latin American nation.
The Associated Press carried out a report that found a clear link between the use of pesticides sold by Monsanto and growing health problems in Argentina. Absence of regulations and their enforcement has led to widespread misuse of Monsanto’s chemicals across the country. In turn, this has caused multiple health problems in the rural population.
AP documented a number of occasions when toxic pesticides were used close to populated areas and consequently contaminated the water supply and caused health problems.
Santa Fe Province, which is Argentina’s number one producer of cereals, forbids the use of pesticides less than 500 meters from populated areas. However, AF uncovered evidence that toxic chemicals were used as little as 30 meters from people’s homes.
Schoolteacher Andrea Druetta who lives in Santa Fe told AP that her children had been covered in pesticides recently while swimming in the garden pool.
In addition, studies show that cancer rates in the province are two to four times higher than the rest of the country, while in the neighboring province of Chaco birth defects have quadrupled since the introduction of biotechnology in the agricultural industry around a decade ago.
Researchers also found high rates of thyroid disorders and chronic respiratory illness in Santa Fe.
Monsanto’s chemical pesticide, Roundup, contains a substance called glyphosate. While the substance has been deemed harmless, AP found that it is being used in a number of ways in Argentina that are “unanticipated by regulatory science or specifically banned by existing law.”
Doctor Damian Vernassi from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rosario told RT’s Spanish channel, Actualidad RT, that these chemical mixes could be responsible for the drastic increase in health problems.
“It could be linked to pesticides,” he said. “There has been analysis of the primary ingredient, but we have never investigated the interactions between the different chemicals that are being mixed.”
AP interviewed Argentine farmhand, Fabian Tomassi, who worked preparing a cocktail of chemicals to spray crops for three years. He now suffers from the debilitating neurological disorder, polyneuropathy, and is near death.
“I prepared millions of liters of poison without any kind of protection, no gloves, masks or special clothing,” he said. “I didn’t know anything. I only learned later what it did to me, after contacting scientists.”
In response to the study, Monsanto issued a statement saying that it “does not condone the misuse of pesticides or the violation of any pesticide law, regulation, or court ruling.”
“Monsanto takes the stewardship of products seriously and we communicate regularly with our customers regarding proper use of our products,” said spokesperson Thomas Helscher in a written statement.
Argentina was one of the first countries to adopt Monsanto’s biotechnology to increase its agricultural output. The multinational’s products transformed Argentina into the world’s third largest producer of soy.
At present Argentina’s entire soy crop is genetically modified, as is most of its corn and cotton. In addition, AP found that Argentine farmers use about 4.5 pounds of pesticide concentrate per acre, which is over double the amount used in the US.
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Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:01 PM PDT
a-4Preliminary data suggests that a female suicide bomber conducted the attack on the bus in Volgograd, central Russia, killing six people and injuring 37, according to the Russian Investigative Committee.
“Today at 2:05pm Moscow time [10:05 GMT] in Volgograd inside a bus, as a result of an unknown explosive device going off, a blast happened, leading to casualties,” a national Anti-terrorist Committee representative said in the statement.
Forty passengers were on the bus. At least eight of them are in critical condition. A 20-month-old toddler is among those injured. His state is assessed as moderately severe.
Russia’s Health Ministry indicated that most of the victims in the explosion sustained mine explosive-type wounds, caused by the bus’s paneling and the shattered glass.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has instructed the Emergencies Ministry and the Ministry of Health to provide all the necessary help to the victims of the blast. An Emergencies Ministry plane, with medics and five special medical units on board, has arrived in Volgograd to help treat the injured.
A three-day mourning for the victims of the terrorist attack has been declared in Volgograd Oblast.
A young man named Ilya, an eyewitness of the terror act, who was in a different bus on the same route, described the scene of the blast to RT:
“First I saw a lot of pieces of broken glass scattered all over the driveway [road]… There definitely was an explosion in [the bus] as its windows burst outside sending glass to a considerable distance, but with no fire outbreak… There were a lot of police there and also people who had been just driving by and stopped to help the victims, they were bringing med kits with them. There were people from the emergency service at the scene helping the injured, but I saw a woman sitting inside the bus. She was covered with blood and I couldn’t make out whether she was alive or not. She was just sitting there.”
According to Ilya, lots of students use that bus route, as it stops at Volgograd State University, and there were apparently some students at the scene of the blast. The bus also passes the local Cardio Center, he said, adding that some heart patients might have been there too.
A relative of one of the surviving passengers told Echo of Moscow radio the explosion went off in the middle of the bus aisle. There were a lot of youngsters on the bus at the time of the blast, he said.
Witnesses reported that the front part of the vehicle was heavily damaged, and that the nearby cars had their windows broken.
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Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT
sparks-nevada-school-shooting.siAt least two people are dead after a middle school student opened fire early Monday near Reno, Nevada.
Sparks Middle School was put on lockdown Monday morning after shots were heard shortly after 7 a.m. local time, KVVU-TV reported. Several people were reportedly injured.
Around two hours after the incident first unfolded, police officials confirmed to the Reno Gazette Journal that two people were declared dead, including the gunman. Authorities have since confirmed that the gunman—a student at Sparks—is among the deceased.
The second person killed during the shooting was later identified as Michael Landsberry, an eighth grade math teacher at the school.
Landsberry’s family told the Reno Gazette-Journal that the teacher, who was also in the Nevada Army National Guard, had tried to get the student shooter to put his gun down before being shot and killed.
“To hear he was trying to protect those kids doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Chanda Landsberry, who is married to Michael’s younger brother. “He could have ducked and hid, but he didn’t. That’s not who he is.”
Sparks City Manager Shawn Carey told the Journal earlier that day that the alleged shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to Journal reporter Siobhan McAndrew, 13-year-old Kyle Nucum said the shooter was another student dressed in the Sparks middle school uniform.
“You ruined my life, now I’m going to ruin yours,” Nucum told McAndrew he heard the shooter say before opening fire on a teacher.
Renown Regional Hospital spokeswoman Angela Rambo said that two male patients, both minors, were in critical condition at her facility, the Journal reported.
The school is located just east of Reno, Nevada and has around 630 students enrolled in grades seven and eight.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has released a statement saying he was “deeply saddened to learn of the horrific shooting” and that his family extends their “thoughts and prayers to the victims and those affected by these tragic events.”
Reno Police Deputy Chief Tom Robinson said during the Monday morning press conference that parents can “rest assured.”
“The schools are safe. The rest of the city is safe,” Robinson said.
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Posted: 20 Oct 2013 05:07 PM PDT
fsb-internet-recording-bill.siRussia’s Communications Ministry, in cooperation with security services, is finalizing a directive obliging internet providers to record private internet communications.
However, unwilling to bear unanticipated expenses, internet providers are citing constitutional freedoms.
According to Kommersant daily, the new directive has been in development for over six months, in close cooperation with the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The major innovation of the new directive is that it would require internet providers to record constantly the last 12 hours or more of traffic coming through their servers, starting from July 1, 2014. This would allow the FSB secret service to control phone numbers, IPs, register entries, e-mails of social networks users etc.
Kommersant Daily has obtained a letter from Russia’s communications giant, Vympelkom, to the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media. The letter signed by Aleksey Rokotyan, Vympelkom’s Director of analytical support and liaison with governmental bodies, maintains that the directive contradicts articles 23, 24 and 25 of the Russian constitution, which guarantee secrecy of communications and prevents collection and recording of private information, unless ruled otherwise by a court.
The letter also mentions the provider’s concern with the additional expenses it would have to bear if the directive comes into force.
Actually, all major providers are already closely cooperating with the FSB and have their servers connected to FSB’s web monitoring facilities. But recording terabytes of dataflow is an expensive activity requiring additional data storage installation; some minor providers would simply be unable to sustain this financially.
So far providers have had to connect their servers to FSB lines at their own expense, Kommersant Daily reports.
According to another Kommersant’s source, Vympelkom estimates that $100 million of additional investment will be needed to comply with the upcoming law, whereas according to the same source another Russian IT major, MTS, estimates its extra expenses caused by the law will be a much less – 300 million rubles (less than $10m).
So the question now is whether the government is ready to finance the undertaking from the budget, paying for millions of dollars’ worth of equipment needed.
Russia’s Ministry of Communications and Mass Media said that the new directive “principally adds nothing new to the work of internet providers”. Most of them have already been working with security authorities closely since 2008, when obligatory connection of servers’ dataflow to the FSB’s Operational-Investigative System was introduced.
The Ministry’s press-service stressed that the new directive only specifies the technical aspects of the FSB’s internet data use and does not circumvent the necessity of a court ruling to get access to private data.
“The system is not a threat to a law abiding citizen, it only brings additional security,” the Ministry says.
“Operators would only be obliged to install the necessary equipment and ensure FSB’s access to the data. Operators themselves would not have access to the data processed on that equipment, being performed in accordance with the law, within the framework of the operational-investigative activities,” the Ministry maintains.
Russian lawmakers gave an assurance that honest citizens have nothing to fear.
“If someone doesn’t know, as of today (internet) operators are actively and voluntarily cooperating with special services, because no company, I hope, no citizen is interested in concealing information that may lead to the identification of a perpetrator and bring him to responsibility [sic],” vice-speaker, Sergey Zheleznyak, told the RIA news agency. Mr Zheleznyak oversees information technologies in the Russia’s parliament. The MP also noted that the introduction of the new directive is prompted by the fast development of the IT sphere.
The Chairman of the Senate’s Defense and Security Committee, Viktor Ozerov, commented to RIA on the matter, saying that if the FSB is investigating terror acts and crimes threatening national security, he sees “nothing tragic” in special services having access to internet dataflow. The Senator pointed out that if police can, in certain cases, enter a private dwelling without a court’s ruling, why can’t special services have a right to access the servers of internet providers.
“We always talk about human rights when it comes to us personally, but when serious security matters emerge, people tend to blame special services for bad work,” the Senator added.
There is nothing wrong with controlling the internet as long as the information is restricted for use strictly within the special services, Russian MP Aleksandr Khinshtein commented on the news.
“If a person visits a normal, lawful website, what should he be afraid or ashamed of?” Khinshtein said, stressing though that there must be “certain controllability” of the internet overseeing process.
The leader of the Fair Russia party, Sergey Mironov, has spoken against the directive, saying that if Kommersant’s information is correct, this is a direct violation of the Russian constitution.
At the same time, Mironov noted that he would like to get acquainted with the document personally, saying that “the publication, honestly speaking, looks strange and raises very big questions.”
Last week the Russian government also announced the preparation of a bill allowing the FSB to take measures against hackers who threaten the country’s information systems.
Read More Here
Posted: 20 Oct 2013 05:05 PM PDT
holder-mass-shootings-triple.si
The average number of mass shootings in the US has tripled in recent years, US Attorney General Eric Holder said at an annual conference of police chiefs on Monday.
The yearly average of mass shootings has tripled from an average of five per year between the years of 2000 and 2008, the attorney general said. At least 12 mass shootings have taken place in 2013.
Holder’s remarks at the annual meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) came the same morning as yet another mass shooting occurrence – this time at a middle school in Sparks, Nevada, where at least two were shot dead early Monday.
The last mass shooting event involving a school occurred in June in Santa Monica, California, when 23-year-old John Zawahri set fire to a home and killed five people near and on the campus of Santa Monica College. Zawahri was killed while exchanging gunfire with police at the school’s library.
From 2009 to 2012, 404 people were shot and 207 killed, according to the US Department of Justice. From 2000 to 2008, 324 people were shot and 145 were killed.
In the past ten years, the Justice Department has assisted in the training of 50,000 front-line officers, over 7,000 on-scene commanders, and more than 3,000 local, state, and federal agency heads on response tactics during active shooting incidents, Holder touted.
Despite the success, Holder cited instances like the Navy Yard shooting in September as proof that new strategies are needed for active shooter situations.
“Although research methods and results vary, it’s become clear that new strategies – and aggressive national response protocols – must be employed to stop shooters in their tracks,” Holder said.
He alluded to further arming and training for all levels of officers to avoid deaths in fast-moving events like the Navy Yard incident, where despite a seven-minute response time – claimed by DC Chief of Police Cathy Lanier for her force – 12 were ultimately shot and killed.
“To save lives, the first officers to arrive must sometimes be the ones to directly engage an active shooter,” Holder said. “That’s why all law enforcement officers must have the best equipment and most up-to-date training to confront these situations. We owe these officers nothing less.”
The FBI’s Behavioral Threat Assessment Center works with all levels of law enforcement to assess those who could be potentially violent, Holder boasted, claiming hundreds of disrupted incidents by the center since 2011.
Though Holder spoke of ongoing improvement of coordination and success across law enforcement levels, he was chastised by IACP President Craig Steckler before the attorney general’s speech.
Steckler said in his introduction of Holder that his group “profoundly disagrees” with the Justice Department opting not to challenge laws legalizing the sale of marijuana that states like Colorado have passed – or may pass, in the case of California.
“This decision by the US Department of Justice, in our view, will open the floodgates for those who want to legalize marijuana throughout the country, those who have the resources to place initiatives and referendums on state ballots and those who’ve continued to profit from the sale of this unlawful drug,” Steckler said to applause, CNN reported.
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Posted: 20 Oct 2013 05:03 PM PDT
obama-critics-healthcare-site.si
As the Affordable Care Act continues to suffer from serious technical issues, its troubled rollout has managed to enlist another frustrated critic: President Barack Obama.
Speaking from the White House Rose Garden on Monday, Obama acknowledged that the health care law’s signup methods aren’t working as smoothly as they should be.
“There is no sugarcoating it,” he said. “The website has been working too slow. There is no excuse for the problem.”
The president partly blamed the website’s issues on overwhelming interest and demand, though he added that the administration is bringing in technology experts from both inside and outside the government to help identify the core complications with HealthCare.gov and stabilize the site. Additionally, the government is significantly boosting staff at call centers, where people can apply for coverage over the phone. He did not establish a timetable for the fixes.
Monday’s speech found President Obama flanked by a group of people that the White House claims have successfully applied for health insurance coverage since the official debut of the Affordable Care Act’s health exchanges on October 1. While Obama recognized flaws in the law’s rollout, he also emphasized that there’s more to the law than just HealthCare.gov.
In fact, Obama repeatedly noted that that essence of the law – giving millions of Americans access to quality health insurance – is working just fine, and added that there are ways to sign up for coverage without using the website.
“We did not launch this long and contentious battle just about a website. That’s not what this is about,” Obama said, before pivoting to emphasize the safety guaranteed by having affordable health care.
According to Obama, HealthCare.gov has seen nearly 20 million unique visitors since it launched, including close to 500,000 insurance applications. However, the administration has not revealed how many people have been successful in their applications. Preliminary numbers are expected to be released in mid-November.
Still, Obama’s admission that the Affordable Care Act’s troubles are inexcusable join a growing chorus of critiques that are gradually spreading to other parts of Democratic leadership.
“What has happened is unacceptable in terms of the glitches,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on ABC’s This Week. “They were overwhelmed to begin with. There is much that needs to be done to correct the situation.”
“This has to be fixed but what doesn’t have to be fixed is the fact that tens of millions more people will have access to affordable quality health care.”
In addition to the headaches caused by HealthCare.gov’s technical difficulties, the administration also had to contend with reports that its developers used third party coding to power the website without giving proper credit. One of the site’s scripts, called DataTables, was originally created by British company SpryMedia and released as open-source under the condition that it be properly recognized.
Another investigation by DigitalTrends reporter Andrew Couts suggested that the troubled HealthCare.gov website cost an estimated $500 million – more than the price of both Facebook and Twitter, which operated for years before hitting a similar number. There are numerous voices now calling for the resignation of Kathleen Sebelius, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, who is in charge of implementing the Affordable Care Act.
House Republicans will hold hearings on HealthCare.gov’s technical glitches on Thursday, October 24. So far, Sebelius is declining to testify.
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Posted: 20 Oct 2013 05:03 PM PDT
mom-fights-court-breastfeeding.siA Missouri mother is battling charges of contempt of court because she was breastfeeding her seven-month-old baby while serving on jury duty.
Laura Trickle said that when she received her summons for service in August, she notified Jackson County court officials that she was nursing her son Axel. In January, her service was postponed because she was pregnant.
Court officials gave Trickle two options: to arrange child care or to bring someone along who could care for the child on the day of her summons.
Trickle instead appeared in court on September 3 with her seven-month-old son, hoping to get an exemption.
Instead, the judge offered her two more options during the jury selection.
“I would be able to pump on breaks. Unfortunately Axel doesn’t take a bottle, so that was not an option for us. The other option was to have someone stay with me all day and then be able to nurse on breaks. But since I’m a stay-at-home mom, we don’t have childcare,” Trickle told Kansas City’s KCTV5 news.
Having turned down both of the judge’s options, Trickle is now facing contempt charges and up to a $500 fine at her hearing this Thursday. Presiding Judge Marco Roldan said that she “willfully and contemptuously appeared for jury service with her child and no one to care for the child.”
“It is not right. It is not fair for us. We’re just trying to do what is best for our children, and we shouldn’t be penalized and fined for it,” Trickle countered.
Judge Roldan explained that jurors can be excused from service in a situation of “undue or extreme physical or financial hardship,” claiming that he has exercised that discretion.
The Missouri Senate is now trying to introduce an exemption for breastfeeding mothers from serving on jury duty.
“Babies who are breastfed generally are healthier, are less likely to have certain health problems and will cost the state less resources,” state Senator Rob Schaaf said, as quoted by AP. “Jury duty is a roadblock to that.”
Source
Posted: 20 Oct 2013 05:00 PM PDT
family-killed-police-ohio.siA police vehicle crashed into a family’s car at an intersection just outside of Columbus, Ohio, killing six people and injuring the officer.
Two parents and their four children – including a two-year-old girl – were killed Friday night after a police cruiser crashed into their Toyota Corolla. The police car was reportedly responding to an armed robbery at a local McDonald’s when the collision occurred. The officer is in stable condition, though he is being treated for a serious head injury.
The accident occurred around 1:30 a.m. at an intersection with traffic lights. According to the Associated Press, police say that dash-camera video from the injured officer’s cruiser shows the victims’ car entered the intersection after running a red light and came to a complete stop before the collision. An investigation is under way to determine how fast the police cruiser was traveling.
Preliminary reports indicate that no one in the family was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, and that the toddler was not in a child safety seat.
“That car was just totaled, and they probably died instantly,” Perry Township Police Chief Robert Oppenheimer told AP.
Investigators believe that the officer, whose name has not been released, was employing both his cruiser’s lights and sirens when the crash occurred. As for why the victims’ Corolla stopped in the middle of the intersection, Oppenheimer noted that there is only speculation at this point.
“One could speculate that he may have realized he ran the red light and was going to back up,” Oppenheimer said.”Or he saw the cruiser coming…and he froze. We can only speculate, because we’ll probably never know.”
The family was identified as driver Eid Badi Shahad, 39; Entisar W. Hameed, 31; Shuaa Badi, 16; Amna Badi, 14; Ekbal Badi, 12; and Lina Badi, 2.
According to neighbors interviewed by the Columbus Dispatch, the family had moved to Ohio from Iraq as refugees searching for a better life. The girls, especially, drew extremely positive recollections.
“They were so smart and so sweet,” said Heather O’Bannen, the director of the Westside Academy, where the girls went to school two years ago. “It’s a very sad situation.”
“When we were with them, we were letting them know they had options in their life, opportunity they didn’t have in Iraq…I even sold Girl Scout cookies with them. They were very bright, very happy girls.”
Perry Township police are currently involved in a comprehensive investigation of the accident, which they expect to complete in about a week.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 20:45