The multi-front cyberspace information war in which we recently have found ourselves just got a little more complicated.
A group which calls itself Cyber Caliphate, assumed to have ties to the terrorist group ISIS, may in fact be a creation of Russian hackers taking advantage of the havoc wrecked on social media and the Internet by ISIS propagandists.
The complex picture this presents adds to the challenges faced by the U.S. government as it seeks to adjust its counterterrorism communication and cybersecurity measures to deal with rising threats from abroad.
According to a new report, “Who Is Cyber Caliphate? Re-examining the Online ISIL Threat,” produced by the State Department’s Office of Diplomatic Security (DS), a major cyber attack on French television TV5Monde last April by Cyber Caliphate hackers took the station off the air for 20 hours and exposed employee email accounts . . .
French and American investigators tracking the electronic footprints of the hackers found they led to a Russian hacker group known as APT28, which usually hack in favor of the Russian government and directs its efforts at NATO. (Read more from “Why Are Russian Hackers Posing as ISIS Propagandists?” HERE)
By Conservative Refocus. Rumors have abounded for at least a generation over an out-of-control US government’s involvement with illegal drugs, along with far too many other things that most Americans haven’t even the slightest clue about.
In fact, many believe that wars have been started and ended over the government’s voracious appetite for money, via the illicit drugs that are a quick and easy way towards rounding up billions of dollars.
However, now, the US government’s alleged operation of an apparent meth lab, that exploded in a government building, has even Congress asking a lot of questions.
This particular story, surprisingly enough, comes to us from MSN, dutifully noting that whenever a liberal news vendor writes an unusually short article on a subject, especially one such as this, it’s not generally something they truly wish to be reporting:
“Police discovered signs of a meth lab in a government building on Saturday after an explosion injured a federal security officer and threw a blast shield 25 feet. The explosion occurred in a small lab at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where the Department of Commerce conducts experiments. (Read more from “US Government Now Under Investigation for Housing Illegal Meth Lab That Exploded” HERE)
Likely Meth Lab Explodes in Federal Building, Congress Demands Answers
By Alexandra Ossola. Yesterday, Congress requested more information about a July 18 explosion in one of the buildings operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology outside Washington, D.C. There’s reason for Congress to raise an eyebrow; based on evidence collected at the scene, investigators suspect that the room was being used to develop illegal methamphetamines.
The explosion occurred in NIST Building 236, far from the majority of the labs, so it didn’t damage any research endeavors. It happened in a room that had been emptied of equipment, as one experiment had recently ended and another was slated to begin. The blast occurred on a Saturday, so luckily few employees were around, but it did injure a security guard who was on duty. (He quit his job the day after the incident.)
So the question on everyone’s mind is: how was there a meth lab in a government building, and who was operating it? Paul Starks, a spokesman for the local Montgomery County police, would not comment on whether any chemicals or equipment used to make the drugs were found on the property. But NBC Washington reports that the security guard was found with burns on his arms and hands, igniting suspicion that he might have been involved in making the meth. (Read more from this story, “Federal Government Caught Cooking Meth?” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-25 03:56:282016-04-11 10:58:29US Government Caught Cooking Meth? Meth Lab in Federal Building Explodes in DC
Members of the GOP establishment floated a plan over the weekend to keep presidential candidate Donald Trump from the debate stage in Cleveland on August 6.
The New York Times reports that there is a lot of frustration with the billionaire candidate and his bombastic ways. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called Trump in early July to ask him to dial back his rhetoric regarding illegal immigrants, after he suggested the Mexican government was sending “rapists” and other criminals into the United States.
A new Quinnipiac Poll of swing states published this week finds Trump with the worst favorability ratings for any Democrat or Republican presidential candidate: 31 – 58 percent in Colorado, 32 – 57 percent in Iowa, and 32 – 61 percent in Virginia.
One idea that came up was to urge three leading candidates — Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor; Mr. Walker; and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida — to band together and state that they would not participate in any debate in which Mr. Trump was present, using his refusal to rule out a third-party bid as a pretext for taking such a hard line. The thinking, according to a Republican involved in the conversations, was that the lesser-funded prospects who have been eclipsed by Mr. Trump would follow suit, and the TV networks airing the debates would be forced to bar Mr. Trump in order to have a full complement of candidates.
But none of the campaigns have shown any appetite for such solidarity, for reasons ranging from their strategic interests and not wanting to make Mr. Trump a martyr, to fear of making an enemy of Fox News, the preferred cable network of conservatives and the host of the first debate.
(Read more from “Exposed: This Plot Against Donald Trump Was Brewing in the Republican Party” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-25 03:54:552016-04-11 10:58:29Exposed: This Plot Against Donald Trump Was Brewing in the Republican Party
In a Friday interview with BBC, President Barack Obama admitted that the biggest frustration of his presidency has been not having passed stricter gun control laws.
OBAMA: If you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I’ve been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient, common sense gun laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings. If you look at the number of Americans killed by terrorism since 9/11 by terrorism, it’s less than 100.
(Read more from “Obama: ‘Most Frustrated’ That I Can’t Take Away Second Amendment Rights” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-25 03:54:362016-04-11 10:58:29Obama: ‘Most Frustrated’ That I Couldn’t Take Away Americans’ Second Amendment Rights
In an almost nonsensically insensitive move, Planned Parenthood defended itself from accusations that it is selling aborted fetus organs on the black market by tweeting an image of a character from the popular children’s movie, “Minions.”
The film — released this past year — is a prequel to the critically acclaimed “Despicable Me” but has not lived up to the expectations of its predecessors, receiving a rating of “54% rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer. According to the reviews, the latest movie lazily recycles beloved parts from the first two installments, in what can only be described as a greedy scam to suck every last dollar out of the venture. (Read more from “Planned Parenthood Defends Killing Babies and Selling the Organs by Tweeting Popular Children’s Movie Character” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-07-25 03:54:222016-04-11 10:58:30Planned Parenthood Defends Killing Babies and Selling the Organs by Tweeting Popular Children’s Movie Character
Russia seeks to test the United States at every opportunity and divide the NATO alliance, posing the most significant long term threat to US national security, the head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, General Joseph Votel, told the Aspen Security Forum.
“Russia is looking to challenge us wherever they can,” Votel told Fox News’ Catherine Herridge. “The intent is to create a situation where NATO can’t continue to thrive.”
Votel said he did not have “unique insights” into Russian President Vladimir Putin but he believes Putin sees the expansion of NATO “…as a threat to him and I think what they (Moscow) are attempting to do is create these frozen conflicts and create situations that are very, very difficult to resolve along their border.”
That “does, could pose an existential threat,” Votel added.
He also said Russia is using a “hybrid approach to warfare” where state and non-state actors are mixing military and non-military capabilities. The result is “a coercive effect…using information operations, using manipulation of media , using social media.” (Read more from “Special Ops Chief: Russia Aims to Divide NATO, Poses ‘Existential’ Threat to US” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-25 03:54:062016-04-11 10:58:30Special Ops Chief: Russia Aims to Divide NATO, Poses ‘EXISTENTIAL’ Threat to US
The scandal surrounding emailgate — then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account managed on a personal server — has just been escalated to a higher level that could prove extremely damaging to Mrs. Clinton’s hopes for the White House.
The New York Times reports that the Justice Department has been asked to open “a criminal investigation into whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with the personal email account Hillary Rodham Clinton used as secretary of state, senior government officials said Thursday.”
And it’s not a Republican politician or a conservative watchdog group that’s requesting the criminal probe of Mrs. Clinton’s email practices. It’s two inspectors general working for the federal government who have reportedly asked for the inquiry into whether Hillary included classified information — sensitive government secrets — in the emails she sent. Mrs. Clinton has denied that she ever included any classified material in her many thousands of official emails when she was the country’s top diplomat.
However, as The Times article points out, when Mrs. Clinton turned over to the State Department the digital communications she had held and controlled on her private server, the review of those emails raised serious and troubling questions.
In the course of the email review, State Department officials determined that some information in the messages should be retroactively classified. In the 3,000 pages that were released, for example, portions of two dozen emails were redacted because they were upgraded to “classified status.” But none of those were marked as classified at the time Mrs. Clinton handled them.
(Read more from “Hillary Could Soon Get Blindsided by a Criminal Investigation From an Unlikely Source” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-25 03:53:482016-04-11 10:58:30Hillary Could Soon Get Blindsided by a Criminal Investigation From an Unlikely Source
Alaska is about to hop aboard the Obamacare expansion train even as it’s hurtling off the rails.
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, has given 45 days’ notice to the Alaska Legislature that he will expand Medicaid under Obamacare with or without their support.
With Obamacare expansion enrollment far exceeding projections in other states, Alaska would be the 30th state to put working-age adults with no kids and no disabilities on Medicaid.
The program comes with a promise of new federal funding, but states will be on the hook for 5 percent of benefit costs by 2017 and 10 percent by 2020.
Obamacare expansion promotional materials from Walker’s administration emphasize the benefit of bringing new federal welfare dollars to the state. (Read more from “Alaska Governor Plans to Impose Obamacare Expansion on His State” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-25 03:53:352016-04-11 10:58:30Following in Obama’s Footsteps: Governor Using Exec Order to Impose Obamacare Expansion on Alaska
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter “is currently reviewing recommendations from the services for making our installations and facilities safer – including our recruiting stations” following the July 16 attack that left four Marines and a Navy sailor dead.
“While we greatly appreciate the outpouring of support for our recruiters from the American public, we ask that individuals not stand guard at recruiting offices as it could adversely impact our mission, and potentially create unintended security risks,” Cook added.
In the days following the attack, citizens groups, veterans, local law enforcement and the National Guard have stood watch outside of recruiting offices across the country. It’s also raised questions over a 23-year-old federal policy that leaves service members unable to defend themselves on Pentagon property. (Read more from “Pentagon Wants Individuals to Stop Guarding Recruiting Stations” HERE)
If we were going to see a stock market crash in the United States in the fall of 2015 (to use a hypothetical example), we would expect to see commodity prices begin to crash a few months ahead of time. This is precisely what happened just before the great financial crisis of 2008, and we are watching the exact same thing happen again right now. On Wednesday, commodities got absolutely pummeled, and at this point the Bloomberg Commodity Index is down a whopping 26 percent over the past twelve months. When global economic activity slows down, demand for raw materials sinks and prices drop. So important global commodities such as copper, iron ore, aluminum, zinc, nickel, lead, tin and lumber are all considered to be key “leading indicators” that can tell us a lot about where things are heading next. And what they are telling us right now is that we are rapidly approaching a global economic meltdown.
If the global economy was actually healthy and expanding, the demand for commodities would be increasing and that would tend to drive prices up. But instead, prices continue to go down.
The Bloomberg Commodity Index just hit a brand new 13-year low. That means that global commodity prices are already lower than they were during the worst moments of the last financial crisis . . .
The commodities rout that’s pushed prices to a 13-year low pulled some of the biggest mining and energy companies below levels seen during the financial crisis.
The FTSE 350 Mining Index plunged as much as 4.9 percent to the lowest since 2009 on Wednesday, with BHP Billiton Ltd. and Anglo American Plc leading declines. Gold and copper are near the lowest in at least five years, while crude oil retreated to $50 a barrel.
(Read more from “Commodities Collapsed Just Before the Last Stock Market Crash – so Guess What Is Happening Right Now?” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-25 03:52:432016-04-11 10:58:30Commodities Collapsed Just Before the Last Stock Market Crash – so Guess What Is Happening Right Now?
