300 Million Talons... — 300 Million Talons…

A year ago this was reported, it seems timely now.

United States Circumvented Laws To Help Japan Accumulate Tons of Plutonium

Joseph Trento

National Security News Service, 9 April 2012

The United States deliberately allowed Japan access to the United States’ most secret nuclear weapons facilities while it transferred tens of billions of dollars worth of American tax paid research that has allowed Japan to amass 70 tons of weapons grade plutonium since the 1980s, a National Security News Service investigation reveals. These activities repeatedly violated U.S. laws regarding controls of sensitive nuclear materials that could be diverted to weapons programs in Japan. The NSNS investigation found that the United States has known about a secret nuclear weapons program in Japan since the 1960s, according to CIA reports.

Continue reading “Eagle: USA Has Helped Japan Build Its Own Nuclear Weapons”

2013/06/24

Berto Jongman: Iraq Vet Commits Suicide Over Being Ordered to Commit — and Cover Up – War Crimes

07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Government, Military

Iraq Vet Kills Himself After Being Ordered to Commit “War Crimes”

“These things go far beyond what most are even aware of”

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
June 24, 2013

Iraq war veteran Daniel Somers committed suicide following an arduous battle with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that was caused by his role in committing “crimes against humanity,” according to the soldier’s suicide note.

Somers was assigned to a Tactical Human-Intelligence Team (THT) in Baghdad which saw him involved in more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee, in addition to his role in conducting interrogations.

Somers’ suicide note is a powerful indictment of the invasion of Iraq and how it ruined the lives of both countless millions of Iraqis as well as innumerable US troops sent in to do the dirty work of the military-industrial complex.

“The simple truth is this: During my first deployment, I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity,” wrote Somers. “Though I did not participate willingly, and made what I thought was my best effort to stop these events, there are some things that a person simply can not come back from. I take some pride in that, actually, as to move on in life after being part of such a thing would be the mark of a sociopath in my mind. These things go far beyond what most are even aware of.”

Somers also complains about how he was forced to “participate in the ensuing coverup” of such crimes.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Iraq Vet Commits Suicide Over Being Ordered to Commit — and Cover Up – War Crimes”

2013/06/222013/06/22

Michael Hastings: In Memory — His Last Article — Why Democrats Love to Spy on Americans While Betraying the Public Trust in Every Possible Sense of the Term

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government

Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans

Besides Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, most Democrats abandoned their civil liberty positions during the age of Obama. With a new leak investigation looming, the Democrat leadership are now being forced to confront all the secrets they’ve tried to hide.For most bigwig Democrats in Washington, D.C., the last 48 hours has delivered news of the worst kind — a flood of new information that has washed away any lingering doubts about where President Obama and his party stand on civil liberties, full stop.

Glenn Greenwald’s exposure of the NSA’s massive domestic spy program has revealed the entire caste of current Democratic leaders as a gang of civil liberty opportunists, whose true passion, it seems, was in trolling George W. Bush for eight years on matters of national security.

“Everyone should just calm down,” Senator Harry Reid said yesterday, inhaling slowly.

That’s right: don’t panic.

The very topic of Democratic two-facedness on civil liberties is one of the most important issues that Greenwald has covered. Many of those Dems — including the sitting President Barack Obama, Senator Carl Levin, and Sec. State John Kerry — have now become the stewards and enhancers of programs that appear to dwarf any of the spying scandals that broke during the Bush years, the very same scandals they used as wedge issues to win elections in the Congressional elections 2006 and the presidential primary of 2007-2008.

Continue reading “Michael Hastings: In Memory — His Last Article — Why Democrats Love to Spy on Americans While Betraying the Public Trust in Every Possible Sense of the Term”

2013/06/212013/06/21

Mini-Me: Cyber-Hacking a Car — Can Do Easy

07 Other Atrocities

Huh?

Researchers Show How a Car’s Electronics Can Be Taken Over Remotely

With a modest amount of expertise, computer hackers could gain remote access to someone’s car — just as they do to people’s personal computers — and take over the vehicle’s basic functions, including control of its engine, according to a report by computer scientists from the University of California, San Diego and the University of Washington.

Hijack a Car?

Hijacking a car has been around forever, but with advanced technology your car is slightly safer or is it? Researchers at the University of California and Washington have been testing vehicles vulnerabilities to see just how safe a vehicles electronic controls really are. In one test they added some code to an MP3 and played it in the radio. When it was played the embedded code was capable of altering the vehicles firmware. This can give a hacker access to things such as: unlocking the doors, tracking your vehicles location, and they can even disable your breaks. Pretty crazy don't you think?

Car-hacking: Remote access and other security issues

It's not time for full-on panic, but researchers have already successfully applied brakes remotely, listened into conversations and more.

A 2011 report (PDF) by researchers at the University of California, San Diego and others site numerous “attack vectors,” including mechanics' tools, CD players, Bluetooth and cellular radio as among the potential problems in today's computerized cars.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Cyber-Hacking a Car — Can Do Easy”

2013/06/212013/06/21

Berto Jongman: Wesley Strong on Fear Geoengineering

03 Environmental Degradation, Commerce, Earth Intelligence, Government, Idiocy

Fear of a Geo-engineered Planet

Wesley Strong

Wesley Strong
Ethical Technology

Posted: Jun 21, 2013

The climate crisis demands our immediate attention. Climate change could devastate thousands of at-risk communities beyond repair and leave the face of the earth scarred. We cannot be alarmist enough about continued climate change and the threat it poses to life on this planet. This is the first time in the history of this planet that a species altered global climate to such a degree. The future of life on this planet is entering a period of extreme risk and few are offering rational solutions.

Leftists and environmentalists are correct to confront this issue with great urgency. Climate change grows exponentially as powerful elites continue to pursue a course dominated by the consumption of fossil fuels. Social movements continue to challenge the power of states throughout the globe to continue this destructive course. These movements are large, powerful, and often diverse. They face a very strong opponent, however, and have yet to really land a blow against the powerful capitalist elites that seek to profit from climate change rather than prevent it.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Wesley Strong on Fear Geoengineering”

2013/06/212013/06/21

Gordon Duff: Modern Cars As Murder Weapons — Just Attach A Transceiver to the On Board Computer, and Assume Control — Works on Aircraft as Well

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government, Military

“We Got The Message…”

Hastings “Boston Brakes” Killing a Warning?

Imagine a new “E Class” Mercedes exploding in flames, burning to a cinder. 220 km/hr crashes on the Autobahn are often survived, certainly without a fire.

There is a reason to own a Mercedes, in normal circumstances the chances of dying in one are quite remote unless you are Lady Di or heir to the presidency of Syria or, just perhaps, wrote a scathing expose that dismembered part of one of the greatest drug empires of all time.

“Yes, you got Michael Hastings. We are warned. Lots of journalists are killed each year. Veterans Today loses its share, perhaps a bit more. ”

For those who didn’t watch the entire video, go back. Catch the last few seconds. I was flabbergasted.

Those of us who have “been there and done that,” and come back with more than the T Shirt say goodbye to one of ours.

RIP Michael from “g” and the gang at “VT”

Continue reading “Gordon Duff: Modern Cars As Murder Weapons — Just Attach A Transceiver to the On Board Computer, and Assume Control — Works on Aircraft as Well”

2013/06/20

Patrick Meier: Using Big Data to Inform Poverty Reduction Strategies — Data Science for Social Good: Not Cognitive Surplus but Cognitive Mismatch

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Health, 11 Society, Crowd-Sourcing, Geospatial

Using Big Data to Inform Poverty Reduction Strategies

My colleagues and I at QCRI are spearheading a new experimental Research and Development (R&D) project with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) team in Cairo, Egypt. Colleagues at Harvard University, MIT and UC Berkeley have also joined the R&D efforts as full-fledged partners. The research question: can an analysis of Twitter traffic in Egypt tell us anything about changes in unemployment and poverty levels? This question was formulated with UNDP’s Cairo-based Team during several conversations I had with them in early 2013.

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Data Science for Social Good: Not Cognitive Surplus but Cognitive Mismatch

I’ve spent the past 12 months working with top notch data scientists at QCRI et al. The following may thus be biased: I think QCRI got it right. They strive to balance their commitment to positive social change with their primary mission of becoming a world class institute for advanced computing research. The two are not mutually exclusive. What it takes is a dedicated position, like the one created for me at QCRI. It is high time that other research institutes, academic programs and international computing conferences create comparable focal points to catalyze data science for social good.

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