Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Baseball announcer advertises for Illuminati during game?
During a strange segment of the Cubs versus Brewers pro baseball game last week, a mysterious display of occult symbols is reported to have flashed on screen momentarily.
A notably shaken baseball fan posted a frantic YouTube video after witnessing what he described as “the most Satanic collection of anything” he’d ever seen.
The image that appeared on-screen featured a number of medieval occult signs and magic stamps, many of which are identified as Illuminati and Pagan symbols.
According to Wisconsin’s Caledonia Patch, “…it appears this was on the DISHTV & WGN feed, so in speculation the image could have been inserted at either feed location.”
Digging further, we find the likely culprit in a story published just days ago on WGNTV.com in which one of the Chicago Cubs announcers, Jim Deshaies, admitted to dabbling in witchcraft to help his team win in the late 80s.
In his opening paragraph, Deshaies notes how the Cubs had lost their last 19 out of the last 21 games in Milwaukee, and ponders, “Is it time to cast a spell on [Milwaukee's] Miller Park?”
He goes on to explain how in 1988 he “cast a spell” to aid the Houston Astros who were nursing an 11 game losing streak at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium.
Clearly it was time to change the karma. Some unknown force led me to a local book store where I happened upon a book on the occult, full of spells, incantations and the like.
Flipping through the pages I came upon a spell that would put a curse on one’s enemies house. Seemed like a fit. It called for twigs from 3 different types of trees. I gathered twigs from the first three trees I came upon brought them to the ballpark and gathered a pair of co-warlocks (Larry Andersen and Dave Smith). The spell mandated we spit on the twigs then light them on fire and while smoldering recite the incantation…
He also posts the same image featuring the occult symbols that mysteriously appeared on-screen last week.
The Astros apparently won that night, but the announcer fairly gives partial credit to Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan‘s lightning speed fast ball, jesting, “Always a good idea when casting a spell to have a Hall of Famer scheduled to pitch.”
Infowars
Russia Hands Over New Stealth Frigate to India
MOSCOW, July 2 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has delivered the last in a series of three frigates built for the Indian Navy, state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport said.
The Trikand missile frigate was handed over to the Indian crew at the Yantar shipyard in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad on Monday.
“During the ceremony, the Russian and Indian officials signed an acceptance act, and an Indian navy flag was hoisted on the ship,” Rosoboronexport said in a statement.
Russia and India signed a $1.6 billion contract on the construction of three modified Krivak III class (also known as Talwar class) guided missile frigates for India in 2006.
The first frigate, INS Teg, joined the Indian Navyon April 27, 2012, while the second, INS Tarkash, arrived at the port of Mumbai in India on December 30, 2012.
The frigates are each armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, jointly developed by Russia and India.
They are also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defense gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers and an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) helicopter.
Russia built three Talwar class frigates for India - INS Talwar (Sword), INS Trishul (Trident), and INS Tabar (Axe) under a previous contract.
Ria Novosti
ZENITH 2016 Part Number 12
| Whether it be Mitt Romney or another LDS member, the chances of a Mormon American President in 2016 is stronger than many think, as this religion—once widely held as a cult—is among the fastest growing in the world. |
END TIMES CULT OR JUST ANOTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMINATION?
This is where I may lose some readers, but I must be straight forward on this issue. Mormonism is not just another Christian denomination. It is a cult and one of the earliest American forms of transhumanism. This is readily demonstrated in their doctrines concerning Jesus where His deity is minimized as not so unlike other glorified men. He is eternal, but the spirits of all men are eternal in the same way. Mormon theology teaches that the gods produced spirit children from eternity, but that they had to wait for men on Earth to provide bodies for their incarnation via human procreation. Jesus Christ was merely one of these spirit children along with His brother, Lucifer, who received a body and became a god. The only difference between Christ and other men is one of progression over time rather than ontology. A partial transcript from a documentary by Jeremiah Films on the Belief of Mormonism explains:
Mormons believe that Elohim is their heavenly father and that he lives with his many goddess wives on a planet near a mysterious star called Kolob.
Here, the god of Mormonism and his wives, through endless celestial sex, produced billions of spirit children. To decide their destiny, the head of the Mormon gods called a great heavenly council meeting. Both of Elohim’s eldest sons were there, Lucifer, and his brother, Jesus.
A plan was presented to build planet earth, where the spirit children would be sent to take on mortal bodies and learn good from evil.
Lucifer stood and made his bid for becoming savior of this new world. Wanting the glory for himself, he planned to force everyone to become gods. Opposing the idea, the Mormon Jesus suggested giving man his freedom of choice as on other planets. The vote that followed approved the proposal of the Mormon Jesus, who would become savior of the planet earth.
Enraged, Lucifer cunningly convinced one third of the spirits destined for earth to fight with him in revolt.
Thus Lucifer became the Devil and his followers the Demons. Sent to this world, they would forever be denied bodies of flesh and bone.
Those who remained neutral in the battle were cursed to be born with black skin. This is the Mormon explanation for [persons of black ancestry or appearance].
The spirits that fought most valiantly against Lucifer would be born into Mormon families on planet earth. These would be the lighter skinned people, or white and delightsome, as the Book of Mormon describes them.
Early Mormon prophets taught that Elohim and one of his goddess wives came to earth as Adam and Eve to start the human race. Thousands of years later, Elohim, in human form once again, journeyed to earth from the star base Kolob, this time to have sex with the Virgin Mary in order to provide Jesus with a physical body.[vi]
Building on the necessity of divinity via endless sex and conception, Mormon doctrine teaches that “Jesus” was also a polygamist and married the two Marys and Martha of the New Testament, producing children with them. This was necessary for him to do, they say, in order to become a divine being because the LDS doctrine of exaltation requires procreation in order to attain godhood. This is readily seen in the writing of Mormon apostle, Bruce R. McConkie, where he says:
Of those who enter the Lord’s order of matrimony and who keep their covenants…the Lord says: “They shall pass by the angels, and the gods…to their exaltation and glory in all things…which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.” That is to say, eternal life consists of two things: (1) the continuation of the family unit in eternity, which means a continuation of the seeds or the everlasting begetting of children; and (2) the receipt of the fulness of the glory of the Father, which is all power in heaven and on earth.[vii]
In his journal, dated July 22, 1883, LDS apostle, Wilford Woodruff, reaffirmed this commonly held belief by LDS leaders that Jesus was married[viii] and Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde went even further, actually quoting the famous Bible story of the marriage at Cana in Galilee (John 2:1–11) to suggest that it was Jesus who was joined in matrimony that day. Hyde writes:
Now there was actually a marriage; and if Jesus was not the bridegroom on that occasion, please tell who was. If any man can show this, and prove that it was not the Savior of the world, then I will acknowledge I am in error. We say it was Jesus Christ who was married, to be brought into the relation whereby he could see his seed, before he was crucified.[ix]
Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt continues this profane belief, writing:
One thing is certain, that there were several holy women that greatly loved Jesus—such as Mary, and Martha her sister, and Mary Magdalene; and Jesus greatly loved them, and associated with them much; and when He arose from the dead, instead of showing Himself to His chosen witnesses, the Apostles, He appeared first to these women, or at least to one of them—namely, Mary Magdalene. Now it would be natural for a husband in the resurrection to appear first to his own dear wives, and afterwards show himself to his other friends. If all the acts of Jesus were written, we no doubt should learn that these beloved women were His wives.[x]
These Da Vinci Code-like doctrines are just the tip of the sacrilegious iceberg and even include the story of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, a genocidal confederate of Hitler, who was given the Mormon “baptism for the dead” and made a Saint in the LDS Church. Why? Because he shared the Mormon belief that Jesus Christ was married and procreated a line of descendants inclusive of himself and, of course, according to LDS sources, Joseph Smith.
Mormonism, Freemasonry and Transhumanism
Joseph Smith, the founder of LDS, was a known occult practitioner in his home town, and his involvement in Freemasonry has been thoroughly documented. When former Wheaton College President, Dr. Jonathan Blanchard, wrote his treatise exposingScottish Rite Masonry concerning the thirteenth degree, he included:
The power of this degree, long as it has befooled its thousands, is the power of Mormonism, of Alchemy, of Astrology, of Spiritism, Mesmerism and whatever holds the mind steady for Satan to demoralize it. It is the power of that spirit whose coming is with lying wonders. The wonders may be real, but they land men in the lie, that they may be saved without Christ.[xi]
References to Mormonism are ubiquitous throughout this scholarly work regarding the degrees of Scottish Rite. In the second volume, Blanchard concludes, “The two institutions are morally and legally the same.”[xii] While this may be news to some, it shouldn’t be too surprising. It is a matter of record that Smith became a Mason in 1842 along with at least twelve hundred other Mormons.[xiii] They appropriated the Masonic rituals and rebranded them as Mormon temple rites. Indeed, there is ample scholarly consensus that the Mormon temple formalities were plagiarized directly from Freemasonry, including the LDS endowment ceremonies.
For example, consider the Masonic “five points of fellowship” which is virtually identical in Mormonism:
FOR MASONS: He (the candidate) is raised on what is called the five points of fellowship.… This is done by putting the inside of your right foot to the inside of the right foot of the person to whom you are going to give the word, the inside of your knee to his, laying your right breast against his, your left hands on the back of each other, and your mouths to each other’s right ear (in which position alone you are permitted to give the word), and whisper the word Mahhah-bone.… He is also told that Mahhah-bone signifies marrow in the bone.
FOR MORMONS: The five points of fellowship are given by putting the inside of the right foot to the inside of the Lord’s, the inside of your knee to his, laying your breast close to his, your left hands on each other’s backs, and each one putting his mouth to the other’s ear, in which position the Lord whispers: “Lord—‘This is the sign of the token: Health to the navel, marrow in the bones.’”[xiv]
While the “borrowing” example listed above is self-evident, it is important to note that in the Mormon version of the secret ritual, the LDS member plays the role of God. What mysteries might these deified plagiaristic cult members whisper in each other’s ears? Mormon founder Joseph Smith said, “God Himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by His power, was to make Himself visible,—I say, if you were to see Him today, you would see Him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man.”[xv] In other words, God was not always God, but developed into an exalted state. Accordingly, God began with and still has a human body of flesh and blood just like everyone else. This, too, is a system of belief taken directly from Freemasonic occultism. As one of the order’s most celebrated mystics, 33rd degree Mason, Manly P. Hall, wrote: “Man is a god in the making, and as in the mystic myths of Egypt, on the potter’s wheel he is being molded. When his light shines out to lift and preserve all things, he receives the triple crown of godhood, and joins that throng of Master Masons…”[xvi] Even more descriptive, English author and Freemason Walter Leslie Wilmshurst described this process in his 1922 book, The Meaning of Masonry:
From grade to grade the candidate is being led from an old to an entirely new quality of life. He begins his Masonic career as the natural man; he ends it by becoming through its discipline, a regenerated perfected man. To attain this transmutation, this metamorphosis of himself, he is taught first to purify and subdue his sensual nature; then to purify and develop his mental nature; and finally, by utter surrender of his old life and losing his soul to save it, he rises from the dead a Master, a just man made perfect…
This—the evolution of man into superman—was always the purpose of the ancient Mysteries, and the real purpose of modern Masonry is, not the social and charitable purpose to which so much attention is paid, but the expediting of the spiritual evolution of those who aspire to perfect their own nature and transform it into a more god-like quality. And this is a definite science, a royal art…”[xvii]
Mormonism—thus an alternative form of Masonic occultism and transhumanism—teaches that men can evolve into gods through self-determination and personal will. “Therefore,” writes Carl Teichrib, editor and CEO of the highly recommended Forcing Change Magazine, “becoming a God is not only possible, but the implied goal of the LDS believer.”[xviii] Furthermore, if faithful churchmen work hard to become such co-creators with the Father, they are promised the opportunity of reigning over alien worlds. In his Doctrines of Salvation, Joseph Smith adds:
The Father has promised us that through our faithfulness we shall be blessed with the fulness of his kingdom. In other words we will have the privilege of becoming like him. To become like him we must have all the powers of godhood; thus a man and his wife when glorified will have spirit children who eventually will go on an earth like this one we are on and pass through the same kind of experiences, being subject to mortal conditions, and if faithful, then they also will receive the fulness of exaltation and partake of the same blessings. There is no end to this development; it will go on forever. We will become gods and have jurisdiction over worlds, and these worlds will be peopled by our own offspring. We will have an endless eternity for this. (emphasis added)[xix]
Mormon theologians, thinking like philosophical materialists, thereby distort biblical passages to support an apostate view ofcountless alien worlds ruled by extraterrestrial gods (for more on this particular point, read the best-selling book Exo-Vaticana fromDefender Publishing, 2013). Of course, Mormons run into difficulty with passages like, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent” (Numbers 23:19a), and similar passages including 1 Samuel 15:29 and Hosea 11:9. Mormons typically respond that the passage in Numbers is simply contrasting the exalted posthuman state against the less evolved human condition. But Jesus taught that God is Spirit (John 4:24), and that Spirit is not made of flesh and bone (Luke 24:39). Modern LDS members have no coherent answers for these clear contradictions with the Bible but are quietly laying the philosophical groundwork to merge the two systems—theological and biotechnological (and astrobiological)—with modern fatalistic arguments in favor of employing emerging fields of technology (including genetics) to fashion a new form of man—a transhuman deity and ultimately a posthuman god. As the president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association has written:
Most Mormon Transhumanists consider our religion to be remarkably compatible with transhumanism. We consider Mormonism to be a religious transhumanism. Eternal progression is a central doctrine of Mormonism. Basically, the idea is that we have all existed in some form or another into the indefinite past; that we have been and are progressing toward becoming like God in a creative and benevolent capacity, and that we should each help others do the same into the indefinite future. Mormon scripture asserts the work of God to be that of bringing about immortality and eternal life, and invites us all to participate in that work.[xx]
Given Mormonism’s embrace of the biotechnological posthuman paradigm as the most powerful modem of radically producing supermen, could a man like Romney, with the necessary hubris and financial resources, be uniquely qualified to realize the outrageous goal of incarnation into flesh of that diabolical “brother of Jesus” and end-times leader of the New World Order, the Devil? Time will tell, and whether a Mormon will ride in on his white horse in 2016 to save the US Constitution will also soon be known. Likewise, it won’t be long before we see whether turn-of-the-century protestant reformers like the great Jonathan Edwards, medieval Catholic mystics including Saint Malachy, and Jewish sages who wrote the Zohar seven-hundred years ago saw correctly in their visions of the arrival of the False Prophet and Antichrist in the years 2012–2016.
Whatever happens, events unfolding around the globe do indeed suggest a near future in which a man of superior intelligence, wit, charm, and diplomacy will emerge on the world scene as a savior. He will seemingly possess transcendent wisdom that enables him to solve problems and offer solutions for many of today’s most perplexing issues. His popularity will be widespread and his fans will include young and old, religious and non-religious, male and female. Talk show hosts will interview his colleagues, news anchors will cover his movements, scholars will applaud his uncanny ability at resolving what has escaped the rest of us, and the poor will bow down at his table. He will, in all human respects, appeal to the best idea of society. But his profound comprehension and irresistible presence will be the result of an invisible network of thousands of years of collective knowledge. He will, quite literally, represent the embodiment of a very old, super-intelligent spirit. As Jesus Christ was the “seed of the woman” (Genesis 3:15), he will be the “seed of the serpent.” Moreover, though his arrival in the form of a man was foretold by numerous Scriptures, the broad masses will not immediately recognize him for what he actually is—paganism’s ultimate incarnation; the “beast” of Revelation 13:1.
Raidersnewsupdate.com
Ron Paul: "If You Like The Surveillance State, You’ll Love E-Verify"
From massive NSA spying, to IRS targeting of the administration's political opponents, to collection and sharing of our health care information as part of Obamacare, it seems every day we learn of another assault on our privacy. Sadly, this week the Senate took another significant, if little-noticed, step toward creating an authoritarian surveillance state. Buried in the immigration bill is a national identification system called mandatory E-Verify.
The Senate did not spend much time discussing E-Verify, and what little discussion took place was mostly bipartisan praise for its effectiveness as a tool for preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining employment. It is a tragedy that mandatory E-Verify is not receiving more attention, as it will impact nearly every American’s privacy and liberty.
The mandatory E-Verify system requires Americans to carry a “tamper-proof” social security card. Before they can legally begin a job, American citizens will have to show the card to their prospective employer, who will then have to verify their identity and eligibility to hold a job in the US by running the information through the newly-created federal E-Verify database. The database will contain photographs taken from passport files and state driver's licenses. The law gives federal bureaucrats broad discretion in adding other “biometric” identifiers to the database. It also gives the bureaucracy broad authority to determine what features the “tamper proof” card should contain.
Regardless of one’s views on immigration, the idea that we should have to ask permission from the federal government before taking a job ought to be offensive to all Americans. Under this system, many Americans will be denied the opportunity for work. The E-Verify database will falsely identify thousands as "ineligible," forcing many to lose job opportunities while challenging government computer inaccuracies. E-Verify will also impose additional compliance costs on American businesses, at a time when they are struggling with Obamacare implementation and other regulations.
According to David Bier of Competitive Enterprise Institute, there is nothing stopping the use of E-Verify for purposes unrelated to work verification, and these expanded uses could be authorized by agency rule-making or executive order. So it is not inconceivable that, should this bill pass, the day may come when you are not be able to board an airplane or exercise your second amendment rights without being run through the E-Verify database.It is not outside the realm of possibility that the personal health care information that will soon be collected by the IRS and shared with other federal agencies as part of Obamacare will also be linked to the E-Verify system.
Those who dismiss these concerns as paranoid should consider that the same charges were leveled at those who warned that the PATRIOT Act could lead to the government collecting our phone records and spying on our Internet usage. Just as the PATRIOT Act was only supposed to be used against terrorists but is now used to bypass constitutional protections in matters having noting to do with terrorism or national security, the national ID/mandatory E-Verify database will not only be used to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining employment. Instead, it will eventually be used as another tool to monitor and control the American people.
The recent revelations of the extent of National Security Agency (NSA) spying on Americans, plus recent stories of IRS targeting Tea Party and similar groups for special scrutiny, demonstrates the dangers of trusting government with this type of power. Creation of a federal database with photos and possibly other “biometric” information about American citizens is a great leap forward for the surveillance state. All Americans who still care about limited government and individual liberty should strongly oppose E-Verify.
Zero Hedge
Violence Against Christians On the Rise in The Middle East
Violence against Christians has become all too frequent in recent years, with attacks on them in a wide variety of countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Repression and intolerance have been displayed against the Christian community in Nigeria; against the Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt ; by bombing in a chapel in Sulu, Philippines; by bomb attacks against Assyrian Christians in Iraq; by discrimination against them in the Islamic Republic of Iraq; by prosecution under the blasphemy laws in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Restrictions have been put on Christian practices, as has access to religious sites and places of worship…
It was the interruption and disruption by force of the celebration of Christian Mass in the villages of Rizokarpaso and Ayia Triada in northern Cyprus that led the European Parliament in a resolution on January 19, 2011 to comment on the situation of Christians in the context of freedom of religion. Since the “Arab Spring,” thousands of Christians have fled the countries of the Middle East except Israel. Christian communities have existed for two thousand years in the Middle East, though they are now declining as a result of low birth rates and emigration caused by discrimination and persecution in most of the Arab and Muslim countries in the area. The case of northern Cyprus is a recent example of that discrimination and intolerance towards a Christian community.
The disruption of the Christian liturgy in the two villages was, as admitted by the World Council of Churches at the time, a flagrant violation of fundamental freedoms and human rights, the freedom of religion and belief, as guaranteed in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in otherinternational declarations, including the 1981 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination based on Religion and Belief.
The area of Cyprus had been ruled administratively as a protectorate by Britain from 1878 until August 1960, when it become an independent country. Anti-international treaty guaranteed the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Cyprus. But political crises and violence between the Greek and Turkish communities continued. As a result, the U.N. Security Council set up in March 1964 the U.N. Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP), originally to prevent further fighting between the two communities. In the absence of a political solution of the Cyprus problem, the force, now consisting of 925 uniformed personnel, and 140 international and local staff, has remained in existence to supervise ceasefire lines, maintain a buffer zone between the two sides, and undertake humanitarian activities.
Despite the presence of UNFICYP in 1974, the Turkish army invaded the island, ostensibly to restore “constitutional order,” after the Greek military had attempted a coup to unite Cyprus with Greece. Though there was a de facto ceasefire in August 1974, the Turkish aggression remained. The Turks never withdrew and occupied about a third of the island. In November 1983, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was established under the leadership of Rauf Denktash, who remained president until 2005. It had a population of 180,000, of whom about 100,000 came as colonialists from Anatolia, the Turkish mainland. The U.N. condemned the Republic as “legally invalid” and called on states not to recognize it. None has done so except Turkey. The town of Nicosia is still divided, with a “Green Line,” into two parts, each being the capital of one of the two regimes.
It is the only divided capital in the world. With the establishment of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the 200,000 Greek Christian Cypriots in the north escaped or were deported to the south. The village of Rizokarpaso, where the Christian Mass was prevented, once had a population of 3,000; now it has few Christians. The Turkish Republic has epitomized qualities of ethnic cleansing, disproportionate use of force, vandalism, religious intolerance, repression, and persecution. The Christian community in the north has dwindled to about 450.
Restrictions have been put on Christian practices, as has access to religious sites and places of worship. In spite of international calls for the Turks to stop desecrating and destroying Christian properties, demolitions of churches have occurred, including in May 2011 the 200-year-old one in the village of Vokolida. In all, at least 530 churches have been damaged, vandalized, or destroyed. Some have been converted to military storage facilities, stables, casinos, or nightclubs; 78 have been transformed into mosques.
The Orthodox Church has been refused permission to restore Christian monuments. One calculation estimates that 60,000 relics, icons, and mosaics from ancient Byzantine have been stolen. Some were found in the Getty Museum in Malibu before a U.S. court ruled that they belonged to the Christian Church. Only since 2003 have the Greek Christians been allowed to cross the border into the north and see the destruction of their heritage.
One wonders if Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan and the leaders of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus by their intolerant persecution of the Greek Christians are pursuing a policy of revenge. After all, it was from the town of Seleucia, on the Tigris, later burned by the Roman military, that Paul sailed to Cyprus on his first journey to convert the population to Christianity (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 13), and it was from Cyprus that the early Christians set out to proselytize the Greeks of Antioch.
Balfourpost
WONDERING WHAT HARMLESS ‘METADATA’ LIKE THE NSA COMPILES CAN ACTUALLY REVEAL? GERMAN POLITICIAN SHOWS YOU
The term “metadata” has been tossed around lately, especially after the leak about the NSA’s classified programs last month. It’s a collection of allegedly harmless — and nothing too specific — data from phone and Internet companies. But what if that’s not quite true?
Prior to leak about the NSA, TheBlaze detailed just what this information could show about an individual when the government investigating phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors was a hot button issue. But now a German politician has taken it a step further, using six months of his own metadata to give a visual of what this information really depicts.
Malte Spitz, a member of Germany’s Green party, sued the telecommunication company Deutsche Telekom to give up 35,830 records of his data from 2009 into 2010. Zeit Online thencompiled these six months of Spitz’s life on a map showing how many incoming and outgoing calls and text messages were had and how long he used the Internet.
Here are a couple screenshots of the activity, but be sure to take a look at Zeit Online for more of this interactive metadata graphic (Note: be sure to try out hitting “play” on Zeit’s website to see how Spitz traveled too):
(Image: Zeit Online)
(Image: Zeit Online)
(Image: Zeit Online)
(Image: Zeit Online)
(Image: Zeit Online)
“We combined this geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician, such as Twitter feeds, blog entries and websites, all of which is all freely available on the internet,” Zeit Online wrote. And when all this is taken together, it reveals a lot.
Spitz explained as much in an op-ed in the New York Times Sunday about it titled “Germans Loved Obama. Now We Don’t Trust Him.”
Spitz explained to readers that six months of his data was retained per a 2006 European Union directive, which was met with “huge opposition” and later found unconstitutional in the country.
“In Germany, whenever the government begins to infringe on individual freedom, society stands up. Given our history, we Germans are not willing to trade in our liberty for potentially better security. Germans have experienced firsthand what happens when the government knows too much about someone,” Spitz wrote.
“Three weeks ago, when the news broke about the National Security Agency’s collection of metadata in the United States, I knew exactly what it meant. My records revealed the movements of a single individual; now imagine if you had access to millions of similar data sets. You could easily draw maps, tracing communication and movement. You could see which individuals, families or groups were communicating with one another. You could identify any social group and determine its major actors,” he continued later in his op-ed. [Emphasis added]
With this latest news of the NSA’s data collection, Spitz wrote that U.S. President Barack Obama speaking outside the Brandenburg Gate on June 19 — just five days after The Guardian had broken its first NSA story based on information leaked to it from Edward Snowden — “looked a lot different from the one who spoke in front of the Siegessäule in July 2008.”
“During Mr. Obama’s presidency, no American political debate has received as much attention in Germany as the N.S.A. Prism program. People are beginning to second-guess the belief that digital communication stays private. It changes both our perception of communication and our trust in Mr. Obama,” Spitz wrote.
Spitz went on to describe the shift Germans have had from solidarity with the U.S. after 9/11 to one that through the Bush administration and into the Obama administration has led to questioning “whether Americans actually share our understanding of the right balance between liberty and security.”
“When courts and judges negotiate secretly, when direct data transfers occur without limits, when huge data storage rather than targeted pursuit of individuals becomes the norm, all sense of proportionality and accountability is lost,” he said.
As of right now, Spitz said the “trust and credibility” Obama once had in Germany has now been undermined.
Spitz ends his op-ed suggesting Obama should have included in his speech not James Madison’s quote that “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare,” but Benjamin Franklin saying “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
The Blaze
Prior to leak about the NSA, TheBlaze detailed just what this information could show about an individual when the government investigating phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors was a hot button issue. But now a German politician has taken it a step further, using six months of his own metadata to give a visual of what this information really depicts.
Malte Spitz, a member of Germany’s Green party, sued the telecommunication company Deutsche Telekom to give up 35,830 records of his data from 2009 into 2010. Zeit Online thencompiled these six months of Spitz’s life on a map showing how many incoming and outgoing calls and text messages were had and how long he used the Internet.
Here are a couple screenshots of the activity, but be sure to take a look at Zeit Online for more of this interactive metadata graphic (Note: be sure to try out hitting “play” on Zeit’s website to see how Spitz traveled too):
(Image: Zeit Online)
(Image: Zeit Online)
(Image: Zeit Online)
(Image: Zeit Online)
(Image: Zeit Online)
“We combined this geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician, such as Twitter feeds, blog entries and websites, all of which is all freely available on the internet,” Zeit Online wrote. And when all this is taken together, it reveals a lot.
Spitz explained as much in an op-ed in the New York Times Sunday about it titled “Germans Loved Obama. Now We Don’t Trust Him.”
Spitz explained to readers that six months of his data was retained per a 2006 European Union directive, which was met with “huge opposition” and later found unconstitutional in the country.
“In Germany, whenever the government begins to infringe on individual freedom, society stands up. Given our history, we Germans are not willing to trade in our liberty for potentially better security. Germans have experienced firsthand what happens when the government knows too much about someone,” Spitz wrote.
“Three weeks ago, when the news broke about the National Security Agency’s collection of metadata in the United States, I knew exactly what it meant. My records revealed the movements of a single individual; now imagine if you had access to millions of similar data sets. You could easily draw maps, tracing communication and movement. You could see which individuals, families or groups were communicating with one another. You could identify any social group and determine its major actors,” he continued later in his op-ed. [Emphasis added]
With this latest news of the NSA’s data collection, Spitz wrote that U.S. President Barack Obama speaking outside the Brandenburg Gate on June 19 — just five days after The Guardian had broken its first NSA story based on information leaked to it from Edward Snowden — “looked a lot different from the one who spoke in front of the Siegessäule in July 2008.”
“During Mr. Obama’s presidency, no American political debate has received as much attention in Germany as the N.S.A. Prism program. People are beginning to second-guess the belief that digital communication stays private. It changes both our perception of communication and our trust in Mr. Obama,” Spitz wrote.
Spitz went on to describe the shift Germans have had from solidarity with the U.S. after 9/11 to one that through the Bush administration and into the Obama administration has led to questioning “whether Americans actually share our understanding of the right balance between liberty and security.”
“When courts and judges negotiate secretly, when direct data transfers occur without limits, when huge data storage rather than targeted pursuit of individuals becomes the norm, all sense of proportionality and accountability is lost,” he said.
As of right now, Spitz said the “trust and credibility” Obama once had in Germany has now been undermined.
Spitz ends his op-ed suggesting Obama should have included in his speech not James Madison’s quote that “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare,” but Benjamin Franklin saying “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
The Blaze
Egypt President Morsi warns of army ultimatum 'confusion'
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi says he was not consulted by the army before it set a 48-hour ultimatum to resolve the country's deadly crisis.
Mr Morsi said a part of the statement "may cause confusion in the complex national scene". He vowed to stick to his "national reconciliation" plan.
The army has warned it will intervene if the government and its opponents fail to heed "the will of the people".
However, it denies that the ultimatum amounts to a coup.
Meanwhile, Egypt's state news agency Mena reported early on Tuesday that Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr had submitted his resignation.
If accepted, he would join at least five other ministers who have already reportedly resigned over the political crisis.
On Sunday, millions rallied nationwide, urging the president to step down
BBC
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