NSA Testing Software that Identifies You By Your Smart Phone Swipe, Keystrokes

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Photo Credit: WNDThe National Security Agency has tested the use of smartphone-swipe recognition technology, according to the tool’s manufacturer.

The mobile device feature, created by Lockheed Martin, verifies a user’s identity based on the swiftness and shape of the individual’s finger strokes on a touch screen. The technology is but one incarnation of handwriting-motion recognition, sometimes called “dynamic signature” biometrics, that has roots in the Air Force.

“Nobody else has the same strokes,” said John Mears, senior fellow for Lockheed IT and Security Solutions. “People can forge your handwriting in two dimensions, but they couldn’t forge it in three or four dimensions. Three is the pressure you put in, in addition to the two dimensions on the paper. The fourth dimension is time. The most advanced handwriting-type authentication tracks you in four dimensions.”

The biometric factors measured by Lockheed’s technology, dubbed “Mandrake,” are speed, acceleration and the curve of an individual’s strokes.

“We’ve done work with the NSA with that for secure gesture authentication as a technique for using smartphones,” Mears said. “They are actually able to use it.” (Read more from “NSA testing Software for Identifying You” HERE)

Drought Forces California to Consider Turning Sewage into Drinking Water

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It’s a technology with the potential to ease California’s colossal thirst and insulate millions from the parched whims of Mother Nature, experts say.

But there’s just one problem — the “yuck factor.”

As a fourth year of drought continues to drain aquifers and reservoirs, California water managers and environmentalists are urging adoption of a polarizing water recycling policy known as direct potable reuse.

Unlike nonpotable reuse — in which treated sewage is used to irrigate crops, parks or golf courses — direct potable reuse takes treated sewage effluent and purifies it so it can be used as drinking water.

It’s a concept that might cause some consumers to wince, but it has been used for decades in Windhoek, Namibia — where evaporation rates exceed annual rainfall — and more recently in drought-stricken Texas cities, including Big Spring and Wichita Falls. (Read more about turning sewage into drinking water HERE)

RINO Thad Cochran, After Denying Affair with Aide During McDaniels Race, Marries Her

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By Eric Bradner. Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran married his long-time aide, Kay Webber, over the weekend in a private ceremony in Gulfport.

The seven-term Republican lawmaker’s former wife of 50 years, Rose Cochran, died last year after suffering from dementia. She had lived in a nursing home for 13 years.

Webber, Cochran’s executive assistant, has worked for the senator since 1981. Cochran’s office confirmed his marriage in a one-sentence statement Monday.

His relationship with Webber was the subject of scrutiny during Cochran’s bruising 2014 primary battle with state Sen. Chris McDaniel.

On Capitol Hill, Cochran rents the basement of a rowhouse owned by Webber. The aide accompanied Cochran on 28 trips to 45 countries between 2011 and 2013, and made 39 visits to Mississippi with the senator, McDaniel supporters pointed out. (Read more about RINO Thad Cochran HERE)
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RINO Thad Cochran Joked About Doing “All Kinds of Indecent Things With Animals,” Now Marries Aide Paid $165k Annually in His Employ

By Erica Ritz. Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, who made national headlines in 2014 after reminiscing about his childhood “picking up pecans, from that to all kinds of indecent things with animals,” has married his longtime aide, according to the Associated Press.

Kay Webber has worked for the Republican senator since 1981, and both are 77, spokesman Chris Gallegos said. She makes $165,000 a year in his employ. The wedding was a private ceremony in Gulfport, Mississippi. . .

Cochran, who battled Chris McDaniel for the Republican nomination, originally trailed his challenger, but won by 7,667 votes in a contentious runoff election. McDaniel filed a lawsuit claiming the runoff results were tainted by voting irregularities, but a circuit judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying it was filed too late. The state Supreme Court upheld the dismissal Oct. 24. (Read more about RINO Thad Cochran HERE)

Congressman Massie’s 500-Yard Run That Is Driving Congress Crazy [+video]

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Photo Credit: The Stand Recently, Congressman Thomas Massie came to speak at the University of Cincinnati. He was the keynote speaker for the Young American for Liberty’s Ohio State conference. Massie gave an eye opening speech on how the House of Representatives works. One of his most revealing stories centered around his 500-yard run that he frequently makes from his office to the House floor . . .

Congressman Massie explained that voice votes are frequently used to pass motions, amendments, and resolutions. There are several problems with taking voice votes on important issues. First, the voice vote does not hold politicians accountable for their votes. Many of our congressmen that we send to Washington are voting against what they ran on, but we do not have a record of all of these votes. The second problem with this method of voting is that it is solely at the discretion of the House Chair. Under normal circumstances, this would be Speaker of the House John Boehner. He is the only one that is allowed to interpret the vote.

The House is supposed to have something called a “quorum” to have a vote. A quorum is defined by at least 218 congressmen. The way that Boehner decides if there is a quorum is by squinting his eyes and declaring he thinks he sees 218 people. Congressman Massie said sometimes there will only be ten congressmen present.

There are about 500 yards in between Massie’s office and the house floor. When the speaker starts to do voice votes when no one is in the house, Congressman Massie will sprint from his office to the House floor and demand a recorded vote. When Congress has a recorded vote, it forces there to be a quorum and politicians to be held accountable for their votes. Massie said that he had done this a lot since he was elected in 2012.

One of the most memorable votes was in December of 2014. The speaker indicated that the Congress was over, so all the congressmen left. It just so happened that Massie’s flight had been canceled, when he went back to his office he saw that the house was passing bills with no one present. He made the 500-yard dash, and when he got onto the house floor they were conducting a voice vote on whether or not to allow President Obama to arm Ukraine’s military. They recessed before he could make a point that a quorum was not present. The next day, after he left, they passed more bills by voice before adjourning the 113th congress. (Read more from “Congressman Massie’s 500-Yard Run That Is Driving Congress Crazy” HERE)

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‘Are You Kidding Me?’ Rage Reigns as Obama Does This in Happy Memorial Day Tweet

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The Democratic National Committee dedicated Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor America’s fallen service men and women, by tweeting a photo of President Obama enjoying an ice cream cone.

Ice cream? Really? Is that what he thinks Memorial Day is all about?

Photo Credit: Twitter

The Twitterverse exploded in disbelief — “are you kidding me?” was the tone — beginning with CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper, who tweeted:

Respectfully, @TheDemocrats, this is not what Memorial Day Weekend is about. https://twitter.com/thedemocrats/status/601820580678082561 …

-@jaketapper

(Read more from “‘Are You Kidding Me?’ Rage Reigns as Obama Does This in Happy Memorial Day Tweet” HERE)

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U.S. Military and Civilians are Increasingly Divided, Distinct “Warrior Class” vs Public

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Multi-generational military families form the heart of the all-volunteer Army, which increasingly is drawing its ranks from the relatively small pool of Americans with historic family, cultural or geographic connections to military service.

While the U.S. waged a war in Vietnam 50 years ago with 2.7 million men conscripted from every segment of society, less than one-half of 1% of the U.S. population is in the armed services today — the lowest rate since World War II. America’s recent wars are authorized by a U.S. Congress whose members have the lowest rate of military service in history, led by three successive commanders in chief who never served on active duty.

Surveys suggest that as many as 80% of those who serve come from a family in which a parent or sibling is also in the military. They often live in relative isolation — behind the gates of military installations such as Ft. Bragg or in the deeply military communities like Fayetteville, N.C., that surround them.

The segregation is so pronounced that it can be traced on a map: Some 49% of the 1.3 million active-duty service members in the U.S. are concentrated in just five states — California, Virginia, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia.

The U.S. military today is gradually becoming a separate warrior class, many analysts say, that is becoming increasingly distinct from the public it is charged with protecting. (Read more from “U.S. Military and Civilians Are Increasingly Being Divided” HERE)

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Email: Hillary Didn’t Know the Name of Dead Ambassador

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Photo Credit: Washington Times The night a U.S. ambassador was killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, Hillary Clinton sent a message to three senior State Department officials.

The recipients were Jake Sullivan, Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Secretary of State Clinton, Cheryl Mills, an adviser to Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and Counselor and Chief of Staff to the Secretary, and Victoria Jane Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

“Cheryl told me the Libyans confirmed his death. Should we announce tonight or wait until morning?” Clinton says in the email, time stamped 11:38 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2012.

The email had as its subject line: “Chris Smith.” The murdered ambassador was Chris Stevens. (Read more from “Email: Hillary Didn’t Know the Name of Dead Ambassador” HERE)

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Hundreds of Homes Destroyed, Deaths as Flash Flooding Sweeps Through Texas, Oklahoma

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A storm system dropped record amounts of rainfall across the southern Plains Sunday, causing flash floods in normally dry riverbeds, spawning tornadoes, destroying homes, and forcing at least 2,000 people to flee.

Two people were confirmed dead in Oklahoma where a firefighter was swept to his death while trying to rescue people from high water and a woman in Tulsa died in a traffic-related crash. In Texas, a man’s body was recovered from a flooded area along the Blanco River, which rose 26 feet in just one hour and left piles of wreckage 20 feet high, authorities said.

In Wimberley, Texas, southwest of Austin, eight people were reported missing, including three children, according to KXAN.

“It looks pretty bad out there,” said Hays County emergency management coordinator Kharley Smith, describing the destruction in Wimberley, part of a fast-growing corridor between Austin and San Antonio. “We do have whole streets with maybe one or two houses left on them and the rest are just slabs,” she said.

Between 350 and 400 homes were destroyed in Wimberley, many of them washed away, Smith said. In nearby San Marcos, flooding had damaged about 300 homes, she said. Kenneth Bell, the emergency management coordinator in San Marcos, said the damage in Hays County alone amounts to “millions of dollars.” (Read more from “Hundreds of Homes Destroyed as Flash Flooding Sweeps Through Texas, Oklahoma” HERE)

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Huckabee: NSA Spying, Clinton’s Private Emails Making Americans ‘More Distrustful’ of Government

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Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee expressed his opposition Sunday to extending NSA phone-spying and suggested the program — along with recent revelations like Hillary Clinton’s having used private email for official State Department communication — has resulted in Americans’ unprecedented distrust of the Obama administration.

“The secrecy with which this government has operated and, specifically, Hillary Clinton using a private email server outside the bounds of normal State Department protocol is very troubling,” Huckabee told “Fox News Sunday.” “There’s never been a time in my lifetime where people are more distrustful of government.”

Clinton, who was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, is now the Democratic front-runner in the 2016 White House race.

Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, made his comments a day after the Senate failed to pass legislation to extend the section of post-9/11 Patriot Act that covers the National Security Agency’s bulk phone data collection program, which expires on June 1.

Huckabee said U.S. intelligence-gathers should “get a warrant” if they suspect an American of being involved in such activity as terrorism or spying, instead of the sweeping phone-data gathering, especially since it has been ineffective in thwarting a major terror plot. (Read more from “Huckabee: NSA Spying, Clinton’s Private Emails Making Americans ‘More Distrustful’ of Government” HERE)

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Cleveland Protesters Pepper-Sprayed, Injured Bystanders

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Officials say some protesters angry over the acquittal of a police officer charged in the deaths of two unarmed suspects became violent and turned on bystanders, including some who pepper-sprayed patrons sitting at outdoor cafes downtown.

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams says 71 people were arrested Saturday night after a day of mostly peaceful protests turned more aggressive.

Williams said Sunday at a news conference with Mayor Frank Jackson that another protester threw a restaurant sign at a patron, striking him in the head. He says bystanders were also accosted in at least one other instance.

Jackson thanked the majority of protesters who remained respectful. He says the police will continue to help demonstrators exercise their First Amendment rights but warned the city will not tolerate any protesters who cross the line into violence. (Read more from “Cleveland Protesters Pepper-Spraying Bystanders” HERE)

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