Bloomberg Sources Claim NSA Exploited Heartbleed Bug for Intelligence for Years
April 12th, 2014Via: Bloomberg:
The U.S. National Security Agency knew for at least two years about a flaw in the way that many websites send sensitive information, now dubbed the Heartbleed bug, and regularly used it to gather critical intelligence, two people familiar with the matter said.
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Putting the Heartbleed bug in its arsenal, the NSA was able to obtain passwords and other basic data that are the building blocks of the sophisticated hacking operations at the core of its mission, but at a cost. Millions of ordinary users were left vulnerable to attack from other nations’ intelligence arms and criminal hackers.
Armed Protestors at Bundy Ranch
April 11th, 2014Incident Possibly Related to Chinese Power Plant Deal
Sent in by TR.
Via: Infowars – Reuters:
“[Reid] and his oldest son, Rory, are both involved in an effort by a Chinese energy giant, ENN Energy Group, to build a $5 billion solar farm and panel manufacturing plant in the southern Nevada desert,” he wrote. “Reid has been one of the project’s most prominent advocates, helping recruit the company during a 2011 trip to China and applying his political muscle on behalf of the project in Nevada.”
“His son, a lawyer with a prominent Las Vegas firm that is representing ENN, helped it locate a 9,000-acre (3,600-hectare) desert site that it is buying well below appraised value from Clark County, where Rory Reid formerly chaired the county commission.”
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My Guess Is That The Feds Are Now Seeding the Crowd with COINTEL Operatives
Remember the Browns? See: Federal Agents Disguised as Supporters Arrest Ed and Elaine Brown.
So this might not be over.
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Update: Feds Retreat
Via: ABC News:
A Nevada cattle rancher appears to have won his week-long battle with the federal government over a controversial cattle roundup that had led to the arrest of several protesters.
Cliven Bundy went head to head with the Bureau of Land Management over the removal of hundreds of his cattle from federal land, where the government said they were grazing illegally.
Bundy claims his herd of roughly 900 cattle have grazed on the land along the riverbed near Bunkerville, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, since 1870 and threatened a “range war” against the BLM on the Bundy Ranch website after one of his sons was arrested while protesting the removal of the cattle.
“I have no contract with the United States government,” Bundy said. “I was paying grazing fees for management and that’s what BLM was supposed to be, land managers and they were managing my ranch out of business, so I refused to pay.”
The federal government had countered that Bundy “owes the American people in excess of $1 million ” in unpaid grazing fees and “refuses to abide by the law of land, despite many opportunities over the last 20 years to do so.”
However, today the BLM said it would not enforce a court order to remove the cattle and was pulling out of the area.
“Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public,” BLM Director Neil Kornze said.
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Via: news.com.au:
MORE protesters are arriving to support US rancher Cliven Bundy, who is engaged in a standoff with federal officials over grazing his cattle on public land.
In the wake of publicity for the recalcitrant rancher, members of various militia groups have travelled from Virginia, Texas, Montana, Idaho and Wisconsin to the protest sites and Bundy’s ranch, CNN reports.
The dispute, which began over cows allowed by farmer Cliven Bundy to graze on public lands north of Las Vegas, has escalated into a dramatic standoff between federal officials and the Bundy family, bolstered by militia support.
Mr Bundy has been flouting the law for 20 years, according to federal authorities, despite administrative and court orders to stop. Fed up with his intransigence, the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began removing the 900 cattle from the public land in Clark County last Friday.
The operation involved the temporary closure of some public lands — an area around 3000 square kilometres, or half the size of the state of Delaware.
Many of the supporters who are flooding in are armed and tensions reached boiling point on Wednesday after rangers shot Mr Bundy’s son Ammon Bundy with a stun gun twice, 8 News Now reports. Cliven Bundy’s sister also claimed she was hit by a ranger’s car.
SEC Trial Lawyer: Agency’s Penalties Have Become, “At Most a Tollbooth on the Bankster Turnpike”
April 11th, 2014Via: Bloomberg:
A trial attorney from the Securities and Exchange Commission said his bosses were too “tentative and fearful” to bring many Wall Street leaders to heel after the 2008 credit crisis, echoing the regulator’s outside critics.
James Kidney, who joined the SEC in 1986 and retired this month, offered the critique in a speech at his goodbye party. His remarks hit home with many in the crowd of SEC lawyers and alumni thanks to a part of his resume not publicly known: He had campaigned internally to bring charges against more executives in the agency’s 2010 case against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)
The SEC has become “an agency that polices the broken windows on the street level and rarely goes to the penthouse floors,” Kidney said, according to a copy of his remarks obtained by Bloomberg News. “On the rare occasions when enforcement does go to the penthouse, good manners are paramount. Tough enforcement, risky enforcement, is subject to extensive negotiation and weakening.”
Kidney said his superiors were more focused on getting high-paying jobs after their government service than on bringing difficult cases. The agency’s penalties, Kidney said, have become “at most a tollbooth on the bankster turnpike.”
Research Credit: P7y845W4
When Evolution’s Controversial, Declaring a State Fossil Can Get Tricky
April 11th, 2014On which day did God create z8_GND_5296?
Via: Smithsonian Magazine:
The Columbian Mammoth is about to become an official state symbol of South Carolina, but its path to the limelight was long and fraught with controversy. Let’s see if you can guess why. Here’s the text of the bill that made it official:
Section 1-1-712A. The Columbian Mammoth, which was created on the Sixth Day with the other beasts of the field, is designated as the official State Fossil of South Carolina and must be officially referred to as the ‘Columbian Mammoth’, which was created on the Sixth Day with the other beasts of the field.
This is actually the watered-down version of the bill; one version, proposed earlier, made even more explicit references to the role of a divine creator in the mammoth’s history.
Research Credit: ottilie
This Tower Pulls Drinking Water Out of Thin Air
April 11th, 2014Via: Smithsonian Magazine:
The invention from Arturo Vittori, an industrial designer, and his colleague Andreas Vogler doesn’t involve complicated gadgetry or feats of engineering, but instead relies on basic elements like shape and material and the ways in which they work together.
At first glance, the 30-foot-tall, vase-shaped towers, named after a fig tree native to Ethiopia, have the look and feel of a showy art installation. But every detail, from carefully-placed curves to unique materials, has a functional purpose.
The rigid outer housing of each tower is comprised of lightweight and elastic juncus stalks, woven in a pattern that offers stability in the face of strong wind gusts while still allowing air to flow through. A mesh net made of nylon or polypropylene, which calls to mind a large Chinese lantern, hangs inside, collecting droplets of dew that form along the surface. As cold air condenses, the droplets roll down into a container at the bottom of the tower. The water in the container then passes through a tube that functions as a faucet, carrying the water to those waiting on the ground.
Using mesh to facilitate clean drinking water isn’t an entirely new concept. A few years back, an MIT student designed a fog-harvesting device with the material. But Vittori’s invention yields more water, at a lower cost, than some other concepts that came before it.
Sebelius Finished
April 10th, 2014You’ll love the replacement, Sylvia Mathews Burwell:
Walmart Foundation: Check
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Check
Rhodes Scholar: Check
Via: BBC:
US health secretary Kathleen Sebelius is resigning following the problematic launch of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, US media report.
The law – regarded by the president’s supporters as one of his main domestic achievements – has been marked by early technical problems and delays.
Ms Sebelius has been health secretary since Mr Obama took office in 2009.
The reports say Mr Obama will nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the current budget director, to replace her.
Condoleezza Rice Joins Dropbox’s Board
April 10th, 2014Via: TechCrunch:
Condoleezza Rice, former United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor has joined the board of cloud file storage and syncing firm Dropbox.
Britain: Students Paying Back Loans Into Their 50s and Beyond
April 9th, 2014Via: BBC:
Most students will still be paying back loans from their university days in their 40s and 50s, and many will never clear the debt, research finds.
Almost three-quarters of graduates from England will have at least some of their loan written off, the study, commissioned by the Sutton Trust, says.
The trust says the 2012 student finance regime will leave people vulnerable at a time when family costs are at a peak.
Ministers said more students from less advantaged homes were taking up places.
The study, written by researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), assessed the impact of the new student loan system for fees and maintenance, introduced in England from September 2012 to coincide with higher tuition costs of up to £9,000 a year.
The study – entitled Payback Time? – found that a typical student would now leave university with “much higher debts than before”, averaging more than £44,000.
Hundreds of Millions of Pounds Wasted on Tamiflu
April 9th, 2014Via: BBC:
Hundreds of millions of pounds may have been wasted on a drug for flu that works no better than paracetamol, a landmark analysis has said.
The UK has spent £473m on Tamiflu, which is stockpiled by governments globally to prepare for flu pandemics,
The Cochrane Collaboration claimed the drug did not prevent the spread of flu or reduce dangerous complications, and only slightly helped symptoms.
Meet the Americans Who Put Together the Coup in Kiev
April 9th, 2014Via: Reader Supported News:
Ever since Bill Clinton sat in the Oval Office, Washington and its European allies have worked openly and covertly to extend NATO to the Russian border and Black Sea Fleet, provoking a badly wounded Russian bear. They have also worked to bring Ukraine and its Eastern European neighbors into the neoliberal economy of the West, isolating the Russians rather than trying to bring them into the fold. Except for sporadic resets, anti-Russian has become the new anti-Soviet, and “strategic containment” has been the wonky word for encircling Russia with our military and economic power.
