Former CIA Officer Charged with Leaking Classified Information
January 24th, 2012Via: Chicago Tribune:
A former CIA officer is facing decades in prison after being charged Monday with disclosing classified information to journalists, the latest in an unprecedented Obama administration crackdown against national security leaks.
John Kiriakou, who made news in 2007 when he became one of the first CIA operatives to speak publicly about water boarding, is accused of providing secrets, including the name and activities of one his undercover colleagues, to reporters. One reporter is alleged to have turned over the name of the covert CIA officer to lawyers for Guantanamo Bay prisoners, who were seeking to identify CIA employees involved in coercive interrogations.
Research Credit: almaverdad2
Stalinist Stanford “Visiting Scholar” Wants Search Engines to Warn People About Websites That Contain Conspiracy Theories, Browsers Should Flag Information That Does Not Conform to Mainstream Views
January 24th, 2012Via: Slate:
Well, perhaps, it’s time to accept that many of these communities aren’t going to lose core members regardless of how much science or evidence is poured on them. Instead, resources should go into thwarting their growth by targeting their potential—rather than existent—members.
Today, anyone who searches for “is global warming real” or “risks of vaccination” or “who caused 9/11?” on Google or Bing is just a few clicks away from joining one of such communities. Given that censorship of search engines is not an appealing or even particularly viable option, what can be done to ensure that users are made aware that all the pseudoscientific advice they are likely to encounter may not be backed by science?
The options aren’t many. One is to train our browsers to flag information that may be suspicious or disputed. Thus, every time a claim like “vaccination leads to autism” appears in our browser, that sentence would be marked in red—perhaps, also accompanied by a pop-up window advising us to check a more authoritative source. The trick here is to come up with a database of disputed claims that itself would correspond to the latest consensus in modern science—a challenging goal that projects like “Dispute Finder” are tackling head on.
The second—and not necessarily mutually exclusive—option is to nudge search engines to take more responsibility for their index and exercise a heavier curatorial control in presenting search results for issues like “global warming” or “vaccination.” Google already has a list of search queries that send most traffic to sites that trade in pseudoscience and conspiracy theories; why not treat them differently than normal queries? Thus, whenever users are presented with search results that are likely to send them to sites run by pseudoscientists or conspiracy theorists, Google may simply display a huge red banner asking users to exercise caution and check a previously generated list of authoritative resources before making up their minds.
Research Credit: apethought
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul Detained by TSA; Refused Pat Down
January 23rd, 2012Via: WLWT:
GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul said his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, has been detained by security at the Nashville airport.
“My son Rand is currently being detained by the TSA at the Nashville Airport. I’ll share more details as the situation unfolds,” the elder Paul posted on his Facebook page.
Sen. Paul’s communication director Moira Bagley said Paul called her to say he’d been detained. An airport spokeswoman later confirmed the incident to WSMV-TV.
CNN reported that Rand Paul was detained after refusing to allow a pat-down after the body scanner went off.
Top 100 U.S. Zip Codes Hit Hardest by Foreclosures
January 23rd, 2012Via: CNN:
The housing collapse has dramatically changed the nation’s foreclosure landscape.
Neighborhoods boasting modern homes, cul-de-sacs and tree-lined streets in and around Western cities now dominate the list of the top 100 U.S. zip codes hit hardest by foreclosures and claim and comprise all of the top 10 spots, according to data generated for CNNMoney by RealtyTrac. In 2011, Western states claimed 82 of the 100 worst hit zip codes with 38 in California and another 28 in Nevada.
That’s quite a departure from when CNNMoney first looked at the top foreclosure zip codes in June 2007. Back then, the auto industry’s ills had turned inner-city neighborhoods in Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis into foreclosure ground zero, with the three cities claiming 25 of the nation’s 100 hardest hit neighborhoods.
These older working-class neighborhoods were particularly blighted with vacant, repossessed homes lining the streets. In fact, they claimed 6 out of the list’s top 10 spots.
These days, however, many of the worst hit zip codes are communities that were built in the past decade or two in and around once-rapidly growing metro areas like Phoenix, San Bernardino, Calif. and Las Vegas, now the poster child of the foreclosure mess.
In fact, Las Vegas claims all five of the top five hardest hit zip codes. The number one spot goes to a neighborhood in North Las Vegas (in zip code of 89031) that recorded 2,469 foreclosure filings last year, according to RealtyTrac.
In California, the towns of Lancaster (93535), in the central part of the state, and Fontana (92336), near San Bernardino, claimed sixth and seventh place — the highest finishers for any zip codes outside of Nevada.
As far as regions go, the South claimed the second highest number of hardest hit zips with 14. Georgia claimed 12 of those neighborhoods, including one in Atlanta that took 10th place. Interestingly, not a single Northeastern zip code made RealtyTrac’s top 100 list.
EU Will Impose Oil Embargo on Iran
January 23rd, 2012Via: Guardian:
The long-running standoff between Iran and the west over Tehran’s nuclear programme has shifted into a more unpredictable phase after Europe decided to impose an oil embargo on the Islamic republic.
The decision by EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels raised the stakes dramatically in the war of wits between Iran and the west.
The EU decided no further oil contracts could be struck between the member states and Iran while existing oil delivery deals would be allowed to run until July.
Several countries shared reservations about the move, EU diplomats said. Greece was the trickiest problem since it imports a lot of Iranian oil on very favourable conditions. Given the financial collapse in Greece, it was in a difficult position and sought compensating measures from the rest of the EU. The impact of the embargo on countries such as Greece is to be reviewed in May.
Iran is Opec’s second biggest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, and about 20% of its oil exports go to Europe. It has threatened to close the strait of Hormuz waterway if the oil embargo goes ahead, a move that would choke off global oil supplies and send international tensions soaring.
The oil embargo represents a leap in the sanctions regime against Iran, following four earlier rounds of escalating penalties.
Senior EU officials also concede that the move could be risky and send oil prices rocketing at a time of extreme economic difficulty in the west.
“We need to ensure this does not destabilise the entire global oil market,” said a senior EU official.
The Age of Transitions
January 23rd, 2012Via: The Age of Transitions:
Is There a Single U.S. Mainstream News Story About the Mass Burial of 30 People Outside Chicago Last Wednesday?
January 23rd, 2012Unfortunately, the source of this story is the Daily Mail. What’s worse is that I’m not able to find any other source that doesn’t reference the Daily Mail piece. It says that the mass burial took place on Wednesday (January 18, 2011).
This is not a new practice.
I found this, from last year:
After uncovering the desecration scandal at Burr Oak Cemetery in 2009, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Thursday called for legislation to reform indigent burials in Cook County.
Dart pointed to complaints at Homewood Memorial Gardens, which has held the county contract for indigent burials since 1980. He cited babies being buried 10 to 15 to a box, some with animal remains.
“From a law enforcement standpoint, it’s disturbing,” Dart said. “From a human standpoint, it’s appalling.”
Is this just par for the course in the U.S. now? The new normal? Nothing to see here?
Via: Daily Mail:
It’s a practice more closely associated with third world countries, but in bleak times in a Chicago-area suburb, 30 people were buried in a mass grave on Wednesday.
The pauper’s burial section at Homewood Memorial Gardens was established for those who could not afford to pay for a burial plot.
And it is a problem that’s sweeping America as tough economic times have led to an increase in the number of indigent burials the morgue must perform.
Iraq Becoming ‘Police State’, Says Rights Group
January 23rd, 2012Meet the new boss…
Via: AFP:
Iraq is falling back into authoritarianism and headed towards becoming a police state, despite US claims that it has helped establish democracy in the country, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday.
The criticism from the New York-based HRW, which the government quickly disputed, comes less than a year after thousands of Iraqis took to the streets nationwide to criticise the government for poor services.
“Iraq cracked down harshly during 2011 on freedom of expression and assembly by intimidating, beating and detaining activists, demonstrators and journalists,” HRW said in a statement accompanying its annual report.
It noted that Iraq remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, that women’s rights remain poor and civilians have paid a heavy toll in bomb attacks.
The rights group pointed to the discovery of a secret prison last February run by forces controlled by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office, the same troops who ran Camp Honour, another facility where detainees were tortured.
“Iraq is quickly slipping back into authoritarianism as its security forces abuse protesters, harass journalists and torture detainees,” Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW’s Middle East director, said in the statement.
“Despite US government assurances that it helped create a stable democracy, the reality is that it left behind a budding police state.”
Alaska: Man Accused of Illegally Trading Moose Meat for Firewood
January 23rd, 2012Via: News Miner:
The Fairbanks man who is accused of illegally trading moose meat for firewood is taking his case to court.
Chad Gerondale, 41, has hired well-known Fairbanks attorney Bill Satterberg to represent him in the “meat for heat” case, as it has been dubbed by online spectators.
“I’ve got a lot to say about it but (Satterberg) told me not to,” Gerondale told the News-Miner Tuesday morning when he returned phone messages left during the weekend.
Alaska Wildlife Troopers last week issued Gerondale a summons to appear in court on Feb. 3 to be arraigned on a misdemeanor charge of illegal barter of game meat. Troopers issued a news release Friday stating Gerondale had been cited for agreeing to trade 125 pounds of moose meat for two cords of firewood.
Buying, selling or bartering of game meat, except snowshoe hares, is illegal. The one exception is caribou meat in northern and western Alaska (units 22-26) may be bartered, but the meat cannot be taken out of those units.
Gerondale allegedly offered to swap moose meat for firewood on the radio show, Tradio, which airs on KFAR 660 AM.
“The allegations are the guy was on Tradio and said, ‘I need some firewood and I’m willing to trade some moose meat,’” Satterberg said.
Trooper Ken Vanspronsen contacted Gerondale to make a deal and then showed up at his house and issued him a citation, Satterberg said.
Video from Inside Underground Government Food Storage Facility [???]
January 22nd, 2012Update: It’s Probably Springfield Underground
Cryptogon reader goldenmudd posted a link to Springfield Underground.
Case closed, as far as I’m concerned.
—End Update—
Update: SubTropolis?
Several people are emailing to say that this is SubTropolis. And, yes, the video title mentions SubTropolis.
But if you look at the Wikipedia entry for SubTropolis, you’ll find this:
It has a grid of 16 ft (4.9 m) high, 40 ft (12 m) wide tunnels separated by 25 ft (7.6 m) square limestone pillars created by the room and pillar method of hard rock mining.
The facility shown in the YouTube video has a much higher ceiling than 16 feet. It’s easily double that.
In the picture below, the left half is from the YouTube video and shows a truck at a loading dock in that facility. The right side shows a truck at a loading dock at the SubTropolis facility (image source):
Same facility?
Other documents (example) mention a ceiling height of 16 feet throughout the SubTropolis facility.
The guy in the YouTube video is in a facility with a much higher ceiling. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily some secret facility, but it’s not SubTropolis.
—End Update—
Where is this facility? What is this facility? What agency operates this facility?
How big is that thing? We’re only seeing the loading docks.
Via: YouTube:
