- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

monarchy vs benevolent dictatorship - can we inform Russian sentiment?
by Zenaan Harkness 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

A not insubstantial number of Russians are firmly inclined back toward monarchy: Ganging Up On "God's Oligarch" http://russia-insider.com/en/christianity/ganging-gods-oligarch/6242 "the majority of traditional Russian Orthodox Christians are monarchists, and view it as the best form of government This so-called liberalism, tolerance, and freedom, these are just words, but behind them you can see the totalitarianism " And this Russian movement is gaining pace: Restore Russian Monarchy? 'We're Ready to Discuss It' - Top Church Official http://russia-insider.com/en/christianity/restore-russian-monarchy-were-rea… In the tech computing world we have become familiar with the concept of the Benevolent Dictator For Life or BDFL. The primary attributes which might inform the Russkies in this regard could be: - BDFL-ship is achieved in general by achievement - the creation of something that many others find compelling and worthy of contributing to / participating in. In contrast, a monarch is typically by blood/ descendants, and the outcome of this has been seen to be the degredation arising from inbreeding to maintain power - Egypt's Tuten Khamoon comes to mind. Rome's model wasn't so much better either: http://listverse.com/2010/05/09/top-10-worst-roman-emperors/ The main contrast in the world of monarchs is the Scottish kings who were beheaded if they did not perform, and elected to the dictatorship too in many (most?) cases - Jim Bell's AP may inform some modern branch of such a concept. - The cost to fork a programming project is in some ways relatively low, so if the BDFL (or sponsoring organisation) is seen as belligerent, the community can readily fork the project. Examples: X window system, OpenOffice -> LibreOffice. Monarchs on the other hand, especially when "sanctioned by God" (in the minds of the people), tend to have a rather strong hold on the power (much more so than software BDFLs), and surprisingly tend to cling to their power and to groom (or give birth to) their replacements. The question is, if Russia actually heads in this direction, can a new system of monarchy in Russia be modified in such a way as to mitigate the historical tendendency for the people to be unable to handle the situation when a despot arrives in the seat of autocratic power? It might be wise for those in Russia promoting and intending to recreate a Russian autocratic monarchy, to consider the failings humanity has witnessed throughout history, and to be informed by these failings and by mitigating concepts. - balance of powers - radical transparency - individual autonomy and sovereignty - duty of care to our fellow humans - no sanction for power except in benevolence We (humans in general) are evidently at an interesting point in modern history. Good luck :)

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Speaking up for the GOOD Donald Trump has done
by Razer 06 Jul '17

06 Jul '17

Troll bait for all the fake prog-libs who secretly luv war > > A Bipartisan Vote to Put the Brakes on War > > By putting such a sinister face on it, Trump might have finally > inspired lawmakers to rein in America’s post-9/11 war machine. > > By Peter Certo > > "One of the few things I recall fondly about the Trump campaign — a > short list, I’ll admit — was the candidate’s apparent glee in > ridiculing the war-mongering of his rivals and predecessors. > > In early 2016, Trump (correctly) summed up George W. Bush’s legacy > this way: “We’ve been in the Middle East for 15 years, and we haven’t > won anything.”He ridiculed Hillary Clinton for being “trigger happy” — > no standard-issue gibe from a guy who also promised to bring torture > back — even while echoing progressive complaints that the $5 trillion > pricetag from Bush’s wars would’ve been better spent at home. > > And though Trump’s relationship with the Russians has since acquired > an unseemly cast, he once offered quite sensibly that “it’s better to > get along” with the world’s other nuclear-armed superpower than not to. > > Compared to his rivals, Politico magazine once mused, Trump was “going > Code Pink” on foreign policy. But what a rose-colored lie that turned > out to be. > > Since taking office, Trump’s turned virtually all use of force > decisions over to his generals. With the president’s backing, they’ve > ordered 4,000 new American troops back into Afghanistan, sent > thousands more to Iraq and Syria, and nearly quadrupled the rate of > drone strikes from the Obama administration, which was already quite > prolific. > > Everywhere they go, they’re escalating the brutality — and we still > haven’t won anything. > > They cratered Afghanistan with the largest non-nuclear bomb ever > dropped. They’ve stepped up support for the brutal Saudi-led bombing > of Yemen, where 11,000 have died and thousands more are at risk of > dying of hunger and cholera. Meanwhile they’ve brought civilian > casualties from our bombings in Iraq and Syria to record levels, > inflicting what the UN calls a “staggering loss of civilian life.” > > Things are about to get even more dangerous in Syria, as the Islamic > State falters and armed factions turn on each other to claim the > remains of its caliphate. > > Under Trump, U.S. troops have repeatedly attacked pro-Syrian forces — > a line Obama never crossed — in a misguided effort to bolster > Washington’s favorite rebels, many of whom are fighting each other. > That’s ratcheting up tensions with Syria’s allies, Iran and Russia, > endangering Obama’s hard-won diplomatic gains with Iran and even > leading Russia to threaten to shoot down American planes. > > For Trump, a president lampooned as a puppet of Putin, blundering into > conflict with Russia over an empty corner of eastern Syria should be > an embarrassing prospect. But Trump seems blithely unaware of the > whole thing. > > While Trump may be uniquely prone to careless belligerence, the > problem is plainly bipartisan: He’s mostly just adding ghastly > additions to a war scaffolding the Obama and Bush administrations > built before him. > > One possible solution? Revoke the congressional war authorization > passed after 9/11, which gave the president authority to track down > the perpetrators of those attacks. There were 19 hijackers that day, > but that law’s been abused to justify military action 37 times in 14 > countries, the Congressional Research Service calculates. > > Stunningly, on June 29, the House Appropriations committee > overwhelmingly approved an amendment from Rep. Barbara Lee to revoke > that authority..." > In full with links http://otherwords.org/a-bipartisan-vote-to-put-the-brakes-on-war/

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Was the CIA responsible for mailing anthrax to American politicians?
by Ryan Carboni 06 Jul '17

06 Jul '17

It's hard to say whether it should be surprising that Operation Northwoods was committed to paper on government letterhead. An official government document proposing terrorism against the American people. And throughout history there were 53 admitted false flags: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/x-admitted-false-flag-attacks.html . So it becomes fair to wonder what was so big about anthrax, and why Matt deHart had to be arrested on trumped up charges. On Page 88 of Part 10 of 59 on the FBI's released Amerithrax investigation, a psychological profile without letterhead is provided. There are also presumably letters from Ivins against fat people near the beginning of the PDF file. But if the CIA was responsible, would the FBI know, or would they have been just doing their jobs? It's a pretty power argument for people just doing their jobs when virtually every Nazi gave it as a reason. You'd have the BAU giving facially a specific profile, but in reality about 1% or so would qualify, so it'd fall under Schneier's arguments for no terrorist catching system is effective (although clearly it won't be completely automated). Then you'd have field agents under pressure to solve the case, they might just be rationalizing why what their doing is correct. For all it takes for Bruce Ivins to be falsely accused is for the CIA to stay mum, and for the FBI to do their jobs? In proportion to the punishment, murder convictions are inaccurate, one in nine are exonerated based on retested DNA evidence. The CSI effect is quite fortunate, or that rate would be higher, the police only gather enough evidence to ensure a conviction, not to ensure they don't have an innocent person. The probability that OJ was guilty was in all fairness, 40%. Another 40% it was Jason. 20% it could've been anyone else. Legally, no prosecution for murder should succeed by official standards.

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from cypherpunks to gravity punks - Fwd: Fw: Atlantean Outposts in Antarctica Reveal New Surprises
by Zenaan Harkness 06 Jul '17

06 Jul '17

----- Forwarded message from Gil May <gilmay97(a)gmail.com> ----- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2017 08:53:01 +1000 Subject: Fwd: Fw: Atlantean Outposts in Antarctica Reveal New Surprises It is well established that at various times in our past greater technology existed than now, so basically anything is possible in archaeological discoveries. Fifty years after WW2 the UK War Dept released papers, one published read, 'In Antarctica during our second incursion into the warm cave areas near the volcano we again encountered an alien life form were a fire-fight ensured and we had to withdraw'. INTERESTING? ----- *Atlantean Outposts in Antarctica Reveal New Surprises* http://www.trinfinity8.com/atlantean-outposts-in-antarctica-reveal-new-surp… A high strangeness continues on the coldest desert on Earth we call Antarctica. Remote viewers have been having a field day trying to see what so many governments of the world are hiding down there and refusing to talk about. Incoming reports are somewhat similar in nature - an unearthed lost civilization found under the ice, an alien influence and presence, and the discovery of advanced technology. But a higher understanding behind this Arctic development has eluded most reporters and remote viewers alike. *"It's really complicated," admits E. M. Nicolay,* a remote viewing expert and timeline reader who took a look at the situation for this piece (the full audio interview is below). Nicolay says he was completely taken aback at the depth of what he saw from both a spiritual and evolutionary perspective. It appears the recent discoveries emerging from this frozen continent are directly linked to past, current and future events happening in our world, especially in the Middle East. Even the lost civilization of Atlantis plays a key role. While Antarctica is NOT Atlantis rediscovered as some might think, it was an outpost of the lost continent which went down in a cataclysm that occurred thousands of years ago after a third and final biblical-like flood. The Atlanteans had colonies all over the world where they preserved their knowledge and technology. Antarctica was one of these key outposts. This vast frozen wasteland was once a thriving fertile land. During a prior shifting of the Earth's axis it was instantly flash frozen, while other lands flooded over and disappeared. Nicolay confirms that advanced technology and intact ruins of a lost civilization have been unearthed in Antarctica from what he saw. This explains why so many in the last year have all suddenly decided to go there. Visits by such dignitaries as former President Barak Obama, former Secretary of State John Kerry, NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Krill, and Vladimir Putin, to name just a few, is circumstantial evidence that some major discovery has been unearthed. Activity in Antarctica goes back decades to World War II when Nazi Germany's Third Reich first started building secret bases there for development of "advanced technology". The Nazi's knew something was hidden there, but weren't talking. *About 30 years ago the Russian government started drilling* through about two and a half miles of thick ice on Lake Vostok, a 15 million year old lake they discovered UNDER the ice of Antarctica. When other nations began drilling as well, Nicolay says they found a "shiny black box" under the ice which then became activated. The device is now emitting a plasma-like energy pulse which is being felt across South America and as far north as Mexico. Unfortunately, no one has any idea on how to turn off this device nor the potential havoc it might cause, even health-wise. (The U.S. government recently revealed that Antarctica military personnel have been exposed to radiation leaks (causing cancer for some), but they claim it is from their base nuclear power generators.) There is early evidence to support buried technology on Antarctica. In 2006 NASA satellites discovered a super gravitational force emitting 300 miles up into space, coming from a large impact crater in Antarctica which they now call the "Wilkes Land Gravity Anomaly." Scientists have been forever puzzled at what might be causing such "wonky" waves". They officially claim it must be due to ice vibrations causing atmospheric ripples. *One retired Navy Petty Officer and aerospace engineer who worked in Antarctica from 1995 - 1996* (who wishes to remain anonymous), reported that during his brief mission in Antarctica they were given special clearance to fly over an official "No Fly Zone". There he saw a hole "the size of a football field" in the ice below which "looked like an entrance to an underground installation." Pyramid-like structures have also been spotted on Antarctica, as shown on Google Earth satellite images. These are not natural formations. So many are asking what else is hidden under so much snow and ice? The story gets even stranger. On September 11, 2015, in the Grand Mosque (Masjid al-Haram Mosque) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where millions pilgrimage annually, underground excavation was taking place. A mysterious "box" was also unearthed. When the 15-man digging crew tried to remove the box, a huge burst of energy was emitted - instantly killing the team and toppling a huge construction crane above ground killing 107 people. Not only did the ground shake with tremendous force, but witnesses say "lightning bolts" struck. One rumor was that the construction crew had discovered the Ark of Gabriel and was killed by a "plasma emission." Less than two weeks later, on September 24th, an estimated 4,000 worshipers were killed in what was officially called a stampede and unofficially called another "plasma emission" linked to the Ark. The Saudi's knew immediately they had an unknown and ancient weapon on their hands. According to Nicolay, the Saudis contacted the Russians to come and decipher it. This was an unusual move since the two countries are not natural allies. They knew the Russians had more experience with "energy devices". *Nicolay says there was an even more profound reason for the Russian contact.* The device became activated, displaying a hologram of the future-a future which showed Russia would become the "Saviors of Civilization" in the years ahead after the Western collapse. The Saudis knew this fit in with the 3rd Secret of Our Lady of Fatima, a secret which has been kept relatively hidden from the public, but well-protected by the Catholic Church since 1917. According to Nicolay, the black box found at Mecca and the one now pulsing from Antarctica are both individual parts of a greater holographic crystal-like technology spread over many of the Atlantean colonies/outposts. When all parts are brought together they form a massive global communication grid. The technology is an inter-dimensional device that not only displays the future, but when activated has extraordinary energy and power. On hearing the Saudi news, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly dispatched the naval research vessel Admiral Vladimisky to collect the Ark from the Saudi port city of Jeddah - the gateway to Mecca - and take it to Antarctica for safekeeping. Two Russian battle satellites were launched to protect the Admiral Vladimisky and its precious cargo. A fleet of Russian warships, a salvage tug and oil tanker - carrying out maneuvers in the Indian Ocean were also ordered to rendezvous with it. *In February 2016* the heads of the Roman Catholic church (Pope Francis) and the Russian Orthodox church leader of Moscow (Patriarch Krill) met for the first time in almost 1,000 years. It was said that Pope Francis gave the Russian Orthodox leader an ancient Islamic manuscript - seized and saved during the times of the Crusades entitled, "Gabriel's Instructions To Muhammad". Directly after this visit, Patriarch Krill went to Antarctica and was said to have performed some special type of ceremony. The official report was that he went all the way to this vast frozen land to pray in the small Orthodox church there. It appears that certain areas of Earth are inter-dimensional portals linked to this black box technology. Which brings us to the Middle East where key portals happen to reside. These portals act like a vortex, opening the gates to "other world species." The discovery in Antarctica is just the beginning. The audio interview below provides more details on what was found in the intact ruins in Antarctica and how this fits in with Ascension dynamics. *E.M. Nicolay (Click on Audio Interview)* http://www.trinfinity8.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/EMNicolay-Interview-A… *E.M. Nicolay website:* www.essencepath.com *Dr. Kathy Forti is a clinical psychologist, inventor of the Trinfinity8 technology, and author of the book, Fractals of God: A Psychologist's Near-Death Experience and Journeys Into the Mystical* https://i2.wp.com/www.trinfinity8.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/antarticap…

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Identifying a limited hangout
by Ryan Carboni 06 Jul '17

06 Jul '17

Muckrock has long been publishing the writings of Michael Best, now Emma Best. I have previously pointed out that Muckrock is unwilling to contradict the powerful, who as I pointed out, includes John Young of Cryptome. Now Best has been writing quite a bit about spicy topics regarding the CIA. But how does a limited hangout work, and when you see it in action, why is it so effective? It is quite a mystery why no one has espoused this in plain English. A limited hangout serves to satisfy people's curiosity in predominant narratives or explanations in what is going on. It is only by merely being curious that you can succeed against limited hangouts. Sometimes a limited hangout serves multiple ends, it may even operate as framing ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framing_(social_sciences)#Media ), and how something is framed can also display different points with the same message to different audiences. But to go into detail ( see attachment for PDF of article "One of the CIA’s private press contacts was a suspected Soviet spy" ), this article presents the best example of limited hangouts. It frames Tad Szulc's possible communist ties as a surprise. Automatically one thinks that this was an unfortunate situation, that the agency would have to disclose classified information to make a case, or to at least tell the New York Times that he shouldn't be allowed to deal with certain matters. Now I guess Best can't help that some people form those sorts of initial conclusions. You know how people treat responsibility, how the law treats responsibility. It's just an unfortunate thing. But the New York Times is clearly and obvious a pro-communist publication. To digress, every liberal publication was repeating the same story from Pyongyang on Otto Warmbier. But the New York Times has done worse than defend trumped up charges on a poor kid. The matter of Walter Duranty is available to anyone over the internet. Defended what is now known as the Holodomor, which ranks around the Holocaust in deaths. He defended Stalin's show trials. His name was maintained on a list by George Orwell (!) as a person unsuitable as a possible writer for the Foreign Office's Information Research Department. And here's Sculc's real scoop : https://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2014/12/26/1961-the-c-i-a-readies-a-c… He wrote an article about "Anti-Castro units trained to fight at Florida bases". Best mumbles about Sculc writing about AMTRUNK, but he leaked the Bay of Pigs! Who is responsible for the Bay of Pigs disaster? Well, I googled for what the CIA officially says, and they don't say anything about Szulc ( https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2016-featured-s… ). In fact, I googled "new york times communist" I get this article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/29/opinion/sunday/when-communism-inspired-a… Still, more examples can be found here: http://www.conservapedia.com/The_New_York_Times#Newspaper_of_Record Similar cases re-occur by numerous dishonest individuals, even those not closely associated with the New York Times, Chomsky defends Pol Pot as not that bad and the news reports on Pol Pot as exaggerated. Although the concept of modifying the limitation of a hangout is some piece of linguistics. I leave this for your to chew on, why is this Best person so protective of the New York Times' reputation? There is no easier way to tweak the nose of a commie by defending conservatives (not fascists) they condemn so harshly, particularly since conservatives make it so easy to be defended.

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Re: [bitcoin-dev] Height based vs block time based thresholds
by Troy Benjegerdes 05 Jul '17

05 Jul '17

On Wed, Jul 05, 2017 at 08:06:33AM +0000, Gregory Maxwell via bitcoin-dev wrote: > On Wed, Jul 5, 2017 at 3:50 AM, Luke Dashjr via bitcoin-dev > <bitcoin-dev(a)lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote: > > I've already opened a PR almost 2 weeks ago to do this and fix the other > > issues BIP 9 has. https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/pull/550 > > > > It just needs your ACK to merge. > > These proposals for gratuitous orphaning are reckless and coersive. > We have a professional obligation to first do no harm, and amplifying > orphaning which can otherwise easily be avoided violates it. > > It is not anyones position to decide who does and doesn't need to be > "woken up" with avoidable finical harm, nor is it any of our right to > do so at the risk of monetary losses by any and all users users from > the resulting network instability. > > It's one thing to argue that some disruption is strictly needed for > the sake of advancement, it's another to see yourself fit as judge, > jury, and executioner to any that does not jump at your command. > (which is exactly the tone I and at least some others extract from > your advocacy of these changes and similar activity around BIP148). > > I for one oppose those changes strongly. > > > Not having a mandatory signal turned out to be a serious bug in BIP 9, > > I have seen no evidence or case for this. There are a lot of claims floating around right now that appear to only be testable when there is real money on the table. In general I completely agree with the sentiment we have a professional obligation to first do no harm. This also means we need to acknowledge that there are professional traders who's obligation is to take as much money as possible from everyone else, and these traders have a vested interest in pushing reckless and coercive (to the unsophisticated user) propaganda, as well as code which they can exploit to trigger market volatility. Fortunately the market appears to have reacted to this by producing at least one other implementation (BTC1) that increases the capacity for legacy (non-segwit) transactions. I would say the bigger danger we face is that the market may react to sophisticated market manipulation that fleeces the sheeple with government regulation. If you happen to believe in the value of an algorithmically fixed money supply, and hold a lot of bitcoin, then check your propaganda, or you might find a bigger wolf with guns knocking at your door holding a "save the sheeple" banner. Stop trashing the competition, and let the people with money at risk make their own decisions. If I want big blocks, I should have that choice. If I want small blocks, I should have that choice. If I want bitcoinclassic with no segwit, I should have that choice. Just because you think you know what's best doesn't mean it is. It might just mean you hold bitcoin and I don't, and I don't really care to hand you any wealth because of your religious beliefs in 21 million coins. What I do care about is testing and validating this code that anyone in the world can download and create their own new money, with a new algorithm for the money supply.

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flying chair - Sweden's Alex Borg from AmazingDIYProjects nails it
by Zenaan Harkness 05 Jul '17

05 Jul '17

Sweden's Alex Borg from AmazingDIYProjects designs: KgLUUNfsGvg and flies for some minutes: OkGyz0m8TuA his flying chair on a circuit around trees. Let the races begin :) (Youtube IDs above, put https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= prior to the above IDs to download.)

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Five Eyes Bent On Killing Crypto
by grarpamp 05 Jul '17

05 Jul '17

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/06/australia-to-target-encrypted-m… https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/five-eyes-stress-sharing-info… https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/06/five-eyes-unlimited This week, the political heads of the intelligence services of Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (the "Five Eyes" alliance) met in Ottawa. The Australian delegation entered the meeting saying publicly that they intended to "thwart the encryption of terrorist messaging." The final communiqué states more diplomatically that "Ministers and Attorneys General [...] noted that encryption can severely undermine public safety efforts by impeding lawful access to the content of communications during investigations into serious crimes, including terrorism. To address these issues, we committed to develop our engagement with communications and technology companies to explore shared solutions." What might their plan be? Is this yet another attempt to ban encryption? A combined effort to compel ISPs and Internet companies to weaken their secure products? At least one leader of a Five Eyes nation has been talking recently about increasing international engagement with technology companies — with a list of laws in her back pocket that are already capable of subverting encryption, and the entire basis of user trust in the Internet. Exporting Britain's Surveillance Regime Before she was elevated to the role of Prime Minister by the fallout from Brexit, Theresa May was the author of the UK's Investigatory Powers bill, which spelled out the UK's plans for mass surveillance in a post-Snowden world..........cont.....

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Tails prevents MAC changes as design feature
by didukno 04 Jul '17

04 Jul '17

I have issues with network interfaces, like wlan0, changing back to what the system wants. This is not what I want. Case: - Start Tails (MAC Address Spoofing: On) - Plug in network card (wlan0) - macchanger assigns wlan0 random MAC string - Bring wlan0 down - Set new MAC string (macchanger or other tools) - Bring wlan0 up - macchanger changes new MAC string to Tails' NIC-only MAC string This did not happen in older versions and may very well be a bug. If not, what development decisions have gone into making this change and why are they better than me changing my MAC and having the system respect that? Why continue with the insecure model of changing NIC only? Willfully leaking network device manufacturer info is irresponsible. didukno

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Bitcoin: South Korea Soon To Come Online
by grarpamp 04 Jul '17

04 Jul '17

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/south-korea-preparing-legalize-bitcoin/ http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170703000867 https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6kzmhp/south_korea_is_preparing_t… North Korea Soon To Go Offline https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/07/03/north-korea-launches-missile-nearing-ja…

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