Underground Stories 081813

Is WikiLeaks bluffing, or did it really just post all its secrets to Facebook?

Someone remind WikiLeaks that the U.S does not respond well to blackmail.
We'd think this was some kind of interactive Internet mystery if we didn't know better, but in fact WikiLeaks has released about 400 gigabytes' worth of mysterious data in a series of encrypted torrent files called "insurance." And no one can open it.



With nothing better to go on, the Internet has decided that "insurance" may be code for "back off" to the U.S. government—coming just before the sentencing of WikiLeaks cause célèbre Bradley Manning.

File encryption means that the data is hidden and no one can see what's in the shared files without a key to unlock them—which, of course, hasn't been publicly released. 
The size of one of the files is 349 gigabytes, which means that there's either A) enough textual data inside to power a nationwide security crisis for the next 300 years or so, or B) a few very incriminating pieces of video footage.

The Video CNBC Tried To Hide From The Internet. They Probably Shouldn't Have Done That.

Elizabeth Warren went on CNBC and was so knowledgeable that her interview went viral. She has one of the most impressive resumes in financial politics. She's a wonk. She knows her facts. And her hosts aren't used to having people like her challenging them.
After we helped make it go viral, CNBC filed a copyright complaint against her. (I've listed other senators who haven't been accused of piracy for the same practice below the video.)
It gets amazing at 2:08. At 3:42, she uses their words against them. And at 4:39, she reminds me of Aragorn in "The Lord of the Rings," because I'm a giant nerd. 

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63 Egyptian Christian Churches Looted, Torched or Attacked 

CAIRO (AP) — After torching a Franciscan school, Islamists paraded three nuns on the streets like "prisoners of war" before a Muslim woman offered them refuge. Two other women working at the school were sexually harassed and abused as they fought their way through a mob. In the four days since security forces cleared two sit-in camps by supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Islamists have attacked dozens of Coptic churches along with homes and businesses owned by the Christian minority. The campaign of intimidation appears to be a warning to Christians outside Cairo to stand down from political activism. Christians have long suffered from discrimination and violence in Muslim majority Egypt, where they make up 10 percent of the population of 90 million. Attacks increased after the Islamists rose to power in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that drove Hosni Mubarak from power, emboldening extremists. But Christians have come further under fire since President Mohammed Morsi was ousted on July 3, sparking a wave of Islamist anger led by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Nearly 40 churches have been looted and torched, while 23 others have been attacked and heavily damaged since Wednesday, when chaos erupted after Egypt's military-backed interim administration moved in to clear two camps packed with protesters calling for Morsi's reinstatement, killing scores of protesters and sparking deadly clashes nationwide.


Saudi King Abdullah backs Egypt’s military ruler, warns against outside interference

Facing condemnation at every hand from the West, Egypt’s military rulers received a powerful shot in the arm from Riyadh Friday, Aug. 16, with an unprecedented public assurance from Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz that the kingdom supports Egypt in the fight “against terrorism” – the military rulers’ term for Muslim Brotherhood resistance. In a statement broadcast by official Al-Ekhbariya TV, Abdullah said Egypt’s stability is being targeted by “haters” and warned that anyone that interferes in Egypt’s internal affairs seeks to “waken sedition.”
debkafile and DEBKA Weekly have been reporting since last week that Saudi Arabia and the UAR stand firmly behind Egypt’s military strongman Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.
debkafile reports a weak response to Brotherhood’s call for millions to rally Friday to join in the protest in support of deposed president Mohamed Morsi and against the government crackdown two days ago which left more than 600 dead. No more than tens of thousands of supporters took to the streets across the country Friday. By nightfall, 83 people were reported killed in clashes across the country – in Cairo, Fayoum, Damietta and Ismailia - including 24 security personnel. An officer was killed at one of the checkpoints thrown up to block the demonstrators’ access to Tahrir Square.
The relatively low turnout points to the Muslim Brotherhood’s hard core having decided that avoiding further deadly clashes with the Egyptian military is the better part of valor.
Thursday, Aug. 15, debkafile referred to Saudi support for the Egyptian military ruler in an article captioned: US-Egyptian relations are on the rocks.
.......

When Mubarak asked for a three or four days’ grace to break up the massed rally, Obama shot back that he has to quit NOW!
And indeed, on Feb. 11, the army announced the president’s resignation.
Realizing what was coming, Gen. El-Sissi decided not to accept President Obama’s call, our sources report. The Egyptian officials who received it informed the US president politely that the right person for him to address was Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour and they would be glad to transfer the call to him. The White House callers declined.

This anecdote shows that the military strongman is not only determined to avoid the pitfalls which brought Mubarak down but is equally determined to keep the US administration from interfering in his plans for driving the Muslim Brotherhood out of Egyptian politics.

Egypt’s Military: Doing What Germany’s Should Have Done in 1933

Thirty million people in the streets of Egypt, with the help of the Egyptian military, have saved the United States from the consequences of its disastrous policy of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood since President Barack Obama came to office. Just months after his inauguration in 2009, Mr. Obama appeared in Cairo to address the Muslim world. He ensured that members of the Muslim Brotherhood were seated in the front row of the auditorium at Cairo University. Since the group was still officially banned in Egypt, no one from President Hosni Mubarak’s administration could attend. The message from the seating arrangement was unmistakable: even at the price of snubbing his official host, Mr. Obama recognized the Muslim Brotherhood as a legitimate player in Egyptian politics. Already, this was clearly interference in the internal affairs of the Egyptian state.
Former British ambassador Charles Crawford later characterized Obama’s quixotic address in the following way: “It boiled down to a well delivered speech full of clever emollient phrases that ultimately sent a message of appeasement to militant Islamist tendencies: Under my restrained leadership the United States will respect and accept conservative forms of Islam. Even if Islamism gets too aggressive we don’t plan to do much about it.”

Verified: Obama supplied weapons now in hands of Al-Qaeda allied terrorists

"With many al-Qaeda leaders now operating in Syria..."
The Middle East-centric Assyrian International News Agency as well as the right-of-center news portals The Blaze and the Cybercast News Service have all verified on Aug. 16, 2013 that the long promised weapons from the United States, Saudi Arabia and various Western European and Persian Gulf nations have finally made their way to the al-Qaeda allied terrorists in Syria.
With the various militia factions seeking the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad generically referred to as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the pledged weapons couldn't have arrived at a better time.
Reportedly, the militias currently have more volunteers than weapons, but there is hope that the delivery of everything from standard shoulder fired weapons, to explosives, to the much more powerful anti-tank guided missiles with increase not only combat effectiveness, but also their recruiting efforts to attract more experienced militia members.
Previously covered by Examiner.com on Aug. 4, 2013, the umbrella group for the vast majority of the various anti-Assad factions, the FSA is now dominated by Islamic Jihadists and al-Qaeda allied groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood’s Tawheed Brigade and the “moderately” Islamic Jihad Farouk Brigades; one of whose commanders was recently recorded on video eating a Syrian soldier’s internal organs.
Former Massachusetts U.S. Senator and current Secretary of State John Kerry appeared at a joint press conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Kerry admitted:

With many al-Qaeda leaders now operating in Syria, we all need to accelerate our work in order to set the conditions for a diplomatic settlement to the Syrian crisis.

As cited, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters June 13, 2013:

The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition that will involve providing direct support to the SMC [the rebels' Supreme Military Command Council].
That includes military support.

 Nashville Islamic Leaders Preaching Hate against Jews and Christians (video)

Election Watchdog Hands Florida 173 Cases of Alleged Voter Fraud

A Texas-based watchdog known as True the Vote is staying one step ahead of Florida’s elections officials.

The organization has identified 173 cases of alleged interstate voter fraud, or double voting, in Florida and Maryland, the group announced Monday.

Each case represents a single person voting in both states during the same federal election cycle, dating to 2006.

Obama Plans to Resettle Syrian Refugees in California

WASHINGTON — Two years into a civil war that shows no signs of ending, the Obama administration is considering resettling refugees who have fled Syria, part of an international effort that could bring thousands of Syrians to American cities and towns.

A resettlement plan under discussion in Washington and other capitals is aimed at relieving pressure on Middle Eastern countries straining to support 1.6 million refugees, as well as assisting hard-hit Syrian families.

The State Department is “ready to consider the idea,” an official from the department said, if the administration receives a formal request from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, which is the usual procedure.
The United States usually accepts about half the refugees that the U.N. agency proposes for resettlement. California has historically taken the largest share, but Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia are also popular destinations.
U.N. refugee officials, diplomats and nongovernmental relief groups plan to discuss possible resettlement schemes at a high-level meeting this week in Geneva. Germany already has committed to taking 5,000 people.

American Jihadi calls for more Attacks on US Diplomats

A US-born jihadi and Al Qaeda spokesperson has called on Muslims to attack US diplomats, and appealed to wealthy Al Qaeda sympathizers to provide financial incentives for such attacks, such as a bounty the group's Yemeni affiliates put on the head of the US ambassador to Yemen.
Adam Gadahn, who is himself the subject of a $1 million bounty by the US government and believed to be hiding in Pakistan, made the call in a 39-minute recording posted on an Islamist forum, and translated by the SITE counter-terrorism monitoring group.
“These prizes have a great effect in instilling fear in the hearts of our cowardly enemies,” he declared, adding: "They also encourage hesitant individuals to carry out important and great deeds in the path of Allah."
Last year, the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda - Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - offered 3kg of gold to anyone who killed the US ambassador to the country, or 5 million rials (approx. $23,000) for killing an American soldier.
His statement comes in the aftermath of a decision to close nearly two dozen American embassies across the Middle East and North Africa, after intelligence was received concerning an imminent attack on US diplomats by Al Qaeda terrorists.

 Reaping What Obama’s Sown in Egypt

President Obama continues to offer his blessings to the theocratic totalitarians of the Muslim Brotherhood as they spill blood on Egyptian streets in an effort to restore Mohamed Morsi to power.

Our terrorist-supporting president has the gall to scold the military, the most stable, trusted institution in Egypt, while his Islamofascist allies burn scores of Coptic churches in the region where Christianity began more than six centuries before the birth of Mohammed. The military has been struggling mightily to shut down Morsi supporters’ camps that Islamists use to launch attacks.
Yesterday an angry-sounding Obama took time out from his busy golf schedule while vacationing in a $7 million mansion on Martha’s Vineyard. Ignoring the violent provocations of his friends in the Muslim Brotherhood, he declared that the interim government and security forces in Egypt were out of control.
The Egyptian government has embarked on “a more dangerous path taken through arbitrary arrests, a broad crackdown on Mr. Morsi’s associations and supporters, and now tragically the violence that’s taken the lives of hundreds of people and wounded thousands more.” Obama left out the fact that Morsi is a Holocaust denier who calls Jews “bloodsuckers” and “the descendants of apes and pigs” and who has vowed to wage war against Israel.

Sequester forced military to nix fireworks, but Obamas enjoy vacation display

How nice that the first family got to enjoy a fireworks display in Oak Bluffs Friday night while vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard.

Photo Credit: NY Daily News

But what a heartbreaking shame for the thousands of families on military bases across the country whose Fourth of July fireworks were cancelled this year due to budget cuts caused by the sequester.
Thousands of people attended the 30-minute display, The Martha’s Vineyard Times reported, including the Obamas, who arrived after having dinner with the president’s best friend Valerie Jarrett.
There was supposed to be “photo-op” of the family watching the fireworks, “but that got nixed,” a pool report said, according to the Washington Examiner.
No explanation was offered as to why the photo-op was cancelled, but perhaps it’s a good thing that it was.
At least for all the military children who had to watch fireworks on TV or via YouTube this year.
How very sad.

Obama: I Had To Violate The Constitution Because Republicans Are Such Partisan Hacks (Or Something)

During his press conference today, President Obama was asked by Fox News Channel’s Ed Henry about ObamaCare. The President answered the question by saying that it’s the Republicans’ fault that he had to violate the Constitution.
Here is Ed Henry’s very sensible question: “October 1st, you’re going to implement your signature health care law. You recently decided on your own to delay a key part of that. And I wonder, if you pick and choose what parts of the law to implement, couldn’t your successor down the road pick and choose whether they’ll implement your law and keep it in place?”
Mr. Henry also asked about Benghazi, but we’ll leave that for another article. We’ll focus on the President’s answer to the above question here.
Here’s how President Obama started the ObamaCare answer: “I didn’t simply choose to delay this on my own. This was in consultation with businesses all across the country, many of whom are supportive of the Affordable Care Act, but — and who — many of whom, by the way, are already providing health insurance to their employees but were concerned about the operational details of changing their HR operations if they’ve got a lot of employees, which could be costly for them, and them suggesting that there may be easier ways to do this.”
In other words, President Obama consulted with business leaders before he decided to violate the Constitution. He violated the Constitution, of course, by changing the law on his own. He’s not allowed to do that. Congress passed a law that said that the employer mandate will begin on January 1, 2014. President Obama pushed it back one full year without any approval from Congress.
However, the President’s excuse for violating the Constitution gets even better. He blamed Republicans. Here is what he said: “Now what’s true, Ed, is that in a normal political environment, it would have been easier for me to simply call up the speaker and say, you know what? This is a tweak that doesn’t go to the essence of the law. It has to do with, for example, are we able to simplify the attestation of employers as to whether they’re already providing health insurance or not. It looks like there may be some better ways to do this. Let’s make a technical change of the law. That would be the normal thing that I would prefer to do, but we’re not in a normal atmosphere around here when it comes to, quote- unquote, Obamacare.”

Michelle Obama’s School Lunch Plan Dropped; Students Refuse To Eat

Welcome to another round of the ‘government will control every aspect of your life’ show. This edition, just like all the prior editions since 2009, is being brought to you by the Obama’s, with a special assist from the liberal elite everywhere!

Did you know that Michelle Obama had recently come up with her version of a school lunch plan? Neither did I until a little bit ago. Actually, this should make us all wonder what exactly was wrong with the old or current school lunch plans? I’m sure we all remember back to our days in school and have a lot of memories of the cafeteria and the ‘famous’ school lunches we enjoyed!
Of course, not being one to leave well enough alone, Michelle Obama had get her hand stuck into this one. Maybe since her husband was so bust saving the world that he allowed her to try and fix something on her own. This new plan is officially called the ‘preferred lunch plan.’ She has determined what our kids should be eating in order to remain healthy.
Guess what? The kids absolutely hate her plan! A number of school districts across the country have already begun to drop the plan. Most of the school systems say the same thing: that their kids do not like the lunches and that many of them are going hungry. There were a number of foods that the students just simply would not purchase, plus it has been a bit of a nightmare for the schools to implement the plan. Not to mention expensive. In many districts, they even lost money.
Hmmm…a new program implemented by a liberal, designed to tell someone what is good for them and in ‘their’ best interests…and amazingly enough, it loses money! That sounds like it came right out of the Democratic party play book.

Remember the Disrespect You Showed President Bush? Where Do You Get the Nerve to Complain About Disrespect to Obama?