A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted 13 members of the Internet hacking group Anonymous for allegedly carrying out cyber-attacks worldwide, including targets that refused to process payments for WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website founded by Julian Assange.
The U.S.-based members of Anonymous are accused of zeroing in on the computers of governments, trade associations, law firms, financial institutions and other institutions that oppose the philosophy of Anonymous to make all information free for everyone, regardless of copyright laws or national security considerations.
The indictment filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va., says that from September 2010 to January 2011, Anonymous members participated in a campaign they called Operation Payback, using software known as the Low Orbit Ion Cannon to flood websites with huge amounts of Internet traffic to shut them down.
In December 2010, the conspirators discussed possible targets related to WikiLeaks, which received more than 700,000 documents and some battlefield video from Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the largest-volume leak of classified material in U.S. history.
The UN's climate panel (IPCC) released its latest warning about "catastrophic" climate change on Sept. 27, garnering the frantic attention of all three broadcast networks that night. CBS even aired a claim about temperatures rising "more than 200 degrees." So, I can boil an egg in the air? No more high heating bills?
Predictably, the evening news shows on ABC, CBS and NBC Sept. 27 repeated the IPCC's dire warnings without including any skeptics and without mentioning past failures such as their inability to accurately predict warming or sea level rise. Wild claims made by reporters who know absolutely nothing about anything. Good news is that no one under 55 watches network news...
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
More evidencia that our future OWG-NWO consensus on GWCC is that there is no such consensus.
OTOH iff Perts are going to repeatedly claim that many or most of our historical Climate Models are wrong, IMO by extension our SOLAR MODELS may be wrong as well - and iff our Solar MOdels are wrong, ditto as per our EARTH-SPECIFIC GEOLOGIC OR GEOPHYSICAL MODELS???
I thought you were using "MSN" as shorthand for "PMSNBC," and wondered how you could stand it, even for a short while. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/04/2013 10:26 Comments ||
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#5
I think even Mrs. Uluque has come to the conclusion that it's better if I don't watch Diane Sawyer. Maybe I finally convinced her that it isn't really the news that Sawyer is presenting.
#1
The answer to this is simple, start calling 911 if you see a school administrator picking up things like pencils and pens or any other 'weapon' and have them arrested for violating zero tolerance and possessing deadly weapons. After a few visits from the police, maybe they'll learn to not be morons.
Yeah yeah, you can't fix stupid. All you can do it is take it out back and shoot it in the head. I know.
#5
Didn't DHS or some agency recommend fighting back against armed invaders using scissors? (Yeah, I know:never bring scissors to a gunfight)
Anyway, that implies that scissors are a weapon. As Silentbrick suggested, call 911 whenever a teacher (or better yet, a principal or administrator) picks up a pair of scissors.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/04/2013 8:42 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] The trial of three Tunisian coppers for raping a young woman last year, which sparked outrage when the prosecution tried to blame the victim, was adjourned Thursday until November 4.
The prosecutor asked for postponement because the alleged victim's medical report was still not ready, prompting condemnation from the defense lawyers.
The defense had asked for a doctor to conduct a psychiatric examination of the woman.
"It's not possible. We have been waiting (to make our case) since April 4," one of the coppers's lawyers, Sami Rebai, told the court.
But the judge insisted that the file, including the medical report, must be complete before the trial begins.
The woman's lawyers have also called for a postponement because the young woman has expressed her wish to attend but is now living in La Belle France, one of them, Bochra Belhaj Hmida, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The three coppers are in jug awaiting trial, two of them on rape charges, with the third accused of extorting money from the woman's boyfriend.
The police say they took the couple by surprise as they were having sex in their car, in a suburb of Tunis, in September 2012.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... n government has announced that the former British colony is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect, saying it would "never be a member of any neo-colonial institution".
"The general public is hereby informed that the government of the Gambia has left the Commonwealth of Nations with immediate effect," it said in a statement.
"(The) government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that the Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism."
The Commonwealth bloc is a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, many of them former territories of the British empire.
No further details were given but a foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , told AFP that the decision came after the government rejected a proposal by the Commonwealth last year to create commissions in Banjul to protect human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... , media rights and fight against corruption.
HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS
The proposal followed an April 2012 visit to the Gambia by Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, during which he met with President Yahya Jammeh and other top government officials.
Jammeh, who is regularly accused of rights abuses, has ruled mainland Africa's smallest country with an aura of mysticism and an iron fist since seizing power in 1994.
Earlier this year, the Gambia was singled out for its poor rights record in Britannia's annual Human Rights and Democracy report, which cited cases of unlawful detentions, illegal closures of newspapers and radio stations and discrimination against minority groups.
A front man at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said early Thursday: "We would very much regret Gambia, or any other country, deciding to leave the Commonwealth."
He noted however that "decisions on Commonwealth membership are a matter for each member government".
The Gambia is a tiny sliver of land wedged into Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... . It suffers from widespread poverty but its miles of palm-fringed beaches are a favourite among sun-seeking European tourists.
NO DONOR FUNDS
The west African anglophone nation, the smallest on the mainland, has long been dogged by rights concerns under Jammeh's administration.
Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup, brooks no criticism. He has been re-elected to power three times.
The man who claims he can cure AIDS and other illnesses is often pilloried for rights abuses and the muzzling of journalists.
In 2010, the EU, the country's top aid donor, cancelled 22 million euros ($30 million) in budget support for Banjul because of concerns over human rights and governance.
In August 2012, Jammeh came under attack from Amnesia Amnesty International and others for sending nine prisoners to the firing squad and promising many more would go the same way.
Many brass hats have found themselves charged with treason, often related to coup plots which observers have said are a sign of paranoia by Jammeh, who has woven an aura of mysticism around himself, dressing in billowing white robes and always clutching his Koran.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
And another one bites the dust.
Can official failed state status be far behind?
has ruled mainland Africa's smallest country with an aura of mysticism and an iron fist since seizing power in 1994.
[Dawn] A Saudi court has sentenced four men to up to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for dancing "naked" in public, media reported on Thursday.
In a video posted on YouTube, several men appear dancing atop a vehicle in the ultra-conservative province of Qassim. None seemed naked.
The court in Buraydah, Qassim's provincial capital, sentenced one defendant to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes, and another to seven years in prison and 1,200 lashes, Al-Sharq newspaper reported in what media have dubbed the "naked dancing" case.
Their two companions were jailed for three years and sentenced to 500 lashes each, it said.
The four were charged with "dancing on a vehicle in public and posting a video online, encouraging vice, defying norms of the society and violating public morals," according to Al-Sharq.
Two of them were identified as security officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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Macho, macho man...they want to be a macho man!!
[An Nahar] The day after the U.S. government ran out of money, Maria Njoku called her landlord to let him know she would be late with the rent.
Like hundreds of thousands of civil servants, she is worried about how she will make ends meet after being placed on indefinite unpaid leave as a result of this week's government shutdown.
"It's a huge financial burden," said the 27-year-old, who works at the Pentagon as an information assistant.
Her landlord told her late fees will be imposed if she fails to make the next rent payment by October 11.
But a deeply divided Congress appears far away from any deal to fund government operations for the new fiscal year, leaving Njoku and other government workers in a financial bind.
Watching the news for any glimmer of hope, Njoku is counting on an end to the deadlock in the next few days.
This would allow her to receive a paycheck and cover her $1,300 monthly rent for her apartment in Greenbelt, Maryland.
And if the shutdown drags on? "I have to find something for myself, either get a second job, find something on the weekends to pay bills -- if it comes to that point. I'm hoping it doesn't."
Njoku said moving back in with either of her divorced parents is not a practical option, as both of them have been furloughed from their jobs at the Internal Revenue Service.
Even before the shutdown, morale was deteriorating among the Pentagon's civilian workers.
Budget cuts have forced more than half of them to take six days of unpaid leave earlier this year, with another round likely on the horizon.
"Right now, I'm just pretty much disgusted," Njoku said of Washington's politics.
In the meantime, she was in an anxious limbo, reluctant to go out to see friends with the prospect of no paycheck. "It's hard to make plans. You don't want to spend money."
Some of the 800,000 government workers on furlough staged a protest Wednesday in front of the Smithsonian Natural History museum to vent their frustration.
They wore green T-shirts with the words, "I'd Rather Be Working for You," as tourists walked by the museum -- which is closed under the shutdown.
"I'm very worried about it," said Cheryl Claus, an employee at the Agriculture Department who took part in the demonstration.
"I have financial obligations that I need to meet and there's no end in sight to this shutdown and we don't know when we'll be paid again," Claus said. "It's very frightening, it's very frightening."
She and other civil servants said they feel they are being singled out for punishment.
"We're very upset that Congress is not doing its job, not passing the budget, and is still getting paid and we're not. So we feel frankly quite victimized by it."
Some workers with no financial cushion had already had to go to friends, family or banks to borrow money.
As bars in Washington offered "shutdown specials," Erik Brine relied on black humor to get through the ordeal.
Brine holds three jobs with the government, as a civilian employee with the Air Force, a part-time role as a reservist for the defense secretary's office and as an aide to a U.S. senator under a fellowship.
He spent the first day of the shutdown sorting out furlough paper work for all three of his jobs.
"It took me the better of the day to get canned three times," said Brine, a retired C-17 pilot who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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Bet they are demoncrats....
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/04/2013 0:29 Comments ||
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#2
I have that femto-violin around here somewhere...
#6
Better get use to it as we don't have the trillions to pay back for the money borrowed. This is how it's eventually going to end anyway. Make the best of the practice run now.
#7
I love the multi-generational nature of this victimization.
moving back in with either of her divorced parents is not a practical option, as both of them have been furloughed from their jobs at the Internal Revenue Service.
This is as bad (or worse) as the multi-generational welfare hoarde. A distinction without a difference?
#8
"It's hard to make plans. You don't want to spend money."
Workers in the private economy have been in that situation for years and years. Welcome to my world.
At what point can they start collecting unemployment compensation?
#9
More than 10,000 federal employees have filed claims for unemployment insurance in the capital area since the government shut down Tuesday, according to state and local offices.
In Washington, D.C., about 5,000 employees have filed claims in the first two and a half days of the shutdown, according to Lisa Mallory, director of the citys Employee Services Department. More than 300,000 federal employees work in Washington, and while most of them live outside the city limits, the workers must file unemployment claims where they report for duty.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/04/2013 9:41 Comments ||
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#10
She and other civil servants said they feel they are being singled out for punishment.
No darling, you're not being "singled out". You'll know you've been properly "singled out" when you see my signature on your pink slip and last paycheck.
[Dawn] An Indian court on Thursday sentenced former Bihar chief minister and prominent politician Lalu Prasad Yadav to five year in jail on charges of a multi-million rupee corruption scam.
Yadav, a former federal minister whose Rashtriya Janata Dal party supports the ruling coalition, had been convicted by the same court on Monday along with 44 others on charges of conspiracy and cheating over a scam which first came to light in 1996.
Mr Yadav was chief minister of India's state of Bihar when some 380 million rupees of public money intended to buy cattle feed for use by poor villagers was allegedly siphoned off.
According to Indian media, a special CBI court sentenced Yadav to 5 years in jail in the fodder scam case, and also fined him 2.5 million Indian rupees.
Former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra, who was among the co-accused, was sentenced to four years in prison.
The 66-year-old Yadav, known for his often amusing oratory in parliament, was born into a cow herder's family and is an outspoken critic of the Indian elite. He has always denied any wrongdoing over the so-called fodder scam.
His sentencing comes after political controversy erupted last week over the Indian Supreme Court's ruling in July that politicians should be barred if they are found guilty in criminal cases carrying jail terms of more than two years.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Following the burial of the four victims murdered on Tuesday, the surviving son of the dear departed former brigadier was picked up for questioning, it has been learnt.
The funeral prayers were offered at an Imambargah in Morgah on Tuesday night.
Brigadier (retired) Dr Sikandar Ali Malik 62, his wife, Shahida Malik, 55, daughters -- Zainab, 23, and Fatima, 20 -- were found murdered in their house on the premises of Al-Shifa Eye Trust Hospital.
Initial investigation showed that traces of tranquillisers were found from the contents taken from the stomach of the three murdered women.
A police source close to the investigation confirmed that Captain Dr Haider Abbas, the son of Brigadier (retired) Dr Sikandar Ali Malik, was the focus of military investigation and had been picked up at around midnight and taken to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for interrogation.
When asked why Dr Haider Abbas was being interrogated by the military authorities and whether there was any evidence that pointed to his involvement in the murders, the source said he had been making conflicting statements.
"Traces of tranquillisers were found from the contents collected from the stomach of Dr Haider's mother, and two sisters," the source said, adding that the police already believed that the victims were given tranquilisers before being rubbed out.
"No traces of tranquillisers were found from Brigadier (retired) Dr Sikandar Ali Malik's stomach," he said.
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... a detailed report from the chemical examiner's laboratory is still awaited.
"Though the chemical examiner's report is needed to prove the cause of death during trial, the initial report can also be used," a senior doctor at a government hospital said.
After the military intelligence has interrogated him, the police would carry out their own investigation.
A four-member team led by Superintendent of Police Mohammad Haroon Joya had been formed to investigate the murders.
To a question whether the police had found any sectarian link to the murders, SP Joya denied the theory, saying that no banned outfit was involved in the killing.
"If it were a sectarian case, the killers could have targeted the family outside the house. No such sectarian incident has ever taken place in the past," SP Joya said.
The police will be retrieving information from mobile phones of all family members, and will send finger prints, collected from the scene of the crime, for forensic analysis.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The UN's climate panel (IPCC) released its latest warning about "catastrophic" climate change on Sept. 27, garnering the frantic attention of all three broadcast networks that night. CBS even aired a claim about temperatures rising "more than 200 degrees."
[Dawn] A Saudi court has sentenced four men to up to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for dancing "naked" in public, media reported on Thursday.
[An Nahar] The day after the U.S. government ran out of money, Maria Njoku called her landlord to let him know she would be late with the rent.
