Storm spotters spell out giant tribute to Bill Paxton

A live map that tracks the location of storm spotters was showing some unique activity in Kansas and Oklahoma Sunday afternoon.

Live radar image at link:

http://kdvr.com/2017/02/26/live-map-shows-storm-spotters-spelling-out-tribute-to-bill-paxton/

Cory Gardner, (R-CO) guess what? Your constituents held a town hall meeting without you!

Are you a CSA Member?

Are you a member of a Community Supported Agriculture CoOp?

We're looking at our membership renewal for the upcoming season, and I noticed that today is CSA Day!

Share your experiences here!

Be well...

Question: Is an agent of ICE required to identify themselves in the way a LEO is?

I'm not finding the specific answer that I'm looking for, including whether or not an ICE agent carries an identifying number similar to a 'badge number' that a LEO would use to identify oneself...

Any help?

Thanks!

Passengers Demand Answers Following Intense Customs Scrutiny at JFK Airport

When Kelley Amadei disembarked from Delta Flight 1583 with her wife and son, she didn't expected to be greeted by two Customs and Border Protection agents standing at the jet bridge entrance.

As the plane taxied to the airport gate late Wednesday, Amadei felt like something wasn't right -- a flight attendant told passengers to have their travel documents ready for inspection before leaving the plane.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said they were looking for a specific person Thursday afternoon.

The spokesman added that the CBP does this regularly, and that the process started after 9/11. He said this case was a little different because they didn't have a picture of who they were looking for, just a name.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Passengers-Demand-Answers-After-Unnerving-Customs-Check-at-John-F-Kennedy-Airport-414638133.html

They requested identification from every passenger on a domestic flight.

Let that sink in for a moment...

GOP Rep.: Bales Of Marijuana Concealing Nukes Can Cross Border

A Republican congressman from Arizona defended the construction of a barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border by arguing that a nuclear weapon could be smuggled across a porous border in a bale of marijuana.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), whose district is just over 100 miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border, referenced the illicit drug trade in a discussion Wednesday with CNN’s Brianna Keilar on President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.

“The reality, Brianna, is that we have to measure all of the costs, ancillary and otherwise, and make the best decision that we can. But I can suggest to you that there are national security implications here for a porous border,” Franks said. “We sometimes used to make the point that if someone wanted to smuggle in a dangerous weapon, even a nuclear weapon, into America, how would they do it? And the suggestion was made, ‘Well, we'll simply hide it in a bale of marijuana.’”

“So the implications of a porous border have national security dimensions that are very significant and that bear a lot of conversation when we talk about costs," he said.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trent-franks-marijuana-border-nuclear-weapon

DHS Memos: Speed Up Mass Deportations & Prosecute Parents Who Help Undocumented Children Enter U.S.

Source: Democracy Now!

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has drafted and signed sweeping new guidelines to speed up the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States.

The memos instruct federal agencies to begin hiring 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as well as 5,000 more Border Patrol agents. They also detail plans to accelerate deportation hearings and to expand the number of people prioritized for removal from the United States.

McClatchy is reporting hundreds of thousands more undocumented immigrants in the United States would be subject to what’s known as expedited removal proceedings to get them quickly out of the country. According to McClatchy, children who arrived in the United States as "unaccompanied minors" would no longer be protected against deportation, and their parents would be subject to criminal prosecution if they had paid human traffickers to bring their children across the border.

For more, we speak with Franco Ordoñez, White House correspondent for the McClatchy Washington Bureau. His latest article is "DHS chief proposes prosecuting parents of children smuggled into U.S."

Read more: http://m.democracynow.org/stories/17124

INDIVISIBLE: A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR RESISTING THE TRUMP AGENDA

A Police Department in Dallas Lost Years of Evidence After a Cyberattack

In early January, Collin Beggs, a criminal defense lawyer in Dallas, was talking with a Dallas County prosecutor about police video evidence that he'd been trying to get for months on behalf of one of his clients. The prosecutor explained that he wouldn't be receiving the video evidence he needed as part of a case involving the Cockrell Hill Police Department, which serves a town of about 4,300 people near Dallas. The reason? "They got hacked by Russians," Beggs tells Mother Jones, "and they held them up for ransom and took all their stuff. They didn't pay to get it back, so they lost all their videos.'"

"Russian hackers" have become part of the national conversation as a result of their alleged attempts to swing the presidential election, but cybercrime is as old as the internet and law enforcement agencies and other public institutions have not been spared. The Cockrell Hill Police Department is just the latest police department to fall victim to ransomware, an attack in which malicious software is installed on a computer after a link is clicked in an email or an email attachment is opened. Once installed, the software encrypts as many documents and folders as it can. A page will appear informing the victim that their files are locked, and they can only get them back by paying a certain amount of money. Bitcoin, a web-based currency that allows for more anonymity, is often the preferred currency.

It happened to the Tewksbury, Massachusetts, police department in December 2014; the Midlothian Police Department in suburban Chicago in January 2015; the Dickson County, Tennessee, sheriff's department in October 2014; and the Durham, New Hampshire, police department in June 2014. A ransomware attack hit the San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Agency in November 2016 demanding roughly $73,000. A security researcher found that the attacker had "successfully extorted at least $140,000" from other organizations, including private companies, according to journalist Brian Krebs, a computer security reporter. Hospitals are perhaps the most frequent victims of ransomware attacks due to the value of medical information, according to some estimates.

Officials from the Cockrell Hill Police Department did not respond to requests for comment, but a statement issued by the department on January 25 reported that a server containing documents, videos, and photos dating back to 2009 was hit by "OSIRIS," a ransomware variant, on December 12. The attackers wanted roughly $4,000 worth of bitcoin to unlock the files. After consulting the FBI and the department's IT staff, and taking into account the possibility that the files might not be unlocked even if the $4,000 were paid, the decision was made to wipe the server and delete all its contents.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/police-department-loses-years-worth-evidence-ransomware-attack

Kellyanne Conway's White Nationalist Retweet Is No Mistake

Late Monday, coming off of a long evening of responding to Gen. Mike Flynn's resignation as National Security Adviser, senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway found solace in a tweet from a user named Lib Hypocrisy.

Conway not only retweeted the message but also wrote, "Love you back," and wished her "Hapless Haters" a happy Valentine's Day.

But there was just one problem: Lib Hypocrisy is an explicit promoter of white nationalism and other bigotry. This is evident from the account's profile, which includes the hashtags "#WhiteIdentity" and "#Nationalist." It features a cartoon image connoting Pepe the Frog, the adopted mascot of the racist "alt-right" movement, and a shout-out to Geert Wilders, the far-right Dutch politician who wants to shut down mosques.

Conway's move continues a longstanding pattern of Trump and his inner circle engaging with white nationalists and then claiming ignorance when confronted about it—as Mother Jones documented in multiple investigations since last summer. Other such "mistakes"...

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/kellyanne-conway-retweeted-white-nationalist