Day: October 15, 2018

Closing Thought–15Oct18

I know that it is October….but stop and think about the incidents and events that were reported in September…A new book, an anonymous Op-Ed and an Obama speech in the first seven days of September appeared to reveal dangerous insider moves against a dangerous, but constitutionally elected president.

An interesting piece written in Consortium News…..

In the first seven days of September efforts to manage and perhaps oust a constitutionally elected president were stunningly made public,  raising complex questions about America’s vaunted democratic system.

What unfolded appears reminiscent of the novel and film Seven Days in May: the story of an attempted military coup against a U.S. president who sought better relations with Russia. The fictional president was based on the real one, John F. Kennedy, who opened the White House in 1963 to director John Frankenheimer to film the only scenes of a Hollywood movie ever made there.

Kennedy was well aware of the Pentagon brass’ political fury after his refusal to proceed with a full-scale assault against Cuba in the Bay of Pigs operation. It was compounded by his desire for detente with Moscow after the Cuban Missile Crisis, which Kennedy expressed forcefully in his seminal American University address, five months before his death.

https://consortiumnews.com/2018/10/03/seven-days-in-september/

If nothing else watch the embedded video……

We are making history day after day…a history that we will eventually try to run away from….people like me will not let that happen…I will keep reminding the voter just how important it is to vote for issues and not slogans or promises.

 

The Khashoggi Affair

The world is talking about the alleged death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi….I have been told that there is no proof he was killed since there was no body (I guess that means that Jimmy Hoffa is still alive and living in Akron)……the problem with that theory is that it is the 21st century and electronics…..

Turkish authorities claim to have audio and video recordings that prove Saudi agents tortured and then murdered Jamal Khashoggi:

The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in on Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body, the officials said.

The audio recording in particular provides some of the most persuasive and gruesome evidence that the Saudi team is responsible for Khashoggi’s death, the officials said.

“The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered,” said one person with knowledge of the recording who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive intelligence.

“You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic,” this person said. “You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered.”

(antiwar.com)

Really how could they have such recordings?  Ever hear of an Apple Watch?

Turkish officials have an audio recording of the alleged killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the Apple Watch he wore when he walked into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul over a week ago, a pro-government Turkish newspaper reported Saturday. The new claim was published by the Sabah newspaper, through which Turkish security officials have leaked much information about the case. Authorities recovered the audio from Khashoggi’s iPhone and his iCloud account, the newspaper said. The journalist had given his phones to his fiancée before entering the consulate. The newspaper also alleged Saudi officials tried to delete the recordings first by incorrectly guessing Khashoggi’s PIN on the watch, then later using the journalist’s finger. However, Apple Watches do not have a fingerprint ID unlock function like iPhones, notes the AP.

An Apple Watch can record audio and can sync that later with an iPhone over a Bluetooth connection. The newspaper’s account did not elaborate on how the Apple Watch synced that information to both the phone and Khashoggi’s iCloud account. Saudi Arabia has maintained the allegations against it are “baseless,” though an official early Saturday acknowledged for the first time some believe Khashoggi was killed by the kingdom. Turkish officials say they believe a 15-member Saudi “assassination squad” killed Khashoggi at the consulate; a Saudi-owned satellite news channel has begun referring to the 15-man team as “tourists,” without providing evidence to support the claim.

Funny how these apologists for the Saudis try to make light of the death of this man…..so sad.

Further Reading into the death of a journalist:

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/10/12/the-khashoggi-incident-trumps-special-relationship-with-the-saudi-monarchy/

Can the Trump stumble bum policies do anything?

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-10-11/jamal-khashoggi-case-trump-has-options-with-saudi-arabia

Trump and his family may not be quick to try and make the Saudis accountable for barbaric behavior…..the rest of the world has stepped up while the US waffles…..

The Future Investment Initiative conference scheduled for later this month in Saudi Arabia looks to be in serious peril at this point, as the international backlash against Saudi Arabia over the disappearance, and presumptive killing, of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has soured many on having anything to do with the kingdom.

That isolation has meant that most of the major media partners meant to cover this conference have already withdrawn. The World Bank has also withdrawn, and a growing number of top business figures and financiers are pulling out as well.

Khashoggi disappeared earlier this month after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials say they have video evidence that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, explaining why he never was seen again.

Though the Saudis have denied any wrongdoing, there is growing backlash internationally, by both governments and private entities, over what is believed to have happened.

(antiwar.com)

This is how the Saudi butt boy responds to this situation……

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/donald-trump-jr-jamal-khashoggi-terrorism#.W8HzDfgnXsQ

Idle words from a privileged little prick.

The question has been asked…..Is this the end of the US-Saudi alliance?

The disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi last Tuesday is threatening to upend the terms of the decadeslong alliance between the United States and Saudi Arabia. In the nine days since Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian resident of Virginia and a Washington Post columnist, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, politicians, media figures, and foreign policy elites — even those who have fawned over the authoritarian Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — have grown increasingly critical of the U.S.-Saudi alliance.

The U.S. has long given the Saudis a blank check, politically and militarily, and there have been voices advocating for a rethinking of that decades-old relationship for nearly as long as it has lasted. But the widespread belief that the Saudis assassinated Khashoggi inside their consulate has brought those voices squarely into the center. Suddenly, the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States is being called into fundamental question.

https://theintercept.com/2018/10/11/is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-us-saudi-alliance/

My thought is that very little can break the financial bonds that the US depends on for the profits of our M-IC.

And the beat goes on……

There will be more to come…….

Turn The Page!

Is Cybersecurity A Priority?

You would think that cybersecurity would be a priority with this government after learning that it is so damn easy to hack our systems and process.  You would think.

So far with this 2 year old admin I do not see this as a priority…..instead of lambasting opponents try focusing on the security of this nation if your tiny mind can comprehend what we are looking at……

Not only were the elections vulnerable but our electric grid is not looking too safe either….and then a new GAO report really brings this gap home……

A new report out of the Government Accountability Office says the Department of Defense is “just beginning to grapple” with vulnerabilities in most of its new weapons systems. The upshot of the 50-page GAO analysis, per NPR: that, based on five years’ worth of tests, “nearly all” of its latest weapons systems are a cybersecurity nightmare, with easy-to-guess passwords and known vulnerabilities that were never remedied, among other issues. Just as concerning is that the DOD doesn’t even know “the full scale of its weapon system vulnerabilities” as the tests that were carried out “were limited in scope and sophistication,” the GAO notes. The tests, conducted from 2012 to 2017, were initially prompted by a request from the Senate Armed Services Committee to look into just how secure the Pentagon was able to keep its weapons systems.

The GAO notes the “widespread examples of weakness” fell under the umbrella of four cybersecurity categories: “protect, detect, respond, and recover.” The results weren’t great: In one case, for example, a test hacker guessed an admin password in nine seconds; in another, two testers needed just an hour to gain initial access to a weapons system. And, “once they gained initial access, test teams were often able to move throughout a system, escalating their privileges until they had taken full or partial control of a system.” To make matters worse, when vulnerabilities were found, they were often neglected: One test report showed just one vulnerability remedied out of 20 identified. Staffing issues contribute to the problem, as the salaries that cybersecurity aces can command in the private sector far exceed those that the government can pay. Full eye-opening report from the GAO here.

More from The American Conservative………

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-pentagon-incompetent-on-cybersecurity/

Great news if you are an adversary….not so much if you are a member of the cyber team that needs all the help they can get.

Hey D/bags….FOCUS!

Rwanda: The Genocide

I am pleased to say that I am getting regular followers and readers from all over the world and recently I have had a loyal visitor from the East African country of Rwanda.

Image result for Rwanda images

As my tradition I try to write posts from the country of my visitor as an appreciation for their loyal and their time.

Rwanda in the past had a horrible civil war that resulted in a genocide and on the 24th anniversary I wrote a post to explain what the US did or should I say did not do?  https://lobotero.com/2018/04/27/rwanda-24-years-later/

An author has written a children’s book about those dark days of the genocide…….

One day in a Rwandan village, a girl called Mahoro became a close friend with a boy called Ntwali without knowing that their parents had an issue between them.

It is a fictional story told by Patrick Gihana, a Rwandan artiste and author in his new illustrative book, “Humura Mwana”, written specifically for children.

Mahoro, who fell in love with Ntwali whom they studied together in primary school, didn’t understand why their parents opposed this relationship which was not harmful at all.

Gihana’s book is written in simple language, using mostly cartoons than words. He narrates to children Rwandan history since the arrival of the colonialists until the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

https://allafrica.com/stories/201809120095.html

This is a good thing for the best way to see that this type of genocide does not happen again is to educate children on the results.

Hopefully is small attempt will go a long way to preventing a occurrence of violence again.

If there is something I missed please let me know and I shall correct my mistake.

Thanx for the visits and your time…..chuq