Tonight was another spectacular viewing night for the International Space Station. It flew to an apogee of 83 degrees – almost directly overhead! It made it across about 60% of the sky before traveling into the Earth’s shadow. It was enough time to get some good photos.
Report: US May Have Bugged Merkel Phone for More than a Decade
According to Der Spiegel, the NSA may have tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone for more than 10 years. I’m not surprised by this nor am I particularly upset. This is what intelligence agencies do and, contrary to their public protests, foreign intelligence services do the exact same thing to other world leaders.
The U.S. National Security Agency may have bugged German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone for more than 10 years, according to a news report Saturday by the German weekly Der Spiegel.
Der Spiegel also cited a source in Ms. Merkel’s office saying U.S. President Barack Obama apologized to the German leader when she called him this past Wednesday to seek clarification on the issue.
I found this quote particularly misleading:
Former CIA deputy director Michael Morrell said in a television interview to be broadcast Sunday that Snowden’s leaks are “the most serious compromise of classified information in the history of the U.S. intelligence community.”
Bullshit. Morrell thinks Edward Snowden has done more damage than the John Walker spy ring? Than CIA traitor Aldrich Ames? Than Robert Hanssen? For decades, Walker gave crypto codes to the Soviets, exposing every one of our nuclear ballistic submarines and much, much more. Ames sold out all of our highest Soviet intelligence agents, who were subsequently executed. Hanssen’s betrayal led to multiple double-agents to be executed as well as protecting Soviet spies in the CIA and FBI. So far Snowden’s leak has produced no deaths but only a great deal of embarrassment for the U.S. Government. In effect, Snowden’s revelations merely confirmed what most everyone already suspected.
Morrell needs to cut the hyperbole. It’s an insult to the fine men and women of the intelligence community who paid the ultimate price from the treason of Walker, Ames, Hanssen, and other actual traitors to compare what they did to what Snowden did. Not even close.
via Report: US May Have Bugged Merkel Phone for More than a Decade.
RALEIGH: Gun rights group threatens to sue Raleigh over outdated park signs
A gun nut group threatens to sue Raleigh over its signs saying guns are prohibited in its parks. While the signs might no longer be accurate, as far as I know they are still legal. I’m not sure what jurisdiction Mr. Valone thinks he has over the city’s signage.
RALEIGH — North Carolina’s most vocal gun rights group is threatening to sue Raleigh if it doesn’t update signs in city parks that tell visitors firearms aren’t allowed.
Grass Roots North Carolina sent a letter to the Raleigh City Council this week, requesting an update to the signs now that state law allows concealed-carry permit holders to bring guns to playgrounds, greenways and college campuses.
Police Protective Fund still suckering people
A friend posted a list compiled by Tampa Bay Times of America’s worst charities today so, knowing there’s a special place in Hell for scumbags who rip people off in the name of charity, I decided to check it out.
Lo and behold, spot number twenty was held by one of my favorite charities, the Police Protective Fund (PPF). You may recall I profiled the Police Protective Fund back in 2008 after I got a call from a solicitor seemingly trying his best to sound like a police officer.
According to tax records, PPF raised about $50 million from 2001 to 2010. Of that, roughly $15 million went to pay its solicitors. Oh, and as for the first responders PPF claims to assist, those brave men and women received $260,000 over that timeframe. That’s about $29,000 a year.
What most people don’t know is that the Police Protective Fund is a North Carolina corporation with its registered office at a corporation service on Hillsborough Street. I wonder if our fine attorney general would like to check these folks out. After all, they want to help cops, right? Why not help our state’s top cop investigate them for possible fraud?
70.3 million French phone records, 30 days: US envoy summoned after new NSA report draws ire
Here’s a story on the outrage expressed by our allies regarding NSA spying. What the article doesn’t mention is that these countries also engage in exactly the same kind of spying, against the US and other countries. In light of this, their protests ring a bit hollow.
The U.S. National Security Agency swept up 70.3 million French telephone records in a 30-day period, according to a newspaper report Monday that offered new details of the massive scope of a surveillance operation that has angered some of the country’s closest allies.
The ocean is broken | Newcastle Herald
This is a depressingly sad report from a sailor who reports that our ocean appears to be very, very sick.
Exactly 10 years before, when Newcastle yachtsman Ivan Macfadyen had sailed exactly the same course from Melbourne to Osaka, all he’d had to do to catch a fish from the ocean between Brisbane and Japan was throw out a baited line.
“There was not one of the 28 days on that portion of the trip when we didn’t catch a good-sized fish to cook up and eat with some rice,” Macfadyen recalled. But this time, on that whole long leg of sea journey, the total catch was two.
No fish. No birds. Hardly a sign of life at all.
“In years gone by I’d gotten used to all the birds and their noises,” he said.
“They’d be following the boat, sometimes resting on the mast before taking off again. You’d see flocks of them wheeling over the surface of the sea in the distance, feeding on pilchards.”
But in March and April this year, only silence and desolation surrounded his boat, Funnel Web, as it sped across the surface of a haunted ocean.
Halloween zombies
Turner Zombies, 2013
The Turner family did another turn as zombies for the Haunted Mordecai Trolley last night. The weather was much more agreeable than last year, though Hallie was feeling a bit too much like a zombie, having had a sleepover the night before.
Blue Cross letters scare some customers, but the outcome isn’t always bad
At a party recently, I was chatting with a firefighter who told some unbelievable stories. People have called 911 in the early morning, claiming to have an emergency, only when the fire truck rolls up they are fully dressed with their bags packed. When our first responders arrive and ask the perfectly fine-looking person what the emergency is, they respond that they just needed a ride to the hospital and knew it wouldn’t be busy at that time of day. Shaking his head, the firefighter said “and people wonder why their taxes are so high.”
There’s an in-depth look at the Affordable Care Act in the paper today by the N&O’s John Murawski, examining the cost differences of health care between various counties in the state. In many of these counties, the cost of health care is driven up by similar cases as the one I mentioned: people going to the emergency room for something minor like a headache. Give it a read.
Ann and Rodger Lenhardt were in for a jolt when they received their notice from Blue Cross Blue Shield recently. It said their monthly health insurance cost would triple – to $859.42 a month – next year.
Under closer inspection, however, the Lenhardts discovered a different story: By switching policies and taking advantage of federal subsidies, they will be able to offset most of their monthly premium costs, giving the farming couple highly discounted insurance.
On anarchism, Moral Monday surveillance and The Color Run – Technician: Columns
My ever-popular post on the Color Run got a mention in a recent editorial in NCSU’s Technician student newspaper. While I appreciate the attention, I’m not sure what point the writer was trying to make. His column kind of rambles.
On Sept. 28, Raleigh hosted The Color Run, a for-profit 5K race in which the runners are doused in cornstarch dye through the race. But as The N&O reported, “Residents of the historic Oakwood neighborhood are fuming after a recent ‘color run’ left brightly colored powder on houses, and some people’s cars were towed from outside their homes.”
Mark Turner, a Raleigh resident and blogger who saw bleach mixture being used to wash the streets after the race and the “chemical-laden broth” allowed to drain into the Neuse River, said, “Raleigh Police posted ‘no parking’ notices with as little as 13 hours’ notice, leaving many residents unprepared. Tow trucks hauled off their cars and stuck them with bills upwards of $150 to get them back.”
via On anarchism, Moral Monday surveillance and The Color Run – Technician: Columns.
Given up the gavel
I gave up the gavel of the Raleigh Parks board last night, passing on the chairmanship to Kimberley Siran, who along with Scott Reston make up the new leadership team. We went through the entire meeting agenda last night without a quorum, holding off on the action items until one more member arrived. When Rodger Koopman arrived around 6:15 we voted to approve our minutes and to officially elect our new leaders.
It’s been a fun ride as chair of the Parks, Recreation, and Greenway Advisory Board (PRGAB) but I’m looking forward to seeing what the new leadership brings us. Congratulations to the new team!