The Associated Press ('AP') Sues FBI | FBI Spoofing AP News Story & Hacking Targets

Reporters Committee, AP sue for records about FBI's impersonation of journalists Press Release | August 27, 2015 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and The Associated Press are asking the U.S. district court in Washington, D.C. to require the Justice Department and the FBI to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and release records regarding the FBI's practice of impersonating members of the news media. The lawsuit argues that AP and the Reporters Committee “are statutorily entitled to disclosure of these records, which they seek so that they may inform the public about the nature and extent of the FBI’s impersonation of journalists and news organizations. Defendants have improperly withheld the records requested by Plaintiffs in violation of the law and in opposition to the public’s strong interest in obtaining information regarding a law enforcement practice that undermines both the credibility and independence of the news media.” The lawsuit stems from an FBI operation in 2007, during which agents created and published a fake AP news story in order to trick a criminal suspect into downloading surveillance software onto his computer, software that enabled the Bureau to track the suspect's location. When the FBI’s impersonation of the AP came to light in October of 2014, the Reporters Committee and 25 news organizations immediately sent a letter to the attorney general and FBI director calling it "unacceptable." AP also wrote to the attorney general protesting the FBI’s use of a fabricated AP news story "in the strongest possible terms." Reporters from AP and attorneys from the Reporters Committee submitted detailed FOIA requests to the FBI seeking information about this and any other program in which agents posed as journalists or in which false news articles were used to deliver tracking or other surveillance software. None of the requested records have been released. "We cannot overstate how damaging it is for federal agents to pose as journalists," said Reporters Committee Litigation Director Katie Townsend. “This practice undermines the credibility of the independent news media, and should not be tolerated. Yet while the public clearly has a strong, compelling interest in knowing more about the FBI’s use of this tactic, the FBI seems determined to withhold that information. We have been left with no choice but to look to the court for relief." [...] SOURCE http://www.rcfp.org/reporters-committee-ap-sue-records-about-fbis-impersonation-journalists ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT I don't know how much credibility what they call the 'independent' news media actually has, given its corporate ownership and establishment agenda bias, as well as its documented historical readiness to serve the government and corporate interests. However, that the FBI is misrepresenting itself as news organisations is nonetheless a problem. That information sought via FOI requests is being denied, indicates what a sham 'democracy' is in America, and demonstrates how totalitarian the American authorities really are - despite the propaganda about exporting democracy to 'save the world'. ꕤ

Europe Immigration - Censorship

"Horror Movie"   |   VIDEO CENSORED VIDEO Title: "African & Middle Eastern refugees are ripping Europe apart, is this the end of the EU" VIDEO Link: SOURCE  |  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZLyc67biZw Video depicts impact of African & Middle Eastern immigration in Europe. Video showed a swarming tide of African, and possibly also Middle Eastern immigrants, making what appears illegal border crossings over enormous barriers, climbing over trucks, swarming streets, running amok, tents, fights, large numbers of aggressive, single African men. Video showed take upon take of destruction and extreme violence. Video showed Muslim anti UK police protests and other protests. Video showed a Jewish man (possibly an Israeli politician), seated in an office, stating that immigration in large numbers from various world countries would spell the end of Israel, as Jewish state.  Or, as I believe he put it in Hebrew, it would mean:  'shalom Yisrael.'   Video showed Barbara Lerner Spectre [1], of Sweden, discussing an end to Europe's monoculturalism: "I think there is a resurgence of anti-Semitism because at this point in time Europe has not yet learned how to be multicultural. And I think we are going to be part of the throes of that transformation, which must take place. Europe is not going to be the monolithic societies they once were in the last century. Jews are going to be at the centre of that. It’s a huge transformation for Europe to make. They are now going into a multicultural mode and Jews will be resented because of our leading role. But without that leading role and without that transformation, Europe will not survive." [quote source | here ] Narrator of video discussed the negative impact of sustained immigration in Britain. The narrator referred to demographics, and what one may refer to as 'white flight' from British towns. Initial blog post in relation to video | here UPDATE Also appearing in the censored video GREGOR GYSI Lawyer Member of Bundestag - The Left / Die Linke A portion of following footage was incorporated into the censored video the subject of this post.  Title: German politician Gregor Gysi calls native Germans "Nazis" and their extinction "fortunate" Source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riQh4Qpvxm4 OTHER GYSI & PALESTINE | ISRAEL Source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQUpUGCfT3s Why I Was Censored from Talking About Israel In Germany Lefty Germans, blinded by collective guilt, have become intolerant and close minded. By Max Blumenthal / AlterNet December 1, 2014 http://www.alternet.org/world/why-i-was-censored-talking-about-israel-germany Why I confronted Gregor Gysi http://mondoweiss.net/2014/11/confronted-gregor-gysi Video: German politician hides in toilet from truth about Israel https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-german-politician-hides-toilet-truth-about-israel Other Paideia – The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden Paideia was created in 2000 through grants from the Swedish government and the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation as a non-denominational academic and applied institute ... educating for active minority citizenship. Paideia’s mission is to actively promote the renewal and flourishing of European Jewish cultural and intellectual life in the wake of the Holocaust and the trauma of communism, to support cultural diversity and to disseminate humanistic values. We do this by offering the most intensive educational program in Jewish studies available in Europe, and direct ourselves towards future leaders of Jewish life and intercultural work. Being a truly pan-European Institute, we have so far graduated fellows from 32 different European countries, and 40 countries in total. [...]  Our graduates work in a number of different areas all over Europe: academia, communities, interfaith, education, journalism, the arts and more. After ten years of activity, Paideia  ...  coordinates the One Sweden Network for an inclusive Swedish society, runs programs ... Source https://archive.is/6jDqa One Sweden   One Sweden wants to counteract polarization of society by strengthening trust between people in Sweden. We believe this is essential to prevent the anti-democratic and intolerant groups are strengthening their bases, regardless of where and among whom they arise. To focus on success, both economically and socially, we believe is an effective way to meet the challenges and the development of inhibitory phenomena as racism and extremism and to take advantage of Sweden's resources and allow all citizens to contribute to development.   We want to consolidate and create a network between forces that are already actively involved in the change process. One Sweden should be a catalyst for action. We will jointly and severally to work to reach the open, democratic and successful society we want to see, and inspire those who share One Sweden vision to start new projects and new initiatives into action. In this way we strengthen the overall impact of our interventions. Source https://archive.is/nGCBp ꕤ

Horror Movie - CENSORED

"African & Middle Eastern refugees are ripping Europe apart, is this the end of the EU" SOURCE  |  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZLyc67biZw ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Got onto YouTube to see if I could find current footage of the European migrant crisis drama. Came across this video.  Absolutely blood chilling to watch. I'm not kidding.  I find this frightening. Never mind the European Union, what of Europe itself? I'm pretty sure this isn't current footage. I recall seeing something about an Italian immigrant rampage a while back, and I think some of that footage is in this. I don't know why the Jewish people are in the video.  If they want a Jewish state, so be it.  If I were Jewish, I'd join them. Israel is beginning to seem like the only sane place on the planet. I gather from what's on the internet, that the woman interviewed -- Barbara Lerner Spectre -- is probably depicted in this video footage because of her stance on 'multiculturalism'. There's a lot of material on the internet that's hostile towards this one woman. People need to get a grip. It's ridiculous focusing on this woman's attitudes or beliefs. It's not as if this one woman's stance on anything is responsible for the disastrous policies of European politicians. In fact, Jewish people are said to be increasingly moving out of Europe due to anti-Semitism: Founder of French anti-Semitism watchdog to move to Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/founder-of-french-anti-semitism-watchdog-to-move-to-israel/ EXTRACTS - various Sammy Ghozlan, founder of France’s National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, announced he would immigrate to Israel, calling it “a message.” Ghozlan, a former police commissioner whose organization is one of France’s leading watchdog groups on anti-Semitism, announced his departure on Monday – shortly after the annual roundup of the Jewish Agency showed that 2014 was the first year ever that the biggest number of immigrants to Israel came from France. France’s growing anti-Semitism problem is believed to be driving the influx of over 7,000 newcomers to Israel from France last year, more than double the figure for 2013. Ghozlan has warned that while most of the hundreds of violent attacks recorded in 2014 were the work of Muslims, the French far-right also is adding to the problem with incitement and attempts to limit freedom of worship. http://www.timesofisrael.com/founder-of-french-anti-semitism-watchdog-to-move-to-israel/ Checking out a little more material on Barbara Spectre,  I found a reference to the below article. Asylum seekers sent to Sweden in previous weeks Published:     01.07.14, 13:33 The Interior Ministry reported Tuesday that dozens of Eritrean asylum seekers were flown to Sweden in the last few weeks. This is the first time the asylum seekers went to Sweden. Minister Gideon Sa'ar arranged the transfer with the Swedish government and the UN's refugee agency. Each asylum seeker received a $3,500 grant. (Omri Efraim) http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L- Well, it looks as if Israel's taking advantage of Sweden's open borders philosophy, in order to ensure that it is able to maintain a Jewish state.  Fair enough. An excellent arrangement, at a bargain basement price.  For Israel.  But what of Sweden?  Which isn't Israel's responsibility, by the way. It's not Israel's fault Sweden has an open borders policy. What am I missing here ... apart from a 'save the world', liberal leftie, Marxist revolutionary, hippie, or activist gene? I see disaster.  I am horrified.  I feel like I'm watching an apocalypse. I'm more afraid of what I've seen in this video, than I am of any imminent 'death cult' attack.   But nobody else is seeing what I'm seeing?  How can that be possible? ꕤ

Video - State Repression | Political Policing | Undercover Tactics | Surveillance | Mark Kennedy, Police & Private Spy

State Repression | Political Policing  Undercover Tactics - #surveillance  Resisting Surveillance: it's is not just about the metadata [cccamp15] "Infiltrators have been uncovered within political mobilisations in the UK, Germany, the USA, New Zealand, Spain etc., showing us that understanding offline security is just as vital as making our hardware and software secure. No matter how many layers of encryption we use, if our closest companions are infiltrators, sharing our homes, our lives, and our computers, there is nowhere to hide." SOURCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eOmj-EUXfU&feature=youtu.be ---------------------- ꕤ ----------------------   Notes More intense version of state surveillance of the metadata kind is: Targeted Undercover Policing entering most intimate sphere of life Undercover Policing = not a new phenomenon Victor Serge What everyone should know about repression (1926) https://www.marxists.org/archive/serge/1926/repression/ Undercover policing tactics go back  at least to the 1890s Book (above) is re Czarist Russia / efforts to neutralise threats to power / Czarist tactics are same as tactics we see today, eg going into a social movement dividing & conquering spreading lies causing diversion to neutralise threats to power Use of undercover police is POLITICAL & PROJECT POLICING Outing of British Undercover Cop:  Mark Kennedy - 2011 see  book: Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police Paperback (2013) http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Story-Britains-Secret-Police/dp/0571302173 Film 'Spied Upon' in the making | financing leads appreciated Link | here Various relevant books worth reading mentioned in video FBI Undercover Op THERMCON | here selling LSD to gain trust sex with activists EMETIC protester group chair lift damage + two other attacks against targets causing ecological damage 1987 to 1989 Undercover FBI Michael Fain {undercover name, Mike Tait} recruitment Ron Fraizer {friend of those to be arrested} as informant Result:  multiple arrests Other purpose:  discrediting associated group Entrapment FOI files documented: 1996 - FBI agents provocateurs associated with THERMCON spent 2 years winning trust of Prescott group actively encouraging them to sabotage powerlines attempting - unsuccessfully - to convince group to use (& even offering to buy) explosives FBI agents also selected the site, purchased & transported cutting equipment prior to  power line sabotage attempt on 1989 USA - FBI  efforts range from 1960s to present day efforts to smash/silence radical environmental movements Germany see Book:  Spitzel   |  here Germany Private cops unregulated Believe the video also refers to 'Verfassungsschutz' Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) English: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Rather a misleading name, given this is Germany's domestic 'security agency': "tasked with intelligence-gathering on threats concerning the democratic order, the existence and security"  and, by the sound of it, is in fact a state police tasked with the maintaining the power of the corporate-controlled state, one would think. Source | here Social Network Infiltration Map social network Target 'top influencer' see Stratfor (Occupy Oakland) - thanks, Jeremy Hammond Placement on Watch Lists (along with those known to person) US:  File for a Lawyer Obtain FOI docs FBI - B6 & B7C exclusions [result:  targets do not know FBI talking to associates] Associates = under severe pressure from secret police (FBI) UK  Harassment of Teachers / School Friends harassed at travel points / questioned Snitch-jacketing (paranoia, calling people police & destabilising / attacking own movement; thus doing the work of the police) Placement on Terrorist Lists Problems at border crossings National Security Exemption results from seeking remedy re placement on Lists / state of exception / application of law is completely arbitrary / anyone can be called 'terrorist' at any time UK National security exemptions used to legitimise undercover political policing & information refusal Targets want RIPA & IPT gone / smash them whenever you get the chance Pervasive Surveillance = results in targeted surveillance Myth Myth that back-doors might be needed by police the point of mass surveillance is targeted surveillance / targets people who are activists / targeted analysis can target anyone at any time Resist / must be 100% against what results in targeted surveillance  & undercover police, as this prevents protesting for change  {laws difficult to change once in place} Germany Address / apply pressure at: EU  Parliament help get rid of Germany's political police Detection If you think someone is an undercover operative, do not whisper about it:  find out.   Check background Usually, not the weirdo in the group that makes you feel uncomfortable.  These are 'close friends' (from target's experience) Recommended BOOK War at Home: Covert action against U.S. activists and what we can do about it (South End Press Pamphlet Series) | here UK Police Having sex with activists is seen a 'perk of the job' Decades of undercover police in political movement in UK Long-term relationships used as part of cover story by undercover cops *only happened to women Undercover actions considered: embedded in institutionalised sexism British legal system & other Effects of Surveillance  / creates a culture of fear and paranoia / large-scale social suicide / damaging to entire society / creation of police state is responsible for this damage ꕤ

TRANSCRIPT - Assange - Malaysia - HITB SecConf 2009

TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] Edit of Part II transcript appearing here Entire Series Transcribed at this link HITB SecConf 2009 Malaysia: WikiLeaks 2/8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLpOI6I3Ink&feature=youtu.be [...] so we limit, we limit ourselves to the hardest cases, the hardest publishing cases that no-one else can publish.  So that means, non-public censored documents, of political, diplomatic, or historical significance. OK, so, a sort of feeling for what we're doing.  What is the impact?  Not on individual nation states, but the impact in the media. This is something you can measure a little bit.  Other stuff's a bit harder. And I’ll go into examples. But, we have caused the publication, or reprinting, of about 40,000 articles, based on our content, in websites that are listed by Google News. So that’s most, but not all, of the mainstream press. [Just yesterday, I] looked on Google Books search. There’s about 40 something books -- Google books. That doesn’t cover most book publishers, so about 40 to 100 books have, in part, been catalysed as a result of material we have released. Google hits: WikiLeaks, presently about 670,000. Our four Malaysians here, in comparison: Malaysia Insider has about 46,000. And blog references are 92,000. Now, guys.  I’ve been censored. [audience laughter] Speaking of which, in this crisis that is occurring in the United States with journalists: a journalist who is fired is one hundred per cent censored. [Thanks. OK.] So this map is by Freedom House, this is the global press freedom index for 2007, the green is what -- Freedom House is an independently funded -- OK, Freedom House is an independently funded arm of the United States government. So, it does have a little bit of a bias, but it also has some good people. So, within the US prism of how it looks on the world, this is an accurate map. So, green for the so-called 'free press countries.' Yellow, for partly free (that includes Malaysia). And grey*, not free. So you see, in fact, even according to Freedom House, most of the world is not free from censorship. Now, of course, from my -- you’ll hear from the stories I’ll tell you, that this green is a complete illusion. An entire illusion. What has happened is that there has been a privatisation of censorship in the green countries. It’s no longer direct state censorship, most of the time, it’s censorship on behalf of private organisations through the courts, and the courts are run by the states. So it’s an indirect form of state censorship when you [...] a major institute privatised [...] the major institutions of your country. How many people here have ever gone to the front page of the website? May I see some hands? How many people haven’t? OK, so this section is not completely useless. So, this is what you will see if you go to the front page of the website: This is WikiLeaks. We help getting the truth out. If you then scroll down you’ll see on the right-hand side recent material that we have released, or that has been censored and we have uncensored it. On the left-hand side, is news reports that have been caused by the material on the right-hand side, so information catalysed in the mainstream press. Sometimes including press, and sometimes articles that we have written ourselves -- if no one else is picking it up. [00:05:01] OK, so, just looking at something recent, we released this week. The UK MoD Manual of Security Volume 1,2 & 3, Issue 2 -- 2,389 pages -- all classified. So, this manual is interesting. Not -- I mean, you guys are probably interested in security. But it’s interesting for another reason, because it shows that the corruption -- the moral corruption inside the UK military -- is documented. This manual refers to investigative journalists about 13 times. What are the biggest threats, the biggest leaking threats? The kind of security threat, is what military security is really concerned about: is information being disclosed. Their biggest threats is not the Russians, is not the Chinese; it's investigative journalists. And why are they concerned about it? Because it might embarrass the government, or might embarrass their departments. OK. So, now, looking on the other column, you can see mainstream press that has picked this up. This was front page of the Telegraph earlier this week, a newspaper in the UK. MoD how to stop leaks. Document is leaked. But I encourage you to read all the 2,389 pages and don’t just rely on the Telegraph story, because you'll get a very different perspective. So you can follow the link to the Telegraph. There it is. And how do people tend to use the site? Journalists tend to use the site on a day-to-day basis. Well, in fact, nearly all the stories we catalyse we do not have time to cut and paste and stick in here, it’s just impossible. So, to some degree we are victim of our own success, although I should say the project is very embryonic. We're two years in, but I think we're only 10% in to what we're trying to achieve. So, yes, it has been quite successful. But we are very embryonic. It's still a proof of concept. It’s showing a lot of good effect, but there’s still a lot of work to do. So, you will notice here. So, to catalyse a point -- you can have a look at news, blogs, and twitter -- so this is where in fact you will find most of the media pick up. And this is from earlier today, and you can see there tends to be something every few hours catalysed in the mainstream press, based upon what we have released. This is blogs. This is the best blogs search, by the way, is IceRocket. And this is Twitter. Often you’ll see stuff here before you see it in the mainstream press. People are just starting to [...] And, OK, there’s one more: PressDisplay as well. This is actually a big organization that scans the front pages and pages of newspapers across the world and puts them online. They charge you to actually buy chunks, but you get one, or something, a day free. And so you can see this is what has been happening this week [...] in relation to events in relation to the Telegraph, MoD. And sometimes we will write our own material. So this MoD document looked at getting travel advice to UK spies about going to China and Russia, what do they need to look out for when they are in those countries. OK, so this is -- [   ---audio cuts out -- 9:40---  ] [*I think Assange means 'blue' (rather than 'grey') for 'not free.' The colour in the accompanying slide appears blue, although he refers to 'grey.'] ---------------------- PressDisplay = now known as PressReader | here IceRocket  | here Freedom House  = CIA association  | here {I guess one can refer to their information; but where the information derives from must be kept in mind} MoD = Ministry of Defence (Britain's, in this case) ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Fun checking this out. Think I could get right into checking out all this early material ... if only there was enough time in the day. lol Thanks to the blogger who did all the hard slog transcribing. I've listened and edited the output.  So what's posted here is after I've arranged things as I want them, having made the occasional adjustment.  But there's a couple of missing bits. The audio isn't as good as it could be and the early Assange speaks too quickly, so I think I might just listen to the rest of these segments without trying to get them down word for word. ꕤ

'Is Obama the Worst President Ever?'

SOURCE http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/03/is-obama-the-worst-president-ever/ September 3, 2015 Is Obama the Worst President Ever? by Dave Lindorff Obama is on track to go down in history as one of the, or perhaps as the worst and most criminal presidents in US history. He started out, campaigning in 2008, as someone would would restore the rule of law in US international affairs and here at home after eight years of criminality during the Bush and Cheney administration, as saying he would end America’s wars and bring back an era of international cooperation and negotiation, and as saying that he would confront the dire threat of global climate change. On the basis of that promise, he won a dramatic election victory, raising hopes across the country and across many voting blocks. On that basis, he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize — the first time the award was given before anything had been done by the laureate being honored. And on the basis of that promise, people expected action on climate change. Instead, the president began backpedaling almost instantly. Instead of restoring the rule of law, he almost immediately announced that he would not permit his Justice Department to engage in any prosecutions of CIA, FBI, military of Bush/Cheney administration personnel for violations of international law or of US law. He introduced new secrecy rules, launched a record number of prosecutions of government whistleblowers, including an international manhunt to arrest or kill NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden which included the forcing down of a presidential aircraft carrying the president of Bolivia, wrongly suspected of flying Snowden from Russia to that Latin American country, and a secret espionage indictment against Wikileaks founder Julien Assange, who has thus been trapped for years in the little UK embassy of Ecuador which has granted him asylum. And most egregiously, Barack Obama, sabotaged the first international meeting on climate change held in Denmark, and has ducked every opportunity to have the US lead on reaching an international agreement to seriously reduce global carbon emissions. During the three Congressional electoral cycles and his re-election campaign in 2012, Obama studiously avoided pressing on any of these key issues, and especially on climate change. His position: “all of the above”, for energy development, has seen the US move, not towards carbon emission reductions, but towards expanded production of gas, oil and even coal extraction, making the US the largest oil producer in the world, and a major provider of dirty coal to both US electric companies and large coal using countries abroad, including China. Now we have this flimflam artist up in Alaska, talking about the crisis he has helped worsen, calling it an existential issue. And yet even as he speaks, the Shell Oil Company is towing a giant oil drilling rig up to the Arctic Ocean, thanks to an Obama administration permit, to begin drilling for oil in the shallow waters north of Alaska — drilling for yet more oil, that is, even as the world is facing a glut of the stuff, in a delicate region that would be devastated by a well blow-out, because ice would make containment an impossibility. Future generations of Americans will surely look back at President Obama as not just a con-man, but as someone who blew several trillion dollars on continued wars around the globe, as someone who terminally destroyed the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, instead of rescuing these documents as promised, and as the president who, when given the last real opportunity to reverse climate change, ducked the challenge and pandered to the corporations that selfishly wanted short-term gain over long-term survival for humanity and the biosphere. There are plenty of other criminal acts by this president to consider. On his watch, this first African-American president allowed an increased national police to become a fully-armed occupying army across the country. No American today is safe from abusive police who make up crimes and ignore the law at will, but paying a uniquely terrible price are African-Americans and other people of color, who once gave this president 90% of their votes or more, but who now are being gunned down with a grim regularity by mostly white cops who fire at the slightest provocation, even at unarmed kids. On his watch too, young children, fleeing US-caused gang violence in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and elsewhere in Latin America, have been sent back to their home countries illegally, or held in prisons in this country in violation of direct court orders. He also ordered his Justice Department not to prosecute the criminal bankers who willfully destroyed the US and the global economy to profit themselves and their institutions. This president, let’s be clear, has not just been incompetent and gutless. He has been a slick political fraud and both a common and a Constitutional criminal. In a just nation of engaged citizens, Obama would already have been impeached for any number of serious crimes, beginning with the failure to prosecute known war criminals of the Bush/Cheney administration, including the president and vice-president themselves. That’s not going to happen, because this is not a just nation of engaged citizens. But there will be a reckoning. History will judge this president harshly, as it has judged criminal leaders of the past, from Rome’s Nero to Italy’s Mussolini or Uganda’s Idi Amin. It may strike some as hyperbole to put President Obama in league with such universally acknowledged monsters as these, but when human beings begin dying by the millions because of climate-change caused famines, floods, droughts and international armed conflicts we will surely look back at the actions and inactions of this particular president, who had the opportunity to make a huge difference and chose not just to do nothing, but to make things worse, and will say his crimes perhaps exceeded theirs. Dave Lindorff is a founding member of ThisCantBeHappening!, an online newspaper collective, and is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). SOURCE http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/03/is-obama-the-worst-president-ever/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- What stood out for me: USA refuses to prosecute CIA, FBI, military [or] Bush/Cheney administration personnel for violating US or international law. Obama admin: = violated & continues to violate the Bill of Rights and the Constitution Obama admin: allowed militarised police to become a fully-armed occupying army across USA "No American today is safe from abusive police who make up crimes and ignore the law at will" Obama admin: introduced new secrecy rules Obama admin: launched a record number of prosecutions of whistleblowers Obama admin: engaged in international manhunt for whistleblower Edward Snowden Obama admin: forced down of a presidential aircraft carrying the president of Bolivia (wrongly suspected of flying Snowden from Russia to Bolivia} Obama admin: initiated a secret espionage indictment against WikiLeaks founder, journalist-publisher, Julian Assange (trapped for 5 years in the confines of UK embassy of Ecuador, which has granted him political asylum) Obama admin: =  ordered his Justice Department not to prosecute criminal bankers who destroyed the US & global economy for own profits Obama admin: = blew several trillion dollars on continued wars around the globe Obama admin: = pandered to corporations out for short-term gain over long-term effects on environment Obama admin: = expanded production of gas, oil and even coal extraction making the US the world's largest oil producer Thanks to Obama admin: USA = a major provider of dirty coal to both US electric companies + large coal using countries abroad, incl. China. Thanks to Obama admin: Shell Oil Company = towing a giant oil drilling rig up to the Arctic Ocean (Obama administration permit, to begin drilling for oil in the shallow waters north of Alaska) ꕤ ꕤ

Assange: 2009 - Malaysia - HITB

TRANSCRIPT [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] ADAPTED / edited from | here HITB SecConf 2009  Malaysia WikiLeaks 1 of 8  VIDEO   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq-LSlLC8Oo ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Thank you. Thank you. Everyone hear me OK? I am a writer, really, now by profession, so I can be very softly spoken. So, if I start speaking too softly, please just go like this [gestures]. I know you're an Asian audience, but you can still do it.  [audience laughter] OK. So, I just had this lovely introduction here, but perhaps some of you should know a little bit more about my background and my involvement in this. So, I was a famous teenage computer hacker in Australia, a long-term activist, and I'd been reading generals' e-mails since I was 17. After some famous cases, where I had a magazine that I wrote, I was involved in a court dispute in Australia (6 years in court), I went on to do other things. I wrote books, I did documentaries, and lots of human rights work, lots of photography work. Some of you may know Strobe where I invented parallel port scanning [here]; if you're using [???] , you're using my code; [???] ... or anything like that. But after a while I decided I would go and do something else. And, so, I entered into the academy, into the ivory tower, and started to do theoretical physics. And what I though I would create was a world that was mathematically pure for myself, that had a good history, a good intellectual history, and possibly a good intellectual future. And it was in some way honest work. But what I found, being an academic, was that no part of the economy anywhere in the world is isolated, including the highest part of the ivory tower. That, in fact, at the bottom of every ivory tower rests corrupt money, rests bodies of people killed in war.  And, in my particular case, I found that the quantum cryptography group ... in Australia was being financed by the National Security Agency; that the applied mathematics group, in Australia, was designing mathematical models to build an enhanced versions of the Grizzly Plow, that's a high-speed military bulldozer designed to bury people alive.  And many more things like that. So, not even in this highest reach of the ivory tower can you avoid the fact that the world is completely connected. When government is illegitimate, the government tanks[?] everything beneath it:  every aspect of the economy; every person in the country; including, those most removed (including, pure mathematicians). In fact, if you look on WikiLeaks you'll see an article I wrote analysing 3,600 academic papers that had been financed, overtly or covertly, by the National Security Agency. Google for MDA904, the grant code used by the Maryland Procurement Office, a cover name -- a light cover name -- for the National Security Agency. Google for grant code MDA903 -- a cover code used by the Defence Intelligence Agency -- [which] funded many, many of so-called 'pure papers' of academic research. The CIA has funded papers (supposedly by anthropologists and people interested in stress), covertly, to determine the most efficient way to torture people. Nowhere is free from the illegitimacy of corrupt -- morally or financially corrupt -- government. So, having discovered this, and also having many journalistic friends and activist friends, we decided to do what we could to make government and organisations more legitimate. What we had seen, as journalists, is that there were two sorts of political reform happening is society. One:   something that is part of a tide of change, that happens because a new invention is introduced into the society, or a new form of commerce or environmental change that seems to happen anyway, organically, and there's nothing we can do about it. And it may be positive, and it may be negative. But there are other aspects of reform that don't have to happen. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. And those paths of reform are seeded and created by unauthorized disclosures. A good one-third of the front of The New York Times of any day is built out of unauthorized disclosures. You won't see it, you'll just see "document seen by The New York Times" or you'll see "a senior official speaking confidentially says -- " something.  And that's really the big driving force for political reform all across the world: is individuals who know of an unjust plan (or an unjust past), revealing it to the population, so all the people in the population can decide to support (or, not support) those people or their opponents. Not just in democracies, but in all countries. So, what is WikiLeaks? A group of people, activists and journalists, cryptographers, who came together. We call them Sunshine Press. We have a platform on the Internet and our most famous platform, and that is called WikiLeaks. So, we do something relatively simple. We want to enable information to go out to the public, that is just not any information, but that it has the greatest chance of achieving political reform: positive political reform in the world. There's a lot of bits everywhere in the world. Some of those bits are special. Some of those bits can achieve something good. And the more bits are in the world, the more the problem becomes:  how do you find those bits which can change our civilization into a better state. So, we look for an economic symbol -- a colour on those bits -- which is that:  they are restricted. Someone understands those bits: the people who created them. That's who understands them the best. And they have restricted them from the public. Because they understand that we have materials we release, it makes it harder for them to carry out unjust plans. Because those plans could be opposed. Or, if they have carried out such plans in the past, the anger from the discovery will cause people to take away some of their power.  [OK] So, to get things to the public you need to protect sources who want to disclose, and you also need to protect your ability to publish in the face of attack.  And, people like to say that the Internet is a place of free speech. Nothing could be further from the truth. What the Internet has allowed is publishers to publish cheaply, and with that vast influx of new publishers, some of those publishers are motivated to protect what they are publishing. But, in general, the Internet is the easiest place to censor. You can't take a paper back from the library. Not very easily. But you can do it on the Internet. No problem at all. You can censor commercially on the internet by driving publishers away from your [?] So, protecting publishing on the internet is not something that comes about as a product of the internet itself. It needs something extra. We don't publish everything, because there's too much -- [audio cuts out -- 9:40] ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Hack In The Box (HITB) MALAYSIA  |  here ꕤ