Trump's Growing Cabinet of Powerful Congressmen

With the variety of Cabinet and Agency appointments, President Trump can now partially reshape the Congressional Conservative complexion.

Interior Secretary Zinke

1)  Ryan K Zinke leaves his slot as Congressman from Montana to serve as Secretary of the Interior, bringing new lifeblood and considerable experience to the office.

    a)  An outdoorsman and career US Navy SEAL, he will likely reorganize his department and depoliticize it.  For one, he gains the immediate respect of the national Park Police, who were mortified facing off with angry Veterans who found their Military monuments closed or cordoned off by Obama.

   b)  Zinke will likely reshape the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a cesspool of political appointees who have gouged the Indian tribes and violated countless US government treaties.
   

LaVoy Finicum

c)  The Bureau of Land Management will likely go through a major overhaul, with that swamp drained of faceless bureaucrats tormenting and destroying private property rights of land-owners in the West.  We expect an internal investigation of the execution of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, a rancher, foster parent, and spokesman for a property rights group in Oregon.



     b)  His replacement will be appointed by Governor Bullock [D], a Conservative Democrat who will likely appoint a Conservative to replace Zinke.

OMB Director Mulvaney

2)   Mick Mulvaney, formerly Congressman from South Carolina, has been appointed Director of the OMB [Office of Management of the Budget, a position critical to President Trump in managing funds for the Administration's operations.  

      a)  He has monitored crypto currencies [e.g., Bitcoin] and block chain technologies which will become increasingly important in financial operations of the future; notably, President Obama fought the emergence of BitCoin as he could not control this alternate currency.

      b) Mulvaney's replacement will now be appointed by SC's Governor Henry McMaster [R], who will likely appoint a staunch Pro-Trump Conservative to Congress to replace Mulvaney.

c)  Trump apparently appointed Left leaning Nikki Haley to the United Nations, perhaps to remove her from any semblance of power in the South; she had become an embarrassment in pandering to the Political Correct crowd, to include acquiescing to demands to remove the Confederate Flag.  Without the basis of the Governor's position, her political career may be over.

HHS Director Tom Price

3)  Tom Price, formerly Congressman [R]  from Georgia, a physician appointed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services [HHS], which houses 80,000 employees with a budget of over $1 Trillion.

      a), will be responsible for reforming and replacing ObamaCare, and has the full support of Speaker Ryan.

       b)  Equally important, Price will likely pull together the disparate elements of HHS which are known for their infighting and inefficiencies, not to speak of their vast oversight and mismanagement of the Welfare system.

      c)  Also important is Price's oversight of the Food & Drug Administration [FDA] which reportedly sold out long ago to the Pharmaceuticals [Big Pharma]

           (1) It has blocked research and development of countless cures for cancers and other diseases.  Oncology has become one of the most profitable ventures in the medical industry, and Big Pharma earns hundreds of billions of dollars each year by charging huge amounts for oncology medications.   

          (2)  It has also blocked identification of country of origin for food and health products entering the US.  Price will be expected to reverse this p olicy and once again demand "country of origin" labels on these products.

4)  Xavier Becerra [D], son of Mexican immigrants, resigned from the House to accept his appointment as Attorney General of California.  He had been Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

CIA Director Pompeio

5)  Mike Pompeo,  a  Tea Party Republican from Kansas and West Point graduate, served on the House Intelligence Committee [HPSCI] which is now headed by Devin Nunes [who declined to investigate Trump's ties to Russia labeling the charges "nonsense"].  Governor Brownback [R] of Kansas, with the support of Bob Dole, will replace Pompeo with a worth Conservative. 

[Brownback turned down an HHS ObamaCare grant of $31 million]

    a) Pompeo also served on the Energy and Commerce Committees where he gained considerable insight into two of the primary issues involving Intelligence gathering [in previous administrations] which have led to international confrontations.  

    b) He also served on the Benghazi Committee where he slammed Hillary during her testimony.  His close cooperation with Trey Gowdy on that Committee will likely open new levels of investigation into Benghazi and Hillary's connection to illicit activities leading to the deaths of Americans coming to the rescue of the Consulate there.

c)  He has stated that he will not resume the use of torture as a method of interrogation and we suspect he will come to terms with President Trump on this issue.  Common sense will prevail.

[NOTE: During the Vietnam War, we conducted hundreds of successful interrogations, receiving the highest recognition from CIA and DIA for the reports.  None of these interrogations involved torture]

d)  Expect the CIA hierarchy to attack Pompeo in the same ad hominem methods which forced the removal of his W-appointed predecessor, Porter Goss, who attempted to reform the CIA.  This will be an exceptionally difficult task for Pompeo and we wish him well.

[NOTE:  Given the history of CIA, particularly under Obama, we would recommend that the Covert Mission be turned over to DOD, returning CIA to solely Clandestine missions, or, perhaps, eliminating  CIA operations altogether - leaving Clandestine Operations to the Defense Clandestine Service and making the CIA an analysis organization.]

These are critical changes in the House.

The results mean that, in addition to Cabinet Members who have made their personal fortunes based on hard work and enterprise and who have considerable levels of expertise in their new positions, the Congressmen appointed all have superb backgrounds and can be expected to perform effectively and reduce the size of their Departments and Agencies, trimming them to workable organizations rather then massive, faceless bureaucracies.  Think of HHS with 80,000 employees and a budget of over a trillion dollars; there's plenty of room for reform there.

Each of these Congressmen left critical positions in Congress and each will be replaced by Conservative governors.  The replacements will likely not be neophytes, but will challenge the incumbent GOP leadership under President Trump.

It's a new dawn in Congress, and The [corrupt] Establishment is losing its grip.  

GOP: Destroying its candidates?

Click here for related article;  [http://sultanknish.blogspot.com]

The Media, in its consummate wisdom, has designated the field of Republican candidates as clowns. Count them; 23 highly qualified Conservatives who believe in the Free Market, and each of whom has built his or her reputation on accomplishments which no current Democrat can match.  

We even include Christie, who has managed to effectively govern New Jersey, perhaps the most corrupt state in the Union - other than Illinois.

Colbert interviews "Ham [Karl] Rove" [Salon]

Of these 23, we hope the GOP won't destroy them all in its zeal to put Zeb Bush into the Oval Office. 

In past elections, it appears the GOP Chairman, Reince Priebus, along with his rabid pit bull, Karl Rove, managed to destroy any number of electable Conservative candidates for the House, the Senate, and the White House by generating adverse propaganda, withholding campaign funds and Media support, or joining forces with the Democrats to defeat candidates who indicated they would not toe the GOP Party Line - or worship at the feet of Priebus or Rove.

Rove appeared to be the guiding force in in re-electing Democrat Harry Reid in 2010 by smearing Sharron Angle, who was backed by the Tea Party and Veterans in Politics; she had won the Republican primary with 40% of the vote.  

After the primaries, Angle had a 50% to 39% lead over Reid, indicating that Angle was a shoe-in to win.  

Oddly, after behind-the-scenes lobbying by Rove, the widow of the late Republican Governor Guinn, Republican State Senator Raggio, and finally, Republican Senator Ensign all [we repeat ALL!] endorsed Democrat Senator Harry Reid -- the obvious objective of which was to undercut Tea Party influence in the GOP, and to preserve the purity of the corrupt GOP leadership!

Additionally, four strong incumbent Republican senators - who were resistant to GOP leadership -- were persuaded to "retire", including George Voinovich of Ohio, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Chris Bond of Missouri, and Mel Martinez of Florida, all abruptly decided to 

"retire and spend more time with our families."

Amazingly enough, the voters overturned most of the negative operations of Priebus and Rove, delivering 63 new seats to the Republicans in the House, and six new Senate seats; in local elections, the Republicans swept the elections with voters bringing in 680 new Republican seats -- leaving Republicans in control of 26 state legislatures and 29 State Governorships.

By 2014, Priebus and Rove were unable to keep the Democrats in power as voters gave the Republicans a clear majority in both the Senate and the House, with 54 Senate seats and the largest majority in the House since 1928.  

Amazingly, the voters recoiled against Maryland Democrat Governor O'Malley's failed governorship and elected Republican Larry Hogan with a margin of 51% to 47% -- which Chris Christie labeled "... the biggest upset in the entire country!"

But, enough of our vitriol against the GOP leadership -- which we believe is firmly in the pocket of the Democrats and Mr 0bama.

Let's talk about the Democrat candidates.

It appears the Democrats have only one viable candidate, perhaps the least qualified and most reviled Presidential candidate in US history, Hillary Clinton, who is "generating financial scandals faster than her husband generated his inevitable sex scandals".  

Of course, who can forget her description of her success as Secretary of State, in which she spent several minutes saying the words: success and progress and resolving existing problems, but at no point could she give an example of any of those terms.

To be fair, we can cite some examples of her accomplishments:
1)  She logged more mileage than any other Secretary of State
2)  She used her cell phone and personal email to transmit to unauthorized persons more Top Secret Compartmented intelligence information than any other politician in US history -- after which she claimed to accidentally have deleted all that data.
3)  She attempted a unilateral covert operation to cut a deal with the President of Iran via an unauthorized flight into Iran -- which crashed [shot down by the Israelis?], killing her SEAL escort [he allegedly committed suicide in Afghanistan], and sending her to an Israeli hospital from which she was surreptitiously shipped to a NY hospital where she was diagnosed with a flu-induced "head injury".
4)  She successfully killed one ambassador, his bodyguard, and two former SEALs in Benghazi.
5)  She installed a member of the Muslim Sisterhood, with close ties to  the Muslim Brotherhood, as her principal advisor at the State Department; and now there are reports of her being linked to supplies and money being provided to ISIS [a unit of which was captured by Iraqi forces, revealing the unit commander to be an Israeli colonel [corrected by the IDF to say he was an Israeli general!]

Now, to balance the scale of candidates in the Democrats' Presidential Clown Car, we have:

1)  Bernie Sanders who is upset there are 23 types of under-arm deodorants while children are hungry, advocates a 90% tax rate, and, he openly fantasizes about women "...being raped by three men simultaneously."

Granted, it's an old quote, taken out of specific context, but, since the Democrats fantasize about Ted Cruz's parking tickets over the last 20 years, Sanders' fantasies seem oh, so much more salacious.  He is expected to carry Vermont's Electoral Votes.

O'Malley: "What Scandal!"

2)  Then again, we have Martin O'Malley, 

former governor of Maryland against whom voters rebelled to smash his hand-picked successor at the polls with a massive vote against O'Malley's policies which destroyed Maryland's economy by taxing businesses to such an extent that many fled the state leaving tens of thousands of unemployed workers -- and depleted tax coffers.

He advocated taxing rainfall! 

We feel certain that if he were on the ticket, 

Maryland's Electoral Votes would be all Red.

Chaffee
former GOP/DEM/?

3)  Desperately seeking an alternative, the Democrats now have Lincoln Chaffee, a former Republican, then an Independent, and currently a Democrat who seeks "internationalism" via the Metric System, and he seeks to atone for the Iraqi war[s]. 

He may carry Washington, DC, which has no Electoral Votes, but the Rhode Island voters are delighted he's leaving.

We return to the original question:

Will the GOP leadership manage to destroy all the 

qualified Conservative candidates before the election to snatch defeat 

from the jaws of pure victory -- as they did in 2012?

#Wassenaar: New World Order?

"Wassenaar will make resistance via the Internet impossible!"

This is another in our series of guest posts by subject matter experts.  This post relates to a new threat to internet security and freedom of expression.

Open Letter Regarding Wassenaar to the Department of Commerce and to Legislators,

Posted on May 26, 2015

[Background: 

The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technology is a multilateral export control regime [MECR] with 41 participating states, to include the USA.  Wassenaar replaces COCOM [Coordinating Committee for  Multilateral Export Controls], and is ostensibly less strict than COCOM and focuses primarily on the transparency of national export controls and not granting veto power to individual members over organizational decisions.

Wassenaar has come under fire from the IT community since, in its current form, it will have “extensive harmful effects on computer security research and defensive software”, potentially imposing criminal penalties on software and security developers.  The very credible author of this article:  Jonathan Adziarski, provides a stirring case against Wassenaar.]

To Whom it May Concern,

I am a published and respected forensics expert who pioneered the very first forensic techniques to extract data from the iPhone as early as 2008.  Since then, I have spent several years, and much of my time, assisting numerous law enforcement and military agencies around the world, including our own. I’ve trained government agencies in the US, Canada, and the UK, and I've trained law enforcement organizations from dozens of our allies here at home in the US.

My work has been validated by the NIJ/NIST. I have invested my time in providing free assistance to many US-based federal and state agencies who have flown personnel into my small town for help in the middle of the night.

Because of my research and hard work, I’ve provided the necessary information to the rest of the industry to be able to perform iOS forensics, and a vast majority of today’s forensics solutions are founded upon my techniques.

I did all of this on my own personal time, and in many cases on my own dime. The tools and techniques I developed are by no means “intrusion” tools; however, due to the excessively broad nature of the Wassenaar proposal, my services would fall under its regulations as they bypass security mechanisms of devices and collect information from them. As all of my research is done personally, I have no large company with lawyers to address the impossible spider web of export regulations that would be introduced by Wassenaar.

The current proposal, as is, would harm far more than simply the information security industry, but would also greatly damage the forensics industry and ultimately limit the quality of tools available to law enforcement agencies for conducting lawful forensics. My tools, as well as many commercial solutions, employ the use of exploits to collect information from devices for purposes that serve law enforcement and the greater good.

I sometimes only privately release the source code to my own tools, as many commercial forensics manufacturers have stolen it in the past, yet I continue to help the law enforcement community. Wassenaar will do little to accomplish the goals it set out to, and instead make it impossible for security researchers like myself to further expand the base of knowledge by contributing openly to the community – which goes far beyond this country’s borders.

Had Wassenaar (as it is proposed today) been in place in 2008, I would not have felt as though I could openly share my research publicly without risk of prosecution, which would have deprived the community as a whole – including the United States – of valuable information that has led to the greater good.

I understand there are certain nation states misusing intrusion tools to commit crimes. There are also many law enforcement agencies within the United States who have misused or abused my own tools and techniques to conduct questionable and potentially illegal intrusions. We cannot simply un-invent technologies to prevent their misuse, and unlike nuclear weapons, digital goods cannot be effectively regulated; yet this is the tradeoff we make, to create these tools for the greater good, knowing they may be abused.

This proposal stands to only damage those looking to contribute to a better and more secure community. Wassenaar has a deterrent component, and at the heart of security research are many independent researchers like myself who will simply stop contributing if there is a fear of prosecution simply for sharing knowledge in the form of code.

Sharing knowledge is not only a basic human right, but the only means by which we can become a civilized society. Without knowledge and education, the greater good suffers.

Security researchers share knowledge in the form of code, which serves as an illustration – a description – of a problem that exists in a system. Even many published papers will contain code as it is our language by which we can most effectively communicate an idea. In addition to code, we create binaries of it to help test our own systems for vulnerabilities and ensure the security of our user base.  Wassenaar, at its very core, attempts to regulate the ideas and knowledge we communicate through code.

Dept of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security

History has consistently demonstrated that regulating knowledge on any level has proven detrimental to societies. 

In Wassenaar’s attempt to prevent the dissemination of intrusion software, it is, at the very core, creating too much of a fear of prosecution to any security researcher to even consider developing or sharing their research with those who would most benefit from it.

There are alternatives to dealing with malicious nation states that do not involve creating regulations and the fear of prosecution on honest, law abiding researchers whose focus should be on their work, and not on being imprisoned by their own country. 

The day that I am prevented from sharing my knowledge freely with the world is also the day I stop sharing with all; it is the day the US declares they own the rights to my knowledge and what I do with it. That kind of power is far more dangerous than any intrusion tool.

[Posted in Politics, Security by Jonathan Zdziarski]

End the Patriot Act!

We posted this commentary on this blog back in 2011 as we watched the growing level of abuse by our federal government -- but before Mr Snowden released the files on NSA's illicit monitoring of US citizens -- confirming a portion of the actual government abuse.  

Since then, there has been verification of FEMA incarceration camps [guarded by federal marshals], the equipping of DHS with heavily armed equipment and command centers, the massive accumulation of heavy weapons ammunition by such agencies as the Social Security Administration, and the provision of heavy infantry weaponry and tracked vehicles to local police forces.

Since then, there has been a steady stream of revelations of abuse by both the Intelligence AND Law Enforcement communities, using the tools of the Patriot Act to justify their actions.  The latest of these is NSA's demand that it be the repository of all communications from the telecoms - which oddly enough, is meeting resistance.

We don't need no stinkin Bill of Rights!

We repost this commentary because Senator Mitch McConnell [R-KY], Senate Majority Leader, is fighting to keep this abomination on the books by calling for the Senate to reconvene in a week for a vote.  

Unless Congress reaffirms it, it will die a quiet death -- as it should.

Most politicians voted for it lest they be accused of being "unpatriotic" in voting AGAINST a bill titled "PATRIOT".  What fodder for political critics, and no politician wants to be labeled "unpatriotic".  So, the Senate votes, in this case, by NOT holding a vote.

Let this damned thing die!  It is killing this country.
And, while they're at it, they should get rid of the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] which includes many of the same abrogations of the Constitution.

A note to the GOP:
It's time to send Mitch back to Kentucky to the home for bewildered politicians; he's outlived his usefulness in the Senate.

            The Patriot Act — RIP: Bill of Rights

I regard the Patriot Act as the greatest threat to individual freedom in the history of the US. It was created in good faith, and justified as a means to track down terrorists and defeat the terrorism threat. But, it can just as easily target US citizens.

Just about every intelligence investigative tool necessary to monitor terrorism was available prior to the Patriot Act; the difference was simply that intelligence officials had to justify their actions. 

At worst, it might take a few minutes to prepare the forms and pass them over to the Attorney General’s office. But, that way, the AG could act as an element of reason in a hasty decision.

I managed a global operational organization for many years, and never found this process onerous. It was inconvenient, but reasonable. My support staff included a bunch of lawyers and a retired federal judge. If a crisis emerged, as they tend to do, I had the personal phone number of the Assistant AG who was available 24/7 to review/sign off on our requirements — or, to tell us to give him more justification. 

In today’s world, a secure video-phone link would provide instant linkage, so the delay would be only the time to verbally review the situation with the AAG while he reviewed the e-documents.

The Patriot Act alternative is to place unlimited power in the hands of a single Intelligence/Law Enforcement operations unit, whose leadership could make snap, subjective decisions without a separate objective viewpoint or review.

Lincoln recognized the real threat

I’ve seen really bad judgment calls on the part of ambitious, but unbalanced, Intelligence executives; I can only imagine how many of these bad calls — without penalty — have been rationalized using the Patriot Act.

Essentially, all it takes is for the executive to accuse a person of being a terrorist, or a terrorist sympathizer or contributor; which essentially arms him with the provisions of the Patriot Act. And, if the accused is a US citizen, he loses all his Constitutional rights; and he has no recourse.

If you don’t think this system can be abused, I refer you to the Grand Jury process [aka: Star Chambers].

  

The potential for abuse under the Patriot Act goes well beyond one’s imagination.

Let’s not incinerate the Bill of Rights in the name of Patriotism.

Train Crash - Cyber Attack?

Prelude to a national transportation hack?

UPDATE:

Several new reports add interesting elements to this catastrophe:

1)  Passengers on this train stated that, immediately before the train left the rails, they heard a large "Bang!", not further identified, although investigators found a large round break in the window of the locomotive [train engine].  In another train incident in New York, there was a similar report of a "bang" -- complete with broken window in the train engine.  
[Those windows are virtually unbreakable, and we understand the FBI is now investigating both incidents.]

Additional reports reveal that the conductor had slammed on the brakes attempting to stop the train after it inexplicably increased speed -- by computer.

The conductor was fully cooperative with investigators and voluntarily produced his cell phone and freely took a blood test.  He advised he could not explain how the train doubled its speed when he had attempted to slow the train as it approached the curve.

The Philadelphia mayor has condemned the conductor as the irresponsible cause of the crash. A Twitter campaign has been launched to destroy his reputation by calling him a "diversity" hire.

Looks like a set-up to press passage of the $2 Billion Congressional Bill for rail maintenance.  De Blasio has learned a new word "INFRASTRUCTURE" and came to DC to bolster his reputation as a knowledgeable idiot!

There are reportedly seven passengers dead, with hundreds more injured in this train wreck.

The train reportedly was going more than 100 mph in a sector limited to 50 mph because of the tight curve.

Interestingly, one of the passengers reported hearing a "large BANG!" just before the derailing, while two other Philadelphia trains suffered window damage at the same time as the Amtrak crash.  
[To answer the obvious question:  No! Kids throwing rocks at the train will not break the windows; they're shatterproof!  So, whatever struck the windows was likely significantly greater than a hand-thrown rock.  It's worth examining the windows to see if there are bullet holes -- but then, we must ask who fired those rounds (note the calls for "Congressional infrastructure funding" below.]

We suspect the cause will be attributed to driver error, although safeguards were put in  place to prevent a repeat of other, recent train crashes in which excessive speed was the cause -- attributed to operator error.

Oddly, a search of the Internet retrieves little information on recent train wrecks in the US, even all those oil train derailings of the Warran Buffett genre which have spilled millions of gallons of oil in rural, suburban, and urban areas throughout the US -- killing people, livestock, vegetation, and polluting water supplies and creating environmental hazards through the massive oil fires.

Gosh, is the Media censoring itself?

The Media says I'm a Nice Guy!

Or, is that genial old gent, Warren Buffett, exercising his control over the Media since he is so well connected in the Media world, and in the railroad world, and in the infrastructure world, and in the energy sector  -- well, by golly, what ISN'T he controlling these days.  

And we thought the Rockefellers were powerful.

But, we digress.

We note the difficulty in finding details of a recent train wreck [to which we can no longer find a reference on the Internet], in which the operator supposedly fell asleep at the controls, and the train derailed due to excessive speed, killing and maiming passengers.

Such are highly unusual accidents since the computer systems are structured to monitor and control speeds at risky spots which are programmed into the rail routing process.  Even if the operator dies of a heart attack, the computer will respond appropriately if disaster looms.

That is, unless the computer system is hacked.

We expect to hear from the feds that this derailment was caused by terrorists, but that would imply that the terrorists can easily derail a US train, passenger or cargo - and that could derail the entire rail industry, and lower Buffett's profits.  So, the feds will crucify the operator and accuse him of being a cardiac victim, a drunk, a drug-user, or, an incompetent.  We suspect, however, the operator[s] are/were completely competent, and expert enough to know better than to drive 100 mph in a 50 mph zone consisting of a tight curve.

So, we drop back to the explanation that the computer system managing rail traffic was hacked.
By whom, we're unsure, although we have our suspicions, and we'll advise you once we have more information.

Hacks are more powerful than bombs

But, keep in mind, that if the rail system computers can be hacked, so too can the air traffic control system, and local ground based vehicular traffic signaling as well.  


Don't forget, both Dulles and ORD were hacked this past year,  creating havoc for the airlines, Air Traffic Controllers -- and tens of thousands of passengers.  

And, for good measure, our Administration is demanding that all new automobiles and trucks carry computer programs which can be controlled by "security" personnel -- to protect us from "terrorists"; of course, if terrorists hacked into that "security system", think of the havoc that could be wreaked causing millions of cars to spin out of control -- without regard to the drivers trying desperately to steer or slow their vehicles.

We're facing a challenge left open by the incompetence of this Administration which squandered a trillion dollars in 2009 and 2010 [under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act] which should have upgraded our infrastructure grids, to include our air/water/ground traffic control systems.  

Oddly enough, Mayor De Blasio, the only Communist mayor in the US, has declared that the rail infrastructure is 100 years or more old and is badly in need of repair; and Congress is pressing forward with another $2 Billion for such graft, er, repair.

Instead, all that money went to bogus companies owned by friends of Mr 0bama; and the US infrastructure has been collapsing ever since.