White House Veterans Helped UAE Build Secret Surveillance Unit
December 11th, 2019Via: Reuters:
In the years after 9/11, former U.S. counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke warned Congress that the country needed more expansive spying powers to prevent another catastrophe. Five years after leaving government, he shopped the same idea to an enthusiastic partner: an Arab monarchy with deep pockets.
In 2008, Clarke went to work as a consultant guiding the United Arab Emirates as it created a cyber surveillance capability that would utilize top American intelligence contractors to help monitor threats against the tiny nation.
The secret unit Clarke helped create had an ominous acronym: DREAD, short for Development Research Exploitation and Analysis Department. In the years that followed, the UAE unit expanded its hunt far beyond suspected extremists to include a Saudi women’s rights activist, diplomats at the United Nations and personnel at FIFA, the world soccer body. By 2012, the program would be known among its American operatives by a codename: Project Raven.
Reuters reports this year revealed how a group of former National Security Agency operatives and other elite American intelligence veterans helped the UAE spy on a wide range of targets through the previously undisclosed program — from terrorists to human rights activists, journalists and dissidents.
Student Loans A Lot Like The Subprime Mortgage Debacle
December 11th, 2019Via: NPR:
Calhoun’s the president of the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending. For decades he’s been keeping watch to protect people from reckless lending. He says that with student loans, just like with the housing crisis, there’s no consideration about whether the person getting the loan will be able to repay it.
“Once again, it’s the mismatch between the debt and the borrower’s income, their ability to repay,” Calhoun says. This time around it’s the government making the vast majority of the loans. That’s effectively turned the Department of Education into the country’s largest consumer lender.
And, Calhoun says, more and more people can’t pay. “Already in the student loan world, we are seeing default levels that approach what there was in the subprime mortgage world,” he says.
U.S. Army Will Fund Rare Earths Processing Facilities
December 11th, 2019Via: Reuters:
The U.S. Army plans to fund construction of rare earths processing facilities, part of an urgent push by Washington to secure domestic supply of the minerals used to make military weapons and electronics, according to a government document seen by Reuters.
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The Army said it will fund up to two-thirds of a refiner’s cost and that it would fund at least one project and potentially more. Applicants must provide a detailed business plan and specify where they will source their ore, among other factors.
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The rare earths tension between the U.S. and China goes back to at least 2010, when China limited exports to Japan after a diplomatic dispute, sending prices for the niche metals spiking and fueling concerns across the U.S. military that China could do the same to the United States.
With a Gun to Its Head, Toyota Will Build Electric Vehicles
December 10th, 2019The blah specs and Toyota’s 100% half ass effort on this compliance car remind me of this hilarious/true meme I saw somewhere last week:
Via: Electrek:
The Toyota Motor Corporation will launch its first all-electric Lexus in 2020. Nikkei’s Asian Review confirmed that the Lexus UX300e battery-powered SUV will go on sale as soon as next spring in China. The UX300e will then debut in Europe in summer 2020 and Japan in early 2021.
The plan was first unveiled at the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition last month.
The move to launch the UX300e aligns with Beijing’s announcement last week to create EV quotas. China aims to have so-called new-energy cars represent 25% of auto sales by 2025.
The 2020 Lexus UX300e SUV has a driving range of about 200 miles. It will use a 54.3-kilowatt-hour battery pack powering a 201-horsepower motor driving the front wheels. The on-board charger is rated at 6.6 kilowatts. DC fast charging is set for 50 kilowatts.
YouTube: This Place Is Broken
December 10th, 2019ThemTube.
Via: Truthstream Media – Bitchute:
U.S. Air Force’s Top Civilian Calls for Declassification of “A Large Amount of Information About America’s Military Space Programs”
December 10th, 2019Mmm hmm.
Via: DefenseNews:
The U.S. Air Force’s top civilian and a key member of Congress agreed Saturday on the need to declassify a large amount of information about America’s military space programs to both intimidate foes and encourage support among the public.
“Declassifying some of what is currently held in secure vaults would be a good idea,” Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said during a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “You would have to be careful about what we declassify, but there is much more classified than what needs to be.”
China Tells Government Offices to Remove All Foreign Computer Equipment and Software
December 9th, 2019Flashback 2013: Russian Government Buys Typewriters:
Russia’s agency responsible for the Kremlin security is buying typewriters – a move reportedly prompted by recent leaks by WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden.
A 486,540-rouble (£9,860) order for electric typewriters has been placed by the FSO agency on the state procurement website.
The FSO has not commented on why it needs the old-fashioned devices.
But an agency source told Russia’s Izvestiya newspaper the aim was to prevent leaks from computer hardware.
Via: Guardian:
China has ordered that all foreign computer equipment and software be removed from government offices and public institutions within three years, the Financial Times reports.
The government directive is likely to be a blow to US multinational companies such as HP, Dell and Microsoft, and mirrors attempts by Washington to limit the use of Chinese technology, as the trade war between the countries turns into a tech cold war.
The Trump administration banned US companies from doing business with the Chinese telecoms company Huawei this year and Google, Intel and Qualcomm announced they would freeze cooperation with Huawei.
Florida: FBI Hunt for Missing Saudi Servicemen
December 7th, 2019Via: Daily Mail:
The FBI is reportedly hunting for several Saudi students from Navy Station Pensacola, after they vanished in the wake of Friday’s mass shooting at the base.
Fellow Saudi Mohammed Saeed al-Shamrani, 21, killed three and wounded 12 others in the attack before he was shot dead by police.
According to AP, investigators have now detained 10 Saudi military students from the base – a number revised up from six – but several others remain unaccounted for.
Authorities have not revealed the number of Saudi students they are still looking for, and it’s unclear why they have not come forward to police.
It follows chilling new details emerging in the wake of Friday morning’s shooting, including news that three Saudi serviceman joined al-Shamrani for a dinner party the night before the attack where they watched videos of mass shootings.
California Plans Forced Internment and Asset Seizure to Solve Homeless Crisis
December 7th, 2019Via: Tim Pool:
Florida: Sheriff Told Her Deputy to Act Like a ‘White Supremacist Cop’
December 7th, 2019Via: Miami Herald:
The head of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office major crimes unit was relieved of her command this week following the release of an audio recording in which she is heard ordering one of her officers to pull over a black man who is a suspect in a Key West murder and act like a “white supremacist,” “neo-Nazi cop” to get information from him.
