Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware
” National rates of gun homicide and other violent gun crimes are strikingly lower now than during their peak in the mid-1990s, paralleling a general decline in violent crime, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data. Beneath the long-term trend, though, are big differences by decade: Violence plunged through the 1990s, but has declined less dramatically since 2000.
Compared with 1993, the peak of U.S. gun homicides, the firearm homicide rate was 49% lower in 2010, and there were fewer deaths, even though the nation’s population grew. The victimization rate for other violent crimes with a firearm—assaults, robberies and sex crimes—was 75% lower in 2011 than in 1993. Violent non-fatal crime victimization overall (with or without a firearm) also is down markedly (72%) over two decades.”
—
Tag Archive: Crime
Gun Crisis? What Gun Crisis? Part II
” It’s not just Pew. This Department of Justice report makes embarrassing reading for those who spend their time trying to make it appear as if America is in the middle of a gun-crime wave. The headlines:
- Firearm-related homicides declined 39%, from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011.
- Nonfatal firearm crimes declined 69%, from 1.5 million victimizations in 1993 to 467,300 victimizations in 2011.
- For both fatal and nonfatal firearm victimizations, the majority of the decline occurred during the 10-year period from 1993 to 2002.
Visually, the decline is particularly striking:
Lest you think that category an anomaly : Controlled by race , sex , region , and even non-fatalities doesn’t matter . The trend is the same . Down , down , down . Even school shooting deaths are down 33% since 1993 , despite what the media would have you believe .
—
—
The Firearms Statistics That Gun Control Advocates Don’t Want to See
” To accompany TheBlaze’s coverage of the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston, we figured it could be helpful to share some gun statistics pointed out to us by some of the NRA Convention attendees. Forget the talking points used by both sides in the gun control debate; we’re going to be talking about verified statistics.
Gun control advocates be advised, these are not the statistics you are looking for.
According to data from the FBI’s uniform crime reports, California had the highest number of gun murders in 2011 with 1,220 — which makes up 68 percent of all murders in the state that year and equates to 3.25 murders per 100,000 people.
In 2011, Utah, the state that the Brady Campaign determined had the least gun control, experienced just 26 gun murders and a firearms murder rate of 0.97. Utah has a population 2.8 million.”
Read the whole thing .
—
Unmarried Motherhood (and Fatherhood) Stats – WTF! Edition
“ The Washington Post had this today:
Overall, 36 percent of all births in the United States were to unmarried mothers in 2011, the year that the census analyzed from answers provided in the American Community Survey…
The census also found that Asian mothers were the least likely to be unmarried, with just 11 percent of new Asian mothers being single. White single mothers also were below the national average, at 29 percent. Among Hispanics, 43 percent of all new mothers were unmarried, as were 68 percent of all African American women who had recently given birth.
The Census Bureau attributed the long-term increase in single mothers in large part to changing norms for sexual behavior and a decrease in marriage rates.
You know that old thing where fathers used to help raise the children they made? So retro! (Unless you’re Asian.)”
—
Is It Really The Gun’s Fault?
An editorial by high school freshman Alyssa VanLiere …
” When tragedy strikes, the government’s first act is to blame the incident on someone or something. After the horrific tragedy in Connecticut, the government quickly began blaming guns for the damage that was done and lives that were lost. Soon after that, our entire nation went into an uproar protesting that guns are the reason why people are dying; guns are the true killer. Hardly anyone thought to blame the sick man behind the killings, but went straight to blaming the only thing they could blame … guns.
If the argument today is that guns kill people, then it’s my job as a writer to investigate. During the weekend, I put my family’s shot gun on the front porch, and knowing it has no legs, I set it on a chair so that it may have an open view of what was happening around it. Over the course of a day, UPS dropped off a package, my neighbors walked their dog past our home, and my family and I went in and out of the house taking our dogs and garbage out. At the end of the day I had checked on our shot gun and noticed that it hadn’t been fired, and no one was hurt. It became apparent to me that guns in fact do not kill people. That leaves us with only one thesis: people kill people.
The media regularly twists gun numbers to make gun-related deaths appear predominant over every other type of death in this country. However, a rational examination of how small the percentage of gun-related deaths are when compared to the overall number of deaths in any given year helps one to see through the hype. For example, in 2011 the percent of deaths caused by guns in the U.S. was only about .34 percent. Taking away guns from the law abiding citizens of America will not end the deaths of U.S. citizens, or prevent criminals from getting their hands on them, it will only take away their ability to protect thier homes and families from dangerous situations such as break-ins, or animal attacks.”
—
Gangs And Politicians In Chicago: An Unholy Alliance
“A few months before last February’s citywide elections, Hal Baskin’s phone started ringing. And ringing. Most of the callers were candidates for Chicago City Council, seeking the kind of help Baskin was uniquely qualified to provide.
Baskin isn’t a slick campaign strategist. He’s a former gang leader and, for several decades, a community activist who now operates a neighborhood center that aims to keep kids off the streets. Baskin has deep contacts inside the South Side’s complex network of politicians, community organizations, and street gangs. as he recalls, the inquiring candidates wanted to know: “Who do I need to be talking to so I can get the gangs on board?”
Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.”
HT/ Instapundit
—
Cost Of Illegal Immigration At The State Level
” Wondering how illegal immigration is affecting your pocket book? While the fiscal burden of illegal immigration on the United States taxpayerswas estimated at $113 billion in 2010, below you will find links to cost summaries for each separate state so that you can see specifically how this is impacting your state.”
—
Bomb-Blast Forensics: The First Steps
” Even as the police and doctors treat the wounded, the forensic investigation into the explosions at the Boston Marathon will begin.
“The forensics start as soon as people realize there’s been an explosion,” says Tom Thurman, of Eastern Kentucky University.
Thurman knows a lot about bomb investigations. Before his retirement from the FBI in 1998, Thurman was the chief of the FBI Bomb Data Center; he also worked
Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland; the bombing deaths of a federal judge in Alabama and an attorney in Georgia, both in 1989; and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.
The first thing to do is to determine if the explosions were intentional. “What’s there that could spark an accidental explosion?” Thurman asks. If no likely sources for an accidental detonation are found—like a buildup of flammable vapors—the investigators start looking at other evidence. “
—
Torture, Murder, and Terror: Three Drug War Programs Your Taxes Pay For
” When’s the last time you heard someone argue that we need to raise taxes to fund torture? Or to pay for violent paramilitary raids on peaceful U.S. citizens? Or to incentivize extrajudicial killings carried out by our own government, yes, but also by a neighboring country? Probably never. As every good citizen knows, taxes are for taking care of the poor and the indigent, paying (good) teachers and (good) cops, investing in the future, and making sure the elderly have enough Viagra and cat food to fuel 25 years of post-workforce bingo, golf, and unprotected sex.
But it’s also the case that your taxes pay for unquestionably vile things. Incontrovertibly evil things. Plainly awful things. If you’re finishing up your taxes today, you should know that the U.S. will spend $14.7 billion of next year’s $25.4 billion drug control budget on government-sponsored violence; which means that your tax dollars—even if it’s just a fraction of a cent—will make possible acts of state-sponsored terror, torture, and murder.
Here are three ways the government is spending your taxes.“
Help Us Remember Aaron Swartz By Participating in Our Week-of-Action, Demanding Congress Reform the CFAA
” Today, EFF and a host of organizations across the political spectrum are launching a week-of-action imploring Congress to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)—the expansive law used to prosecute the late activist and Internet pioneer Aaron Swartz.
We’re asking Congress for three specific, common-sense fixes to the CFAA, which will bring the outdated law into the 21st Century:
-
No more criminal penalties for violating a website’s fine print or an employee manual
-
No criminal penalties for circumvention techniques that protect privacy and promote security
-
Make penalties proportionate to offenses and stop punishing virtual crimes more harshly than physical world crimes”
—–
UPSTATE NY LAWMAKER: CUOMO’S GUN SNITCH PROGRAM LIKE THE EAST GERMAN STASI
” An upstate New York lawmaker comdemned Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo new program to reward informers helping him enforce the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013 his landmark restriction of gun rights.
What was initially designed to be a tip line for citizens to call in suspected criminals in hot pursuit in six urban areas that showed a spike in crime has morphed into an old German Stasi – snitch line,” said Assemblyman William R. Nojay (R – Pittsford).
“I envision SWAT teams descending upon innocent people,” he said.
“Rat out your neighbor, rat out your co-worker, rat out the parents at your child’s school and receive a $500 cash payment for any call leading to an arrest or conviction,” said Nojay, an attorney and radio talk show host.”
Related articles
- Talks continue on altering N.Y. gun law (theseatonpost.com)
- New Yorkers Can Snitch On Gun Owners For $500 Reward (personalliberty.com)
- Talks continue on altering N.Y. gun law (usatoday.com)
- Because you asked: More on illegal guns tipline (timesunion.com)
- Gun rights rally draws over 5,000 people (timesunion.com)
- RAT ON YOUR FRIENDS: Cuomo Puts $500 Snitch Bounty On Gun Owners (secretsofthefed.com)
–
Cyprus Bail-Out: Savers Will Be Raided To Save Euro In Future Crises, Says Eurozone Chief
” Savings accounts in Spain, Italy and other European countries will be raided if needed to preserve Europe’s single currency by propping up failing banks, a senior eurozone official has announced.
The new policy will alarm hundreds of thousands of British expatriates who live and have transferred their savings, proceeds from house sales and other assets to eurozone bank accounts in countries such as France, Spain and Italy.
The euro fell on global markets after Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch chairman of the eurozone, announced that the heavy losses inflicted on depositors in Cyprus would be the template for future banking crises across Europe.”
Related articles
- Eurozone Chief: Savings Accounts Will Be Raided to Save Euro in Future Crisis (thegatewaypundit.com)
- Spain, Italy and other European nations to be raided to save Euro (real-agenda.com)
- Could Spain and Italy be next? Fears that Cyprus-style raid on saving accounts will be used to bail out struggling economies (dailymail.co.uk)
- British Expats in Cyprus Face Eurozone Raids on Their Savings (financialsurvivalnetwork.com)
- Strife savings (thesun.co.uk)
- Euro Group Head: Looting of Bank Accounts a “Template For EU”! (socioecohistory.wordpress.com)
- Could Spain and Italy be next? Fears that Cyprus-style raid on saving accounts will be used to bail out struggling economies (thisismoney.co.uk)
—
Fireside Stats Chat
The Criminology of Firearms
” In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences reviewed 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications and some empirical research of its own about guns. The Academy could not identify any gun restriction that had reduced violent crime, suicide or gun accidents.
Why don’t gun bans work? Because they rely on voluntary compliance by gun-using criminals. Prohibitionists never see this absurdity because they deceive themselves into thinking that, as Katherine Christoffel has said: “[M]ost shootings are not committed by felons or mentally ill people, but are acts of passion that are committed using a handgun that is owned for home protection.”
Christoffel, et al., are utterly wrong. The whole corpus of criminological research dating back to the 1890’s shows murderers “almost uniformly have a long history of involvement in criminal behavior,” and that “[v]irtually all” murderers and other gun criminals have prior felony records—generally long ones.
While only 15 percent of Americans have criminal records, roughly 90 percent of adult murderers have prior adult records—exclusive of their often extensive juvenile records—with crime careers of six or more adult years including four major felonies. Gerald D. Robin, writing for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, notes that, unlike ordinary gun owners, “the average murderer turns out to be no less hardened a criminal than the average robber or burglar.” “
READ IT ALL , And SPREAD IT FAR AND WIDE
Related articles
- Catastrophe When America’s Twin Gave Up Guns (slideshare.net)
- Firearms, science, and the missing pieces of public policy (boingboing.net)
- Letter to Senator Cruz on constitutional issues in federal gun control proposals (volokh.com)
——
Eric Holder Sounds the Sequester Alarm
This is Holder's idea of protecting us .
” The looming budget sequestration will make Americans less safe, Eric Holder says—and anyone who says otherwise isn’t telling the truth.
“This is something that is going to have an impact on the safety of this country,” the U.S. attorney general told ABC’s Pierre Thomas on Wednesday in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview.
“And anybody that says otherwise is either lying or saying something that runs contrary to the facts,” Holder said.
“The Justice Department is going to lose nine percent of its budget between now and September 30th. We’re going to lose $1.6 billion. There are not going to be as many FBI agents, ATF agents, DEA agents, prosecutors who are going to be able to do their jobs,” Holder said. “They’re going to be furloughed. They’re going to spend time out of their offices, not doing their jobs.” “
How does 2% budget-wide transfer to 9% of Justice’s budget … It’s not like Holder has made us safer anyway … Fast & Furious anyone ?
Related articles
- Murderer Eric Holder: Sequester Will Make Americans Less Safe (patdollard.com)
- Attorney General Eric Holder: Budget cuts will make us less safe (rawstory.com)
- Holder: Sequester Will Make Americans Less Safe… (abcnews.go.com)
- Anarchy Is Their Goal … Any Excuse To Maintain Their Power (youviewed.com)
- US Attorney General Eric Holder warns pending sequestration cuts will make American people ‘less safe’ – @politico (politico.com)
- More Injustice From Eric Holder’s Dept (youviewed.com)
- Holder: Home-Grown Terrorists Threat Rivals Overseas (abcnews.go.com)
Forbes Lists America’s 20 ‘Most Miserable Cities’; Guess What The Vast Majority Have in Common?
Believe it or not , this is no third world slum ... This is Detroit
” Forbes just published its 20 Most Miserable Cities List for 2013. The magazine left off several obviously more “worthy” contenders, perhaps because its decisions to include and exclude certain criteria were, to say the least, more than a little odd.
I have listed the magazine’s top twenty following the jump, along with each city’s mayor and that person’s political leanings, showing a commonality the magazine’s Kurt Badenhausen failed to observe:
20. Youngstown, Ohio — Charles P. Sammarone, Democrat
19. Gary, Indiana — Karen Freeman-Wilson, Democrat
18. Poughkeepsie, New York — John C. Tkazyik, Republican
17. Cleveland, Ohio — Frank Jackson, Democrat
16. Atlanta, Georgia — Kasim Reed, Democrat
15. Atlantic City, New Jersey — Lorenzo Langford, Democrat
14. Milwaukee, Wisconsin — Tom Barrett, Democrat
13. Camden, New Jersey — Dana Redd, Democrat
12. St. Louis, Missouri — Francis Slay, Democrat
11. Toledo, Ohio — Michael Bell, ran as an independent but is a lifelong Democrat
10. New York, New York — Michael Bloomberg, Nanny State “Independent” since 2007; Democrat before 2001; ran as a Republican in 2001 just to get a spot on the ballot.
9. Waukegan, Illinois — Robert G. Sabonjian, Democrat (see first paragraph following this list)
8. Stockton, California – Anthony Silva, a Republican sworn into office by Democrat and former California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.
7. Warren, Michigan — James Fouts, Republican
6. Vallejo, California — Osby Davis, Not determinable
5. Modesto, California — Garrad Marsh, “non-partisan,” clear Democrat sympathies
4. Chicago, Illinois — Rahm Emanuel, Democrat
3. Rockford, Illinois — Larry Morrissey, Independent
2. Flint, Michigan — Dayne Walling, “nonpartisan,” formerly worked for U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, a Democrat
1. Detroit, Michigan — Dave Bing, Democrat
Related articles
- Forbes Lists America’s 20 ‘Most Miserable Cities’; Guess What The Vast Majority Have In Common? (papundits.wordpress.com)
- Democratic strategist blames Republicans for Chicago gun, gang violence (washingtontimes.com)
- Chicago is failing, Blame the Republicans! (thoughtsandrantings.com)
- Forbes names Detroit Most Miserable City (wxyz.com)
- Forbes: St. Louis among most miserable cities in US (kmov.com)
- Sacramento Off Forbes’ ‘Miserable Cities’ List (fox40.com)
- Warren Mayor ‘Outraged’ At Rank On Forbes 2013 List Of America’s Most Miserable Cities (detroit.cbslocal.com)
- Forbes ranks Rockford and Chicago in the top 5 most miserable cities in America (illinoisreview.typepad.com)
- Poughkeepsie reeling from Forbes snub: ‘we have a fine city here’ (guardian.co.uk)
- 3 Calif. cities make miserable cities list (abclocal.go.com)
Petition To Obama Demanding A Reasoned Response To Columbine Survivor Evan Todd’s Open Letter Regarding Gun Control
Evan Todd - A Courageous Young Man
” Columbine survivor Evan Todd’s open letter to President Barack Obama about gun violence spawned a plethora of interest. Following its publication, the survivor, who opposes firearms control, appeared on Glenn Beck’s television show, Fox News, “The Sean Hannity Show” and a multitude of other programs. Now, a petition has emerged on the White House web site, urging people to sign on an effort to force officials to respond to Todd’s grievances.
The text of the petition:
“Evan has penned an open letter to [the president] with one of the smartest, thorough explanations to date,” the description continues. “The American people deserve to hear why [the president] disagrees.”
Mr Todd’s letter in it’s entirety courtesy of The Blaze:
Mr. President,
” As a student who was shot and wounded during the Columbine massacre, I have a few thoughts on the current gun debate. In regards to your gun control initiatives:
Universal Background Checks
First, a universal background check will have many devastating effects. It will arguably have the opposite impact of what you propose. If adopted, criminals will know that they can not pass a background check legally, so they will resort to other avenues. With the conditions being set by this initiative, it will create a large black market for weapons and will support more criminal activity and funnel additional money into the hands of thugs, criminals, and people who will do harm to American citizens.
Second, universal background checks will create a huge bureaucracy that will cost an enormous amount of tax payers dollars and will straddle us with more debt. We cannot afford it now, let alone create another function of government that will have a huge monthly bill attached to it.
Third, is a universal background check system possible without universal gun registration? If so, please define it for us. Universal registration can easily be used for universal confiscation. I am not at all implying that you, sir, would try such a measure, but we do need to think about our actions through the lens of time.
It is not impossible to think that a tyrant, to the likes of Mao, Castro, Che, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and others, could possibly rise to power in America. It could be five, ten, twenty, or one hundred years from now — but future generations have the natural right to protect themselves from tyrannical government just as much as we currently do. It is safe to assume that this liberty that our forefathers secured has been a thorn in the side of would-be tyrants ever since the Second Amendment was adopted.
Ban on Military-Style Assault Weapons
The evidence is very clear pertaining to the inadequacies of the assault weapons ban. It had little to no effect when it was in place from 1994 until 2004. It was during this time that I personally witnessed two fellow students murder twelve of my classmates and one teacher. The assault weapons ban did not deter these two murderers, nor did the other thirty-something laws that they broke.
Gun ownership is at an all time high. And although tragedies like Columbine and Newtown are exploited by ideologues and special-interest lobbying groups, crime is at an all time low. The people have spoken. Gun store shelves have been emptied. Gun shows are breaking attendance records. Gun manufacturers are sold out and back ordered. Shortages on ammo and firearms are countrywide. The American people have spoken and are telling you that our Second Amendment shall not be infringed.
10-Round Limit for Magazines
Virginia Tech was the site of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Seung-Hui Cho used two of the smallest caliber hand guns manufactured and a handful of ten round magazines. There are no substantial facts that prove that limited magazines would make any difference at all.
Second, this is just another law that endangers law-abiding citizens. I’ve heard you ask, “why does someone need 30 bullets to kill a deer?”Let me ask you this: Why would you prefer criminals to have the ability to out-gun law-abiding citizens? Under this policy, criminals will still have their 30-round magazines, but the average American will not. Whose side are you on?
Lastly, when did they government get into the business of regulating “needs?” This is yet another example of government overreaching and straying from its intended purpose.
Selling to Criminals
Mr. President, these are your words: “And finally, Congress needs to help, rather than hinder, law enforcement as it does its job. We should get tougher on people who buy guns with the express purpose of turning around and selling them to criminals. And we should severely punish anybody who helps them do this.”
Why don’t we start with Eric Holder and thoroughly investigate the Fast and Furious program?
Furthermore, the vast majority of these mass murderers bought their weapons legally and jumped through all the hoops — because they were determined to murder. Adding more hoops and red tape will not stop these types of people. It doesn’t now — so what makes you think it will in the future? Criminals who cannot buy guns legally just resort to the black market.
Criminals and murderers will always find a way.
Critical Examination
Mr. President, in theory, your initiatives and proposals sound warm and fuzzy — but in reality they are far from what we need. Your initiatives seem to punish law-abiding American citizens and enable the murderers, thugs, and other lowlifes who wish to do harm to others.
Let me be clear: These ideas are the worst possible initiatives if you seriously care about saving lives and also upholding your oath of office. There is no dictate, law, or regulation that will stop bad things from happening — and you know that. Yet you continue to push the rhetoric. Why?
You said, “If we can save just one person it is worth it.” Well here are a few ideas that will save more that one individual:
First, forget all of your current initiatives and 23 purposed executive orders. They will do nothing more than impede law-abiding citizens and breach the intent of the Constitution. Each initiative steals freedom, grants more power to an already-overreaching government, and empowers and enables criminals to run amok.
Second, press Congress to repeal the “Gun Free Zone Act.” Don’t allow America’s teachers and students to be endangered one-day more. These parents and teachers have the natural right to defend themselves and not be looked at as criminals. There is no reason teachers must disarm themselves to perform their jobs. There is also no reason a parent or volunteer should be disarmed when they cross the school line.
This is your chance to correct history and restore liberty. This simple act of restoring freedom will deter would-be murderers and for those who try, they will be met with resistance.
Mr. President, do the right thing, restore freedom, and save lives. Show the American people that you stand with them and not with thugs and criminals.
Respectfully,
Severely Concerned Citizen, Evan M. Todd “
Related articles
- Columbine Victim Asks Obama “Whose Side Are You On?” (freedomoutpost.com)
- Columbine Survivor To Obama: Your Gun Control Initiatives Are More Of A Detriment Than A Help (Video) (thedaleygator.wordpress.com)
- WATCH: Columbine Survivor Evan Todd Discusses Letter to Obama Opposing Gun Control Proposals (foxnewsinsider.com)
- On Evan Todd’s Open Letter to the President (nationalreview.com)
- Columbine Survivor to Obama: Your Gun Control Initiatives Are More of a Detriment Than a Help (Video) (thegatewaypundit.com)
- Media’s Inconvenient Victim: Columbine’s Evan M. Todd (breitbart.com)
- Evan Todd , First Columbine Victim , Says Not To Gun Control (youviewed.com)
A Look at the Homicide Rate in Obama’s Hometown of Chicago in 3 Charts
” President Obama traveled back to Chicago, his hometown and a city on track to become the murder capital of the United States.
In 2012 alone, there were over 500 homicides in the Windy City, according to a count from Redeye Chicago. Chicago has a population that is only about a third the size of New York City, yet its homicide rate is fast approaching that of the Big Apple.”
Related articles
- Obama support for gun control has roots in Chicago (newsobserver.com)
- Alaska: lots of guns, few homicides (12160.org)
- Barack Obama Chicago Violence: Leaders Call For President To Stem Tide Of Homicides In Hometown (huffingtonpost.com)
- Gun Free Chicago (tarpon.wordpress.com)
- Obama takes gun message ‘home’ (timesleader.com)
- Obama, in a hometown plagued by deadly shootings, pleads for action on gun violence (timescolonist.com)
- Two in custody in Hadiya Pendleton killing (thegrio.com)
A Chinese Hacker’s Identity Unmasked
Joe Stewart’s day starts at 6:30 a.m. in Myrtle Beach, S.C., with a peanut butter sandwich, a sugar-free Red Bull, and 50,000 or so pieces of malware waiting in his e-mail in-box. Stewart, 42, is the director of malware research at Dell SecureWorks, a unit of Dell (DELL), and he spends his days hunting for Internet spies. Malware is the blanket term for malicious software that lets hackers take over your computer; clients and fellow researchers constantly send Stewart suspicious specimens harvested from networks under attack. His job is to sort through the toxic haul and isolate anything he hasn’t seen before: He looks for things like software that can let hackers break into databases, control security cameras, and monitor e-mail.
Within the industry, Stewart is well-known. In 2003 he unraveled one of the first spam botnets, which let hackers commandeer tens of thousands of computers at once and order them to stuff in-boxes with millions of unwanted e-mails. He spent a decade helping to keep online criminals from breaking into bank accounts and such. In 2011, Stewart turned his sights on China. “I thought I’d have this figured out in two months,” he says. Two years later, trying to identify Chinese malware and develop countermeasures is pretty much all he does.
A big part of Stewart’s task is figuring out how malware is built, which he does to an astonishing level of detail. He can tell the language of the computer on which it was coded—helping distinguish the malware deployed by Russian criminal syndicates from those used by Chinese spies. The most important thing he does, however, is figure out who or what the software is talking to. Once inside a computer, malware is set up to signal a server or several servers scattered across the globe, seeking further marching orders. This is known in the information security business as “phoning home.” Stewart and his fellow sleuths have found tens of thousands of such domains, known as command and control nodes, from which the hackers direct their attacks.”
Related articles
- Why America Is Losing the War Against China’s Hacker Spies (theatlanticwire.com)
- Tracking a Chinese hacker from the internet to the real world (theverge.com)
- Bloomberg Journalists May Have Been Hacked When Working On Their Huge Cover Story On Chinese Hacking (businessinsider.com)
- What Cyber Warfare Looks Like (warnewsupdates.blogspot.com)
- The Hunt for a Chinese Hacker (businessweek.com)
- Why Antivirus Software Didn’t Save The New York Times From Hackers (sallysspecialservices.wordpress.com)
- Indian Hacker Plants Malware on Pakistani Music Website to Stop Piracy (news.softpedia.com)
- Malware stole 3000 confidential Documents from Japan ministry (techdistro.wordpress.com)
- Hackers Hide Backdoor Malware in Fake “Java Update 11″ (news.softpedia.com)
Police Forensic Scientist At Newtown Hearing: ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban Won’t Work
” Marshall K. Robinson, who said his area of expertise is “firearm and tool mark identification,” testified at the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group, which was convened at the Connecticut State Capitol in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
“Since November 1996, I have examined approximately 2,370 firearms. Of that number 36 of them were either .223/5.56 mm or 7.62×39 mm,” Robinson said. “The percentage of those guns was about [1.5 percent].”
“I did further research on homicides and assaults in the years 2006 to 2012 inclusive. Of the 217 such cases, there were 912 bullets and 466 cartridge cases recovered. One assault involved .223 caliber and none involved 7.63×39 mm caliber. The largest number cartridge cases recovered in one case was 37 and that involved two guns. The investigations that involved the recovery of eleven or more cartridge cases was 22. Of the 22 cases, 21 involved 2 or more guns,” Robinson added.
“In your infinite wisdom, you outlawed bayonet lugs, flash hiders, and collapsible stocks,” he testified. “In over forty years of being a firearm and tool mark examiner, I have never seen these components inflict any injury whatsoever on any person. “
This man of 40 years experience in criminal investigation speaks truth to power with facts that are indisputable . If only there were more people like him in positions of authority .
Related articles
- Controversial Gun Ban Heads for Defeat (huffingtonpost.com)
- Harry Reid To Drop Assault Rifle Ban From Senate Gun Bill (patdollard.com)
- Ban your minivan, not my Firearms. (reflectionandchoice.org)
- Albuquerque launches voluntary gun disposal program (KOB.com)
- Buy Guns On The Cheap At Gun Buybacks (personalliberty.com)
- What gunshot residue tests tell us (newsnet5.com)
- Dems to introduce new gun control bill in Senate: Assault weapon ban all but dead (junkscience.com)
Obama Claims Adding 11 Million Low-Skilled Workers Will Strengthen the Middle Class
” Could it be that when Obama was leafing through the thesaurus looking for synonyms for “Destroy”, “Smash”, “Utterly Eradicate” and “Eliminate Beyond Any Trace of Recognition”, he found himself with the antonyms rather than the synonyms?
Right now, we have 11 million undocumented immigrants in America; 11 million men and women from all over the world who live their lives in the shadows. Yes, they broke the rules. They crossed the border illegally. Maybe they overstayed their visas. Those are facts. Nobody disputes them. But these 11 million men and women are now here. Many of them have been here for years. And the overwhelming majority of these individuals aren’t looking for any trouble. They’re contributing members of the community. They’re looking out for their families. They’re looking out for their neighbors. They’re woven into the fabric of our lives.
Obama is confusing Mexican illegal aliens with Cotton Incorporated. They didn’t just break the rules. They broke the law.
They’re not contributing members. They take away jobs from Americans, leech off the social benefits system and commit a number of crimes besides the whole “illegal entry” deal. Jails tend to be full of illegal aliens for a reason.
Obama’s solution to employers hiring people under the table for low wages is to legalize 11 million illegal aliens. Which will open up positions for more illegals to come and work under the table, while the newly legal illegal aliens end up eventually going on unemployment once they get their green cards because there’s no work for them. And then we’ll legalize the new illegal aliens because etc… “
Illustration By A F Branco
