GPS Hijacking Catches Feds, Drone Makers Off Guard

Published July 20, 2012 | By Iowadawg

Note to my readers. When I give the link to the story or article, do go to the site and do check out everything found on that site. As each has so much more of interest.

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The University of Texas Radionavigation Laboratory drone, an Adaptive Flight Hornet Mini. Photo: Courtesy Todd Humphreys

On June 19, when University of Texas researchers successfully hijacked a drone by “spoofing” it — giving it bad GPS coordinates – they showed the Department of Homeland Security how civilian drones could fall into the wrong hands, exposing a potentially serious security flaw. It was exactly what Todd Humphreys, the lead researcher, anticipated in a TEDx talk in February: “You can scarcely imagine the kind of havoc you could cause if you knew what you were doing with a GPS spoofer.”

On Thursday, a month after the experiment, the investigations panel of the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on how civilian drones could affect the security of the American airspace. “These findings are alarming and have revealed a gaping hole in the security of using unmanned aerial systems domestically,” said Rep. Michael McCall, the panel’s chairman. “Now is the time to ensure these vulnerabilities are mitigated to protect our aviation system as the use of unmanned aerial systems continues to grow.”

MORE.

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No Vote Fraud? Union Didn’t Get The Memo

From Jonathan S. Tobin at Commentary:

In recent weeks, opponents of voter ID laws have escalated their attacks on the measures by claiming the common sense requirement that a voter be able to identify him or herself at the polls is a new form of Jim Crow. But because the measure applies equally to everyone and the Supreme Court has ruled such laws are constitutional, their charges have more to do with inciting racial discord than actually affirming the right to vote. At the same time, others are seeking to undermine the entire premise of voter ID advocates by claiming there is no such thing as voter fraud in the United States. That’s the conceit of a piece in the Daily Beast today that repeats the charge made by liberal and Democratic foes of the laws that there is no evidence of voter fraud going on anywhere in the country.

But on the same day the Daily Beast piece was published, evidence surfaced that union officials in Wisconsin have been subpoenaed in an investigation of, you guessed it, voter fraud. As the Washington Free Beacon reports, the DA’s office demanded the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) hand over records that relate to the conduct of their officials who may have voted in the city earlier this year while using a Marriott hotel as a residence and using out of state IDs. The Wisconsin legislature passed a photo ID law, but state courts have blocked its enforcement, so the lack of such a requirement and a same day registration process makes it easy for anyone, including those who aren’t legally qualified to vote there, to cast a ballot. All of which makes a good argument for exactly the laws liberals tell us are not only racist but also unnecessary.

While the Daily Beast tells us that a voter is more likely to be struck by lightening than commit fraud, that conclusion doesn’t hold up when you consider that several Philadelphia precincts have reported vote totals in heavily Democratic districts that exceeded 100 percent of the tally of registered voters. It was that practice that motivated the Pennsylvania legislature to pass a voter ID law there. Moreover, the idea that fraud is unheard of not only contradicts much of American political history but also an elementary knowledge of human nature which tells us that where there is something to be gained (such as the unions’ hope that Governor Scott Walker would be defeated in a recall election), people will cheat if they think they can get away with it. That’s especially true when the stakes are as high as they are in many elections.

Believing that the concept of voter fraud is itself a fraud only requires that you ignore what happened in Wisconsin or the routine trickery that remains a standard part of election hijinks any time or place that politicians believe no one is watching. Given the unfortunate timing of the Daily Beast piece, opponents of voter ID laws will probably do better sticking to specious allegations of racism than by pretending that cheating is a myth.

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Our curious love affair with the military….

Last week, the MoD admitted that budget cuts would result in fewer boots on the ground, but failed to mention the impact on the documentary makers and TV producers who depend on a ready pool of military “talent”. The cultural industry has done very well out of our recent preoccupation with conflict. The public appetite for war stories means guaranteed top billing for shows with military subjects and kudos for the brave soldiers in front of the cameras. No one seems to have noticed how similar these unflinching portrayals of the harsh realities of military life are, but the accolades keep coming. Six of the 18 documentary entries to the Royal Television Society awards this year were about soldiers. Names such as Harry’s Arctic Heroes suggest they tended to be glorifying rather than analytical. Even the ostensibly gritty ones had stirring soundtracks and a subtext of noble glory.

The military mood music has been playing in the background for while – an insistent tolling that occasionally breaks through all the jubalympic jazz. You could hear it this week when Tony Blair said he was planning to return to public life, and again during the Globe theatre’s recent revival of Henry V. There are dark portents everywhere, and people are panicking. The military build-up in our culture has prompted a large section of the public to put itself on a war footing, with unintentionally comical results. In my locale, high-end housewives are learning the art of making do and mend, while their husbands are squishing themselves into unflattering fatigues on Hampstead Heath for British Military Fitness sessions.

Watching Channel 5?s Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan recently, I wasn’t inspired to emulate the derring-do of the men on screen, but many viewers are. The civilians signing up for the popular military training courses think they’ll return from costly sorties in local parks pluckier, more determined and better able to cope in their hostile domestic and professional environments. The yompers on the heath look like they have bought into their military personae to varying degrees. I feel sorry for them, but can’t empathise because I’ve never fantasised about being given a dressing-down by someone paid to pretend to be offended by my push-up technique.

Many politicians nurture military fantasies – perhaps they dream of dodging IEDs in Helmand while waiting for their turn at the dispatch box. Labour’s defence secretary Jim Murphy talks about the “unsurpassed contribution” of the armed forces to our national life. The mission statement of the organisation he helped establish, Labour Friends of the Forces, lovingly recalls the contribution of ex-service people like Jim Callaghan who are a “proud part of our history” and promotes the military perspective, lest it be marginalised.

From HERE.

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The Terrifying Background of the Man Who Ran a CIA Assassination Unit

A federal investigation alleged Enrique Prado’s involvement in seven murders, yet he was in charge when America outsourced covert killing to a private company.

It was one of the biggest secrets of the post-9/11 era: soon after the attacks, President Bush gave the CIA permission to create a top secret assassination unit to find and kill Al Qaeda operatives. The program was kept from Congress for seven years. And when Leon Panetta told legislators about it in 2009, he revealed that the CIA had hired the private security firm Blackwater to help run it. “The move was historic,” says Evan Wright, the two-time National Magazine Award-winning journalist who wrote Generation Kill. “It seems to have marked the first time the U.S. government outsourced a covert assassination service to private enterprise.”

Confiscatory 55% Death Tax Set to Take Effect

In 2013, the death tax will revert to its antiquated, pre-2001 form.

This content is provided by the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation.

Current Law

The 2001 tax relief bill (EGTRRA), drastically reduced the impact of the death tax over the course of a decade, so that it was eliminated entirely for one year in 2010 — a good year to die, joked a number of pundits. The bill lowered marginal rates and increased the applicable exclusion amount, but it also included a provision allowing individuals to carry over exclusion dollars that were unused by their spouse at the time of his or her death. This “portability” measure effectively increased the applicable exclusion for many households, in some instances putting millions of dollars beyond the reach of the federal government.

The death tax rose from the grave at the end of 2010, with a Bush-era top rate of 35% and an applicable exclusion amount of $5 million ($5.12 million in 2012).

Scheduled Changes

In 2013, the death tax will revert to its antiquated, pre-2001 form. The applicable exclusion amount will plummet to $1,000,000, and the top marginal rate will leap twenty points to 55%. A 5% surtax will also return, to be levied on estates between $10 million and $17 million. This raises the top effective rate of the death tax to 60%.

ATRF Analysis

According to research by the Tax Policy Center, if the current death tax expires, then the resulting, stricter exemption threshold will force 114,600 estates to file for the tax in 2013 — this represents a 13-fold increase from the previous year’s 8,800 estates, and countless wasted hours filling out tax paperwork. Of that cohort, an unfortunate 52,500 will be liable for the tax, way up from 3,300.

While those 52,500 taxpayers only represent 2% of those who die each year, no one should be fooled into thinking that the effects of this tax fall only on the proverbial “one percent.” The economic incidence of the death tax is far broader, because it causes many wealthy individuals to save less, choosing instead to retire early or, as Milton Friedman put it, “dissipate their wealth on high living.” This reduction in savings means a concomitant reduction in investment, lessening the flow of capital to businesses and organizations where countless ordinary Americans are employed.

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Short Sharp Science: Today on New Scientist: 19 July 2012.

Global CO2 emissions continue to increase | e! Science News.

Leopard in dramatic photo traced to 2004 camera trap | e! Science News.

Astronomers report the earliest spiral galaxy ever seen, a shocking discovery | e! Science News.

The Bones Of Mona Lisa – Science News – redOrbit.

Scientists read monkeys’ inner thoughts: Brain activity decoded while monkeys avoid obstacle to touch target.

How to build a middleweight black hole: New model for intermediate black hole formation parallels growth of giant planets.

Life science businessmen predict genetically enhanced athletes will soon compete in the Olympics.

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Harlem Hellfighters – Soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment, (15th N.Y. National Guard Regiment) who won the Croix de Guerre for gallantry in action, WWI -1919

via.

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Iran Strikes Back

July 20, 2012: Israeli investigators have concluded that the recent terror attack against Israelis in Bulgaria was carried out by the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization. Hezbollah is a Shia radical group that is obsessed with destroying Israel and turning Lebanon into a Shia religious dictatorship. Hezbollah is facing hard times because of the rebellion next door in Syria. There an Iran backed secular dictatorship has been under attack by most Syrians for 16 months and the government is losing. A new government would be hostile to Iran and Hezbollah. Syria has been a supply line (from Iran) for Hezbollah as well as a refuge from Israeli attack. That will all be gone, and Hezbollah’s many enemies (mostly in Lebanon, but most specifically Israel) will take advantage and try to destroy a weakened Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, with better access to the world (than heavily sanctioned Iran) has long been carrying out terror attacks (mostly against Israel) for Iran. As a result of that, Hezbollah has (over the last two decades) become identified and treated as an international terrorist organization.