April 2018 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

“Free speech is not just another value. It's the foundation of Western civilization.” - Dr Peterson
by Zenaan Harkness 14 Aug '18

14 Aug '18

“Free speech is not just another value. It's the foundation of Western civilization.” http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37875695 Toronto professor Jordan Peterson takes on gender-neutral pronouns By Jessica Murphy BBC News, Toronto, 4 November 2016

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Signal on the Desktop, Plays FBI Subpoena
by grarpamp 26 Jul '18

26 Jul '18

https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/10/04/2144202/encryption-app-signal-wins… http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/signal-subpoena-privacy-gag-order/ https://apnews.com/2bed090d3ec042cab375278b636ff5e5/US-subpoena-tests-priva… http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/05/technology/subpoenas-and-gag-orders-show-… https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/open_whisper_docume… Signal, widely considered the gold standard of encrypted messaging apps, was put to the test earlier this year when a FBI subpoena and gag order that demanded a wide range of information on two users resulted in a federal grand jury investigation in Virginia. The makers of Signal, Open Whisper Systems, profoundly disappointed law enforcement. The app collects as little data as possible and therefore was unable to hand anything useful over to agents. "That's not because Signal chose not to provide logs of information," ACLU lawyer Brett Kaufman told the Associated Press. "It's just that it couldn't." "The Signal service was designed to minimize the data we retain," Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of Open Whisper Systems, told the New York Times. The subpoena came with a yearlong gag order that was successfully challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union. Signal's creators challenged the gag order as unconstitutional, "because it is not narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest." The challenge was successful. In addition to being popularly considered the best consumer encrypted messaging app available, Signal's technology is used by Facebook for Secret Conversations, WhatsApp for encrypted messages, and Google's Allo. Confronted with the subpoena, Marlinspike went to the ACLU for legal counsel. The ACLU responded with a letter saying that even though Signal did not have data the FBI sought, it still strenuously objected (PDF) to the fact the FBI wanted so much information.

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[LIBERTY] [MINISTRY] SCOTUS: Bundy's exonerated, Judge slams “outrageous” abuses and “flagrant misconduct” of FBI and "Justice" Department
by Zenaan Harkness 13 Jul '18

13 Jul '18

Well here's a rare breath of fresh air for Murricans in a Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS ) decision exonerating the Bundys - one for the history books, and well done folks, well firetrucking done!‼! Perhaps the Ruby Ridge $3 million payout will give precedent for the Bundy's (not that that can ever compensate for what the govt did on Ruby Ridge), but what's really needed is for you folk across the pond to get some proper grand juries going against the FBI and DOJ - the govt shills will shout "you citizens can't do that!!!" from the rooftops and every forum, but that won't stop a small committed and determined group from achieving their careful and well-planned approach to this "problem". Good luck, Government's Misconduct In Cliven Bundy Case Stems From Ruby Ridge https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-15/governments-misconduct-cliven-bun… (Quite a few links in the linked article) Federal judge Gloria Navarro slammed the FBI and Justice Department on Monday, Jan. 8, for “outrageous” abuses and “flagrant misconduct” in the prosecution of Cliven Bundy and sons, the Nevada ranchers who spurred a high-profile standoff with the FBI and Bureau of Land Management in 2014. Navarro condemned the "grossly shocking” withholding of evidence from defense counsel in a case that could have landed the Bundys in prison for the rest of their lives. Navarro, who had declared a mistrial last month, dismissed all charges against the Bundys. Navarro was especially riled because the FBI spent three years covering up or lying about the role of their snipers in the 2014 standoff. The Bundys faced conspiracy charges because they summoned militia to defend them after claiming FBI snipers had surrounded their ranch. Justice Department lawyers scoffed at this claim but newly-released documents vindicate the Bundys. In an interview Saturday, Ammon Bundy reviled the feds: “They basically came to kill our family, they surrounded us with snipers. And then they wanted to lie about it all like none of it happened." Many of the heavily-armed activists who flocked to the scene feared that the FBI snipers had a license to kill the Bundys. Their reaction cannot be understood without considering a landmark 1990s case that continues to shape millions of Americans’ attitude towards Washington: the federal killings and coverups at Ruby Ridge. Randy Weaver and his family lived in an isolated cabin in the mountains of northern Idaho. Weaver was a white separatist who believed races should live apart; he had no record of violence against other races — or anyone else. An undercover federal agent entrapped him into selling a sawed-off shotgun. The feds then sought to pressure Weaver to become an informant but he refused. After Weaver was sent the wrong court date and failed to show up, the feds launched a vendetta. Idaho lawyer David Nevin noted that U.S.: “Marshals called in military aerial reconnaissance and had photos studied by the Defense Mapping Agency. They prowled the woods around Weaver’s cabin with night-vision equipment. They had psychological profiles performed and installed $130,000 worth of long-range solar-powered spy cameras. … They even knew the menstrual cycle of Weaver’s teenage daughter, and planned an arrest scenario around it.” On August 21, 1992, six camouflaged U.S. Marshals carrying machine guns trespassed onto the Weavers’ property. Three marshals circled close to the Weaver cabin and killed one of their dogs. A firefight ensued and 14-year old Sammy Weaver was shot in the back and killed as he was leaving the scene. Kevin Harris, a family friend, responded by fatally shooting a federal marshal who had fired seven shots in the melee. The next day, the FBI sent in its Hostage Rescue Team snipers with orders to shoot to kill any adult male outside the Weaver cabin. A federal appeals court ruling later noted that: “FBI agents formulated rules of engagement that permitted their colleagues to hide in the bushes and gun down men who posed no immediate threat. Such wartime rules are patently unconstitutional for a police action.” FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot Randy Weaver in the back after he stepped out of his cabin, wounding him. Horiuchi then shot and killed Vicki Weaver standing in the cabin door holding their 10-month old baby. A confidential 1994 Justice Department task force report concluded: “The absence of a (surrender demand) subjected the Government to charges that it was setting Weaver up for attack.” Weaver and Harris surrendered after an 11-day siege. At their 1993 trial, federal prosecutors asserted that Weaver long conspired to have an armed confrontation with the government. The feds bizarrely asserted that moving from Iowa to a spot near the Canadian border in 1985 was part of Weaver’s plot. After an Idaho jury largely exonerated the defendants, federal judge Edward Lodge slammed DOJ and FBI misconduct and fabrication of evidence in the case. Regardless of the judge’s condemnation, FBI chief Louis Freeh in 1995 exonerated the FBI for its actions at Ruby Ridge. That year, after I slammed Freeh’s whitewash in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, Freeh denounced my “inflammatory and unfounded allegations.” Five months later, I snared a confidential 542-page Justice Department report on Ruby Ridge, excerpting its damning findings in a Wall Street Journal piece. The coverup unraveled and the feds paid the Weaver family $3.1 million to settle their wrongful-death lawsuit. A top FBI official was sent to prison for destroying key evidence. But the FBI sniper who killed Vicki Weaver never faced justice. When Boundary County, Idaho, sought to prosecute Horiuchi in 1998, the Clinton administration invoked the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution (which blocks local and state governments from challenging federal power) to torpedo their lawsuit. Solicitor General Seth Waxman absolved the sniper because “federal law-enforcement officials are privileged to do what would otherwise be unlawful if done by a private citizen.” While that claim may sway federal judges, it often fails to charm jurors. A Justice Department brief in the Bundy case revealed that prosecutors dreaded jury nullification — “not guilty” verdicts due to government abuses. That specter spurred prosecutors to withhold key evidence from both the court and the defense counsel, resulting in a mistrial and dismissal of charges. Judge Navarro rightly declared that “a universal sense of justice has been violated” by federal misconduct in the Bundy trial. Americans’ trust in the FBI and Justice Department will not be restored until those agencies are compelled to obey the law and the Constitution. Until that happens, federal prosecutors should continue fearing verdicts from Americans who refuse to convict those whom the feds wrongfully vilify. * * * James Bovard is a USA Today columnist and the author of 10 books, including “Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty” (St. Martin’s Press, 1994).

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"Too much netflix and youtube syndrome" affecting 'Merican children
by Razer 07 Jul '18

07 Jul '18

A friend of mine about her four year old: "My daughter was doing a little song and dance this morning and was really boogieing down. She paused for a second and said,"I'm buffering" Rr

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Re: American Culture
by juan 15 Jun '18

15 Jun '18

On Sat, 27 Jan 2018 15:25:58 -0800 g2s <g2s(a)riseup.net> wrote: > Ben Franklin was the only president of the United States who was > never president of the United States oh sorry, my bad, I got him mixed up with washington, another slave owner. And granted, frankling only owned 2 slaves apparently, so he really was an American Humanist, but a poor one, who couldn't afford many slaves. > -Firesign Theater, Everything > You Know Is Wrong Rr -------- Original message --------From: juan > <juan.g71(a)gmail.com> Date: 1/27/18 11:31 AM (GMT-08:00) To: cp > <cypherpunks(a)cpunks.org> Subject: American Culture [Redacted crap] > > signed : american founding fucker, president, and slave owner, > > franklin. > > > > > > > > > > >

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Jordan Peterson to men: “Grow the hell up!” [Howto pummel PC'edness]
by Zenaan Harkness 12 Jun '18

12 Jun '18

Epic! There's little else to add to this. Jordan Peterson is a man's man, tells it like it is, pulls no punches, and completely decimates SJW "media maven" Cathy Newman. For those who hold dignity in adulthood, enjoy, Z https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcjxSThD54 Jordan Peterson debate on the gender pay gap, campus protests and postmodernism See also: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/01/21/delingpole-left-reframes-jordan-pe… and http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2018/01/18/delingpole-jordan-peters…

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From sand to silicon chips, openly
by Steven Schear 15 May '18

15 May '18

http://parallel.princeton.edu/openpiton/open_source_processors.php

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Interview: Frank Herbert - Saviors and Political Animals
by Steve Kinney 15 May '18

15 May '18

I made a video from a found audio file, as little hobby project: Frank Herbert - Saviors and Political Animals This interview is a pre-Internet artifact recorded in 1984, and makes no reference to cryptography. But IMO it's dead center on topic for CPunks, because self identifying Libertarians and Anarchists need all the help they can get. Frank's ecological models of power dynamics in human affairs provides a stout dose of scientific and engineering sense that may cure any of several loads of ideological nonsense. "All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted." - Frank Herbert Frank Herbert was a true polymath, accepted without credentials as a participating member of the academic Ecology community (a demanding multidiscipliplinary science), as well as being an avid historian and radical political theorist. The mp3 I found included a lot with David Lynch, director of the original Dune movie, and about the film itself. So I cut the interview down to just Frank's historical and political exposition, and added a few appropriate quotes and pictures. Here's it. Bring popcorn and/or paper & pencil. https://archive.org/details/FrankHerbertSaviorsAndPoltiicalAnimals :o)

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Re: USA: National Security Strategy, Juan's Wet Dream -- OFF-TOPIC (James Donald is a creep)
by Cecilia Tanaka 10 May '18

10 May '18

On Dec 28, 2017 03:28, "James A. Donald" <jamesd(a)echeque.com> wrote: On 12/28/2017 12:16 PM, Cecilia Tanaka wrote: > If God really exists, They are pure, sincere love and absolute compassion, > never cruelty, any kind of prejudice, racism, intolerance, hate... > > We are all Their sons and daughters, and we all received the gift of life > the same way. We all are brothers and sisters, and we should make our best > for our family. > Says she while enthusiastically calling for the murder of Christians, whites, and males. My dear garbage fire brother, Please, do *not* take my words of its context and stop telling daily lies. Jeez, is it not a sin in your religion? It's really disgusting! :((( I would *never* ask for any murder. Why the heck do you think I am a veggie since my earlier years? Because I was a hipster, being veggie before it becomes hype, very cool? Hahahaha!!! ;D I do *not* support any death. And, sorry, if you were not informed about it, the life of cows, pigs, chickens, cats, dogs, koalas, and several other animals, is *not* more important than *any human life*, including yours. But I confess that, technically, I don't include you among the rational beings. Already met doggies much smarter than you. And they were cuter and less boring too! :D I do not know if there is a Hell or not, my detestable garbage fire brother, but in positive case, we will meet there someday and, remember, you will arrive first. You are much older and hated than me, so the probabilities are better on my side, hahaha!! <charming wink> ;) I hope your atoms can be used in a better way, like beautiful flowers and trees. James, you are a bad seed, a rotten apple in the society, spreading hate and intolerance. You are the broken potato chip in the package, the one that always makes a mess and is wasted, aff... :((( Ah, my dear, remember that I am being banned and excluded in some feminist radical groups for defending equality of treatment of women and men, for really believing that intelligence and character are much more important than genders, races, religions, sexual options, whatever... I will always try to respect all the people, but illogical, heartless racist, sexist, and homophobic garbage fire people like you do *not* deserve my respect and my time. I am deeply sorry for disappointing you, but instead of "enthusiastically calling for the murder of Christians, whites, and males", I do prefer to mourn the recent deaths of my friends and think about the future, about our lost plans and dreams. All the three were "Christian white males", but it doesn't matter. What is really important, what is making me cry for their deaths, is the fact that all the three were lovely, very kind, amazing human beings, always trying to share their knowledge and helping other people. I will miss them until the last of my days. Who will cry for your death, James? Who will miss you? Nobody. Bye bye, baby! See you in Hell or maybe in another reincarnation. It's also a possibility to be strongly considered, because Zenaan and you are the living proofs of the existence of other lives. Nobody can become so odious, hateful, and stupid in one single human life. It takes muuuch time... :P Ceci <3

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Criminal Justice Reform
by Ryan Carboni 03 May '18

03 May '18

Upon looking into the Stephen Avery case, I came to a conclusion. A large fraction of the people in prison are guilty for each others crimes. This is what no one would admit to. Which brings new meaning to guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I also question how it took so long for so many federal forensic tests to be declared bunk when there are so many nonprofit groups, the most prominent receiving tens of millions a year. I don't think you will ever hear a non-profit group in one stroke, from indirect involvement, exonerating thousands of prisoners. There's an innocence project, but no one is examining why everything is so incredibly flawed and incompetent. Clearly the most likely source for change would be someone actually intelligent opening their mouth and pointing this out...

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