Showing posts with label Protecting America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Protecting America. Show all posts

Sunday, December 22, 2013

TAKE THE SURVEY: Pick your preferred presidential candidate for 2016

I come up with 11 serious names.

Who is your top presidential candidate for 2016?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

Who's your favorite -- and why?

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Record High Percentage of Americans Believe Big Government is the Country's Greatest Threat

The latest Gallup survey reports answers to a question it has been asking since the sixties: which is the biggest threat in the future -- big government, big business, or big labor? A record percentage of Americans, including a majority of every political stripe, fear big government most.

Seventy-two percent of Americans say big government is a greater threat to the U.S. in the future than is big business or big labor, a record high in the nearly 50-year history of this question. The prior high for big government was 65% in 1999 and 2000. Big government has always topped big business and big labor, including in the initial asking in 1965, but just 35% named it at that time...


...This pattern is largely driven by Republicans, who generally are more likely to be concerned about the size and power of government, and this concern is amplified when a Democrat is president. Democrats are more likely to see government as a threat when a Republican is in office; however, they tend to see government as less threatening than Republicans do, and their concern about big government topped out at 62% in 2005 under Bush...


...Americans have consistently viewed big government as a greater threat to the United States than either big business or big labor, but never more than they do now. That may be partly a reaction to an administration that favors the use of government to solve problems. Also, the revelation of widespread government monitoring of U.S. Internet activity may be a factor in raising Americans' concern about the government...

If we had a competent, eloquent and principled Republican leadership (i.e., not Johnny Boehner, Eric Cantor and Karl Rove, who appear to represent the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and not American citizens), this kind of information would offer a blueprint for unrivaled success.

The message of constraining government while empowering the individual was that of Ronald Reagan who swept to two massive landslides.

The free market, individual liberty and opportunity for all are concepts that transcend racial, ethnic or religious segmentation: they appeal to all Americans.

We need Republicans who can enunciate those concepts in clear and compelling terms. We need conservative leadership in the Republican Party. We need principled men and women who believe in the sovereignty of the individual.

That is the blueprint for winning elections. And the data proves it.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

KAPOW: Police Chief Shreds Kanye West for Comparing His Job to Police and Military

Guest post by Police Chief David Oliver of the the Brimfield, Ohio Police Department


Dear Kanye West,

I am honored to be writing such an important star. I am a mere Internet sensation. I’m not sure I am worthy to address you, although the Huffington Post did say I was “Humorous and Insanely Popular.” I don't pay much attention to those things. Anyway, please excuse my interference in your life for a quick second.

I read your interview and also watched it on video. You said: “I’m just giving of my body on the stage and putting my life at risk, literally.….and I think about it. I think about my family and I’m like, wow, this is like being a police officer or something, in war or something.”

I want to thank you for putting your life on the line for all of us every day. I know that being a rapper is tough work. I have tried to rap, and it is very difficult to keep up with the pulse of the rhyme flow…although when Ice Ice Baby comes on the radio, I can usually keep up with ol’ Vanilla. Anywho, your job is just some very dangerous work. Most people don't consider... if you rap really fast, without a chance to inhale, you could pass out and hit your head.

That last paragraph was covered in sarcasm. I’m letting you know, just so you do not think I agree with your very ignorant assessment of your career (or any other performer)as it relates to a person in the military or a police officer’s service. You sir, are as misguided as they come. I do have a suggestion for you. Since you are accustomed to danger, from your life as an international rapper, I am strongly encouraging you immediately abandon you career as a super star and join the military. After joining, I would like you to volunteer to be deployed in Afghanistan or one of the numerous other forward locations where our men an women are currently serving. When the Taliban starts shooting at you, perhaps you could stand up and let the words flow. It could be something like “I’m Kanye West, wearing a flak vest.” I’m sure they would just drop weapons and surrender. You could quite possibly end all wars, just from the enemy being star-struck.

Your line of thinking is part of the problem in the world today….which include entertainers thinking they are something more than just entertainers. I know it is supply and demand and the demand for your services is high. I get economics. What I do not get is you EVER comparing what you do for a living to our heroic military members, who are always in harm’s way… and my brother and sister police officers who have to go to work carrying weapons and wearing a bullet-proof vest to protect themselves.

Check yourself, before you wreck yourself, fool.

Chief Oliver.


Note: I added the word "fool" at the end. Follow Chief Oliver on Facebook

Friday, December 13, 2013

OHIO: Real Republicans Introduce Constitutional Carry Bill

Hey, Speaker Boehner: these are what we call real Republicans:

The citizen control lobby keeps trying to strip Americans of their unalienable rights, and liberty lovers keep punching back twice as hard.

Two Republican legislators propose eliminating the license required to carry a concealed handgun in Ohio, a change one describes as an effort to put Second Amendment rights on the same footing as others in the Bill of Rights.

The bill, introduced Wednesday by Reps. Ron Hood of Ashville and Matt Lynch of Bainbridge Township in Geauga County, would allow any person who is at least 21 years old to carry a concealed firearm, so long as they are not legally prohibited for some reason from having guns...

Lynch said the bill is an effort to treat the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment with the same freedom as other rights.

The right in the Second Amendment is the only one in the Bill of Rights that you have to get permission for,” Lynch said.

“You don’t have to have a speech license or a worship license or a freedom of the press license,” he said. “This is designed to put the Second Amendment on equal footing.”

The law would not end restrictions on taking firearms into certain restricted areas, but would end concealed carry licensing restrictions. Constitutional carry is becoming a more popular cause in the past year, as many Americans rebel against the thought of more citizen control laws. The common sentiment seems to be that not only are proposed citizen control laws counterproductive, but the current laws are too restrictive and should be rolled back.

This reality seems to be shocking to citizen control cultists, who can’t seem to grasp the basic concept that citizens want more liberty, not less.


You know, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are written in plain English. The right to defend the lives of you and your family members is not up for debate. That right is not given to us by any government; it is our right as human beings. It is a God-given right.

Ohio's state legislature gives me hope. It gives me hope that this Republic can yet be restored.


Hat tip: BadBlue Gun News.

Dan Bongino serves the Establishment GOP with divorce papers

Guest post by Dan Bongino


An open letter to the establishment GOP.

I am serving you with divorce papers. For those who are unaware of what happened, the establishment wing of the Party has openly declared war on the grassroots.

For those who say this fight is hurting the Republican "brand" I reply; it is those on both sides of the aisle who have betrayed their principles in the name of Party, that have destroyed their "brands".

As for the GOP, we used to stand for something; a lean, effective government, vibrant and robust individual liberty, and a passionate defense of the value of hard work and a commensurate respect for your wages by consistently fighting for your right to keep more of them. Where do you stand now? I know where the grassroots does.

This is our Party and we will demonstrate to the people we hope to represent that there is a group of people out there who refuse to be part of any "managed decline". We will only be part of a spectacular American resurrection.

America's best days are ahead and you and your fellow insiders and cronyists and "Party before country" loyalists, on both sides of the aisle, can bathe in your titles and power now but understand that I, and many others, have dedicated our lives to draining the dirty water from the bathtub.

Consider yourself served.


You can support Dan Bongino for Congress by clicking here. Hat tip: The Right Scoop

Saturday, December 07, 2013

HECKUVA JOB, BARRY: Saudi Arabia Seeks Russian Help As Mideast Nuclear Arms Race Heats Up

There are credible theories that President Barack Obama actively conspired with Iran to allow that country to build nuclear arms.

As Caroline Glick put it, Obama "never explained how allowing Iran to continue to enrich uranium decreases the likelihood of war":

The negotiations with the Iranians that culminated in [the] agreement went on for a year.

And yet, the final deal reflects Iran’s opening positions.

That is, over the course of the entire year, American and European negotiators were not able to move Iran’s positions one iota.

So what has the Obama administration been doing for the past year? Since Iran’s positions were the same all along, why didn’t they sign this deal a year ago? The US’s strength relative to Iran did not diminish significantly since a year ago. So the US didn’t need this agreement more now than it did a year ago.

Clearly, Obama did not spend the last year trying to build domestic American support for a deal that enables the regime that calls daily for the annihilation of America to become a nuclear power. With Iran building military bases all over Central and South America, Obama never bothered trying to make the case to the American people that they would be more secure with this regime in possession of the capacity to kill millions of Americans with one bomb.

Obama never stood before the Congress to explain how a deal that gives America’s Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval to Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program advances US national security. He never explained how allowing Iran to continue to enrich uranium decreases the likelihood of war.

As anyone could have predicted, the other shoe has dropped. Fars News reports that Riyadh has gone to Russia to seek its assistance in building nukes.

Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Bandar Bin Sultan in a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked him to help Riyadh construct a nuclear power plant, the Arab-language al-Qods al-Arabi newspaper quoted informed diplomatic sources in the Persian Gulf Arab littoral states as saying.

According to the report, Prince Bandar has told Putin that if Russia declares readiness in this regard, Saudi Arabia can provide Moscow with preliminary studies that it has conducted since six years ago.

Saudi Arabia and other members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) have been conducting nuclear studies and the PGCC secretariat has been in charge of these studies.

Last month, a report said that Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects, and believes it could obtain atomic bombs at will.

In 2009, Obama famously said, "As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act" to reduce their proliferation.

That statement had about as much veracity as his infamous "If you like your health care plan you can keep your health care plan" trope.

Although I feel certain that, at least when it comes to disarming America, Obama means business. He intends to strip away America's nuclear deterrent force by 80 percent or more while China, Russia and Iran are ramping up their militaries to unprecedented heights.

This president is, without question, making the world a far more dangerous place and is actively undermining America's national security interests.


Hat tips: BB and BadBlue News

Constitutional Crisis Comix

Another keeper from Biff Spackle, with hat tips to CNS News and The Shoebat Foundation.


Related: ArticleFiveProcess.com.

Friday, December 06, 2013

Virginia Resolution of 1798

Dropping some science: The Virginia Resolution of 1798:

RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Virginia, doth unequivocably express a firm resolution to maintain and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of this State, against every aggression either foreign or domestic, and that they will support the government of the United States in all measures warranted by the former.

That this assembly most solemnly declares a warm attachment to the Union of the States, to maintain which it pledges all its powers; and that for this end, it is their duty to watch over and oppose every infraction of those principles which constitute the only basis of that Union, because a faithful observance of them, can alone secure it's existence and the public happiness.

That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the federal government, as resulting from the compact, to which the states are parties; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting the compact; as no further valid that they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the states who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them.

This resolution was adopted by the Virginia Senate on December 24, 1798, as a protest against the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by Congress. It was authored by James Madison, in consultation with Thomas Jefferson, who also authored a set of resolutions for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Emphasis added. Via Eric Pratt.

Russia and the ACLU (But I Repeat Myself) Extremely Perturbed by New Spy Agency Logo

Hey, I'm in favor of a robust U.S. intelligence capability, so long as it isn't directed against American citizens.

That said, English language periodical Russia Today ain't happy:

The US National Reconnaissance Office launched a top-secret surveillance satellite into space Thursday evening, and the official emblem for the spy agency’s latest mission is, well, certainly accurate, to say the least.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence live-tweeted Thursday’s launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and throughout the course of the ordeal made no effort to ignore the logo for the NROL-39 mission... The latest spy satellite to be sent into orbit by the NRO can be recognized by its seal: a malevolent octopus with furrowed brows that also happens to be wrapping its tentacles around all corners of the Earth...



...For half a year now, leaked NSA documents have let the world learn that the US monitors the phone habits of not just Americans, but also foreigners sitting atop the governments of allied nations.

...That being said, you’d think ODNI would reconsider launching a new spy satellite. Or maybe even not put an octopus strangling the Earth on the outside.


If the ACLU protected Second Amendment rights as diligently as they pretend to protect First Amendment rights, they might have a modicum of credibility left.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Tuesday, December 03, 2013

PREEMPTIVE SURRENDER IN THE PACIFIC: Obama Bows to China, Humiliates Japan

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

National Security: As the media praised the president for sending two B-52s through disputed air space claimed by China, the administration instructed U.S. airlines to get approval as demanded from the Chinese government.

After China declared an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea encompassing the Japanese Senkaku Islands, two U.S. B-52s flew through the claimed air space without informing Beijing. It was an appropriate response.

Not so appropriate, however, was the Obama administration's instructions to U.S. carriers that they accede to China's demands for prior notification.

China announced last week that all aircraft entering the zone over the East China Sea, an area two-thirds the size of Britain located between China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, must notify Chinese authorities beforehand, and that it will take unspecified defensive measures against those that don't comply.

The Japanese government, bristling at this infringement of its sovereignty, instructed its carriers not to comply with China's demand. In contrast, the New York Times reports, administration officials said they made the decision to urge civilian planes to adhere to Beijing's new rules in part because they worried about an unintended confrontation.

Unintended confrontation? China's move was carefully planned and its move to control the air space over and around the Senkaku Islands is no accident but part of a plan to project power far beyond its coastal waters.

United, American and Delta have said they have begun notifying Chinese authorities of flight plans when traveling through China's ADIZ in response to the Obama administration's request.

This is a slap in the face to Tokyo. And since Japan has refused Beijing's demand, just how does the administration's capitulation end the risk of confrontation? As China's power grows, so will its assertiveness.

Sunday, December 01, 2013

Karl Rove Komix

Biff Spackle offers the following riposte to Karl Rove, who appears to live at Fox News.



Hat tip: Stilton Jarlsberg.

Friday, November 29, 2013

CHARTS - ALL 50 STATES ARE MORE CONSERVATIVE THAN EVER: Race-, Gender-, Ethnicity-panderers hardest hit

Last month Cornell political scientist Peter Enns published an interesting op-ed in The Washington Post.

Recently on this blog, Larry Bartels drew attention to an astonishing fact: the public is as conservative as it has been in 50 years. To highlight this point, Professor Bartels presented the public’s policy mood — James Stimson’s measure of public support for government programs—from 1950 to 2012. In a recent article, Julianna Koch and I generated measures of policy mood for each state from the 1950s to 2010 (our measures our here). What we found is that the conservative opinion shift Professor Bartels highlighted repeats itself in every state.

The figure below presents one illustration of this pattern. Here we compare the policy mood in each state in the early 1960s (hollow dots) and in the early 2000s (solid dots). Higher values indicate a more conservative policy mood. In each instance, the solid dot is to the right of the hollow dot, suggesting that the public’s policy mood has moved in a conservative direction in every state...

...Surprised by this uniform shift across states, we examined two questions about government that the American National Election Study asked in the early 1960s and 2000s. Because we were dealing with much smaller sample sizes, we analyzed regions instead of states. Again, the data suggest that all regions of the country have shifted in a conservative direction.

The first question, reported in the left panel of the figure below, asked whether the government in Washington should see to it that every person has a job and a good standard of living or whether the government should let each person get ahead on their own. The fact that the solid dots (2002) are to the right of the hollow dots (1964) supports the view that all regions of the country became more conservative. Interestingly, in 1964, the South appears to have been the most supportive of the liberal response (the government should ensure a job and a good standard of living). The second question, reported in the right panel, asked whether or not the government in Washington was getting too powerful. Across all regions, we again see opinion has shifted to the right.

Importantly, the public has not moved in a conservative direction in all issue areas. For example, support for same-sex marriage has been increasing across all states. It is also worth noting that our findings on the 1960s and 2000s hides important shifts in policy mood between these periods, such as increased policy liberalism during the 1980s. However, when it comes to support of government programs, the net conservative shift is clear...


This the kind of data that drives me nuts. The Republican establishment keeps insisting that we nominate "centrists" who are "the only one[s] who can win". Karl Rove got his guy in 2008 in John McCain. Karl Rove got his guy in 2012 in Mitt Romney.

Now these same geniuses -- John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Rove among them -- insist that only by pandering to different ethnic groups can the GOP succeed. Their latest push is a hugely unpopular Amnesty bill.

They are either ignorant or lying.

According to Pew Research (PDF), the percentage of Hispanics voting Republican in presidential elections has always traded in a very narrow range.


Instead of pandering to different segments of the American population, why don't we nominate a confident, articulate candidate with truly conservative values?

Wouldn't people of all races, religions and ethnicities find the principles of liberty, private property, and economic opportunity incredibly attractive? Yes, of course they would: blacks, Hispanics, whites, Asians, you name the segment, every open-minded American would gravitate to an eloquent candidate with conservative, free-market principles in his or her blood.

Instead of nominating conservatives, Rove and his claque of losers keep pushing "moderates". Unfortunately, GOP "centrists" aren't differentiated enough from the progressive Democrats to energize conservatives and the Reagan Democrats.

Now Rove is pushing a new set of moderates like Chris Christie and Jeb Bush, both of whom appear to support Amnesty.

In 2012, Rove's American Crossroads fundraising operation won less than two (2) percent of the races it invested in.

Why would we listen to losers like these? I, for one, reject their pablum unconditionally.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

LEVIN: Uhm, History Tells Us That a President Does NOT Need to Have Been a Governor

Mark Levin drops some science on those who insist that the next president must have served as a governor:

Lincoln is considered our greatest, if not our second greatest president by most. He was never a governor. He was never a senator. He was an extraordinary man, and he was a public man, and people knew much about him. The Lincoln-Douglas debates -- and those weren't the only debates! He gave some magnificent speeches too. But again, all that aside. My point is to categorize and say we have to have a person who's served as governor because they make executive decisions. Okay great.

And that'll be the strength of that candidate, should that candidate run. But thats not the test. The test is to get the right person. And the right person will make mostly the right decisions. Take a measure of the person. So if you have somebody who has been a governor, or just a garden variety Republican. Whether they're a big-government Republican or a RINO. I don't care if they've been a governor or not. I'm not interested. They have to come to the office or seek the office with a certain set of a principles and value that we share. Someone who is intelligent, confident, and articulate and knowledgeable, and has a capacity for the office. They've been governor, great. If they haven't, fine.

Also: After Obama, Democrats will never, ever, ever, ever be able to say that a GOP candidate doesn't have enough "experience" to serve as president. What a bunch of laughingstocks these people are.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

FREE KINDLE DOWNLOAD: Max Velocity's "Patriot Dawn"

It's available as a free Kindle download today and tomorrow only.

The United States has descended into Civil War.

The storm was rising for some time, a Resistance in the hearts of American Patriots to the strangulation of liberty by creeping authoritarianism.

The scene was set. It just took a little push. A terrorist attack on the United States leads to war with Iran, followed by collapse, as the economy goes over the cliff.

The final blow is a widespread opportunistic Chinese cyber attack, taking down the North American Power Grid.

From the ashes, the Regime emerges. Liberty is dead.

What remains of the United States of America is polarized.

The Resistance Rises.

Jack Berenger is a former Army Ranger Captain, living in northern Virginia with his family. Following the collapse, they fall foul of Regime violence and evacuate to the farm of an old Army friend. Jack is recruited into the resistance, to train the fledgling forces in the Shenandoah Valley.

The fight begins.

Live hard, Die Free.

Resist.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

ENEMY WITHIN: Obama unilaterally dismantling U.S. nuclear deterrent far beyond what he promised Congress

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Defense: Breaking yet another promise, this one to Congress, the administration jeopardizes our national security with plans to eliminate an entire squadron of intercontinental ballistic missiles and destroy its silos.

Yet another example of what President Obama meant in 2012 when he promised Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea, that after his re-election he would have more "flexibility" on defense issues, comes on the news that an ICBM squadron would be scrapped to comply with the New START Treaty — even as both the Russians and Chinese deploy new ballistic missiles.

A document prepared by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon maps out a strategy to eliminate an ICBM squadron — and destroy its missile silos — by Dec. 5, 2017.

The military would begin removing ICBMs next October, after an environmental assessment is complete, and the silo elimination would begin in May 2016.

The fact is, as the Heritage Foundation notes, the U.S. does not need to eliminate an ICBM squadron to meet New START's limits. The State Department's Oct. 1 fact sheet says the U.S. must dismantle 109 of its deployed ICBMs, deployed submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and deployed heavy bombers, and remove another 138 warheads.

Heritage notes the U.S. has already reduced its deployed warheads by 112 and that destroying an ICBM squadron to comply with New START is unnecessary.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

OH, SUPER: The NSA Has Weaponized the Internet

It seems that Edward Snowden has revealed another interesting and dangerous capability of the NSA. It can attack virtually any computer system in the world by monitoring requests and forging replies.

A basic example: say you visit an Al Qaeda website. Monitoring major Internet backbones would allow the NSA to detect that visit. It begins with the browser requesting information and the server responding. Once the attacker (in this case, the NSA) sees that request go by, it forges a reply that includes an exploit kit.

In other words, virtually anyone using the Internet could be targeted by the NSA.

Nicholas Weaver, writing at Wired, describes some of the more interesting forms of attack.

The NSA has a collection of FOXACID servers, designed to exploit visitors. Conceptually similar to Metasploit’s WebServer browser autopwn mode, these FOXACID servers probe any visiting browser for weaknesses to exploit.

All it takes is a single request from a victim passing a wiretap for exploitation to occur. Once the QUANTUM wiretap identifies the victim, it simply packet injects a 302 redirect to a FOXACID server. Now the victim’s browser starts talking to the FOXACID server, which quickly takes over the victim’s computer. The NSA calls this QUANTUMINSERT.

The NSA and GCHQ used this technique not only to target Tor users who read Inspire (reported to be an Al-Qaeda propaganda magazine in the English language) but also to gain a foothold within the Belgium telecommunication firm Belgacom, as a prelude to wiretapping Belgium phones...

HTTP cache poisoning. Web browsers often cache critical scripts, such as the ubiquitous Google Analytics script ‘ga.js’. The packet injector can see a request for one of these scripts and instead respond with a malicious version, which will now run on numerous web pages. Since such scripts rarely change, the victim will continue to use the attacker’s script until either the server changes the original script or the browser clears its cache.

Zero-Exploit Exploitation. The FinFly “remote monitoring” hacking tool sold to governments includes exploit-free exploitation, where it modifies software downloads and updates to contain a copy of the FinFisher Spyware. Although Gamma International’s tool operates as a full man-in-the-middle, packet injection can reproduce the effect. The injector simply waits for the victim to attempt a file download, and replies with a 302 redirect to a new server. This new server fetches the original file, modifies it, and passes it on to the victim. When the victim runs the executable, they are now exploited — without the need for any actual exploits.

Mobile Phone Applications. Numerous Android and iOS applications fetch data through simple HTTP. In particular, the “Vulna” Android advertisement library was an easy target, simply waiting for a request from the library and responding with an attack that can effectively completely control the victim’s phone. Although Google removed applications using this particular library, other advertisement libraries and applications can present similar vulnerabilities.

DNS-Derived Man-in-the-Middle. Some attacks, such as intercepting HTTPS traffic with a forged certificate, require a full man in the middle rather than a simple eavesdropper. Since every communication starts with a DNS request, and it is only a rare DNS resolver that cryptographically validates the reply with DNSSEC, a packet injector can simply see the DNS request and inject its own reply. This represents a capability upgrade, turning a man-on-the-side into a man-in-the-middle.

One possible use is to intercept HTTPS connections if the attacker has a certificate that the victim will accept, by simply redirecting the victim to the attacker’s server. Now the attacker’s server can complete the HTTPS connection. Another potential use involves intercepting and modifying email. The attacker simply packet-injects replies for the MX (Mailserver) entries corresponding to the target’s email. Now the target’s email will first pass through the attacker’s email server. This server could do more than just read the target’s incoming mail, it could also modify it to contain exploits.

Amplifying Reach. Large countries don’t need to worry about seeing an individual victim: odds are that a victim’s traffic will pass one wiretap in a short period of time. But smaller countries that wish to utilize the QUANTUMINSERT technique need to force victims traffic past their wiretaps. It’s simply a matter of buying the traffic: Simply ensure that local companies (such as the national airline) both advertise heavily and utilize in-country servers for hosting their ads. Then when a desired target views the advertisement, use packet injection to redirect them to the exploit server; just observe which IP a potential victim arrived from before deciding whether to attack. It’s like a watering hole attack where the attacker doesn’t need to corrupt the watering hole.


Is someone providing oversight over the NSA's operation?

Is the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper going to be penalized for lying to Congress?

Is the NSA using the capability to attack the computers of U.S. citizens without warrants?

If we still lived in a Constitutional Republic -- and our leaders had any virtue whatsoever -- we'd have answers to these critical questions.


Hat tip: ZeroHedge.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Pentagon Report: Obama Administration Paid More than $150 Million to Fund Terrorist Attacks Against Americans

Guest post by Greg Campbell

As Americans struggle to make ends meet, as the current economic climate is anything but healthy, the Obama Regime is pumping millions of dollars into foreign companies that finance attacks on Americans.

Surely, there is a better use for our money than financing terrorism against our own people.

The national debt is just over $17.1 trillion dollars. Specifically, it is $17,162,395,935,482.18- or, at least it was when this article was written. In the time it took to type the numbers, the U.S. borrowed another $195,976. By this time tomorrow, the national debt will have increased by roughly $2,690,000,000.

We our hemorrhaging money at an astonishing rate and saddling Americans with unconscionable debt. A million here, a million there-money we don’t have is tossed around and thrown away like dropped pennies in a parking lot while our “leaders” not only refuse to make any meaningful changes to our unsustainable economic model, but make future plans for how to enlarge government and spend even more money.

And while that may seem like a betrayal of Americans, it cannot compare to the fact that America has given $150 million to groups that fund terrorists actions against Americans.

In our nation’s Quixotic quest to make the world love us, the U.S. has been funding terrorism against Americans. In a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the Pentagon has admitted that we are subsidizing at least 43 companies that are linked to Taliban leaders who have targeted and arranged attacks on Americans.

As Obama Slashes U.S. Military, China Deploys Strategic Bombers Equipped With Nuclear Cruise Missiles

Guest post by Investor's Business Daily

Military Superiority: As China does its own Pacific pivot, a new report reveals that Beijing's strategic bomber is equipped with a land-attack nuclear missile and an armed drone nearly identical to one of ours developed through cyberespionage.

To the casual observer, the Chinese Hongzha-6 (H-6) bomber is not that impressive. The two-engine medium-range jet is a variant of the old Soviet Tu-16 Badger. That plane first flew in 1959 and versions have been deployed by the Chinese Air Force since 1968.

A prototype H-6 was used to airdrop China's first three-stage thermonuclear device at the Lop Nor Nuclear Weapon Test Base in Malan, Xinjiang, on June 17, 1967.

To military observers, however, its latest incarnation, the Chinese H-6K, is a significant advance in China's military capability and is continuing evidence of China's determination to dominate the Western Pacific and challenge U.S. dominance in the region.

As noted in the Oct. 8 draft of the forthcoming report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission to Congress, the People's Liberation Army in June accepted the first of 15 new H-6K bombers, each with an important new difference:

They'll be able to carry four nuclear-capable Changjian-10 (long sword) cruise missiles on four underwing pylons plus two more in its weapons bay. This effectively extends the bomber's combat range to Okinawa, Guam and even Hawaii from China's mainland.

Saturday, November 09, 2013

MARK LEVIN: "Win first, fight later."

Guest post by Mark Levin

"Win first, fight later." This is the latest establishment bumper-sticker that passes as wise insight. Of course, they neither win nor fight when it comes to the left.

For example, for years the Republicans participated in funding Obamacare while scheduling vote after vote and pretending to repeal it. That was supposed to mollify you. It was pure deceit. Every bit as deceitful as Obama's serial lies about keeping your health insurance if you wanted to.

Having lied repeatedly about its own tactics, the GOP establishment became unhinged when Ted Cruz and Mike Lee exposed its fecklessness and dishonesty by insisting on waging a real procedural and substantive effort to slow or defund or do something about the most outrageous law in our lifetimes, Obamacare. Imagine that.

Rather than unite behind these two senators, the Senate leadership and its loyal fanatics sought to assassinate their character. When the GOP leadership is engaged in a monumental charade, "backbenchers" are to go along and keep their mouths shut. They're to know their place. Of course, the game was up when the same Republican leaders who scheduled one show vote after another for supposed repeal were now claiming they couldn't do squat. So, their ruse became their defense.

Now that Obamacare is marching through our health care system as Sherman marched through Georgia, reaching into one home and business after another, and Americans are up in arms, the mighty GOP leadership is at it again. You see, if only 17% of the federal government hadn't been closed for 16 crucial days during the initial implementation of Obamacare, the fault of Cruz and Lee, of course, not the Democrats and Obama, the American people would've been more focused on the launch of Obamacare, and these objections would have been raised or known earlier.

Huh? In other words, by Cruz trying to focus the nation's attention on Obamacare and linking it to the last crucial budget and spending deadlines in a 21 hour floor speech before its actual launch, Cruz distracted the nation from ... Obamacare? You have to hand it to the GOP establishment. They spin like the best of the Democrat left. More deceit.

Today these same GOP establishment geniuses are as confused as ever. "Let the health system implode, then the GOP will take back the Senate." This is what passes as statesmanship in Washington. Well, millions of Americans are suffering now so this is hardly advice but an acknowledgment of fact. There's nothing the GOP could do after October 1, which was the point!

For the GOP establishment, this is all about politics and power now. Sit back, comment on the anarchy, attack the conservatives and Tea Party as purists obstructing a brilliant GOP grand plan of do-nothingism that had been launched pre-Oct.1, while the nation goes through convulsions. This is the surest way to GOP resurrection. Maybe. But the nation is bleeding.

And if or when they take back the Senate, having nothing to do with any GOP principle but as the only option for the public's fury with the Democrats, then what? What exactly will Mitch McConnell and John McCain do about Obamacare, the basis for this new majority status? Will they use their complete control of the purse strings to confront Obama? Of course not. Obama would say "boo" and accuse them of extortion and threatening to shutdown the government. The leadership's cheerleaders would sing "do nothing" like chorus line girls. We just went through this. Besides, McConnell has already surrendered, making clear the awful so-called government shutdown will never happen again. In fact, he has even suggested granting Obama effective control over the debt ceiling, but only temporarily of course. (It is truly odd what animates this man. He's most certainly the weakest Senate Republican leader since Hugh Scott.).

No, what's needed now is the presidency. But not a conservative purist like Cruz with his links to the hated Tea Party. The GOP establishment insists he and they cannot win. (Of course, Cruz won a spectacular election a year ago, but never mind; McConnell and the boys are busy working him over in hopes of preventing his viability.)

Which brings me to Chris Christie! Like Mitt Romney and McCain before him, he's the new great establishment hope. He's the new "he can win" candidate. And it is said if he can win in New Jersey his national appeal is obvious. As New Jersey goes so goes the nation! (Did I mention that Abraham Lincoln lost New Jersey in 1864?)

Yet, Christie refused to sign any of the briefs challenging Obamacare and is among a handful of GOP governors moving quickly to implement it. As time will reveal, despite all the propaganda, he's another big government Republican bragging how he can get big government things done with a bipartisan majority! Wonderful! Rah- rah! Obamacare here forever!

The truth is the members of the Republican old guard are all but useless. They wake up and engage when their own re-election is threatened and their precious hold on power is challenged. They are dug in, petty, and self-serving. They have no strategy or principled vision. I'll have more on all this when I return to radio next week. Thanks for allowing me to vent.

 
Listen to the Mark Levin Show each weeknight.