Cyber Security & Government

I found another private sector hacking. On March 31, 2012 MasterCard and Visa credit card accounts were breached at Global Payments the money processing portion of the transaction. Now I’ll talk about what’s been going on with the government and the internet.

On November 8, 2011 the FBI arrested Estonian nationals who were charged with using malware and rogue DNS servers to hijack 4 million computers worldwide. Since this incident, the internet system consortium has been operating replacement DNS servers for the Rove Digital Network which will end on July 9, 2012. To check if you’re infected go to www.dcwg.org and follow the instructions (the FBI began warning people on April 22 that they could lose internet service when the replacement servers are shut down).

On November 17, 2011 we were informed that the US satellites were on at least 2 occasions compromised by malicious cyber activity; hackers temporarily gained control of the command and control systems; China was suspected (I don’t know if these are the same 2008 NASA incidents that were reported on October 29, 2011). On December 21 it was said that for over a year Chinese espionage hackers had infiltrated the US Chamber of Commerce website getting major US corporation and Pentagon information; when a printer started printing in Chinese it was discovered that a Chamber thermostat was communicating with the them. It’s was said that the Chinese were stealing corporate secrets, getting strategies for selling products and ripping off our economy of billions of dollars; they checked the files on American human activists, downloaded Ford files on hybrid vehicles and government files on stealth fighter planes; it was estimated that the US is losing $250 billion a year on economic espionage. January 19, 2012 hackers immediately shut down the Justice and Patent offices and tried to shut down the FBI because the Justice Department indicted the largest file sharing group megaupload.com that uploads pirated movies, videos and games (they were up the next day using an IP address out of Belize (on March 5 US prosecutors were seeking extradition of megaupload.com’s founder and 3 colleagues from New Zealand). On January 30 it was reported that as many as 50 million customers of theirs could see their information deleted.

On February 5, 2012 ‘Anonymous’ paralyzed the Swedish government’s website with a deluge of fake users; they intercepted a confidential email, hacked into a private conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard and put the audio recording on YouTube, they took down the Greek Justice Department’s website, and took over the police websites in Boston, Massachusetts, Syracuse, New York (NY) and Salt Lake City, Utah getting personnel and informant information. On February 11 Anonymous claimed credit for crashing the CIA’s website. On February 29 Interpol arrested 25 suspected members of the international hacker group ‘Anonymous’; a top hacker (self taught programmer, living on welfare in NY turned informant.

On March 8 the Vatican website was hacked in protest of the church’s policies. On April 27 we heard that as the Afghan cyber war heats up, the Taliban’s website was hacked.

Okay, so the government isn’t doing a good job on protecting its websites either. As far as I know it hasn’t committed a crime or infringement of our privacy for money. The government has been proactive in dealing with many of the issues and something needs to be done to catch the private sector criminals as well as those committing international espionage. I don’t know what would hold up better in court – private companies giving information to the government or direct government contact and capture of information. I do know that our government has better connections than the private sector to take action on a worldwide level. At least with our current President we know there is a concern about our privacy, I can’t say the same if a Republican is chosen with the upcoming election. 

Private Sector Cyber Compromises

I believe the government needs to do something regarding the internet and I do appreciate the President’s concerns over our privacy. I also think this issue will not be easy to resolve as both the private and government sectors have been compromised. Since the Republicans want the private sector to take the lead I’m giving the reports of the last few months regarding them first. 

In October 2011 it was reported that a 35 year old Florida man used deductive reasoning from information gathered in magazines and online to hack celebrity Yahoo, Google and Apple accounts. On December 26 we heard that the hacker group ‘Anonymous’ took credit for taking thousands of high profile client’s credit card numbers and personal information from global intelligence security think tank Stratfor in the name of charity; currently up to $1 million has been taken and they promised that it was just the beginning, receipts posted by the hackers show that they donated money to the Red Cross and Save the Children foundation who don’t get to keep money because it was stolen; officials said the information wasn’t encrypted. On February 3, 2012 we also heard that the computer security firm Verisign fell victim to hackers and that ‘Anonymous’ had taken on the Church of Scientology and crashed the websites of Visa and MasterCard because they wouldn’t process contributions to WikiLeaks. On February 17 we heard Google is in hot water because it has been using a special code to bypass the Safari privacy web browser on phones and IPads and tracking peoples’ habits. (Don’t forget my January 19, 2012-Internet Laws blog said online retailer Zappos.com said hackers accessed 24 million accounts and have the passwords which could jeopardize other accounts of their customers; a recent survey found that 90% of all companies said they’ve been hacked at one time or other.)

I already talked about the guns (April 30, 2012-Guns in the US) and China selling fake IDs (November 10, 2011- Foreign Agenda) being sold on the internet and John Hinckley living in a mental hospital used the internet (December 15, 2011-Demons) as well as prisoners (April 19, 2012-Civil Rights vs Justice). And, you’re probably aware that Craig’s List was used to commit rape, murder and the hijacking of people’s property (most recent was the November 27 report regarding a Craig’s List help wanted ad for a caretaker for a southern Ohio farm that resulted in 3 known people dead). In addition to these on December 30-6 Los Angeles, California (CA) men were indicted for an internet-based car selling scheme. On February 15 it was reported that the British notified the Food and Drug Administration that the cancer drug Avastin (in CA, Texas and Illinois) was being counterfeited (contained no cancer fighting drug) by an overseas supplier with a French label; this is not the first time – Lipitor in 2003 and the internet is full of fake drugs like Tamiflu and the diet drug Alli. We’re told the drugs from pharmacies are fine as they’re purchased from licensed suppliers. On March 25 we heard that stay at home jobs offered on the internet are 60 to 1 a scam – if you’re sent a check or money order and the company tells you to deposit it into your account, keep a portion and wire the rest to the company; if you don’t wait until the check or money order clears and it bounces you’re liable for the full amount of the check and out the money you sent to the company. On March 27 Whip-it (Nitrous-oxide known as laughing gas) that has a stated use for making whip cream and and being used by dentists is being sold on the internet to an estimated 12 million people for getting high (age and purpose are not asked); the effects are dangerous if used for purposes other than those stated; the law is hard to enforce and sales are rising.

It appears to me that the private sector is using the internet for its own benefits. And, if 90% of the private sector companies are being hacked, including 2 security firms, we need to think about how safe would our information would be in their hands. 

Tomorrow I’ll talk about what the government has been doing. 

US Cyber Security Bills

In a story published by the Associated Press on April 29, 2012 it said the House Republicans and Democrats expressed optimism Friday about sending a cyber security bill to President Obama this year. The House delivered a bipartisan vote (248 to 168) on April 26 for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act despite a White House veto threat. The bill would encourage companies and the federal government to share information collected on the Internet to help prevent electronic attacks from cyber criminals, foreign governments and terrorists. The House also approved 3 other less-divisive cyber-related bills including one on April 27 (395 to 10 vote) that improves coordination between the private and public sectors on research and development on cyber security. “Four bills coming out of the House with strong majorities, I really think the burden is on the Senate to do something. They can do big bills, small bills, it really doesn’t matter. Just do something” said Representative Mac Thornberry (R-Texas). The House bill would impose no new rules on businesses, a Republican imperative. In the Senate several Democrats and Republicans prefer a bill by Senators Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Connecticut.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) that would give the Department of Homeland Security the primary role in overseeing domestic cyber security and the authority to set security standards. The House bill does not give Homeland Security that authority. The White House favors the Senate measure. The Senate could act as early as next month on the legislation although it’s uncertain what might emerge in light of internal Senate disputes. House members hope disagreements on a final bill could be settled by a House-Senate conference committee, if not earlier. “We have a bill; now we start resolving the issues,” said Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat. He said he has talked to both the White House and top members of the Senate intelligence panel about moving forward. More than 10 years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 lawmakers describe it as an initial step to deal with an evolving threat in the Internet age. “We really don’t have a choice to sit still because our adversaries are not sitting still,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff (D-California) in an interview Friday. Schiff, a member of the intelligence panel said he didn’t think the House and Senate were far apart and expected the various factions to resolve such thorny issues as strengthening privacy protections, whether the government can require the private sector to take steps to protect infrastructure and the role of Homeland Security. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) challenged the administration’s approach, he said “The White House believes the government ought to control the Internet, government ought to set standards and government ought to take care of everything that’s needed for cyber security. They’re in a camp all by themselves.” The House bill would allow the government to relay cyber threat information to a company to prevent attacks from Russia or China. In the private sector corporations could alert the government and provide data that could stop an attack on the country’s water supply or the banking system. Faced with widespread privacy concerns, Representative Mike Rogers (R-Michigan), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Ruppersberger pulled together an amendment that limits the government’s use of threat information to 5 specific purposes: cyber security; investigation and prosecution of cyber security crimes; protection of individuals from death or serious bodily injury; protection of minors from child pornography; and the protection of national security. The White House along with a coalition of liberal and conservative groups and some lawmakers strongly opposed the bill complaining that privacy could be violated. They argued that companies could share an employee’s personal information with the government and the data could end up in the hands of officials from the National Security Agency or the Defense Department. They also challenged the bill’s liability waiver for private companies that disclose information, complaining that it was too broad. Despite the objections Thornberry said he didn’t take the veto threat seriously. “I cannot conceive of a president vetoing a bill on an issue that they talk about as being this serious, dealing with a part of the issue they support. They support information-sharing” he said.

Back in January 2012 the House passed the Stop Online Privacy Act-HR 3261 that was described as “The worst proposed internet law in American history” and an “Internet Blacklist Bill”; because of protests Congressmen withdrew their support and killed the bill. At this time the Senate had SB 968-The Protect IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011–PIPA) that would shut down an online domain if any copyright material was obtained online without the permission of the material’s owner; it was a re-write of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) which failed to pass in 2010. On January 18 (same day as the Wikipedia blackout) senators introduced the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN) which offered more protection than SOPA to sites accused of hosting pirated content, it also beefed up the enforcement process and would allow digital rights holders to bring cases before the US International Trade Commission (ITC), an independent agency that handles trademark infringement and other trade disputes.

It’s obvious that this issue is not over. 

Violence Against Women Act

On April 27, 2012 the Senate voted (68-31) to expand the scope of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The Washington Post on April 30 said VAWA first passed in 1994 but support for LGBT victims, immigrants, and Native American women has traditionally underserved, according to the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women, a coalition of advocates who’ve convened upon the issue. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs LGBT victims are significantly less likely to seek out help: 45% of them have been turned away from domestic violence shelters and only 7% call the police after an incident of domestic violence. Women crossing the border illegally are subject to rape by their “coyotes” and border patrol officials according to confirmed reports and court cases, and they’re also at risk of sexual assault in immigration detention facilities. Native American women are among the most vulnerable with 46% subject to rape, physical violence or stalking by a domestic partner at some point in their lives, according to the Centers for Disease.  

The legislation, for example, includes earmarked funding for community organizations that serve LGBT victims, a prohibition against LGBT discrimination by law enforcement and domestic-violence shelters, and an explicit allowance for states to use federal money to help LGBT victims. Right now, only 24 states currently take advantage of federal funding to support LGBT-specific anti-violence programs according to Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, which provides counseling, education and support for LGBT victims. “If you are in a violent relationship and need somewhere to go it’s critical we have these services available in every state” Stapel said.

But the proposed changes to VAWA have drawn fierce opposition from Republicans who accuse Democrats of using the issue to fire up the base in a big election year. House Republicans are pushing their own version of VAWA without the new provisions aiding LGBT, immigrant and Native American victims of domestic abuse. They criticize the Senate bill for increasing the number of temporary visas given to illegal immigrants who are victims of domestic abuse. They question the constitutionality of the provision to allow Native American authorities to extend tribal jurisdiction to prosecute non-native suspects of abuse. As for the new LGBT protections they say - That’s part of the Democratic ploy to “make cheap shots and try to politicize [the issue] in an election year” Representative Kristi Noem (R-SD) concluded last week. Advocates and survivors of domestic abuse don’t believe that’s the case. “The idea that we would pick and choose among survivors—it’s not only offensive but lethal,” Stapel said. A simple request for the members of Congress who stand against the Senate bill – is for them to take a minute and listen to themselves — I don’t want to give money to those who have been victims of violence - how does that sound to them.

There are so many things that I have not been aware of and this issue of discrimination within our programs is upsetting to me. Let’s see what else Congress has been up to.

The Senate on March 2 rejected a plan to repeal birth control mandate, on March 9 they blocked an attempt to speed up approval of the pipeline from Canada to Texas, on March 23 they approved a scaled-down bill banning insider trading by public officials and on April 26 the Senate approved an $11 billion bill to avoid bankruptcy by the US Postal Service.

The House of Representatives on March 29 rejected a $3.6 trillion bipartisan budget plan and an Illinois congressman was reprimanded for wearing a hoodie on the House floor in support of Trayvon Martin, on April 17 they voted to bestow a Congressional Gold Medal to golfer Jack Nicklaus and on April 26 the House passed a controversial cyber security bill. 

I’ll give you more (the latest) on the budget and cyber security bills later. 

Indifference Our Downfall

Yesterday’s blog of the email with blatant lies just ticked me off. We want truth in advertising (January 14, 2012 a woman sue Honda for $10,000 for failing to meet the mileage stated and a judge on February 2 awarded her $9800 in small claims court; on April 29 we heard that Nutella has to pay out $3.5 million to buyers of their product - $4 per jar up to $20 per person) and on April 28 it was reported that the FDA is requiring 10 companies that make energy supplements with DMAA (the industry makes more than $100 million a year) to prove that they’re safe since they’ve killed 2 soldiers during a workout; manufacturers said DMAA is all natural and doesn’t require FDA approval; a Harvard doctor said it’s not found in any plant, it was only in a prescription nasal spray back in the 1940s and it should be banned nationwide since it can cause heart attacks and strokes. Heck you can’t trust the medical community-on November 20, 2011 Pfizer was ordered to pay $60 million to settle overseas bribery charges; November 23 Merck was ordered to pay $950 million for deceptive marketing of Vioxx; December 23 the Scientific Journal retracted its 2009 report linking Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to a virus. On January 12, 2012 a red wine researcher was accused of fraud in reporting information.

We’re tired of being harassed and on February 21 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began a crackdown on fake debt collectors. On March 18 the FTC said 181,000 complaints were filed in 2011 against debt collectors; older debt collection varies from state to state from 2 – 15 years and agreeing to pay a little on the debt restarts the collection statute of limitation date and sets you up for a legal suit and on April 27 we heard a West Virginia woman sued the debt collector RFA for harassment and won $10,086,000; she said she doesn’t care about the money but would like to see them shut down.       

We’re tired of being taken advantage of. On December 16 Victoria Secret (VS) promised an investigation after Bloomberg News reported allegations that West African child labor is used to pick the cotton they use and kids are pulled out of school and some are beaten; VS said they have strict standards and rely on fair trade organizations to assure workers aren’t exploited and farmers aren’t using children (VS’s cotton starts in Africa, goes to textile factories in India, then to garment manufacturers in Sri Lanka before they reach store shelves in the US and other countries.) On March 3 a counterfeit ring of clothes and boots (Gucci, Lacoste, Ugs, and others) was busted, the ring imported more than $300 million of items made in China. On March 21 Tommy Hilfiger, the Gap, Kohl’s and others are said to be getting rich off clothes and other products made overseas for as little as 22 cents per hour by companies without the safety conditions of US factories and many workers are dying. On February 21 we heard Apple was taking heat for how their biggest supplier (Foxconn) in China is run; accusations of forced overtime (work 60+ hours a week; $2 per hour), under aged labor, and safety concerns (explosions and chemical deaths); on March 29 the Fair Labor Association found about 50 safety violations but no indication of child labor and got Foxconn to lower employees’ work week to 49 hours without a decrease in pay. Now remember that on March 19 we heard that Apple had $97 billion to spend; Steve Jobs since 1995 didn’t allow dividends to be paid but the company is being pressured to spend $7.5-$14 billion on dividends to shareholders. And, on April 29 we heard that Apple made $34.2 billion in profits in 2011 and paid $3.3 billion in taxes (9.8%); they moved some of their profits to Nevada where the corporate tax is zero and 70% to companies overseas-they’re not the only ones doing this; it’s all a big legal tax loophole. On March 22 a Democratic Maryland US Representative discovered that states are licensing fake pharmacies (companies buying drugs from the manufacturers, hoarding them and selling to a drug wholesale company they also own). The drug wholesale company sells to a real pharmacy at a higher price. This process causes drug shortages and raises prices. ABC pointed out that a $15 bottle of fluorouracil is being sold to hospitals for $350.

On February 27 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started a campaign to get Wall Street traders and hedge fund leaders to blow the whistle on those committing fraud; since 2008 securities and commodities fraud and has grown 52% and they have 1800 cases pending. On January 19 New York (NY) hedge fund executive, Anthony Chiazone and 3 others were charged with engineering insider trading of Dell computer stock that resulted in a $53 million profit (the largest single trade profit in history). On February 16 former Olympus executives and a former Chairman were arrested for fraud. On April 26 the FBI arrested 4 associates of a NY man convicted of a $400 million Ponzi scheme and Citizens Bank reached a $137 million settlement in lawsuit regarding excessive overdraft fees.

I’ve said it before-politicians don’t become crooked because they’re in office-they’ve always been that way (remember the former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the second Illinois official to be sentenced, who was convicted of 18 charges of corruption and sentenced to 14 years).  Let’s hope that Professor Olson of the Hamline University School of Law never runs for office. Nothing will change until we all start telling the truth and start showing empathy for one another. I do agree with the email in that apathy (indifference) will be our downfall. 

Email called Obituary

I got this email that’s circulating.

In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship." "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: 

From bondage to spiritual faith; 

From spiritual faith to great courage; 

From courage to liberty; 

From liberty to abundance; 

From abundance to complacency; 

From complacency to apathy; 

From apathy to dependence; 

From dependence back into bondage."

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota points out some interesting facts concerning the last Presidential election: 

Number of States won by:             Obama: 19                    McCain: 29 

Square miles of land won by:        Obama: 580,000          McCain: 2,427,000 

Population of counties won by:     Obama: 127 million      McCain: 143 million 

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Obama: 13.2    McCain: 2.1  

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory McCain won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Obama territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low income tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..." Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some 40% of the nation’s population already having reached the “governmental dependency” phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to 20 million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote - then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years. Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom…Of course we are not a democracy, we are a Constitutional Republic – Someone should point this out to Obama. Of course we know he and too many others pay little attention to The Constitution. "Fathom the hypocrisy of a Government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured ... but not prove they are a citizen." Unknown

Of course I had to check the facts and multiple sites said the same thing. The truth is: 

Obama won 365 electoral votes from 28 states and DC: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Caroline, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

McCain won 173 electoral votes from 22 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Caroline, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

It the Professor can’t get the election statistics right, he obviously doesn’t have anything else right. This email is nothing but a blatant lie except for the part that there is a lot at stake. If you don’t want the wealthy to continue not being equal taxpayers and living off tax loopholes and subsidiaries you need to vote for Obama as he does understand our Constitution is meant for all and not just for the rich and powerful and/or the bigots of the country.  

Law Enforcement Tribulations

On December 2, 2011 a former New Orleans, Louisiana cop was sentenced to 5 years in prison for his part of a cover-up of the shootings of unarmed residents after hurricane Katrina. On December 16 federal prosecutors charged the Seattle, Washington police with routinely using force and they say it’s happening more and more (I know they’ve been looking into the Albuquerque, New Mexico police department; on November 17-2 cops were fired for kicking a suspected car thief in head and celebrating; police said that the majority of law enforcement is good but recently in trying to hire too many at a time too quickly there is poor training and supervision). On December 17, 2011 it was reported that in the last decade Justice Department case records showed that more than 500 police and correctional officers have been convicted of abusing their authority to beat, maim or rape and even murder citizens (some for traffic violations). On December 21 a Memphis, Tennessee police officer was charged with dealing drugs while on duty. On January 6, 2012 an Allentown, Pennsylvania cop tasered an unarmed 14 year old honor student saying she attacked him but the YouTube video showed her leaning against a car and raising her arms-no attack. On January 25 the FBI arrested 4 Connecticut police officers for assaulting immigrants and creating false reports. On February 2-4 New York cops lost their badges after being caught on video beating a suspect. What’s driving this behavior – could it be that they really aren’t trained in common sense? We expect law enforcement to protect us and catch criminals that do us harm; they are not the ones that are to cause harm. Are they frustrated and/or scared? Cyber-criminals are hacking phones lines and placing false 911 calls and others set up FaceBook or Twitter bombardments of police phone lines (I think this is horrendous because it puts people’s lives in danger when law enforcement is misdirected). Early release of prisoners doesn’t help their situation. On February 9 a 7 year old girl escaped an attempted kidnapping at a Georgia WalMart; the 25 year old man was recently paroled after a manslaughter charge (he was caught in less than one hour). On February 16 a federal agent was shot in a workplace dispute inside a Long Beach, California federal building; the FBI said an immigration agent fired multiple shots at  his coworker and a third agent fatally wounded the shooter. We can’t trust them and they can’t trust us - too many people have guns.

On December 29 it was reported that on duty police fatalities nationwide were up 13% this year (overall up 16% with deaths due to shooting up 20%). On December 30 it was reported that the District of Columbia (the US capital) posted its lowest homicide rate in 50 years and yet US law enforcement deaths rose 15% over last year despite a lower crime rate. On January 5, 2012 ABC News reported that in the US there had been 6 fatal police officer shootings in just 7 days; police said they’re losing the battle because of assault weapons sold online and in black markets and they’re seeing more criminals that would rather shoot it out with them than to face the longer sentences given to repeat offenders. On January 12 it was reported I that homicides were no longer in the top 15 reasons for deaths. This is good but perhaps it’s because the number of shoot outs have increased and the police are taking some repeat offenders down. Let’s look at some of the things law enforcement has had to deal with.

On December 8 it was reported that Virginia Tech had a scare 4 years after a massive killing on the same campus; at the first killing a notice to the campus went out 6 minutes after an officer was killed; the second incident by a 22 year old part-time student at nearby Radcliffe who had stolen an SUV the day before killed an officer and himself but there was no slaughter of others. On December 10 a gunman was randomly shooting at cars at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood, California (CA) because he was unemployed and had recently broken up with his girlfriend; officers shot him to death. On January 1, 2012 a pharmacy robber demanding Oxycodone and an ATF officer were shot dead in Long Island, New York. On January 5 in Ogden, Utah one police officer was killed and 5 others were seriously wounded while trying to serve a drug related warrant; neighbors said at least 40 shots sounding like AK 47s were heard; the wounded suspect was found in a backyard shed; his father said he was an army veteran suffering from PTSD but he had a criminal record. On this same day police mistook a pellet gun for a real one and shot an 15 year old boy at a Brownsville, TX middle school while classmates coward in their classroom; the boy was standing outside the principal’s office and wouldn’t drop the weapon, instead he pointed and fired. On January 13 New Orleans, Louisiana police found 2 live grenades in a car outside their headquarters (the car was used earlier in a deadly home invasion) and they had to kill the suspect as he wouldn’t surrender. On February 23 a Washington state trooper shot to death after traffic stop. On March 10 a judge was stabbed and a deputy was shot (injured) in a Washington state courthouse attack. On April 13 a police chief wearing a bullet-proof vest is killed (8 days before retirement) and 4 others were injured during a drug bust in Greenland, New Hampshire before the suspect killed himself. On this same date a civilian and an officer were shot while trying to serve an eviction notice in Modesto, CA. On April 21 Sacramento, CA after an exchange of gunfire police fatally shot a man suspected in a series of carjackings.

It seems to me that this is a no win situation because our society which includes the cops is running rampant.