stevenleser
stevenleser's JournalFBI says they have enough information to accuse North Korea of the Sony Hack
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/19/fbi-sony-hack_n_6354450.html?ir=Politics&utm_campaign=121914&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics&utm_content=FullStoryNote: The below includes two paragraphs written by the HuffPo author and the entire text from the FBI which is not copyrighted:
"We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there," the statement said. "Further, North Korea's attack on SPE [Sony Pictures Entertainment] reaffirms that cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers to the United States."
Read the entire statement below:
Today, the FBI would like to provide an update on the status of our investigation into the cyber attack targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). In late November, SPE confirmed that it was the victim of a cyber attack that destroyed systems and stole large quantities of personal and commercial data. A group calling itself the Guardians of Peace claimed responsibility for the attack and subsequently issued threats against SPE, its employees, and theaters that distribute its movies.
The FBI has determined that the intrusion into SPEs network consisted of the deployment of destructive malware and the theft of proprietary information as well as employees personally identifiable information and confidential communications. The attacks also rendered thousands of SPEs computers inoperable, forced SPE to take its entire computer network offline, and significantly disrupted the companys business operations.
After discovering the intrusion into its network, SPE requested the FBIs assistance. Since then, the FBI has been working closely with the company throughout the investigation. Sony has been a great partner in the investigation, and continues to work closely with the FBI. Sony reported this incident within hours, which is what the FBI hopes all companies will do when facing a cyber attack. Sonys quick reporting facilitated the investigators ability to do their jobs, and ultimately to identify the source of these attacks.
As a result of our investigation, and in close collaboration with other U.S. Government departments and agencies, the FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions. While the need to protect sensitive sources and methods precludes us from sharing all of this information, our conclusion is based, in part, on the following:
· Technical analysis of the data deletion malware used in this attack revealed links to other malware that the FBI knows North Korean actors previously developed. For example, there were similarities in specific lines of code, encryption algorithms, data deletion methods, and compromised networks.
· The FBI also observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the U.S. Government has previously linked directly to North Korea. For example, the FBI discovered that several Internet protocol (IP) addresses associated with known North Korean infrastructure communicated with IP addresses that were hardcoded into the data deletion malware used in this attack.
· Separately, the tools used in the SPE attack have similarities to a cyber attack in March of last year against South Korean banks and media outlets, which was carried out by North Korea.
We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there. Further, North Koreas attack on SPE reaffirms that cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers to the United States. Though the FBI has seen a wide variety and increasing number of cyber intrusions, the destructive nature of this attack, coupled with its coercive nature, sets it apart. North Koreas actions were intended to inflict significant harm on a U.S. business and suppress the right of American citizens to express themselves. Such acts of intimidation fall outside the bounds of acceptable state behavior. The FBI takes seriously any attempt whether through cyber-enabled means, threats of violence, or otherwise to undermine the economic and social prosperity of our citizens.
The FBI stands ready to assist any U.S. company that is the victim of a destructive cyber attack or breach of confidential business information. Further, the FBI will continue to work closely with multiple departments and agencies as well as with domestic, foreign, and private sector partners who have played a critical role in our ability to trace this and other cyber threats to their source. Working together, the FBI will identify, pursue, and impose costs and consequences on individuals, groups, or nation states who use cyber means to threaten the United States or U.S. interests.
This comment is unbelievable but I guess I shouldn't be surprised
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5979364"Kerry's European Jewish roots likely won't put him at odds with Israel"
wtf
xpost from GD:If you missed it, Making Sense with Steve Leser and the Rude Pundit on torture & more
If you missed it live, click here to listen to tonights Making Sense with Steve Leser and the Rude Pundit on the Senate Torture report, Police shootings, the economy, Time Magazine's person of the year and the dumbest congressmen of the new session
http://podcasts.kcaastreaming.com/leser/20141209.html
Or for non Flash computers/devices (i.e. iPad/iPhone) click http://podcasts.kcaastreaming.com/podcast-bin/stream.cgi?show=leser&datecode=20141209
If you missed it live, tonight's Making Sense with Steve Leser and the Rude Pundit on torture & more
If you missed it live, click here to listen to tonights Making Sense with Steve Leser and the Rude Pundit on the Senate Torture report, Police shootings, the economy, Time Magazine's person of the year and the dumbest congressmen of the new session
http://podcasts.kcaastreaming.com/leser/20141209.html
Or for non Flash computers/devices (i.e. iPad/iPhone) click http://podcasts.kcaastreaming.com/podcast-bin/stream.cgi?show=leser&datecode=20141209
Senate Releases Report on Torture
Link: http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy1.pdf
Dean on 50 state strategy is a paean to Pragmatism and Centrism where necessary.
Shout out to DFW for his original OP: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025928884
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/25/people_yelled_and_carried_on_howard_dean_on_how_he_remade_the_dnc_and_dems_new_path_forward/
"I was a centrist governor" and also bragging about getting Begich elected
In other words, Dean is/was a pragmatist, as most successful politicians are.
"My experience as a governor was that the state party was weak. They were also kind of a pain in the neck. I was a centrist governor, and they were always complaining about things that I was doing, and I was very annoyed by it. "
and
"So the origin of the 50-state strategy was to be prepared to go anywhere. The idea was, if you ever wanted a Mark Begich, you had to invest in Alaska before a Mark Begich came on the horizon so you could be ready. Mark Begich is the example that I use. Nobody expected Ted Stevens to be indicted, but when he was, we were ready. So the origin was to invest in the party throughout the country. "
I love it!!!
On Edit: OMG, and this!!!!:
What do you say to those who argued that the 50-state strategy for Democrats, it brought in a lot of Democrats who were right for those particular regions, but it may have diverged sharply from the mainstream Democratic message? Was that a problem?
There was some discussion about that, and actually that happened. We ended up with some conservative Democrats from Western Pennsylvania, for example. But my point was, you can be a small regional minority party if you want to, and stay ideologically pure. But its more fun to have the speaker. Id rather have inter-party fights in the majority than stay pure in the minority. So we wanted to keep a majority. And the Republicans have actually done this too. Now they did it through gerrymandering, but still. And also the Republicans have better messaging, thats a whole other story.
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OMG, that is priceless. "But my point was, you can be a small regional minority party if you want to, and stay ideologically pure. But its more fun to have the speaker. Id rather have inter-party fights in the majority than stay pure in the minority. "
The issues with DU participation IMHO, are a conflict between two thoughts on how to advance Liberal
ideas.
One group insists that the best way to advance Liberal ideas is to support the most Liberal candidate that is electable at that moment, even if that means minimal progress as long as we prevent things from moving backwards. This group thinks that supporting Democrats in office doing the best they can in difficult circumstances is a good idea because the alternative effectively gives support to the other side by tearing down the popularity of Democrats in office.
The other group insists that the best way to advance Liberal ideas is to support the most Liberal candidate regardless of perceived elect-ability. This group seems to believe that if that results in losses to radical right wing Republicans who will not only implement regressive policies and undo 10-20-30 years of progress but use the bully pulpit to try to convince the masses that regressive policies are the best ones for the country, making progress difficult even after they are gone, that's acceptable as long as we have backed the most liberal candidate possible. This group also seems to think that pillorying elected Democrats doing the best they can in difficult circumstances for not being Liberal enough is a good strategy. By relentlessly pillorying Barack Obama, this group has turned off a large portion of the African American community on DU which indicates, IMHO, not only a complete lack of political savvy, but either a complete lack of awareness of, or simply not caring at all about the sensitivity people of color have to attacks on the first African American president.
The two groups do not seem to be able to coexist here on DU and admins seem loathe to do anything about it. I think the evidence is clear that the website cannot accommodate both groups and continue to be successful. It seems to be turning off large swaths of people from both groups.
The non-indictment of Eric Garner's killer is unacceptable
I don't even know what to say anymore. In my opinion, the officer in the Ferguson case should have been indicted. But the situations with Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner are much more egregious and should have been slam dunk indictments and convictions. In America, we are supposed to have the right to be left alone when we walk the streets.
Even the police have a limited capacity to intrude on that right to be left alone and that limited capacity depends on a warrant (very specific) or probable cause or reasonable suspicion, terms/ideas that also have limits.
What seems to have happened is, the rights of people of color to be left alone outside of those constitutional limits seems to have been thrown out the window.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-eric-garner-chokehold-death-not-indicted-article-1.2031841
Putin funds France's far right Marine Le Pen and her Front Nationale Party, other EU far right...
parties.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/27274-focus-putin-funds-far-right-in-france-qits-no-secretq-says-marine-le-pen
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Taking campaign funds from a foreign government would break French law, to be sure. But the money comes in the form of loans from the Moscow-based First Czech Russian Bank, whose head Roman Yakubovich Popov is a former state banker and well-placed member of the Russian political establishment.
A first installment has been released from a loan of 40 million, a member of FNs political bureau told Mediapart. The installment of 9 million has arrived, 31 will follow.
Mediapart has lost its head, Marine Le Pen answered on Twitter, adamantly denying the larger figure: The sums they mention are totally fanciful.
The 9 million she was forced admit. This is no secret, she told Le Monde with her usual sangfroid. She even instructed FNs treasurer to report the loans to the party congress this past weekend, where they were celebrated in the company of two Russian dignitaries and fellow-travelers like Hollands Geert Wilders and the Italian Matteo Salvini of the League of the North.
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As I reported in September, many European neo-Nazis and former Fascists side with Putins Russia as a counter to American hegemony. Marines father Jean-Marie Le Pen called for such an alliance in his presidential election campaign in 2007, and again in 2009 in his appeal for a powerful, independent, [and] respected Europe encompassing the nations of the northern (boreal) continent from Brest to Vladivostok.
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(more at above link)
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Putin funds far right wing political parties throughout Europe because that is with whom he identifies.
Excellent NY Times article that I think supports need for indictment of Wilson
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/us/ferguson-grand-jury-weighed-mass-of-evidence-much-of-it-conflicting.html?_r=0Ferguson Grand Jury Faced Mass of Evidence, Much of It Conflicting
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Many witnesses first began to pay attention while the two were wrestling at the car window, though they often said they could not see enough to know what was going on. But even when the confrontation broke out into the open, the accounts diverged.
I see the officer running behind shooting, said one witness. When he gets out the car he immediately starts to shoot, said another. Let me stop you, still another said. He did not take off running after Michael.
Testimony about the critical final moments when Mr. Brown stopped running, turned and moved back toward Officer Wilson lay along a spectrum. Some hewed closer to Officer Wilsons recollection. I could say for sure he never put his hands up, said one witness, a man who was working in the area and did not live there, and whose recollection most strongly bolstered Officer Wilsons case. He ran to the officer full charge.
Others spoke just as confidently that events unfolded in a completely different way.
Yes I personally saw him on his knees with his hands in the air, one witness said in a recorded interview with federal officials that was played for the grand jury before he testified. The prosecutor questioning that witness did not hide her skepticism of his story, highlighting contradictions in his various accounts. Basically just about everything that you said on Aug. 13, and much of what you said today isnt consistent with the physical evidence that we have in this case, O.K., she said to him.
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Name: RuggedRealistGender: Male
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Current location: NYC
Member since: Tue Jan 4, 2005, 05:36 PM
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