Puppet MastersS


Cell Phone

Police State: Your Smartphone Is Spying on You

smartphones
© Flickr/midnightglory
The feds demanded subscriber information from cell phone companies more than 1.3 million times last year, the New York Times reported Monday. According to the Times, the number of people whose data was turned over to the government could be far larger than 1.3 million, because "a single request often involves multiple callers." The information was released in response to an inquiry from Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass), but it's incomplete - T-Mobile, which claims 33 million customers, didn't provide Markey with specific data about the government's requests.

This isn't just about wiretaps. Rather, the authorities can obtain an incredible amount of information about you even without listening to your phone conversations. Instead, telecom companies are handing over things like text messages, voicemails, geolocation data (where you were when your phone connected with a cell tower) and which phone numbers you're calling when. Much of this kind of information is available without a warrant because, from a legal perspective, they government isn't searching you, it's asking for information from a private third party to whom you've willingly given this information by signing on as subscriber. In a few cases, the telecom companies refused to comply with the requests.

Eye 1

Homeland Security buys 'big brother' laser scanner that can tell if you are high, what you are carrying and even what you had for breakfast... from 50 meters away

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© Genia PhotonicsPortable: The front view of the Picosecond Programmable Laser scanner show how small the device is which means that it could be used in a wide range of circumstances
The latest scanners acquired by the U.S. government will be able detect the most minute traces of molecular discrepancies in both individuals' bloodstream and carry on luggage from 50 meters away.

Using advanced laser technology, Picosecond Programmable Laser scanners will show traces of drugs, chemicals, weapons, and even food you recently digested at the push of a button.

A non-governmental company originally developed the technology but has since partnered with the Department of Homeland Security, implying that the scanners will likely be deployed throughout airports and other high-risk areas.

An unidentified undersecretary at Homeland Security projected that the technology will be used within the next one to two years.

Though the essential process of detecting chemicals on individuals is not new, the significant speed and unmatched accuracy of these scanners makes them stand out against the rest of the market.

Eye 2

Rajat Gupta and the corporate psychopath

Allen Stanford
© ReutersConvicted financier Allen Stanford arrives at Federal Court in Houston for sentencing
Two white-collar criminals received justice last week - Allen Stanford of Stanford International Bank and Rajat Gupta of McKinsey & Co and Goldman Sachs. One's actions are easy to understand, the other's extremely hard.

Stanford, a Ponzi schemer who stole $2 billion of his eager depositors' money, is easy: if he is not a psychopath, he certainly behaved like one for two decades. Gupta, convicted of fraud and conspiracy for leaking price-sensitive titbits about Goldman to Raj Rajaratnam, the criminally corrupt hedge fund manager who was his confidant and friend, is the puzzle.

Gary Naftalis, Gupta's lawyer, told the jury shortly before his conviction: "Rajat Gupta was in the seventh decade of an accomplished and praiseworthy life. It strains common sense that [he] would ...throw away everything he had done for 40 years, and wilfully and knowingly commit crimes. That just doesn't make sense."

Heart - Black

Harold Ford, Jr.: Portrait of a sleazy corporatist sociopath

Harold Ford Jr.
© Reuters/Jessica RinaldiHarold Ford Jr.

Harold Ford Jr., sleazy corporatist and nepotist, offers up a particularly grotesque defense of U.S. aggression.

Harold Ford, Jr. is the walking, breathing embodiment of virtually everything rotted and corrupt about the American political class. He entered Congress at the age of 26 only by virtue of nepotistic benefits: while in law school, he ran for the seat long held by his father of the same name (he then promptly failed the test for admission to the Tennessee bar). In Congress, he voted for de-regulation of Wall Street (which helped precipitate the 2008 financial crisis); to authorize the Iraq War (and then harshly criticized Democrats who opposed it and refused to admit its error even as late as 2007); in favor of a Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages (The Advocate branded him "anti-gay"); and was one of the few Democrats to support the credit-card-industry-demanded bankruptcy "reform" bill that made it harder for impoverished consumers to discharge consumer debt.

Star of David

Ehud Olmert found guilty in corruption case

Ehud Olmert
© AFP photoFormer Israeli PM Ehud Olmert speaks to the press at the District Court in Jerusalem. He was found guilty of a corruption charge in the first criminal trial.
Ehud Olmert was found guilty yesterday of a corruption charge in the first criminal trial of a former Israeli prime minister, but acquitted on two other counts in what was widely seen as a significant victory for him.

Although Olmert was convicted of fraud and breach of trust, he was found not guilty on more serious charges that included allegations he received cash bribes from a U.S. businessman and double-billed Israeli charities for overseas fund-raising trips. It was not immediately clear when Olmert, 66, would be sentenced. If that crime, breach of trust, does carry a prison term, he would become the first Israeli prime minister to serve time. He could face up to five years in jail.

Chess

Russia 'sending flotilla of warships' to Syrian port of Tartus

Admiral Chabanenko
© AFP photoA December 19, 2008, file photo of the Russian Admiral Chabanenko destroyer arrives at Havana's harbor.
Russia has sent a naval flotilla of six warships led by an anti-submarine destroyer to its naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus, the Interfax news agency reported today.

The Admiral Chabanenko and three landing craft have left their home port of Severomorsk in the Arctic Circle on their way to the Mediterranean where they will be joined by the Russian patrol ship Yaroslav Mudry as well as an assistance vessel, a military source told the agency.

Attention

14 Incredibly Creepy Surveillance Technologies That Big Brother Will Be Using To Spy On You

Big Brother Surveillance
© The American Dream
Most of us don't think much about it, but the truth is that people are being watched, tracked and monitored more today than at any other time in human history. The explosive growth of technology in recent years has given governments, spy agencies and big corporations monitoring tools that the despots and dictators of the past could only dream of.

Previous generations never had to deal with "pre-crime" surveillance cameras that use body language to spot criminals or unmanned drones watching them from far above.

Previous generations would have never even dreamed that street lights and refrigerators might be spying on them. Many of the incredibly creepy surveillance technologies that you are about to read about are likely to absolutely astound you. We are rapidly heading toward a world where there will be no such thing as privacy anymore.

Big Brother is becoming all-pervasive, and thousands of new technologies are currently being developed that will make it even easier to spy on you. The world is changing at a breathtaking pace, and a lot of the changes are definitely not for the better.

The following are 14 incredibly creepy surveillance technologies that Big Brother will be using to watch you....

Dollar

Many on Wall Street think cheating breeds success

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© Unknown
Nearly one-fourth of financial services professionals feel it's at least sometimes necessary to do illegal or unethical things to be successful, and many are motivated to do so by fat bonuses and other compensation.

That's according to a new survey of 500 U.S. and British fund managers, bankers, asset managers and other financial services professionals. It was conducted in June on behalf of the law firm Labaton Sucharow, which specializes in whistleblower cases.

Twenty-four percent of respondents said if you work in financial services you must at times engage in unethical or illegal activity to be successful.

On the bright side, 76 percent said you never need to break the law or experience a lapse in ethics in order to get ahead.

The motivation to cheat: For many, it's the money.

The survey found that 30 percent of those in financial services feel pressure to do things that are unethical or illegal because of their compensation or bonus plans.

On Wall Street and Fleet Street, base salaries are often generous, but the real wealth can often come from massive, performance-based bonuses.

The survey comes as Barclays Bank is embroiled in a scandal amid charges that the company manipulated short-term interest rates that affect a host of debt, including mortgages and student loans.

It also comes just months after a Goldman Sachs employee named Greg Smith announced his departure from the firm via a New York Times op-ed in which he derided the company as toxic and destructive, motivated by profit over the client's best wishes.

Satellite

Fascist Regime Prepares Disaster Communication Infrastructure with New Executive Order

EXECUTIVE ORDER

- - - - - - -

ASSIGNMENT OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS COMMUNICATIONS FUNCTIONS

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© Unknown
Section 1. Policy. The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions. Survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local, territorial, and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies, and other nations. Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies, and improve national resilience. The views of all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and the public must inform the development of national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) communications policies, programs, and capabilities.

Star of David

Hezbollah arrests three people suspected of running a spy network for Israel and the United States

Beirut, Lebanon -- Hezbollah arrested three people suspected of running a spy network for Israel and the United States, a source told al-Arabiya.

The three, identified as Mohammed al-Husseini, Jihad Jaloul and Mohammed al-Sabaa, were arrested in a southern Beirut suburb. The three were active in Hezbollah and are suspected of supplying information to the CIA and Israel's Mossad, al-Arabiya said Tuesday.

The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese daily an-Nahar, which broke the story Monday denied the three worked for Hezbollah but said they were on good terms with Hezbollah members, al-Arabiya said.

In June 2011, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said two spies working for the CIA had infiltrated the ranks of the party and described the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon as a "den of spies," the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star said.