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Tue, 28 Nov 2023
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Light Sabers

Anonymous boasts takedown of 74 Turkish government sites

Hacktivist group Anonymous has claimed the government of Turkey as its latest victim, taking down 74 web sites and releasing a collection of data said to be harvested from more than 100 Turkish government domains.

The data in the torrent file, dubbed 'Turkish Takedown Thursday', is said to have been obtained covertly, and the hacking group claimed that the sites' administrators were unaware of the attacks until the sites were taken down.

"Our vessel recently encountered a Turkish Government frigate, a chance we could not let pass," Anonymous said in the posting.

"So we simply boarded their vessel (no need to fire any cannons, mind you, they never found out what happened until just now) and collected some booty."

Card - MC

Portuguese hackers strike back at Moody's downgrade

Sub prime dishonour

Portuguese hackers responded to a negative assessment of the country's ability to repay loans by defacing the website of credit reference agency Moody's.

The defacement restores the rating of the debt-crippled nation to the highest (A++) mark, while simultaneously attacking Moody's website security and business practices.

One message posted by the hackers on the site read: "Here at Moody's we are paid to say what our $ friends want. We are powerful. We sell some hunches and everyone believes them. It's the mood of the day.

"Yet, we have trivial security vulnerabilities on our website.

Bizarro Earth

Deepening Israel-Greece Ties Keeps Gaza-Bound Flotilla Anchored

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Greece's move to prevent a flotilla from departing its ports and challenging Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip highlights the deepening ties between the once antagonistic countries.

After a previous attempt ended in violence last year, pro- Palestinian activists planned a second, bigger convoy this month to undermine the blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza by delivering aid without permission. The effort fizzled as Greece stopped seven ships from sailing, saying they lack proper safety equipment.

Greece only established full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1990, one of the last European states to do so. Its strengthening rapport with Israel, spurred in recent years by the Jewish state's worsening relationship with Turkey, has led to increased military cooperation and the prospect of greater economic integration, including natural gas sales.

"The relationship with Israel is multidimensional; it's economics, tourism, military exercises, and part of the equation is natural gas," said Aristotle Tziampiris, associate professor of international relations at Greece's University of Piraeus. "It was the deterioration of the relationship between Turkey and Israel that provided an opening."

The impediments thrown up by Greece may have averted a repeat of last year's confrontation at sea, when Israeli naval commandos dropped from helicopters onto the deck of one ship in a six-vessel convoy. Israel says people on board shot first and attacked with iron bars, an allegation the passengers denied. Nine Turks were killed.

Greece instead offered to send the aid "through existing channels, as requested by the UN Secretary General," according to a July 3 statement from the Foreign Ministry.

Bad Guys

Panetta to Push Iraq on US Military Presence

Defence secretary's first visit comes as a new diplomatic push is made with the opening of a consulate in Irbil.


After arriving in Iraq on his first trip there as US defence secretary, Leon Panetta has said he will press his hosts on the fate of American military presence.

His unannounced arrival on Sunday came as a new diplomatic push was being made with the opening of another US consulate, in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.

The US embassy in Baghdad - already the world's largest - has been expanding as the US transitions from a military to a civilian-led mission in Iraq.

The US is scheduled to withdraw all its remaining 46,000 troops from Iraq by the end of this year, under the terms of a bilateral security pact.

Panetta told the US congress last month that Iraq's government might eventually ask some US forces to remain beyond 2011.

Megaphone

Boiling Frog Alert: U.S. Congress Wants Automatic Wage Deductions to Pay Down the Debt

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© gravitoncreations.com
Folks... you just can't make this stuff up.

On July 6th, just two days ago, at least a dozen busybody Congressmen sponsored the introduction of HR 2411, the "Reduce America's Debt Now Act of 2011." They always come up with fantastic names for these pieces of legislation... and rest assured, the better/more patriotic the name, the more ominous the bill. This one follows the pattern.

HR 2411 states that every worker in America should be able to voluntarily have a portion of his/her wages automatically withheld and sent directly to the Treasury Department for the purposes of paying down the federal debt.
"Every employer making payment of wages shall deduct and withhold upon such wages any amounts so elected, and shall pay such amounts over to the Secretary of the Treasury..."

Document

The NIST WTC 7 Report is False

This presentation describes some of the ways in which the 2008 WTC 7 report from the National Institute of Standard and Technology is false an unscientific.


Stormtrooper

Shuttle Diplomacy: Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Explain How the Space Shuttle Was Never Really About Science

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© Unknown
One commonly-heard notion about the demise of the Space Shuttle is that the costly and overly complex program was killed, rightfully, because it didn't help to advance science. But this is based on a false premise, the astrophysicist and Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson reminded us at the World Science Festival. The Shuttle was never really meant to promote research or fulfill NASA's goal of space exploration. Instead, like the Apollo missions to the moon, the Shuttle program was the product of politics.

As inspiring as the grandeur of the spaceship has been to legions of young people - and as important as it was in fixing the Hubble telescope - it was actually the Western battle against the Soviet Union - and later, other diplomatic interests - that left NASA operating this amazing low-orbit dump truck. To criticize the Shuttle for not doing more science, he said, is to miss the larger picture.

We're afraid to say that to ourselves. We know that if we say we're going to do science with it, that'll sort of gather more adherents. And we feel more comfort in selling it that way. But selling it that way was the delusion... There are reasons for doing things in this world that are not driven by science.

Whistle

Source of terror threat is in UK Government, says a police Principal Intelligence Analyst

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© Unknown
Tony Farrell had been employed for twelve years as 'Principle Intelligence Analyst' for South Yorkshire Police, 13th largest of the 44 police forces in the UK. His job involved producing a yearly 'Strategic Threat Assessment Matrix' to determine how the police force had to prioritise its activities. Assessed 'threats' ranged from ASBOs (anti-social behaviour orders) to the terrorist threat presented by local mosques. Having a statistics degree, it was his job to translate the different 'strategic threats' into a 'matrix' of relative numerical weighted probabilities.

In 2010, one week before the 5th anniversary of 7/7, Tony (who had never previously doubted government versions of events) stumbled across '9/11 Truth' material on the web. Like so many millions before him, he was shocked to the core by this experience. He quickly realised that there was a great mass of evidence relating to 9/11 kept hidden by the mainstream media. As a Christian, Tony consulted his church minister, who suggested that he consider, whether the same might be true for the London 7/7 bombings?

Alarm Clock

Senior British Police Intelligence Analyst Speaks Out: '7/7 and 9/11 were inside jobs'

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© RichPlanet.net
A Principal Intelligence Analyst for South Yorkshire Police has spoken out about the July 7th '05 London Bombings. Tony Farrell, who has served for the police since 1998, is convinced as he can be that the bombings were a false-flag attack carried out by intelligence agencies. In July 2010, he was asked to compile a threat assessment report for South Yorkshire Police. His own research led him to believe the major threat in the UK today is from an "internal tyranny" which the public are slowly finding out about. He believes the public's reaction to these facts may present a threat of public unrest. He was dismissed from his post last year because his views were considered untenable, but the police officers who sacked him did not disagree with his views! In fact, they seemed to encourage him to appeal the decision. He is now awaiting a tribunal for unfair dismissal, taking place in September 2011.

Newspaper

US - Google's Schmidt Caves, Will Testify at Antitrust Hearing

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© Unknown
Amidst reported threats of a subpoena, Google chairman Eric Schmidt has agreed to appear before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee to discuss the search giant's approach to competition.

Schmidt will appear before the Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee in September; an exact date has not yet been set.

"I'm pleased that Mr. Schmidt has agreed to testify at the Antitrust Subcommittee hearing. I look forward to discussing a number of important issues relating to Google and Internet search competition," Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, ranking member of the subcommittee, said in a statement.