Pic and Pay?

So the Federal Government is saying they want to help out the middle class. Just because they care. And the CRTC, Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, has somehow been holding back Canadians from getting what they really want in cable TV viewing.
Of course we all know all this and presently, you may be getting the Essentials set-up from your cable provider, or perhaps the next level up, a Medium assortment.  It is the norm in cable business, but it seems to be in favour of cable companies and channel owners to all make money.
And the latest studies conclude that the TV viewing public (middle class) is gravitating AWAY from cable television because of ineffective bundling.

The fly in the ethereal ointment is that the cable companies bundle everything. You might get the  network TV channels, news channels and some local channels, but anything else you want, will come at extra cost. And this is what the buying public doesn't like.
If you want Speed or HBO, for instance, you'll have to take the Kardassians channel, the National Quilting and Tatting channel, and three cartoon channels. Lots of people have channels they are paying for but have never ever switched on to!

So what the government is proposing, is for you to pick the channels you want, and pay for them individually. Which is what we all want. Seems totally reasonable. But this idea seems totally new to them.  More proof that they don't listen to the buying public when the old guys club is running things.

A great idea to me would be for you to take the Essential channels for a basic price, and then pay, say, a buck or two bucks per channel after that. And if the cable companies think they are losing money on that deal, you'd have to pick enough channels to make it profitable for your cable provider to operate. It might cost you the same, but you'd get something you're interested in watching!

Many of the small cable companies would welcome such a deal because it would allow them to cater to a certain demographic, a profitable group of TV watchers for them! And would allow the entry into the market of many specialty channels not offered presently!
And the general trend in TV viewing is to watch what you want on the internet or Netflix. The key here is that it is what you WANT!  

But to many of us poor public, we are farced ... (Freudian slip) forced, to take those obscure channels that literally NO ONE watches. It was expressed recently by a cable adviser, that if 200 people want to see the Poodle Grooming Specialty channel, no one would pay to have it so it gets bundled. If you like the Total Violence and Mayhem channel, today you have to take Tree-Top Children too. So wouldn't a fair play be the one that forces those 200 people to watch brushing a dog on the web instead on mainstream cable?
The catering is backwards. And TV is generally worried because many thousands or even millions of people are now getting their TV from the web. Not good for TV advertisers. Corporations like NBC, CBS, ABC and basically all of them are wondering what the future holds for them?

Ah, but here's the rub: Joe Friendly wants to start his own TV channel, say about Funeral Home Families, call it Ted and Dead. But Joe needs to get his channel bundled to make a profit. So how does he go about getting the CRTC to add his channel to the lineup and cash in on bundling?
Hmm. Let's just say, just say ......
Mr. Joe Friendly approaches the Power Person in the business who can get things done, like a listing, the business being the CTRC, and Joe says, "What'll it take for me to get in on this cash cow?"
Power Person shrugs, "Oh it's so hard, there's no way."
"Way," says business savvy Joe Friendly. "What if I had a budget for getting a listing, say, $30,000?"
"How would that work, innocent Power Person asks?" A sparkle beginning to appear in his eye.
"Well,", say Joe, "if we were to get listed and bundled, it would guarantee us a sizable profit. And we ARE a generous company."
"Yes, indeed it would, Joe, even if no one watches your funeral homes and those who live within their cool walls."
"So you see then? I could put you on our TV channel studies panel. As an adviser. So it would be a totally legitimate transaction. An honorarium for your expertise.""Yes Joe, I do see, it would," and Mr. Power then inquires, "and how would that honorarium come about? "
Joe Friendly is quick to reply, "Old bills in a plain brown envelope."

"We'll bundle you with CNN, CBC, Ted Talks and the Walking Dead, how's that?"
"Perfect."

Of course, EVERYTHING is bundled with the NSA and CCTV these days too.
Meanwhile the Government is bundling up their propaganda for an election and helping the middle class seems like a good platform idea ... even if it's a lie and comes bundled with Harper, Trudeau and Mulcair.

Universe unfolding in Iraq

Iraq, then and now - As forecast by many, in 2013 the internecine war continues, the Sunnis versus the Shiites, exactly as it was for centuries. An ongoing religious conflict. A war that Saddam Hussein had control of until his actual oil reserves were known and envious eyes landed on his desert sands.

Since the 2003 invasion of the country by US and UK forces the infrastructure has deteriorated to such a degree that it is estimated the country will need up to 1 TRILLION more (2013) to 'rebuild it's crumbling infrastructure and battered economy', said by the head of the National Investment Commission in Iraq. Doesn't the question come to mind as to what these non-bidding reconstruction companies like Haliburton, Kellogg, Brown and Root and Blackwater and others have been doing there for 10 years? These companies got a 1.5 billion dollar deal to rebuild the country.  All paid for by US taxpayers. Remember the original concept? The rebuild would come from Iraq oil sales.

In a March, 2013 final report to Congress,  Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen's conclusion was all too clear: Since the invasion a decade ago this month, the U.S. has spent too much money in Iraq for too few results. And the Huffington Post reports that in nine years of war in Iraq, 4,448 Americans died and 32,221 were wounded in battle, leaving behind a deeply divided country steeped in corruption.

But in some cases, can we suspect there are handshakes all around and the feeling that they all made money. Why doesn't someone admit that was the plan all along?

The Iraqi people are no better now than 10 years ago and the American people are also a little poorer.

Read just a few news reports from the last 10 years to see how it unfolds, but not as it should -

The careful plans - 2003
USA Today Rebuilding Iraq

Proceding as planned - 2004
CNN Iraq rebuild

Get rid of evidence - 2005
The Guardian Iraq

Rebuilding overhead costs - 2006
NYTimes reconstruct

Where is the money going? - 2007
Nation Public Radio report

Infrastructure failures - 2008
Global Policy Forum reconstruction

Model education system? - 2009
Radio Free Europe Iraq Struggles

Watchdog Agency -wasted billions - 2010
Fox News wasted billions

60 billion achieves little - 2011
BBC news - world

Reconstruction efforts cost 719 lives - 2012
Bloomberg News-audit

Who will they target in the future?

Where are you going, children? Out to play, Mom. Okay.

If you don't read any of the other links, a least read this one - from CBC News 2013 - The final report -
CBS News.com $60b to rebuild iraq wasted

Should children be scavenging for tidbits for survival?

Is this an endless scenario? Anyone with sanity would think no,
but the world has gone crazy, hasn't it?

Questions. Always. Questions.

Aaron Alexis, the 34 year old shooter in the Washington Naval Yard, seems to be already having conflicting items and events swirling about him and his actions. How much is truth? And how much is fog? There seem to be contradictions in the answers to questions in the first hours after and the answers many hours later. Many more questions need answers, the intriguing question being, will they be answered at all?

• If he had so many bad incidents while in the Navy that led to his discharge, how did he get Secret level security clearance?
• How did he get hired as an 'expert' by Hewlett Packard after basically being kicked out of the Navy?
• What work did he do for the Navy in Japan? Refreshing computer systems? And what was the pay dispute?
• All his friends and acquaintances tell of him being a gentle man, studying Buddhism, meditating, and yet the profile being built of him after the event is one of paranoia and anger issues?
• He checked into a Rhode Island hotel and called police about being followed or watched? And complained about hearing voices? What was he doing there?
• If he was so broke, how did he afford the rifle? And/or a shotgun? And renting a car? And traveling to Thailand?
• And how long had he owned that rifle? He evidently had time to carve whole phrases into the stock! Including ELF, generally meaning 'Extremely Low Frequency,' for you HAARP people. 
• Who was paying for his hotel room? Who was the person who met him there prior to his starting work at the Naval Yard? He only worked there for a week, why did he suddenly snap now?
• The Swat team of Special Agents from the ATF arrived quickly, the same one from the Boston bombing of the Tsarnaevs, a seven hour drive away,  apparently they are stationed in Washington. Why was it the same team that was in Boston at that other incident?
• If Alexi was being treated for paranoia and suspected of mental issues, why weren't they available to a mental check for his job at Experts, the HP subsidiary?
• Why wasn't his arrest record in Seattle and Fort Worth available to HP? And his Navy record considered for a security clearance. 
• Was there another man involved who remains unidentified? The grey haired white man?
• Where exactly did he live? They say he was formerly from Fort Worth but no indication of where his domicile was now?And he is said to have had several addresses in Fort Worth?
• The first people interviewed describe Alexis of being a quiet gentle man, yet now reports say he was a hardcore drinker and spent hours playing 'violent shooting' video games? More conflicting info or implanted info?
• A monk's assistant from the Buddhist Temple he often attended said he could have believed Alexis' would have committed suicide but not murder.
• Others said that Alexi seemed like he had been in the military by the way he carried himself but never talked about violence or guns.
• He is said to have often helped out others, not expecting anything in return. And worked in his friend's restaurant for no pay. Even communicated with diners in the Thai language.
• His latest landlord said that he had never seen his tenant get angry about anything.
• Did someone 'open doors' for Alexis to move easily through his motions on the weeks or months previous and on the day of the event? 
• After leaving the Navy in January 2011, Alexis retained the clearance even with three arrests, a history of mental illness and a record of military misconduct.
• USIS, the private company that performs 65% of all background checks, (and the same company that vetted Edward Snowden) failed to discover anything wrong with Aaron Alexis, "... What’s emerging is a pattern of failure on the part of this company, and a failure of this entire system, that risks nothing less than our national security and the lives of Americans,” Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, said in a statement. She added that USIS is under criminal investigation.
• USIS is now based in Providence, Rhode Island.
• As information emerges, can we see that a troubled man seeking psychiatric help from VA agencies could in some way be manipulated psychologically? 
• Is some shadowy agency building a convenient profile of disinformation now to make a credible case that he would shoot people? For what purpose?
• 
  

Contradictions?

It's not unbelievable that a man could live such a paradox life, filled with contradictions and flurried directions of an unstable mind, but at such a terrible event his actions need a complete and thorough investigation. All the questions about Aaron Alexi need to be carefully considered, asked, and answered.

manipulated?

Were Aaron Alexi's deathly last movements orchestrated for some secret purpose yet to be revealed? What will answers tell about the tragic events on September 16, 2013.

Will there be answers?

Or just more questions?

 

 

Outward/Inward Syria

Overt intention = strike with cruise missiles at Assad's Syria to stop chemicals being used against rebels. (even if the 'who used them' is not yet known) Destroy airports and shoot down any planes headed for US warships in the Mediterranean fleet. Use the US Military to police the area however seems appropriate. Protect America.

Covert intention = cause Syria to strike back in retaliation and start the new war. Launch Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syrian military targets and wait for Iran to join in. Enlist Israel to strike at nuclear facilities in Iran. Continue new battles in Middle East by aircraft, missiles and more drones without more troops on the ground. Protect America.

Deepest intentions =  and true intended results - inflame the terrorist factions of al Qaeda, al Nusra and other Islamic radicals in Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, to strike Americans anywhere on the globe. Instigate the rise of more home grown radicals within the USA, thereby forcing Marshal Law to come into effect to protect the American people from terrorists in their own country. Mass total surveillance and monitoring of every single person and the subjugation of the continental American people by the special military in accordance with the ongoing 9/11 plan. Make every city locked down like Boston. The New World Order continues to take effect? Subjugate America.

we have dropped our guard

Facebook + NSA = same thing.

So Facebook is now tagging you with facial recognition software. And suggesting your friends also tag you - which is actually identifying you to whomever wants to know.
The facial recognition software makes measurements of distance between your eyes, nose, ears and mouth etc. You can identify yourself or if others see a pic of you, they are encouraged to 'tag' you, that is place your name on that picture. Thereby identifying you whether you like it or not. This all builds a unique template of YOU. Whether you like it or not.

Yes you can opt out, but that might be a complicated process. And who can trust these web entities any more. So if a company like Facebook would do it in the first place, and try to make you believe it is for your benefit, good luck trying to explain ethics to them. And we all know by now, or should, that anything Facebook does in relation to privacy, is shared with the NSA. Do you still laugh when someone mentions New World Order? Or One World Government?

Already Germany is about to sue Facebook over privacy issues, and if the Monsanto thing has any traction, other European countries will follow. Europeans know what is it like to be spied upon. And tattled about. North Americans have yet to learn but they may be too naive, skeptical or stupid and too late to comprehend the implications of the problem.

Try telling your friends that facial recognition of them will be added to a 600 million person database in Facebook. And by extension, added to the database of NSA, which is probably 1000 times larger. Yes folks, they know where you are every minute of your life, Google Earth told them where you live, Street View has a picture of your house, and now they see exactly what you look like.

Each day, Facebook users upload over 200 million photos! Into a database already holding 90 BILLION photos. Keep in mind that there are only 7 billion people on Earth, so you can be sure that you are already in there with a memorized, measured, cataloged, identified, face.
And you know that certain people who want to access these databases, will.

The Wall Street Journal takes time to point out NSA's evasions and misleadings. Even PC World, in a review of this process, calls it 'downright creepy', and suggests uploading pictures of trees and cars and tagging them with your own name.
There IS a way to fight back. A small way perhaps, but an even better idea would be to go to virtually ALL your friends' pages, and tag every single picture with a made-up name. Tag Mary Parker as Joe Plumeria. Tag someone's dog with Harvey Black. Tag Harvey Black with the name Phillip White. Tag a black man as Hung Lo. A Chinese friend as Lord Churchill. Databases become useless with misinformation, now you too can take part in a DISinformation campaign. People are already doing it by lying to pollsters.

And some communities in Europe and Asia are setting up their own web communications with networks that DON'T pass through the NSA-Prism siphon upload points to avoid being spied upon. So with enough participation and fortitude, people can at least entangle the spy database into the non recognition of individuals.

Funny how we loved Bill Gates for building Microsoft into a communication giant. And when he was threatened with the dismantling of Microsoft by the US Government for being non competitive, and they were about to split Microsoft into three separate entities, but Gates attended secret meetings, and thereafter everything continued along as usual. Leading many to suspect those threats from the Government were only a sneaky way to get Gates to comply with sneaking government software codes into Windows, so-called 'backdoor access', with tattle-tale info on what YOU were just doing on line. Or lose his baby. Remember the Windows unique identification number? Well your hard drive still has one.
And now Mark Zuckerberg, the brash and somewhat arrogant founder of Facebook, after cashing in big time, has restructured the social site with antisocial behavior to tattle on you? Tattle is perhaps too light a word, whisper might be better.
And the shadowy people in Forte Mead, Maryland, anonymous behind the black glass of NSA are grinning with glee as everyone plays the Facebook game. 
 

So here I am, tag me as Scottie MacDuff. 

I'm heading to my yurt on the sandy steppes of Mongolia, no facial recognition there.  
But I will be tagging the the yaks as horses and the goats as camels, just in case.

Google and the NSA

from an article by Julian Assange in The Stringer newspaper ...

google-and-the-nsa-whos-holding-the-shit-bag-now

You might be interested in these search engines as alternatives that do not track you or where you go - - -

duckduckgo search 


ixquick search

both easily added to your search bar.

Value your privacy.


 

Welcome to Amerika

This map appeared during a presentation by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein about the NSA at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. 
It seems now that America considers Canada as just another part of the USA Homeland. We knew that already though, right? It looks like Greenland is a part too but they cleverly covered rebellious Iceland. (not sure how Denmark feels about Greenland's inclusion)

It was also recently revealed that NSA paid GCHQ, Britain's equivalent spy agency, 150 million in hush-hush money to influence British intelligence gathering operations. So can we assume that Britain is also now part of the USA? 
Africa and Australia don't get a color.

So now that we are American citizens too, where do we go to get those benefits Americans get so much of?
Um .... what were they again? 
Oh. No healthcare, you say? Ah yes, they consider it a good thing not to have it, don't they?

Should we begin referring to the Homeland as der Fatherland?

The New World Order Government?

The state of the world today in one country ....

1. elected government officials cannot get information about their own government.
2. a prisoner is held in jail for over 3 years without sentencing.
3. the constitution of the country has been illegally suspended.
4. a secret grand jury decides who is guilty without a civilian judge's trial or the people's input.
5. a government bureau is gathering information on literally every citizen at large in the whole country.
6. virtually all communications between civilian people and corporations are monitored.
7. control of all radio, television and internet has been taken over and maintained by the state.
8. secret detainment facilities, Black Sites, are maintained out of the country.
9. foreign nationals are used to torture citizens.
10. country's head honcho reverses total policies and aligns with past government.
11. citizens spied on by Telecom companies unable by law to report to their own customers about warrantless wiretaps.
12. people held off at gunpoint from fleeing to high ground for safety from flooding.
13. journalists mysteriously disappear or meet with suspect 'accidents' because of their investigative reporting.
14. the country is building 'detainment' sites all across the nation.

vision of YOUR future?

Sound like Bolivia? Maybe Argentina? Kazakhstan or Pakistan? Central China? East Berlin? Chechnya? North Korea? Maybe Somalia? Libya? Sudan? Myanmar? 
Of course you guessed it, it is America, no longer the Land of the Free.   

1. US Senators Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, and Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa are denied information on NSA secretive projects yet expected to vote to continue them.
2. Bradley Manning was held for 1166 days before court martial proceedings. His crime was to reveal the murder of non combatant civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters reporters.
3. The 4th Amendment is basically gone and the sacred constitution of the US is now being ignored.
4. FISC, The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is making totally secret judgements against American citizens without oversight.
5. NSA of course, but it is also suspected that the FBI and every other paramilitary organization in America are doing it too.
6. NSA through FISA, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, is watching virtually every communication of everyone throughout the country.
7. analogue television is no longer available, in an emergency you will only see and hear what is being broadcast on cable systems. There is no way a TV station can broadcast over the airwaves to an antenna.
8. Guantanamo and other secret rendition sites active today are also in Poland and Afghanistan where torture, including water-boarding is used to elicit confessions.
9. Countries willing to work for the USA and even supply torture specialists in the CIA's Extraordinary Rendition and Detention Program.
10. Barak Obama has simply become as dangerous to his people as the Bush-Cheney pairing because he has no control over his Presidency.
11. The Patriot Act forbids by law, telecom companies from even telling you the government has interest and may have copied your data.
12. privately employed (by FEMA) Blackwater troops stopped people from reaching high ground at gunpoint during Hurricane Katrina.
13. Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings had a car crash at 4:30 am after openly writing about General McChrystal and causing his downfall. Hastings was warned he would be 'hunted down and killed' and was working on an even bigger exposė of the CIA. His Mercedes car engine was found 400 feet away from the wreck and his body was burned beyond recognition. Over 150 independent journalists have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, most mysteriously, many by 'friendly fire'.
14. Implementing a $385 million contingency contract by the Department of Homeland Security to build detention camps in the United States, Haliburton is using KBR, their subsidiary, (remember Kellogg, Brown and Root from the 60s?) to build these camps in the event of an 'emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S, or to support the rapid development of new programs.' Nicely worded, isn't it?
     

concentration camp sites?

Don't believe you're safe because you didn't say anything. You might only be safe because you do.

Best 9/11 Video Ever

Why are these two so happy? 
Because they've duped America.
Take only a 4:56 minutes to see this, you owe it to yourself.

Don't believe if you don't want to, but don't deny yourself asking a question either.

Bitches in the news.

In obscure news getting no attention:

The sprawling Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan holds tens of thousands (70% are women and children) who fled from the war in Syria. The refugees urged the international community to help put a halt to the flow of weapons from Iran and the influx of Lebanese Hezbollah fighters into Syria.
US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who visited 4 people in the encampment of 150,000 said, "A lot of different options are under consideration. I wish it was very simple. As you know, we've been fighting two wars for 12 years. We are trying to help in various ways, including helping Syrian opposition fighters have weapons. We are doing new things. There is consideration of buffer zones and other things but it is not as simple as it sounds."
Sure, okay John. And maybe we'll grow some trees for shade soon.


Meanwhile, in important news getting all the attention:

Tiger Woods is complaining about the placement of the pins on the greens of the British Open Golf Tournament and the condition of the fairways. 

The management reacted immediately and said;

"Muirfield’s greens were hand-watered overnight before the second round. The Club’s sprinkler system was not used. This morning the greens were double cut at 4mm and first thing in the morning they were running at 10.5 feet on the Stimpmeter as opposed to 11 feet the previous morning. The greens are expected to pick up pace during the day but dramatic increases are not anticipated. The watering has not affected the firmness values of the greens which remain the same as during the first round."
Hope you're not too frustrated, Tiger?

Wow, the world is concerned when your putting is off.

Perspective.

Digital manipulation for what reason?

A photo taken by Jeff Widener on June 5, 1989 during the Tiananmen Protests. One man heroically blocked a column of 59 tanks heading east on Beijing's Chang'an Boulevard, (Avenue of Eternal Peace) near Tiananmen Square. The tanks tried to go around him but he still stepped into their path. 
This historical photo was taken from the Beijing Hotel, with a 400 mm lens about a half mile away. 
No one knows the brave man's name or what happened to him.

copyright Jeff Widener

It is a moving and graphic record of China at that time. The Chinese government was trying to stop information such as emails and photos getting out of the country during this incident, however they learned quickly that their control of the world wide web flow was thoroughly lacking and we had a message about the turmoil within China and the people's desire for freedom. 

So now we have 'photographer' Pavel Maria Smejkal, digitally erasing the intense subject of the photograph and supposedly calling it art? This is a misplaced idea of depicting images into oblivion. Smejkal has done this with many historical photographs, and creating a manipulation of these kinds of photographs is merely trying to ride on the coat-tails of real photographers who were IN the action and risked much to get a glimpse of history unfolding.

"I remove the central motifs from historical documentary photographs."  Smejkal explained in an interview with The New York Times. “I use images that have become our cultural heritage, that constitute memory of nations, serve as symbols or tools of propaganda and exemplify a specific approach to photography.”

Making important pictures into shots of dirt is an affront to the original creator. Pavel is not an artist or a photographer. It's no better than adding smiley faces.
So what is the point? 
I would think Pavel has an assured job at NSA in the history changing division or the propaganda ministry. Or Shoes R Us.



Images from Wikipedia must not be used in a manner that is likely to replace the original market role of the original copyrighted media.  Use of historic images from press agencies must only be used in a transformative nature, when the image itself is the subject of commentary rather than the event it depicts.

Note that someone has tried to have the original photograph removed from Wikipedia which only points out how important it really is. We have enough interference with the truth, people like Pavel should just go away.

Just a little something ...

.... that you may find interesting. When you sign IN to your Facebook account, do you always sign OUT when you leave?
So while you are ON your Facebook account, that you have already given them masses of private info about yourself, which as you know, can be cross-referenced with your 'friends' on Facebook by anyone who has access to Facebook. So because the NSA has literally ALL of that info easily available to them, they can find out virtually anything about you from you actually posting your private thoughts!

But look at this, when you sign into Facebook, you are Mary Smith, for instance, you do some reading and say hi to your friends, and tell them your day so far. Then, you click on to doing other things on the web.
BUT, did you sign OUT before moving on?

Otherwise you are still signed IN to Facebook, and every site you visit, you are doing that as Mary Smith! And may be tracked from website to website! Including any comments you make on those other websites! Scary huh?


Don't forget you gave Facebook all those options when you signed up.



Get back under your bed, they're watching you too!

SIGN OUT!

Send Grandma a message?

Just because Grandma lives down the block doesn't mean your message doesn't go elsewhere first.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A brief overview of current data routes ...

Mapping How Data Travels

As your data moves, it leaves behind information about where it has been. You can learn where your data travels using a tool called Traceroute. IXmaps collects traceroute data generated by volunteers and then geolocates that information in order to map how internet traffic actually travels the globe. The IXmaps database has thousands of routes that you can explore.
There are lots of ways for you to explore the IXmaps database. You can see traceroutes from your country, see traceroutes from from your city, see 'boomerang' routes, or learn how to perform a custom search.
Interested in where your data packets travel? Download and run our TRgen application, then explore the IXmaps database to see your results.

Tracking Internet Surveillance

This is traceroute #1859. TR1859 shows data packets travelling from a home computer in Toronto to the San Francisco Art Institute's website. Along this route, we see that the data passes through a known NSA surveillance site, AT&T's internet switching facility in San Francisco, located at 611 Folsom Street.At this site, a splitter cabinet has been installed to divert a copy of all gateway traffic to NSA computers for inspection.
The NSA is strongly suspected of having installed 15-20 similar spy rooms at other locations across the United States, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. The IXmaps database contains hundreds of routes that pass through both known and suspected NSA suveillance sites. See more routes that travel through NSA surveillance sites
See a summary of the evidence supporting our claims regarding the NSA

Canadian Network Sovereignty

This is traceroute #3381. TR3381 shows data packets travelling from a home computer in Toronto to a local news and entertainment website. Along this route, we see that packets that begin and end in Toronto, pass through Chicago, a suspected NSA surveillance site.
As a result of many technical, economic and policy choices made principally by private corporations, Canadian internet traffic is often routed through the US, even when both origin and destination are within Canada. These "boomerang routes" prompt concerns regarding Canadian network sovereignty, since Canadians' packets passing through routers in the US are subject to US interests, such as surveillance under provisions of the USA Patriot Act or the NSA's warrentless surveillance program described elsewhere. The IXmaps database contains hundreds of examples of Canadian boomerang routes.

Fait accompli?

..... an accomplished thing already done: The enemy's defeat was a fait accompli long before the formal surrender. 

Well, we have not surrendered quite yet, but a lot of people are beginning to believe efforts are futile if they want to continue believing in privacy and even democracy at all. PRISM seems to defeat any efforts toward privacy in communications. And so far it looks like democracy on the web is over. Using the simplest software from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, AOL and Facebook betrays everything you do, say, type, phone, send, record, talk, email, message, what else is there? 
 
PRISM is collecting data on all of us. We know that, and many in the know suggested this a long time before Edward Snowden revealed anything. Bush and Cheney were running the US government when it came into being, of course we suspected foul play. Bush secretly okayed the NSA to do whatever it wanted to do! Using FISA, (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) and then the secret court of FISC. (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court)
Barack Obama has continued and expanded that nefarious role of the POTUS.

So you could have been surveilled, been to court, and convicted of something dreadful already! We said democracy was dead, didn't we? 

As of April 2013, PRISM is said to allow the organisation to "receive" emails, video clips, photos, voice and video calls, social networking details, logins and other data held by a range of US internet firms, namely companies as: Microsoft and its Skype division; Google and its YouTube division; Yahoo; Facebook, AOL, Apple and PalTalk.

So what still isn't known?

Security researcher Ashkan Soltani has posted a blog saying there are still five key unanswered questions about Prism:

• How effective is the "51% test" at preventing US citizens' records being swept up by the NSA?
• Are the tech companies trusted with knowing who the potential targets of the NSA investigations are?
• What systems are in place to ensure NSA officials do not overstep their boundaries?
• Bearing in mind Skype has previously denied making changes to its system to "provide law officers greater access", how are its voice calls being intercepted if indeed they are?
• What steps have been taken to ensure third parties cannot intercept the information? 

Then we are being asked to trust that the info we have already, CAN be trusted. What they are forgetting or at least not acknowledging, is that we NEVER have trusted the US agencies to tell any truths since 9-11.

 

pretty picture, ugly data

One more unanswered question: Whose side is PRISM on?

 

What exactly is PRISM?   -  explained

pgp software download  -  Pretty Good Privacy

conspiracy-theory-microsoft  -  I told you so



 

While we're on the subject ...

VERY important reading. Even if you think you don't care, or you're not doing anything wrong.

This was published by Eric Limer on Gizmodo, 22, June, 2013.  Don't be afraid, read it!

exactly-how-the-NSA-is-getting-away-with-spying-on-us

My Pericles quote on the sidebar is apropo.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obama's hit list?

They say President Obama has a hit list and those people on it disappear. 
We thought he was Barack Obama until he emerged as George Bush. Seemingly following along in the wake of the Bush/Cheney regime. 
What does all this mean?
Here's an easy conspiracy theory for you. 

Michael Hastings

Journalist Michael Hastings, working for Buzzfeed, wrote a report about General Stanley McChrystal, the Runaway General, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in the Afghanistan war, in which Michael documented the widespread contempt McChrystal and his staff had for civilian officials in the US government. 
The story resulted in the general's forced resignation. Hastings also had much to say about General David Petraeus and his affair with Paula Broadwell as well as his conduct of the war in Iraq. 

He has also written about CIA operatives, killer drones and said he had received death threats from a former member of McChrystal's staff, who allegedly said, 'We'll hunt you down and kill you if we don't like what you write."

Just before he died, he told a friend that the FBI was investigating him. (the FBI denies this)

So one night, about 4:30 am. Michael Hastings aged only 33, died in his Mercedes as it apparently crossed the center line of a road and hit a tree, resulting in a flaming wreck! The car engine was hurled from the car. Hastings body was burned beyond recognition. 

Conspiracy to stop Michael's investigations and shut out the truth?

You decide.


A side note: during the Iraq war, over 47 independent war journalists died. Many of friendly fire or killed in firefights by US mercenary contractors. No so-called embedded reporters died.




addenda: It is just revealed that the NSA can now hack your CAR! I assume through your 'little black box' which is similar to what aircraft have and has your GPS coordinates telling 'someone' exactly where you were and what you were doing, and how fast you were going when you crashed. (EVERY new car now has one) Is this what happened to Michael Hastings? Is this why there was such a horrific fire after the crash of his new Mercedes? To destroy evidence? Hmm.

Shocking huh? 
Black box - Forbes magazine

Your Personal Web

I wanted to tell you about my web browser and how, through managing the settings of it, I hope to have a little privacy on my web meanderings. 
But first ....

We have the huge furor right now of the NSA and other secretive agencies monitoring and reading your private files, searches and web activity. Unless you live on another planet you know about this. You can't call mother-in-law a bitch in an email to your sister without the possibility it could come back to haunt you! Just like she haunts your marriage! 


So because of these NSA scandals, various talking heads, political and even military are saying it ain't so. Reassuring?  No.
Usually, on careful listening, you'll hear these experts tell you they need a court order to listen in to your phone chat. But that court order is obtained from a SECRET court. (FISC) And it may be true, but no reporter I have watched zeros in to the differences between a phone chat and web searches, emails, social media posts, blogs or other internet activity. 
My understanding is that under the Patriot Act, FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the NSA or Homeland Security need NO court order or warrants to read whatever you do on the internet through your web servers. And your ISP, under that post 9/11 law, MUST turn over data to them and CANNOT tell you that you have been inquired about.

[And this makes one wonder if SIRI users are under scrutiny without a warrant to their voice messages because they go to a cloud base for decryption into digital and text before forwarding to the intended recipient. So it is no longer a phone voice message, but text, and subject to peeking without that legality?] 

There are several choke points on the World Wide Web in North America that virtually ALL information travels through. And in virtually all of those points, a certain government agency has installed splitters that siphon off copies of everything going through the web. To and from virtually everywhere in N.A. and beyond.
So your Facebook posts, Tweets, emails, websites, searches and everything else you do while connected are available for scrutiny. This is what the panic is all about from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Verizon, AT&T, et al. These companies have been made to look like they are betraying your privacy. Why? Because their search engines store whatever you search for, and browsers record and store whatever you do on the web. Like where you go. How often, how long you stay there, and perhaps what forms or info you pass into that website. All browsers do it and it remains on their servers.

Is there any hope of keeping your web thoughts and travels private? Maybe a little. So to get back to the settings feature of the Chrome web browser, and others, you CAN change a few settings so the movement of your info is not under automatic review.

In Chrome,  they want you to sign up and sign in to see your page as do Microsoft and Firefox. By having a home page, your interests are revealed as you set it up. I know, you have nothing to be afraid of, you're not a terrorist. But you can use the speed of Chrome without having a home page. Signing up is the usual process of telling them everything. 

Look at the settings in the Chrome browser - 

Sign in - just don't.
On startup - your choice.
Appearances - do you really need a theme eating up bandwidth? The others are your choice.
Search - now we get critical - You can set your preferred search engine here, from Google, Bing, Yahoo, CNN etc. And under Manage Search Engines, you can add any other search you would like to use. Two that are secure, are ixquick, and DuckDuckGo. To add either of these or others to the mix, you need to put in the correct URL for them. These two search engines, simply do not store your search requests, and should they be asked to reveal them, they have nothing to share with anyone who may be interested.  (in contrast, you may have searched two years ago for something on Google and it could be still there!)
The key to a secure website is the https:// instead of the http://.

Users - this goes to whomever you were when you first downloaded and started the browser. In the case of a PC and Apple, your Microsoft Internet Explorer and Safari were already there, with settings. And you should have lied to begin with. Your true information and identity is NOT necessary for you to surf the web. You COULD delete the present user and do a whole new one. A nom de guerre if you like, a safe pseudonym. (But remember that you do have a unique ISP number) However you can change the default settings in MSIE and Safari easily.
Default browser - up to you, might as well be this one if you are making all these changes. 
Privacy - ah, this is the one, look at those buttons. Content Settings are more about cookies. You could disable the setting of cookies but that would be a hassle and slow down everything. Better to instruct your browser on what to do and the search facility NOT to save anything. 
But the buttons below could betray you too, they are probably already checked. Use a web service to resolve navigation errors, you are basically sending out your search requests to a third party, who then CAN save it somewhere. Same with prediction service and automatically send usage statistic to Google. Really?

I only have Enable phishing and malware protection checked.

Passwords and forms - Wow, did you ever fill out a job application on the web? Mmm juicy information probably still on your ISP server!  (if you have your own domain name, you can go to your host and see the info)
Further down we have HTTPS and SSL. And investigation of this one leads to a part where the words authority and trust are used a lot. Well I never trust authority, so you probably need someone smarter to tell you what these actually do. But keep in mind that the programmers who invented all these inherent programs were only trying to help you have a seamless web experience. Nothing nefarious. It's only that others could use the information too. And do.
Google Cloud Print - Well, it seems to me that the whole idea of so called cloud computing has come under suspicion with the latest revelations on surveillance and monitoring. I can't believe that companies trust their private information outside of their own computers, just to use the newest program updates. And companies must now consider that if leaks to media can happen for ideological reasons, then leaks to other companies can happen for money.
System - UNcheck that first box, that says continue running background apps when browser is closed unless you want your computer still doing stuff even when you're back to your FreeCell game.  

So. You're not a terrorist, you have nothing to hide. You're not in the 80% of web users who surf porn. You have no opinion about HSBC laundering crime money. It's only your crazy Uncle Harry who sent you a note that could incriminate you about believing two planes could crash on the same day without leaving crash evidence. And when you searched for IMDB as the Internet Movie DataBase and you typoed BDSM by mistake, you got out of there right away though, didn't you? Well, didn't you?

Wait, you say you joined facebook a year ago? OMG, forget everything above and just go hide under your bed.  Too late for you.

NSA's Utah data center

And none of this will help you if 'they' come looking for you. Maybe give you enough time to get out the back door and halfway down the lane .... Michael Hastings never had a chance.



Try not to scream, you'll wake all those other people who have nothing to hide and are sleeping peacefully.



 

You need to download any of these and install into your browser -

ixquick safe search 

duckduckgo.com

startpage search 

You need to go here to scare yourself -

NSA cyberspying

Utah spy center

Tell Canada to quit spying on you! Sign here ...

secretspying

Conspiracy? No no NSA!

Here's the way some people think. 

The US uses Seal Team VI to go into Pakistan to get Osama bin Laden. They fly in with stealth helicopters, storm the compound and find Osama watching TV and kill him. That's their story and they're sticking to it.
There are pictures of some guy with his back to you placidly watching TV, probably American Idol. The guy in the pic seems to be the same photo double they used a couple of years ago to impersonate bin Laden. Not many people believe the picture was of him then and don't now.
And many believe that if they did get bin Laden in a sneaky raid there would be hundreds of pictures to document the operation. Pictures of the dead terrorist, the house, other rooms with communications tech from what is said to be a Command Center. Maybe even a pic of some of the medical equipment he needed to enable his regular dialysis. 

bin Laden or been wrong again?

Then the stealth team buries the body at sea in another secret operation, to prevent martyrism of the burial site of course. Again no pictures. 

Seal Team VI is celebrated, along with President Obama, for getting the world's most wanted terrorist. Mission accomplished, to use a familiar Presidential line.
Except, that a lot of folks believe President Clinton had already killed Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora several years ago when he sent cruise missiles into the caves the Saudi Prince was supposedly hiding in! 
No one heard or saw a reliable sign of bin Laden since that targeted raid. In spite of the picture of that fat-head guy posing as Osama a few years later when the need to keep the bogey man alive became evident and they tried to make a credible video.  

So now come the revelations about NSA snooping. And we have one family who had a son on Seal Team VI. This family says they criticized the military for the loss of 38 lives and Seal Team VI soldiers (including their son) in a very suspicious helicopter crash in Afghanistan. That criticism resulted in them being targeted and surveilled by NSA. So they are suing the US Government.

The alleged surveillance violated the plaintiffs' right of freedom of association by making them and others weary and fearful of contacting other persons and entities via cell phone out of fear of the misuse of government power and retaliation against these persons and entities who challenge the misuse of government power. To paraphrase the reasons for their lawsuit.

Remember that only your telephone communications need a court order, the Patriot Act already covers your email and other internet activities, without a court order, and in its wisdom, forbids your ISP to even TELL you you have been scrutinized by the NSA, under penalty of law. So Verizon, for instance, HAS to give out information about you while keeping the very inquiry secret from you. 

So haven't we seen this scenario in TV gangster movies hundreds of times? The bad guys get other bad guys to kill someone, then we learn they never trusted the perpetrator bad guys not to eventually talk and so they engineer their deaths too. 
Neat and tidy, dead men don't talk. Or point fingers. Or write books. Or whistleblow. Or testify.

The trouble is they're all supposed to be the good guys!