Cybercrooks Sell Servers for as Little as $6 to Launch Attacks

 

By Reuters

A major underground marketplace acting like an eBay for criminals is selling access to more than 70,000 compromised servers allowing buyers to carry out widespread cyber-attacks around the world, security experts said on Wednesday.

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab, a global computer security firm based in Moscow, said the online forum appears to be run by a Russian speaking group. It offers access to hacked computers owned by governments, companies and universities in 173 countries, unbeknownst to the servers' legitimate owners. 

Access goes for as little as $6 for a compromised server. Each comes pre-equipped with a variety of software to mount denial-of-service attacks on other networks, launch spam campaigns, illicitly manufacture bitcoin currency or compromise online or retail payment systems, the researchers said.  

Click here for the full article.

Source: NBC News

Will Omar Mateen's Wife Be Charged for Not Warning Police of Orlando Attack?

Guilty Plea in Terrorists' Hack of U.S. Military Information

 

By Associated Press

Twenty-year-old Ardit Ferizi readily admitted his crime: hacking computers to obtain personal data of more than 1,300 U.S. government and military personnel, then turning the data over to the Islamic State group. But he couldn't explain why.

"I don't know myself why I did it," Ferizi told a judge at a hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, where he pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists and unauthorized computer access. "I ask myself the same question." 

Click here for the full article.

Source: NBC News

Search Vessel Finds Wreckage of EgyptAir Flight MS804, Investigators Say

 

By Charlene Gubash and Alex Johnson

A search vessel has found wreckage from EgyptAir Flight MS804 — with only days to go before signal transmitters were expected to expire — the Egyptian committee investigating the crash said Wednesday.

Flight MS804, an Airbus A320, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on May 19 with 66 people aboard.

A multinational team has been racing to find its remains before the batteries in location equipment run out of power, which authorities have said would happen sometime next week. 

This is a breaking news story, so check the cited news source for updates. 

Click here for the full article.

Source: NBC News

Why Shouldn’t the Spotlight Be on Public Offenders, Too?

 

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
District 32 Bronx County, New York

You should know that there is a debate raging in the New York State Legislature about eliminating the statute of limitations on sex abuse crimes for criminal and civil actions for certain sex offenses committed against a child less than eighteen years of age.

It is important for you to know that sexual abuse of children is found in every religious, racial, ethnic and socio-economic community. This is a disgrace, and we must do everything we can to institute reform, protect and assist victims, hold those responsible accountable, and prevent future abuse.

You should also know that the proposed bills in the Senate and the Assembly would provide a one-year window period, allowing for lawsuits in old cases to be brought forward in court.

This law would exempt public institutions and their employees, leaving the vast majority of potential plaintiffs who were abused in the past by public officials or public school teachers without the same right to sue those responsible.

In New York State, before anyone files a lawsuit against a town, city or public agency or government employees, the plaintiff must file what is called a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the incident.

A Notice of Claim is required in addition to any statute of limitation deadlines, and the failure to comply with Notice of Claim requirements results in the dismissal of civil lawsuits.

Under the current proposed legislation, there is no such risk of dismissal against non-public institutions nor their employees.

The current advocates for this new law to eliminate the statute of limitations must know that in no way, shape or form would they permit an amendment to the Notice of Claim requirement.

If they would permit that same one-year window for victims of sexual abuse by public officials or public school teachers, they would be opening the flood gates for billions of dollars worth of civil law suits, crashing budgets from small towns to bigger cities like New York.

The voters would certainly reap revenge on those who supported that legislation because it would inflict an outrageous tax burden on its citizens.

This silent conspiracy among the advocates of this bill must be addressed. They should not attempt to bask in the glow of their self-righteousness while they insulate publicly employed perpetrators from the same retro-active civil liability.  

I have to ask myself: How come the Daily News or any other publication, editorial board, or pundit isn’t making this demand, too. Why shouldn’t the spotlight be on those public offenders, too?  Where is the fairness in this proposed legislation?

I am Senator Rev Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.

Senate Passes Sanders' Missing Persons Bill

The New York State Senate today unanimously passed, by a vote of 61-0, legislation introduced by Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Rochdale Village), which would require police agencies to immediately file a report when an adult is reported missing, regardless of age.

The bill (S6437A) known as LaMont Dottin’s Law would also call for these agencies to file an electronic report with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Register if the missing person is not found within 24 hours. Previously, such actions were only taken for missing children or vulnerable adults.

LaMont Dottin  was 19 years old when he disappeared from St. Albans on October 16, 1995. His mother,  Dr. Arnita Fowler, tried to report him as missing right away, but due to police regulations she had to wait until November 13, 1995. Dr. Fowler continued to search for her son for five years, only to discover that he had been found dead six days after she had reported him missing and that he had been buried in an unmarked grave in a potter’s field.

“This legislation could potentially save lives and prevent future heartache for the families of loved ones who go missing," Senator Sanders said. "No one should have to experience the pain that LaMont Dottin’s family experienced. Having police agencies file an electronic report within 24 hours of a person’s disappearance, not only for children and the elderly, but all people, is a common sense safety measure that would positively impact residents across New York State.”

A companion bill (A9957) has been introduced in the Assembly by Assembly Member Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn). It was also passed today, and now it will go on to Governor Cuomo to be signed into law.

The previous version of this bill was vetoed by the governor, who cited compliance concerns with the NCIC database because reports were to be filed even when circumstances did not indicate a missing adult was in danger. This version of the bill outlines several situations under which a report shall be filed, including but not limited to physical danger, mirroring the parameters of the NCIC database. 

Source: The Office of State Senator James Sanders, Jr.  

Rev. Sharpton Statement on Indictment in the Case of Chanel Petro-Nixon

 

(New York, NY) — The following is a statement from Rev. Al Sharpton, President and Founder of the National Action Network on the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office securing an indictment in the case of Chanel Petro-Nixon:

“I applaud DA Kenneth Thompson and the prosecutors in the Brooklyn DA’s office for securing an indictment in the case of Chanel Petro-Nixon. Their diligence in the quest to bring justice to her family and a small amount of closure is something we are deeply grateful for. While we know nothing will bring Chanel back, a conviction in this case will allow her family to know that law enforcement worked tirelessly to find the suspect who took their 16-year-old honor student’s life in 2006. This was a case that was investigated by the previous DA Charles Hynes who promised her parents that it would never be closed until it was finished. I was apprised of the case by award-winning journalist Errol Louis who fervently wrote about the case and how Chanel vanished on Father’s Day, on the day she was supposed to apply for a job at a nearby Applebee’s restaurant. Several days later, sanitation workers found her strangled body in a trash can near a vacant lot in Crown Heights.

“I appeared on America’s Most Wanted seeking anonymous phone tips and National Action Network worked on this because Chanel’s case is indicative of many cases, particularly among young women of color and it is imperative to convey that we should never give up on seeking justice. NAN’s Northeast Regional Director Kirsten John Foy worked to help bring closure in this case and we are proud of his work and the work that others like Errol Louis did to bring exposure to this horrific case.” 

Source: Mercury

An Update from Berlin, by Rabbi Abraham Cooper

 SWC officials met with senior German Justice Ministry officials last week in Berlin. L-R: Shimon Samuels and Rabbi Cooper at an earlier meeting with German Justice Minister Heiko Maas.

June 15, 2016
Dateline: Berlin

Last week, together with Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) International Relations Director Dr. Shimon Samuels, I had meetings in Berlin with senior government officials focusing on the implications of one million Middle Eastern migrant/refugees now in Germany. Social integration and the need to challenge problematic attitudes brought from their cultures about women, gays, and Jews was a core focus of the discussions. 

Here are some of our findings:

Despite the serious efforts it is clear that Germany and other European countries cannot validate the true identity of hundreds of thousands of these new arrivals.

The political implications of this new reality are not lost on the fearful voting public that is veering right in many European nations. One official told us that ISIS made a special point of infiltrating at least one of the Paris terrorists among legitimate refugees fleeing Syria’s bloody civil war. “ISIS has plenty of operatives in place and could have carried out the attacks with Islamist terrorists already in place,” we were told. "But they wanted to spread mistrust and hate about the newcomers and they succeeded.”

When we raised the issue of the impact of radical Imams, authorities admitted that there were times when they couldn’t identify the Imams, what they are teaching to new immigrants and who they succeed in radicalizing, until it is too late.

We conferred with a top Jewish community leader in Berlin and the Israeli Ambassador to assess the changing situation and discuss steps to secure a safe future.

Der Tagesspiegel, a leading German newspaper, ran my op-ed challenging Germany to confront the anti-Semitism that migrants brought with them from their countries of origin and has been widely read.  

Read article (in German) here.

We will continue to keep you updated on developments in Germany and across Europe  - thank you for your continued support. 

Source: The Simon Wiesenthal Center

President Obama's Statement on the Death of Senator George Voinovich

 

Michelle and I were saddened to learn of the passing of former Senator George Voinovich. As was clear from his 46 years in public service, George was a true patriot who dedicated his life to serving the people of Ohio. His dedication is underscored by the fact that he holds the record for being elected to more public offices than any other Ohioan in history. George leaves behind a powerful legacy of service to his state and country that will not soon be forgotten. Michelle and I offer his wife, Janet, and their children and grandchildren our condolences during this difficult time.

Source: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary

Oval Office Chat: President Hollande and Prime Minister Trudeau

 

President Obama spoke today by phone with President Francois Hollande of France to accept President Hollande’s condolences for the terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida. President Obama thanked President Hollande for visiting the U.S. Embassy in Paris on Monday to express France’s sympathy and support. President Obama offered his own condolences on behalf of the American people for yesterday’s fatal attack on a French police officer and his partner in France. Both leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to degrading and destroying ISIL and standing against the broader scourge of terrorism.   

The President also spoke by phone today with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada to accept Prime Minister Trudeau’s condolences for the terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida.  President Obama expressed his own condolences on behalf of the American people for the death of Canadian citizen Robert Hall, who was recently killed by Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the Philippines. The leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to confront the scourge of terrorism.  

Source: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary

Obama Excoriates Republican Obsession With The Term ‘Radical Islam’

By Jessica Schulberg

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday forcefully rebuked Republicans who have berated him for refusing to characterize lone wolf terror attacks by Muslim individuals as acts of “radical Islam.”

Speaking from the Treasury Department two days after a Muslim man shot 49 people to death at a gay nightclub in Orlando after declaring allegiance to the self-described Islamic State group, the president challenged his detractors to identify a single tangible benefit of adjusting his choice of words to describe the attack.

“What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to try to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?” Obama asked rhetorically, using another name for the Islamic State. 

Click here for the full article.

Source: The Huffington Post

“Trump and the Presidency: An Alternative Scenario?”

 

The Duopoly Watch 

By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

You may recall that back in 2012, Donald Trump also ran for the Repub. nomination for the presidency.  At least he gave the appearance of running.  But fairly on, Larry O’Donnell, who has the “The Last Word” on MSNBC each weeknight, said, quite authoritatively, that Trump would not stick with it.  He was doing it only to garner publicity for himself.  There was a date certain (in March of that year as I recall) by which Trump would have to declare that he would be back for another season of The Celebrity Apprentice or he would forfeit the opportunity.  Sure enough, at the deadline Trump pulled out the race and went back to his sinecure.

This time around, just about a year ago, as Trump was gearing up for his next run for the Repub. nomination, NBC canceled The Celebrity Apprentice, in the first instance because of his wildly off-the-wall anti-Mexican immigrant remarks.  In 2012, however, NBC stood by as Trump provided the first leadership-with-national-visibility for the openly racist “Obama’s a Kenyan” movement.  Trump, as is too well known, then moved on to xenophobia, misogyny, racism, and the politics of personal attack, all of which have a direct correlation to prejudice.  It certainly has appeared that he is serious about the nomination, and winning the Presidency too.  And he has many people worried.  For many Repubs. the worry is motivated by the fear that he will lose badly, so badly in fact that he will negatively affect the “down-ticket” races, especially among the endangered Repub. Senators.  For many of the rest of us the worry is about what would happen to this country and the rest of the world should he win, and indeed he might.  How that could happen and what he would do as President right up front, we’ll get to at another time. Of course, the same political calculus applies to the despicable Hillary Clinton, except the latter is a far more slippery character, much more practiced in the art of mass deception.

BUT, and I know that I am going way out on a limb here, he may not be the Repub. Candidate for the Presidency.  This occurrence would in part be the result of planning for that eventuality and in part because Trump never expected to get this far, and getting this far has put him at great personal risk (and I do NOT mean risk of only the physical sort which, in his case, as an explosively polarizing demagogue, is very real although he appears oblivious to such possibility).  First, could Trump have actually expected that he would win the nomination?  Well, along with most professional political analysts and historians, he couldn’t have expected that.

It is unlikely that at the very beginning he could have anticipated just how attractive the setting up “the other(s)” as convenient targets on which to blame everything (and in this he has much in common with fascism) would be. But he was facing a group of opponents weak on both policy and style, and his style of venomous personal attack, whether on individuals or groups, while staying away from policy except in the most general terms, that appeals so much to his base within the general Repub. base, proved to be remarkably effective in the small electoral universe of the Repub. primaries.  And so here he is, as the presumptive nominee of his sometime party.

But not so fast, even at this point, is what I am saying.  While Hillary has her emails, Trump has his income tax returns.  What’s in the former could still derail Hillary (which is why, as I and some others, have been saying for quite some time that that is why Bernie is formally staying in the race).  What’s in the latter could conceivably derail Trump, which, in my view, is why he is so desperately trying not to release them.  Trump has been running, at least to his crowds, on both the “I’m just like you” theme (when it comes to hatred of “the other”) and the “I am nothing like you” theme (when it comes to his wealth and his success as a businessman).  (That for most people trying to do that just wouldn’t work because of the internal contradiction, for Trump it does because he lives on contradiction — taking opposite sides on the same question at different times and then claiming, visual/documentary evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, that his most recent position is what he has always believed.)

But supposing that his income tax returns revealed the following (and some are speculating on one more of these as possibilities): he is not nearly as wealthy as he says he is; he has money, significant amounts of it, stashed overseas (the Cayman Islands, anyone!?!); he has been personally as well as corporatively bankrupt (revealing that he isn’t such a great businessman after all); he uses every accountancy trick in the book to keep his tax liability down; just as he did very long ago, he still doesn’t pay much, if any, income tax; given whatever level of wealth he has, he doesn’t give away much of a percentage of it on a regular basis; and then, the figures from the latter could reveal a presumption of tax fraud or a Ponzi scheme, perhaps; and then, further, possibly, his dealings with criminal elements did not end in the 1980s.  And who knows what else might be hidden in there that Trump desperately does not want coming to the light of day, lest criminal charges grow out of them.

And then, internal polling, done by the RNC, for Trump doesn’t do that sort of thing, could reveal that regardless of what certain polls show, Trump has no chance of winning, even against Hillary Clinton.  And Trump doesn’t like to lose.  Glitter (what’s left of it) is coming off the name that he has been living off of over the last 10-20 years at an increasing rate.  If he were to suffer a particularly humiliating electoral defeat, the Trump brand could be finished.  And so, here’s a possible scenario.

About a week before the Repub. Convention, still not having released those tax returns, he announces that he is withdrawing as the Presumptive Nominee.  Why?  He couldn’t possibly get a fair shake from “The Media.”  (Why by golly he is actually asked about whether he made contributions he claimed to have made for which there is not records, and he is asked to explain how come he says “yes” on an issue in one month and then “no” in the next.)  Have you noticed that he has been going after “The Media” with ever-increasing venom in the last week or so?  This could just be “Trump being Trump.”  Or it could be part of an exit strategy to avoid, yes, prosecution.

Such a strategy would be based on an attack on “The Media” that would make his current attacks look mild by comparison: “they are all against me.  I just cannot get a fair shake, and that’s so unfair.  The table is so tilted against me that I cannot possible win.  And that would not be fair to the American people” expressed in language that no ordinary politician would think of using.  And so on and so forth, as only (so far) Trump can do that sort of thing.

And so who do you suppose would be waiting in the wings, possibly even by design?  Why none other than Pretty Boy Ryan.  And he could actually beat Hillary.  How about them apples? 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Senior Editor, Politics, Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor Emeritus of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) and author/co-author/editor/co-editor of over 30 books.  In addition to being Senior Editor, Politics, for The Greanville Post, he is: a Contributor for American Politics to The Planetary Movement; a “Trusted Author” for Op-Ed News.com; a contributor to the “Writing for Godot” section of Reader Supported News; and a contributor to From The G-Man. He is the Editorial Director and a Contributing Author for TPJmagazine.us.  Further, he is an occasional Contributor to TheHarderStuff newsletter, BuzzFlash Commentary, and Dandelion Salad. 

Dr. Jonas’ latest book is The 15% Solution: How the Republican Religious Right Took Control of the U.S., 1981-2022: A Futuristic Novel, Brewster, NY, Trepper & Katz Impact Books, Punto Press Publishing, 2013, and available on Amazon

Donald Trump Speech After Orlando Shooting (Full Video)

U.S. Senate Passes Defense Authorization Bill

 

The Senate votes 85-13 to pass S. 2943, the $602.2 National Defense Authorization Act, which also requires women to register for the draft and restricts the president from closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

Click here for video.

Source: C-SPAN

House Republican Briefing on Orlando, Florida Mass Shooting

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and members of the House Republican leadership speak to reporters about the Orlando, Florida mass shooting following a meeting at RNC headquarters. Fifty people, including the gunman, died in that attack.

Click here for video.

House Democratic Leadership
News Conference on Gun Control 

Democratic Caucus Chair Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Joe Crowley (D-NY), and others hold a news conference to call for gun control legislation following the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. 

Click here for video. 

Source: C-SPAN

Senator John Cornyn Calls for Terrorism Watch List and Encryption Reforms

 

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) urges his colleagues to consider legislation to bar individuals on the terrorism watch list from legally buying firearms. He also calls on Congress to grant the FBI more ability to access encrypted information in investigations. 

User-Created Clip
by Caitlin Hillyard
June 14, 2016 

Click here for video.

Source: C-SPAN

Visa Overstays and National Security

 

The House Homeland Security Committee on Border Security heard testimony today/Tuesday from federal officials with Customs & Border Protection, Homeland Security & Immigration Enforcement. The hearing focused on the security risks involved by individuals who overstay their visas and what the administration is doing to keep track of these people. 

Click here for video.

Source: C-SPAN