rapescan 5000

12/30/2009 4:24:52 PM

i predict a new voyeur industry popping up…

this will be the new shoe mirror.

[Edited on December 30, 2009 at 4:26 PM. Reason : ]

12/30/2009 4:26:11 PM

Quote :

"Code for "search every sand nigger""

Typical.

Israel's El Al airlines haven't had a major terrorist attack in 30 years. They take security seriously..profiling and analyzing each passenger.

Quote :

"When El Al passengers arrive at Israel's Ben Gurion airport or any other airport that services the airline, they undergo an extensive interview by trained security personnel. They are asked several questions, such as: -- Who paid for your ticket? -- What is the purpose of your travels? -- Did anybody have access to your bags before you arrived to the airport? -- When did you book this flight? During the interrogation, ticket holders are also psychologically evaluated. Their entire makeup is judged by tone of voice, mood and body language. The information is sent by computer to international law enforcement agencies, such as Interpol or Scotland Yard, for instant evaluation. If there are doubts, the passenger is not allowed on the plane. Security experts said El Al Airlines leaves absolutely nothing to chance. In the United States, cleaning and maintenance crews are allowed to move freely around aircraft, sometimes without supervision, conditions open to the threat of an "inside job," experts said. By contrast, El Al planes are heavily guarded 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even during cleaning and maintenance. All El Al pilots are veterans of the Israeli air force and are trained in handling weapons and in hand-to-hand combat. They do not, however, carry guns in the cockpit. The cockpit has bulletproof doors activated by a keypad from inside the cockpit. "Remember, we are dealing with sophisticated enemy," said Issac Yeffet, former head of security for El Al. At least two undercover air marshals are on board every El Al flight. They sit among the passengers. They dress in plain clothes. They are armed and licensed to shoot and kill. Most of EL Al passengers expect such security, given the threat of terrorist activity against Israeli interests. "

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/09/26/rec.el.al.security/

12/30/2009 7:09:51 PM

^ So in your libertarian dreamland, the 3 million people that fly everyday are going to be subject to a fairly rigorous interrogation before they board an airplane?

12/30/2009 7:14:59 PM

^
Actually in my libertarian dreamland...the airlines would be responsible and culpable for their own safety. The gov't would tell them that they're on their own, but they better protect their customers because they can expect no legal or liability protection from the gov't if something happens.

The airlines with the most effective security would be the most successful. The ones who screw up and allow a terrorist attack get sued out of business.

12/30/2009 7:24:33 PM

^ i think what’s more likely is that people would choose the cheapest airline, and take their chances.

12/30/2009 7:26:47 PM

Quote :

"In the wake of the failed attempt to blow up an American jetliner on Christmas Day, the number of $150,000-per-unit full-body scanners in US airports is expected to more than triple next year, the Transportation Security Administration says. Many security experts have suggested that a full-body scanner – which allows screeners to scan a person’s body through their clothing – would have seen the explosive that the alleged would-be bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had stitched into his underwear. But the sudden rush for full-body scanners has met with deep skepticism in some quarters. Not only do civil libertarians call them “virtual strip searches,” but some security and industry analysts say the machines are easily foiled by hiding explosives in body cavities. Moreover, their huge cost puts further stress on an already-troubled industry – meaning these costs will likely be passed on to the consumer. ..."

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2009/1230/Number-of-full-body-scanners-at-US-airports-to-triple-in-2010

Looks like the TSA and Lumex are on thinking on the same wavelength (no offense )


[Edited on December 30, 2009 at 8:29 PM. Reason : ]

12/30/2009 8:28:03 PM

fuck that bullshit.

12/30/2009 8:31:33 PM

I wonder how long it takes for someone to get pulled aside for a “large endowment” being mistaken for a plastic explosive

according to their website too (the xray company), a backscatter Xray can be formed from up to 50 meters away. Theoretically, you could be scanned without knowing it.

[Edited on December 30, 2009 at 8:35 PM. Reason : ]

12/30/2009 8:34:33 PM

so, Obama said that there was a failure to share information among agencies. Where did we hear that before? Oh, right, 9/11. Isn't that why we created DHS? It's like we've learned nothing. And this isn't a knock on Obama, just more of an observation that fits in with the recent discussion in here.

12/30/2009 8:35:14 PM

^ i don’t personally see an effective way for them to share information, considering the massive amounts of data each agency has to sift through. It’s not like it’s easy for them to know which allegations of terrorist are valid, and if not. I’d bet most are either wrong, people trying to get someone else in trouble, or too incomplete to follow up on.

12/30/2009 8:38:12 PM

they dont have to know which alligations are valid. Come up with a standard way to store the data and let the computer generate a threat level from some formula. Once its available in some database its retarded easy to move the data round so everyone can see it and you can still have humans there to make the final decision on resulting alerts.

12/30/2009 9:18:43 PM

Quote :

"and let the computer generate a threat level from some formula"

what formula is there that will never generate false positives or more importantly, false negatives?

12/30/2009 10:32:11 PM

Quote :

"Barack Obama gets an 'F' for protecting Americans Toby Harnden | Daily Telegraph There is no more solemn duty for an American commander-in-chief than the marshalling of “every element of our national power” – the phrase Obama himself used on Monday – to protect the people of the United States. In that key respect, Obama failed on Christmas Day, just as President George W. Bush failed on September 11th (though he succeeded in the seven years after that). Yes, the buck stops in the Oval Office. Obama may have rather smugly given himself a “B+” for his 2009 performance but he gets an F for the events that led to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarding a Detroit-bound plane in Amsterdam with a PETN bomb sewn into his underpants. He said today that a “systemic failure has occurred”. Well, he’s in charge of that system. The picture we’re getting is more and more alarming by the hour. Here are some key elements to consider:"

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/100020934/barack-obama-gets-an-f-for-protecting-americans/

12/30/2009 11:12:31 PM

yeah, we all check drudge.

that editorial was a horrible pile of shit, btw.

12/30/2009 11:19:13 PM

Quote :

"In that key respect, Obama failed on Christmas Day, just as President George W. Bush failed on September 11th (though he succeeded in the seven years after that)."

haha, what?

Obama is wrong because a guy tries and fails to light his underwear, but Bush was right when a guy tried and failed to light his shoes?

12/30/2009 11:19:45 PM

read the rest of the piece. it's a steaming pile

12/30/2009 11:21:01 PM

Quote :

"read the rest of the piece. it's a steaming pile "

I wouldn’t say that. I don’t think the characterization of the Obama admin as practically tolerant of terrorists or complacent is remotely accurate, but I do think the Obama admin needs to turn their eye to bringing real change to the way the intelligence agencies communicate.

It seems clear that whatever the Bush admin sets up isn’t that good.

I also think that the people in the Obama admin have a better grasp of technology, and I think they will make changes in this direction. As the editorial also pointed out, Yemen is now a bigger deal than it had been, as it should be, and the Obama admin has already made changes to focus more on Yemen.

The right will take away that the guy is saying as the Obama admin loves terrorists and are secretly muslims (which is what they think anyway), but I think the real message is that there is definitely more that can be done, and the Obama admin needs to do it.

12/30/2009 11:25:50 PM

Quote :

"yeah, we all check drudge."

Actually I got that off a pretty good feed which sends out foreign perspectives of the US. I just posted it to post it.

12/30/2009 11:35:33 PM

US STOCKS-Wall St ends 2009 with best gains since 2003

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3124976820091231?type=usMktRpt

Quote :

"U.S. stocks ended 2009 on Thursday with their best gains since 2003, with optimism about the economy's recovery pushing the benchmark Standard & Poor's index up 23.5 percent for the year. For Thursday's session alone, though, U.S. stocks declined, with a late-day sell-off pushing all three major indexes down about 1 percent as investors sold some of the year's best-performing stocks to lock in some of 2009's substantial gains. Most of the year's advance is the result of a nine-month rally that has been underpinned by strength in technology and natural resource shares on expectations the economic recovery will spur capital spending and increase demand for energy, metals and other natural resources. For details, see FACTBOX [ID:nN31249144]"

12/31/2009 5:44:29 PM

Quote :

"what formula is there that will never generate false positives or more importantly, false negatives?"

False positives aren't a big deal since the alerts would still be seen by a human. False negitives would require reworking the forumla.

The goal is to prevent the situation where the data is sitting somewhere that people cant see it. Even if you get the data in the system and then have people look at everthing manually, it would still be better than whats there currently.

Coming up with a set of rules to finger threats is really going to be the same as whatever official policy guidelines CIA human agents use to find threats manually. (ex: skin.color=="brown" + name.contains("mohammed") = turrrist)

12/31/2009 7:00:53 PM

^ you still are going to have incidents slip through the cracks.

I’m not arguing that they couldnt use computers to do a better job, i’m saying that the technology doesn’t yet exist to do as good a job as needs to be done.

And i’d be willing to be a lot that it’s not as simple as just reading a report and making a decision. Humans are renowned for our pattern recognition ability, which is still unmatched by computers, which is going to be a big factor still.

[Edited on December 31, 2009 at 7:53 PM. Reason : ]

12/31/2009 7:52:11 PM

12/31/2009 9:28:46 PM

Oh how poignant.

1/1/2010 2:54:26 AM

Quote :

"^ So in your libertarian dreamland, the 3 million people that fly everyday are going to be subject to a fairly rigorous interrogation before they board an airplane? "

this is a great comment. by great, i mean utterly stupid...why wouldnt we want to do this? Appearantly you dont fly so much.

1/1/2010 9:22:14 PM

^ haha, that’s exactly the point idiot.
—————————————————————————————————————————

N. Korea calls for end to hostilities with U.S.
Pyongyang seeks nuclear-free future ‘through dialogue and negotiations’

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34663992/ns/world_news-asiapacific

Quote :

" North Korea called for an end of hostile relations with the United States in a New Year's message and said it was committed to making the Korean peninsula nuclear-free through negotiations. At the same time, a Tokyo-based pro-North Korean newspaper indicated that the leaders of North and South Korea could hold a summit this year, citing Pyongyang's strong commitment to improve relations with Seoul. Communist North Korea has long demanded that Washington end hostility toward its government, and said it developed nuclear weapons to deter a U.S. attack. Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of invading the country."

Without more information, the current theory is that they are doing this in order to collect more $$$, then will go right back to their games, but we’ll have to see i guess...

1/2/2010 1:33:24 PM

It isn't a "theory" if they have done this many times before.

1/2/2010 1:53:06 PM

Interesting editorial on the President from a Lebonese perspective:

Quote :

"In 2008, America and the world were promised hope and change by the US presidential candidate Barack Obama and his historic election triumph. As 2009 nears its conclusion, we’ve been seeing and hearing a lot of the same campaign rhetoric from the White House, while the new president’s policies divert only partially from the path of the Bush era. Will 2010 be the year in which Obama comes into his own and actually generates the change for which he became famous?"

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=17&article_id=110204

1/3/2010 12:51:27 AM

Quote :

"President Obama is already said to be hard at work on his New Year's resolutions. His plan for 2010 is to do all the things he said he was going to do this year."

--Jimmy Kimmel

1/3/2010 11:47:51 PM

U.S. Loan Effort Is Seen as Adding to Housing Woes
January 1, 2010

Quote :

"The Obama administration's $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good. Since President Obama announced the program in February, it has lowered mortgage payments on a trial basis for hundreds of thousands of people but has largely failed to provide permanent relief. Critics increasingly argue that the program, Making Home Affordable, has raised false hopes among people who simply cannot afford their homes. As a result, desperate homeowners have sent payments to banks in often-futile efforts to keep their homes, which some see as wasting dollars they could have saved in preparation for moving to cheaper rental residences. Some borrowers have seen their credit tarnished while falsely assuming that loan modifications involved no negative reports to credit agencies. Some experts argue the program has impeded economic recovery by delaying a wrenching yet cleansing process through which borrowers give up unaffordable homes and banks fully reckon with their disastrous bets on real estate, enabling money to flow more freely through the financial system. 'The choice we appear to be making is trying to modify our way out of this, which has the effect of lengthening the crisis,' said Kevin Katari, managing member of Watershed Asset Management, a San Francisco-based hedge fund. 'We have simply slowed the foreclosure pipeline, with people staying in houses they are ultimately not going to be able to afford anyway.' Mr. Katari contends that banks have been using temporary loan modifications under the Obama plan as justification to avoid an honest accounting of the mortgage losses still on their books. Only after banks are forced to acknowledge losses and the real estate market absorbs a now pent-up surge of foreclosed properties will housing prices drop to levels at which enough Americans can afford to buy, he argues. 'Then the carpenters can go back to work,' Mr. Katari said. 'The roofers can go back to work, and we start building housing again. If this drips out over the next few years, that whole sector of the economy isn't going to recover.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/business/economy/02modify.html

Hear, hear.

1/4/2010 1:00:39 AM

I think it bears repeating... The fucker had a one-way ticket and NO LUGGAGE. And that didn't send off any fucking alarms... Really?

1/4/2010 7:04:07 PM

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1140015.html
PM optimistic about fresh talks with Palestinians

Quote :

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed cautious optimism yesterday that talks with the Palestinians will soon resume. "In recent weeks, I've had the impression there is a certain change in atmosphere, and I hope that a maturation that would enable the negotiating process to move forward has occurred," he told a meeting of his Likud faction at the Knesset. "

I’m sure if things were going the other way, people like hooksaw would be blaming Obama, so I guess he can also be held responsible when things seem to be going well…?

1/4/2010 7:57:19 PM

anyone get a chance to read this today? It's way too long to post in its entirety here, but it's a very, very good read. I suggest everyone with an opinion or concerned with Obama's perceived credibility on terrorism, extremism, whatever you want to call it, give it a read. Good stuff.

Quote :

"Inside Obama’s War on Terrorism By PETER BAKER Published: January 4, 2010 The evening before he was sworn into office, Barack Obama stepped out of Blair House, the government residence where he was staying across from the White House, and climbed into an armored limousine for the ride to a bipartisan dinner. Joining him in the back seat were John Brennan, his new counterterrorism adviser, and two foreign-policy advisers, Denis McDonough and Mark Lippert. The three men with the president-elect were out of breath, having rushed more than a mile from transition headquarters on foot after failing to find a taxi in Washington’s preinaugural madness. As the motorcade moved out, they updated Obama on gathering evidence of a major terrorist plot to attack his inauguration. After a weekend of round-the-clock analysis, the nation’s intelligence agencies were concerned that the threat was real, the men told him. A group of Somali extremists was reported to be coming across the border from Canada to detonate explosives as the new president took the oath of office. With more than a million onlookers viewing the ceremony from the National Mall and hundreds of millions more watching on television around the world, what could be a more devastating target? “All the data points suggested there was a real threat evolving quickly that had an overseas component,” Juan Carlos Zarate, President George W. Bush’s deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism, told me in November. As the inauguration approached, signs of a plot “seemed to be growing in credibility and relevance.” Another senior Bush official involved in those tense events a year ago said last fall that protecting the new president was not enough. Even a failed attack would send a debilitating message to the world. “If something happens on the podium and there’s chaos,” this official told me, “that’s the first time you see the new president, and you really don’t want that.” The threat seemed to weigh on Obama. He canceled a practice session to go over his inaugural address with aides at Blair House. David Axelrod, his senior adviser, later interpreted that as a sign that Obama was thinking about the suspected plot. “He seemed more subdued than he had been,” Axelrod told me not long ago. Obama had not yet taken office, and he was already being confronted with the threat that consumed his predecessor’s presidency. No matter how much he thought about terrorism as a senator or as a presidential candidate, it was another thing to face it as the person responsible for the nation’s security — and quite another thing again to know the threat was aimed directly at himself, his wife and their two daughters. “It’s not as if you don’t know what you’re getting into,” Axelrod said. “But when the reality comes and the baton is being passed and you’re now dealing with real terrorism threats, it’s a very sobering moment.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/magazine/17Terror-t.html?ref=magazine

1/4/2010 10:24:46 PM

Quote :

"I think it bears repeating... The fucker had a one-way ticket and NO LUGGAGE. And that didn't send off any fucking alarms... Really?"

I think it bears repeating:

-Obama didn't personally screen the person
-Obama isn't the head of the CIA
-Obama isn't the head of the TSA
-Republicans blocked attempts to appoint someone in charge of the TSA
-You're an idiot.

1/4/2010 10:30:32 PM

All of you are guilty of treason. You don't criticize the President in a time of war. Why do you hate our troops? These colors don't run.

1/5/2010 11:26:57 AM

One of Obama's campaign promises was to put the Healthcare debates on C-SPAN...C-SPAN calls him out on it...

Quote :

"C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate Dec. 30 urging them to open "all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings," to televised coverage on his network. "The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of the sessions LIVE and in their entirety," he wrote. Congressional leaders, however, reportedly are expected to bypass the traditional conference committee process, in which lawmakers from both parties and chambers meet to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill. Instead, The Associated Press reports that top Democrats at the House, Senate and White House will figure out the final product in three-way talks before sending it back to both chambers for a final vote. This format would seem ideal for closed-door meetings, which congressional Democrats have used many times to figure out sensitive provisions in the health care bill -- though President Obama pledged during the campaign to open up health care talks to C-SPAN's cameras. "That's what I will do in bringing all parties together, not negotiating behind closed doors, but bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are," Obama said at a debate against Hillary Clinton in Los Angeles on Jan. 31, 2008."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/05/c-span-challenges-congress-open-health-care-talks-tv-coverage/

OMG fox news

1/5/2010 11:38:00 AM

Quote :

"-Obama didn't personally screen the person -Obama isn't the head of the CIA -Obama isn't the head of the TSA -Republicans blocked attempts to appoint someone in charge of the TSA -You're an idiot."

fair or not, the buck stops with the President. whoever is in charge will always get the blame.

plus, I could REALLY do without Janet Napolitlkityikatono...who was a terrible appointment.

1/5/2010 11:39:29 AM

Quote :

"fair or not, the buck stops with the President. whoever is in charge will always get the blame."

Ah, yes.

So George Bush is personally responsible for every issue that occurred from 2000-2008?

1/5/2010 11:48:47 AM

before and beyond it seems too.

1/5/2010 12:08:46 PM

Americans cannot comprehend how their fellow countrymen could not love their country. But the right's anti-Americanism is intrinsic to their entire worldview. Conservatives promote the right of Islamic fanatics for the same reason they promote the rights of adulterers, pornographers, murderers, criminals, and racists. They instinctively root for anarchy against civilization. The inevitable logic of the conservative position is to be for treason.

1/5/2010 1:01:18 PM

Quote :

"One of Obama's campaign promises was to put the Healthcare debates on C-SPAN...C-SPAN calls him out on it..."

this one is tough. We should be privy to everything related to the bill and the debate, but, politicians being politicians, if aired on TV it'll become nothing but a stage for republicans to spout ridiculous 'death panel'-esque falsehoods and a platform for democrats to disparage republicans. In the end nothing will be accomplished.

Aside from that, campaign promises mean next to nothing as we all know. Not to mention that Obama is the head of the executive branch, not the legislative branch, and as such he can't force congress to allow CSPAN cameras to broadcast. Is his credibility impacted if he does not or cannot persuade congress to allow cameras in? Perhaps, I guess. We'll see.

1/5/2010 1:11:03 PM

Quote :

"Obama's campaign promises"

Shit! He hasn't delivered on campaign promises a mere 25% into his (possibly first) term! WHAT A FAILURE.

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 1:37 PM. Reason : ]

1/5/2010 1:37:15 PM

Quote :

"this one is tough. We should be privy to everything related to the bill and the debate, but, politicians being politicians, if aired on TV it'll become nothing but a stage for republicans to spout ridiculous 'death panel'-esque falsehoods and a platform for democrats to disparage republicans. In the end nothing will be accomplished. Aside from that, campaign promises mean next to nothing as we all know. Not to mention that Obama is the head of the executive branch, not the legislative branch, and as such he can't force congress to allow CSPAN cameras to broadcast. Is his credibility impacted if he does not or cannot persuade congress to allow cameras in? Perhaps, I guess. We'll see."

your points are well taken. I would argue then, why make such claims if he has no power to see them through? does it show nativity or just direct misleading? I think a lot of people were very excited about the transparency he promised. he cant just promise it, then not follow through (for whatever reason, valid or not) and not expect to be called on it.

Quote :

"Shit! He hasn't delivered on campaign promises a mere 25% into his (possibly first) term! WHAT A FAILURE."

well this promise was specific to the health care debate that he is ramming through. it doesnt make a lot of sense for this promise to be held until after the bill is passed so it should be upheld in the first 25%.

1/5/2010 1:44:02 PM

Quote :

"Not to mention that Obama is the head of the executive branch, not the legislative branch, and as such he can't force congress to allow CSPAN cameras to broadcast."

I blame the lap-dog press for a lot of this. They completely abandoned their watch-dog role during the election...basically becoming Obama's press-corp.

...and in other exciting Obama news:

Quote :

"As for the prison for terror suspects in Cuba, he said, "Make no mistake, we will close Guantanamo prison," Obama said. Guantanamo, he said, "was an explicit rationale for the formation of al-Qaida" operating in Yemen."

If he merely moves them to Illinois, aren't they still prisoners held by the U.S.? I doubt the al-Qaida Yeman Division is going to disband simply because Obama moved their guys to a different prison.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_airline_security

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 5:48 PM. Reason : .]

1/5/2010 5:48:07 PM

Quote :

"I think it bears repeating: -Obama didn't personally screen the person -Obama isn't the head of the CIA -Obama isn't the head of the TSA -Republicans blocked attempts to appoint someone in charge of the TSA -You're an idiot."

I think it bears repeating, as I said earlier: this is not on Obama. I just posted it here because there was nowhere else really talking about it.

1/5/2010 7:28:19 PM

Quote :

"Pres. Obama: "This was a screw up that could have been disastrous," the president said during a meeting in the White House situation room, according to the White House media office. "We dodged a bullet but just barely. It was averted by brave individuals not because the system worked and that is not acceptable. While there will be a tendency for finger pointing, I will not tolerate it.""

Seems like we can either have "brave individuals" or a system that works. Why not both?

And if he will no longer tolerate any more finger-pointing..does that mean he's finally over "Bush Did it"?

And if we're fixing "screw-ups" let's get rid of Janet Napolitano.

1/5/2010 9:26:02 PM

Let's get rid of you first.

1/5/2010 9:52:18 PM

wow, that really added to the topic of conversation

1/5/2010 10:04:55 PM

Quote :

"The buck stops with me."

1/7/2010 5:40:26 PM

+1 for saying that.
-29 for saying it 13 fucking days later

1/7/2010 6:44:19 PM