GPS expert stuns Congress: Drones in US airspace can easily be hijacked by criminals, terrorists

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A House Homeland Security subcommittee today heard sharp warnings about the plan to allow drones to fly widely in U.S. airspace starting in 2015.

GPS expert Todd Humphreys of the University of Texas was the star witness: “I am worried that it could be a weapon in the arsenal of organized crime, or state actors, or organized terrorists,“ Humphreys told a stunned committee.

In a Fox News exclusive last month, Humphreys demonstrated how, with a relatively inexpensive GPS “spoofer,” he could take control of a GPS-guided drone in flight, and make it do whatever he wanted. The potential is there, he told the panel, for terrorists to do the same thing.

“The nightmare situation that I articulated here as a panelist,” Humphreys told Fox News, “was that five or ten years from now we haven’t fixed the problem and now the drones are much larger, maybe delivering FedEx packages. I don’t want it to get to that point before we say ‘ok it’s a problem.’”

Committee Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas was clearly alarmed by Humphreys’ testimony:  “This is astounding that you could hijack a UAV and bring it down,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

 

Lawsuit forces Obama to reveal Michelle’s $83,000 luxury skiing weekend

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A February 2012 ski trip enjoyed by first lady Michelle Obama and her two daughters cost taxpayers at least $83,000, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch.

The total cost of the President’s Day weekend getaway was at least $83,182.99. The largest expense was $48,950.38 for Secret Service protection, which included accommodations at the Fasching Haus deluxe condominium and the Inn at Aspen.

The cost of transportation was also hefty. Using official Department of Defense hourly rates, Judicial Watch estimated that the flights cost $22,583.70. This didn’t include in-flight purchases costing $235.44. The cost of rental cars was $6,442.23.

Judicial Watch received the records after filing a May 31 lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force and Secret Service.

“No wonder we had to file a lawsuit in federal court and wait six months to get basic information on Michelle Obama’s luxury Aspen vacation,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The costs of the Obama family ski weekend are staggering. These high-priced luxury vacations, and the lack of transparency about them, are beginning to seem like an abuse of office.”

Read more from this story HERE.

TSA allows dozens of illegal aliens to attend flight school owned by . . . an illegal alien

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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approved flight training for 25 illegal aliens at a Boston-area flight school that was owned by yet another illegal alien, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The illegal-alien flight-school attendees included eight who had entered the country illegally and 17 who had overstayed their allowed period of admission into the United States, according to an audit by the GAO.

Six of the illegal aliens were actually able to get pilot’s licenses.

Discovery of the trouble at the flight school began when local police–not federal authorities–pulled over the owner of the school on a traffic violation and were able to determine that he was an illegal alien.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R.-Ala.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security, said he found the GAO’s findings “amazing.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: TSA Public Affairs

More vote fraud opportunities: Washington first state to use Facebook for voter registration

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Washington will become the first state to offer voter registration via Facebook with a new application to be launched as soon as next week, according to a state election official.

Once online, the app will be accessible on the secretary of state’s Facebook page, said Shane Hamlin, co-director of elections for the state.

Washington, which has approximately 3.7 million registered voters, conducts elections entirely by mail and enacted online registration in 2008. Since online registration started, Hamlin said close to 500,000 voter registrations or address changes have been processed.

Facebook, Washington state and Microsoft have teamed up to create an app that allows users to register on the social media site through the state’s new “MyVote” app. The effort came about last fall when Microsoft approached Washington state after Facebook contacted the software giant with the idea.

When Facebook users download the application, they will have to agree to allow Facebook to access their information, including name and date of birth, which is pre-filled into the voter registration form.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: Thos003

Media ignores yet another press conference with Sheriff of one of largest counties in US

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The lead investigator in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s probe of Barack Obama’s eligibility for Arizona’s November presidential ballot is convinced he has “indisputable proof” the document presented by the White House as Obama’s birth certificate is fraudulent.

But after presenting his latest evidence at a press conference in Phoenix Tuesday, the gathered media wanted to talk about him, not the evidence.

“Obviously, the information we are bringing forth is becoming very difficult for them to refute,” Mike Zullo told WND in an interview after the event.

“What the media was trying to do was the Saul Alinsky tactic of discrediting the person that is bringing forth the information,” he said, referring to the 1960s Marxist activist whose book “Rules for Radicals” is a manual for left-wing activists.

The first question from the media referred to a short e-book Zullo wrote with WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi, who has assisted the Cold Case Posse in its investigation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Publisher’s note:  After this article was published yesterday, the LA Times put out a story on on the press conference at 11 a.m. this morning.  You can read that column HERE.

Photo credit: mariopiperni

 

NOAA Scientist: Experiment Suggests Worst of Fukushima “still on the way”

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It’s been over a year since natural disaster ravaged a nuclear plant in Fukushima and interrupted the lives of millions of Japanese. Scientists now fear though that contaminated water is on course to America, and it could be more toxic than thought.

Researchers have released the findings of an intense study into the aftermath of last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster and warn that the United States isn’t exactly spared just yet. In fact, scientists now fear that incredibly contaminated ocean waters could be reaching the West Coast of the US in a matter of only five years, and the toxicity of those waves could eventually be worse than what was seen in Japan.

A team of scientists led by Joke F Lübbecke of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory have published the findings of an experiment recently conducted to measure the impact of last year’s nuclear disaster and the results are eye-opening to say the least. By simulating the spreading of contaminated ocean waters and seeing how currents could carry them across the Pacific from Japan to the US, scientists believe that the worst might be still on the way.

“Within one year it will have spread over the entire western half of the North Pacific and in five years we predict it will reach the US West Coast.” Claus Böning, co-author of the study, tells the website Environmentalresearchweb.

Böning adds that “The levels of radiation that hit the US coast will be small relative to the levels released by Fukushima,” yet fails to exactly stand by that statement in the fullest. “But we cannot estimate accurately what those levels will be because we do not know for certain what was released by Fukushima,” the doctor adds.  In fact, others fear that contaminated ocean waters may collect in packets and produce waves of highly concentrated nuclear toxins that could pose a dangerous toll to Americans.

Read more from this story HERE.

Publisher’s note:  This article was originally published by RT News.  Shortly after posting, Restoring Liberty received a voice mail from Ms. Jana Goldman, a ” NOAA Communication officer.”  Ms. Goldman reported that the scientist involved in the above-referenced study regarding Fukushima was not actually with NOAA at the time the report was prepared.  Rather, she was with a team from Germany, even though she is now employed by NOAA.  Ms. Goldman confirmed this information by email as well.

Photo credit: Ryan Somma

 

Grassley accuses FDA of acting like communist secret police for spying on employees

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) accused the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of acting like the East German secret police for closely monitoring the computer activities of some of its employees.

The GOP senator said internal documents on the surveillance program make the FDA “sound more like the East German Stasi than a consumer protection agency in a free country.”

He said the documents refer to employees who leaked information as “collaborators,” congressional staff as “ancillary actors,” and newspaper reporters as “media outlet actors.”

The FDA began using surveillance software in 2010 to monitor the computer activities of five of its scientists that it suspected of leaking damaging confidential information. The software captured screen images, intercepted personal emails, copied documents and even tracked their keystrokes.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that the agency gathered 80,000 pages of documents as part of the program and created a list of 21 employees, congressional officials, academics and journalists it suspected of putting out negative information about the FDA. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has examined the agency’s procedures for reviewing medical devices, was listed as No. 14 on the list.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

Americans Joining Disability Now Outpacing Americans Finding Jobs

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In the last three months, more Americans have joined disability than have found a job.

Between April-June 2012, an estimated 246,000 Americans were added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, only 225,000 American jobs were created.

Since 2008, 3.6. million Americans have been added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, a net total of 1.3 million jobs were lost.

“Amazingly, while fewer Americans are working than at the end of 2008, 3.6 million Americans have been awarded SSDI benefits over the same period. The growing number of people on disability and other federal benefits, combined with weak economic growth, raises serious concerns about the sustainability of the American economy,” Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, says in a statement in response to these new numbers.

“It is clear there is a great need to distinguish between proper and improper disability claims, and to better incentivize and find acceptable work for those who are able. Today only 1 percent of Social Security disability recipients ever return to work. The administration of this program must be improved to avoid sinking our country deeper into debt, to ensure the program remains viable for those with disabilities, and to protect Social Security itself.”

Read more from this story and see the charts reflecting these numbers HERE.

Business leaders slam Obama for saying wealthy aren’t responsible for their own success

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America’s leading small business association has slammed Barack Obama for showing ‘an utter lack of understanding’ of the country’s entrepreneurs when he told them: ‘If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.’

In a hard-hitting statement to Mail Online, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) president Dan Danne said: ‘What a disappointment to hear President Obama’s revealing comments challenging the significance of America’s entrepreneurs.

Mr. Danne added: ‘His unfortunate remarks over the weekend show an utter lack of understanding and appreciation for the people who take a huge personal risk and work endless hours to start a business and create jobs.’

President Obama said in a speech at the weekend that governments and not individuals create jobs, telling entrepreneurs: ‘If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.’

He added: ‘You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.’

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue

Sen. Patty Murray: Democrats will go over ‘fiscal cliff’ unless GOP relents

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With the US economy speeding toward a year-end fiscal cliff of some $560 billion in higher taxes and draconian spending cuts, Sen. Patty Murray (D) of Washington bluntly laid out her party’s position on how Congress should handle the nation’s coming fiscal travails: Go big or go over the ledge.

“Millions of jobs could be lost through the automatic cuts, programs families depend on would be slashed irresponsibly across the board, and middle-class tax cuts would expire. And once again, if Republicans won’t work with us on a balanced approach, we are not going to get a deal,” said Senator Murray, the Senate’s No. 4 Democrat, in a speech at the Brookings Institution on Monday.

“[I]f we can’t get a good deal – a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share – then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013, rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus,” she said.

The chair of the party committee charged with electing Democrats to the Senate laid out the broadest, most full-throated explanation of the party’s views on the party’s negotiating position vis-a-vis the fiscal cliff, while outlining the party’s strategy for attacking Republicans at the polls in November.

While optimistic “that we can get a good deal,” Murray said Democrats would not, for example, sign on to a plan that would offset the $55 billion portion of the $109 billion in automatic spending cuts mandated by the “sequester,” the budget-slashing mechanism agreed to as part of 2011’s debt-ceiling showdown. The remainder of the reductions come from discretionary spending, home to Democratic priorities like social welfare programs, and reductions in payments to Medicare providers.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: ozmafan