US intelligence chief: Snowden and ‘accomplices’ should return stolen info

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (Alex Wong / Getty Images / AFP)

The most powerful intelligence official in the United States told a Senate committee Wednesday that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is a hypocrite and that he and his supposed accomplices should return any classified documents he still has.

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said in an unusually contentious Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that Snowden’s decision to leak a trove of classified NSA documents to the press has hurt US security and tipped off suspected terrorists on potentially safer ways to communicate. Clapper, who told the same committee the NSA did not collect information on millions of Americans months before being proven wrong, also insinuated that Snowden had help.

“Snowden claims that he has won and that his mission is accomplished,” Clapper said during his opening remarks to the committee, as quoted by a transcript published by the Washington Post. “If that is so, I call on him and accomplices to facilitate the return of the remaining stolen documents that have not yet been exposed to prevent even more damage to US security.”

The director did not elaborate on what he meant by “accomplices,” but a spokesman insisted he was “referring to anyone who is assisting Edward Snowden to further threaten our national security through the unauthorized disclosure of stolen documents related to lawful foreign intelligence collection programs.”

A number of journalists on Twitter interpreted that as a threat to Glenn Greenwald, Barton Gellman, Laura Poitras, and the number of other reporters who have published information based on the Snowden documents.

Aside from his introductory outburst Clapper spent most of the remainder of the hearing deflecting questions.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) was among the visibly frustrated. Wyden is the same lawmaker who asked Clapper in March about massive data collection programs and scolded Clapper Wednesday, accusing top intelligence officials or partaking in a “culture of misinformation” when questioned about the programs Snowden revealed.

“This committee can’t do oversight if we can’t get direct answers,” Wyden said, adding that international trust in the FBI, CIA, and NSA “has been seriously undermined by senior officials’ reckless reliance on secret interpretations of the law and battered by years of misleading and deceptive statements.”

Wyden pressed Clapper to provide details on whether any searches have ever been conducted on information US citizens “sent over the web or in the cloud” and whether the NSA had conducted or is continuing to conduct “warrantless searches” on individual Americans.

“Senator Wyden, I think, at a threat hearing, this would…I would prefer not to discuss this and have this as a separate subject,” Clapper responded. “There are very complex legal issues here, I just don’t think this is the appropriate time or place.”

US President Obama has not only kept Clapper as part of the administration but effectively endorsed the director earlier this month when Obama announced that the polarizing data collection programs employed by the NSA would not be eliminated. Still, six lawmakers led by California congressman Darrell Issa signed a letter to Obama Monday seeking Clapper’s dismissal.

“The continued role of James Clapper as director of national intelligence is incompatible with the goal of restoring trust in our security programs and ensuring the highest level of transparency,” they wrote.

The White House announced Clapper would not be fired by end of the same day.

Clapper was more specific about the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, where he claimed that Al-Qaeda has found strength in the uncertain political situation in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and elsewhere.

He said counterterrorism officials now estimate that 7,000 fighters have streamed into Syria from 50 other countries, creating the fear that extremists will use Syrian passports to enter and attack the US. The war-torn country is “in some respects a new FATA,” a reference to the Pakistani tribal region that Al-Qaeda leadership has made its home. Al-Nusra, an Al-Qaeda-backed rebel group that has become one of the most feared rebel factions in Syria “does have aspirations for attacks on the homeland,” Clapper said.

Comments on the article

Jason Hops 31.01.2014 07:53

Every White country on the planet is forced to become multicultural and multiracial.
EVE RY white country is told to end its own race and culture.
No one asks that of ANY non-White country. Immigration and forced-assimilation is for ALL & ONLY White countries.
Anti-Whites call themselves "anti-racist&qu ot;, but their words & actions lead to the genocide of only one group: White people.
The true goal of anti-racism is to genocide my people.
Anti-rac ist is a codeword for anti-White.

doug 30.01.2014 21:45

Clapper is a bad joke. Why he is not under arrest for lying to congress shows only how corrupt the entire government has become.

rt.com 30 Jan 2014

It has already been stated the surveillance is 'unconstitutional'.

The authorities do not with the 'plebs' to understand, know, refer to or read the 'Constitution'.

This is especially true of the Australian 'corporatocracy'.
 

Alien life on Mars? NASA lawsuit seeks more information on Red Planet rock

Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

Is it proof of life on Mars, or just a simple rock? An astrobiologist has sued NASA in an effort to compel the space-exploration agency to offer more information on a mysterious stone that appeared on images taken by the Opportunity rover on Jan. 8.

Dr. Rhawn Joseph filed a lawsuit in California this week against NASA and its administrator, Charles Bolden, calling for the agency to "thoroughly scientifically examine and investigate a putative biological organism."
 
NASA called the object a rock, saying that based on its supposed appearance in “after” photos of the spot but not in a “before” image, it was likely knocked into the rover’s purview by its wheels as it was maneuvering in the area.

White around the outside and red on the inside, NASA scientists have said the rock looks a little like a jelly doughnut. Yet the agency ultimately dubbed the rock “Pinnacle Island.”
 
"We have looked at it with our microscope. It is clearly a rock," principal rover investigator Dr. Steve Squyres said last week during an event marking the 10th anniversary of Opportunity's mission on Mars. "It appears that it may have flipped itself upside down."
 
Yet Joseph says this may be a hasty assessment. He believes the object looks like a “mushroom-like fungus, a composite organism consisting of colonies of lichen and cyanobacteria, and which on Earth is known as Apothecium,” he wrote in the filed petition.

He also says the rock was present in the “before” photo NASA released. Joseph posted a magnified version of the earlier photo on Cosmology.com, showing, he maintains, that the object is partially visible. He explains in his petition:

“[S]pores were exposed to moisture due to changing weathering conditions on Mars. Over the next 12 days these spores grew and developed into the structure depicted... The evidence is consistent with biological activity and suggests that life on Mars may have been discovered.
 
However, in the absence of moisture, biological specimens such as Apothecium will dry out, turn brittle and break apart and this appears to be the condition of the structure as depicted.”
 
Joseph also criticizes NASA for not releasing more close-up photos. That is, assuming they exist.

“Any intelligent adult, adolescent, child, chimpanzee, monkey, dog, or rodent with even a modicum of curiosity, would approach, investigate and closely examine a bowl-shaped structure which appears just a few feet in front of them when 12 days earlier they hadn't noticed it,” he wrote. “But not NASA and its rover team who have refused to take even a single close-up photo.”
 
Joseph added that it would be “inexplicable, recklessly negligent, and bizarre” if NASA did not take microscopic, high-resolution photos from a variety of angles.

NASA responded to the suit on Thursday saying it cannot discuss an ongoing legal matter, but that the agency has shared images with the public and is moving forward with research on Pinnacle Island’s composition.

“As we do with all our scientific research missions, NASA will continue to discuss any new data regarding the rock and other images and information as new data becomes available,” agency spokesman Bob Jacobs said in a statement to Popular Science.

Another NASA spokesman emphasized to The Huffington Post that the agency will proceed with caution before making any bold declarations.

"Finding evidence of life on worlds other than Earth is obviously an important goal for NASA," NASA’s Allard Beutel said. "But it has to be definitive evidence."
 
NASA’s caution, in this case, may not appease those eager for more information on any potential evidence of life on the Red Planet.

rt.com 31 Januay 2014

People may not realise that NASA is not the 'civilian' organisation that it is advertised to be, with heads of the organisation from World War II German scientists, with NAZI beliefs.

 The United States government can and will withhold any information that it sees as a 'national security' threat or in the interest of public safety, which may be even by perceiving that there could be civil unrest, due to information of life or even intelligent life elsewhere being officially reported via the corporate media news empire.

Information that the 'masses' may not ever be told of irrespective of Freedom Of Information or declassification laws.

For more information regarding 'disclosure' the Brookings Report (1960) needs to be read.

Richard Branson lashes WA shark killing

SIR Richard Branson says the West Australian government's shark culling policy will backfire, driving away tourism rather than boosting it. 
 
The British billionaire entrepreneur made the comment on breakfast radio as the state's Fisheries department was deploying baited drum lines off Perth beaches, including Cottesloe, where a large rally against the program is planned for Saturday morning.

The WA government says a spike in often-fatal shark attacks has dented tourism and leisure-based businesses, with recreational diving operators reporting a greater than 90 per cent plunge in people learning to dive.

But Sir Richard, who fights China's shark fin trade, says WA is getting a bad reputation internationally and tourists will be driven away.

"I'm sure one of the reasons he (Premier Colin Barnett) did it was because he was thinking it would encourage tourism. It's going to do quite the reverse, I think," Sir Richard told Fairfax radio on Friday.

"You're advertising a problem that doesn't exist in a major way and you're deterring people from wanting to come to Perth and your beautiful countryside around it.

"All you're going to achieve, I think, is to worry people unnecessarily."

He said it was "very sad" such a bad example was being set to the rest of the world.

"Last year, Australia was praised all over the world for creating the biggest marine reserves. This year, the world is looking at Australia - and particularly Western Australia - and wondering 'what on earth is going on?"

news.com.au 31 Jan 2014

An appalling decision by the Australian government.

Man encroaches on one of nature's more efficient predators and the 'predator' has to be killed, just like the ignorant people who swim in crocodile infested waters where there are signs to keep out of the water.

The most important aspect here raised is the 'revenue' loss from tourists.

Just another example of low life humans with total disregard for nature, but no one can 'tarnish' the reputation of a 'successful' billionaire now can they?

Fine, toll dodger faces jail

A MAN arrested for amassing almost 500 Sheriff's warrants for toll road fees faces 916 days in jail if he refuses to pay the $132,000 fine. 

Santos Bonacci, from Berwick, was bailed from Dandenong Magistrate's Court yesterday morning on 483 charges for unpaid EastLink and CityLink fees, as well as speeding fines, going back to early 2010.

The unemployed 51-year-old spent nine days in custody after twice refusing to apply for bail following his arrest earlier this month.

Barrister Peter Pickering, acting for the Sheriff's Office described Mr Bonacci as being "uncooperative" with police and the court.

"At the time of the apprehension of Mr Bonacci he was quite uncooperative. He said the police and court had no right to arrest him," Mr Pickering told the court.

But Mr Bonacci claimed the police were acting fraudulently and that he had been put under duress.

"I do not wish to be a party to fraud, sir," Mr Bonaccio told Magistrate Steven Raleigh.

He added that he sought a "peaceful remedy" to the situation.

Mr Bonacci was granted bail and must report to Narre Warren police station once a week.

He was also barred from publishing offensive comments about Sheriff's officers on social media after he recently posted a video on YouTube calling a police officer a "c---" and a magistrate a paedophile.

In the video, posted in December last year and showing police and Sheriff's officers towing a friend's car, Mr Bonacci described Victoria Police as a criminal organisation that engaged in fraud.

Outside court he told a gathering of supporters he wouldn't be paying the mammoth debt because police were acting fraudulently.

"Those roads and everything are built by we, the people. We own them," he said.
He is due to appear in court again on April 1.

heraldsun.com.au  30 Jan 2014

It is not uncommon for the corporate media to not just assassinate a character but also twist certain 'truths' around or even just plainly make up stories in order to obtain notoriety for financial gain.

The corporate media is subservient to government agendas, one of which to preserve the 'integrity' of governance, which in many cases is 'fraudulent'.

A barrister has a vested interest in the 'system' therefore ANY comments made are solely biased to upkeep the courts, colleagues and lastly the interests of the client.

The police are NOT there for the protection of the public NOR are they 'public servants' as many people may be in error of this belief. This is a FACT and not an opinion of corpau.

Many documents are being circulated and cases put through the courts that expose the corruption of government, politicians and the police, of which many magistrates, judges and judicial clerks are aware of and are desperately trying to 'shut down' those people who are aware of the fraud.

The people only now have the resources to expose the grand corruption of authorities and corporations in Australia.

Tolls and fines are 'unlawful' and MUST be taken to court by every single person to have that 'fine' dismissed.

Corpau will be publishing documents in relation to the various frauds committed by the corporatocracy, once they become available.

One of the keys here is to understand the 'Constitution', a document that not only is real, but also was taken out of the knowledge of the public schooling system in the early 1970's in order the keep the plebs subservient to corporate rule.

It will be interesting to see how the corporate media's edited version of  the original interview with Santos will portray him.

Corrupt Cops more dangerous than bikies? Definitely!

JANUARY 20, 2014 One in every 40 serving police officers in the state has committed an offence THERE are 437 serving police officers with criminal convictions, that is one in every 40 officers. 

It is an incredible increase of 230 per cent over the past five years. Among the ranks is an inspector convicted of assaulting an off-duty ­officer and drink-driving while other offences include bashing, drink-driving, fraud, illegal use of guns and other ­driving offences. 

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that the 437 officers have 591 convictions against them. That is 256 per cent more than 2008 when, according to freedom of information figures, there were 166 offences between 133 serving officers. 

Among them are 14 inspectors, five senior sergeants, 80 sergeants, 236 ­senior constables, 20 probationary ­constables and 13 student officers. Policing expert Michael Kennedy said the reason for the increase was probably due to Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione taking a tough line and a culture of police reporting and prosecuting their own. 

"On face value these figures appear to be negative for the police but on the other side, Scipione does not interfere," Dr Kennedy said. Dr Kennedy, a former detective and lecturer in policing at the University of Western Sydney, said some police chiefs in parts of Australia had been known for "having a word" with officers facing the criminal courts so they could resign quietly. 

"But Scipione does not do that. If they are charged, he lets the system deal with them," he said. Former assistant commissioner Clive Small said: "An increase of over 200 per cent over five years is a worrying trend that the police and the ­government need to keep an eye on." 

In cases still in the courts, a female officer has been charged with stalking, intimidating and bugging, a male officer has been accused of setting up a bathroom spy camera to secretly film people and theft, lying and corruption. "If an officer's offence causes me to lose my confidence in them, I will sack them. 

They will not be part of this police force," he said. However he said less serious ­offences should not warrant the end of a career but often the workplace penalties were worse than court penalties with officers demoted. 

"Yes, there are officers still in this ­organisation who we have charged and who have recorded a conviction," Mr Scipione said. "In the majority of cases, these officers will have been convicted of a low range PCA or similar offence. 

While I am not happy about that, I don't believe that warrants the end of a ... career." Since he took over as commissioner in 2007, Mr Scipione has sacked 87 officers under section 181D of the Police Act, which states the commissioner has lost confidence in them. 

Those are officers who have not been reinstated by the Industrial ­Relations Commission. Senior police are known to be frustrated with the IRC which has forced them to reinstate an estimated half of all sacked officers after appeals. 

The IRC has made it clear in their decisions that even a high-range PCA or similar offence could never be grounds for dismissal. Former sergeant Andrew Lawrance, who the commissioner tried to sack in 2010 because he used his penis piercing to open beer bottles, was reinstated by the IRC. Mr Scipione was warned about criticising the commission in 2009 by Justice Frank Marks, who considered contempt of court proceedings against the commissioner.

Source:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/one-in-every-40-serving-police-officers-in-the-state-has-committed-an-offence/story-fni0cx12-1226805446823

NSA, GCHQ scour Angry Birds, phone apps for compromising info on users

The US National Security Agency and its UK counterpart, GCHQ, have the ability to harvest sensitive personal data from phone apps that transmit users’ data across the web, such as the extremely popular Angry Birds game.

Along with obtaining information about the specific dimensions and model of an individual’s iPhone or Android, the intelligence agencies are also able to acquire details on that person’s age, gender, and location. Details about a user’s political affiliation, sexual orientation, and how promiscuous they are may also be vulnerable.

This information – which was revealed in dozens of top secret documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden – was first reported Monday by the Guardian in partnership with the New York Times and ProPublica.

Both the NSA and GCHQ are able to “piggyback” on third party advertisements that a user unwittingly brings onto their device when they first download an app. Those ads, along with geolocation information embedded in images a user uploads to a social media site like Facebook and Twitter, essentially pinpoints where an individual is in the world.

The slides published Monday by the Guardian also show that the intelligence behemoths can glean a person’s home country, current location, age, gender, zip code, marital status – with “single,” “married,” “divorced,” “swinger,” and more among the options – income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education level, and number of children.

Satellite dishes are seen at GCHQ's outpost at Bude, close to where trans-Atlantic fibre-optic cables come ashore in Cornwall, southwest England (Reuters / Kieran Doherty)

A more sophisticated effort collects location information by intercepting Google map queries from smartphones. It was deemed to be so successful that GCHQ noted in a 2008 document that it “effectively means that anyone using Google maps on a smartphone is working in support of a GCHQ system.”

Scooping up data from apps allows the agencies to gather large quantities of mobile phone data from their existing mass surveillance tools rather than hacking into individual mobile handsets.


Tapping into phone information is a high priority effort for the agencies, as terrorists and other intelligence targets often use mobile phones to plan illegal activities.

One effort by GCHQ and the NSA consists of a database that geolocates every mobile phone mast in the world. This allows the agencies to gather the mast ID used with any handset, thus giving them a rough location for a particular phone.

The latest disclosures add to the public’s concern about how spy agencies and the technology sector use information, particularly outside the US where people have fewer privacy protections than Americans. However, the NSA says it only deploys its capabilities against “valid foreign intelligence agencies” and does not target Americans.

The Washington Post reported in December that the NSA was making use of ‘cookies’ – an online tool which allows internet advertisers to track consumers. The report said that cookies, along with location data, were being used by the agency to“pinpoint targets for government hacking” and “bolster surveillance.”

Although cookies provide much vaguer information than what is available through phone apps, a 2010 GCHQ document reveals that they have become extremely important to intelligence agencies.

But it’s the actual phone handset that remains of paramount importance. GCHQ’s tools against smartphones are named after characters in ‘The Smurfs’ cartoon. The ability to make a phone’s microphone ‘hot’ – in order to listen to conversations – is known as “Nosey Smurf.” The sophisticated geolocation ability is called “Tracker Smurf.” Power management – the ability to activate a phone that is turned off – is known as “Dreamy Smurf.” The spyware’s self-hiding capabilities are called “Paranoid Smurf.”

 rt.com 28 Jan 2014

Angry Birds is NOT the only 'game' that sends data back.

Other apps also request 'location services' to 'function properly', where your location has nothing to do with the correct functionality of the application.

These companies / businesses / developers could also be a front for the surveillance agencies, where the reporting code appears in the app which is approved by Apple, Google and Microsoft, which are U.S. based companies and MUST report to the U.S. based NSA if required to do so.

The so called public denouncement of any data being given to the NSA is nothing more than a blatant lie.

Anyone can sell electricity in Australia?

From The Age publication on 6 Jan 2014 an article appears of the following content:

Notice of Application for an Electricity Retail License

Application by Onsite Energy Solution Pty Ltd.

Onsite Energy Solutions Pty Ltd [ACN 164 385 693] has applied for a License under the Electricity Industry Act 2000 to retail electricity in Victoria, restricted to up to 20 customers for a term of 16 months.

The Commission may grant or refuse to grant a license for any reason it considers appropriate having a regards to its objectives under the Electricity Industry Act 2000 and the Essential Services Commissions Act 2001 may be obtained from the Commission's website at www.esc.vic.gov.au or by contacting the Commission on (03) 9032 1300.

Please address public submissions regarding the application to Essential Services Commission, Level 37, 2 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 3000 or ro licenses@esc.vic.gov.au by 5pm, Monday 3 February 2014. Submissions must be relevant to the Commissions objectives under both Acts.

Anyone from any (or every) residential street in Australia, could be come a retailer.

Could this be another doorway for corporate fraud?

How the judges buy your court matter

One of Australia’s most corrupt institutions is the current judicial (federal, state and local) system that is extensively supported by an army of personnel in the ‘legal system’ to perpetuate the fraud with the enforcers being Australia’s (corrupt) sheriff’s office and the police force, which are all corporations and not part of any legitimate government of Australia subservient to the Australian people.

The key objective by authorities is to keep knowledge and information away from the hands of the general populous, and oppress those who possess it.

In order to keep the (fraudulent) system intact, individuals are initially discouraged from speaking out or documenting the level of fraud committed.

When those tactics fail the next level is stepped up to inform the persons involved of ‘career suicide’ or threats of never being able to obtain another job anywhere, which naturally may lead to financial difficulty and the breakup of the family unit, where the ‘system’ will be in control of the personal affairs of the individuals.

What the majority of Australians are unaware of, is that the so called (current) government of Australia is a ‘corporation’ with corporate agreements that the general populous (unknowingly / unwittingly) are bound to and thus penalised for, which incidentally are unlawful.

The (so called) Australian courts, which all have an ABN (Australian Business Number) are factually places of trading, commerce and business.

Any documentation that contains the coat of arms of the kangaroo and emu, is documentation from a corporation, that invites you to a binding agreement with that corporation, e.g. an alleged (speeding / red light camera) offence.

 

As a note, The SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA (BUSINESS UNIT 19) with the ABN 32 790 228 959 bears the lion and unicorn seal being the legitimate seal of the ‘Commonwealth of Australia’, not to be confused with the 'COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA'.

What the lawyers are NOT telling you.

• When a person hires a lawyer/barrister/etc, to appear in court on their behalf, the corporation known as the ‘court’ is hired for business/ trading/ commerce to deal with a matter.

• When one hires the lawyer/barrister/etc, to appear on one’s behalf the interests of the ‘system’ must be kept intact when a verdict is handed out, where the hired persons swear an oath to the Court, their Colleagues, and lastly the Client, also known as the three C’s within the industry.

• When one hires someone on one’s behalf, one denounces the right to speak to the judge/magistrate.

• When one steps into the court room, the rows of seats are known as the public gallery, where any member of the public can sit in on any court case.

• When one steps up to the Bar Table (in person or via a ‘lawyer’), one steps away from the (jurisdiction of the) ‘land’ and enters the jurisdiction of Maritime Law.

• Any so called Australian court (Magistrates’, Perin, etc) that is a corporation which fines you for speeding/ red light camera, city council, parking etc, has no jurisdiction over you, BUT it is up to you to prove this, something the legal fraternity does not inform you about, and defends this fact vigorously. 

• Judges purchase matters, where the outcome is already known beforehand, where typical court cost can be in the magnitude of $700 for a simple matter that can be in front of the judge for as little as one minute, as a result the judgments are NOT unbiased.

• Judges receive $30,000 per conviction

• Judges do not pay income tax

Judges MUST be under oath (this can be asked of ANY judge), have a Writ of Commission or produce a ‘binding contract’ with you in order to proceed, otherwise they MUST stand down. This has to be asked of a judge when one does NOT step away from the boundary of the land, i.e. from the public gallery.

ALL Victorian courts are owned by foreign companies, and NOT part of any legitimate government structure.

For further information see article:

How to dismiss any court case without a lawyer

http://corpau.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/how-to-dismiss-any-court-case-without.html

Australian Referendum dates and results

Source: http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/referendums/Referendum_Dates_and_Results.htm