Puppet MastersS


Cult

New photos have surfaced showing Colin Powell at the Bohemian Grove

Image
Hacked photos show former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell alongside two well known actors at the exclusive Bohemian Grove in northern California. Cryptome.org published the photos in a PDF file on April 9, Examiner learned yesterday.

Two of the men in the photos appear to be George Kennedy - from Dallas and The Naked Gun - and Malcolm McDowell - from A Clockwork Orange and numerous television shows. Presumably, the photos were attachments in Powell's AOL email account that was hacked by Guccifer, according to Russia Today.

Bohemian Grove is a "two-week, three-weekend encampment of some of the most powerful men in the world," according to the Sonoma County Free Press' (SCFP) website. The grove is split into "camps" and according to SCFP, Powell is a member of most exclusive one - Mandalay Camp. In one photo, Powell and the other men are sitting in chairs with Mandalay printed on the back.

Mary Moore, of SCFP, told Examiner today, " ... a lot of actors do go up there mostly as guests but some do belong. They're considered 'men of use' as are the musicians and others in show biz."

Bizarro Earth

The rise of robot wars: Google chief warns armed drones will soon be in the hands of terrorists and miniature models could be used to spy on neighbors

Eric Schmidt
© Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesAnti-drone: Google boss Eric Schmidt has warned about the spread of drone technology
The head of Google has warned drone technology proves a serious danger to global security and privacy unless an international treaty is put into place controlling the technology fast.

Eric Schmidt today said that the technology for armed unmanned planes will soon pass into the hands of terrorists posing huge security concerns across the globe.

He also said that ever expanding drone technology is making smaller and cheaper models, including nano-drones, which could be used by nosy neighbors spying on each other in a dispute.

The state now requires law enforcement to obtain warrants to collect evidence using drones following in the footsteps of Virginia, which also introduced such a measure.

'We're trying to prevent high-tech window-peeping,' Idaho Senate Assistant Majority Leader Chuck Winder, sponsor of the measure told Reuters.

Laptop

Lawyers for 911 accused discover client emails hacked in latest round of hidden surveillance

Image
© GETTY IMAGESThe files detail the background to the capture of each of the 780 people who have passed through the Guantanamo facility in Cuba
Lawyers for the five men accused of plotting the September 11 attacks asked a judge Thursday to delay an upcoming hearing after learning that emails with their clients had been monitored.

The surveillance was only the latest instance of compromised confidentiality at Guantanamo Bay, following revelations earlier this year that secret censors could block a public feed of court proceedings and that listening devices masked as smoke detectors were hidden in meeting rooms.

The next preliminary hearing for the September 11 defendants had been set to take place on April 22 at the US military base at Guantanamo.

James Connell, a lawyer for Pakistan's Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said he had filed an emergency motion to the military judge presiding over the case "to pause proceedings in the 9/11 trial after revelations that defense email communications and computer files have been compromised."

Binoculars

'Significant measures' will be taken against North Korea if it tests another nuclear weapon, G8 ministers say

Image
© ZHAOWANG ZHAO/AFP/Getty ImagesA Korean man takes a rest on the banks of the Yalu River at the North Korean town of Sinuiju across from the Chinese city of Dandong, in northeastern Liaoning province on April 10,2013. The biggest border crossing between North Korea and China has been closed to tourist groups, a Chinese official said as nuclear tensions mounted, but business travel was still allowed.
The G8 powers have urged tougher sanctions against North Korea if it launches a missile or tests another nuclear weapon, William Hague said Thursday.

The British Foreign Secretary said there was united support for "further significant measures" in the event of another North Korean provocation and condemned the "aggressive rhetoric" from the regime after chairing a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in London.

Hinting at a missile launch, North Korea delivered a fresh round of war rhetoric Thursday with claims it has "powerful striking means" on standby. Seoul and Washington speculated that it is preparing to test-fire a missile designed to be capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

On the streets of Pyongyang, North Koreans shifted into party mode as they celebrated the anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un's appointment to the country's top party post - one in a slew of titles collected a year ago in the months after his father Kim Jong Il's death.

North Korea's provocations, including a long-range rocket launch in December and an underground nuclear test in February, "seriously undermine regional stability, jeopardize the prospects for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and threaten international peace and security," the ministers said in a statement.

Nuke

North Korea can launch nuclear missiles, U.S. spy agency says

Image
© REUTERS/Kim Hong-JiSouth Korean soldiers stand guard at an observation post near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) which separates the two Koreas in Paju, north of Seoul April 11, 2013.
North Korea has the ability to launch nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, although they would likely be unreliable, a Pentagon spy agency has concluded, as the United States and South Korea kept watch on Thursday for a missile test-launch by Pyongyang.

The Defense Intelligence Agency study, dated last month, appeared to be the first time the agency had reached such a conclusion.

"DIA assesses with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles, however the reliability will be low," said Republican U.S. Representative Doug Lamborn, who disclosed the conclusion during a congressional hearing on Thursday.

Lamborn said the agency reached the conclusion in a mostly classified March 2013 report. He did not say what range the nuclear-capable North Korean missiles might have.

Bad Guys

North Korea states 'nuclear war is unavoidable' as it declares first target will be Japan

Image
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers prepare its missile interceptor
North Korea has warned Japan that Tokyo would be the first target in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula, as it increased threats of an attack.

In a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the communist country lashed out at Tokyo's standing orders to destroy any missile heading toward Japan, threatening such actions will result in a nuclear attack against the island nation.

If Japan executes its threat to shoot down any North Korean missile, such a "provocative" intervention would see Tokyo - an enormous conurbation of 30 million people - "consumed in nuclear flames", KCNA warned.

"Japan is always in the cross-hairs of our revolutionary army and if Japan makes a slightest move, the spark of war will touch Japan first," the report added.

An official at Japan's defence ministry said that the country "will take every possible measure to respond to any scenario", while the US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that a North Korean missile launch would be a "huge mistake".

"The rhetoric that we are hearing from North Korea is simply unacceptable by any standards," he told a news conference in Seoul alongside South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se.

"The United States, South Korea and the entire international community... are all united in the fact that North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power," Kerry added.

Radar

U.S. sea radar tracking N. Korean threat

Image
© U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Ryan C. McGinle
With North Korea's launch of a mid-range Musudan missile believed to be imminent, a U.S. official confirms that the SBX radar has been deployed to the Pacific to assist with tracking the missile if it is launched. That tracking could help bring a missile down if needed.

The Sea-Based X-Band Radar looks like a giant golf ball placed atop a platform that resembles a floating oil rig.

It contains a precise long-range radar that is part of the integrated missile-defense system and helps track launched missiles so they can be brought down by missile interceptors.

With North Korea threatening to launch missiles against the United States, the Pentagon reportedly sent the radar system out to sea April 1 from its home port of Pearl Harbor to assist with tracking a potential missile launch.

The next day, Pentagon spokesman George Little denied that was the case, underscoring that the radar had gone to sea as part of previously scheduled sea trials. "They're undergoing semiannual system checks," Little said. "Decisions about further deployments have not been made to this point."

Dollar

Billions of U.S. tax dollars potentially funding Afghan terrorism - report

Image
© AFP Photo / Rahmatullah AlizadAfghanistan security forces investigate the site of a roadside bomb blast in Saidabad district of Wardak province on April 8, 2013
Grey areas in US legislation could mean that taxpayer money is financing Afghan terrorism, a report has revealed. It calls on Congress to change the $100,000 threshold on reconstruction contracts to include the 80 percent that evade scrutiny.

The "alarming" findings were greeted with calls for urgent action to mend the weak links in US regulations.

The report, titled 'Contracting with the Enemy' and published by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), draws attention to the mismanagement of the Department of Defense's (DOD) funds.

According to the document, such oversights mean that "millions of contracting dollars could be diverted to forces seeking to harm US Military and civilian personnel and derail the multi-billion dollar reconstruction effort."

Last year, the US invested around $1.7 million and awarded 9,733 contracts in Afghanistan; it is unclear how much of this may have been diverted to the insurgency.

Gear

Not surprising: Guantanamo Bay hearing delayed after mysterious disappearance of legal files

Image
© AFP Photo / Janet HamlinCourtroom sketch by Janet Hamlin, shows terror suspect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, 46, who was arraigned at Wednesday's hearing on charges related to the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
Pre-trial hearings in the Guantanamo Bay war crimes tribunals have been delayed to address the disappearance of defense legal documents from Pentagon computers, military officials said on Thursday.

A weeklong hearing was scheduled to start on Monday for Abd al Rahim al Nashiri - a Saudi Arabian citizen alleged to be the mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen in 2000. The attack killed 17 US soldiers aboard the ship and wounded 37 others.


Comment: Interesting, and we thought it was quite obvious that Mossad and CIA were behind it, but hey, we don't live in the perfect Universe.


But the trial has now been pushed back to June 11, the US naval base said in an order on Thursday.

It comes just one day after Nashiri's lawyer, Ricard Kammen, urged Army Colonel James Pohl - who oversees the war crimes court - to cancel this week's hearing.

He said that officials mishandled more than 500,000 defense lawyer emails and appear to be monitoring their internet searches as they prepare their cases. Kammen also addressed the disappearance of documents, which he blamed on a Pentagon server failure.

"We want to put the case on hold...to find the scope of the intrusions," Kammen said in a Wednesday statement quoted by Reuters. "Was this the product of negligence or something worse? Also, we need to have the problem fixed."

Stormtrooper

NORAD conducts exercise flights over Rhode Island and Massachusetts

Image
The North American Aerospace Defense Command is conducting exercise flights Thursday over Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts.

The flights are scheduled for the morning, but could be delayed due to weather concerns. The purpose of the exercise is to practice intercept and identification procedures.

The flights are scheduled to take place in the area between Providence and Plymouth, Mass. People in this area may hear and/or see NORAD-controlled fighter jets in close proximity to a military or military contracted aircraft, which will be taking on the role of aircraft of interest.