hey America ! we got NO $$$ ... OUR GOV/SPY  agency got LOT'S of OUR Tax/extortion  $$$                   the ONLY People that don't have $$$ is the tax payer  ......you know  We The People   who  pay for every fucking thing ......................hows it going  America ..we we weeeeeee we weee  were going good huh       & you's wonder Y "they" (ass pipes )  want to dis~ ARM U.S.

Your tax dollars at work: Inside the United States’ $52.6B “black budget”

Source: Ars Technica

The United States’ “black budget” for fiscal 2013 amounts to $52.6 billion (or $167 per American), and it details what The Washington Post calls a “bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny.”
According to a new front-page story on Thursday, the Post says that it now has the entire 178-page classified budget summary as supplied by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden. This entire budget comprises the annual expenditures for the NSA, the CIA, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and other spy and military agencies.
With respect to the tech-focused highlights, the Post notes that the CIA and NSA “have launched aggressive new efforts to hack into foreign computer networks to steal information or sabotage enemy systems, embracing what the budget refers to as ‘offensive cyber operations.’”
Additionally, it appears there are far more potential leakers than we once thought. According to the Post’s reporting, the “NSA planned to investigate at least 4,000 possible insider threats in 2013, cases in which the agency suspected sensitive information may have been compromised by one of its own.”
Not surprisingly, the documents also apparently show that the United States has its eyes particularly on the international community’s two biggest pariahs: North Korea and Iran. The US intelligence community has “all but surrounded [North Korea] with surveillance platforms” and “new surveillance techniques and technologies have enabled analysts to identify suspected nuclear sites that had not been detected in satellite images [from Iran]”
Since Snowden leaked his set of documents to the Post, The Guardian, and others, there has been increasing attention focused on the vast surveillance network that captures a huge amount of digital communications. However, as Ars has pointed out previously, storing all that data for long periods of time is near-impossible—so the NSA has to resort to short-term capture and then selective searching and filtered storage.
The Post reports that of the NSA’s budget, it was “projected to spend $48.6 million on research projects to assist ‘coping with information overload,’ an occupational hazard as the volumes of intake have increased sharply from fiber optic cables and Silicon Valley Internet providers.”

SOOPER  s33kr1t

But it’s not just the NSA getting in on the SIGINT (signal intelligence) game. As the Post reports:

Even the CIA devotes $1.7 billion, or nearly 12 percent of its budget, to technical collection efforts including a program called “CLANSIG” that former officials said is the agency’s more targeted version of the massive data collection operations of the NSA.
The CIA is pursuing tracking systems “that minimize or eliminate the need for physical access and enable deep concealment operations against hard targets.”
The agency has deployed new biometric sensors to confirm the identities and locations of al-Qaeda operatives. The system has been used in the CIA’s drone campaign.
The NSA is also planning high-risk covert missions, a lesser-known part of its work, to plant what it calls “tailored radio frequency solutions” in hostile territory—close-in sensors to intercept communications that do not pass through global networks.

Sadly, neither the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI) newly created Twitter or Tumblr accounts have a response to the new document.
“The United States has made a considerable investment in the Intelligence Community since the terror attacks of 9/11, a time which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, and asymmetric threats in such areas as cyber-warfare,” the ODNI’s director, James Clapper, told the Post.
“Our budgets are classified as they could provide insight for foreign intelligence services to discern our top national priorities, capabilities, and sources and methods that allow us to obtain information to counter threats,” he added.
The Post has created an interactive Web feature to better understand the black budget.

China oil giant Sinopec buys into Egypt for $3.1 bn

Source: FMT
Chinese oil giant Sinopec will pay $3.1 billion for a one-third stake in the Egyptian oil and gas business of US firm Apache Corp. it said Friday, as China builds up its access to global energy reserves.
The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, marks Sinopec’s first entry into Egypt’s upstream oil and gas sector, according to a company statement.
It is the latest major Chinese resources acquisition abroad and comes after CNOOC, another Chinese state-owned energy giant, bought Canada’s Nexen in a $15 billion deal last year despite political opposition in that country.
The Apache move comes despite political strife in Egypt as supporters of the country’s deposed president Mohamed Morsi clash with the new government installed after the military overthrew him last month.
Beijing has encouraged Chinese companies to go abroad to secure supplies of energy and raw materials to keep the world’s second largest economy moving.
“Through this partnership, Sinopec is able to enter the upstream oil and gas sector of Egypt for the first time and expand its international upstream portfolio,” the company statement said.
“This partnership will further build up Sinopec’s capability and experience in promoting overseas reserves and production.”
China is already the biggest energy user in the world and the second-largest oil consumer after the United States.
Houston-based Apache said its exploration and production in Egypt’s western desert was “unaffected” by political events, according to a separate statement.
Net production from its Egypt operations averaged 100,000 barrels of oil and 354 million cubic feet (10.62 million cubic metres) of natural gas per day in 2012, Apache said.
Sinopec estimated remaining reserves at 641 million barrels of oil and 3.79 trillion cubic feet (113.7 billion cubic metres) of natural gas.
-AFP

The Deep Sea Resources Rush

Source: Diplomat

Insatiable demand for minerals and rare earth elements, coupled with dwindling resources on land have stakeholders across the world looking to a new frontier: the deep sea.
Advancing mining technologies are making the prospect of exploiting seafloor minerals—including gold, copper, zinc, cobalt and rare earth elements (REEs)—not only possible but also imminent, with commercial licenses to be granted by the International Seabed Authority from 2016.
China has a stronghold on REEs, controlling a staggering 97% of global production. These finite elements and other precious minerals are used in the creation of a massive range of electronics devices, emerging green technologies and weapon systems, triggering a strategic scramble to exploit new sources.
In what has been described as a global race, governments and companies are keenly eyeing this emerging mining arena, eager to get their slice of the next “gold rush” as it’s made increasingly economically viable. In 2010, there were eight exploration licenses, currently there are 17 in the high seas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. There is also significant interest in the ocean’s resources within territorial waters, particularly in the Pacific Ocean, where more than 1.5 million sq km of the seafloor is currently under exploration license. This is an area roughly comparable to the state of Queensland in Australia.
The president of the International Marine Minerals Society, Dr. Georgy Cherkashov, was quoted last year linking the rush for licenses to the reality of “first come, first get,” saying the shuffle to secure the most promising sites represents “the last redivision of the world.”
Three types of deep sea mineral deposits have drawn interest. These are seafloor massive sulphides (SMS), manganese nodules and cobalt-rich crusts. In the Pacific Ocean, currently the most commercially feasible are SMS, which are created by the activity of deep sea hydrothermal vents.
Canadian company Nautilus Minerals has more than 500,000 sq km licensed in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand. Nautilus Minerals (NM) is forging the way for others in this frontier, already holding a 20-year license for the world’s first commercial seabed mining operation, 1.6 km beneath the Bismarck Sea in PNG. The company’s flagship Solwara 1 project involves exploiting SMS to extract ore containing copper and gold at a site 30km from the coast of New Ireland Province and about 50km from the town of Rabaul in East New Britain.
Between 2005 and 2011 the company spent $80 million USD on exploration programs for its PNG venture.
For environmentalists and activists the idea of this emerging mining enterprise coming to fruition is concerning. Greenpeace released a detailed report last month stating that less than 1% of high seas (international waters) and 3% of oceans are protected. Little is known about the biodiversity that exists deep below; some scientists suggest it would take 10-15 years of extensive research before we can even begin to understand this ecosystem.
Hydrothermal vents, where SMS deposits form, are said to support one of the rarest and most unique ecological communities known to science, including creatures like two-meter long tube worms and armor-plated snails. An independent study of the Solwara 1 site found 20 new species and experts are worried that species will be eliminated from the mining site before they have been discovered.
What’s Happening in Papua New Guinea?
A respite for critics of the Solwara 1 project came in June 2012, when contract disputes emerged between the PNG government and NM. The commercial disagreement reportedly centers on the government’s share of investments costs that will lead to a 30% stake in the venture. This ongoing dispute stalled the project, which was expected to start by the end of 2013, and caused NM to suspend construction of its seafloor production system.
But these commercial issues could soon be ironed out, depending on the outcome of an arbitration hearing on August 26.
If the government becomes a shareholder in the venture, a conflict of interest is apparent that could compromise its ability to regulate the mining activities.
NM’s interim president and CEO, Michael Johnston, who was quoted in Mining Weekly Online earlier this month, seems positive about the likelihood of moving forward with the mining plans saying, “I think we’ve turned the corner.”
With severely limited land resources—in many of the Pacific region’s islands as much as 99% of sovereign territory is ocean—some Pacific Islanders are enthusiastic about the emerging mining frontier and the economic potential of their expansive sea zones.
Others are not convinced.
The Solwara 1 project has been met with massive opposition from local communities and campaign groups.
A petition to “Stop Experimental Seabed Mining,” with more than 24,000 signatures was delivered to the PNG government last year. A coalition of groups against the project, aligned as the Deep Sea Mining Campaign, argue that PNG will be the guinea pig of an untested technique in an ecosystem that the world knows little about, representing an unacceptable level of risk to both local communities and marine biodiversity.
Anxiety over environmental risks and social division associated with the Solwara 1 project is evident in a video of testimonies put together by local non-government organization Bismarck Ramu Group (BRG). Patrick Kaupun, an activist from East New Britain Province said that companies like Nautilus are “resource poor” while many of PNG’s educated are “money poor,” continuing that the resource poor and the money poor have caused the rest of the population “to get caught up in this net of theirs.”
“When you look at the idea of seabed mining, gold is not the only thing found in the sea. We have fish, which are part of our everyday lives. We have no alternative because our lives depend on the health of the sea. ”
“The sea is of customary and economic value to us. Development alternatives should compliment our existing activities. The Government is interested in getting its revenue, it has no thought for our welfare or our future.”
Details of the Mining Process and Potential Impacts
The Solwara 1 mining process involves removing the surface rock and sediment with remotely operated vehicles (about 130,000 tons of sediment and 115,000 tons of rock over 20 months) and dumping this at adjacent tip sites. Hydrothermal vents are then leveled, a mining bench cut and slurry is piped to a vessel where the ore is separated; the remaining water is pumped back to the seafloor and the ore is sent to overseas processing facilities.
NM expects to ship 1.3 million tons of material to shore each year and explains that the method uses technologies adapted from the offshore oil, gas and dredging industries.
Two independent reviews of NM’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) have raised alarms. Foremost, is the possibility for upwelling (vertical water movement), ocean currents and spillages from the mining system causing a spread of heavy metal pollutants in the form of sediment plumes, potentially poisoning marine species and entering the human food chain.
Oceanographic expert, Dr. John Luick, who authored the most recent review, explains that the EIA does not give basic information needed to assess the possible impacts of sediment plumes on marine ecosystems or local communities. “The People of PNG deserve better.They should be able to feel confident that the approvals process is open and based on the best available science.”
NM dismissed Dr. Luick’s findings.
NM vice president of corporate social responsibility, Dr. Samantha Smith told The Diplomat that any extraction impacts would occur 1300m below the surface, well away from fish populations, adding that naturally occurring plumes from subsea volcanoes and hydrothermal vents don’t enter the food chain and neither will sediment plumes from mining.
Coordinator of the Deep Sea Mining Campaign, Dr. Helen Rosenbaum, is not satisfied with these assurances, as reflected in her report: Out of our Depth: Mining the Ocean Floor in Papua New Guinea.
Not only are sediment plumes likely to smother seabed biodiversity, according to Dr. Rosenbaum the toxic effects on organisms, which would accumulate up the marine food chain, have not been tested. This is especially significant because of Pacific Islander’s reliance on seafood.
In the last three years, communities in New Ireland Province, have reported incidents like cloudy water affecting diving activities, schools of dead tuna washing up onshore and sharks not responding to an ancient tradition of shark calling to local non-government organizations, Act Now and BRG. Dr. Rosenbaum attributes these events to Nautilus’s pre-mining activities. She told The Diplomat that due to lack of resources there has been no independent scientific follow-up.
“I would suggest that the vessels involved in exploration and pre-operation activities have caused disturbance and noise that has affected sharks and other marine life. The dead tuna and cloudy water would suggest high levels of chemical toxicants, sufficient to cause an acute toxic affect. ”
She questions what would have happened if locals ate the dead tuna, saying this incident highlights the lack of accountability and transparency around impacts.
NM Dr. Smith said that “none of the local communities we have engaged with claim to have seen dead fish and there have been no concerns raised about out-of-the-ordinary shark response.”
She called the claims “outrageous” and “untrue,” urging alarmed members of the public to contact the company to discuss ways forward rather then causing “undue stress and worry for all concerned.”
NM vice president of strategic development and exploration, Jonathan Lowe, told The Diplomat that the company’s exploration license is for low impact activities and that the techniques are commonly used by marine researchers. These include mapping to locate volcanic activity, measuring properties of ash plumes, gathering rock samples and drilling to estimate the amount of metals and minerals at the SMS sites.
Mr. Lowe commented that the Solwara 1 site is dynamic and resilient shown by the way it recovered in the years between drilling campaigns, one in 2007 and the other in 2010/2011. “It became very difficult, nigh on impossible, to identify and recognize where we had drilled previously. ”
Pushing for Precaution and Participation
Marine experts, government representatives and campaigners alike want to see the “precautionary principle” applied, citing the serious environmental risks seabed mining poses.
The Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide supports this standard, stating in a report that the uncertainty surrounding deep sea mining warranted “unprecedented caution.” It added, “It is grossly uncertain whether the deep sea environment can withstand the assault of mechanized mining.”
Deep sea biologist, Dr. Kerry Howell, told The Diplomat that she is uneasy about mining taking place in an environment known to be vulnerable to disturbance and concerned about the cumulative impact if a gold rush ensued. “If we are to proceed it must be slowly and with the precautionary principle taking center stage. ”
“Deep sea scientists must be fully engaged with the process as this community has the greatest understanding of the deep sea ecosystem. This appears to be what has been happening with the Papua New Guinea project but whether this continues to be the case as this industry develops remains to be seen. “
Dr. Howell attended the recent Deep Sea Mining Summit in London and said she was struck by the open dialogue between industry, scientists and NGOs. Industry representatives put forward the idea that deep sea mining would be less environmentally destructive than mining on land; while rejecting this argument, Dr. Howell believes that deep sea mining would be less socially problematic because no communities would be displaced.
As resources on land become scarce the demand for these materials continues to rise.
NM’s Dr. Smith insists deep sea mining would take pressure off land-use conflicts and that going to the sea makes sense. “Our planet is known as the Blue Planet, because 70% of its surface is covered in water.  Does it make sense to continue to look to the rarer part of our planet to meet our minerals and metal demands?  Or does it make sense to look to the more abundant part?“
In addition to the precautionary principle, activists want to see the principle of “Free Prior and Informed Consent” upheld, which means local communities should be involved in any decision-making process that could affect the areas they customarily own or occupy.
This gets more complicated when it comes to matters of the sea.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s (SPC) framework advises that “coastal stakeholders” should be identified during the application process, their consent sought and compensation agreed to if mining activities are likely to impinge on fishing and other customary rights.
However, ocean borders are fluid and its resources for common use, making the definition of “coastal stakeholders” slippery. This definition is also complicated by the fact that PNG laws favor state control of the sea and ignore indigenous maritime tenure. This has proved a source of contention for the West Coast Central Seabed Mining Land Owners Association, which asserts its rights over the sea’s resources in its region.
The Pacific Deep Sea Minerals Project, an independent advisory body established by the SPC, is working to address the concerns surrounding deep sea mining by running public workshops and creating information resources.  It also circulated a video. In the video, SPC director general, Jimmie Rodgers candidly says “Is it urgent? Is it important now? Yes! Because multinationals are not going to wait to give Pacific Island countries time to look at all the studies, environmental analysis, before they come in—they push in.” He continues that some countries have the technical knowledge to withstand that pressure but many do not.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific
It recently emerged that the government of Vanuatu had issued 145 licenses for offshore mining exploration in the past five years, without any community consultation.

Vanuatu Minister for Land and Natural Resources, Hon. Ralph Regenvanu, said at a workshop on social impacts, that the licenses were issued without any “proper national regulatory framework for seabed mining or for scientific research,” adding that he was overseeing reform efforts to have the principle of “Free Prior and Informed Consent” enshrined in law.
He used Australia, where a three-year moratorium on underwater mining activities off the Northern Territory was enacted, as an example of the precautionary principle being correctly applied and advised Pacific Island states that have not yet issued licenses to follow suit.
Nautilus Minerals are far from the only group with seabed mining interests in the Asia-Pacific. There is also Australia-based Bluewater Metals prospecting in the Solomon Islands, U.S. company Neptune Minerals with a handful of licenses in the Pacific region, Chatham Rock Phosphate interested in phosphate mining in New Zealand, Japan with a license to explore for cobalt and nickel off the Okinawa Islands, South Korea surveying the seabed off Tonga and Fiji, and China filing the first application to search for mineral deposits in the deep seas of the Indian Ocean, to name just a few.
The 1982 Law of the Sea Convention designates the mineral resources in the high seas as the “common heritage of mankind.” It is not yet clear how this concept will work in effect. What is clear, however, is that our lack of understanding about deep sea ecosystems is as vast as the ocean. In the words of CSIRO’s Dr. Chris Yeats: “We know more about the surface of Mars and Venus than we know about the deep ocean floor, broadly speaking it is a great unknown.”
So what will be next? Mining in space? Don’t be surprised. It’s already in the pipeline.

MINDS, NOT MINES: Why the real revolution is being achieved with consciousness, not bombs

MINDS, NOT MINES: Why the real revolution is being achieved with consciousness, not bombs

MTV VMAs 2013: It Was About Miley Cyrus Taking the Fall

Aug 27th, 2013 |http://vigilantcitizen.com/musicbusiness/mtv-vmas-2013/


The 2013 edition of the VMAs was not about music. It wasn’t even about the symbolism I’ve described in past years. It was basically MTV saying: “There is nothing to celebrate in pop music this year, here’s an awkward, cringe-worthy display of everything that is wrong in the entertainment industry”.
I’ve written extensive articles about past VMA awards because they were filled with occult symbolism and messages. This year, not so much. It was about promoting major artists and their newest albums. But mostly, it was about providing a “shocking” moment that would get mass media talking for days. Miley Cyrus provided it.

Miley Cyrus: The Industry Slave Chosen to Take the Fall

Miley Cyrus’ display at the VMAs was qualified by many as “trashy” and “embarrassing”. It was indeed a strange sight to see. It was as if she was doing it on purpose to embarrass herself. Well, here’s a moment of clarity: It WAS done on purpose and, moreseo, it was ALL staged. People commenting on Miley Cyrus appear to forget one, massive detail: There is an enormous marketing machine behind Miley Cyrus and there always was.

Miley’s image has been heavily marketed by Disney since the days she took on the role of Hannah Montana – a girl who (appropriately enough) had a stage alter persona, with a different wig. Hannah Montana products often had butterflies on them, a slick reminder of how she was a Disney programming slave.

Until 2013, Miley was signed with Hollywood Records, a record label that was founded by Michael Eisner, the CEO of Disney. Hollywood Records also owns other child stars such as Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and the Jonas Brothers. Every artist in the record label’s stable has a carefully crafted image to be marketed to its target public. Miley is now working with Britney Spears’ ex-manager Larry Rudolph and signed with RCA records – one of the biggest music labels in the world that owns the likes of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Ke$ha.

As a product of Mickey Mouse programming, Miley underwent a classic “good girl gone bad” treatment. Once a good, wholesome daddy’s girl, Miley has turned into a bratty, sex freak who keeps sticking out her tongue and twerking for no reason. While most people are probably tsking at Miley, they do not realize that this whole thing coincided with the release of her new album – and that it was all ordered by her handlers. In other words, she was selected and programmed to be this year’s main example of a “good girl gone bad”, a process the occult elite wants the public to constantly witness. They want the masses to see innocence and wholesomeness turn into sleaze and trash. They want pop culture and the youth in general follow the same process. While alchemy is about turning stone into gold, the masses are made to witness the opposite process.
Miley’s VMA performance is about a child star who was beloved by millions of young people showing what the industry has done to her. It is about shattering the innocence of her fans by having them witness her metamorphosis into one giant sex-obsessed caricature. I’m using the word caricature because it is safe to say that Miley was not 100% herself during the VMA’s. Her oversexualized demeanor was characteristic of a Beta programming slave who had the switch turned “on”.  It was, however, not only about being overtly sexual. It was also (and mostly) about being annoying and embarrassing herself – as if it was a sick, humiliating ritual. Dressed and styled to look like a bratty child, jumping around with giant teddy bears, Miley’s performance was all about getting a negative reaction from the public while continuing the ongoing agenda of sexualizing everything that is related to childhood.
Things got even stranger when Robin Thicke came out to perform Blurred Lines. As its name somewhat stipulates, that song blurs the line between being a flirty and all-out creepy. Its video has a strange handler-slave vibe, where Robin, Pharell and T.I. are all sharply dressed while the women dancing around them are completely naked … and being sung lines such as “You’re an animal”.

While “Blurred Lines” appears to be nothing more than a “fun and sexy video”, the fact that the singers are fully dressed while the models are completely naked denotes a strong relationship of dominance. Forcing slaves to be naked while the masters are dressed is a classic psychological ploy to make slaves feel powerless, vulnerable and inferior.

It is therefore not a coincidence that Miley sang this particular song during the VMAs. Her whole act goes with the spirit of the song and, like in the video, there’s a handler/slave relationship going on in during the performance.

During “Blurred Lines” Miley acted like a true Beta programming slave – while Robin acted like a handler. His strange suit featured a dualistic pattern that is used during the programming actual MK slaves. There was also something strange about seeing 20-year-old girl (dressed to look younger) rubbing herself on this 36-year-old (married) man.

As Miley was going crazy on stage, shots of the audience revealed how it was not amused. Facial expressions were ranging from shock, to despair to “WTF”. One could almost feel the hate emanating from the room – and the entire nation – while she was performing. And that is what “they” (Miley’s handlers) were gunning for. Miley was primed and set up to take that fall. Miley was even ridiculed during the intro of her own performance. The MTV awards needed its trademark “shock” moment and the industry needed its “sacrificial lamb” to keep its sick, occult, MK-Ultra system going.
The one-eyed pedo-bear shirt she had on told her entire story.

The one-eyed, wasted pedo-bear basically told the world who was behind this staged “false flag event”.

While the “controversy” around Miley might help her sell more records for a while, the ongoing public humiliation that is forced on her by her handlers will most likely lead to some kind of meltdown in the future. In an article published in 2011, Miley’s father Billy Ray Cyrus stated that her handlers (that’s the word he used) cut him out of the loop and told him to “mind his business”. Like other industry slaves, Miley has no contact with her family. In the interview, Billy Ray added that “Satan was attacking his family” that he was afraid to see her go down the same tragic path as Anna Nicole Smith (a Beta Kitten slave) and Michael Jackson (killed by the industry).
This performance and the public backlash that followed is proof of the tight control the industry has on its slaves. I am pretty sure that, deep down inside, Miley knew that this is all ridiculous and embarrassing. But there’s nothing she can do about it.

Lady Gaga

There wasn’t much more to the VMAs this year. I can imagine MTV execs telling Justin Timberlake’s people:

- What song will Justin perform?
- His latest single.
- That’s not enough. We’ve got a lot of dead time to fill here.
- How many songs do you want him to sing?
- ALL OF THEM.
- Huh?
- Make him sing EVERY DAMN SINGLE he ever recorded. Bring back goddamn NSYNC if you have to. We’ve got a whole of free time to fill here.
- Um, OK.

But seriously, other than Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga also got a little attention. Her new single Applause is basically a continuation of her “Fame Monster” theme where she’s a performer that desperately seeks attention and fame. Gaga is ready to do anything to get it, even if that means doing the elite’s bidding and throwing around its symbols.

Gaga began her performance with her head inside a white square – as if saying that she’s a “blank canvas”. She is ready to be painted in any way possible to get applause.

We quickly see who “paints” Gaga.

During her first verse, Gaga wears the wig she had in the videos from her first album such as Paparazzi (read the article about it here). She does the one-eye thing to make sure you know that her blank canvas was filled by the Illuminati Agenda.

During the second verse, she wears the wig she had in the video “Telephone” – the video was about  MK programming and killing civilians … remember? She does the one-eye thing again so you know that was also part of the Illuminati Agenda.

In the last part of her performance, Gaga unveils her last “persona” – an embodiment of the goddess Venus as depicted in “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli.

Why did Gaga embody Venus? The association between the planet Venus and lust goes back thousands of years – since the times of Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of sex and lust who was associated with Venus.

Gaga spent the rest of the VMAs as Venus, basically sitting there in a thong, letting people know that she is now Venus, goddess of sex. There is also a second, occult level to the importance of Venus in occult mysteries.

“As the morning star, Venus is visible before sunrise, and as the evening star it shines forth immediately after sunset. Because of these qualities, a number of names have been given to it by the ancients. Being visible in the sky at sunset, it was called vesper, and as it arose before the sun, it was called the false light, the star of the morning, or Lucifer, which means the light-bearer. Because of this relation to the sun, the planet was also referred to as Venus, Astarte, Aphrodite, Isis, and The Mother of the Gods.”
- Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages

The “Mother Monster” is apparently now the “Mother Goddess”. Gaga’s performance was, in short, a tribute to her past personas, and the “birth” of a new one – one that fits with the mythology and symbolism of the occult elite.

In Conclusion

While mass media backlash against Miley Cyrus is solely directed at Miley Cyrus, the big picture is completely being missed (or ignored). If “observers” and “critics” took their faces out of her bony behind and took a step back, they would maybe see what is truly happening: Miley Cyrus is, more than ever, owned and controlled by an enormous machine. Her image, her music and her performance is fully determined by her handlers. For some sick reason, she was chosen this year to embarrass herself and to traumatize all of the young people who grew up watching her. Miley was offered as a “sacrifice” to the public while adding to the complete breakdown of popular culture. Her performance was choreographed and staged to be as annoying and distasteful as possible. From the bratty hair, to the unflattering outfit, to the constant sticking out of the tongue, to the obsession with “twerking” without having the physical attributes to pull it off … it was all planned to piss the world off.
While the masses are laughing and pointing at Miley Cyrus, those who handle her are laughing and pointing at the masses … because they’re falling right into this sick humiliation process. While I am not looking to add to the Miley Cyrus noise, someone needs to say it: She’s a puppet and we need to look at those who are pulling the strings. We also need to look at what they are doing to people such as Miley Cyrus and, more importantly, to our youth in general. This is not about a single girl who lost her way, it is about a system making the world lose its way.

New Snowden Leak Reveals Secret $52.6 Billion Budget for Intelligence Agencies

A new leak from Edward Snowden shows a massive budget for the military spy industrial complex that is hidden from the public

Photo: Pro Publica

By JG Vibes
Intellihub.com
August 30, 2013

The original leaks made my Edward Snowden were enough to totally change the whole collective dialogue about government spying, but those initial leaks were merely the tip of the iceberg.  There are countless other pieces of damning evidence that are slowly being leaked out over time.  Some of the most recent leaks are extremely interesting, showing a secret budget of almost $53 billion dollars that went to various intelligence agencies.[1]

Here are some of the details of intelligence spending revealed in the report:

• $11.5 billion of the proposed CIA budget — which overall, was up 56 percent since 2004 — was allocated to “data collection expenses” alone. 
• Of the NSA’s $10.8 billion budget, $5.2 billion were marked for “management, facilities and support.”
• Of the National Reconaissance Office’s $10.3 billion, $6 billion were allocated to data collection. 
• The requested budget for the National Geospatial Intelligence Program, which supplies “imagery and map-based intelligence” was up 108 percent since 2004. 
• $4.4 billion went to the General Defense Intelligence Program, which assesses foreign military activity for policymakers and U.S. military chiefs.[2]

“The United States has made a considerable investment in the Intelligence Community since the terror attacks of 9/11, a time which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, and asymmetric threats in such areas as cyber-warfare,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. wrote in response to inquiries from The Post.
“Our budgets are classified as they could provide insight for foreign intelligence services to discern our top national priorities, capabilities and sources and methods that allow us to obtain information to counter threats,” he said.[3]

Sources:
[1] Unprecedented ‘black budget’ leak reveals the scope of $52 billion US spy complex – The Verge
[2] Snowden leaks intelligence ‘black budget’ to Washington Post – Aljazeera
[3] U.S. spy network’s successes, failures and objectives detailed in ‘black budget’ summary – Washington Post

25 Quotes About The Coming War With Syria That Every American Should See

25 Quotes About The Coming War With Syria That Every American Should See

THE TIME IS NIGH RUSSIA UKRAINE SEND VOLUNTEERS

Posted by George Freund on August 28, 2013

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The time is nigh. For those of you who were always faithful to the word in spite of all the interference, know you were right. In the next few days to weeks a threshold may very well be crossed. We have cued up Sept. 5th, 11th, and 22nd in our Google decrypts. The exposure of the false flag primary target has eulogized a future time catalyst. For years an apathethic citizenry has preferred privilege to moral duty. The ballot box and even the cartridge box left by America's founders have been squandered. A dangerous fifth column of what are termed globalists have usurped the powers of nations and waged war against states not aligned to the Rothschild bank system. The dominoes have fallen to the last. The final form of resistance will be other nuclear powers in this case Russia and perhaps China doing it for you.
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The most useless award in human history Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize
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Since they have the ignominious duty to clean house, they chose the means and the extent. Our leaders are moral reprobates and cowards of the highest order. Already their mouthpieces are folding like deck chairs. The opinion cartel are saying hey wait Obama not WWIII. Vladimir Putin is not a pussy like they are. As long as somebody else is doing the killing they are heroes all. They are even braver in their bunkers when the others do the dying. The time has come for a quantum shift. If I was Vladimir Putin, the United States Navy would have to start a massive rebuilding program and recruiting spree. Diego Garcia would be a nuclear wasteland. Obama would be dealt the hand that would make him execute tens of millions of his people. The Nobel Peace Prize winner would have to PUSH the button, but I play tough hands. I understand bullies especially the ones in the expensive suits.
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Reports are coming in that there are volunteers from Russia and the Ukraine preparing to go to Syria. That is the crack in the dike boys and girls. Syria will offer them citizenship and insurance for their families. They'll probably get a better deal than returning western vets. Russia's greatest weapon is us. If I were him I would mobilize everything I've got and prepare to launch in full view of the international media playing copious amounts of post apocalypse scenarios while extolling the virtues of Moscow's newly built shelters. Vladimir Putin has the Clint Eastwood go ahead and make my day persona. I see you Mr. Obama, and I raise 50 million dead Americans, 20 million Europeans. Of course one former President in jail awaiting execution for treason and war crimes allows me to fold my hand. What will you do America? Live or die it's you move. GO!
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Brzezinski: ‘Global Political Awakening’ Making Syrian War Difficult

by Mikael Thalen
August 29th, 2013
Updated 08/29/2013

During a short interview with Germany’s DW News last Monday, former US National Security Adviser and Trilateral Commission co-founder Zbigniew Brzezinski commented on the growing inefficiency of war due to the increased political knowledge of the public.
“Given the contemporary reality of what I have called in my writings ‘Global Political Awakening,’ a policy of force based primarily on Western and in some cases former colonial powers does not seem to me a very promising avenue to an eventual solution to the regional problem,” said Brzezinski, referring to the situation in Syria.
Despite Brzezinski’s noted long-term relationship with Obama which included a top foreign policy adviser position, Brzezinski denied any specific knowledge of his plans regarding Syria, saying that if the administration has a strategy, it’s a “very well-kept secret.”
Obama’s Middle Eastern strategy has been a mere continuation of the policies seen under Bush, exemplified by former four star general and NATO commander Wesley Clark’s admission of the Bush-era Pentagon plan to overthrow several countries including Libya and Syria.
Although Brzezinski at times attempts to appear opposed to military interventionism, President Obama’s actions in Syria, which include the support of admitted Al Qaeda fighters, closely mirrors several of Brzezinski’s previous policies, most notably the opposition to the Soviet Union in 1979, where decisions made by Brzezinski led to the creation of Al Qaeda through the CIA funding of the Afghan Mujaheddin.
Brzezinski’s call of warning to the “global political awakening” has only intensified in recent years. Last year during a speech in Poland, Brzezinski noted that it has become “increasingly difficult to suppress” and control the “persistent and highly motivated populist resistance of politically awakened and historically resentful peoples.” Brzezinski also blamed the accessibility of “radio, television and the Internet” for the “universal awakening of mass political consciousness.”
“[The] major world powers, new and old, also face a novel reality: while the lethality of their military might is greater than ever, their capacity to impose control over the politically awakened masses of the world is at a historic low. To put it bluntly: in earlier times, it was easier to control one million people than to physically kill one million people; today, it is infinitely easier to kill one million people than to control one million people,” said Brzezinski during a 2010 Council on Foreign Relations speech in Montreal.
Despite attempts by both the Republican and Democratic leadership to gain support for a war in Syria, a new Reuters poll revealed that only 9 percent of Americans support military intervention in Syria. If the United States intervenes, it will be the least popular war in American history.
The massive and growing evidence forced out by the alternative media, which points to a US backed chemical attack by Al Qaeda led rebel forces to be blamed on Assad, has only accelerated the inevitable downfall of the corporate press that is now only trusted by 23 percent of the public.

Read more: http://www.storyleak.com/brzezinski-global-political-awakening-making-syrian-war-difficult/#ixzz2dSjl9HbD

Find Out Who’s Using The Pirate Bay… and Why

• Ernesto
• August 29, 2013
• research,
  tpb

Every day millions of people visit The Pirate Bay and many of them use the site to share copyrighted content. But who are these people? Where do they come from, and what motivates them to share unauthorized files? Thanks to the largest file-sharing survey ever we can find out.
Two years ago The Pirate Bay renamed itself to The Research Bay to promote its collaboration with the Cybernorms research group at Lund University.
The notorious BitTorrent site encouraged visitors to take part in a survey into people’s file-sharing habits and their views on copyright enforcement. In total 75,000 people from all over the world eventually participated in the study, making it the largest of its kind.
Since the study took place the researchers have already shared many of their findings. For example, we know that girls are just as much into porn as guys, and that the majority of Pirate Bay users planned to use VPNs or other measures to become more anonymous.
Today the Cybernorms research group has opened up all the findings to the public, sharing a wealth of information. On The Survey Bay people can check a wide variety of statistics, and compile their own graphs.
The graph below, for example, shows how many North American Pirate Bay users, who share daily, had a VPN or wanted to use one in the future.

VPN use among daily sharing North Americans

In addition to answering the fixed questions, roughly 25,000 people provided a comment to explain why they use The Pirate Bay. Recurring themes that we have identified are an inability to pay, either because respondents have no money or because there are no decent legal options available. In addition, many respondents feel that they have a right to share.
The justifications come in all shapes and sizes, and we have made a selection of a few notable ones from a diverse range of demographics.
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A 66+ year old woman from United States writes:

“I don’t know these things. Even though I’ve been in computers (pause) since 1965. The corporations are out to make us slaves and to rule through fear. And I am certain, life will find a way. I will support communication. People need it for freedom and decisions. (just to recall, the corporations have made copy-write law a tool of money and not of encouraging innovation. Remember Microsoft’s words echoing 1984, (have to paraphrase) Innovation through standardization. Information wants to be free. (Because you are Swedish Ill remind you that those are words of the Internet pioneers. We built this for the people.)”

A 25-29 year old man from United States writes:

“As an artist myself, along with being an avid Sci-Fi buff, I believe that if we focused more on sharing ideas and less on making ourselves filthy rich that we would currently be at a point of technological advancement far beyond our imaginations. Law is necessary to prevent anarchy but not at the oppression of ideas or the people who imagine them. Most laws in the USA go against our founding fathers original ideals. Most laws in the USA are tailor made to suit corporations who, above all else, desire money and power. File-sharing will never die, regardless if laws are passed to prevent it, as long as people in the world are willing to fight for the right to share information.”

A 18-24 year old woman from Western Europe writes:

“The authorities just don’t understand the zeitgeist and continue to unintentionally encourage illegal filesharing all over the place. In Germany you can’t access most YouTube videos with commercial music because of a GEMA lawsuit: if you just wanted to check out this one song by an artist for free to see whether you liked it (as you would do on the radio which nobody listens to anymore) you are encouraged to download their album (after seeing it on YouTube some may have bought it instead). More generally: you may not buy the music but pay for concert tickets. Well not anymore because ticket prices are skyrocketing because the music industry is out of money.”

A 66+ year old man from Europe writes:

“I am so old and find it rather expensive to buy anything these days, being a pensioner it does not leave a great deal of money to spend on goods once you have paid all the usual bills, gas, electric and like wise. but keep up the good work and thank you.”

A 37-45 year old woman from South East Asia writes:

“If it wasn’t for file sharing, I wouldn’t be able to watch movies. In the country I live in, I cannot go to the cinema/movies to see an American film or other films in the English language. I’m pretty thankful for these sites.”

A 30-36 year old man from East Asia writes:

“I only file share because I live on US military bases and the MPAA and other stupid laws don’t exempt us from the blocks they put in place to watch things legally. So…why I do it? I do it just to give them the proverbial finger. If it was on TV out here, I would watch it. If it was available overseas to me, I would watch it. The problem is, there is NO LEGAL means to watch it from.”

A 53-65 year old woman from Australia writes:

“Hi, as an Australian academic researcher and a file-sharer am very interested in your survey as I had intended to run a similar project via an ISP, and many of my questions were similar to yours! As you will probably know Big Content has recently lost (twice, once on appeal) its case against major Aussie ISP iinet that the ISP was helping copyright infringements. This case is likely to be heard one last time, before the highest court. In the meantime iiNet has developed a model proposing an independent authority mediate between content owners and alleged file-sharers. Despite our relatively slow net speeds and high chargers, Australians download much content — in part because TV is woeful here and popular UK and US seasons take often 1-2 years to reach the airwaves. I predict more people will use TOR and VPN as the government is likely to implement anti-file-sharing regulations following the final episode of the iiNet court saga..whatever the outcome.”

A -17 year old man from New Zealand writes:

“I believe the biggest problem facing file-sharing is the idea of forcing ISPs to monitor traffic to make sure people aren’t illegally sharing file. This is a blatant breach of privacy and unless major corporations take a step back and stop interfering in the processes involved in catching cyber-criminals, they face widespread backlash from the file-sharers and activists of the world.”

A 30-36 year old woman from Southern Africa writes:

“In my opinion developing countries cannot cater to the huge demand for current commercial tv series. TV series are sometimes years behind the country of origin. The demand is out there, people get hooked on their favorite shows but their countries conditions may cause them to satisfy the demand by means of file-sharing. Many people would not mind paying eg $1.99 per show download as is available on amazon, but the facility is not available outside the US. So, in my opinion, file-sharing will probably soon force networks to expand their services to include the international online demand.”

A 18-24 year old man from Central Africa writes:

“In Africa most online services are unavailable, file sharing is the at times the only way to have some material coming from developed countries so most Africans use file sharing more as a means of staying at the same level as the rest of the world than trying to somehow forge or steal copyrighted products. It is their right for people to share things they came to own, so it is as well their right for people to take what is shared! The assets of sites like google, youtube or ebay tend to neglect the third world where a real market is present. Hopefully changes will be made in a near future we cross our fingers.”

A 18-24 year old woman from South America writes:

“In my country its common to see street vendors with pirate copies of films. Some of them are linked to organized crime (the kind that also deals with drugs and politics). I remember one particular national film made it to the streets way before it was out either in Theaters or at download sites (it actually helped with the marketing, but the point is whoever was responsible was well positioned in the film industry, had some interesting friends and didn’t do it for the sharing). I wish file sharing was legalized and the time and public resources spent on it were focused on dismantling *those* networks. And that artists\crew\creators (and local communities, when applicable) had a larger cut of the earnings.”

A 37-45 year old man from Paraguay writes:

“Hello! I live in Paraguay, i consume incredible amounts of music (Rock-Metal) and Video Games, I only use file sharing to like trial stuff, for example, I download some mp3s, and if I like the music, I buy the original CD online, in Amazon or The End Records etc. For me, is wrong to download software, or videogames, but in the case of music, helps me to discover new bands, styles etc. In the software or video games, i do the same thing, but as we all know, a downloaded software or game never works well, so I tested it, then if I like It, I deleted the download and buy the original stuff..!! Thanks!”

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The above is of course just a small and rather random selection of the responses. There are plenty more gems available on The Survey Bay website.
To all Pirate Bay users that haven’t filled out the survey, but want to have their say, feel free to do so in the comments below. Links to other notable comments are welcome too.

gonna b a movie !                  

In three hour hearing, Prenda attacks its former lawyer

Phone calls said to be Steele, lying about his identity, are played in court.

by Joe Mullin - Aug 29 2013, 7:04pm EST

• Copyright
• Lawsuits

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/in-3-hour-hearing-prenda-attacks-its-former-lawyer/

Federal Building and US Courthouse, San Francisco, CA

Ty Walker / flickr

Who's behind Prenda Law?

• Comcast letter said to confirm that Prenda, Steele planted porn torrents
• Lawsuit with alleged collusion will cost Prenda Law another $64k
• Prenda officially dissolves as Steele agrees to pay $5,400 penalty
• SF court orders Prenda to pay $22,531 in attorney’s fees
• Another judge has “serious question” about Prenda porn trolls

View all…

When one imagines a tense cross-examination, the image that springs to mind is of a witness sweating under the rapid-fire questions of a lawyer. That wasn't what happened as Paul Duffy, a lawyer for embattled porn-troll Prenda Law, grilled a former colleague in a San Francisco courtroom yesterday. It was Duffy himself who appeared sweating and nervous, questioning his former colleague Brett Gibbs in rapid-fire, repetitive sentences that were at times hard to understand.
Gibbs just spent about 45 minutes testifying that Paul Hansmeier and John Steele were the true bosses behind the Prenda Law scheme, which involved mass-copyright lawsuits against Internet users who were accused of downloading pornographic films. In his cross-examination, Duffy tried to suss out any inconsistencies in what Gibbs said—with little success.
Duffy's performance was a last-ditch attempt to avoid a serious sanctions order against Prenda, which may be imminent for a second time. Prenda Law became infamous for suing thousands of Internet users at once, alleging they illegally downloaded pornography. But the operation has now ground to a halt and the lawyers who apparently led the charge are in serious trouble. Earlier this year, a Los Angeles federal judge slapped Duffy, Hansmeier, Steele, and Gibbs with an $81,000 sanction order which also included a referral to criminal investigators. Gibbs has since "switched sides" and has worked with defense lawyers, testifying against his former Prenda colleagues.
Now a second judge, US District Judge Edward Chen, is showing a keen interest in Prenda's possible misdeeds. Prenda sued Joe Navasca, a San Jose resident, in 2012. But the evidence that the prosecuting firm brought was weak, and Chen stopped Prenda from proceeding unless they agreed to post a bond, which they would not do. Now Prenda has been ordered to pay legal fees in this case, and is facing possible sanctions in this case as well.
Chen has referred the issue of considering sanctions to US Magistrate Judge Nandor Vadas, who sits in the distant Eureka, California courthouse. Vadas conducted yesterday's hearing via a teleconference link to San Francisco. Mark Lutz, the man that Prenda lawyers say is the true owner of two mass-lawsuit shell companies—AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13—was supposed to show up but didn't. Duffy told the judge he didn't know where Lutz was.

Steele and Hansmeier “were directing everything”

Brett Gibbs was sworn in about 15 minutes into the hearing and was questioned by defense lawyer Nicholas Ranallo for the better part of an hour.
Gibbs began with a basic outline of his history with Prenda. He started working for the Steele Hansmeier law firm in March 2011. In 2012, they changed the name to Prenda Law. "They said that the firm was changing names, and everything would go on as it was at Steele Hansmeier," said Gibbs. "Nothing would change in that sense."
Nothing did change. Working for Prenda Law, he kept on filing copyright suits in California for the two bosses: John Steele and Paul Hansmeier. In the beginning, Gibbs said, he was filing suits for various entities, including real porn companies like Hard Drive Productions. By December 2012, the plan had changed.
"John Steele told me their plan ultimately was to be a company, and eventually they called this company Livewire Holdings," said Gibbs. "That company would own AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13, and they would solely work on those files."
After that, Gibbs only filed cases for those two Prenda-controlled shells, which constituted the majority of his work. The whole time, Gibbs repeated, he reported to Steele and Hansmeier.
"They were the partners," said Gibbs. "They were the ones with the client contact. I was 1099, a contract attorney. They had different styles of supervising people, but they were making decisions together. Paul Hansmeier would say, 'This is a decision I'm going to talk to John about.' But these are the individuals that were directing everything for Steele Hansmeier and for Prenda Law as well.
"And you're aware that they [Steele and Hansmeier] have denied that your version of events is true?" asked Ranallo.
"Yes, I'm aware," said Gibbs.
"Concerning the Central District of California case [in Judge Wright's court], they actually said they had no contact with you whatsoever, true?"
"Yes, that's true," said Gibbs, smiling slightly and shaking his head. It was an expression of disbelief—he seemed too sad to laugh.
"Did you have contact?"
"Yes, we did."
Gibbs said that when Judge Wright issued his order to show cause, suggesting that Prenda was defrauding his court, it came out of the blue for him. He was worried Wright believed he was a part owner of Steele Hansmeier, which he was not.
"I was pretty shocked by the allegations in there," said Gibbs. "I called Paul Hansmeier and said look, you have to indemnify me here. There has to be something you can do, you have to hire an attorney or something to straighten this out." Ultimately, Gibbs got representation through the Steele Hansmeier insurance company.
Ranallo pulled up an Excel spreadsheet of Gibbs' phone calls, highlighting calls to Hansmeier's cell phone. There were four on February 7, the day of Wright's order to show cause. The shocking order "consumed... the entire day, for me at least," said Gibbs. He continued to speak with Hansmeier almost daily for several days but soon decided to go his own way, he said. He told Hansmeier he wouldn't be working for him anymore.
It was the end of a friendship as well as a work relationship. Gibbs has known Hansmeier since law school, when they were roommates at the University of Minnesota before Gibbs transferred to finish his education at UC Hastings in San Francisco.
Gibbs' emphatic testimony that Steele and Hansmeier controlled Prenda echoed statements he made back in March in Los Angeles. This time, however, Gibbs' talk would be backed up by phone recordings and forensic evidence suggesting that the porn files Prenda was suing over were actually uploaded to The Pirate Bay by John Steele. And of course, this time Gibbs would be cross-examined by Duffy.

Play the tape

At that point, Ranallo played two phone calls to GoDaddy's customer service department, which were acquired from the hosting service by Blair Chintella in a Georgia-based Prenda case. The voice played identifies himself in one case as Mark Lutz and in another as Alan Cooper. (Cooper, Steele's former housekeeper, is the man whose name is on the copyright assignments; Cooper denies he ever signed such paperwork.)
The first one began with a voice saying "I don't have it... I have the domain name, and my name, so... it's dangerousxxx.com." "And your name?" asked the GoDaddy rep. "Alan Cooper," said the recorded voice.

00:00

00:00

Ranallo stopped the recording. "Do you recognize the voice on that tape?" he asked.
"I do," said Gibbs.
"Can you tell me who it was?"
"John Steele."
Ranallo loaded the next recording. After naming his 4-digit PIN, a voice that sounded the same as the first recording identified himself with the name "Mark Lutz."
"Did you recognize the voice on that recording?" asked Ranallo.
"Yes," said Gibbs.
"Who was that voice?"
"John Steele," said Gibbs.
Finally, Ranallo asked Gibbs about the mysterious Salt Marsh signature. Gibbs had always been under the impression Salt Marsh was a real person, he said.
"I asked John Steele, who, essentially, is the client here?" said Gibbs. "He said the individual's name is Salt Marsh. Don't worry about it, he's already signed the papers."

The hunt for contradictions

Duffy started his cross-examination by trying to point out inconsistencies in Gibbs' testimony—but on points that sometimes seemed barely relevant. On more than one occasion, Judge Vadas jumped in to ask Duffy what the point of his questioning was or to ask him to move on. At one point he insisted Duffy stop jumping into an extended question before Gibbs had a chance to answer. "This isn't television!" said Vadas, who was himself in court "virtually," appearing on a large monitor.
Duffy began by quizzing Gibbs about the exact nature of the change in law firm.

Duffy: Who constituted Steele Hansmeier? How big an operation was it?
Gibbs: It was probably less than 10... around eight people.
Duffy: You indicated you worked with Paul Hansmeier?
Gibbs: Yes, absolutely.
Duffy: When you say there was a transition, what was the transition, legally?
Gibbs: I was just told one day, 'We're going to be Prenda Law,' and that Paul Duffy is going to be [the owner of Prenda].
Duffy: Are you aware that Steele Hansmeier was dissolved in the Minnesota Secretary of State's office, in 2011?
Gibbs: I was not aware.
Duffy: Did you look it up? To see if it was in existence or see if it merged into another firm?
Gibbs: No.
Duffy: There was nothing stating it had merged with another entity—so, other than someone telling you there was a transition, the two were clearly separate firms?
Gibbs: All I know is what I've testified so far today. Whether it's the same firm, or separate firms... I was managed, the entire time, by John Steele and Paul Hansmeier.

Duffy wouldn't stop hammering away at the same point.
"So you never looked up whether they were separate entities?" said Duffy. "Nothing written—Did you ever see anything written on a corporate document from the Secretary of State saying that the two had merged?"
"I don't remember," said Gibbs, looking more bored than scared by the persistent questioning.
Then Duffy launched into a line of questioning implying that Gibbs is the one who should have held the actual handwritten "Salt Marsh" signature.
"In this situation, I was told that Mr. Hansmeier had a signature at the law firm," explained Gibbs. "I didn't see the necessity of having my own version, considering I was a 1099 contractor."
Again, Duffy pounded away at the same issue for some time, suggesting that Gibbs was the irresponsible one.
"So did you ever see an original signature for the person you were told was Salt Marsh?" asked Duffy.
"I don't think so," answered Gibbs.
"Well did you ever do any investigation? Aside from asking Mr. Hansmeier?"
"I don't remember any."
"So there's no original signature anywhere, and you never obtained an original signature?"
Gibbs started to answer but Duffy interrupted, insisting on a yes or no answer.
"I'm asking a very easy question, sir!" said Duffy. "You never obtained an original signature, correct?"
"I never obtained one," acknowledged Gibbs.
"Didn't the court give you an opportunity to produce it? And a two week extension because you were out of town?"
At that, Gibbs actually looked incredulous. "I believe the order was directed at yourself."
At this point, Magistrate Judge Vadas broke in to ask Duffy a question. "Counsel, where are we going with this?"
"Counsel has the obligation under federal and local rules to maintain the original signature and he [Gibbs] didn't do it!" said Duffy. "He's trying to blame other people who weren't on the case. Any liability should fall upon him as the filer."
Duffy went on. A minute later, Vadas broke in again, with the same question, asking where the line of questioning was going. Duffy was trying to show that Gibbs changed his story as a result of a "deal" with another defense attorney in Florida to drop sanctions against him.
"It strikes me from what I have heard so far that there's a chain of command here, and that Mr. Steele and Mr. Hansmeier were managing partners of the firm that became Prenda Law," said Vadas. "This counsel and other counsels were contract lawyers doing the heavy lifting in whatever states these lawsuits were being filed... Isn't that a fair analysis?"
"But they were reporting to Mr. Gibbs," said Duffy. "It's a fair analysis of what this person [Gibbs] testified. In exchange for consideration, he's substantially changed his declaration in federal court."
Gibbs' behavior seemed like less of a contradiction to Vadas. "Can't you take marching orders from above, and then as a captain, order your lieutenants below to do whatever heavy lifting?" he asked.
"Mr. Gibbs described himself as a secretary!" said Duffy. "A secretary doesn't advise other attorneys." Gibbs was getting a "substantial economic benefit" by not having to pay for the $100,000 bond to pay the sanctions in the Wright case, he noted.

The truth

I followed Brett Gibbs out into the hall and asked if he would be open to an interview to express his view on events. He declined.
"I'm just trying to get on with my life," he said. "I'm pretty overwhelmed by this. There just needs to be some truth in this, in the whole matter, and that's why I came today. I don't know if they believe their own lies at this point."
I went back into the courtroom. Vadas said he'd have a recommendation on sanctions ready in a few weeks. Duffy declined to be interviewed and left immediately after the hearing.