9/11 Memories

Revised version of my post dated 9/11/07

When are we going to get over 9/11?

I don't know....

My memories of that day are as fresh today as they were 10 years ago.

My drive to work was the usual insane Toronto Rush Hour drive, down the 410 and along the 401, past the Airport. Then down the 427 and across the Gardiner Expressway. It was a normal occurrence to see the Planes flying low over the Highway to land at the Airport. My thoughts when observing those planes went to the lucky people coming back from or going to exotic holiday destinations. Every morning was same minus or plus accidents that frustrated the nerves and slowed down or stopped the traffic.

I left my home in Brampton at 7:15 AM, arrived at my parking lot at 8:45 AM and walked to work arriving just before 9:00 AM.

The receptionist, greeted me as I walked in, with the comment that a plane just hit the World Trade Center in New York. She looked terrified. I assumed it was just a tragic accident and responded accordingly. "No." she said, "They're saying it was a terrorist attack!".

I continued to my office which I shared with my Boss, and repeated what the receptionist had said.

A minute later, she rushed into our office, saying that a second plane had hit the WTC. My Boss and I looked at each other, got up immediately and all of us went to the coffee room where the company had a TV. Slowly other company staff joined us until the room was full.

Someone switched channels so that we could listen to the various news stories, and finally settled on CNN.

A skeleton staff was left to answer the phones and people came and went as their various jobs required.

We were all in shock.

I hadn't really kept up with world politics, didn't know the current issues on the international stage, and so, asked rhetorically, not really expecting an answer, "Who would do such a thing, and Why?" Someone commented from behind me that it had to be Bin Ladin. I asked who Bin Ladin was and was told he was an Islamic extremist. I asked why the WTC? and was told because it was the heart of American Capitalism. I wondered why the Islamic extremists would care about hurting American Capitalism.

Someone else commented that the Americans had brought this on themselves.

I responded that no matter what the Americans have done, nothing justified this.

And then we saw the WTC towers come crashing down, live, through the eye of CNN's camera lens.

My immediate reactions were, "There are thousands of people in those buildings!" and "My son is on his way to work and has to go right past those buildings to get to MidTown Manhattan from Jersey City!"

In a panic I ran from the coffee room and tried to contact my son by phone to assure myself that he was okay.

The lines were tied up and I couldn't get through on my cell phone. My boss suggested I use the land line. I couldn't get through on the land line.

The rest of the morning was spent running back and forth from the coffee room to watch the events unfold, and to the phone to try to reach my son.

I finally got through at around 11:00 AM to the answering machine at his work place and left a message asking him to call me back right away so that I knew he was alright.

I then heard that a subway train had been buried under the rubble of the WTC and rescue workers were trying to get to it.

My stomach ached from the knots created by the worry and fear.

I went to the bathroom repeatedly because I didn't want anyone to see me cry.

To my great relief, he responded at around 12:00 PM.

He told me he took the bus, not the subway to get to work, that the bus went past the WTC.

He saw the second plane hit the WTC when he left his home in Jersey City which is right across the river from the WTC.

When the bus drove past the WTC he could see people jumping from 100 stories up and could hear their bodies landing.

He saw the Towers come down. The bus had stopped, and everyone was watching the events unfold in shock and fear.

He and his girlfriend, a Nanny in UpTown, spent the night at his workplace because no-one was allowed to leave the city, so they couldn't return to their apartment in Jersey City.

My boss told me that I could go home if I wanted to.

I thanked him, told him I would stay and settled down to trying to get some work done.

Driving home, the skies were empty near the airport.

From that point on, I saw the low flying planes over the highway in a completely new light.

It wasn't about vacationers and exotic holiday locations anymore.

It was about fear.

All flights to American locations had been redirected to Canadian airports, particularly the one next to the 401. Pearson International.

When I got home I called my Mother.

She had been planning to come to Toronto at the end of the week, and my vacation was to start September 15th.

We had planned to drive to New York together to visit my son and his girlfriend on September 15th.

His girlfriends parents were visiting that week and were scheduled to return to Germany on September 11th.

They left at the end of the week.

The line ups at the border were hours long and flying was not an option.

My son and his girlfriend asked us not to come.

We didn't go.

I cried for the people who died and for the people who lived.

My son's breathing troubles started two months later. He was initially diagnosed as having Panic Attacks.

In 2005, he developed serious lesions on his skin all over his body, infected with Streptococcus bacteria. Neither he nor the Doctors could explain it.

He breathed in the dust on that day and the fumes for months as the fires burned and the toxic fumes drifted across the river to Jersey City where he lived.

In Memoriam - 9/11

Dedicated to those who died and those who survived.

May the Religion of "Peace" (Islam),  the Religion of "Love" (Christianity), the Religion of the Israeli extremists and all other religions end their fighting and stop turning the rest of us into collateral damage.

Here's To Genuine Peace, Love and Freedom.

9/11 Memories - A personal recollection

Stalking As An Addiction

The following is an article by an online friend of mine known as Medawar, and author of the blog, Medawar's Cornflakes.

Republished post from November 23, 2011.

Once upon a time, Medawar described the whole nasty business of stalking and organized harassment to a psychiatrist, and asked him what might need to be wrong with someone before they would spend most of their time plotting to destroy an innocent person's happiness, freedom, livelihood, freedom, health, relationships and ultimately drive them out of life. The answer was startlingly immediate, crisp and precise: "they only need to enjoy doing it."

This doesn't deny or contradict any of the conspiracies behind stalking groups, gangs and cults. It just explains that participants in those groups, can both be more simple and more twisted than the group itself. The group may be motivated, controlled and manipulated in all sorts of directions, by all kinds of powerful people and forces. But never forget that a proportion of the "perps" are stalking and destroying people, because it gives them a fierce pleasure to so do.

This, in turn, gives anyone controlling or manipulating a stalking group another lever to pull, because they can use the most tempting victims as a way of recruiting stalkers. It can be an incentive: "drive this strong man to suicide, and I've got a single mother you can do what you like with." Of course, some sadists may have a more obscure definition of an ideal victim, but those in charge are presumably experienced and know what this might be. Still, many sadists are very, very attracted to the mother-child bond and the ways it can be used to inflict agony both ways.

Anything that a psychopathic personality enjoys, can easily prove addictive. And it's also worth noting that the worst sadists are usually also pathological liars.

So, amongst all the "perps" who are in the stalking group for gain, out of fear or because they have been lied to and manipulated by the pathological liars, will be the sadists and pathological liars themselves. And they will be enjoying every minute of every victim's despair and destruction. Though they may present themselves as ardent believers in and practitioners of whatever the group's ideology is supposed to be (and they may have invented much of it!) in reality they will care only about the process and not the cause.

And because that process of destroying people is addictive to them, they will join more than one stalking group in the course of their careers. Indeed, even if they start out by joining one group after another, sooner or later they will be in two groups at once, then three or four.

Now, if they are addicted to the sadistic process, these individuals may also have favourite victims. What happens when a sadist, addicted to the stalking process and a particular victim, compelled also to forcing people to accept impossible lies, moves from one stalking group to another?

Well, after they have inserted themselves into that group and become its most apparently reliable and conforming member, they will insert their favourite victim into that group's target list, along with a legend making that victim an ideal target within the group's ideology. And the group that sadist has left (assuming that they have indeed severed ties with their old group: not always the case) won't necessarily stop stalking that victim either.

It is not only possible that some stalking targets will end up being stalked by two, four, six or more different groups, for quite different ostensible reasons: given the nature of stalking and some of its most determined and remorseless participants, it's actually the most likely thing to happen to anyone who manages to survive being stalked for any length of time.

Don't be surprised, either, if the ostensible reasons for stalking of a single individual or household by different groups actually contradict each other. This, too, is the most likely state of affairs if the individuals driving the process are pathological liars, because they delight in tying people in contradictions. There is even an element of mental sadism in what is done to non-sadistic participants in stalking gangs, because invariably what is actually happening, will be the opposite of what they think is happening or what they want to happen.

A stalking gang is a subtle form of Hell let loose upon the Earth and the distinction between "perp" and "target" can easily blur,when someone in the group enjoys making his colleagues achieve the opposite of what they hope to achieve.

The stalking gang "SHAC" which was set up in 1999 with the aim of using stalking and direct violence to drive a company called "Huntingdon Life Sciences" out of business, has recently collapsed, whilst HLS (on the verge of closure in 1999) is a thriving company, going from strength to strength. Aggrieved former members of SHAC see this as a conspiracy by "Big Pharma", and while it's true that SHAC's heavy use of direct violence, arson, blackmail and grave-robbery (in Switzerland, Sweden, France Germany, the USA and Austria as well as the UK) prompted infiltration of the group by three undercover policemen of dubious reliability and competence, the fact that SHAC achieved the precise opposite of what its loyal supporters wanted, probably reflects that at some point, someone came to control SHAC who secretly took a perverse delight in making this happen.

It may have taken twelve years for SHAC to hit the Arctic Ocean, but the group and nearly all of its supporters were rushing over a cliff from the very beginning. Not because of government and business reaction to SHAC's campaign, but because the group contained at least one pathological liar who delighted in spending a decade manipulating SHAC's supporters into destroying their own dream.

A few years before SHAC was founded, the Dunblane massacre was immediately followed by the appearance of an anti-gun charity called "SAGE" which was run from Chelmsford, in Essex, which is hundreds of miles from Dunblane and not at all accessible to any of the parents of murdered children who were invited to act as figureheads for SAGE. Newspaper editors were bullied into giving SAGE free advertising space for fund-raising advertisements, and millions of pounds and dollars started to flow in, from all over the world.

SAGE was the invention of one man, whose real identity is still unknown, who had been released from Norwich jail two weeks before the charity appeared, having completed a sentence for fraud. SAGE was supposed to be a Swiss-based anti-gun charity, which is as likely as a Dutch campaign to ban pipes and clogs. Still, millions believed this contradiction in terms and sent their money. The charity's founder received a phone call from Chelmsford CID, politely asking him to be present at the SAGE office the next day so that detectives could ask him about the charitable registration and the handling of the charity's finances. By the next day, he wasn't there, and neither was any of the money. Amount unknown, but believed to be rather more than four million pounds.

By the time the hue and cry about SAGE had died away, SHAC was born. Had the detectives not taken an interest, SAGE might have started to persecute stalk gun-clubs and sporting shooters the way that SHAC stalked medical researchers: who can tell? But the adverts and the tone of all its material was headed in that direction from day one.

Medawar is struck by the equivalence of the twists and contra-logic, which supporters of both SAGE and SHAC were made to swallow.

Psychopaths destroy any enterprise in which they become engaged. They can build companies, but those companies collapse with unsecured debts and missing funds in all directions. They gain high political office: wars and economic collapse commence. They start a cause-stalking group, or take it over: its members spend years of their lives achieving the precise opposite of what they hoped for.

And they always walk away from the rubble and do the same thing again.

Kitty Hundal. June 9, 2013: It's standard practice for stalkers and organized stalking rings to falsely accuse their targets of stalking. This is actually part of the Profile of a Stalker. 

How does one tell the difference? 

Find out who initiated the campaign. That person is the stalker. However, keep in mind that stalkers are often psychopaths or sociopathic in nature which means that they go to great lengths to create false impressions including attempting to create the false impression that the target initiated the crime. 

In order to be certain one has to dig deep and verify everything. The liar is always the stalker. 

Most stalking victims either try to ignore the stalking (a huge mistake) or will respond with the truth (best approach).

Stalkers are also cowards as a result they hate to act alone and are constantly attempting to recruit support for their bullying campaigns of lies. This is usually not difficult to do since there are almost always ignoramuses available, who, for reasons of their own, love to jump into the trolling fray.

Or, in the case of wealthy stalkers are greedy and will do almost anything to avoid working as well as make some easy money.

Adults who condone and support this activity amongst teenagers are contributing to the delinquency of a minor and there are many who do including those who should know better (mothers and teachers).

Whether the stalker is some sleazeball, garden variety, criminal, a sleazeball, wealthy stalker with an organized stalking ring at his disposal, or a state-organized stalking ring, the strategies and tactics employed are always the same. The organized stalking ring just has more high level resources at their disposal.

The best overall strategy to fight back is: the more they persist, the more the target should stand up with the truth. This approach will eventually end or become a deterrent to these bullies who currently act with impunity because no-one, including the target, will stand up to them. 

Not standing up to them empowers, encourages and enables them.

Standing up to them and not backing down exposes them to everyone, reveals their true character,  protects others from getting caught up in their webs of deceit, and acts as a deterrent.

Yes they enjoy stalking, abusing and bullying others but they also hate being exposed as stalkers, abusers, and bullies. They hate having their mask of sanity ripped off and their real selves revealed to the world. 

And they always recognize themselves ;-D.

Who the following person is, isn't important (except in his own paranoid, narcissistic mind) but I'm not surprised that he recognized himself in that post despite the fact that post wasn't about him. It was written in 2007. Since he made his presence known on the Internet, as far as I can tell, he has done nothing but engage in cyberstalking and harassment and appears to take great pleasure in it.

Message To The Media From Anonymous

October 22, 2012

Greetings from....
   _  _    ___                                                  
 _| || |_ / _ \                                                
|_  __  _/ /_\ \_ __   ___  _ __  _   _ _ __ ___   ___  _   _ ___
 _| || |_|  _  | '_ \ / _ \| '_ \| | | | '_ ` _ \ / _ \| | | / __|
|_  __  _| | | | | | | (_) | | | | |_| | | | | | | (_) | |_| \__ \
  |_||_| \_| |_|_| |_|\___/|_| |_|\__, |_| |_| |_|\___/ \__,_|___/
                                   __/ |                        
                                  |___/            

This message is to the media:

Earlier tonight, the Twitter account @FawkesSecurity posted a link to a pastebin and a YouTube video that stated the following:

"As of today 200 kilograms of composite Nitroglycerin and commercial explosives have effectively been concealed in a government building"

Let us be perfectly clear: Anonymous is not a terrorist organization. Anonymous does not use bombs. Anonymous does not condone violence in any way. Anonymous supports justice and universal equal rights. We support peaceful protest.

At this time, we are not sure whether or not @FawkesSecurity is trying to troll, or if he's trying to discredit the name of Anonymous in the eyes of the world. Maybe @FawkesSecurity's twitter and YouTube account was hacked. Perhaps this is the FBI's way of trying to label Anonymous as terrorists so they can begin using the NDAA against us.

Either way, fuck whoever posted that threat.

We are Anonymous
We are legion
We do not forget
We do not forgive
Expect us

http://pastebin.com/nnfYegsJ

Mammoliti’s Red Scare and Red-Baiting

“McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by heightened fears of communist influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents. Originally coined to criticize the anti-communist pursuits of Republican U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, "McCarthyism" soon took on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts. The term is also now used more generally to describe reckless, unsubstantiated accusations, as well as demagogic attacks on the character or patriotism of political adversaries.” –Wikipedia on McCarthyism

Now, frankly, I have to seriously question the sanity of any person who thinks that communism is a threat to anyone in this modern era. Particularly given the fact that it’s failed around the world and there are very few people who consider it a serious alternative to anything, never mind an actual solution to society’s problems.

I know I don’t take communism or communists seriously and I don’t know of very many people who do. Including those in and around left wing circles. Communism and communists have essentially become toothless, basically advocating social safety net policies within the existing capitalist system. Other than the usual empty rhetoric that most don't buy, including many of their own members, they are effectively no different than any other social activist organization.

Now, I don't doubt there are a few aging dinosaurs in their 70s and 80s who are still living in the Cold War era because of their dementia and others stupid enough to buy their rather insane paranoid delusions but for the most part no-one cares about the communists or communism in modern day politics. They've become quite irrelevant.

No, there isn't a red under every bed.

So, giving Mammoliti, the benefit of the doubt, and going on the assumption that he isn’t insane (which may be a stretch), one can only wonder what he hopes to gain by introducing Red Scare politics and Red-Baiting into Toronto Municipal politics in 2011.

Mr. Mammoliti. May I take this opportunity to point out to you that the Berlin wall came down and the Cold War ended years ago.

If you’re going to look under beds for monsters, there are plenty of real ones out there that you might want to be concerned about.

Why do you appear to be ignoring these real threats to the peace and security of the citizens of Toronto, in favor of fabricating phony threats? Are organizations like the Tamil Tigers, Islamic terrorist groups, English Defense League and Jewish Defense League (a group declared terrorist and extremist in the US and on the FBI Watch List), all of whom are currently active in Toronto, acceptable to you? Why aren’t you raising the warning flag about them?

Is it because this campaign of yours is simply a self-serving attempt to discredit anyone who disagrees with you rather than any genuine concern about the influence of extremists and terrorists on Municipal politics?

Just wondering ….

My Weird Meter exploded when this story hit the news.

A more detailed take on this story by David Nickle of Inside Toronto:

Mammoliti's Strategy Isn't Pretty But It Is Effective

Bank of America using Private Intel Firms to Attack Wikileaks

Copied from Original Source: Wikileaks

2011-02-09

In a document titled "The WikiLeaks Threat" three data intelligence companies, Plantir Technologies, HBGary Federal and Berico Technologies, outline a plan to attack Wikileaks. They are acting upon a request from Hunton and Williams, a law firm working for Bank of America. The Department of Justice recommended the law firm to Bank of America according to an article in The Tech Herald.

The proposed attacks on WikiLeaks according to the slides include these actions:

• Feed the fuel between the feuding groups. Disinformation. Create messages around actions of sabotage or discredit the opposing organizations. Submit fake documents and then call out the error.
• Create concern over the security of the infrastructure. Create exposure stories. If the process is believed not to be secure they are done.
• Cyber attacks against the infrastructure to get data on document submitters. This would kill the project. Since the servers are now in Sweden and France putting a team together to get access is more straightforward.
• Media campaign to push the radial and reckless nature of WikiLeaks activities. Sustain pressure. Does nothing for the fanatics, but creates concern and doubt among moderates.
• Search for leaks. Use social media to profile and identify risky behavior of employees.

The WikiLeaks Threat: An Overview by Palanfir Technologies, HBGary Federal and Berico Technologies

Blogger's comment:

The first point sheds a whole new light on the recent misinformation published by most of Canada's traditional media incorrectly claiming that a Wikileaks document quoted ex-CSIS Director, Judd, as saying that "vigorous harassment" was occurring against Hezbollah in Canada. LOL.

I, and many others had the good sense to vet the quote against the original documents. It doesn't exist.

About Byron Sonne: Jessie Brown Interview with Jesse Hirsch on TVO

TVO Search Engine Show : Interview by Jessie Brown with Jesse Hirsch on the Byron Sonne case.

Sonne's trial begins January 26, 2011.

Hacking and IT Culture

IT Culture has come into the limelight in recent weeks due to Byron Sonne's arrest just prior to the G20 Summit in Toronto.

Byron Sonne is part of the IT Hacker community in Toronto and a Security professional although the claim of professionalism has been challenged by at least one blogger on BelchSpeak.

So, perhaps this is a good time to enlighten the public on IT Culture, what it is and what constitutes standard practice.

Hacking (exposing vulnerabilities in computer hardware and software systems) is part of our IT culture and not an uncommon practice.

Is it illegal? Technically speaking, yes it is and always has been.

However, in it's defense and in my personal opinion, the problems with hacking isn't so much that it's done but what the motivation is. This motivation can be determined by observing what occurs as a result of it's being done.

For example, if a person hacks a system in order to set it up to:

1. participate in a DNS attack,
2. load a virus or other maliciously destructive software,
3. violate the privacy of an individual, group, corporation, etc. they've targeted, 
4. steal and/or tamper with data or software code,

amongst many other things....

They've committed an illegal act and should be held accountable including prison time.

The criminal act, in my opinion, was what occurred when the person accessed the system, not the access to the system.

On the other hand, if someone is Black Box Testing a system in order to expose vulnerabilities, but does no harm to the system and/or reports the vulnerabilities to the target so that they can improve their security, I (and I would argue that most IT people) don't see this as a problem, never mind a criminal act.

Historically, this has been the role of the White Hat Hacker and one that many corporations have appreciated and benefited from.

Why has this become part of IT Culture?

In order to protect systems and keep them secure, we need to know how to break them first and this gives us the information we need to secure them.

As a Web and Software Developer, if I don't understand how SQL Injection or Cross-site posting works I can't develop software which blocks these kinds of attacks.

This is one of the key purposes behind Black Box Testing. It gives the IT professional the information they need to either write secure code or implement configuration changes to hardware for the purpose of securing the system against malicious hacking.

Black Box Testing is an IT methodology where the tester doesn't know the internal workings of a software or hardware system but will poke it, both see if they can bypass it's security and expose any  vulnerabilities in the system.

It's generally a constructive activity which contributes to ensuring that IT hardware and software systems and therefore the privacy and security of those who use these systems is protected.

A key principle behind this type of hacking is that no harm must be done to the system being probed or with information garnered.

As soon as harm is done, it crosses the line from White Hat Hacking into malicious hacking also known as Black Hat Hacking.

So, what then constitutes harm?

In my opinion, just noting that one was able to access private information, particularly if this access is then reported to the appropriate parties, does not constitute doing harm.

Why?

Because no negative act occurred as a result of this violation, and if it was reported, the violation is offset by the reporting which will result in a more secure system.

Accessing private information and then using it for blackmail purposes would constitute doing harm, would be malicious hacking and of course the person who committed such an act belongs in jail.

That said, let me just make the critical point that the vast majority of IT people who do this are not malicious hackers and it's because of them that we have far more secure systems today than even five years ago.

The IT Community, particularly the IT Security Community, which consists of numerous White Hat Hackers, should be commended and not demonized, for their constructive contributions to the IT Security field and industry.

Irrespective of whether Byron Sonne turns out to be a White Hat, Black Hat, or possibly a Grey Hat Hacker.

Something which remains to be seen.

I don't know him, but what little information I've been able to pick up on his activities through Internet searches gives me serious cause for concern, despite the confidence displayed by his friends.

Friends who, while I'm sure they're nice and for the most part honest, sincere and caring people, obviously have an emotional stake in this cause and are unlikely to be able to see this situation as objectively as an outsider would.

That said, there is a concept held by some hackers, called Full Disclosure which could have an impact and which I'll be discussing in another blog.

One of the difficulties in the Byron Sonne situation is that the Bail Hearing was held under a publication ban at Sonne's lawyers request.

So it's currently impossible to make a rational decision based on actual facts, regarding whether or not Sonne's actions were reasonable in the context of IT culture and based on the facts that I do have I can't in good conscience defend his actions.

Background information:

Hacking Wiki

Originally published July 24 (8:54AM). Republished August 8 with revisions.

In Defense Of Richard Silverstein And Free Speech

The following was posted on a blog called Medawar's Cornflakes. I am reproducing it here for the same reasons that Medawar indicated that he posted it.

While I may or may not agree with everything Mr Silverstein says, he has the right to say it without being harassed and being the victim of malicious DOS attacks attempting to bring down his site and by doing so, suppress his Right To Free Speech.

Medawar's Cornflakes

The following is reproduced from Richard Silverstein's blog, "Tikun Olam" simply because it would appear to be the trigger for a sustained denial of service attack against his site. Reproduction shouldn't be taken as an endorsement of all of Mr Silverstein's views and actions (Lord knows: he might have done all sorts of bad stuff that Medawar doesn't know about.) But DOS attacks, particularly when it seems as if Israeli police computers may have been hacked or infected in order to launch it, are as threatening to modern society as piracy on the High Seas and Cash in Transit Robberies. Medawar hasn't reproduced any of the comments that were on the blog, because it is impossible to assume the commentator's permission and some of them were obscene.

The article was headed by a picture of an alleged Israeli torturer, which was obtained by Mr Silverstein in the pixellated condition you see below. A lot of the embedded links below seem to work now: presumably the URL information got copied across with them? Medawar is a bit surprised, but not complaining!

Identity of Former IDF Torturer Exposed, ‘Captain George’ is Doron Zahavi

Alleged Arab torturer Doron Zahavi aka 'Captain George' (Haaretz)

Yesterday, I reported here on a Haaretz story about the notorious “Captain George,” an IDF military intelligence interrogator accused in 2004 of sodomizing a Lebanese kidnap victim in order to secure information about the location of IDF officer, Ron Arad. Among the things I wrote was my complaint that Haaretz was protecting the real identity of George even though he no longer served in military intelligence.

With the help of a diligent Israeli researcher, I can now expose George’s real identity. He is Doron Zahavi, currently the Arab affairs liaison for the Jerusalem police. His job, as I noted yesterday, is to direct community relations and liaison efforts between the police and Jerusalem’s Arab residents.

In discussing the parameters of Zahavi’s job, a police spokesperson told Haaretz:

“The adviser must be an accepted and welcome figure in the Arab community, with excellent interpersonal skills – someone they feel they can trust, otherwise he cannot succeed in the job,” a senior police officer said.

ACRI complaint identifies Doron Zahavi by name

Apparently, Zahavi has performed his job so well he’s garnering rave reviews right and left from his Arab interlocutors. One, Jouad Siam, complained that in a February, 2010 interrogation, Zahavi threatened to destroy his home (Hebrew source) unless he disbanded a Silwan information center Siam had founded to counter the building efforts of settlers in his neigborhood. Here is how the ex-torturer now conducts himself. I’ll let you be the judge whether the leopard has changed his spots:

He [Zahavi] told us we were making problems and we had to close the center. I told him: “I thought we are in a democracy.” This raised the ire of ‘George,’ who said: “We Jews are fools. We treat you too well. I thought you would behave yourself.” ’George’ threatened that he would draw up a demolition order for his home if he refused to close the center.
According to Siam, “The entire conversation was conducted in shouts. He didn’t let me speak. He would ask and answer his own questions [without allowing Siam to respond]. At the end of the discussion, he told me to go home and behave myself.

Last February, the Association for Civil Right in Israel registered a formal complaint against Zahavi for his outburst. Among the claims listed was that Zahavi called Siam a “criminal” and said that the latter would be held responsible for everything that happened in Silwan. The interrogator asked about the source of Siam’s income and told him he would intervene with his boss. At the end of the meeting, Zahavi attempted to enlist Siam as an informant.

The police replied formally to the complaint claiming laughably that Zahavi had merely invited Siam to a “get to know you” meeting in which the police advisor sought to discover what issues particularly troubled the local Arab population. In the course of the meeting, Zahavi felt it necessary to inform his Arab interlocutor about activities in which he was engaged that violated the law. No mention in the police reply how founding an information center was a violation of law.

The publicly available ACRI complaint lists Zahavi’s real name. In that case, why would Haaretz not be able to use it? The whole situation baffles me. At any rate, thank God we’re not bound by any such nonsense and we offer the real Doron Zahavi to the world in all his glory. If a reader has a picture of Zahavi, please let me know.

Curiosities, the G20 and a Full Provincial Public Inquiry

Why did the most violent acts in the history of any G20/G8 Summit occur in Ottawa/Toronto, purportedly by anarchists, at a time that OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino had the Southern Ontario Anarchists infiltrated (by his own admission)?

Exactly how much was spent on additional services provided by additional private Security firms as a result of this increased "terrorist" threat, incited by the Ottawa goon squad, and which Security firms benefited that wouldn't have benefited without this increased "terrorist" threat?

How did the Black Bloc goon squads know exactly where there would be little or no police activity and where they could vandalize unfettered?

Why was there so much "confusion" amongst the lawyers regarding the interpretation of the Liberal governments law covering identification and detention of protestors, to the point where Toronto Police Chief  Bill Blair was directly misinformed regarding what specific police powers the TPS had?

Why was a Press Release regarding these extraordinary police powers granted by the Liberal government  approximately one month before the Summit not issued by the ISU to the Media ahead of time?

Why were the Protesters not informed of these extraordinary police powers and their extent ahead of time during information sessions held between the ISU, community and protest groups?

Why did the ISU (Integrated Services Unit - RCMP, OPP, TPS, CF and Peel Regional Police) place the TPS (Toronto Police Services) in charge of defending the fence instead of protecting the city? Wouldn't defense of the fence more appropriately belong to the RCMP or CF (Canadian Forces)?

Why was a CTV Producer and a CTV Cameraman, both of whom properly identified themselves, arrested and detained?

Why were 900 peaceful protesters arrested when the Black Bloc goon squad consisted of fewer than 50 people, if that, or 100 if one wants to be generous/exaggerate?

What exactly was this law passed by the Liberal Government, that is, exactly what extraordinary police powers were granted and what was the extent of those powers?

And given these and other relevant questions ....

Why would Liberal Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty think that a Public Inquiry into the largest Mass Arrest and the most draconian violation of Civil Rights in the history of Canada, is somehow not required?

Or does he just have way too much to cover up?

Maybe it's time for a Provincial election ... It's definitely time for a full Provincial level Public Inquiry whether McGuinty thinks we need one or not.

Byron Sonne and G20 Security

Byron Sonne's bail hearing was finished today and a decision will be made on Bail on July 20.

Sonne, a CyberSecurity expert and licensed Private Investigator claims that he was simply testing the G20 security.

However, thanks to a publication ban invoked by his own lawyer, we still have no idea:

1. What the specific test was
2. What it was intended to demonstrate and to whom
3. Why he felt it necessary to perform
4. What the final goal of the test was.

We only know that according to friends, he was trying to find weaknesses in the G20 security and was publicizing those weaknesses online (Twitter, YouTube, and possibly other places).

There are indications from these same friends that he objected to the high cost and wanted to show that it was unjustified or some such thing.

However, the reality is that the methodology he employed would have ultimately undermined the security precautions taken, had he succeeded.

Was that his intent? What did he hope to gain by doing that? Was he trying to demonstrate that it could be undermined easily and the billion dollars was a waste of money?

The billion dollars was a waste of money but not because the security could be undermined (and it seems that it couldn't be - congrats go to the Toronto Police Service for that one).

It was a waste of money because it was based on, what I believe was a false "terrorist" threat (Ottawa RBC Firebombing) intended to incite fear, create an overreaction, and motivate a large amount of spending on security to the benefit of certain unethical private security companies. 

A process, Byron Sonne, a CyberSecurity expert and licensed private investigator, would also have contributed to, had he been successful.

Here's another possible motivation, did his company attempt to get one of the very lucrative G20 private security contracts and fail?

And another possibility that I'm sure the Police are considering because if they weren't he'd have been released a long time ago.

Maybe he really did want to commit a terrorist act and his goal was to probe the security in order to find an opening which would allow him to do it.

The point that I'm making is that there are very good reasons to perform black box tests on security measures but there are also very insidious reasons including revenge and political extremism.

Perhaps I'm missing something, and I admit I don't have much in the way of facts, mainly because Byron Sonne's own lawyer had a publication ban placed on the Bail Hearing proceedings.

It just seems to me that the way that Sonne went about his testing would appear to indicate bad intent and not good intent. I suppose he could argue that he wanted it to appear that way and perhaps he did too good a job of it. On the other hand, so did the TPS when they caught him.

Depending on what he was purportedly testing and that still isn't clear, we really have no way of knowing whether this test was even a success or a failure.

If his only intention was to demonstrate the weaknesses in G20 Security through black box testing, all he had to do was hand the information over to the ISU instead of publicizing it.

If part of his testing was to see if he could get away with publicizing this type of information without getting caught he could have posted false but true-sounding information.

There were lots of ways of performing this type of black box testing without doing any harm to the G20 security apparatus.

Instead, he was revealing actual security information on Twitter and YouTube.

It also seems rather odd to me that a CyberSecurity expert and licensed Private Investigator would be naive enough to think that after spending a billion dollars on Security, the ISU wouldn't at the very least pick up on the basics.

Again, perhaps I'm missing something that more brilliant minds than mine can see but I'm also quite curious about what "Intimidating a Justice System Participant" has to do with testing G20 Security? That's a charge which involves threatening a Judge, Prosecutor or Juror.

If the test was to demonstrate that one could get away with making extremist and threatening statements, exposing sensitive security information and committing terrorist acts as long as one was seen as a nice guy and popular in ones circles with lots of people to come forward and speak well of one, then it remains to be seen whether that test has failed or succeeded in his case.

Although, I would agree that such a test has a strong potential of succeeding. I've seen it happen, often to my detriment. However, it usually also requires substantial amounts of cash and/or the connections to grant lucrative favors to back up that nice guy image. If one wants to stay out of jail, that is. It is also quite dependent on how much natural charisma a person has.

How many people thought Colonel Russell Williams was a great guy? I suspect many would have come forward to speak well of him and deny any claims that he could possibly be a serial killer and rapist. One doesn't become a Colonel by being unpopular.

Those claims would likely never have been believed if the police hadn't come up with solid evidence to support them.

Just a thought ....

GuantanaToronto

A modified Twitter Tweet:

Dear G20

Next time you decide to have a Summit, could you please hold it on Skype or on a Military Base?

XO

Love GuantanaToronto

Black Bloc Tactics

What do Black Bloc tactics accomplish for the characters in the G8/G20 drama in Toronto?

For the Protestors?

They obscure, if not obliterate their message as well as result in many innocent people getting arrested for absolutely no reason.

Of course, the roaming goon squads that vandalized the city should be, and many were, arrested.

However, I seriously doubt that the majority of people arrested were participants in those sprees or any other illegal/terrorist activity. Not based on the reports I've heard through the traditional, alternative and social media. 

Reports indicate that the goon squad members totaled between 50 and 100 out of thousands of Protesters. Based on the damage that occurred I'd say it was at the low end. A small number of determined people can do a lot of damage in a very short time when they're doing it unfettered.

At last count, on writing this blog and according to CBC News, well over 500 have been arrested, making this the largest mass arrest of people in Canada's history. Exceeding the previous record of 465 arrests which occurred during the War Measures Act in 1972 (FLQ Crisis).

UPDATE: As of 8:00PM EST, the number of arrests now exceeds 600 as per CBC TV News.

UPDATE: As of June 28, 2010 AM, the number of G20-related arrests made since June 18, 2010 totals over 900 as per the Toronto Star. 

Note that the War Measures Act (1972) was in place for a period of one month, Canada-wide and resulted in 465 arrests.

No, I didn't participate, wasn't downtown and didn't observe anything first hand so any criticism of my statements based on those grounds is fair comment.

For the Provincial Government?

They justify the draconian and extraordinary measures taken by the Liberal Government which amounts to a full suspension of Civil Rights similar to but far less extensive (regionally) than that which occurred during the War Measures Act.

The War Measures Act was invoked Canada-wide for a period of one month. This legislation was invoked for Toronto only, although the parameters and specifics are rather unclear to everyone including, apparently, the traditional Media.

The fact that this regional limitation exists and a much shorter time period is involved, and this number of people was arrested, makes this far worse than the gross violation of Civil Rights that occurred in Canada in 1972 with the invocation of the War Measures Act.

For the few unethical elements in the Private Security industry?

They justify the obscene additional expenditures which allowed them to rake in the profits.

Note that the Private Security industry provides private security guards as well as services like security passes, background clearances, equipment, etc. both to private companies in the area as well as to the G8/G20 security machine.

An atmosphere of fear helps them enormously when it comes to selling their services, particularly when it causes the public policing services to become overwhelmed..

So, the only ones who don't benefit in any way from using Black Bloc tactics are the Protesters. 

Go figure ....

There will probably be a lot more to say on this issue as the dust settles.

Toronto, the G20/G8 Summits and "Terrorism"

I'm not a Conspiracy Theorist and consider that the venue of the k00ks. One that they can keep as they hunt for monsters under each and every bed.

However, frankly, as a realist, there are conspiracy theories and there are conspiracy theories.

COINTELPRO, the RCMP Red Squad, and MKULTRA were also conspiracy theories when the rumors about them started.

The difference between those conspiracy theories and others is that witnesses came forward with personal testimony and/or certain acts occurred which didn't fit the explanations.

Having grown up during the era that exposed much of the truths behind these stories I had the opportunity to see this unfold.

The recent "terrorist" attacks in Ottawa and the recent arrest in Toronto of a "terrorist" smacks of a conspiracy theory in the process of exposure.

My original theory about the RBC Fire-bombings holds as far as I'm concerned.

In my opinion, this was nothing more than a deliberate attempt by unethical private security companies to create a panic in order to raise the terrorist threat level and to push the government into taking extraordinary security measures, while they sat back and raked in the profits. 

This one just reeks of a scam.

Let's look at who is being arrested.

The RBC Fire-bombings were done by:

1. 32 year old man with a history of protest activity
He is the only person that fits the profile of what one would expect if this were a genuine terrorist attack by people who oppose the G20/G8 summits. He was most likely brought in to give credibility to the lie that young anarchists were involved. Not to mention that he will now make a convenient scapegoat.

Everyone else:

2. 58 year old retired civil servant who worked for CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency)

3. 50 year old Engineer

No tell my why an Engineer would fire-bomb a building when he has the skills to build something more sophisticated. And if he was concerned about people getting injured, could have created a more controlled type of explosion.

I'd also like to know why a 58 year old retired CIDA civil servant and 50 year old Engineer would vandalize buildings with stones and hammers when they could have made a far clearer statement with something more sophisticated.

Perhaps they did things this way because they were deliberately trying to give the impression that this attack was done by young anarchists in order to deflect suspicion from who they were and what they were really trying to accomplish?

And who was the person arrested in Toronto yesterday?

A millionaire CyberSecurity expert who contracts out his services in Toronto, lives in Forest Hills, and according to friends was purportedly testing G20 security.

He also just happens to be a licensed private investigator.

Sorry but this last arrest just fits my scenario like a proverbial glove.

If I were in the Integrated Security Unit, I'd be trying to figure out who paid the CyberSecurity expert, the Engineer, and the retired CIDA civil servant to do this and how much they were being paid for this particular service.

And I wouldn't be looking for a paper trail of cash. I'd be looking for cash purchases of property as well as home renovations, etc.

Let's face it, the private security firms were the one's that gained the most by these "terrorist" attacks as did their Investors. And if they financed these attacks they are as responsible as those who committed them.

Air India Report Released by Justice Major

Air India Flight 182: A Canadian Tragedy (Report)

Remarks by Commissioner John C Major, June 17, 2010

Key Findings of the Commission

A Guide to the Report

The Main Page with access to all reports and other information

Thank You Prime Minister Harper!

Now all that's left (aside from implementing the recommendations) is to bring the terrorists who committed this crime to justice...


Guess that won't be happening anytime soon.

Terrorism Discredits Any Cause

Lately I've been posting about the brutal genocide and torture of Aboriginal children at the hands of staff and clerics in the Church run Indian Residential Schools.

I'm supportive of the survivors, their desire for justice and wish the People's Inquiry Into Residential Schools much success in their endeavor to get the truth out to the public as well as obtain justice for the survivors of this abuse.

However, the recent burning down of the Royal Bank of Canada in Ottawa is reprehensible, if it was indeed the target of a fire-bombing by anarchist groups because of Indian land claims and other related issues as some news reports speculate.

Terrorism discredits a cause, it doesn't help it.

Hopefully, CSIS will track down these terrorists quickly before they have a chance to do anymore damage.

And I'm referring to the damage done to both the RBC as well as that which would be done to the People's Inquiry Into Residential Schools, if this act was committed in support Aboriginal issues.

The RBC as a private institution has the right to financially support any enterprise they wish to without fear of being subjected to terrorist threats and intimidation whether anyone agrees with that financial support or not.

The People's Inquiry Into Residential Schools consist of people who are looking for Justice.

Terrorist acts do not provide this justice and will hurt their efforts.

CBC News: Fire Bombing Of RBC

So, whoever did this ... please stay out of Toronto and stop committing these terrorist acts.

There are better, peaceful ways to express concerns about social issues.

Threats, bullying, intimidation and terrorist acts is not the way to do it whether the target is an individual, Government or a Corporation.

9/11 : A Commemoration

From a Canadian, To my American friends and family, with Love

Leonard Cohen - The Future.

What's left to say?

Injecting Reason Into Hate

Can it be done?

Maybe, but I haven't seen it succeed yet.

We, middle of the road types, bop along in our naive little worlds, thinking that good and reason will always prevail.

We think that way because in our naive little worlds, it does. Essentially because we tend to be good people who are reasonable, willing to negotiate and compromise.

We've learned to resolve issues through communication and compromise, acknowledging along the way that we're not always going to get exactly what we want and that what we want might not always be the best thing for everybody. We also make an effort to be fair, and to understand others needs. We know how to put ourselves in someone else's shoes, and to understand where others are coming from. This is the source of our ability to negotiate and compromise.

Our biggest failing is that we think everyone else is like us. After all, we're the silent majority.

We have differences of opinion, different viewpoints, beliefs and value systems.

We get ticked off, frustrated, angry, file law suits, defend ourselves against our opposition, etc.

In the end, however, our anger doesn't lead to hate.

We just deal with our issues, or not, get over them, and move on.

Why? Because ultimately we are part of this world, we want to be happy, to share in it's pleasures and joys.

We want to see the positive, do good, make a contribution.

So, when we look into the face of Hate, we don't recognize it, don't understand it, try to work with it like we work with everything and everyone else, and are geniunely surprised when we don't succeed.

Christiane Amanpour commented in her documentary, God's Warriors, that you can't convince an extremist they're wrong!

Why not?

Because Hate is blind and it's based on fear, mistrust, obfuscation, and lies.

Hate is humanity's emotional Psychopath.

Hate believes that the ends justify the means.

Hate believes that which it hates is inhuman and therefore not worthy of trust, honesty or respect.

This is the foundation of the Irrationality and Unreasonableness of Hate.

This is the root of Extremism and Terrorism.

9/11: A Horror Revisited

When are we going to get over 9/11?

I don't know.

My memories of that day are as fresh today as they were 6 years ago.

My drive to work was the usual insane Toronto Rush Hour drive, down the 410 and along the 401, past the Airport. Then down the 427 and across the Gardiner Expressway. It was a normal occurrence to see the Planes flying low over the Highway to land at the Airport. My thoughts when observing those planes went to the lucky people coming back from or going to exotic holiday destinations. Every morning was same minus or plus accidents that frustrated the nerves and slowed down or stopped the traffic.

I left my home in Brampton at 7:15 AM, arrived at my parking lot at 8:45 AM and walked to work arriving just before 9:00 AM.

The receptionist, greeted me as I walked in, with the comment that a plane just hit the World Trade Center in New York. She looked terrified. I assumed it was just a tragic accident and responded accordingly. "No." she said, "They're saying it was a terrorist attack!".

I continued to my office which I shared with my Boss, and repeated what the receptionist had said.

A minute later, she rushed into our office, saying that a second plane had hit the WTC. My Boss and I looked at each other, got up immediately and all of us went to the coffee room where the company had a TV. Slowly other company staff joined us until the room was full.

Someone switched channels so that we could listen to the various news stories, and finally settled on CNN.

A skeleton staff was left to answer the phones and people came and went as their various jobs required.

We were all in shock.

I hadn't really kept up with world politics, didn't know the current issues on the international stage, and so, asked rhetorically, not really expecting an answer, "Who would do such a thing, and Why?" Someone commented from behind me that it had to be Bin Ladin. I asked who Bin Ladin was and was told he was an Islamic extremist. I asked why the WTC? and was told because it was the heart of American Capitalism. I wondered why the Islamic extremists would care about hurting American Capitalism.

Someone else commented that the Americans had brought this on themselves.

I responded that no matter what the Americans have done, nothing justified this.

And then we saw the WTC towers come crashing down, live, through the eye of CNN's camera lens.

My immediate reactions were, "Oh My God, there are thousands of people in those buildings!" and "My son is on his way to work and has to go right past those buildings to get to MidTown Manhattan from Jersey City!"

In a panic I ran from the coffee room and tried to contact my son by phone to assure myself that he was okay.

The lines were tied up and I couldn't get through on my cell phone. My boss suggested I use the land line. I couldn't get through on the land line.

The rest of the morning was spent running back and forth from the coffee room to watch the events unfold, and to the phone to try to reach my son.

I finally got through at around 11:00 AM to the answering machine at his work place and left a message asking him to call me back right away so that I knew he was alright.

I then heard that a subway train had been buried under the rubble of the WTC and rescue workers were trying to get to it.

My stomach ached from the knots created by the worry and fear.

I went to the bathroom repeatedly because I didn't want anyone to see me cry.

To my great relief, he responded at around 12:00 PM.

He told me he took the bus, not the subway to get to work, that the bus went past the WTC.

He saw the second plane hit the WTC when he left his home in Jersey City which is right across the river from the WTC.

When the bus drove past the WTC he could see people jumping from 100 stories up and could hear their bodies landing.

He saw the Towers come down. The bus had stopped, and everyone was watching the events unfold in shock and fear.

He and his girlfriend, a Nanny in UpTown, spent the night at his workplace because no-one was allowed to leave the city, so they couldn't return to their apartment in Jersey City.

My boss told me that I could go home if I wanted to.

I thanked him, told him I would stay and settled down to trying to get some work done.

Driving home, the skies were empty near the airport.

From that point on, I saw the low flying planes over the highway in a completely new light.

It wasn't about vacationers and exotic holiday locations anymore.

It was about fear.

All flights to American locations had been redirected to Canadian airports, particularly the one next to the 401. Pearson International.

When I got home I called my Mother.

She had been planning to come to Toronto at the end of the week, and my vacation was to start September 15th.

We had planned to drive to New York together to visit my son and his girlfriend on September 15th.

His girlfriends parents were visiting that week and were scheduled to return to Germany on September 11th.

They left at the end of the week.

The line ups at the border were hours long and flying was not an option.

My son and his girlfriend asked us not to come.

We didn't go.

I cried for the people who died and for the people who lived.

My son's breathing troubles started two months later. He was initially diagnosed as having Panic Attacks.

Two years ago, he developed serious lesions on his skin all over his body, infected with Streptococcus bacteria. Neither he nor the Doctors could explain it.

He breathed in the dust on that day and the fumes for months as the fires burned and the toxic fumes drifted across the river to Jersey City where he lived.

He still has trouble breathing.