This and That...

[Warph]

NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

Published: June 6, 2013, Updated June 29, 2013

The top-secret PRISM program allows the U.S. intelligence community to gain access from nine Internet companies to a wide range of digital information, including e-mails and stored data, on foreign targets operating outside the United States. The program is court-approved but does not require individual warrants. Instead, it operates under a broader authorization from federal judges who oversee the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Some documents describing the program were first released by The Washington Post on June 6. The newly released documents below give additional details about how the program operates, including the levels of review and supervisory control at the NSA and FBI. The documents also show how the program interacts with the Internet companies. These slides, annotated by The Post, represent a selection from the overall document, and certain portions are redacted.

Read related article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html
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New slides published June 29

Acquiring data from a new target
This slide describes what happens when an NSA analyst "tasks" the PRISM system for information about a new surveillance target. The request to add a new target is passed automatically to a supervisor who reviews the "selectors," or search terms. The supervisor must endorse the analyst's "reasonable belief," defined as 51 percent confidence, that the specified target is a foreign national who is overseas at the time of collection.

Analyzing information collected from private companies
After communications information is acquired, the data are processed and analyzed by specialized systems that handle voice, text, video and "digital network information" that includes the locations and unique device signatures of targets.

Each target is assigned a case notation
The PRISM case notation format reflects the availability, confirmed by The Post's reporting, of real-time surveillance as well as stored content.

Searching the PRISM database
On April 5, according to this slide, there were 117,675 active surveillance targets in PRISM's counterterrorism database. The slide does not show how many other Internet users, and among them how many Americans, have their communications collected "incidentally" during surveillance of those targets.

Communication
This diagram shows how the bulk of the world's electronic
communications move through companies based in the United States

Providers and data
The PRISM program collects a wide range of data from the
nine companies, although the details vary by provider

.

Participating providers
This slide shows when each company joined the program, with Microsoft being the first, on Sept. 11, 2007, and Apple the most recent, in October 2012.

[Warph]

60 miles up the road from where I live.  This horrific news for my state is heartbreaking, unbelievable.  Deep-felt condolences and prayers for the grieving families and friends of these courageous 19 firefighters who lost their lives today.  May God bless them and may they rest in peace.
....Warph

Yarnell Hill Fire picked up momentum Sunday. (Source: CBS 5 News)

The Yarnell Hill Fire burning near Yarnell, AZ.
The fire, started by lightning, continues to burn along AZ89
http://www.azcentral.com/video/#top#/The+Yarnell+Hill+Fire+burning+near+Yarnell/2518833437001

Yarnell Hill Fire kills 19 firefighters


Granite Mountain Hot Shots are based in Prescott, AZ. (Source: City of Prescott)

Nineteen firefighters have died in the Yarnell Hill Fire that has ripped through half of the community and sent residents to Prescott for safety. The fire is currently burning with zero containment and has grown well past 2,000 acres.
http://www.azcentral.com/video/#top#/News/Yarnell+Hill+Fire+kills+19+firefighters/40280768001/35150280001/2518966319001

YARNELL, AZ (CBS-TV5) - Nineteen firefighters were killed in a fast-moving wildfire in the central Arizona town of Yarnell late Sunday afternoon, said the incident command post.  

Eighteen of the victims were from the Prescott Granite Mountain Hot Shots, fire officials said. It's not known where the other victim was based.  

One surviving firefighter from the team was rushed to Maricopa County Medical Center. That person's condition was not known.  

"We're an organization and city that's in grief," Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said at a news briefing Sunday night.

"Every precaution is always taken," Fraijo said. "The trouble is sometimes it's such an erratic situation. When you have that much fuel, in those dry conditions, it becomes very unpredictable."

At least eight firefighters suffered injuries and were taken to Wickenburg Community Hospital, said hospital spokeswoman Roxie Glovers. The extent of their injuries was not known.

The Yarnell Hill Fire burned at least 250 structures and grew to 2,000 acres, command center officials said Sunday night.

"This one just got out of hand quickly," said YCSO spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn. "The winds and the dry area just fed the fire.

Earlier, the 19 firefighters battling the blaze in Yavapai County had not been heard from as the wildfire headed into town, fire officials said.

Around 6 p.m., authorities said they were unable to establish communications with them, although they had been seen from a helicopter.

The Granite Mountain Hot Shots were among the first firefighters to attack the human-caused Doce Fire that began June 18 in the Prescott National Forest, the Prescott Daily Courier reported.

Earlier Sunday, authorities evacuated the Town of Yarnell and Peeples Valley as the wildfire crept closer to homes, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said.

The evacuation area in Peeples Valley is west of Highway 89, north of Yarnell Road and south of Sorrell Road, sheriff's deputies said.

Residents living in Double A Ranch, Buckhorn and the Model Creek subdivision in the Yarnell area had been under mandatory orders to leave their homes.

About 400 people live in Yarnell, and several hundred reside in Peeples Valley, according to the latest census.

The fire has closed about 15 miles of State Route 89, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.  

The roadway is closed just north of Congress to south of Kirkland, from milepost 269 to milepost 285. Drivers traveling north or southbound are advised to use U.S. 93 or Interstate 17 as alternate routes.  

Sheriff's deputies said there are roadblocks at the junctions of Highway 89 and Hayes Ranch Road, Hayes Ranch Road and Sickles Ranch Road and Buckhorn and Frontier Road.

The fire broke out Friday after a lightning strike about four miles from Yarnell, said Arizona State Forestry Division Spokeswoman Carrie Dennett.  

The Yarnell Hill Fire grew to 800 acres by early Sunday afternoon.

Two evacuation shelters have been set up to help evacuees. One is at Yavapai College in Prescott at 1100 E. Sheldon St.,  the American Red Cross Grand Canyon Chapter said.

Another shelter has opened in the gymnasium at Wickenburg High School at 1090 S. Vulture Mine Road. The Red Cross opened that shelter because a 20-mile stretch of Highway 89 is closed, making it impossible for evacuated residents to get from Yarnell to Prescott.

Red Cross volunteers have set up cots and blankets for overnight stays, with evacuated residents receiving meals, as well as assistance from Red Cross nurses and mental health volunteers.

A shelter for large animals is set up at Hidden Springs Ranch, at 18701 Highway 89 in Peeples Valley.

Two hundred firefighters are trying to gain an upper hand on the wildfire.

A command center has been set up at Model Creek School.

The next news briefing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday in the Prescott city council chambers.

[Warph]

West Goes Nuclear On Obuma: "The Time Draws Near To Teach
This Usurper And Charlatan The Lesson Our Forefathers
Taught King George III"

(Whew... Liberal head assplosion alert moved to DEFCON 1

"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."

― Samuel Adams)

Via Alan West:
https://www.facebook.com/ElectAllenWest/posts/10151992111776729

"This week we'll celebrate the 237th anniversary of our independence. But are we a free people? SCOTUS made an ill-conceived ruling believing the choice of sexual behavior should trump the peoples's referendum. We are free to love anyone or anything we desire in America, but that does not correlate to rights beyond the unalienable ones Jefferson articulated 237 years ago. In California we have a state-funded grant for the Los Angeles Unified School District to abuse the concept of public education by turning public schools into indoctrination factories, forcing children to spout the joys of Obamacare. The district listed as a primary outcome for its project, "Teens trained to be messengers to family members." Covered California spokeswoman Sarah Soto-Taylor said staff have not questioned this goal. She stated, "We have confidence that the model LA Unified brought to the table will be successful in reaching our target population, which includes family members of students." LA Unified will also use tax-paid staff to promote ObamaCare through phone calls to students' homes, in-class presentations, and meetings with employees eligible for ObamaCare's taxpayer-covered healthcare, the grant award says.Obama said he would fundamentally transform America. The time draws near to teach this usurper and charlatan the lesson our forefathers taught King George III. We will not be ruled by arrogance and edict."

[Warph]

Big Brother Is Watching:

Number Of Federal Wiretaps Skyrockets 71% In 2012

(Libs would have had a meltdown if this was their POS pre-Dear Leader...)

Via Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/number-of-federal-wiretaps-rose-71-percent-in-2012/2013/06/28/9ffde292-e032-11e2-963a-72d740e88c12_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

The number of wiretaps secured in federal criminal investigations jumped 71 percent in 2012 over the previous year, according to newly released figures.

Federal courts authorized 1,354 interception orders for wire, oral and electronic communications, up from 792 the previous year, according to the figures, released Friday by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. There was a 5 percent increase in state and local use of wiretaps in the same period.

The office collects the figures from federal and local jurisdictions at the request of Congress, but does not interpret the statistics. There is no explanation of why the federal figures increased so much, and it is generally out of line with the number of wiretaps between 1997 and 2009, which averaged 550 annually. A large number of wiretaps was also reported in 2010, when 1,207 were secured.

"This is just one more piece of evidence demonstrating the need for a full, informed public debate about the scope, breadth, and pervasiveness of government surveillance in this country," Mark Rumold, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in an e-mail. "We have a secret surveillance program churning in the background, sweeping in everyone's communications, and, at the same time, in the shadows (and frequently under seal), law enforcement is constantly expanding its use and reliance on surveillance in traditional criminal investigations."

[Warph]

Gitmo: "Some Of Most Pampered Prisoners On The Planet";
We Even Remove American Flag From Their Sight At Their Request

(Psst, Mr. President... they are there because they are suspected of trying to kill us, you dumb POS!!!
Meanwhile our soldiers in Afghanistan are having their hot meals cut back.  You, Sir, are the most vile, nasty, SOB that ever held this office of the Presidency!  It's time to "SLAM" the door on you!)

Via NY Post:

Americans are supposed to have sympathy for the accused terrorist detainees now on hunger strike to protest supposedly cruel conditions at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"I don't want these individuals to die," [as Muslim]President Obama recently lamented, adding he intends to close Gitmo and transfer the detainees to US prisons.

But just a few years ago, detainees got so plump from overeating hummus and other dishes from the camp's Islamically correct menu that commanders specially ordered treadmills to help them lose weight.

Then they ordered them again — because they weren't made by Muslims.

"Even the hunger strikers were gaining weight because of all the food, so we go out and buy all this exercise equipment and throw it in the rec yard," a Gitmo official said of a 2007 requisition. "Within the first week, there were guys saying, 'Hey, this stuff is made in the US — made by infidels — and we're not going to use it.'

"So what did we do?" added the official, who requested anonymity. "We took all of that s–t out, gave it to the soldiers to use, and bought them equipment that was made in a Muslim part of the world."

The Pentagon declined to comment.

The official called Gitmo detainees "some of the most pampered prisoners on the planet."

He said they get as many as four choices of halal meals and have access to a new $750,000 soccer field. Islamic prayer beads and rugs are now "standard issue." They get their choice of more than 10,000 Islamic books and videos stocked by a Muslim librarian, who also records soccer and Arabic TV for them. They even have their own clerics to preach to them in Arabic.

[Warph]

Somali Jihadist Group Al-Shabaab Kills Two Of Its Own Co-Founders...
One With $5 Million U.S. Bounty On His Head

(Aw gee... what a shame.  It's amazing what money can do)

MOGADISHU (AFP) –  Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab extremists have killed two of their own top commanders, one with a $5 million United States bounty on his head, the insurgents said Saturday.

"We have informed their widows of their deaths, as they must now wear the clothes of mourning," Shebab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP.

The pair killed are two co-founders of the Islamist group, including US-wanted Ibrahim Haji Jama Mead, better known by his nickname Al-Afghani — "the Afghan", due to his training and fighting with Islamist guerrillas there.

Washington offered a $5 million bounty for Afghani, who opposed the command of top Shebab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane.

Godane earlier this month ordered Afghani and other leaders' arrest.

Shebab gunmen also killed Abul Hamid Hashi Olhayi, named as another senior commander and co-founder of the group.

[Warph]

Unbelievable:
Outrageous Avatar Of US Embassy Riyadh Twitter Account

You can see it here, blown up in a tweet by someone urging it be taken down:


  RedNationRising @RedNationRising 
Outrageous TwitterAvatar #USEmbassy @USEmbassyRiyadh American Flag joined w/ Islamic... #TakeItDown #RedNationRising pic.twitter.com/k4jCmkxq1T"5:08 AM - 30 Jun 2013




Is the Obuma administration so under the sway of the Saudis that we have our Embassies using their flags on our twitter accounts, and putting their flag on equal level with our flag, a complete and utter violation of U.S. flag protocol?  Not to mention the sword positioned with point toward the flag and any other symbolism in the Saudi flag, apparently being endorsed.

We had Embassy officials in Cairo that apologize for being attacked, and don't answer information on dead Americans after 10 p.m..

Now we have this Embassy account debasing us still further?  Like the Tweet said,
"Take it down!"

[Warph]

Catholic Priest Beheaded in Syria by Al-Qaeda-Linked Rebels
as Men and Children Take Pictures and Cheer

(RIP Fr. Murad, martyr and hero, who was seized after trying to defend nuns and others at his monastery.
Obuma, can deny we are in a war.  But we will still be made war upon.  Why are we helping those who will kill us?  Obuma is as sick as the one's watching the beheading!)

Update to this story.http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Custos-of-the-Holy-Land:-Fr-Franҫois-Mourad-killed-by-Islamist-insurgents-in-al-Ghassaniyah-28294.html


Via The Blaze:http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/30/catholic-priest-beheaded-in-syria-by-al-qaeda-linked-rebels-as-men-and-children-take-pictures-and-cheer/#

"Sicko's are poised with cameras waiting to capture photos of beheading scene in Syria,
as frenzied shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' are heard"
(Screenshot: Live Leak)

Syrian Catholic priest Francois Murad killed last weekend by jihadi fighters was beheaded, according to a report by Catholic Online which is linking to video purportedly showing the brutal murder.

As TheBlaze reported last week, Murad, 49, was setting up a monastery in Gassanieh, northern Syria. Last Sunday, on the Christian leader's Sabbath, extremist militants trying to topple President Bashar Assad breached the monastery and grabbed Murad.

While earlier reports suggested Murad may have been shot to death, Catholic Online reported Saturday: "The Vatican is confirming the death by beheading of Franciscan Father, Francois Murad, who was martyred by Syrian jihadists on June 23."

The Catholic news service quotes local sources who report that the radical Al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, or Al-Nusra Front, was behind the savage killing.

In video posted by Live Leak purporting to show the execution, dozens of men and boys are seen cheering on as three men are seated on the ground awaiting their grisly fate.

The men are methodically beheaded one at a time by men holding what appears to be a simple kitchen knife after which the heads are placed on top of the bodies.

According to Catholic Online, the first victim was Murad.

A frenzy ensues, with dozens drawing out their smartphones to capture the bloody scene, as a chorus of Allahu Akbar ("Allah is the greatest") are sung with jihadi rapture. Several observers are seen moving within inches of the bodies in an effort to capture close-up photos.

[Warph]

Lib Bi-Sexual Singer Lady Gaga Desecrates National Anthem During Gay Pride Rally,
"Land Of The Free, Home For The Gay"

(President POS Obuma seen nodding in approval)

[Warph]

Breaking: Guess Who Else Is In South Africa? Reggie Love!

On June 26th, Reggie Love tweeted after the Supreme Court decision in the DOMA case, supporting "love", whoever the two lovers happened to be:

  Reggie Love @ReggieLove33 
All you need is love. @OFA @BarackObama #LoveisLove  http://goo.gl/BYbvT 1:11 PM - 26 Jun 2013

(Now today he is in South Africa, where our first Gay  President Barack Obama is also visiting)

  Reggie Love @ReggieLove33 
Cape Town, South Africa - picture from My hotel room at the Cape Grace http://instagram.com/p/bLUA9_Alfn/ 1:43 AM - 30 Jun 2013

(Love is apparently in the air in South Africa... (Pun intended)
I wonder where Mooch and the kids are... hmmmm?)