Vietnamese Malware Gets Very Personal

The Anatomy of Government Duplicity

Though NSA targeting of 100’s of thousands of off-line computers through surreptitious micro-circuitry has been exposed, and its retention of phone conversations, not simply meta-data of those calls has yet to be revealed, the unsung other shoe has dropped. The NSA is not the only government agency to spy on citizens, treating them as the ‘enemy’–not by a long shot. Viet Nam’s government isn’t willing to take a back seat to anyone when it comes to surveillance, oppression, intrigue, and targeting dissidents.

Life of the Party

As encryption has become more prevalent in online communications as a countermeasure against surveillance, attackers have sought to circumvent these measures by covertly installing malware on targeted computers that can log keystrokes, remotely spy on users with their own webcams, record Skype calls, and listen in on the computer’s built-in microphone. Sometimes the attacker is a criminal, such as the hacker who used a remote access tool (RAT) to take blackmail photos of Miss Teen USA. Sometimes the attacker is acting in support of a state, like the pro-Assad hackers whose malware campaigns against opposition supporters; EFF [Electronic Frontier Foundation]  has been tracking this for the last two years. Sometimes the attacker is the government or a law enforcement agency. For example, the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations unit uses covertly-installed malware to spy on targets.

Malware is a tool that most states have in their toolbox, and Vietnam is no exception. For the last several years, the communist government of Vietnam has used malware and RATs to spy on journalists, activists, dissidents, and bloggers, while it cracks down on dissent. Vietnam’s Internet spying campaign dates back to at least March 2010, when engineers at Google discovered malware broadly targeting Vietnamese computer users. The infected machines were used to spy on their owners as well as participating in DDoS attacks against dissident websites. The Vietnamese government has cracked down sharply on anti-government bloggers, who represent the country’s only independent press. It is currently holding 18 bloggers and journalists, 14 from a year earlier, according to a report issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2013.

EFF has written extensively about the worsening situation for bloggers in Vietnam, supporting campaigns to free high-profile bloggers such as Le Quoc Quan and Dieu Cay, and criticizing Vietnam’s Internet censorship bill. This report will analyze malware targeting EFF’s own staff, as well as a well-known Vietnamese mathematician, a Vietnamese pro-democracy activist, and a Vietnam-based journalist at the Associated Press.

A Campaign Targeting EFF and Associated Press

Let’s begin with the attack targeting EFF staffers. This marks the first time EFF detected a targeted malware attack against the organization by what appear to be state-aligned actors.

On December 20th, 2013, two EFF staffers received an email from “Andrew Oxfam,” inviting them to an “Asia Conference,” and inviting them to click on a pair of links which were supposed to contain information about the conference and the invitation itself. These links were especially suspicious because they were not hosted on Oxfam’s domain, but instead directed the invitee to a page hosted on Google Drive, seen below. In addition, this email contained two attachments purporting to be invitations to the conference.

This targeting is especially interesting because it demonstrates some understanding of what motivates activists. Just as journalists are tempted to open documents promising tales of scandal, and Syrian opposition supporters are tempted to open documents pertaining to abuses by the Assad regime, human rights activists are interested in invitations to conferences. For greater verisimilitude, the attacker should have included an offer to pay for flights and hotels.

Both attachments are the same:

351813270729b78fb2fe33be9c57fcd6f3828576171c7f404ed53af77cd91206 Invitation.hta
351813270729b78fb2fe33be9c57fcd6f3828576171c7f404ed53af77cd91206 Location.hta

The detection rate for this malware is very low, using VirusTotal, we see only one anti-virus vendor out of a possible 47 detecting this as of 19 January 2014.

The same malware was also sent to an Associated Press reporter, masquerading as a Human Rights Watch paper.

In this attack, clicking the link in the email takes the user to the malicious HTML application (.hta) file.

The file meta-data reveals the following information:

Invitation.hta: Composite Document File V2 Document, Little Endian, Os: Windows, Version 6.1, Code page: 1252, Template: Normal, Revision Number: 2, Name of Creating Application: Microsoft Office Word, Total Editing Time: 01:00, Create Time/Date: Mon Nov 19 05:02:00 2012, Last Saved Time/Date: Mon Nov 19 05:02:00 2012, Number of Pages: 3, Number of Words: 395, Number of Characters: 2258, Security: 0

This HTML application contains an encoded executable and also contains a Microsoft Word document named “baviet.doc”:

When the recipient runs the attachment it drops the following files:

C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTempbaiviet.doc
C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTempxftygv.exe

When “baviet.doc’ is displayed and “xftygv.exe” is run, it causes the following files to be installed:

C:Program FilesCommon Filesmicrosoft sharedinkInkObj.dat
C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTemp1959.tmp
C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTemp19A8.tmp
C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTemp1A65.tmp
C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTemp1D72.tmp
C:UsersadminAppDataRoamingHTML Helphelp.dat
C:UsersadminAppDataRoamingKuGou7status.dat
C:UsersadminAppDataRoamingMicrosoftMedia PlayerPLearnL.DAT
C:UsersadminAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWerfaultWerFault.exe
C:WindowsPerformanceWinSATDataStoreFormal.Assessment.WinSAT.xml
C:WindowsPerformanceWinSATShaderCache.vs_3.0
C:WindowsSystem32api-ms-win-core-xstate-l1-1-0.bin
C:WindowsSystem32odbccr64.dll

Several registry changes are made to enable the malicious implant to persist after reboot and the file api-ms-win-core-xstate-l1-1-0.bin is written into the process space of explorer.exe which then instantiates an outbound connection on port 443 to yelp.webhop.org.

At the time of the report, this domain pointed to 62.75.204.91 which hosted the following domains:

tripadvisor.dyndns.info, neuro.dyndns-at-home.com, foursquare.dyndns.tv, wowwiki.dynalias.net, yelp.webhop.org

This has been used as a command and control server for other Vietnamese-affiliated malware:

82f0db740c1a08c9d63c3bb13ddaf72c5183e9a141d3fbd1ffb9446ce5467113 bai viet.hta
9c07d491e4ddcba98c79556c4cf31d9205a5f55445c1c2da563e80940d949356 Unhotien.doc

Examining this malware reveals a relationship to earlier campaigns targeting Vietnamese activists.

Targeting of Vietnamese Bloggers

In February of 2013, a Vietnamese blogger and mathematics professor, received the following email:

Like the malware targeting the EFF and the Associated Press, the attachment was an HTML Application. In this case, the attachment was compressed with 7zip.

2fa7ad4736e2bb1d50cbaec625c776cdb6fce0b8eb66035df32764d5a2a18013 Thu moi.7z

extracted:

dd100552f256426ce116c0b1155bcf45902d260d12ae080782cdc7b8f824f6e1 Thu moi.hta

The file meta-data reveals the following information:

Thu moi.hta: Composite Document File V2 Document, Little Endian, Os: Windows, Version 6.1, Code page: 1252, Author: pluto, Template: Normal, Last Saved By: pluto, Revision Number: 2, Name of Creating Application: Microsoft Office Word, Total Editing Time: 07:00, Create Time/Date: Thu Mar 1 05:02:00 2012, Last Saved Time/Date: Thu Jan 24 09:28:00 2013, Number of Pages: 3, Number of Words: 277, Number of Characters: 1584, Security: 0

As with the EFF and AP attacks, the HTML application contains an encoded executable ( “zzpauvooos.exe”) and a document (“Doc loi.doc”).

Running “Thu moi.hta” displays “Doc loi.doc” and also drops the following files:

C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTempDoc loi.doc
C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTempzzpauvooos.exe

When “‘zzpauvooos.exe” is run, it drops the following file:

C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTempC947.tmp

And then following command is run:

“C:UsersadminAppDataLocalTempC947.tmp” –helpC:UsersadminAppDataLocalTempzzpauvooos.exe D1DF15E4D714BFDB764ECF92AE709D14BCA3E0E6C759CF7C675BE26D0296A63C3B147110AC79543CC31527651D66787152102A66C33710233BD64912707D4E60

Then the following files are dropped onto the system and the original executable is deleted:

C:UsersadminAppDataRoamingCommon Filesdefrag.exe
C:UsersadminAppDataRoamingIdentities{116380ff-9f6a-4a90-9319-89ee4f513542}disk1.img
C:WindowsTasksScheduledDefrag.job
C:WindowsTasksScheduledDefrag_admin.job

Values are inserted into the Windows registry for persistence and the main implant, disk1.img, contacts the remote command and control domain, static.jg7.org, on port 443/tcp.

A prominent Vietnamese pro-democracy blogger living in California was successfully targeted by this attack, which led to the compromise of her blog and the invasion of her private life.

The group behind these attacks appears to have been operating since late 2009, and has been very active in the targeting of Vietnamese dissidents, people writing on Vietnam, and the Vietnamese diaspora. This appears to be the work of a group commonly known as “Sinh Tử Lệnh” and while it has been alleged to be the work of Chinese actors, it feels more like the work of Vietnamese targeting Vietnamese.

EFF is greatly disturbed to see targeted malware campaigns hitting so close to home. While it is clear this group has been targeting members of the Vietnamese diaspora for some time, these campaigns indicate journalists and US activists are also under attack. While longtime activists and journalists might expect to be targeted by a state they regularly criticize, it appears a single blog post is enough to make you a target for Vietnamese spying.

A low grade civil war is afoot in America’s streets. While the stock market has reached historical peaks, homelessness, especially among young adults, has never been higher. With a spate of new ‘anti-poverty’ laws by various municipalities, the homeless are virtually now criminals by definition.

Foreclosures in Washington State continue to rise. Unemployment, instead of yielding to reduction, is falling off the radar as benefits are cut/eliminated and the long term unemployed (no longer counted) finally give up hope altogether. Food stamps are being cut and pensions stolen either outright through chapter 11 filings or by the fiat of converting defined benefits to the vagaries of the marketplace. Those who have worked their entire lives to secure some degree of certainty in their old age are witnessing the wholesale decimation of their nest eggs. Geezers don’t riot. Incredibly, the pensions of retired veterans are on the block. Some U.S. legislators propose to dishonor its promises to those who risked their lives to defend it.

Even conservative economists now assert the unprecedented gulf in resources available to the nation’s swells and the poor is crippling recovery. Is this a temporary stumbling block or an ominous failure of the foundation sustaining America as we know it? Will those who anticipated such a calamity simply be dispossessed as were Japanese Americans during WWII and many modern day erstwhile allies (dictators in the service of U.S. interests)? Any number of U.S. citizens have tales to tell of their homes/assets being seized with virtually no due process through kangaroo courts if provided even that fig leaf of legitimacy.

And that’s what’s going down during the ‘good’ times. Yet, America has a deplorable historical record during bad times or when its back is against the wall–especially for a nation which habitually manages by crisis. To paraphrase Lincoln, can a house divided against itself long stand? Will America succumb to temporarily gratify a false sense of entitlement held by the few? Will the man who steals a goose from the commons continue to face jail while those who steal the entire commons are rewarded?

Paper Wealth on the Rocks

by N. Morgan

If an economic collapse occurs, many things in this country and in the world will change and change drastically. There are some primary events, that could determine exactly how these things will happen. They would include major collapses in the bond and stock markets and possible sudden deflation (primarily of assets), followed by dramatic inflation, if not hyperinflation (primarily of commodities), followed by a crash of several major currencies, particularly the euro and the US dollar.

However, secondary events are less certain, but likely to occur, are: increased unemployment, currency controls, protective tariffs, severe depression, etc.

The other factors are how the govt. would handle such events. If they panic, we could be on total lock-down. If they feel they need to put the hammer down, as it were, we could be living in a total police state, prison society. [Some argue this slide is well underway.]

Here’s a list of possible scenarios that I found:

• Travel Restrictions. This will begin with restrictions on foreign travel, including suspension/removal of passports. (This has begun in a small way in both the EU and US.) Later, travel restrictions will be extended within the boundaries of countries (highway checkpoints, etc.)

• Confiscation of wealth. The EU has instituted the confiscation of bank accounts, which can be expected to become an international form of governmental theft. This does not automatically mean that other assets, such as precious metals and real estate will also be confiscated, but it does mean that the barrier for confiscation has been eliminated. There is therefore no reason to assume that any asset is safe from any government that approves theft through bail-ins.

• Food Shortages. The food industry operates on very small profit margins and survives only as a result of quick payment of invoices. With dramatic inflation, marginal businesses (suppliers, wholesalers, and retailers) will fall by the wayside. The percentage of failing businesses will be dependent upon the duration and severity of the inflationary trend.

• Squatters Rebellions. A dramatic increase in the number of home and business foreclosures will result in homelessness for anyone whose debt exceeds his ability to pay—even those who presently appear to be well-off. As numbers rise significantly, a new homeless class will be created amongst the former middle class. As they become more numerous, large scale ownership of property may give way to large scale “possession” of property.

• Riots. These will likely happen spontaneously due to the above conditions, but if not, governments will create them to justify their desire for greater control of the masses.

• Martial Law. The US has already prepared for this, with the passing of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which many interpret as declaring the US to be a “battlefield.” The NDAA allows the suspension of habeas corpus, indefinite detention, and the assumption that any resident may be considered an enemy combatant. Similar legislation may be expected in other countries that perceive martial law as a solution to civil unrest.

It could turn into chaos and anarchy, giving the authorities reason to implement Martial Law or institute crazy restrictions, such as travel, etc. Taking our bank accounts and assets is yet another awful possibility.

Below is a video with some tips on food storage in preparation for a financial collapse.

Crimes Against Humanity Go Unpunished in U.S.

Even George Orwell might have been shocked by the extent of doublespeak in today’s America. ‘Freedom’ Industries?–seriously?? A company that habitually poisons entire populations of Americans, has now poisoned them through their water supply overnight in wholesale lots by the tens/hundreds of thousands is known as FREEDOM Industries?

Adding insult and callous disregard to egregious injury, the company responsible for these crimes against humanity now seeks the protection of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (chapter 11 filing) to evade responsibility and accountability for its actions. Deeming the anticipated lawsuits an unprofitable business model, FREEDOM Industries wants to walk away from the toxic mess it created and lives it destroyed as though nothing important had happened. Its owners want to go back to business as usual without nicking their wallets or subjecting the company to the kind of scrutiny and accountability ordinary criminals would face. Arguably, over time, this company has killed more Americans than Bin Laden ever dreamed of. Yet, these domestic ‘terrorists’ remain unpunished and unaccountable.

Read “Fateful Harvest”, a book about how industries save money by dumping toxic wastes with heavy metals (cadmium, chromium, lead, arsenic, mercury, dioxin, you name it) into our fertilizers for untutored farmers to spread on their crop lands instead of certified landfills. Coal, generates vast quantities of these poisons and spreads it over vast distances, either through fertilizers or air pollution. Until practically yesterday, the EPA treated CO2 emmissions as though they were benign instead of planet killers. And government agencies conceived to protect us actually act as enablers and facilitators for the very industries they’re supposed to be watching/monitoring and regulating. When government agencies (e.g. NSA) treat its own citizens as the ‘enemy’, they have, themselves, become the enemy of the people. Instead of protecting and preserving our welfare, they sell it to the highest bidder through what they euphemize as the ‘permit process’–as though it were a procedure to protect us rather than a government sponsored barter fair. e.g. ORCAA (Olympic Regional Clean Air Agency) has NEVER met an air pollution project/proposal it didn’t like and has NEVER denied such an air pollution permit application in its entire existence!

Oh!…and sub PM2 particulates?–they don’t even have the available technology to remove these most pernicious of all hazards as a vector for literally injecting this panoply of poison into our and our children’s lungs, then bloodstream.

FREEDOM Industries is one of those the Koch Brothers have a strong financial interest in. It held small oceans of toxic chemicals adjacent to the water supply of approximately 300,000 local residents. Despite the obvious hazard this scenario represented, nobody appears to have been minding the store or overseeing the industry they were charged with regulating–just the opposite. Once again, the poorest and most vulnerable were the first to be victimized by an unbridled unchecked industrial monster.

A detailed synopsis of Freedom Industry’s bankruptcy filed Friday, Jan. 17, after poisoning 100,000 houses and 300,000 people in West Virginia with its mystery chemical, was presented by MSNBC late Friday.

“The company at the center of the West Virginia water crisis appears to be dodging lawsuits and creditors,” says MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

Only eight days after Freedom Industries, a distributor for the Koch brothers, was found to have caused the water crisis, it has filed Chapter 11 Bankrupcy.

Freedom has operated with almost no government oversight and subject to almost no state and local monitoring.

There is, however, much more to this story in the state that has been a model of corporatism for the rest of the nation, as reporter Bob Kincaid told Hayes Friday in the report below.

One thing that remains unmentioned in relation to the West Virginia chemical leak, absent from any advisory or warning, is what toxicologists, such as Dr. Riki Ott, repeatedly told Gulf Coast residents after the 2010 BO Gulf oil catastrophe. That is:

“If you can smell the poison, you are being poisoned.”

The other thing that too many Gulf Coast survivors learned the hard way is, that no amount of poison is “safe.”

Finally, an advisory was issued Friday about children and the water crisis.

Dr. Raheel Khan, president of the West Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has stated that younger children may also be more at risk.

A report published Friday said children should only drink bottled water, but many question if that is enough to protect the young from being poisoned.

West Virginians first learned about the water crisis on January 9, when authorities warned 300,000 people living in nine West Virginia counties to not use tap water or do anything with it except flush their toilets with it.

Over 7,000 gallons of a chemical, known as “Crude MCHM,” had leaked from a Freedom Industry storage tank into the Elk River — the key water supply source for the area.

A strong licorice odor was a signal that a chemical was present. Officials warned they could not say the water was safe.

Last weekend, state health officials said they had guidance from the Centers For Disease Control.

Monday, officials began lifting the water ban in some areas. As that happened, the number of residents having to go to emergency rooms surged.

Water continues injuring and/or making people sick, some with even short exposure, including people in areas where the water ban was lifted and despite their flushing home water systems as officials directed.

Here’s Chris Hayes reporting (below) how the company responsible for this growing disaster has been able thus far to escape accountability and continues attempting to do so.

Sunday, the Charleston Gazette reported one of Freedom Industries’ well-connected executives, Carl Lemley Kennedy II, has two prior felonies. In 2005, he was charged with tax evasion and failure to pay the government Freedom employees’ tax withholdings while he was the company’s accountant from 2000 to 2003. The other felony came in 1987, for selling cocaine.

But the NSNBC story (in the video below) goes much deeper than that.

This is one of the most hilarious clips of a confrontation with a security guard ever. “Ahhm gonna take ALL yore cameras! Y’all leave. Y’all need to delete your photos.” The security guard is the closest female caricature of Gomer Pyle you’d want to see…simply outrageously funny–better than mud wrestling. What is it about uniforms, badges, and ‘authority’ that makes people light headed?

by Carlos Miller

‘Officer’ Adams, as she describes herself in the above video, first threatened to confiscate cameras, then ordered people to delete their photos and finally ended up pushing a woman who immediately fought back.

The two women ended up punching and kicking each other on the street as onlookers calmly observed, including one who video recorded the debacle.

As outrageous as the video is, it is even more outrageous that the spokesman for the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville defended the security guard’s actions, tellingWTRF that she was merely doing her job, which is to prevent people from taking photos on mall property.

Mall Director of Corporate Communications, Joe Bell, told WTRF on Monday that the fight occurred on mall property and the security guard was doing her job and was explaining to the woman that no pictures were allowed on mall property when the fight broke out.

Bell added no one was charged in the incident.

While it’s true that private companies can set their own policies regarding photography, they should notify customers about this policy as they enter the mall as they usually do about prohibitions against smoking or soliciting.

If they are so serious about their policy that they would allow security guards to attack shoppers, then they should post their policy on their website as the Crabtree Valley Mall in North Carolina did.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Photography, videotaping, or similar recordations are strictly prohibited without explicit permission from the mall management.

Failure to obey these rules or to comply with lawful and reasonable requests by the Crabtree Valley Mall Management, Special Police or Security will result in your being asked to leave the mall. If you refuse to leave, you will be arrested and prosecuted for criminal trespass.

But as strict as the Crabtree Valley Mall is about photography, even they know they can only order people off the property or have them arrested for trespassing.

They can’t order you to delete your photos nor can they order you to hand over your camera. And they certainly can’t get physical with you if you refuse to stop taking photos or even if you refuse to leave.

2 former OC cops found not guilty in brutal death of Kelly Thomas

Former Fullerton police Officer Manuel Ramos

by Adolfo Flores, Paloma Esquivel & Joe Mozingo (contr: Victoria Kim & Emily Foxhall)

Orange County, CA — Two former Fullerton police officers were found not guilty on all charges Monday afternoon in the death of Kelly Thomas, a schizophrenic man they beat into unconsciousness as he cried out for help on a summer night more than two years ago.

The Orange County jury’s swift verdict came after just two days of deliberations, ending a case that generated national debate about how police deal with the mentally ill and homeless.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas staked his name on the prosecution, arguing the case himself in court. Rackauckas said the trial was fair.

“I would do the same thing again,” he said. “I think it’s a matter that a jury had to see.”

Thomas’ family quietly sobbed as the verdict was read. His mother emerged from the courtroom with red-rimmed eyes. “They murdered my son and they got away with it,” she said.

Video of the clash at a busy bus depot ignited public outrage. But during the trial, prosecutors and defense attorneys offered wholly different interpretations of the video. Rackauckas said the officers beat a helpless man, while the officers’ attorneys said the lawmen were just doing their job.

The jury acquitted Manuel Ramos of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter and Jay Cicinelli of excessive force and involuntary manslaughter.

As the foreman read the verdict, Cicinelli hugged his attorney, who slammed his hand on the defense table and exulted, “Thank God!”

The case was the first in the county’s history in which an officer faced murder charges for actions taken on duty. But jurors agreed with defense attorneys that the officers were trying to subdue an unruly suspect, not beat him to death.

“They did what they were trained to do,” said John Barnett, Ramos’ attorney.

Jurors were quickly escorted from the courtroom by bailiffs and left the courthouse without commenting on the widely watched case.

Ron Thomas, Kelly’s father and a former deputy himself, said he hoped that the U.S. Justice Department would file federal charges against the officers. The FBI had been investigating and monitoring the case.

“I’ve never seen something so bad happen to a human being, and have it done by on-duty police officers,” Thomas said. “And they can walk away scot-free.”

Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said the agency opened a civil rights investigation into the case in 2011. Now that the state court trial has concluded, she said, “investigators will examine the evidence and testimony to determine if further investigation is warranted at the federal level.”

Veteran attorneys said murder cases against police officers are inherently difficult because the law allows them to use deadly force as part of the job. Prosecutors had to prove the officers had the intent to harm Thomas above and beyond responding to his actions.

“Police officers have the privilege, the right to use force to overcome resistance,” said Ira Salzman, a defense attorney who often represents police officers. “When you have the law allowing use of force, that is a tremendous protection.”

Michael Rains, who represented Bay Area transit officer Johannes Mehserle in his homicide trial for shooting an unarmed man at an Oakland train station, said courts have decided that officers need to be given “a certain amount of deference” for having to make use-of-force decisions in tense, rapidly unfolding situations.

“The courts recognize that on occasion, when officers are trying to do the right thing, there will be death,” said Rains, whose firm was involved in Cicinelli’s defense.

The verdict came after nearly three weeks of testimony from 25 witnesses in a often-packed Santa Ana courtroom. At the heart of the trial was the 33-minute surveillance video, synced with audio from recorders worn by officers. Without it, Rackauckas said he probably would not have filed charges.

He argued it was an obvious depiction of excessive force and told jurors they were watching a homicide.

Defense attorneys countered that the footage depicted a violent and uncooperative Thomas who gave officers the fight of their lives.

The recording begins with Ramos, responding to a report of someone rattling car doors, approaching a disheveled, shirtless Thomas outside a downtown Fullerton bus depot.

Ramos orders Thomas to sit on the curb with his feet out and hands on his knees. A frustrated, and at times sarcastic, Thomas appears to have a difficult time following his commands.

About 15 minutes into the video, Ramos puts on latex gloves and puts his fists in front of Thomas’ face. “Now you see my fists?… They’re getting ready to f— you up.”

“Start punching, dude,” Thomas said.

Moments later, a relatively calm situation quickly escalates. Ramos grabs his arm; Thomas pushes it and starts to move away from Ramos, who takes out his baton. As Thomas is walking away, another officer is seen swinging his baton at the homeless man’s legs.

(That officer, Joe Wolfe, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but Rackauckas said Monday prosecutors would not pursue that case after Monday’s verdict.)

Soon Thomas is on the ground fighting with six officers.

“I can’t breathe,” Thomas said. “Dad, help me! Dad, help me!”

Cicinelli struck Thomas on the face with his Taser at least twice. Defense attorneys said he did it as a last resort when the device failed to work properly and only after Thomas attempted to take it away from him.

They said the video showed officers who were following their training, not out of control.

Without the video, “we would’ve heard some screaming and crying, but never have seen what happened,” said Michael Schwartz, Cicinelli’s attorney. “Which was a very measured reaction with police officers trying to control a suspect.”

As the verdicts were coming down, Schwartz quietly and repeatedly said “Thank God.” Seconds later, when Cicinelli was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and excessive force under the color of authority, he tightly embraced him.

“The video, in my eyes, is what helped the most,” Schwartz said.

Accounts from witnesses and family photos of Thomas’ pummeled face created an immediate public furor at the time of the incident.

People crammed Fullerton meetings to reprimand or shout at city leaders. Eventually, officials’ response to the incident led to the ouster of three City Council members and the retirement of Fullerton’s chief of police.

The coroner who conducted Thomas’ autopsy said he died of brain damage from lack of oxygen caused by chest compressions and injuries he sustained at the hands of police.

But even that finding was highly contested, and the question of what exactly killed Thomas — a weak heart, chest compressions or an intubation tube — took up a large portion of the case.

Defense attorneys attempted to cast doubt as to the cause of death, challenging the testimony of the coroner and presenting evidence and witnesses that offered alternative causes of death.

They brought in Dr. Steven Karch, a forensic pathologist who studies how drugs affect the heart. After viewing slides of Thomas’ heart cells, Karch said his death was caused by an enlarged heart due to previous methamphetamine use.

Barnett, Ramos’ attorney, also pointed to medical records which he said showed that hospital staff had a difficult time inserting a breathing tube into Thomas’ throat. A mistake, he argued, could have killed Thomas.

Prosecutors maintained that it was the pressure from cops piling on Thomas and facial injuries from Cicinelli’s Taser that killed Thomas.

In his closing argument, Rackauckas said Thomas feared for his life and had a right to self-defense after Ramos threatened to punch him.

Furthermore, the D.A. said, Ramos is responsible for what happened to the homeless man because his threat set off the chain reaction that led to his death.

He painted Cicinelli as a cop who “needed to win at all costs” and used excessive force by striking Thomas on the face with his Taser.

Lawyers for Cicinelli and Ramos said prosecuting the two officers forced other cops to unnecessarily watch over their shoulders in fear.

“Not because they fear the criminal, but because they fear the court,” Barnett said. “That fear costs lives.”

At a homeless encampment behind the courthouse, Cindy Vann and James Calhoun spoke of fear as well.

“Just because they wear a uniform and a badge doesn’t give them the right to beat anybody like that,” Vann said.

“It means that they’re gonna run around and do whatever they want,” Calhoun said.

Kelly Thomas’ ashes are kept in a box in his mother’s bedroom. Cathy Thomas said she had planned to scatter them when all of Kelly’s family was together, but she couldn’t do it.

“I just couldn’t get rid of them,” she said. “That’s all I have left of him.”

Kelly Thomas

Former Officer Manuel Ramos and ex-Corporal Jay Cicinelli

Fragmentation Grenade

The ancient Greeks lauded, lionized, and eulogized those courageous enough to assassinate tyrants, deeming them heroes worthy of song lyrics, poems, plays, and commemorative festivals. Their progeny were exempted from taxation. The assassin was held to be all the more noble because they necessarily had to act alone to avoid the possibility of discovery or exposure. The Romans were somewhat less fond of tyrannicide though still partial to democracy in an era of Caesars. After the fall of the Roman Empire, monarchs understandably tended to vilify those who would unseat God’s ‘Representative’ and Lord of his subjects. Today, such assassins are counted as either lunatics or traitors…or both–unless they succeed! (e.g. Israel’s Menachem Begin, or Saudi Arabia’s King Saud, or even Reagan)

Unfortunately, fragging isn’t only visited on the unjust wielder of authority, but on the little guy who may have irritated/inconvenienced the same. (e.g. Israel’s King David who lusted after one of his soldier’s wife) In any event, the trouble with tyrannicide appears to be there’s no dearth of equally vile control monsters eager to fill their predecessor’s shoes. Belling said cat appears to be more akin to the labors of Hercules in slaying the Hydra.

In the United States military, fragging (from fragmentation grenade) refers to the act of murdering members of the military, particularly commanders of a fighting squad. Additionally, the term can be applied to manipulating the chain of command in order to have an individual, or unit, deliberately killed by placing the personnel in harm’s way, with the intended result being death. An example would be to order a soldier to perform a particularly hazardous task, and continue to repeat the order until the soldier met his demise. Originating among United States troops during the Vietnam War, the term was most commonly used to mean the assassination of an unpopular officer of one’s own fighting unit. Such incidents have been documented in European military history back to the 18th century.

Current usage could apply to murder of any other member, enlisted or officer, and has nothing to do with rank. Initially, the killings were effected by means of a fragmentation grenade, making it appear as though the killing had been accidental, or the result of combat action with the enemy, thereby obscuring the assassin’s true intentions. The term now encompasses any means of deliberately and directly causing the death of fellow military members.

The most common motive for choosing a fragmentation grenade or similar device is a perpetrator’s desire to avoid identification and the associated consequences of punishment by one’s superiors or dishonor brought to one’s unit. Where a grenade is thrown in the heat of battle, soldiers can claim that the grenade landed too close to the person they “accidentally” killed, that another member of the unit threw the grenade, or that an enemy soldier threw it back. Unlike a firearm projectile, an exploded hand grenade cannot be readily traced to anyone with ballistic forensics or other means. The grenade is destroyed in the explosion, and the characteristics of the shrapnel cannot be traced to a specific grenade or soldier.

MOTIVATION:

The characteristics of the Vietnam War resulted in high stress for military officers and NCOs, and their troops. At the same time, relations within the military reflected social problems and issues in the US such as racial tension, drug use, and resentment toward authoritative leaders within the ranks. As the program of training Vietnamese for combat roles known as Vietnamization began, young American enlisted men lost a sense of purpose in fighting the war, and the relationship between enlisted men and their officers deteriorated. The resentment directed from enlisted men toward officers was exacerbated by their generational gaps, as well as different perceptions of how the military should be conducted. Enforcement of military regulations, especially if done overzealously, led to troops’ complaining and sometimes threats of physical violence directed toward officers.

Fragging most often involved the murder of a commanding officer (C.O.) or a senior non-commissioned officer perceived as unpopular, harsh, inept or overzealous. As the Vietnam War became more unpopular in the United States, soldiers became less willing to go into harm’s way. They expected their leaders to have a similar sense of self-preservation, even if these motives were obstructive to the goals of the overall war effort. If a C.O. was incompetent, fragging the officer was considered a means of self-defense for the men serving under him. Fragging might also occur if a commander freely took on dangerous or suicidal missions, especially if he was deemed to be seeking personal glory. Lower enlisted-rank soldiers used the threat of fragging to influence officers. Sometimes a warning would be given to the target by placing a grenade pin on his bed. Fragging would take place if his actions continued as before.

The use of fragging served to warn junior officers to avoid angering their enlisted men through recklessness, cowardice, or lack of leadership. George Cantero, who served as a medic in Vietnam during the early 1970s, later explained that incompetent officers who gave dangerous orders and refused to listen to reason or threats were fragged because that was the only way for the men to gain a new and presumably safer commanding officer. Underground GI newspapers sometimes listed bounties offered by units for the fragging of unpopular commanding officers.

Throughout the course of the Vietnam War, fragging was reportedly common. Cases have been documented of at least 230 American officers killed by their own troops, and as many as 1,400 other officers’ deaths could not be explained. Between 1970 and 1971 alone, there were 363 cases of “assault with explosive devices” against officers in Vietnam.

Incidents of fragging have been recorded as far back as the 18th-century Battle of Blenheim.

NOTABLE INCIDENTS:

• 1704 — Battle of Blenheim: An unpopular major of the 15th Regiment of Foot was shot in the head by his own men after the battle had been won.^[8]
• 1718 — Charles XII of Sweden: It is speculated that the bullet that killed the king during the Siege of Fredriksten was shot by his own troops.^[9]
• 1815 — Battle of Quatre Bras: The commander of the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, Colonel John Cameron of Fassfern, was shot and killed by a man whom he had recently flogged.^[8]
• 1894 – Battle of the Yalu River: Admiral Ding Ruchang’s legs were crushed due to the deliberate misfiring of his ship’s main battery by the ship’s captain.^[10]
• World War I: An unpopular sergeant was killed when one of his men came up behind him and dropped an unpinned hand grenade down his trousers.^{[11][need quotation to verify]}
• Vietnam War (American forces): On 21 April 1969, a grenade was thrown into the company office of K Company, 9th Marines, at Quang Tri Combat Base, RVN; First Lieutenant Robert T. Rohweller died of wounds he received in the explosion. Private Reginald F. Smith pleaded guilty to the premeditated murder of Rohweller and was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment; he died in custody on 25 June 1982. On 15 March 1971, a grenade tossed into an officer billet at Bien Hoa Army Airfield killed Lieutenants Thomas A. Dellwo and Richard E. Harlan of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile); private E-2 Billy Dean Smith was charged with killing the officers but was acquitted in November 1972.^[12]
• Vietnam War (Australian forces): On 23 November 1969, Lieutenant Robert Thomas Convery of the 9th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment was killed when a grenade exploded while he was sleeping in his tent at Nui Dat, South Vietnam. Private Peter Denzil Allen was convicted of Convery’s murder and served ten years and eight months of a life sentence inRisdon Prison.^[13] On Christmas Day 1970, sergeants Allan Brian Moss and John Wallace Galvin were shot dead and Sergeant Frederick Edwin Bowtell injured when Private Paul Ramon Ferriday opened fire with his rifle into the Sergeant’s Mess of the Royal Australian Army Service Corps at Nui Dat, South Vietnam after an all-day drinking session. Ferriday was convicted on two counts of manslaughter and one of assault with a weapon, and served eight years of a ten-year sentence.^[14]
• Iraq War: Captain Phillip Esposito and 1st Lieutenant Louis Allen died as a result of the explosion on June 7, 2005, of a Claymore mine placed on Esposito’s office window at Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit, Iraq. The unit’s supply sergeant was charged with the murder, but was acquitted at court martial.

Investigation Confirms Widespread Fears about Fracking

March against hydraulic fracturing and gas well drilling on the Rachel Carson Bridge in Pittsburgh on November 3, 2010. (Photo: AP/Keith Srakocic)

by Sarah Lazare

The Associated Press has confirmed what residents have long known and the oil and gas industries have sought to hide: the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing, as well as conventional oil and gas drilling, is polluting and contaminating well drinking water supplies.

In an investigation published Sunday, AP reporter Kevin Begos—drawing upon hundreds of complaints made by residents, as well as admissions from state officials and even drilling companies—verifies well water contamination in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Texas.

The AP summarizes:

— Pennsylvania has confirmed at least 106 water-well contamination cases since 2005, out of more than 5,000 new wells. There were five confirmed cases of water-well contamination in the first nine months of 2012, 18 in all of 2011 and 29 in 2010. The Environmental Department said more complete data may be available in several months.

— Ohio had 37 complaints in 2010 and no confirmed contamination of water supplies; 54 complaints in 2011 and two confirmed cases of contamination; 59 complaints in 2012 and two confirmed contaminations; and 40 complaints for the first 11 months of 2013, with two confirmed contaminations and 14 still under investigation, Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mark Bruce said in an email. None of the six confirmed cases of contamination was related to fracking, Bruce said.

— West Virginia has had about 122 complaints that drilling contaminated water wells over the past four years, and in four cases the evidence was strong enough that the driller agreed to take corrective action, officials said.

— A Texas spreadsheet contains more than 2,000 complaints, and 62 of those allege possible well-water contamination from oil and gas activity, said Ramona Nye, a spokeswoman for the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees drilling. Texas regulators haven’t confirmed a single case of drilling-related water-well contamination in the past 10 years, she said.

Begos reports that his investigation was impeded by a lack of transparency at state levels. He writes:

The Associated Press requested data on drilling-related complaints in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas and found major differences in how the states report such problems. Texas provided the most detail, while the other states provided only general outlines. And while the confirmed problems represent only a tiny portion of the thousands of oil and gas wells drilled each year in the U.S., the lack of detail in some state reports could help fuel public confusion and mistrust.

In some cases, this amounted to state attempts to prevent the media from obtaining information. Begos explains, “For example, starting in 2011, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection aggressively fought efforts by the AP and other news organizations to obtain information about complaints related to drilling. The department has argued in court filings that it does not count how many contamination ‘determination letters’ it issues or track where they are kept in its files.”

Aleph Null comments:

Since Gasland, much of the concern about fracking has centered on water contamination – an extremely serious issue for local people which Obama’s EPA has done its damnedest to cover up.

But an equally serious concern about fracking, affecting everyone in the world, is the issue of how much methane the fracking boom releases into the atmosphere. This is also an issue where the very agencies expected to protect the general welfare, Obama’s hacks at the EPA, are complicit in massive criminal dumping.

An independent study last year* found that the amount of methane leaking from fracked wells in the US alone is ten times the size of methane discharges from the East Siberian Sea (a story which probably garnered ten times more notice).

* U.S. Methane Emissions Vastly Underestimated

OldTulsan comments:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/…
Study Shows Fracking Is Bad for Babies – Bloomberg

“The energy industry has long insisted that hydraulic fracking — the practice of fracturing rock to extract gas and oil deep beneath the earth’s surface — is safe for people who live nearby. New research suggests this is not true for some of the most vulnerable humans: newborn infants.

In a study presented today at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in Philadelphia, the researchers — Janet Currie of Princeton University, Katherine Meckel of Columbia University, and John Deutch and Michael Greenstone of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — looked at Pennsylvania birth records from 2004 to 2011 to assess the health of infants born within a 2.5-kilometer radius of natural-gas fracking sites. They found that proximity to fracking increased the likelihood of low birth weight by more than half, from about 5.6 percent to more than 9 percent. The chances of a low Apgar score, a summary measure of the health of newborn children, roughly doubled, to more than 5 percent.

The study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed or posted online, comes at a time when state and federal officials are grappling with how to regulate fracking and, in the case of New York State, whether to allow the practice at all. Much of the available research has been sponsored either by the energy industry or by its critics. Independent studies have found evidence of well-water contamination in areas close to fracking activity. Establishing a direct link between fracking and human health, though, has been complicated by a lack of information on the chemical substances used in the process and the difficulty of obtaining health records that include residence data…”

Warning:
Disturbingly Violent Images of Animal Cruelty
Parental Discretion Advised

(A)LF acolytes (Animal Liberation Front) are often criticized for their illegal acts such as sneaking onto private farm property to destroy equipment, release animals, or expose the owners for shocking violence, abuse, and cruelty–cruelty that’s administered on a routine basis with apparently little thought or compassion…much like that found in our prison systems, only these inmates are helpless animals who feel pain, grieve, suffer depression and agony. Because the images attesting to the same in the following videos cannot be denied, those sponsoring the animal cruelty want to criminalize those taking the pictures and documenting the abuse. They have succeeded in several States.

Finally, even corporate producers such as Tyson could not ignore the cruelty in the face of such expose’s:

by JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS

TULSA, OKLA. — The years long call by animal rights groups to improve conditions on American hog farms advanced considerably this week when two of the country’s biggest meat companies urged producers to change how pregnant sows are housed, and one announced it wanted to stop the practice of killing sick or injured animals by “manual blunt force.”

Tyson Foods sent new animal welfare guidelines to its 3,000 independent hog suppliers on Wednesday — roughly six weeks after gruesome video from an Oklahoma farm showed some animals being struck with bowling balls and others being slammed onto a concrete floor. And Smithfield Foods announced Tuesday it would ask growers to move pregnant sows from gestation crates to group housing by 2022.

The change in corporate policy comes after decades of lobbying and protests from animal rights groups and a trend that saw more food retailers and restaurant chains moving away from suppliers who implemented the controversial hog-raising practices on farms.

The planned overhaul was lauded by several animal rights groups, some who had campaigned against gestation crates, which they deemed institutionalized animal abuse and considered it an outdated and unnecessary practice. “Gestation crates” are cramped, often-foul stalls that barely allow a sow to take a step forward or backward and have been used for decades.

Tyson said it is urging pork producers to improve housing conditions for gestating sows enough to allow sows of all sizes to stand, turn around, lie down and stretch their legs.

Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said the Arkansas-based company hasn’t taken a position against any particular type of housing, but wants producers to “improve housing systems for pregnant sows by focusing on both the quality and quantity of space provided, whether it involves gestation stalls, pens or some other type of housing.”

“We’re encouraging farmers to consider making these space improvements when they or the piglet suppliers redesign or build new gestation barns,” Mickelson told The Associated Press in an email.

Smithfield, the world’s largest pork producer, had previously said it was phasing out gestation crates at its U.S. facilities by 2017. The Virginia-based company has transitioned 54 percent of its pregnant sows to group housing so far and said in a statement this week that “animal care is one of our core sustainability commitments, and we are proud of our employee and company efforts to meet this goal.”

Tyson also said it would require by the end of the year farmers who manage company-owned sows to end the longstanding industry practice of blunt-force euthanasia in favor of alternative methods in line with American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines.

The Henryetta, Okla., operation in the video, West Coast Farms, had raised hogs for Tyson until the company’s contract was dropped by the meat producer after the footage surfaced. A number listed for the local farm has since been disconnected.

The animal rights group, Mercy For Animals, released the video in November. Founder and executive director Nathan Runkle said he was pleased with Tyson’s decision to improve housing conditions for its hogs.

“We hope this announcement is more than PR hogwash and that Tyson acts quickly and diligently to implement these changes in order to spare millions of animals needless misery and suffering.”

Other animal rights groups, such as The Humane Society of the United States, lauded the changes by both companies as “a dramatic step forward.”

“There has been an exodus from a sector of the industry that has relied on these crates as a conventional production practice — an inhumane and unsustainable production practice,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society. He said the actions by Smithfield and Tyson “makes it crystal clear that there is no future for gestation crates in the U.S.”

It’s difficult to determine whether these improvements will eventually drive up the cost of pork. The price of the meat is affected by myriad factors, such as feed, fuel costs, transportation expenses and wages, Mickelson said.

“We can tell you consumer prices are set by retailers and restaurants that sell directly to the consumer —not by Tyson Foods,” he said.

Former Tyson employee speaks out against abuses:

Sixties Activists Who Stole FBI COINTELPRO Files

John and Bonnie Raines

‘On March 8, 1971, a group of eight Vietnam War protestors broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation field office in Media, Pennsylvania and stole hundreds of government documents that shocked a nation.’

by John Queally 

In an exclusive with the New York Times on Tuesday, published to coincide with a new book about a fateful plan more than four decades ago that helped bring down J. Edgar Hoover and expose the dark nature of the FBI’s obsessive targeting of the dissident and anti-war left, the original burglars who broke into a bureau field office in 1971 have now stepped forward to discuss the meticously planned theft that altered the course of modern history.

As the Times reports:

They were never caught, and the stolen documents that they mailed anonymously to newspaper reporters were the first trickle of what would become a flood of revelations about extensive spying and dirty-tricks operations by the F.B.I. against dissident groups.

The burglary in Media, Pa., on March 8, 1971, is a historical echo today, as disclosures by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden have cast another unflattering light on government spying and opened a national debate about the proper limits of government surveillance. The burglars had, until now, maintained a vow of silence about their roles in the operation. They were content in knowing that their actions had dealt the first significant blow to an institution that had amassed enormous power and prestige during J. Edgar Hoover’s lengthy tenure as director.

“When you talked to people outside the movement about what the F.B.I. was doing, nobody wanted to believe it,” said one of the burglars, Keith Forsyth, who is finally going public about his involvement. “There was only one way to convince people that it was true, and that was to get it in their handwriting.”

The new book, entitled ‘The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI‘ and written by former Washington Post reporter Betty Medsger, traces the history of the time that surrounded the event and explores the motivations of the FBI, led by Hoover, and the anti-war and social justice movements of the late 60’s and 70’s whose members became targets of the law enforcement agency’s clandestine COINTELPRO program.

As the Times article notes, the stolen document that would have the “biggest impact on reining in the F.B.I.’s domestic spying activities was an internal routing slip, dated 1968, bearing a mysterious word: Cointelpro.”

And continues:

Neither the Media burglars nor the reporters who received the documents understood the meaning of the term, and it was not until several years later, when the NBC News reporter Carl Stern obtained more files from the F.B.I. under the Freedom of Information Act, that the contours of Cointelpro — shorthand for Counterintelligence Program — were revealed.

Since 1956, the F.B.I. had carried out an expansive campaign to spy on civil rights leaders, political organizers and suspected Communists, and had tried to sow distrust among protest groups. Among the grim litany of revelations was a blackmail letter F.B.I. agents had sent anonymously to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., threatening to expose his extramarital affairs if he did not commit suicide.

“It wasn’t just spying on Americans,” said Loch K. Johnson, a professor of public and international affairs at the University of Georgia who was an aide to Senator Frank Church, Democrat of Idaho. “The intent of Cointelpro was to destroy lives and ruin reputations.”

The story is wonderfully summarized in this short documentary produced by Retro Reports as a companion to the Times reporting and the new book:

Among the grim litany of revelations was a blackmail letter F.B.I. agents had sent anonymously to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., threatening to expose his extramarital affairs if he did not commit suicide.