Yemen instability reveals limits of U.S. counterterrorism strategy & the warhawks are calling for boots on the ground. We report on the entire mess. Plus the conflict in Ukraine heats back up, with leaked videos reportedly showing American’s in the field.

Then the ISIS videos get debunked by a “Fox expert”, a new kind of High-Note & more!

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News

Experts say ISIS ransom clip faked as deadline for Japanese hostages passes | Fox News

The hostage video showing the hostages wearing orange jump suits and kneeling before a masked, black-clad jihadist may have been faked, experts said. New analysis of the video appears to reveal the message was shot indoors using a “green screen,” and a phony backdrop, according to Veryan Khan, editorial director for the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium. She told The Associated Press the light source on the men in the latest videos appears to be coming from two different directions — as opposed to one bright sun, and said if the video was made outdoors in natural light, the shadows behind them should be going in one direction. Instead, they converge.

“The hostages are visibly bothered by” the bright light, she said.

Meet Loretta Lynch

• Lynch vows to ‘expand and enhance’ DOJ’s cyber work | TheHill

Loretta Lynch__, President Obama’s nominee for attorney general, pledged on Wednesday to bolster the Justice Department’s cybersecurity work if she is confirmed by the Senate.

“All of us are struck by the prevalence of cyber issues in every type of case we prosecute now,” Lynch said during her confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Yemen Houthi Coup

• McCain, Feinstein Call for More US Presence in Yemen

“We have got to have boots on the ground. We have got to have training capability,” said McCain. “We need more boots on the ground. I know that’s a tough thing to say, and a tough thing for Americans to swallow, but it doesn’t mean the 82nd airborne.”

Feinstein said Obama is in a difficult position because “the American people don’t want another war.”

“Where McCain is right, is that we need some special operations in these countries, on the ground, more than just advisors,” she said.

• Yemen crisis disrupts U.S. counterterrorism operations, officials say – The Washington Post

The Obama administration has been forced to suspend certain counterterrorism operations with Yemen in the aftermath of the collapse of its government, according to U.S. officials, a move that eases pressure on al-Qaeda’s most dangerous franchise.

• Yemen instability reveals limits of U.S. counterterrorism strategy – CBS News

Yet the collapse of the Yemeni government Thursday has raised doubts about the efficacy of a “light footprint” counterterrorism strategy, in no small part because the power vacuum creates an opening for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Gulf-based Islamic militant group that has been behind plots in the U.S. and other Western nations.

• BBC News – Yemen profile – Timeline

January – The Houthis reject the draft of a new constitution proposed by the government. They seize state TV and clash with troops in the capital, in what the government called a coup attempt.

President Hadi and his government resign in protest at the takeover by Houthi rebels of the capital.

US “FIGHTING”TERROR GROUP WITH FICTIONAL LEADERS

In 2007, the New York Times revealed that long-vilified “Islamic State” leader Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi did not exist, and that the creation of this fictional character was a ruse to obfuscate the role of foreigners in the creation and perpetuation of “Al Qaeda in Iraq.”

Ukraine

After Brief Respite, Conflict In Ukraine Flares Back Up

The war in eastern Ukraine seems to have restarted. Russian-backed militias have launched an offensive on several fronts. NATO says that Russian troops are now openly taking part in the assault, providing heavy weapons and advanced technology to the militias. President Obama says the U.S. is considering all options short of military action, and the European Union has called a meeting of its foreign ministers. We’ve been speaking with NPR’s Corey Flintoff in Kyiv. I asked him about the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine.

• MUST WATCH: This was the DAY before MAIDAN – ENG SUBS : unfilter

High Note:

• High note story: Cuban youth build secret computer network despite Wi-Fi ban

Submitted by lowfatty in the Unfilter subreddit

A small minority have covertly engineered a partial solution by pooling funds to create a private network of more than 9,000 computers with small, inexpensive but powerful hidden Wi-Fi antennas and Ethernet cables strung over streets and rooftops spanning the entire city. Disconnected from the real Internet, the network is limited, local and built with equipment commercially available around the world, with no help from any outside government, organizers say.

Hundreds are online at any moment pretending to be orcs or U.S. soldiers in multiplayer online games such as “World of Warcraft” or “Call of Duty.” They trade jokes and photos in chat rooms and organize real-world events like house parties or trips to the beach.

“We really need Internet because there’s so much information online, but at least this satisfies you a little bit because you feel like, `I’m connected with a bunch of people, talking to them, sharing files,” said Rafael Antonio Broche Moreno, a 22-year-old electrical engineer who helped build the network known as SNet, short for streetnet.

The post Yemen has Fallen | Unfilter 131 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

A week after the attacks in Paris we look at the connections to terrorists in Yemen, the different groups trying to claim credit & how this tragic event is greatly benefiting politicians pushing for more surveillance.

Plus Wall Street throws big money at Cannabis startups & a look at Colorado one year after recreational legalization.

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News

• France deploys 10,000 troops in wake of Charlie Hebdo attack

• More Surveillance Won’t Protect Free Speech | Electronic Frontier Foundation

• Ohio Man Charged With Plotting to Attack U.S. Capitol – NBC News.com

An Ohio man who allegedly wanted to set up an ISIS cell in the U.S. was arrested Wednesday and accused of planning to attack the U.S. Capitol. But U.S. officials told NBC News the man was dealing with a government informer working undercover the entire time and was never in a position to carry out his plan.

Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, near Cincinnati, was arrested after he bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and about 600 rounds of ammunition as the undercover operative watched, according to an FBI affidavit.

Officials said Cornell never bought any components for pipe bombs. “There was never a danger to the public,” an official told NBC News.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Jan. 22 in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati on charges of the attempted killing of a U.S. government officer and possession of a firearm in furtherance of an attempted crime of violence.

High Note

• Wall Street and Weed: $2 billion company betting big on marijuana

Geoff Lewis’s firm, Founders Fund, a $2 billion company, made its name investing early in new companies like Facebook, Spotify and SpaceX. But now it’s betting on pot.

Feedback

• Harry’s ribs

• Linkable Clips : unfilter

The post Profiting From Paris | Unfilter 129 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

The war machine is in overdrive as the push into Iraq and Syria reaches a fever pitch. With a designed to fail coalition in place we’ll examine the state of the US’ fight against ISIS.

Plus we look at the military response to the Ebola outbreak, the situation in Scotland, and everyones favorite celebrity who announced he is a cannabis user.

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— Show Notes —

NSA Update

Israel’s N.S.A. Scandal – NYTimes.com

IN Moscow this summer, while reporting a story for Wired magazine, I had the rare opportunity to hang out for three days with Edward J. Snowden. It gave me a chance to get a deeper understanding of who he is and why, as a National Security Agency contractor, he took the momentous step of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

Among his most shocking discoveries, he told me, was the fact that the N.S.A. was routinely passing along the private communications of Americans to a large and very secretive Israeli military organization known as Unit 8200. This transfer of intercepts, he said, included the contents of the communications as well as metadata such as who was calling whom.

Mr. Snowden stressed that the transfer of intercepts to Israel contained the communications — email as well as phone calls — of countless Arab- and Palestinian-Americans whose relatives in Israel and the Palestinian territories could become targets based on the communications. “I think that’s amazing,” he told me. “It’s one of the biggest abuses we’ve seen.”

Snowden Leaks Didn’t Make Al Qaeda Change Tactics, Says Report – NBC News.com

There is no evidence that Edward Snowden‘s revelations about NSA spying inspired Islamic terror groups to hide their electronic communications behind more sophisticated encryption software, according to a new analysis that challenges other recent research and assertions by U.S. officials about the impact of the leaks.

WWIII

U.S. House votes to arm Syrian rebels, but questions remain

The House voted 273-to-156 to authorize the plan, a test of support for Obama’s stepped-up campaign to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State fighters who have seized a third of both Iraq and Syria, declared war on the West and seek to establish a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.

Written as an amendment to a stopgap spending bill, the measure does not include any money to pay for the arms and training.

House, in Unusual Alignments, Moves Toward Vote on ISIS Fight – NYTimes.com

A House divided along unusual and unpredictable lines moved toward a vote Wednesday to authorize the training and arming of Syrian rebels to confront the militant group Islamic State, with President Obama leading efforts to secure a solid majority.

Russia: ‘Free Syrian Army No Longer Exists’; Rebels Are Coordinating With Terrorists

— Russia on Tuesday accused the West of ignoring its warnings about the growing terrorist threat in Syria, and claimed that the moderate rebel front — the one the Obama administration wants to arm as part of its anti-ISIS strategy — “no longer exists.”

Who Pays the Pro-War Pundits? Conflicts of Interest Exposed for TV Guests Backing Military Action | Democracy Now!

A new report finds many talking heads who have been fanning the flames of war in the news media have ties to Pentagon contractors.

Russians urged ‘don’t panic’ as rouble hits new low

The rouble fell about 1% to 38.71 per dollar, the weakest it has been since the currency was restructured in 1998.

Last week, the US and Europe introduced further sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine.

“Don’t panic,” said deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseyev.

Meet The Millionaires And Billionaires Suddenly Buying Tons Of Land In Africa – Business Insider

Oakland Institute just completed the most thorough investigative report on who’s buying land in Africa we’ve seen yet: “Hedge Funds Grabbing Land in Africa,” as BBC called it.

As commodities prices rise and inflation picks up, the OI made the report public, they say, because the number of investors buying up land in Africa concerns them.

Scotland

• The REAL Reason Britain is Freaking Out About Scottish Independence

Specifically, if Scotland becomes independent, it gets to keep 90% of the revenues from its huge oil reserves.

The New York Times reports:

Scottish nationalists have long argued that being governed from London has deprived their country of its fair share of the wealth from Britain’s oil and natural gas fields, which mostly lie in North Sea waters off their shores.

“It’s Scotland’s oil” was the rallying cry in the 1970s that helped raise the profile of the Scottish Nationalist Party, which now leads the country and is pushing for a vote to secede in the referendum on Thursday. Alex Salmond, the politician leading the separatist movement, has pointed to North Sea energy as the treasure that would help finance an independent Scotland — ensuring that the country could continue the generous public spending, including free university tuition, that he is promising voters.

High Note

50 Companies Look To Fill 500 Openings At Cannabis Job Fair In Denver « CBS Denver

There were about 50 companies looking for workers to fill about 500 jobs. The positions ranged from bud-tenders in the stores to upper level management. The type of companies was also quite varied.

The post Rebooting Iraq | Unfilter 114 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Terror ALERT! The Obama Administration claims to have intercepted significant chatter warning them to an impending attack from terrorist. Forcing the US to shutter nearly two dozen diplomatic posts and evacuate personnel around the world.

The convenient emergency arises during major new revelations of domestic spying abuse.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is using intelligence gathered by the NSA to investigate US citizens for domestic crimes, a and then covers it up. We’ve got the details.

Plus: Snowden leaves the airport , your feedback, our follow up, and much much more…

On this week’s Unfilter.

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— Show Notes —

Where in the World is Edward Snowden?

• Obama cancels Putin meeting over Snowden asylum

“We have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a US-Russia Summit,” the White House said in a statement.

In addition to Russia’s “disappointing decision” to grant Mr Snowden temporary asylum, the White House cited a lack of progress on issues ranging from missile defence to human rights.

“We believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda,” the White House said.

• Senator Schumer: Putin is behaving like a schoolyard bully

Charles Schumer, the U.S. Senate’s third ranking Democrat and a close Obama ally, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to antagonize the United States by granting American fugitive Edward Snowden asylum for one year.

“President Putin is behaving like a schoolyard bully,” Schumer said on the CBS television talk show “Face the Nation.” “In my experience, I’ve learned unless you stand up to that bully, they ask for more and more and more.”

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World Wide Terror Alert

• Intercepted al Qaeda message led to closing embassies, consulates – CNN.com

Officials shuttered 22 U.S. embassies and consulates for the day on Sunday amid fears of an al Qaeda attack. On Sunday afternoon, the State Department said it had extended embassy and consulate closures in 15 of the locations until Friday and added four other posts to the list.

• Reps. Peter King and Dutch Ruppersberger on ‘This Week’

The House Intelligence Committee members weigh in the latest terror threat and the NSA.

• Al-Qa‘ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – Terrorist Groups

Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is a Sunni extremist group based in Yemen that has orchestrated numerous high-profile terrorist attacks. One of the most notable of these operations occurred when AQAP dispatched Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to detonate an explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight on 25 December 2009

• Yemen – Saudi Arabia Oil conflict- Yemen Post English Newspaper Online

Egyptian newspaper, al-Masry al-Yom reported this week on what it is foreseeing will become Yemen – Saudi Arabia new Oil conflict.

Until 2012, Yemeni officials’ rhetoric revolve around the accepted belief that the poorest country of the Arabian Peninsula was running out of oil and gas.

It is important to note that experts’ discovery of large resources of petrol, most of which is said to be in basement (trap deep with earth pockets) were only made public in 2012, upon the departure from power of Yemen’s former President.

• Yemen says major al Qaeda plot thwarted as another suspected drone strike kills at least 6 militants – CBS News

“There were attempts to control key cities in Yemen like Mukala and Bawzeer,” Badi told the British broadcaster. “This would be coordinated with attacks by al Qaeda members on the gas facilities in Shebwa city and the blowing up of the gas pipe in Belhaf city.”

• The NSA Leaks Put Our ‘Methods’ At Risk, But Bragging About Monitoring Al Qaeda Emails Doesn’t?

the NY Times has already revealed details of the email intercepts by the US:

_The Obama administration’s decision last week to close nearly two dozen diplomatic missions and issue a worldwide travel alert resulted from intercepted electronic communications in which the head of Al Qaeda in Pakistan ordered the leader of its affiliate in Yemen, the terrorist organization’s most lethal branch, to carry out an attack as early as this past Sunday, according to American officials.

The intercepted conversations last week between Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of the global terrorist group, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, revealed one of the most serious plots against American and other Western interests since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, American intelligence officials and lawmakers have said.
_

So… revealing that we collect data on everyone somehow turns Snowden into a traitor, while having officials in the government tell the NY Times that we directly intercepted emails between Al Qaeda’s top leaders is somehow perfectly fine? How does that work?

SOD, The DEA’s Information Sharing Program

• US drug agency unit to be investigated for wiretapping, lying about evidence sources — RT USA

Reuters published a Monday report revealing that a shadowy
DEA unit known as the Special Operative Division (SOD) – made up
of officials from the FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS, and Department of
Homeland Security – funnels information gathered by the DEA to
those and other police agencies. Information from DEA wiretaps,
informants, and the database of telephone records is passed on,
often to investigations bearing no relevance to national
security.

According to documents viewed by Reuters, SOD federal agents are then trained to “recreate” the source of the investigation to cover up how they discovered a particular bit of information. That method, law experts say, violates an individual’s constitutional right to a fair trial because their defense attorney would be unable to examine details that could turn up evidence of biased witnesses or police malpractice.

A former federal agent who worked with the SOD said that police would find an excuse to stop a vehicle which they had prior information on and then have drug dogs search the car. Upon making the arrest, officers would fabricate a traffic violation that permitted the initial stop in order to hide that they were acting on an SOD tip.

NSA is Crazy

• German justice minister proposes ban for US firms that don’t abide privacy laws | Ars Technica

German High Court Justice Hans-Jürgen Papier defended the German government’s relationship with the American spy services. He said that a country has a “basic responsibility to protect its citizens from the attacks of foreign powers” but noted that a state “can only be responsible for doing things that it has the legal power, and is able, to do.”

TOP VOTED: The TSA Expands

• T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security

With little fanfare, the agency best known for airport screenings has vastly expanded its reach to sporting events, music festivals, rodeos, highway weigh stations and train terminals.

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The post Convenient Emergency | Unfilter 62 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.