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Russia's military wants to buy five dolphins for $25000 and no, they don't want to disclose why
Business Insider The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced plans that it is seeking to buy five young and healthy dolphins, Russian news sources reported this week. According to the Russian media company TASS, the defense ministry is willing to pay upwards of ... Russia Is Shopping For Dolphins To Turn Into Undersea CommandosJalopnik The Russian military is looking for a few good dolphinsThe Verge Russia looks to buy five dolphins with perfect teeth and killer instinctThe Guardian Sky News Australia -TASS all 63 news articles » |
Daily Mail |
Is Vladimir Putin's 'lover' Russia's secret weapon in Maria Sharapova scandal?
Daily Mail The glamorous former gymnast believed to be Vladimir Putin's secret lover has landed a top sports as Russia fights back over the Maria Sharapova doping scandal. Alina Kabaeva, 32, has taken control of the popular Sport-Express, a leading sports ... |
Syria's main, Western-backed opposition groups said Friday they will attend the U.N.-sponsored indirect peace talks with the Damascus government in Geneva, starting in two days' time, amid renewed efforts by the international community to end the deadly, five-year conflict.
David Cameron, speaking to the Welsh conservatives on Friday, criticises Boris Johnson’s suggestion that the UK could follow a Canadian-style free-trade agreement system. Cameron points out that Canada has been negotiating its agreements for seven years, adding that seven years of uncertainty was not an option for UK businesses
Prime minister to warn exit from EU would cost farming industry £330m
Continue reading...Prime minister to warn exit from EU would cost farming industry £330m
Daily News & Analysis |
Arab League brands Hezbollah group a terrorist organization
Washington Post CAIRO — Egypt's state news agency says the Arab League has formally branded Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group a terrorist organization. MENA says the decision came during the league foreign ministers' meeting Friday. The move aligns the 22-member ... Arab League labels Hezbollah a terrorist organizationReuters Egypt's news agency: Arab League brands Lebanese Hezbollah group a terrorist organizationWTOP 22-Member Arab League Picks Egyptian Chief at Critical TimeNew York Times MWC News -AllAfrica.com all 182 news articles » |
Egypt’s state news agency says the Arab League has formally branded Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group a terrorist organization.
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Counterterrorism investigators say they are beginning to pour through a cache of documents detailing what could be the most comprehensive look into the recruiting networks luring fighters into the Islamic State group.
US Government Hits Back, Calls Apple's Security Stance 'False'
State of the State KS (subscription) In its filing, the federal government again insisted that the order in this case is limited and applies to a single iPhone, though FBI Director James B. Comey acknowledged earlier this month that if the government prevails here it could establish a ... and more » |
LONDON (AP) - Counterterrorism investigators say they are beginning to pore through a cache of documents detailing what could be the most comprehensive look into the recruiting networks luring fighters into the Islamic State group.
The IS files that surfaced late Wednesday contain names of potential fighters, names of personal ...
Some Republicans believe that the Obama administration’s choice for NATO’s next deputy secretary general has not had the right approach to Russia.
According to a report in Bloomberg, Douglas Lute, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO, wrote in a letter to the North Atlantic Council Tuesday that the administration has recommended Rose Gottemoeller, currently the undersecretary of state for arms control, to become the next deputy secretary general of NATO.
Gottemoeller has played a large role in the administration’s “reset policy” toward Russia, which has widely been viewed as a failure given Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and military buildup in Syria.
Some Republicans have been critical of Gottemoeller, citing two of her appearances before congressional lawmakers as reasons for accusing her of not being forthright about Russia violating arms-control agreements while the administration was negotiating new treaties with Russia.
Bloomberg’s Josh Rogin reported:
The first was in 2012, when, according to two U.S. officials who saw a classified transcript, Gottemoeller told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Russia had been developing a ground-based cruise missile whose ranges violated an existing accord, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. The administration didn’t brief NATO allies on it until January 2014 and didn’t publicly disclose the violation until July 2014. State Department spokesman John Kirby told me that the U.S. government did not have any information about the Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty while the New START Treaty was being negotiated. It was signed in 2010. The second appearance was last December, when Gottemoeller publicly testified to the House Armed Services Committee about a different Russian military system, a long-range sea-based nuclear torpedo system called the Status-6. When asked whether she knew about Russian development of the Status-6 while she was negotiating the New START Treaty, Gottemoeller said “unequivocally no.”
Rep. Michael Turner (R., Ohio), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, alleged in a letter this week that Gottemoeller “deceived members of Congress and grossly misrepresented the facts” during the December appearance and later “attempted to reverse such testimony” during a private meeting. Gottemoeller reportedly said later that she misunderstood the nature of Turner’s question. The committee plans to hold another hearing on the issue.
Turner further expressed criticism of Gottemoeller in his letter to Rep Mike Rodgers (R., Ala.), who chairs the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, citing the 2012 hearing as evidence of a pattern of deception.
“Unfortunately, this latest incident is part of a larger pattern of behavior in which Ms. Gottemoeller has repeatedly deceived members of Congress and our NATO allies. While working as the Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, she withheld information from NATO about Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty and only addressed the issue with allies after the story broke in the press,” Turner wrote.
“Additionally, she has failed to impose any sanctions on the Russian firms involved with this violation of the INF Treaty, despite having twice promised to Congress that those sanctions would be imposed.”
In his letter to the North Atlantic Council this week, Lute called Gottemoeller a “veteran diplomat” and said she would symbolize America’s strong commitment to NATO “during a period of heightened challenges.” He also indicated that her gender was a consideration in her nomination.
“In light of today’s important discussions on gender equality, Rose’s nomination is also emblematic of the emphasis the United States places on the inclusion of women across all levels of the Alliance,” Lute wrote.
The post Obama NATO Pick Has Wrong Approach to Russia, Some Republicans Warn appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
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Почему обстоятельства смерти Михаила Лесина вызвали такой переполох? Какое место он занимал в российской политике и за что его называют одним из главных врагов независимых российских СМИ? В студии Радио Свобода председатель партии «Западный выбор» Константин Боровой на видеосвязи с нами корреспондент Радио Свобода в Вашингтоне Карл Шрек.
Download audio: http://audio.rferl.org/RU/2016/03/11/20160311-160500-RU081-program.mp3
Download audio: http://audio.rferl.org/RU/2016/03/11/20160311-160500-RU081-program.mp3
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РИА Новости |
На Украине улучшилось отношение к России, показал опрос
РИА Новости Число украинцев, которые хорошо относятся к России, выросло за год и составило 28,4%, одновременно снизилось число настроенных негативно, свидетельствуют данные социологического опроса Института Горшенина. Жительница Украины продает овощи на Площади ... На Украине увеличилось число симпатизирующих России гражданРБК Социологи зафиксировали рост числа симпатизирующих России граждан УкраиныNEWSru.com Соцопрос показал, что все меньше украинцев хотят в ЕС и НАТОВести.Ru Росбалт.RU -Mail.Ru -Украина.ру Все похожие статьи: 145 » |
Telephone Justice: Russian Prankster Says His Phone Calls Changed Verdicts by support@pangea-cms.com (Tom Balmforth)
Russian prankster Sergei Davydov says he has influenced numerous court decisions by phoning judges in the guise of an influential official and instructing them to rule in a certain way.
The Office of Personnel Management (“OPM”) data breach involves the greatest theft of sensitive personnel data in history. But, to date, neither the scope nor scale of the breach, nor its significance, nor the inadequate and even self-defeating response has been fully aired.
The scale of the OPM breach is larger and more harmful than appreciated, the response to it has worsened the data security of affected individuals, and the government has inadequately addressed the breach’s counterintelligence consequences. While we can never know for sure exactly what the government is doing in secret to address the breach and mitigate its consequences, based on what is publicly known, the millions affected by the breach have good reason to fear.
Below, I explore the scale of the problem.
First Cut On the Scope of the Breach
When news first broke about the OPM data breach in early June of 2015, I was not overly concerned. Like many others, I initially assumed the breach involved only routine background checks; it never occurred to me that the “actual” security clearances could be held at OPM. Then, in mid-June,officials confirmed a second breach involving the security clearance files of current, former, and prospective federal employees. The compromised data included SF-86 forms which contain intimate details about the prospective employee’s personal life, family members, and other contacts.
But the breadth of the OPM breach is even broader than these acknowledged massive intrusions. For instance, in December 2015, the Washington Post reported that the government was sending notifications to journalists who “have or once may have had access to federal buildings” to alert them that their personal information could have been compromised. The article notes that this breach alone could involve “hundreds and as many as thousands of reporters, photographers and cameramen and women.”
The first hearing in front of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, on June 16, 2015, gave yet another indication of the breadth of the intrusion. There, OPM Chief Information Officer Donna Seymour acknowledged that the information compromised in the data breach included “SF-86 data as well as clearance adjudication information.” This was a particularly dismaying disclosure. Although most media attention focused on the SF-86 data exfiltration, adjudication data is far more comprehensive and important. The adjudicative guidelines, established for all individuals “who require access to classified information,” are extraordinarily broad. They apply to all “persons being considered for initial or continued eligibility for access to classified information” and “are to be used by government departments and agencies in all final clearance determinations.”
Under these guidelines, the scope of the information required for adjudication vastly exceeds that required by an SF-86. The desiderata ranges from information on “sexual behavior” that “reflects lack of discretion or judgment” to evidence of “foreign influence,” including a broad definition of “risk of foreign exploitation” associated with mere “contact with a foreign family member.” For instance, the information collected to adjudicate a simple Top Secret single-scope background investigation includes a “Personal Subject Interview” and “interviews with neighbors, employers, educators, references and spouses/cohabitants.” It also includes “record checks with local law enforcement where the individual lived, worked, or went to school in the past 10 years.” None this information is included on a standard SF-86.
Although the theft of fingerprint data has been widely reported, there is still another critical component of the adjudication dataset that has been largely overlooked. Certain types of security clearances require the individual to pass a polygraph examination, which can be extraordinarily intrusive and far exceed the subject matter of an SF-86. One former U.S. official noted that “a polygrapher once asked if he’d ever practiced bestiality.” Another said that “he was asked about what contacts he’d had with journalists, including in a social setting. All of the data collected during a polygraph is part of the adjudication data set. While we do not know where and how the full set of polygraph data is stored, adjudication data does include at least some polygraph information and officials have confirmed some polygraph data is shared with OPM.
What does this mean for someone like me, who has had a security clearance for over three decades? Given that the data sets stolen in the OPM go back to 1985, the information known to the attacker potentially includes all data collected during my initial clearance process and every comprehensive mandatory update, including all of the data from multiple polygraph examinations.
Security Clearance Databases & Systems
The full breadth of the security clearance data at risk remains unclear. For instance, U.S. officialshave “neither confirmed nor denied” whether OPM’s database was linked with Scattered Castles, the intelligence community’s database of “sensitive clearance holders.” The Scattered Castles database was established by Intelligence Community Policy Guidance (ICPG) 704.5 in October of 2008. This database was intended to be used exclusively by the Intelligence Community. However, there is reason to believe Scattered Castles was not fully and efficiently used within the IC. A DoD IG Report completed in April 2014 concluded: “We found a lack of effective recordkeeping by the Agency security offices, as well as by DIA, NGA, NRO, and NSA IGs. This occurred because the appropriate investigative and personnel security databases — JPAS, DCII, and the IC's SCATTERED CASTLES system — were not being reliably populated with investigative and security information. As a result, the failure to effectively document investigative Subjects in JPAS, SCATTERED CASTLES, and/or DCII significantly hindered personnel security clearance and access adjudications.“ This indicates the landscape of where and how clearance information is stored is far more complex than one or two databases; such complexity makes mapping the full potential impact of the breach even more difficult from the outside.
Some amount of overlap between the government’s various security clearance record repositories is apparent. A report published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence provides some insight: In order to report security clearance volume levels, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center’s Special Security Directorate (SSD) “compiled and processed data from the three primary security clearance record repositories: ODNI’s Scattered Castles (SC); DoD’s Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS); and the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Central Verification System (CVS). To fulfill specific reporting requirements of the FY 2010 IAA, the SSD issued a special data call to the seven IC agencies with delegated authority to conduct investigations or adjudications.” The purpose of the data call was to consolidate security clearance data. However, it not clear, what, if any, information was shared from SC to CVS.
Similarly, a December 2005 OMB Memorandum on the subject “Reciprocal Recognition of Existing Personnel Security Clearances” directs OPM to “develop and promulgate guidance that directs agencies to: i) query DoD’s JPAS database if the existing clearance was issued by a DoD activity; ii) query the Intelligence Community’s Scattered Castles database if the existing clearance was issued by an intelligence community agency.” While this may indicate that these databases are indeed separate, it clearly means there is some comingling of information including highly sensitive IC clearance material.
Further, a 2008 Intelligence Community Policy Guidance directs the Special Security Center to “collaborate” with both DoD and OPM to ensure that “personnel security information contained in the SC database is accessible and the data is correlated with OPM’s Clearance Verification System database”:
Oct 2008The DNI Special Security Center shall:a. Collaborate with the Department of Defense and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to ensure Senior Officials of the Intelligence Community -approved personnel security information contained in the SC database is accessible and the data is correlated with OPM's Clearance Verification System database at the appropriate level of classification to protect agency-specific classified information.
We also know from a February 2012 Federal Investigations Notice that the OPM security clearance database (CVS) “contains information on security clearances, investigations, suitability, fitness determinations, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) decisions, Personal Identification Verification (PIV) credentials, and polygraph data,” provided from “agency sources, OPM legacy systems, and the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS).”
Finally, a January 2014 Federal Investigations Notice notes that OPM’s CVS database “collects and shares data necessary for agencies to make reciprocal determinations” about clearances for “State, Local, Tribal, and Private Sector Entities (SLTPS).” Due to an Executive Order requiring that “all clearances granted to SLTPS personnel shall be accepted reciprocally by all agencies and SLTPS entities,” OPM has modified its CVS to “collect and display additional data fields” to accommodate these security clearances. The reciprocal contacts contemplated by this Notice therefore hint at linkages between OPM’s CVS and any number of relevant agency databases.
As noted in a July 2015 Congressional Research Service report, “[i]f the IC’s database were linked with OPM’s, this could potentially help the hackers gain access to intelligence agency personnel and identify clandestine and covert officers. Even if data on intelligence agency personnel were not compromised, the hackers might be able to use the sensitive personnel information to ‘neutralize’ U.S. officials by exploiting their personal weaknesses and/or targeting their relatives abroad.”
To make matters worse, it appears that OPM maintained an unsecured and unencrypted database for the security clearances. A 2006 OPM report states that the “Data Repository” is premised on a “shared-disk (shared-data) model,” and that “[a]ll of the disks containing databases are accessible by all of the systems.”
Other Potentially Compromised Systems
Along with the aforementioned databases, the OPM systems are linked electronically to other agencies and databases, and it stored much of this data alongside the security clearance files. According to a 2007 White House report on OPM security clearance performance, checks of State Passport records and searches of military service records are now conducted electronically. According to this report, then, there are electronic linkages between the OPM Security Clearance files, Department of Defense service records, and State Department Passport records.
We also learned from testimony given by OPM’s Federal Investigative Service in February 2012 about OPM’s reciprocity initiative:
Today, reciprocity is fully enabled with relevant security clearance, suitability, and identity data shared across the Federal government. By implementing an automated position designation tool and expanding the data stored in the Central Verification System (CVS), agencies can more accurately determine the proper level of investigation to be conducted. By building a pass through to DOD’s Joint Personnel Adjudication System, CVS is the standard for clearance validation for most of the Federal government.
The linkage with JPAS means that whatever actor successfully breached the OPM system potentially has pass-through access to a complete set of other extraordinarily sensitive National Security data, including detailed information on every US defense contractor facility, data about which defense facilities both USG and contractors may have visited, and any contacts made with non-US officials and civilians both inside and outside the US, even while on vacation. Ultimately, the potential exists even for the compromise of the personally identifiable information (“PII”) of NATO and non-NATO visits to and from the United States.
Counterproductive Mitigation Efforts
Closely following news of the data breaches was the announcement that free credit and identity monitoring would be offered to potential victims of the intrusion. At the time, it was unclear how OPM intended to complete the inventory of people affected by the breach, or how OPM could provide this information to the three major credit reporting agencies without violating the Privacy Act.
On July 16, 2015, OPM published notice to establish “a new routine use” allowing OPM to disclose information “to appropriate persons and entities for purposes of response and remedial efforts in the event that there has been a breach of the data contained in the systems. This routine use will facilitate an effective response to a confirmed or suspected breach by allowing for disclosure to those individuals affected by the breach, as well as to others who are in position to assist in the agency's response efforts, either by assisting in notification to affected individuals or otherwise playing a role in preventing, minimizing, or remedying harms from the breach.”
There are two primary areas of concern with these changes. The first was that this would give OPM permission to pass PII to the three credit agencies. Given the vast number of potential victims of the breach, it would be impossible to do so except via some contracting mechanism that would identify the victims as part of the OPM breach. This would only further perpetuate PII about the attack victims to the agencies’ call centers located worldwide with completely unsecured, unclassified systems. The second area of concern was that the proposed change was inappropriately tailored to address activities related to the suspected or confirmed compromise of information. Instead, it would allow private contractors to have unfettered access to extremely sensitive data.
I submitted these and other concerns to OPM in response to its “new routine use” proposal. (Prior to the deadline for submission of objections to the change, I also contacted members of Congress who had demonstrated concern about the data breach in an attempt to stop this change to the Privacy Act.) In addition to my submission, only one Federal employee union and one NGO objected to the proposed changes.
In the end OPM ignored all but two of my concerns. This was OPM’s response to comments:
Finally, one individual and one Federal employee union sought information about security measures that would be taken to convey information shared outside of OPM pursuant to the new routine use. As with information shared outside the agency pursuant any routine use associated with its systems, OPM will transmit such information in accordance with applicable information security laws, guidelines, and standards including, but not limited to, the Federal Information Security Management Act (Pub. L. 107-296), and associated OMB policies, standards and guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.The individual commenter and employee union also questioned whether the routine use is appropriately tailored to address activities related to the suspected or confirmed compromise of information, OPM adopted the model language developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB Memorandum 07-16, Safeguarding Against and Responding to the Breach of Personally Identifiable Information, Attachment 2) and adopted by a number of other Federal agencies. As drafted, this routine use permits the agency to protect sensitive information contained in OPM's systems while also facilitating mitigation and prevention activities in the event of confirmed or suspected compromise of information. Therefore, OPM has adopted the new routine use, first published on July 16, 2015, without further change.
I believe this is an entirely inadequate resolution. OPM appears to be allowing the clearance data of affected individuals to be exposed to unknown contractors brought in to help mitigate the attack. But contractors were at the heart of the initial attack, and we have no way of knowing what contractors now may have access to the clearance data based on an arbitrary “need to know” criterion. Additionally, the bulk PII now provided to the credit reporting agencies, coupled with the absurd notification systems that Jack Goldsmith discussed in January, places those impacted by the breach at greater risk. It is virtually impossible that the PII of impacted persons is being adequately protected as it flows through the systems and global call centers of the credit agencies.
A Counterintelligence “Plan”
One of my biggest concerns since the OPM attack came to light is the lack of a coherent counterintelligence (CI) plan from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), or in particular from Bill Evanina, the National Counterintelligence Executive.
In January, Evanina announced a “new campaign to warn government employees and contractors” that “they are all potential human targets by intelligence agents.” In an interview with CNN, Evanina acknowledged the existence of a permanent threat: “The threat is now, and it is enduring. If they decide to compromise me, they may do it now, they may do it in three years.”
But despite Evanina’s apparent nod to the seriousness of the threat, the ODNI’s public counterintelligence campaign consists of a series of YouTube videos. These videos are so laughably childish so as to remind me of the “Communist threat” films I was forced to endure during Cold War-era basic training for the Army. And I’d suspect these videos will be of little help to former covert operatives facing genuine threats to the safety of themselves and their family. I am confident that at least some of the 22 million victims—and their 6.3 million minor children—of this espionage attack share concerns with the deficiency of this counterintelligence campaign that have not been answered or addressed.
These deficiencies are all the more inexplicable given ODNI’s clear recognition of the existence of so-called “global threats” to the national security of the United States. In February, during testimony to the House Select Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated, “Russia and China continue to have the most sophisticated cyber programs. China continues cyber espionage against the United States. Whether China’s commitment of last September moderates its economic espionage, remains to be seen. Iran and North Korea continue to conduct cyber espionage as they enhance their attack capabilities.”
I doubt that ODNI can provide a satisfactory account of the inadequacies of its proposed counterintelligence plan. But, to the extent it can, it must do so in order to begin rebuilding a sense of trust with the many victims of this act of espionage.
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LONDON (Reuters) - Russia scolded Britain on Friday for saying that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin dreamed of weakening the West with a British exit from the European Union.
Egypt’s news agency: Arab League brands Lebanese Hezbollah group a terrorist organization.
A European watchdog group on Friday said Poland’s right-wing government had blunted the functions of the country’s constitutional court.
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A top commander of so-called Islamic State (IS) may have survived a recent US air strike in north-eastern Syria, US defence officials in Baghdad say.
Boris Johnson said Britain should adopt a model similar to Canada to trade with the European Union, in his first major campaign speech in favor of the U.K.’s exit from the EU.
A new article suggests that Obama's view of his British counterpart is remarkably bleak.
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Germany's Nationalist Party Set for Gains as Three States Voteby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
A rising nationalist party is expected to ride unease about Chancellor Angela Merkel's migrant policy to perform strongly in three German state elections this weekend, the first significant political test since last year's massive influx of people seeking safety and a better life. Alternative for Germany, or AfD, formed three years ago, is wooing voters with slogans such as "ENOUGH!" and "Secure borders instead of borderless crime." It's expected to...
Taliban Assassinate Pakistani Army Officerby webdesk@voanews.com (Ayaz Gul)
Taliban militants have shot dead a Pakistani military officer in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Officials say Lieutenant Colonel Tariq Ghafoor was returning from a mosque after Friday afternoon prayers when gunmen ambushed him. A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban claimed the militant group was behind the deadly ambush in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The anti-state extremist outfit insists it wants to oust the "un-Islamic"...
Ukraine’s vehement former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, says the leaders who came to power following 2014’s bloody upheavals are stifling the country by tolerating corruption.
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CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab League labeled Shi'ite Hezbollah a terrorist organization at its meeting on Friday, Egyptian state news agency MENA said.
Drug trafficking enterprise dismantled, leader gets 20 years after multi-agency investigation.
BRUSSELS (AP) - NATO's chief decision-making body says it has approved the nomination of the U.S. Army general currently in charge of American forces in Korea to become the next supreme allied commander Europe, or SACEUR.
The North Atlantic Council said Friday that subject to congressional approval, Gen. Curtis M. ...
The number of individuals receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps, has exceeded 45 million for 56 straight months, according to datareleased by the Department of Agriculture.
There were 45,188,655 beneficiaries of the food stamp program in December 2015, the latest month for which data is available. The number declined by 265,216 from November to December.
The USDA has been tracking data on participation in the program since 1969, when average participation stood at 2,878,000. Since then, participation in the program has increased by more than 1,470 percent.
The number of food stamp recipients first exceeded 45 million in May 2011. Since then, the number has consistently exceeded 45 million, hitting a record high of nearly 47.8 million in December 2012.
Changes to food stamp policies made it easier for people to apply for benefits, made food stamps available to more people and the benefits became more generous, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Economic factors alone do not fully explain the growth in SNAP participation,” states the agency. “Changes in SNAP policies, some of them associated with the 2002 and 2008 Farm Acts, have made benefits easier to apply for, available to more people, and more generous.”
At a House Committee on Agriculture hearing last week, lawmakers convened to review various options for states when implementing the program, and many focused their remarks on implementing work requirements to receive benefits.
According to Rep. Ted Yoho (R., Fla.), states that implemented the work requirement saw a decline in those resigning up for the program.
“In the state of Florida, we talked with our people that administer this program and they put the work requirement, as you know, on the first of January,” Yoho said. “From January to the end of February, the people that were on SNAP that had work requirements instituted in the beginning of the year, less than 8 percent have resigned up for the SNAP programs.”
Households on food stamps received an average monthly benefit of $256.51 in December 2015, and total monthly benefits cost taxpayers $5.73 billion.
According to Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.), our rising national debt will force programs like food stamps to be reformed since there won’t be enough money to fund them in the coming years.
“Unless we reform programs like the SNAP program and a number of other entitlement programs there is going to be a shrinking supply of funds for all of these programs given the fact that we now have $500 billion to $1 trillion annual deficits totaling at $20 trillion annual debt,” he said.
“I prefer to see SNAP actually as, the purpose of it is not so much a program but a pathway, you know a path that works in a functional way to lift people out of poverty, to achieve greater opportunity, to provide a means for upward mobility,” said Rep. Glenn Thompson (R., Penn.). “I’d obviously put SNAP in with a whole lot of other programs that don’t do that today, they tend to keep people down and suppressed and they never realize the American Dream.”
The post Food Stamp Beneficiaries Exceed 45 Million for 56 Straight Months appeared first onWashington Free Beacon.
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Political and Hollywood heavyweights from past and present were gathering Friday for the funeral of Nancy Reagan — a reflection of the unique and enduring cultural sway held by the former first lady and her husband during their era in the White House.
The FBI Wants Schools to Spy on Their Students' Thoughts | Just ...
Just Security Imagine you're a high school principal. An FBI document lands on your desk. It's called “Preventing Violent Extremism in Schools,” and it's alarming. According to ... and more » |
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Банды Нью-Йорка by golosamerikius
Полиция Нью-Йорка провела крупномасштабную операцию, арестовав несколько десятков членов преступных сообществ.
CNBC |
Is Moscow squeezing Moody's out of Russia?
CNBC The Kremlin is set to usher in rules next year that will require agencies to create new, Russia-regulated subsidiaries. Under the regulations, any new rating assignment and withdrawal by these subsidiaries would have to be approved by the country's ... Moody's to stop domestic ratings in RussiaRT Moody's withdrawal of Russia's local credit ratings could start exodusThe Globe and Mail Moody's to withdraw from Russian domestic marketFinancial Times all 163 news articles » |
The mysterious death of Mikhail Lesin, former presidential aide and media tycoon, took a new turn on Thursday when U.S. forensic specialists reported new evidence that he died from a "blunt force trauma to the head."
A Russian banker accused in the United States of participating in a spy ring has pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
The Guardian |
FBI 'could force Apple to hand over private key'
The Guardian The department wrote in a footnote to its filing: “The FBI cannot itself modify the software on Farook's iPhone without access to the source code and Apple's private electronic signature. “The government did not seek to compel Apple to turn those over ... Why Apple vs. FBI might be the worst cybersecurity dilemma everPBS NewsHour Apple vs. FBI: Why This Anti-Terror Hawk Switched SidesFortune Apple Versus FBIAmerica Magazine Apple Insider -Techdirt -Sputnik International all 49 news articles » |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama nominated U.S. Army General Curtis Scaparrotti on Friday to become NATO's top military commander, the Pentagon said, a key role as NATO builds up its posture in eastern Europe in a bid to deter Russia.
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Sky News finds booby-trapped bombs, a "rape house" and a makeshift gallows in a Syrian town liberated by Kurdish fighters.
NATO’s chief decision-making body says it has approved the nomination of the U.S. Army general currently in charge of American forces in Korea to become the next supreme allied commander Europe, or SACEUR.
Police in Russia's North Caucasus region of Daghestan have killed two gunmen.
Oil Price Crash Was Not Saudi Arabia’s Faultby Rakesh Upadhyay / Oilprice.com
Quite simply, the Saudis want to maintain their market share, but their means to control that are dwindling.
The whole internet is jam-packed with analysis portraying Saudi Arabia and OPEC as villains for the oil price collapse. On a closer look, however, the Saudi’s could have taken no reasonable steps to avert this situation. This is a transformational change that will run its full course, and the major oil producing nations will have to accept and learn to live with lower oil prices for the next few years.
Why the Saudi’s are not to blame
As seen in the chart above, barring the period during the last supply glut, the Saudi’s have more or less maintained constant oil production, increasing production only modestly at an average of roughly 1 percent per year.
The last time the Saudi’s reduced production, the only objectives they achieved were higher debt and lower market share. It’s no surprise that this time, they were unenthusiastic about following that same path. Had they resorted to any cuts, it would have ended with them losing market share and revenues—nothing more.
U.S. oil production has almost doubled in the last 10 years
The most significant event of the last decade regarding crude oil has been the rise of U.S. shale oil as a credible and long-lasting competitor to the OPEC. The shale oil boom has led to an almost doubling of production in the U.S. in the last 10 years. Booming oil prices, easy credit, consistently rising demand and improved technological methods of fracking led to the current production rate, which would have increased further had OPEC cut their production.
Oilprice.com: Oil Fundamentals Could Cause Oil Prices To Fall, Fast.
When it comes to oil, Saudi Arabia has enjoyed an unopposed leadership position for a long time. When that position was threatened by the U.S. shale oil, it was natural for them to attempt to protect their market share. However, like every other industry, leaders tend to be lax, ignoring competition until it’s too late. The same happened here too—most oil producing nations failed to take corrective measures, and they are facing its consequences now.
Where are we heading
If oil prices were to drop to the lower $20s/barrel, the Saudis, Russia and OPEC wouldn’t survive for long. Shale oil would take a hit as well, but would be back in production whenever prices rise again; hence, prices will remain fairly volatile with a mid-point of $50/barrel for the next few years, as forecast by many experts.
Oilprice.com: Why Saudi Arabia Has No Intention To End The Oil Glut
The current meeting between the OPEC and Russia, although a smart step, will not lead to a material shift in the demand-supply situation. At best, if a production cut is announced and everyone agrees and adheres to the agreement, it will be years before inventories return to normal and the supply glut dissipates. As most of the oil producing nations require high oil prices to fund their budgets, they will resort to increasing production above their designated quota once oil prices rise above a certain level, which will once again bring the prices down.
Along with that, the shale oil drillers have said that they will increase their production if prices move north of $40/barrel. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will have to look at other avenues to generate income to fund its budget deficits and accept the fact that U.S. shale oil is here to stay. U.S. shale oil has transformed the crude oil industry for years to come.
This article originally appeared on Oilprice.com
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Obama Turns His Attention to Diapers by Morgan Chalfant
President Obama’s latest priority as he winds down his final months in the White House is solving America’s “diaper divide” using technology.
The White House is “getting creative” to expand diaper access to low-income Americans and close the “diaper divide” by partnering with online retailers, diaper manufacturers, and non-profit organizations, Cecilia Munoz, the director of Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, said Thursday.
Munoz outlined the latest initiative in a post on the White House blog, which also implicitly scolded the Republican-led Congress for criticizing Obama’s proposed 2017 budget. The president’s budget for the next fiscal year demands $10 million to test ways to get diapers to families in need and analyze the resulting health improvements.
“Unless Congress acts, we don’t have a program to help struggling families buy diapers for their children,” Munoz wrote.
According to the Associated Press, the administration is working with the e-commerce startup Jet, which sells and ships diapers, and First Quality, a company that produces Cuties diapers, to allow non-profits to purchase diapers at a lower cost. The participating groups will then allow the families they serve to buy the diapers.
Munoz noted that Obama is heading the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) annual technology festival in Austin, Texas, on Friday. During his appearance at the event, the first by a sitting U.S. president, Obama plans to discuss the ways that the White House is harnessing technology to improve American lives and may reference his diaper agenda.
The federal government under Obama has not always handled technology well. Obama was forcedto admit that HealthCare.gov, the website central to his signature health care law, was a “disaster” after major glitches hampered it for months.
The post Obama Turns His Attention to Diapers appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
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Escalating the War on Looting by By CELESTINE BOHLEN
The international community is focusing on the marketplace to scare off demand for stolen artifacts.
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The D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue withdrew $7 million from 581 taxpayers’ bank accounts because of a ‘computer error’, the Washington Post reported.
According to officials, the tax office inadvertently processed income tax returns from other years, which affected taxpayers who had previously authorized electronic bank withdrawals.
“The unintentional withdrawals are the latest embarrassment for an agency that has tried to make improvements after years of criticism amid high-profile improprieties and questions about how well it safeguards taxpayers’ financial information,” the article states.
One D.C. resident, Bezalel Stern, woke up on Wednesday morning to find that $6,500 had been taken from his bank account after he attempted to withdraw money from an ATM. His requests at the ATM were declined because the account had been emptied which resulted in an overdraft fee.
“The money was basically stolen from me,” Stern said. “You expect this from the bad guys. You don’t expect this from your government.”
The official told Stern his money would be returned in the next couple of days.
“Stern said an official at the Office of Tax and Revenue who took his call Wednesday told him that the error occurred when the office was testing new anti-fraud software,” the article said. “The official told him that the office was using last year’s tax filings during the test but that the ‘last step’—withdrawing money from filers’ accounts—was not supposed to happen.”
The post D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue Takes $7 Million From Taxpayers’ Bank Accountsappeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
Evgeny Buryakov’s plea comes less than a month before his federal trial for failing to register as an agent and not notifying US authorities
A Russian citizen whom US authorities accused of posing as a banker while participating in a New York City spy ring that sought to collect economic and other intelligence pleaded guilty to a criminal conspiracy charge on Friday.
Evgeny Buryakov, 41, admitted guilt in federal court in Manhattan less than a month before he was set to face trial for failing to register as an agent of the Russian government and conspiring to act as an agent without notifying US authorities.
Continue reading...Есть ли жизнь после Путина? by SvobodaRadio
Что будет со страной после Путина? После его вынужденного или добровольного ухода из российской политики. В программе Александра Подрабинека «Дежавю» российские оппозиционные политики Борис Вишневский, Владимир Кара-Мурза, Гарри Каспаров. Видеотрансляция в пятницу в 18:30
The Show Trial Must Go On by Brian Whitmore
The actors change, but the stage always looks the same.
The wood-paneled courtroom. The officious judge robed in black. The stern prosecutor. That creepy cage for the accused and the stone-faced cops guarding it. And the defendant in the dock — sometimes somber, sometimes defiant.
The script changes, but it always follows the same template: Patently ridiculous charges are presented and debated as if they were actually plausible, followed by the faux suspense of a verdict that everybody knows is a foregone conclusion.
It’s a game of pretend that has long been a legitimation ritual for Vladimir Putin’s regime — and it has disrupted and ruined many lives in the process.
In fact, the spectacle of the show trial has been an ongoing set piece, a trademark of Putin’s rule, virtually from day one.
It’s ensnared earnest academics like Igor Sutyagin, wealthy oil barons like Mikhail Khodorkovsky, youthful dissidents like the women of Pussy Riot, and anticorruption crusaders like Aleksei Navalny.
Foreign citizens like U.S. businessman Edmond Pope, Estonian law-enforcement officer Eston Kohver, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov,and, of course, Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenkohave found themselves trapped in this weird and cruel hall of mirrors.
And in 2013, whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky became — to my knowledge — the first dead man subjected to a Russian show trial.
And in this peculiarly Russian form of performance art, courts aren’t bound by the normal rules of reality and logic.
Russian show trials have convicted Khodorkovsky of stealing oil from himself, Navalny of embezzling money without making a profit, and found Sutyagin guilty of espionage for passing “state secrets” to foreign colleagues that came from newspapers.
And later this month, a court in the Rostov Oblast is widely expected to convict Savchenko of killing two Russian journalists in the Donbas — even though they were killed after she had already been abducted by pro-Moscow separatists.
Each show trial has had its own unique purpose.
The prosecution of Sutyagin, who was Putin’s first show-trial victim, appeared to be a signal that the security services were back in charge, as well as a message to academics to be careful about contacts with foreigners.
The Khodorkovsky case was designed to establish Putin’s bona fides as a leader who was not afraid of the oligarchs and to send a message to leading tycoons to stay out of politics.
It also had the added benefit of allowing Putin crony Igor Sechin to seize the assets of Khodorkovsky’s Yukos oil company.
The Pussy Riot case established the zeitgeist of Putin’s third term, an anticosmopolitan conservatism that played to Russia’s working classes and rural poor.
And the prosecutions of Navalny and the Bolotnaya Square protesters showed that the Kremlin was prepared to get rough with the opposition.
But while show-trial victims are invariably convicted, the carefully calibrated sentences vary.
The fact that Navalny has avoided prison despite two convictions shows that the Kremlin metes out only as much punishment as it believes it can get away with — no more and no less.
But as Peter Pomerantsev, author of the book Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible: Inside The Surreal Heart Of The New Russia, notes, the overarching purpose of the whole exercise — from Sutyagin to Savchenko — is the same: to show that the Kremlin “has full control of the script” and is the master of reality.
“This absurdity appears to be deliberate,” Pomerantsev wrote in a 2013 report for the Legatum Institute. “It proves to the public that the Kremlin can re-imagine reality at will, can say ‘black is white’ and ‘white is black’ with no one able to contradict.”
And given this, Savchenko’s defiant gesture — giving the judge and the court the middle finger during her closing statement — was such anappropriate response to the whole outrageous show.
In fact, it may be the only appropriate response.
(Thanks to RFE/RL editor Steve Gutterman for his helpful input and contribution to this post.)
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Apple Accuses US Government of 'Smear' Campaignby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Apple has accused the U.S. federal government of intending to 'smear' it as the fight over whether it can be forced to help law enforcement access the iPhone owned by San Bernardino gunman Rizwan Farook goes on. "In 30 years of practice I don't think I've seen a legal brief that was more intended to smear the other side with false accusations and innuendo, and less intended to focus on the real merits of the case," said Apple's General Counsel Bruce Sewell in a phone call with reporters on Thursday. Sewell disputed government accusations that Apple deliberately made changes to block law enforcement's requests for access, saying the claims were an "unsupported, unsubstantiated effort to vilify Apple rather than confront the issues in the case." The government, in its filing, cited news reports and other sources suggesting that by making changes to the iPhone to support Chinese broadband requirements, such as storing data on China's state-owned Telecom equipment, Apple had cooperated with Chinese authorities possibly facilitating state surveillance. "Of course that is not true, and the speculation is based on no substance at all," Sewell said in response. "To do this in a brief before a magistrate judge just shows the desperation that the Department of Justice now feels." Investigators are asking a federal judge to order Apple to write new software that would help unlock the iPhone used by Farook, one of the shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, last December. Apple has refused the request saying the security features provide privacy to its customers by protecting them from hackers and criminals.
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Moscow Asks Washington For Information Regarding Lesin Death by support@pangea-cms.com (Mike Eckel)
Russia's Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika has made an official request to Washington for information concerning the death of former Russian press minister and presidential adviser Mikhail Lesin.
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On the Greek island of Lesbos, refugee boats keep rolling in. But the flows could soon be reversed.
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European Union leaders and Turkey reached a tentative deal this week to help stem the flow of migrants to the Continent.
Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti was tapped Friday to command U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, where he will face a once tranquil security environment transformed by old Cold War tensions with Russia and a refugee crisis threatening Europe’s political order.
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