Georgia Man Fined for Growing Vegetables
January 10th, 2011Via: Eat Drink Better:
An Atlanta-area man is facing fines of up to $5000 for growing too many vegetables on his land.
Steve Miller (not Steve Miller of classic rock fame), has had an organic vegetable garden on his property for years. He grows food for himself and has even sold some of his bounty at local farmers markets.
He received his first citation from code enforcement back in January and has since incurred $5000 in fines. The tricky thing here is that after citations in January and February, Miller got his property rezoned to allow his garden. The county is still suing him for the fines related to the earlier charges.
Research Credit: Zenc
Car Theft by Antenna
January 9th, 2011Via: MIT Technology Review:
Car thieves of the future might be able to get into a car and drive away without forced entry and without needing a physical key, according to new research that will be presented at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium next month in San Diego, California.
The researchers successfully attacked eight car manufacturers’ passive keyless entry and start systems—wireless key fobs that open a car’s doors and start the engine by proximity alone.
Srdjan Capkun, an assistant professor of computer science in the system security group at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, who led the work, says he was inspired to investigate the security of keyless entry and start systems after buying a car that had one. Capkun and Aurélien Francillon and Boris Danev, both researchers in the same institution, examined 10 car models from the eight manufacturers. They were able to access all 10 and drive them away by intercepting and relaying signals from the cars to their wireless keys. While they could relay the signals from the key back to the car as well, usually they did not need to because the key transmits its signals up to around 100 meters. The attack works no matter what cryptography and protocols the key and car use to communicate with each other.
Normally, when a wireless key is within a few meters of the right car, it detects a low-powered signal that causes it to issue a command that opens the car enable the ignition. The researchers used a pair of antennas to transmit these signals from the car to the key when the key was farther away, tricking the car into opening without the ordinary authorization. One antenna needs to be very close to the car, and one needs to be within eight meters of the key.
Arizona: U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Shot in the Head
January 8th, 2011And Now… ‘Dangerous Loners Hard to Catch Before They Act’
Wow. I’m not sure if this incident was purpose built as PSYOP, but it is definitely being used in that manner.
Via: AP:
The gunman accused of trying to assassinate Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killing six others, Jared Lee Loughner, was not on any government watch list that might have warned someone not to sell him a gun or caused police to investigate his unstable behavior.
It turns out there is not a list in the United States for people like Loughner.
The same goes for Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into an IRS office in Austin, Texas, last February. Stack left behind a 3,000-word, rambling screed about his problems with the U.S. tax code.
Less than a month later, John Patrick Bedell shot two Pentagon guards. He left behind anti-government writings and cited conspiracy theories involving the U.S. military.
Richard Poplawski, too, left an online trail of racist rants and paranoid thoughts about President Barack Obama imposing a gun ban before he allegedly shot and killed three police officers in the Pittsburgh area in April 2009.
In the past two years, there have been at least six incidents in which disgruntled Americans, acting alone, have taken violent action into their own hands. In many of the cases, signs of government distrust and paranoia wouldn’t have been enough to justify law enforcement intervention.
…
There are scores of domestic groups with members who oppose paying taxes, disagree with the government and voice their opinions eagerly. But their rights are protected by the First Amendment, and opposing taxes alone is not enough to trigger an investigation.
“These guys kind of fly below the radar until they decide to act, which makes it a challenge for law enforcement,” said Borelli, who is now a senior vice president with the Soufan Group, an international firm that consults on security issues.
—End Update—
Update: Same Lawyer Who Represented Ted Kasczynski and Timothy McVeigh Will Represent Jared Loughner
Lawyer, specializing in mind control patsies?
Via: Muckety:
Jared Lee Loughner, who is accused of killing six people and wounding several others including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, had an experienced capital-defense attorney at his side when he made his first court appearance in Arizona Monday.
At the request of the Federal Public Defenders Office in Phoenix, Judy Clarke, a San Diego attorney who was taken on the defense of several high-profile clients accused of killing, was appointed by the court to represent Loughner.
Clarke’s previous assignments include serving as a co-counsel for Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski. The so-called Unabomber was arrested on murder charges in 1996 and pleaded guilty rather than face trial in January 1998.
Clarke also was part of the defense team for Susan Smith, a South Carolina mother who received a life sentence for drowning her two sons in 1994.
She was one of the public defenders for Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for his part in the deadly 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.
Clarke also served on the defense team for Eric Rudolph, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2005 after pleading guilty to the bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
And she was one of the attorneys assigned to Zacarias Moussaoui, who was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the preparations for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Research Credit: Pookie
—End Update—
Update: Loughner’s Posts On Gaming Boards
Via: Wall Street Journal:
Last May 9, at two in the morning, Jared Lee Loughner typed a question to a group of about 50 online gamers located around the world: “Does anyone have aggression 24/7?”
He was back at his keyboard the following night. “If you went to prison right now…What would you be thinking?” he asked.
A trove of 131 online-forum postings written between April and June 2010, which were viewed by The Wall Street Journal, provides insight into Mr. Loughner’s mind-set in the year leading up to Saturday’s shootings in Tucson, Ariz. He stands accused of killing six people, gravely wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D., Ariz.) and injuring 13 others.
The online postings paint a picture of a disturbed young man trying to impress his peers and struggling to find a purpose to his life. They range from prosaic chatter about weight lifting to nonsensical philosophical ramblings that left some of the gamers who read them wondering whether he was using drugs or had a mental disability.
—End Update—
Update: Loughner Neither Left nor Right
Via: TVNewser:
This morning on “Good Morning America,” ABC’s Ashleigh Banfield sat down with Zach Osler, a high school friend of Jared Loughner, the suspect in the Tucson massacre.
Osler says his friend wasn’t shooting at people, “he was shooting at the world.” Regarding the high-pitched talk radio and cable news political rhetoric, Osler says his friend didn’t even watch the news.
He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right.
—End Update—
Update: Loughners Kept to Themselves, Amy Loughner Worked for Pima County
Via: ABC News:
And neighbors painted a picture of a single-child home that was intensely private and increasingly insular and standoffish as Jared Loughner grew older.
George Gayam, who has lived next door to Randy Loughner for 30 years on North Soledad St., described their early relationship as amicable and engaging, like “average neighbors.”
Randy married Amy Totman in 1986 and two years later they had their first and only son, Jared. He then became a stay at home dad, while Amy worked for Pima County, neighbors said.
…
“There was times when we’d be out with other neighbor kids, and Jared wouldn’t be allowed out. He’d be watching from the window or door,” he said. “They all became very isolated. Randy was isolated, Amy wasn’t out anymore. Something changed. They just kept to themselves.”
“We used to talk, you know, though not a lot,” said Gayam. “But recently there was always some choice words said at times or gestures when someone was driving by. There’s no real rhyme or reason as to why.” Other neighbors said the Loughners’ behavior perplexed them and made them uncomfortable.
“Contempt breeds contempt,” said a female neighbor who asked to remain anonymous because she scared of Randy. “The family was contemptuous. It wasn’t the son. It was the father.”
—End Update—
Update: Small Skull ‘Altar’ Found at Loughner’s Home
The skull in the following piece looks to be associated with Día de los Muertos to me, but I’m definitely no expert.
Can anyone expand on this sentence from the piece:
Experts on Sunday said the elements are featured in the ceremonies of a number of occult groups.
What ceremonies? What groups?
Also, has anyone read about what the parents, Randy and Amy Loughner, did for a living?
Via: New York Daily News:
A sinister shrine reveals a chilling occult dimension in the mind of the deranged gunman accused of shooting a member of Congress and 19 others.
Hidden within a camouflage tent behind Jared Lee Loughner’s home sits an alarming altar with a skull sitting atop a pot filled with shriveled oranges.
A row of ceremonial candles and a bag of potting soil lay nearby, photos reveal.
Experts on Sunday said the elements are featured in the ceremonies of a number of occult groups.
Investigators have focused on Loughner’s online anti-government ramblings as the chief motivation for the shooting Saturday of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
The discovery of the shrine raises the possibility that Loughner, 22, may have been driven by other forces. Students and faculty at Pima Community College, which he attended until his suspension last summer, said Loughner was clearly at odds with the world.
—End Update—
Update: Police Clear Second Suspect, But Still Not Sure Loughner Acted Alone; Evidence Taken from Loughner’s Home
Via: KRCR TV:
Federal prosecutors charged the suspect in shooting of Arizona congresswoman with attempted assassination and four other charges.
Jared Loughner is charged with one count of attempted assassination of member of Congress, two counts of killing an employee of the federal government and two counts of attempting to killing a federal employee.
Heather Williams, the first assistant federal public defender in Arizona, says the 22-year-old suspect doesn’t yet have a lawyer, but that her office is working to get a lawyer appointed for Loughner.
Investigators say they seized evidence suggesting Loughner planned ahead.
Investigators said they carried out a search warrant at the suspect’s home and seized an envelope from a safe with messages such as “I planned ahead,” “My assassination” and the name “Giffords” next to what appears to be the man’s signature.
The 22-year-old Loughner is accused of killing six people and wounding 14 others wounded, including the Democrat lawmaker.
Meanwhile, authorities say a second man has been cleared of any involvement in the attempted assassination. Pima County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Ogan said Sunday that the man was a cab driver who drove the gunman to the grocery store outside of which the shooting occurred.
Ogan says the man went into the store because the gunman apparently hadn’t paid his fare.
Authorities had been seeking the man as a suspected accomplice because he was captured on security cameras near the gunman and at the scene Saturday.
Ogan says the cab driver “came by, and we talked to him and we determined he was not involved.”
He also says authorities were not ready to say if they are confident the gunman acted alone.
—End Update—
Update: Gabrielle Giffords’ Official YouTube Channel Is Subscribed to Jared Lee Loughner’s Alleged YouTube Channel
At first, I thought that it must not be her channel. I thought that someone must have made up a fake YouTube channel and done this.
Nope.
It’s her official YouTube channel. There’s a link to youtube.com/giffords2 on her House of Representatives page, giffords.house.gov.
So, out of a total of two subscriptions on Gabrielle Giffords’ YouTube channel, one of them is to Jared Lee Loughner’s alleged YouTube channel, the channel of the alleged shooter. The other one is to Congressman Ike Skelton’s YouTube channel.
Who subscribed Gifford’s channel to youtube.com/user/Classitup10? Even more interesting might be to know WHEN that happened.
—End Update—
Update: Cops Hunt Second Man Believed to Be Involved in Congresswoman Giffords Shooting
Via: ABC News:
The gunman who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head and then unleashed a spray of bullets that killed six and wounded 12 others at a town hall event outside a Tucson, Ariz., grocery store may not have acted alone, authorities announced tonight.
“We are not convinced that [the gunman in custody] acted alone, there is some reason to believe he came to this location with another individual, and that individual is involved,” Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said.
Police said a suspect was taken into custody, and Dupnik described the alleged shooter as mentally unstable. Though the sheriff did not name the suspect, he was identified by multiple law enforcement sources as Jared Lee Loughner, 22.
Dupnik declined to provide more information on the second individual who he would only describe as “white” and “in his 50s.” Authorities have photographs of the person of interest and are “actively pursuing him,” the sheriff said.
The congresswoman was the clear focus of the gunman’s assault, Dupnik said.
“He ran through the crowd and when he got to [Giffords] he just started shooting,” the sheriff said.
—End Update—
Update: Jared Lee Loughner Is the Alleged Shooter
http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10
http://www.youtube.com/user/Starhitshnaz
—End Update—
Update: Federal Judge John M. Roll Killed in Arizona Attack
Via: MSNBC:
Federal officials told NBC News that U.S. District Court Judge John M. Roll was among those who was shot and had died. He was the chief judge in Arizona, appointed in 1991 by the first President Bush. He became chief judge in 2006.
—End Update—
Update: Gabrielle Giffords Alive, But in Critical Condition
Via: AZ Capitol Times:
A hospital spokeswoman said Giffords was alive and in critical condition after the shooting.
—End Update—
Via: NPR:
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head outside a grocery store in Tucson while holding a public event, Arizona Public Media reported Saturday.
The Democrat, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting a “Congress on Your Corner” event at the Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.
At least nine other people, including members of her staff, were hurt. Giffords was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson. Her condition was not immediately known.
Giffords was talking to a couple when the suspect ran up firing indiscriminately and then ran off, Michaels said.
The suspect was tackled by a bystander and taken into custody. He was not injured.
Giffords was first elected to represent Arizona’s 8th District in 2006. The “Congress on Your Corner” events allow constituents to present their concerns directly to her.
Decapitated Bodies of 15 Young Men Found in Acapulco
January 8th, 2011Via: BBC:
The decapitated bodies of 15 young men have been found in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco.
Police said they were discovered near a shopping centre and were all aged between 15 and 25.
They were dumped there by drug cartel members fighting over the control of the drugs business in the city.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since late 2006.
President Felipe Calderon has deployed thousands of troops to battle the drug cartels, and claims to be making progress in reducing their influence.
But critics of Mr Calderon’s policies say they have increased the level of violence without reducing the flow of cocaine and other drugs into the US.
Human rights groups have also raised concerns that using the military has exposed civilians to possible abuse.
In this latest violent incident, police responding to a report of a burning vehicle near Acapulco’s Plaza Senderos shopping centre shortly after midnight found five other abandoned vehicles and the decapitated bodies.
Media reports say that three messages signed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel and Mexico’s most wanted drug baron, were found alongside the bodies.
The messages reportedly said that the attack was a warning against criminal groups fighting Mr Guzman’s organisation.
It is believed to be the largest single group of decapitation victims found since President Calderon launched his offensive against the cartels.
How the U.S. Let al-Qaida Get Its Hands On an Iraqi Weapons Factory
January 8th, 2011This piece makes absolutely perfect sense, as long as you know that al-Qaida is run by CIA, and that one of the main objectives in any U.S. led war is to keep it going for as long as possible.
My guess is that this operation was a top to bottom CIA production, maybe using some of the P2OG assets the regime put in place at the time.
Via: Guardian:
In 2004, al-Qaida established a camp inside the Qa’qaa complex itself. “We had a firing range, like a tunnel. It was used to shoot small-calibre bullets,” says Ali. “It became a training camp for terrorists.”
Anyone entering the facility without permission was killed. Al-Qaida spread horror stories about its activities, intimidating locals into collaborating. An execution room was set up with a makeshift gallows. Yusuf was part of the operation. “We used to kill people in terrible ways, torturing them to give al-Qaida more influence.” Mutilations, murders and decapitations were filmed and copies were distributed around Yusifiyah to discourage dissent.
The violence increased. Anyone suspected of attempting to join the Iraqi military or police was executed. Shias were executed. People with Shia names were executed. People who did anything regarded as Shia-like were executed. When Haki’s uncle was caught smoking a cigarette, al-Qaida broke all his fingers with a hammer. Then they killed him.
Soon even Yusuf recognised that things had gone awry. “We realised that al-Qaida hadn’t come to rescue us. They were killing all kinds of people, saying they were atheists and that they idolised statues,” he recalls.
When Haki returned from Baghdad in 2005, he found the main road into town littered with corpses, bound, tortured and shot. “We hadn’t seen anything like this before in our lives. It was like a horror film.”
By 2005, commentators were dubbing the Yusifiyah region the “Triangle of Death”: the most dangerous sector in all Iraq. Palm-tree plantations were rigged with explosives to bring down low-flying helicopters; soldiers were abducted, tortured and murdered. Bombs went off everywhere.
It was, of course, no coincidence that Nahir Yusifiyah was so favoured by insurgents. It was where all the weapons were.
White House Calls for ‘Trusted’ Internet Identities for Americans
January 8th, 2011At this point, with things as far gone as they are, this hardly should come as a surprise to anyone. Compared to what’s already in place, this hardly rates as sinister. They’re saying that it’s not a national ID card and it’s voluntary, etc.
So, here are some guesses as to what voluntary will mean:
Do you want to login to your bank? You’ll need your trusted credentials for that.
Online trading account? You’ll need your trusted credentials for that.
Book an airline ticket? You’ll need your trusted credentials for that.
Sign up for Internet service? You’ll need your trusted credentials for that.
It’s voluntary. Trust us.
Via: eWeek:
The Obama Administration announced plans to develop an internet identity ecosystem that officials claim will reduce fraud and identity theft while streamlining online transactions.
The Obama Administration is committed to reducing Internet fraud by developing a comprehensive, national online identity strategy, United State Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Jan. 7. Cyber-security” and digital identity was a “national top priority” issue, said Locke.
Locke was joined by Howard Schmidt, the White House Cybersecurity coordinator, at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research at Stanford University, where they outlined the framework for an “identity ecosystem” which will allow people to complete online transactions with confidence that their personal information was safe
“We are not talking about a national ID card. We are not talking about a government-controlled system,” Locke said.
Despite the fact that over $10 trillion worth of business conducted online annually, which includes more than just e-commerce transactions, the “Internet still faces something of a trust issue,” because people are worried about what information is going out and who has access to it, said Locke.
The administration wants to “foster an identity ecosystem where individuals can use interoperable credentials to authenticate themselves online,” said Locke.
…
Locke emphasized the goal was to enhance online security and privacy through “trusted digital identities.” The ecosystem may even “eliminate the need to memorize a dozen passwords,” he said.
Recovery: Food Stamps Used by Record 43.2 Million in October
January 8th, 2011Via: Bloomberg:
The number of Americans receiving food stamps rose to a record 43.2 million in October as the jobless rate stayed near a 27-year high, the government said.
Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program subsidies for food purchases jumped 15 percent from a year earlier and increased 0.7 percent from September, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a statement on its website. Participation has set records for 23 straight months.
An average of 43.3 million people, more than an eighth of the population, will get food stamps each month in the year that began Oct. 1, according to White House estimates.
Request for Comments on ‘Recommended Links’: A Plugin Under Development for WordPress
January 8th, 2011WordPress site operators desperately need a social news capability that is tightly integrated with WordPress. Nathaniel, over at Golden Apple Design, created a Reddit clone, in the form of a WordPress plugin called, ‘Recommended Links’ for his own site, enjoylifeunschooling.com (which I recommend in and of itself).
Nathaniel is thinking about developing Recommended Links for wide release and is asking for comments on what site admins would like to see for both free and premium versions.
I know that Cryptogon feeds an ecosystem of hundreds of other sites, many of which run on WordPress. Admins, you know that your readers are often a good source of information. We need a good way of doing social news inside WordPress, inside our own sites. Currently, there is no good way to do this.
Head over to Nathaniel’s Recommended Links plugin page and let him know your thoughts on what you would like to see.
Ex-CIA Officer Indicted for Revealing that ‘Flawed’ Intelligence Operation May Have Helped Iran Gain Nuclear Technology
January 7th, 2011Via: New York Times:
The former officer, Jeffrey Alexander Sterling, who worked at the C.I.A. from 1993 until he was fired in 2002, was arrested Thursday in St. Louis. He was indicted Dec. 22 on charges that he disclosed restricted information to a journalist about a clandestine program intended to impede the progress of unnamed countries’ weapons capabilities.
While the indictment does not identify the journalist or the intelligence operation, its details make clear that prosecutors believe Mr. Sterling was talking to James Risen, a reporter for The New York Times. Mr. Risen wrote about a C.I.A. attempt to disrupt Iranian nuclear research in his 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration.”
That material did not appear in The Times. The indictment says that the journalist worked on an article about the program in 2003, but the newspaper decided not to publish it after government officials told editors that such a disclosure would jeopardize national security. But Mr. Risen devoted a chapter of his book to the program, which he portrayed as a flawed operation that may have helped the Iranians gain nuclear technology.
Banks Lose Pivotal Massachusetts Foreclosure Case
January 7th, 2011Via: Bloomberg:
US Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co. lost a foreclosure case in Massachusetts’s highest court that will guide lower courts in that state and may influence others in the clash between bank practices and state real estate law. The ruling drove down bank stocks.
The state Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a judge’s decision saying two foreclosures were invalid because the banks didn’t prove they owned the mortgages, which he said were improperly transferred into two mortgage-backed trusts.
“We agree with the judge that the plaintiffs, who were not the original mortgagees, failed to make the required showing that they were the holders of the mortgages at the time of foreclosure,” Justice Ralph D. Gants wrote.



