Purveyor
Purveyor's JournalSecurity Professionals Withdraw From Tech Conference After NSA Revelations
Add Josh Thomas to the list of security experts cutting ties with RSA Security after the Snowden leaks.
“If the allegations are true, a company that’s sole purpose to build trust – and that’s what cryptography is – and they can’t be trusted, then I don’t want to be part of that,” Thomas said to Raw Story. Thomas, “Chief Breaker” of Atreidis Partners, had been lined up to speak at the annual RSA conference in February. The conference gathers computer security researchers to discuss the latest in cryptography and security.
But the RSA brand is radioactive territory after Reuters published accusations that the firm colluded with the NSA to market flawed encryption. The conference is separate from the company, he noted. “They share a name and nothing else. To punish the conference for the company is probably not fair. The problem is that they do share a name. They are furthering the RSA brand. Everyone who gets on stage is furthering the credibility of the company.”
Mikko Hypponen, chief researcher for Finnish computer security firm F-Secure, withdrew in protest from a speaking engagement at conference, citing the Edward Snowden revelations as tainting the event published an open letter Monday describing his concerns to RSA and its parent firm, EMC Corp.
“On December 20th, Reuters broke a story alleging that your company accepted a random number generator from the National Security Agency, and set it as the default option in one of the your products, in exchange of $10 million. Your company has issued a statement on the topic, but you have not denied this particular claim,” Hypponen wrote in an open letter.
MORE...
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/26/security-professionals-withdraw-from-tech-conference-after-nsa-revelations/
Pope’s ‘Liberal’ Views On Capitalism Freaking Out Conservative Catholics In Congress
Catholic Republican lawmakers are rattled by Pope Francis, whose recent comments have shaken up assumptions about their church and its relationship to their political party.
While church leaders have for years challenged the Republican Party on some social issues, including the death penalty and immigration, conservatives have generally marginalized their concerns as insignificant or irrelevant.
But the new pontiff has attracted too much attention with his call to focus less on divisive social issues and more on helping the poor and vulnerable.
Pope Francis has drawn sharp criticism from the hugely influential Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives for his remarks on the unrestrained free market and “trickle-down” economics, which he dismissed naïve and unsupported by the facts
Limbaugh branded those statements as “pure Marxism,” but Sarah Palin was less harsh, admitting only that the pope’s statements sounded liberal to her, and her former 2008 running mate offered mixed reviews.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/26/popes-liberal-views-on-capitalism-freaking-out-conservative-catholics-in-congress/
AIPAC’s Fed Candidate Stanley Fischer on a Warpath against Iran
Dual-citizen nominee's lifetime benefit to Israel comes at a heavy cost to Americaby Grant F. Smith / December 26th, 2013
The rushed campaign to insert Stanley Fischer straight from his position leading Israel’s central bank into the number two spot at the Federal Reserve has allowed little time for research into the appointee’s career or for informed public debate about his record. Like the failed recent Obama administration-Israel lobby pincer move to ram approval for U.S. military strikes on Syria through Congress, avoiding such due diligence through velocity may actually be the only means for successful Senate confirmation.
Some of Fischer’s accomplishments – from co-authoring a seminal textbook on macroeconomics to handling economic crisis at the IMF have – not surprisingly – been recalled by his many supporters. Other doings that shed light on Fischer’s controversial attributes – such as overhauling how U.S. aid and trade packages are delivered to Israel – have been mostly ignored. Appointing an openly dual Israeli-American citizen into the most important central bank in the world could be a watershed moment. While the doors of federal government have long swung open for Israel-lobby appointees focusing most – if not all – their energies on advancing the interests of a foreign state, any who were actually Israeli dual citizens have traditionally kept that a closely-guarded secret. Fischer’s long-term boosters, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), likely want to accustom Americans to openly dual citizens circulating between top roles in the U.S. and Israeli governments. A closer examination of Fischer reveals that average Americans have good reason to oppose his appointment, because his lifelong achievements for Israel have imposed high costs and few benefits to the United States while making peace more difficult to achieve.
Economics
Stanley Fischer was born in Northern Rhodesia in 1943. He studied at London School of Economics and received a PhD in economics from MIT. He taught and chaired the MIT economics department and co-authored a leading macroeconomics textbook with Rudiger Dornbusch. Fischer joined the World Bank in 1988 and became the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1994. He oversaw emergency bailout lending and austerity programs over Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil and Argentina. High flying Citigroup – under the helm of Sanford "Sandy" Weill – recruited Fischer in 2002. There he rose to become vice president with a seven-figure pay package.
Israel
Fischer has not only been an ardent supporter of Israel, his professional efforts began when he took sabbatical leave to Israel in 1972 and 1976-1977. He was a visiting scholar at the Bank of Israel in 1980. More importantly for Israel, Stanley Fischer won an appointment to the Reagan administration’s U.S.-Israel Joint Economic Discussion Group that dealt with Israel’s 1984-1985 economic crisis. In October of 1984, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres arrived in Washington asking an initially reluctant Reagan Administration for an additional $1.5 billion in U.S. emergency funding – over and above the already-promised aid $5.6 billion aid package.1 The help amounted to U.S. taxpayers funding each Israeli citizen $1,650. Another key component of the plan called for a largely unilateral lowering of U.S. tariffs and trade barriers to Israel, a program initially called "Duty Free Treatment for U.S. Imports from Israel" but later repackaged and sold as America’s first "free trade" agreement. Over time the FTA reversed a previously balanced U.S.-Israel trading relationship for one that has produced a cumulative deficit to the U.S. that passed $100 billion in 2013. Seventy American industry groups opposed to the give-away in 1984 were disenfranchised when Israeli Economics Minister Dan Halpern and AIPAC illegally obtained a classified compendium of their industry, market and trade secrets to use against them in lobbying and public relations. An FBI espionage and theft of government property investigation was quashed before it could narrow in on those inside the U.S. government who delivered the secrets to Halpern.
The U.S.-Israel Joint Economic Discussion Group fundamentally transformed U.S. aid to Israel forever. Before the Reagan administration, most U.S. aid to Israel took the form of loans that had to be repaid with interest. After the input of Fischer’s team, subsequent U.S. aid was delivered in the form of outright grants paid directly from the U.S. Treasury – never to be repaid or conditioned when Israel took actions the U.S. opposed.
more...
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/12/aipacs-fed-candidate-stanley-fischer-on-a-warpath-against-iran/
Algemeiner: Obama’s Dangerous Double Standard on Spying, Pollard
I live in a world where countries blame Israel for all their ills, equate Israel’s right to defend herself with the terrorist acts perpetrated by her enemies, and promote boycotts of the only consistent and lasting democracy in the Middle East. It is no secret that since the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948, a dangerous double standard has provided fuel for biased UN resolutions and astonishing EU sanctions against Israel.
In the U.S., the tone was significantly different for many years. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush fought against any effort to delegitimize the State of Israel, and made a point of highlighting, and strengthening, the natural and necessary bond that the two countries share. Therefore, it pains me that a different reality is slowly setting in.
Since 2008, both Democrats and Republicans have been critical of President Obama for giving a cold shoulder to Israel, for implementing dangerous Middle East policies, and for his blatant disregard for diplomatic norms, especially vis-à-vis Israel.
The revelations of Obama’s actions over the past several months cut at the heart of the world’s obsession with applying a double standard to Israel and to the Jewish people.
more...
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/12/26/obamas-dangerous-double-standard-on-spying-pollard/
A little taste of the right wing israeli press... 
Two Thirds Of Americans Think This Is The Worst US Congress Ever: Poll
Millions of Americans are spreading holiday cheer this week, but that goodwill toward men doesn’t extend to Congress, new poll numbers show.
According to a CNN/ORC International Poll, a full two-thirds of Americans think that the current 113th Congress is the worst in United States history. Only 28 percent of Americans disagree. Furthermore, an additional 73 percent of Americans say that this Congress has done nothing to address the problems facing America — and with good reason. Though Congress passed a budget agreement this year, it was one of less than 60 bills passed, putting this Congress on track to become the least productive Congress in over four decades.
“That sentiment exists among all demographic and political subgroups. Men, women, rich, poor, young, old — all think this year’s Congress has been the worst they can remember,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said in a statement. “Older Americans - who have lived through more congresses - hold more negative views of the 113th Congress than younger Americans. Republicans, Democrats and independents also agree that this has been the worst session of Congress in their lifetimes.”
Unfortunately, the defeatist attitude about Congress will likely continue well into the future. A majority of people believe that the leadership policies of both political parties will steer the country in the wrong directions.
"Negative attitudes extend to both sides of the aisle: 52% believe that the policies of the Democratic leaders in Congress would move the country in the wrong direction; 54% say the same about the policies of congressional Republicans," Holland said.
more...
http://www.ibtimes.com/two-thirds-americans-think-worst-us-congress-ever-poll-1520582
Iranians Pile Into Stocks as Nuclear Deal Spurs 133% Gain
For evidence of how Iranians are embracing President Hassan Rouhani’s pledge to re-establish ties with the world economy after decades of crippling sanctions, take a look at the Tehran Stock Exchange.
While daily trading equals only about 22 seconds worth of stock transactions in the U.S., Iran’s market has been booming. The benchmark index soared 133 percent this year through Dec. 24 to a record, beating returns posted by the 93 major global equity gauges tracked by Bloomberg. Most of the rally followed the June election of 65-year-old Rouhani, who delivered an initial accord with global powers just five months into office.
One morning last week, a 23-year-old college graduate named Samira was standing with hundreds of others inside the bourse in downtown Tehran, preparing to plunk down $600 in her first investment in the market. As stock prices flashed on screens one flight above the trading floor, Samira said she was excited to buy her first shares, something she never would have considered under Rouhani’s predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“I like the feel of this -- it has a buzz,” said Samira, who declined to give her surname for fear of reprisals for talking to foreign media reporters. “Anyone you speak to these days will tell you the stock exchange is the best place to invest right now.”
Leaving Gold
Iranians are pulling out of assets that had become the conventional stores of wealth in the Islamist Republic -- gold, dollars and real estate -- to free up cash to invest in the stock market, according to Tehran-based investment boutique Turquoise Partners. While foreigners can invest on the 314-stock bourse, an international investor can’t buy more than 10 percent of a company’s shares and any involvement is limited by banking restrictions, according to Turquoise.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-25/iranians-pile-into-stocks-as-nuclear-detente-triggers-133-rally.html
Mark my works the neocons/zionistas have no boundaries when it comes to scuddling any agreements with Iran.
UPS Shipping Delays Show Perils of Stores Overpromising
The failure of United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) and FedEx Corp. (FDX) to deliver packages in time for Christmas has exposed the perils of retailers promising to get last-minute gifts to customers.
Chains from Kohl’s (KSS) Corp. to Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) to 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. (FLWS) offered gift cards and refunds after angry shoppers took to social media to vent their frustrations at the missed shipments. On its website, UPS said the volume of last-minute air packages exceeded its capacity to process them.
Merchants battling for market share during a ho-hum holiday season have been trying to outdo one another with deep discounts and promises that shoppers can wait as long as they want to order gifts online. While analysts say the shipping snafu is unlikely to make Americans abandon online shopping, they say parcel-delivery companies will have to boost capacity and retailers may need to seek alternatives to prevent a recurrence.
“You had a perfect storm of events from the consumer side, the retailer side and the shipping side,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners LLC in New Canaan, Connecticut. “Normally those kinds of schedules are all kind of prepared or coordinated with the carriers.”
On Dec. 21, Barnesville, Minnesota, resident Bernadette Odden ordered videos for one of her daughters from Amazon, which promised to deliver them on Christmas Eve. They never arrived. Odden, 35, called Amazon and received a $20 credit, which she immediately cashed in for a camera.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-25/ups-says-some-shipments-not-delivered-by-today-on-volume.html
UPS is in clusterfuck mode right now. Just today a UPS truck has stopped 3 times at the road neighbors house with a 1 box delivery each time...
Utilities Feeling Rooftop Solar Heat Start Fighting Back
If you wonder why America’s utilities are rattled by the explosive growth in rooftop solar -- and are pushing back -- William Walker has a story for you.
A flip-flop wearing Walker stands in his driveway pointing to a ubiquitous neighborhood feature – solar panels on the roofs of five of six houses nearby. He lives in Ewa Beach, a development on the sultry leeward coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu built on land cleared of sugar cane fields.
Shade is scarce and residents here call their homes “hot boxes,” requiring almost round-the-clock air conditioning. Hawaii, which imports pricey oil to power its electricity grid, has the highest utility rates in the nation -- at 37 cents a kilowatt-hour, they’re more than double California and triple the national average.
With bills for 1,600 square foot houses like these running as high as $400 a month, solar is seen as less a green statement than an economic no-brainer given state and federal tax credits for as much as 65 percent of installation costs. Almost every day since Walker and his wife Mi Chong moved in last April, solar installers came rapping on the door, hawking a rooftop system.
They finally bought one: an 18-panel, $35,000 installation producing 5.9 kilowatts of power financed for $305 a month. It would be connected to the grid under a system known as net metering that essentially lets residents deduct the value of their solar-produced electricity from their power bill and even be paid for electricity in excess of that.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-26/utilities-feeling-rooftop-solar-heat-start-fighting-back.html
Utilities Feeling Rooftop Solar Heat Start Fighting Back
If you wonder why America’s utilities are rattled by the explosive growth in rooftop solar -- and are pushing back -- William Walker has a story for you.
A flip-flop wearing Walker stands in his driveway pointing to a ubiquitous neighborhood feature – solar panels on the roofs of five of six houses nearby. He lives in Ewa Beach, a development on the sultry leeward coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu built on land cleared of sugar cane fields.
Shade is scarce and residents here call their homes “hot boxes,” requiring almost round-the-clock air conditioning. Hawaii, which imports pricey oil to power its electricity grid, has the highest utility rates in the nation -- at 37 cents a kilowatt-hour, they’re more than double California and triple the national average.
With bills for 1,600 square foot houses like these running as high as $400 a month, solar is seen as less a green statement than an economic no-brainer given state and federal tax credits for as much as 65 percent of installation costs. Almost every day since Walker and his wife Mi Chong moved in last April, solar installers came rapping on the door, hawking a rooftop system.
They finally bought one: an 18-panel, $35,000 installation producing 5.9 kilowatts of power financed for $305 a month. It would be connected to the grid under a system known as net metering that essentially lets residents deduct the value of their solar-produced electricity from their power bill and even be paid for electricity in excess of that.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-26/utilities-feeling-rooftop-solar-heat-start-fighting-back.html
Obama's Not-So-Terrible Year
It has become conventional wisdom to say that President Barack Obama has suffered through a terrible year in 2013 -- and if his slumping poll numbers are the only gauge, then these pundits may have a point. But much of this analysis simply marches in lockstep with the neocon view of Obama's supposed foreign policy "failures," which may not be failures at all.
Indeed, there's a strong argument to be made that Obama's fifth year in office will be viewed as a historic turning point in U.S. relations with the Middle East, albeit one the neocons and much of Official Washington detest, thus explaining the hostility in their year-end critiques.
For instance, if the neocons and the many tough guys/gals inside the Beltway had their way in 2013, the U.S. military would have pummeled Syria in retaliation for its alleged (though still unproven) role in the Aug. 21 Sarin gas incident outside Damascus. We now know that the neocons' desired bombing campaign would have been coordinated with a ground offensive by the Saudi-Israeli-favored, Sunni-dominated jihadist rebels , possibly leading to "regime change" in Syria.
The U.S. assault also would likely have destroyed hopes of a nuclear agreement with Iran, thus raising the likelihood that Obama would have been goaded into a military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. At each step of these escalations, the neocons would be egging Obama on, calling him "weak" and "indecisive" if he failed to ratchet up the pressure and violence.
Amid this mounting chaos, the neocons would have demonstrated that even when they are not sitting in the Oval Office, they could still direct U.S. foreign policy through their continued dominance of the op-ed pages of major newspapers, like the Washington Post, and via their strategic positioning at leading Washington think tanks.
more...
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Obama-s-Not-So-Terrible-Ye-by-Robert-Parry-Iran_Neocons_Obama-Effect_Obama-Second-Term-131226-889.html
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