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Secure Comms: Op VENETIC - EncroChat Secure Phones Subverted by Govts
by grarpamp 15 Sep '20

15 Sep '20

On 7/3/20, jim bell <jdb10987(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/uk/encrochat-crime-messaging-cracked-intl-gb… https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/k7qjkn/encrochat-hack-gps-messages-passw… https://www.lincs.police.uk/news-campaigns/news/2020/operation-venetic-mult… https://telecoms.com/505343/encrochat-hack-shows-theres-no-such-thing-as-se… https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8486915/Royals-politicians-celebri… https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pa73dz/fbi-tried-to-plant-backdoor-in-en… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Pv9CU1mjE Myntex Encro Phone is not secure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUdugZjTPho EncroChat Phone Hacked https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ Both Linux and BSD are developing to run on these phones. Many other Unix phones coming in next few years. https://amosbbatto.wordpress.com/2020/08/25/comparing-linux-phones/ https://forums.puri.sm/t/comparing-specs-of-upcoming-linux-phones/6827 " The malware that French law enforcement deployed en masse onto Encrochat devices, a large encrypted phone network using Android phones, had the capability to harvest "all data stored within the device," and was expected to include chat messages, geolocation data, usernames, passwords, and more, according to a document obtained by Motherboard. From the report: The document adds more specifics around the law enforcement hack and subsequent takedown of Encrochat earlier this year. Organized crime groups across Europe and the rest of the world heavily used the network before its seizure, in many cases to facilitate large scale drug trafficking. The operation is one of, if not the, largest law enforcement mass hacking operation to date, with investigators obtaining more than a hundred million encrypted messages. "The NCA has been collaborating with the Gendarmerie on Encrochat for over 18 months, as the servers are hosted in France. The ultimate objective of this collaboration has been to identify and exploit any vulnerability in the service to obtain content," the document reads, referring to both the UK's National Crime Agency and one of the national police forces of France. As well as the geolocation, chat messages, and passwords, the law enforcement malware also told infected Encrochat devices to provide a list of WiFi access points near the device, the document reads. "

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Donation of one ticket to bitcoin conference this weekend
by kryptotrayder＠airmail.cc 15 Sep '20

15 Sep '20

h t t ps:// gunsnbitcoin [dot] com / bear-arms-2020/ I have pre-paid admittance to the guns and bitcoin conference that is in Austin Texas this weekend on September 19 and 20. The talks and main event is the 19th and a optional day at the range is on the 20th. The topics are on bitcoin. privacy. 3D printable guns. Agorism. A gathering of cypherpunks. Welcome to anyone interested but serious in going. Does not matter if you are a complete noob or very technical. The purpose is to learn and have fun. I was going to this event but I had to cancel because of an unexpected reason. I am sad I cannot go. But I want to extend this forward to someone who can and wants to. I am donating FOR FREE my admission to this conference to the first serious person who is interested in going. If you are interested please reply to me directly. Serious replies only. I will reply to lists when offer is ended. This is a great opportunity if you are in that area or nearby. You are responsible for any lodging or travel. I am only donating admission to the conference which covers I only ask that if someone takes my donation. That if you are able to while there, that you attend two bitcoin talks of my choice and provide me detailed notes or information on the content from them afterwards. But NO photography or audio recording permitted is the rules of the conference. I have a gpg public key for this offer I created. Attached to this email. So you can reply to me with encryption if you want to. Peace KT

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Censorship: AIER - We need decentralized solutions now!
by grarpamp 15 Sep '20

15 Sep '20

https://www.aier.org/article/youtube-censors-white-house-health-advisor/ https://lbry.tv/$/embed/The-Doctor-is-in/ffdd1622296a17d2b01a7982c348921388… Amid Rampant Censorship by All Major Social and Media Steering Narratives Hiding Truths Preventing Conversations... AIER calls for decentralized uncensorable platforms now! " In late August, the Hoover Institution filmed an in-depth interview with Dr. Scott Atlas who serves as a top health advisor to the White House, more or less replacing Anthony Fauci in that role. Atlas is an advocate for opening up the economy and allowing natural immunities to control the virus. In this, he has many colleagues in the public-health profession who agree with him, including many epidemiologists, virologists, immunologists, and medical doctors, all names frequently covered at AIER. This interview conducted by Hoover allows him to explain his views in depth. Incredibly, YouTube has taken down the video interview of Scott Atlas for the usual vague reasons about community standards. Alex Berenson is right: “As censorship goes, this is both terrifying and idiotic. Like him or hate him, Scott Atlas is ADVISING THE PRESIDENT ON COVID – no one gains when YouTube denies everyone the chance to hear what he thinks. People who oppose him should want to know even more.” Two aspects of this are fortunate. LBRY has retained a copy and that copy is embedded below. In addition, Hoover retains a complete transcript of the interview. If this can happen to a world-class and highly credentialed expert like Atlas, it can happen to anyone. We need decentralized solutions like LBRY now, in the interest of openness, freedom, and truth. " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmxqlSevtkQ

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Cryptocurrency: AnarchoCapitalist AriaDiMezzo Runs for Chesire, NH Sheriff
by grarpamp 14 Sep '20

14 Sep '20

https://freekeene.com/2020/09/11/she-male-defeats-longtime-republican-candi… https://www.insidesources.com/transsexual-satanist-anarchist-is-gop-sheriff… https://www.foxnews.com/politics/transexual-satanist-anarchist-picks-up-gop… https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12655347/transsexual-satanist-anarchist-wins-… https://twitter.com/Aria_DiMezzo https://keybase.io/ariadimezzo https://liberdon.com/@AriaDiMezzo https://bit.ly/ElectAriaChat https://aria4sheriff.com/ https://www.youtube.com/ariadimezzo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X1uOoQ2mIk Aria Files for Cheshire Sheriff 2020 https://www.gofundme.com/f/aria-dimezzo039s-car-vandalized https://theanarchistshemale.com/ "September 13, 2020: I accept only cryptocurrency donations at ariadimezzo@edge" Earlier work... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5VrgT9bejUVuQYle8_fEMw https://www.patreon.com/aria_dimezzo https://shemalediary.wordpress.com/ https://ariadimezzo.podbean.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHlkFEnA8CM Aria from 2018 runs "Be Free From Fear" https://freekeene.com/2018/09/15/first-in-history-transgender-candidate-ent… https://dimezzo4sheriff.wordpress.com/ Cool AnCap's... gaming the system and totally winning it! Bring Liberty in your Lifetime... run and flood them out... "[Tim Pool] Aria DiMezzo ran for Sheriff with the slogan "Fuck The Police" People just voted (R) for the GOP nomination and didnt realize they had just voted for a 'Trans-Satanist-Anarchist' Now they are pissed” https://freekeene.com/2020/07/06/selling-bitcoin-the-ultimate-how-to/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0oV2J8ay4 Selling Bitcoin: The Ultimate How To - by Aria DiMezzo " There are rumors that I do not intend to campaign against Eli Rivera. These rumors are not true, and I will be campaigning to win in November. ... Aria DiMezzo is one of two candidates for Sheriff of Cheshire County. She has had many encounters with police in her life, and very few of them have been positive. She is the High Priestess of the Reformed Satanic Church, a trans woman, and an anarchist Republican. She is definitely not a socially progress libertarian hijacking the Republican Party. ... Cheshire County is already a sanctuary county for immigrants. Aria stands firmly in support of this, yet it doesn’t go far enough. Why only immigration? If Cheshire County is going to ignore one victimless crime harmless choice, then it should go ahead and ignore them all." ... Anarchist. Shemale. Tranny. Libertarian. Fuck the police. Free Talk Live. Bitcoin. Reformed Satanic Church. Black Lives Matter. It’s all there. None of it is a secret. I couldn’t possibly have been more upfront about who I am, or my position on things. -- ADM " " Keene’s Aria DiMezzo is the first transgender person to win the GOP’s nomination for Cheshire County sheriff after running unopposed in Tuesday’s primary. DiMezzo, associated with the Free Keene movement of libertarian activists, said Friday she is looking forward to debating incumbent Sheriff Eli Rivera, the popular Democrat who is running for his fifth term. “I’m hoping he will debate me; that would be the highlight of this,” she said. DiMezzo first ran in 2018 as a libertarian against Rivera and longtime Republican candidate Earl Nelson, though she ran under her previous male name because she did not have her name legally changed in time for the 2018 ballot. Nelson didn’t run this year and DiMezzo seized the opportunity to run unopposed as a Republican. DiMezzo said she would like to run as a libertarian but that’s not a realistic option in the current political environment. “There’s a lot of really strong libertarian candidates, and they do a really good job. Ultimately, the U.S. is a country with two parties and that isn’t changing anytime soon.” DiMezzo might not fit conventional notions of a Republican candidate for county sheriff. She’s opposed to the war on drugs, and does not want to enforce any crimes she claims are victimless, which include drug crimes, sex work, immigration violations, and even speeding violations. “If there’s no victim, there isn’t a crime,” she said. DiMezzo, founder of the Reformed Satanic Church, describes herself as an anarchist. She hosts an internet radio program where she is referred to as “She-Male.” Her campaign slogan is “F--- the Police.” New Hampshire GOP Chairman Chris Ager declined comment on DiMezzo’s candidacy when contacted on Friday. Holly Shulman, a Democratic Party spokeswoman, said Rivera is the best candidate for the job. “Sheriff Rivera is doing an outstanding job and we fully expect that the voters of Cheshire County will continue to support him,” Shulman said. Free Keene started as an offshoot of the Libertarian Free State movement, whose original goal was to get 20,000 libertarian-leaning people from other parts of the country to move to New Hampshire. The Free State Project has since distanced itself from Free Keene. Free Keene has spawned other candidates, like Nobody. Nobody, a convicted felon, changed his name from Rich Paul and ran unsuccessfully for governor in the Republican primary this year. " " Aria DiMezzo, the self-described “she-male” anarchist running for Cheshire County Sheriff as a republican has soundly defeated longtime candidate-for-sheriff Earl Nelson 10-to-1 and now moves on to face democrat incumbent Sheriff Eli Rivera in the general election on November 3rd! Nelson has been the challenger against Rivera for the last several election cycles, but has never been able to defeat him. This year during the filing window for candidates, Nelson hadn’t filed as of two days prior to the deadline, so Aria decided to run for Cheshire County Sheriff– again. She previously ran for Cheshire Sheriff as a Libertarian candidate in 2018, back when the Libertarians had major party ballot access status in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, the transsexual anarchist founder of the Reformed Satanic Church only received just over 2.3% of the vote in the three-way race. However, at that point she had not yet legally changed her name, which she now has. Since the two major parties make it so hard for Libertarians and other parties to run for office, we might as well run in the two parties. This time around DiMezzo’s campaign attracted some attention from some haters in Rindge who mounted a sizable write-in campaign on behalf of Nelson. It is not known whether they got Nelson’s approval for this and the official republican primary results from the state show their campaign had near-zero effect outside of Rindge. However the attacks against her had a reverse effect and actually brought her new supporters who excitedly put dozens of yard signs out around Cheshire County’s roads. Yard Signs Available via Aria4Sheriff.com When I asked her to comment for this story, she said, “It is with great joy that I receive this nomination from the Republicans of Cheshire County, who, in an era of Donald Trump, showed their tolerance and dedication to the principles of small-government by nominating the trans anarchic High Priestess of the Reformed Satanic Church to be sheriff.” With the ongoing nationwide protests demanding police accountability for attacking peaceful people of all colors, there’s no better time for DiMezzo’s candidacy. Given Rivera’s violent past, DiMezzo may actually have a chance to unseat him. As a trans person originally from the South, Aria can definitely relate to the problems plaguing government’s monopoly police. She addressed the issue in her introduction piece on her campaign website, saying she’s seen, “first-hand the dangers of bigotry, overt and subtle. These biases inform the actions of police in terrifying ways, since they are allowed to “exercise discretion” in which “crimes” to pursue and which to ignore. This leads to a disproportionate targeting of black people and LGBTQ+ people by police, who, like all predators, seek out the weakest prey they can find.” A key campaign issue, according to her website, is making Cheshire County a sanctuary for all peaceful acts now prohibited by the state – a total end to enforcement of “victimless crimes”. When not running for Sheriff, DiMezzo is a nationally syndicated talk show host on “Free Talk Live“, which is heard on over 190 radio stations across the United States. She also teaches people how to sell Bitcoin and has extensive experience in helping connect people with cryptocurrency. It’s going to be a very interesting election. Stay tuned here to Free Keene for the latest on DiMezzo’s epic campaign. "

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Cryptocurrency: Paypal (the Central GovCorp Shitcoin) Censors Cute Tardigrades
by grarpamp 14 Sep '20

14 Sep '20

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7wg3w/paypal-tardigrade-error You're next. Earlier this week, Archie McPhee, a Seattle-based gift seller (and home of the Rubber Chicken Museum) launched a glittery, green tardigrade ornament. It was a fitting addition to their squishy micro-animal themed products: tardigrade mints, glow-in-the-dark fingers, stress balls. But when customers tried to buy the ornament using PayPal, some received an error message: "This transaction cannot be completed because it violates the PayPal User Agreement." It was happening to enough tardigrade merchandise fans and sellers that several spoke out on Twitter this week. Archie McPhee tweeted on Friday that PayPal is blocking transactions containing the word "tardigrade." Others are experiencing the same—frustrations and stalled purchases on their water bear merch. Other businesses have also reported tardigrade-related PayPal issues. Two Photon Art, a small business that sells STEM-themed art, tweeted in July that it had to rename its tardigrade enamel pin to "water bear," because PayPal was holding its payments. "We've contacted them and they told us we should just stop using the word tardigrade," Archie McPhee tweeted. But if they have to change all of their tardigrade merch descriptions, URLs, and names on their tardigrade stuff to "water bear," that could limit how people looking for niche, nerdy water bear decorations find them. This isn't only an algorithmic fluke or extreme prejudice against indestructible moss-piglets

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Re: [tor-relays] non-encrypted connections from Tor exit relays
by grarpamp 14 Sep '20

14 Sep '20

>> do some exit relay operators have a policy to prevent connections >> leaving their exit node via non-encrypted ports (e.g. port 25)? >> >> not even wanting to be in a >> position to observe users' data passing through the exit node in clear >> text. >> hoping that encrypted connections >> provide some level (even very weak) of plausible deniability in the >> event that a connection attracts the attention of law enforcement. The other side... Do not fool yourselves that exit relays not advertising any "encrypted" ports are in any way "secure" for users and IoT, or that the operator is "not in a position", or has default "deniability". MITM tools and attacks happen over such exits ALL THE TIME. And since approximately zero users validate oob and pin down TLS/SSH etc fingerprints, and most just click through warnings, they get jacked all the time. There's plenty of Sybil and TA running out there too. -- This message moderated and censored by torproject for your "protection".

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Exploits: BlindSide SpecEx Attacks
by grarpamp 14 Sep '20

14 Sep '20

https://www.vusec.net/projects/blindside/ https://download.vusec.net/papers/blindside_ccs20.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-FUIZiRN5o BlindSide allows attackers to “hack blind” in the Spectre era. That is, given a simple buffer overflow in the kernel and no additional info leak vulnerability, BlindSide can mount BROP-style attacks in the speculative execution domain to repeatedly probe and derandomize the kernel address space, craft arbitrary memory read gadgets, and enable reliable exploitation. This works even in face of strong randomization schemes, e.g., the recent FGKASLR or fine-grained schemes based on execute-only memory, and state-of-the-art mitigations against Spectre and other transient execution attacks.

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[gilmay97@gmail.com: A Story]
by Zenaan Harkness 13 Sep '20

13 Sep '20

----- Forwarded message from Gil May <gilmay97(a)gmail.com> ----- From: Gil May <gilmay97(a)gmail.com> Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2020 17:02:03 +1000 Subject: A Story *Form Your Own Opinion About This Story.* *Told as it happened, identities respectfully protected.* *Clients were in need of assistance and it was provided.* A chap I met years ago often said to me that strange things happen to him, but did not want to talk about them, just acknowledging ‘that strange things happen to him’ relieved a lot of stress. We became good friends and one day he asked if I knew anything about UFO’s, so I told him a couple of stories. He then proceeded to tell me his story, his father was a very senior air force chief, not sure of how ranking goes but possibly Chief Air Vice-Marshall US. He said he had been abducted many times and they hurt him a lot during medical examinations, his testicles were always swollen and very sore for weeks afterwards and there were small marks where a needle had been inserted, also other marks on various parts of his torso. He showed me photos his wife had taken of the marks. I met his father and we got on well, he enjoyed my devious wit and verbal sparring; on one occasion he had two retired senior US Generals at his home and introduced them to me, he introduced me to a big man called ‘Hank’ he had 38 major decorations from 5 countries. These two generals were the blokes who helped win the last war and had retired to Australia as they said it is the safest and oldest country on earth. They went onto discuss some interesting stories, Hank said, ‘Maybe we should not be talking about this in front of the ‘boy’ (me), he was told it is OK, he knows a lot and needs to know what we are talking about so our words are not lost in the future. Some very interesting words ensured reaffirming what I had already searched, and others had alluded to as factual. Back to my friend, he had become erratic with stress and terror of being abducted again, and did some serious self-harm, later his marriage fell apart and he lived on his own but kept contact with me, he was very artistic at turning the base of palm fronds into amazing art works. Over time, I convinced him not to be fearful or upset, but to be honoured that he was chosen because of his high IQ and excellent body type for ‘them’ to take sperm and tissues samples. Now I had to program him to stay calm when abducted and to do a heap of mental exercises/ I taught him to overcome the sedated state he was put into — thus stay very still and mentally calm while clearing his mind and to see everything around him and lock the images into his memory. We play acted several routines and he was OK with it. Months later I got a very excited call at 3 am, he had been abducted again and did everything I taught him to do — “I have to talk to you NOW”. I told him to hang on a bit, it’s 3 am and my wife is asleep, and I cannot just wander out as she would be worried. Told him I had to be on the GC at 9 am so would get my file together and meet him at 6 am at his place. He was very calm and talked about the aliens, there were two types, both greys, one of taller and thicker build and others smaller by scale. He described the room and instruments used, and said he looked for any signs on the walls or equipment and had copied them down. He showed me the 6 mm red marks on his back in various places, two 4 mm ones as a pair on the back of his neck, this was as he said the one that put him to sleep. He again had red marks on his scrotum where instruments had been inserted and his testicles were swollen and very sore. He then gave me a piece of paper he had drawn of the symbols he had seen on the wall; this is it hereunder. [image: image.png] Several Years later, as a marriage celebrant I had conducted two marriages for different professional people working at the same ‘institution’ on the GC, one being two fellow workers marrying and the other another and an associate marrying, all good friends. One of the ladies rang me and told of a fellow professional her very best friend who often showed high stress levels that resulted in her having time off work, as they were friends of many years and she was always a very calm in-control-person, she knew something traumatic had occurred in her life, but she would not talk about it — but one day she said to her “UFO’s are real”, and she believed her friend had had something happen to her. We talked a while on diversion effects and joining her in common understandings, whereby she eventually told her she had been abducted. She had told her friend of the guy who married her that was easy to talk to on any subject and she should go and talk to him in private as he is nice guy (?) and very understanding and gave her my phone number. Eventually I received a phone call from a lady asking if she could drop in one day for a chat and to see my beautiful gardens (the diversion) her friend had told her about, as she was also a gardener who collected rare plants. On her first visit we talked over general topics and got on fine, she was very relaxed and enjoyed my company as I hers. She said she had time off next week and could she come and talk to me again, sure It would be great. She was indeed a really great lady. Next visit we sat in my office having a cuppa and a few laughs, she then asked if I knew anything about UFO’s, so I told her a few interesting stories, mine and that of others including my friends story. She now had become highly stressed and had to put her cup down as she was shaking, I calmed her stress levels and got a smile and a few laughs; we again went back to the subject matter a little more slowly and gently, I diverted her several times to stop her rushing into the subject and returned bit at a time making her relaxed with the subject and confident of talking to me. All was going well, so I suggest we leave the office and go for a stroll along my long driveway to show her a rare tree in flower, as we wandered along I returned the discussion back to UFO’s and pointed out the magnificent view we had of the milky way and that in mid-October we could see into the central cluster of the milky way. By this time, she was laughing and enjoying her day in the county, so we returned for another cuppa and interesting words in my office. I asked if she would try an interesting relaxation method that allows total control even is stressful situations. As she was now very relaxed and the time right to show her my friends drawing. As soon as she saw it she jumped up cried out, and ran out of the office and up the driveway to where we had been a few moments before — into the same place where she stood perfectly relaxed before, we unconsciously do this, returning to a relaxed place, I left her there for a few moments to catch her thoughts before joining her. We walked slowly back to my office, I put my arm around her, and we walked long quietly, she stopped and said she now understood that like him, she was someone special and not to be afraid. Back in the office she showed me marks on her body, telling me she had, once had all the symptoms of morning sickness, but put it down to something she ate — she was single. Later she had stomach swelling and knew she was pregnant, the test confirmed it. To hide it she always wore loose fitting clothing, that was when her friend noticed her extreme stress: At a little over six months gestation she woke in the middle of the night having had a dream of being in paradise — a place of quiet and beauty, and had seen her son being born. When she awoke, she went to get out of bed and found she was in pain — and her belly was flat, her baby had gone. She had to take time off work to get over it and her colleagues were starting to talk about her having serious stress levels and suggesting she should go on to a different medical work schedule. Eventually she got back to normality and all went well, except her dreams and fear of what had happened to her and she did not want to ever have it again. I asked if she would like to see his drawing again, she said yes. Looking at it carefully she said what she saw on the wall was similar but a bit different, not sure exactly how, but it was a bit different; she asked if she could have a copy. When we finished our discussion, she thanked me several times, saying she now understood and that maybe her son would be a very important person. She held my hand as we walked slowly to her car talking, as we stood at her car, she turned laughing and said ‘Gil, you’re a very interesting man, thank you, you have solved my stress and made me aware of many things’, she put her arms around me and gave me a big hug of friendship. There is little more to this nice story, but it won’t be told, it is private but beautiful. She is now a senior well known person happily married with two sons. ----- End forwarded message -----

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Gilad Atzmon: "[David Duke] understands things that I [an Israeli] am not even allowed to think about" - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 12 Sep '20

12 Sep '20

Gilad Atzmon: “Quote David Duke knows more about Judaism than I do” August 30, 2020 https://davidduke.com/gilad-atzmon-quote-david-duke-knows-more-about-judais… ... [Atzmon]: In March 2014 I gave an interview to larmurerie.fr/ I can’t trace the original French article but a Google translation of the French original exists on my site. I was asked by the French Journalist the following question: Many French people share your opinion. For example, there is a French thinker, Hervé Ryssen, who uses the same metaphor as you when you talk about the mirror, saying that when a Jew accuses you of being an anti-semite, you just have to read the mirror image of the argument to reveal his racism towards goyim.” My answer was as follows. “I actually use the word projection, but the mirror image is no doubt similar. And projection, by the way, is something that Freud taught us about. You know, we have to admit that some of the most interesting humanists in the history of the West are Jews: Christ, Spinoza, Marx were Jews. Why is that?…Now there is something very interesting and it’s again the first time I’m saying it. The left is devastated by David Duke for instance. He was in the KKK when he was young. But here is something quite amazing: I read him and I was shocked to find out that this guy knows more about Jewish identity than I do! How could a supposedly ‘racist’ Gentile who probably never entered a synagogue knows more than I do about Judaism? The reason is in fact very simple: he is a proud white man. He’s interested in nationalism, in the culture of his own people, so he understands things that I am not even allowed to think about. Believe it or not, even as a Jew, I wasn’t allowed to think of myself as a racist. I was a racist, maybe I am still one, but I was not allowed to acknowledge it. Once he acknowledges that he’s talking about white people’s rights, in a way he thinks like Avigdor Lieberman! But in fact, he is way better than Lieberman. David Duke is a humanist because he says, «I want to celebrate my right and you should celebrate your rights» whether you are Muslim or black or whatever. He believes that all people should celebrate their rights, this is his current philosophy. Avidgor Liberman is not a humanist, because he wants to celebrate his rights at the expense of other people.” ...

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State sanctioned secrecy: NSA's criminality shield
by coderman 12 Sep '20

12 Sep '20

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/516064-state-sanctioned-se… State sanctioned secrecy: NSA's criminality shield Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit [ruled that the National Security Agency (NSA)](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/nsa-ruling.pdf) telephone metadata program first [exposed](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-ve… in June 2013 by whistleblower Edward Snowden "...may have violated the Fourth Amendment and did violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA") when it collected the telephony metadata of millions of Americans..." The program was repeatedly reauthorized by Congress before finally (allegedly) being shelved in 2019, despite a Trump administration effort to [revive legal authority for it](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190816/16083742800/as-nsa-declares-…. Snowden recognized the program's inherent criminality and unconstitutional character, which is precisely why he exposed it - and why all pending federal charges against him should be dismissed with prejudice. Unfortunately, NSA still has a critical legal tool to hide other criminal or unconstitutional acts: the six-decade old National Security Agency (NSA) Act of 1959 ([P. L. 86-36](https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/laws/national-security-agency-ac…) Enacted at the height of the Cold War, the NSA Act gives the agency radically sweeping powers to withhold any information from public disclosure. Specifically, Section 6 of the Act states "...nothing in this Act or any other law...shall be construed to require the disclosure of the organization or any function of the National Security Agency, or any information with respect to the activities thereof, or of the names, titles, salaries, or number of the persons employed by such agency." NSA has used that blanket authority to try to keep secret details about its lethal 9/11 intelligence failure. A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit I brought on behalf of the Cato Institute against the Defense Department (NSA's parent organization) in January 2017 has, after over three-and-a-half years in federal court, partially punctured NSA's veil of secrecy over the cancelled TRAILBLAZER and THINTHREAD digital network exploitation (DNE) programs. In brief, during the five-year period leading up to the 9/11 attacks, a bureaucratic war raged inside of NSA over the best way to handle the exploding volume of digital communications the agency was trying to keep up with. On one side was a group of veteran NSA cryptographers, mathematicians and computer scientists who developed a cheap, extremely effective, and Constitutionally compliant in-house DNE system codenamed THINTHREAD. On the other side was then-NSA Director Michael Hayden, who favored an unproven, external, contractor developed DNE system called TRAILBLAZER. When then-GOP House Intelligence Committee staffer [Diane Roark](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politi… got the THINTHREAD team development money and language in the FY 2002 Intelligence Authorization bill directing wider deployment of the cheaper, off-the-shelf THINTHREAD system, Hayden refused to deploy it as directed - even though THINTHREAD, still in prototype development, was already producing intelligence NSA couldn't get from any of its other existing systems. Three weeks before the 9/11 attacks, Hayden killed further THINTHREAD development, despite the fact that TRAILBLAZER was still little more than an idea on PowerPoint slides. The former THINTHREAD team members believe to this day that had their system been deployed even a few weeks before the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden's hijackers would never have made it onto a single plane. I agree. Ultimately, Hayden would squander at least $696 million on TRAILBLAZER between October 2001 and September 2005; the money produced exactly one failed prototype DNE system. The total is likely far higher, as the full amount of money wasted on TRAILBLAZER remains classified. The only reason we know these facts is because of the Cato Institute FOIA lawsuit (managed by [Josh Burday](https://loevy.com/attorneys/josh-burday/) of [Loevy & Loevy](https://loevy.com/)) which focused on NSA's attempts to prevent multiple Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG) reports on the TRAILBLAZER and THINTHREAD systems from ever seeing the light of day (you can read the still heavily redacted but revealing 2004 DoD IG report [here](https://www.scribd.com/document/354295394/2004-DoD-IG-TT-TB-Report-07… and the 2006 report [here](https://www.scribd.com/document/474828823/DoD-IG-Sep-2006-TRAILBLAZER…) Those reports only came about because the original THINTHREAD team members filed a DoD IG hotline complaint about TRAILBLAZER in September 2002. I learned about and actually read the classified versions of those reports while working for then-Rep. [Rush Holt](https://thehill.com/people/rush-holt) (D-N.J.) in 2013. After Holt's retirement from Congress in 2014, I continued to pursue my investigation into the scandal after joining the Cato Institute, filing the FOIA lawsuit in January 2017. Throughout the lawsuit, NSA and DoD lawyers repeatedly invoked Section 6 of the NSA Act to try to keep as much of the TRAILBLAZER/THINTHREAD scandal secret as possible. However, the threat of an actual public FOIA trial - ordered by DC Circuit Judge Trevor McFadden - finally forced NSA to disclose the amount cited above. Unfortunately, the [2016 FOIA Improvements Act](https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/337) passed by Congress does not provide FOIA requestors the necessary legal tools to overcome the government accountability and transparency barrier represented by the NSA Act. NSA dug in its heels and refused to release any further information. No legal mechanism exists to allow myself and the former THINTHREAD team members to have our security clearances restored so we could fight out the classification and disclosure battle in camera before the judge. And despite our request, Judge McFadden declined to use an existing [precedent](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/766/1… to appoint a cleared Special Master (court appointed legal or technical experts who advise judges in cases) to review 800 pages of still-classified material in the case to determine whether, in fact, NSA was improperly invoking the NSA Act to conceal still other illegal acts - like Hayden's refusal to follow the law and more widely deploy THINTHREAD as ordered by Congress, which we had finally pressured NSA into revealing. The existing [executive order](https://www.archives.gov/isoo/policy-documents/cnsi-eo.html) on classification and declassification expressly forbids such acts, but there is nothing in statute requiring such a review in FOIA cases, and at present there is no legal penalty for the kind of misuse of the NSA Act that NSA employed in this episode. Faced with these barriers, we were forced to settle the case this month. The problem is that the NSA Act is what is known as a "(b)(3)" FOIA exemption statute - meaning that it is an existing law that can be used to withhold information from the public in spite of FOIA. The 2016 FOIA Improvements Act failed to address that problem, which also applies to laws allowing the CIA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and other federal department and agencies to withhold - often in blanket form - information that might reveal waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement or even criminal conduct. If NSA or any other department or agency that currently enjoys the use of a "(b)(3)" exemption statute is allowed to keep it, you can take it to the bank they will use it to conceal bad management, wasteful spending, and even criminal conduct. If Congress were to strike Section 6 of the NSA Act, it would go a long way towards improving public oversight and government transparency as it pertains to NSA, but much more is needed. In the TRAILBLAZER/THINTHREAD episode, the agency that was the subject of investigation - NSA - used Section 6 of the NSA Act to try to prevent highly critical audit and investigation reports by another DoD element - the DoD IG - from ever being revealed. When the entity being audited can prevent the auditor from reporting findings of wrongdoing to taxpayers, the system is by definition corrupt. Congress should statutorily bar any agency or department subjected to an IG or Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit from blocking release of that report to the public. Additionally, Congress should mandate judicial in camera reviews in FOIA cases involving classified information or in which a "(b)(3)" exemption statute (if still on the books) is invoked to determine whether it is being misused by an executive branch department or agency to conceal waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement or criminal conduct. An outright statutory bar on using any law to conceal the aforementioned misconduct should likewise be enacted. Americans should not have to rely on whistleblowers like Snowden to reveal our government is targeting us for unconstitutional surveillance behind a shield of secrecy. Nor should executive branch bureaucrats be able to conceal their misconduct behind false claims that exposing their ineptitude or criminality would involve "compromising sources and methods." The author, a former CIA analyst and ex-Senior Policy Advisor to Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), is a Research Fellow at the Cato Institute. You can follow him on Twitter via @PGEddington.

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