The Words you Use can Be a Cause for Investigation

Posted on August 31, 2015August 31, 2015 by Denise Simon

On the knife’s edge, Americans are threatened by some entity every day. It is the work of government to keep the homeland safe and the methods or tactics used can infringe on our protected rights.

Wonder what words are used in Hillary’s emails….

When it comes to words, the Department of Homeland Security has a list and they have systems to cultivate interactions on the internet where social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and YouTube are the top three locations where you are being watched. Have you ever posted something to Facebook and it was removed?

This is not a new circumstance, but often we need to be reminded.

Dept. of Homeland Security Forced to Release List of Keywords Used to Monitor Social Networking Sites

Forbes: If you are thinking about tweeting about clouds, pork, exercise or even Mexico, think again. Doing so may result in a closer look by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In a story appearing earlier today on the U.K’s Daily Mail website, it was reported that the DHS has been forced to release a list of keywords and phrases it uses to monitor various social networking sites. The list provides a glimpse into what DHS describes as “signs of terrorist or other threats against the U.S.”

The list was posted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center who filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act, before suing to obtain the release of the documents. The documents were part of the department’s 2011 ’Analyst’s Desktop Binder‘ used by workers at their National Operations Center which instructs workers to identify ‘media reports that reflect adversely on DHS and response activities’.

The information sheds new light on how government analysts are instructed to patrol the internet searching for domestic and external threats. The Daily Mail’s article noted the Electronic Privacy Information Center wrote a letter to the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counter-terrorism and Intelligence, describing it’s choice of words as ‘broad, vague and ambiguous’.

What wasn’t disclosed is how the agency actually gains access to the various search engines and social networks to monitor the specified keywords. My guess is the DHS has a “special arrangement” with companies like Google GOOG -1.94%, Facebook FB -1.12%, Microsoft MSFT +0.00%, Yahoo and Twitter to gain secure direct API access. This type of access would allow it to use distributed cloud technologies to monitor the daily flow of social media and search activity in something close to real time.

I would love to learn more about the technologies used to accomplish this type of social / web monitoring. The applications for monitoring trends and social statics are fascinating when applied to other industry sectors. Given the extent of the monitoring, I’m sure this post itself is now coming up on the DHS radar, so please feel free to leave a comment with any insights.

2014:

(Update 1: Reading through the Desktop Binder, I discovered the DHS Twitter account is @dhsnocmmc1 and DHS appears to be using tweetdeck to monitor the various keywords. See Page 38 – Also interesting to note they seem to be using a Mac Mini as a server, and no password vaults. All Passwords appear to be shared in a plain text word document.)

(Update 2: On page 37, DHS instructs analysts to accept invalid SSL certificates forever without verification. Although invalid SSL warnings often appear in benign situations, they can also signal a man-in-the-middle attack. Not a good practice for the security conscious. Thanks to @obraon twitter for the tip.)

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For the full DHS document, click here.

Asylum Seekers Die Across the Globe

Posted on August 31, 2015August 31, 2015 by Denise Simon

The United Nations Refugee Agency’s solution to global unrest appears to be the same as that of world leaders, report the crisis and force other countries to accept refugees and asylum seekers. Meanwhile, death tolls mount.

Between the fact that the Obama White House never had a strategic plan for the Middle East, nor one for Central and Latin America, while as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry do not have one either. Meanwhile people suffer and the whole consequence threatens national security, healthcare, education, taxpayers, crimes and more.

There is more for sure….

Bodies found dead in a truck near border, while asylum seekers flow into Hungary

GENEVA, Aug 28 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency said it was “deeply shocked and saddened” at the grim discovery yesterday of the bodies of 71 people inside a truck abandoned near the Austrian border with Hungary.

“This tragedy underscores the ruthlessness of people smugglers who have expanded their business from the Mediterranean sea to the highways of Europe. It shows they have no regard for human life and are only after profit,” UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a press briefing in Geneva.

Austrian police said that they believed the truck came from Hungary and entered Austria on Wednesday night or early on Thursday morning, and that the victims might have been dead for one or two days. Their identity is still unknown but it is presumed that they were being transported by smugglers.

After establishing that there were no survivors, the truck was closed again by the police and moved to another location for further investigations. Police said that they counted at least 20 bodies but the actual number is likely to be much higher.

“This tragedy also highlights the desperation of people seeking protection or a new life in Europe. UNHCR hopes this incident will result in strong cooperation among European police forces, intelligence agencies and international organisations to crack down on the smuggling trade while putting in place measures to protect and care for victims,” Fleming said.

UNHCR has reiterated its call to European countries to approach the refugee crisis in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation and to provide those seeking safety in Europe with safe legal alternatives to dangerous irregular voyages. These legal avenues include resettlement or humanitarian admission programs, flexible visa policies and family reunification.

“This week, the Hungarian border police have been intercepting more than 2,000 people crossing the border from Serbia every day. On Wednesday, police reported 3,241 new arrivals, including 700 children. This is the highest number in a single day so far this year,” Fleming detailed.

She added that these people, a majority of whom are refugees from Syria, including many women and children, are coming in large groups of over 200 people, walking along the rail tracks or crawling under barbed wire, as work continues on a 175 kilometres long wall at the border between Hungary and Serbia.

“Fear of police detection makes many of them rush through the razor wires, sustaining cuts and injuries in the process. UNHCR staff at the border report that many people are arriving on wheelchairs pushed by relatives, while others are in need of urgent medical assistance,” Fleming explained.

Police take the new arrivals to a pre-registration centre in Röszke in southern Hungary, near the Serbian border and some 184 kilometres away from the capital, Budapest. The centre in Röszke does not offer adequate conditions for the exhausted, hungry and thirsty asylum-seekers who have spent many days on the road.

In Röszke, new arrivals are searched by the police and their details recorded, before being sent to registration centres, further inland. Asylum-seekers are kept in mandatory detention between 12 and 36 hours, and then handed over to the Office of Immigration and Nationality to process their asylum claims. Hungary’s four reception centres have a maximum capacity of 5,000 people.

“Overcrowding and long waits result in frustration for the asylum-seekers. The Hungarian police do not have social workers or enough interpreters in Arabic, Dari, Pashto and Urdu, which makes it hard to communicate with asylum-seekers,” Fleming continued.

Over 140,000 people have sought asylum in Hungary so far this year, according to the latest official statistics, compared to 42,000 people last year. Most of those lodging asylum applications this year are nationals from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan and they include around 7,000 unaccompanied children or separated from their parents.

Many refugees and migrants choose to leave Hungary for other countries in Europe. Every day up to 500 people sleep at the two main train stations in Budapest where volunteers look after their basic needs, including food, clothing and urgent medical attention, and where the city authorities give them access to sanitation facilities. In order to provide more adequate accommodation, the city authorities are planning to open a transit facility, with UNHCR’s technical advice.

Islamist Incursion Continues in Sheriff’s Dept.

Posted on August 31, 2015August 31, 2015 by Denise Simon

It is not just one Sheriffs Office either, there is Los Angeles County and then add in the fact that even County Commissioners are in lock step with Islamists and CAIR. Question is how does their oath square with Sharia law? Anyone?

Islamist Deputy Sheriff Received Go-Ahead to Keep Job at CAIR

The Sheriff’s Office signs off on employment with a terrorist organization.

Front Page: Nezar Hamze has two paying jobs. In one, he is a Deputy Sheriff at the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), under oath to watch over, protect and promote the best interests of the community. In the other, he is the Regional Operations Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Florida chapter of CAIR, an Islamist group with numerous ties to international terrorism. It is disturbing and dangerous that someone from CAIR is involved with law enforcement. It is more disturbing that Hamze has his job at CAIR with the blessings of the Sheriff’s office.

In June 2014, Hamze applied for the position of Certified Reserve Deputy with the BSO. He had applied for the same position in March 2012 but was rejected. At the time of his 2012 application, Hamze was serving as the Executive Director of CAIR-Florida. His 2014 application states (in type) that he, at the time, had the title of Regional Operations Director of CAIR-Florida and has the word “current” penciled next to it.

The 2014 application states that the Broward Sheriff, Scott Israel, recommended Hamze for the job. The application was approved, and soon after, Hamze was sworn in.

In order to keep his position with CAIR, at the same time as serve the BSO, Hamze had to fill out a form asking the BSO if he could do so. On his ‘Broward Sheriff’s Office Off-Duty Employment Form,’ dated February 2015, it states, “I, Nezar Hamze… request that I be granted permission to accept off-duty employment for the year 2015.”

Hamze stated for his job description, “As Coordinator for CAIR Florida I will be responsible for assisting in community events and educational lectures. My job duties include: public speaking, fundraising, media relations, lectures, employment training, diversity and culture training. The nature of this job does not require any regular office hours and I am able to work on my days off and at my leisure.”

Along with Hamze, both the Unit Supervisor and the Division Commander signed the form.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand the conflict of interest with respect to Hamze’s two jobs. There is not even an issue of ‘dual loyalty’ in this case, since it is obvious that Hamze is exploiting his position in law enforcement solely to further his Islamist agenda as a CAIR official. Hamze’s hiring is no doubt a coup for CAIR, but it is a ‘coup de grace’ for counter terrorism efforts within the BSO and beyond, as it could result in grave harm done to criminal and/or terrorist investigations.

CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations was established, in June 1994, as one of four groups under the leadership of then-global head of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzook, who had been residing in the US for decades. Following the White House’s January 1995 designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization, Marzook was arrested and placed in prison. Two years later, in May 1997, he was deported to Jordan. Marzook is currently residing in Egypt, as the number two leader in Hamas.

Since CAIR’s founding, a number of representatives for the group have been imprisoned in and/or deported from the U.S. for various reasons related to terrorist activity. CAIR itself was named a co-conspirator by the US government for two federal trials dealing with the financing of Hamas. And the hierarchy of CAIR is still intact, as the national office’s founding Executive Director, Nihad Awad, and founding Communications Director, Ibrahim Hooper, still hold the same positions.

In November 2014, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government officially named CAIR a terrorist organization.

When Hamze applied for the BSO in 2014, he e-mailed the Backgrounds division of the Sheriff’s Office, giving permission for them to contact CAIR-Florida. He stated, “I report to the Board of Directors and you can contact them for any information you need,” and he proceeded to give the numbers for two individuals who sit on CAIR-Florida’s Board, Board Member Rashid Abbara (a.k.a. Muhammad Abbara) and the Chairman of the Board Zaid Abdur-Rahman.

Abdur-Rahman, who is a black belt in karate, has called the arrest and conviction of terrorist Syed Fahad Hashmi an “atrocity” that future Presidents and politicians should “apologize” for. In June 2010, Hashmi, a former student at Brooklyn College in New York, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, after pleading guilty to providing material support to al-Qaeda.

In July 2014, Abdur-Rahman posted a video to his Facebook page denouncing Israel for conducting air strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza. The individual posing as a reporter on the video, states, “[W]hen the IDF talks about hitting quote Hamas targets, remember that Hamas is the democratically elected leadership of Gaza, which could mean any government building or social services.”

In July 2014, a BSO ‘Employment Verification’ form for Hamze was filled out by CAIR-Florida’s Community and Government Relations Director Ghazala Salam.

This past July, Salam was featured on a video interview for al-Hikmat, the media arm of the radical Darul Uloom mosque located in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

Darul Uloom has been associated with a number of al-Qaeda terrorists, including now-deceased al-Qaeda Global Operations Chief Adnan el-Shukrijumah, “Dirty Bomber” Jose Padilla, and possibly one of the 9/11 hijackers. Interviewing Salam for the video was the imam of the mosque, Maulana Shafayat Mohamed. Shafayat Mohamed was thrown off a number of boards in Broward County for his outspokenness against homosexuals. In February 2005, Darul Uloom published an article by him claiming that homosexual sex caused the 2004 Indonesian tsunami.

In viewing Nezar Hamze’s applications for employment with the Broward Sheriff’s Office – both his 2012 and 2014 applications – CAIR’s fingerprints are all over them. And for someone like Hamze that makes sense, because CAIR is Hamze’s real life and loyalty.

On Hamze’s BSO ‘Off-Duty Employment Form’ asking to keep his job at CAIR, the form reads, “I further understand that the Sheriff reserves the right to approve, deny, suspend, and or revoke this request at any time for any reason.”

Given Hamze’s role in CAIR, Hamze should have never been hired for any position within the Broward Sheriff’s Office, let alone a position where he gets to walk around with a badge and a gun. No matter how one looks at it, Hamze’s hire is a risk to national security.

Yet what is entirely unfathomable is the fact that the BSO signed off on allowing Hamze to keep his job with CAIR, while serving in his capacity as Deputy Sheriff. If Hamze’s hire reflects the BSO’s approach to combatting terrorism and engaging the Muslim community, they have effectively sabotaged themselves.

All of this took place under the watch of Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, and for that Israel should resign his office immediately. Hamze should be fired, and Israel should go with him.

If you wish to contact Sheriff Israel to discuss this matter, you can do so by sending an e-mail to: [email protected] , or you can call the Broward Sheriff’s Office, at 954-764-4357. Please be respectful in any and all communications with this office.

Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.

Human smuggling network dismantled

Posted on August 31, 2015August 31, 2015 by Denise Simon

One must keep in mind that this is yet a result of the Obama White House backdoor Dreamer program.

A human smuggling network that operated in Central America, Mexico and the United States was dismantled in a multinational operation.

Eleven members of the network, that used sea routes to transport undocumented immigrants trying to reach the United States, were arrested in three Mexican states: Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero.

The Attorney General’s Office said that the migrants arrived to the port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca and were taken from there to the U.S. border by land. It added that cash, credit cards, weapons, ammunition, mobiles and five cell phones were seized as part of the operation, for which Mexico shared information and coordinated with authorities in the United States, El Salvador and Guatemala.

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FoxLatino: “As a result of actions against a transnational criminal organization dedicated to trafficking in people, including unaccompanied minor migrants, that operates in Central America with the United States of America as its destination via Mexico, 11 members of said group have been detained,” the AG’s office said in a statement.

The suspects were arrested in Oaxaca and Guerrero states, both in southern Mexico, and in the central state of Puebla, the AG’s office said.

The arrests were made as part of an investigation that started several months ago and is being coordinated with officials in El Salvador and Guatemala, the SEIDO organized crime unit said.

The people trafficking network used maritime routes on Mexico’s Pacific coast to move the migrants, the Special Unit for Investigations of Trafficking in Minors, People and Organs, or UEITMPO, said.

Migrants were taken to Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, and later moved by land via several other states to northern Mexico, the UEITMPO said.

Investigators searched 10 properties, including a bar, in Oaxaca, as well as one property in Puebla and two in Guerrero.

Cash, bank cards and documents, firearms, ammunition, cell phones and five vehicles were seized, the AG’s office said.

The suspects were turned over to federal prosecutors, who plan to charge them with people trafficking and organized crime.

How bad is this human trafficking?

InSight: Authorities in Mexico have uncovered a web of human trafficking alliances stretching across 17 states and involving groups from the biggest cartels down to family-run crime clans, in an illustration of the scale of the trade and the pressure on major criminal organizations to move into new businesses.

Based on testimony from victims, the Attorney General’s organized crime unit (SEIDO) linked crime families in the small central state of Tlaxcala to drug cartels including the Zetas, the Familia Michoacana, the Knights Templar and the Gulf Cartel, reported Excelsior.

One of the routes used by the networks is to bring minors from the southeast states of Oaxaca, Veracruz, Hidalgo and Chiapas and transport them by truck to safe houses in Tlaxcala, from where victims are either moved to Tijuana near the US border or to Mexico City.

The tactics used to obtain victims have reportedly developed over time, with criminal groups now often using social networking sites rather than kidnapping to recruit victims, found SEIDO.

According to Excelsior, 70,000 people become victims of human trafficking every year in Mexico. The crime earns criminal groups an estimated $42 million annually — which amounts to about $600 per victim — and 47 criminal organizations are involved.

InSight Crime Analysis

In 2010, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean (CATW-LAC) reported that an estimated 1.2 million people in Mexico were victims of human trafficking. The National Refuge Network has reported that 800,000 adults and 20,000 children are trafficked for sexual exploitation in the country each year.

As highlighted by Excelsior, the human trafficking business model is sophisticated, with the work divided between a range of criminal groups responsible for different aspects of the trade, such as recruitment or transport.

Human trafficking in the country used to be dominated by small, independent networks, but drug cartels have taken an increasingly important role in the crime as they seek to diversify their revenue streams in the face of pressure on the drug business. In 2013, the regional head of CATW-LAC stated that 70 percent of sex trafficking cases reported to the organization involved drug gangs.

The importance of Tlaxcala in the human trafficking networks may be due to the state’s central location and proximity to Mexico City. Between January 2010 and July 2013, Tlaxcala saw the greatest number of convictions for human trafficking and tied with Baja California for the largest number of cases opened for this crime. The state was also the site of a major sex trafficking network dismantled in 2011.

The Political War has Been Launched

Posted on August 29, 2015August 29, 2015 by Denise Simon

The annual Spring meeting for the DNC is going on in Minneapolis and of particular note with the chatter about Joe Biden entering the presidential race, he was not in attendance. Truth be known, he is quite undecided regard of the ‘Draft Joe Biden’ campaign and Jill Biden does not want him to run for the Oval Office for the third time.

Part of the agenda at the DNC meeting was to present a Iran deal ‘yes’ vote resolution but the DNC Chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz refused to bring it up.

Meanwhile, the most precious asset for the Democrats is Barack Obama’s database of donors, powerbrokers and operatives and that database has been passed on to the DNC.

The database consists of voting records and political donation histories bolstered by vast amounts of personal but publicly available consumer data, say campaign officials and others familiar with the operation. It could record hundreds of pieces of information for each voter.

Campaign workers added far more detail through a broad range of voter contacts — in person, on the phone, via e-mail or through visits to the campaign’s Web site. Those who used its Facebook app, for example, had their files updated with lists of their Facebook friends, along with scores measuring the intensity of those relationships and whether they lived in swing states. If their last names sounded Hispanic, a key target group for the campaign, the database recorded that, too.

The result was a digital operation far more elaborate than the one mounted by Obama’s Republican rival, Mitt Romney, who collected less data and deployed it less effectively, officials from both parties say.

To maintain their advantage, Democrats say they must navigate the inevitable intraparty squabbles over who gets access now that the unifying forces of a billion-dollar presidential campaign are gone.

Democrats Get The Keys To Obama’s Massive Campaign Email List

Obama’s vaunted campaign email list has been turned over to the DNC, doubling the size of the party’s email list.

MINNEAPOLIS — The most envied digital contact list in politics is now in the hands of the Democratic Party.

Party officials and the remnants of President Obama’s 2012 campaign team have hashed out a deal that turns over control of the campaign’s email list to the DNC, a move that more than doubles the party’s current email contact list and puts some of the most advanced digital contact infrastructure in the complete control of the Democratic Party.

DNC officials declined to discuss the size of the list, but DNC digital director Matt Compton’s excitement at owning the list that helped Obama raise “more than $500 million” last cycle according to the Wall Street Journal was palpable in an intervew at the DNC’s Summer Meeting. DNC officials said the list was the “largest political email list in the world.”

“The email list will help the DNC expand its reach online, build support for a new generation of leadership, and test new tactics for activating Democratic voters in future elections,” he said. “Email is critically important tool for fundraising, grassroots engagement in support of key issues, and setting the record straight about the Republican candidates as well.”

The DNC formally acquired the list earlier this month, and has already used it to send out an email aimed at boosting support for Obama’s clean power proposal. The DNC has used the list before, but only after messages were approved by the campaign organization that owned it. Now, the DNC is free to use it as they please.

What sets the list apart is its enhancements. More than just a huge file of emails, the Obama 2012 list includes information about which specific type of appeals a supporter responded to, how much they donated and when, how they prefer to be contacted, and other granular data that helped make Obama’s digital grassroots outreach the best over two separate campaign cycles.

DNC control means that eventually the party’s presidential nominee will get access to the email list Obama built. Every Democratic presidential campaign would love access to the list, and there has been public grumbling about whether or not Obama would give it up for months. There are no current plans for the competing Democratic primary candidates to get access to the list, DNC officials said, but that could change in the future.

For now, Democratic Party officials are excited to have one of the most sought-after tools in politics. Compton said the list gives Democrats a huge leg up over the GOP in digital outreach.

“The acquisition of this dataset is part of the DNC’s broad efforts to build on its success in political technology and digital organizing, and to keep us many steps ahead of our RNC rivals — and to widen that gap even further,” Compton said.