Archive for 2020

NASHVILLE CHRISTMAS BOMBING UPDATE: “Law enforcement sources tell CBS News they have found what appear to be human remains near the site of the explosion. They have not indicated whether the remains are from someone connected to the explosion or from an innocent victim.”

UPDATE: Roger Simon on the possible AT&T connection:

The second fact or factoid that emerged was fleeting—the brief mention by one of the newscasters of the accusations that former NSA analyst Edward Snowden had made about AT&T.

This one sent me scurrying to the internet. Back in October 2016, Anthony Cuthbertson wrote in Newsweek under the title “AT&T Spying Program is ‘Worse Than Snowden Revelations’”:

“A for-profit surveillance program carried out by telecommunications giant AT&T was more serious than the 2013 NSA spying revelations, according to digital rights advocates.

“AT&T’s Project Atmosphere was unveiled Tuesday by the Daily Beast to be secretly selling customer data to law enforcement agencies for the purpose of investigating everything from murder to medical fraud.

“Digital rights group Fight for the Future says that making customer data available to local police departments without a warrant goes beyond the government-level surveillance revealed by former NSA contract worker Edward Snowden.

“‘AT&T customers are outraged but this affects everyone,’ Evan Greer, campaign director at Fight for the Future, tells Newsweek. ‘AT&T went far beyond complying with legal government requests and actually built a powerful data mining product to sell our private information to as many government agencies and police departments as they could.’”

For more The Intercept has an article — “The Wiretap Rooms—The NSA Has Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight Cities” that includes the following:

“‘The NSA considers AT&T to be one of its most trusted partners and has lauded the companyextreme willingness to help.’ It is a collaboration that dates back decades. Little known, however, is that its scope is not restricted to AT&Ts customers. According to the NSAdocuments, it values AT&T not only because it has access to information that transits the nation,” but also because it maintains unique relationships with other phone and internet providers.”

Stay tuned.

MERRY CHRISTMAS:

MERRY CHRISTMAS:

HMM: “A recreational vehicle parked in the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early Christmas morning, causing widespread communications outages that took down police emergency systems and grounded flights at the city’s airport. Authorities said they believe the blast was intentional. . . . AT&T said the affected building is the central office of a telephone exchange, with network equipment in it. The blast interrupted service, but the company declined to say how widespread outages were. . . . The AT&T outages site showed service issues in middle Tennessee and Kentucky, including Bowling Green about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Nashville. Several police agencies reported that their 911 systems were down because of the outage, including Murfreesboro and Knox County, home to Knoxville about 180 miles (290 kilometers) east of Nashville. The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted flights out of Nashville International Airport because of telecommunications issues associated with the explosion.”

This reminds me a bit of the mysterious shot-up substation in Silicon Valley a few years back, like it’s someone trying to demonstrate a capability to monkeywrench things. Stay tuned.

Also, if your 911 system can be taken down by an explosion 180 miles away, your 911 system sucks.

MERRY CHRISTMAS:

MERRY CHRISTMAS:

MERRY CHRISTMAS:

BIDEN PROMISES TO END PROLONGED DETENTION AT IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTERS: That’s great if he can do it consistently with enforcing the law.

But it may be worth pointing out that when I inspected an immigration detention center a couple of years ago with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, my colleagues and I were a bit surprised that it was as nice as it was. Naturally, what we actually saw didn’t make it into the Commission’s report (which instead parroted unsubstantiated rumors, some of which were obviously and even provably false).  But it did make it into my dissent.

MERRY CHRISTMAS:

CHRISTMAS RACE AROUND THE WORLD AT THE SOUTH POLE: Winner gets a 10-minute hot shower! That’s one of the eight Christmas traditions on seven continents described by the Christian Post, including the Peace Apples in China.

MERRY CHRISTMAS:

MERRY CHRISTMAS: