Revolutionary Etude

The man who is lord over the land
spoke harshly to us
and treated us as though
we were spying on the land.
~ Genesis 42

FBI “Communities Against Terrorism” Suspicious Activity Reporting Flyers

February 1, 2012 in Federal Bureau of Investigation

The following collection of 25 flyers produced by the FBI and the Department of Justice are distributed to local businesses in a variety of industries to promote suspicious activity reporting. The flyers are not released publicly, though several have been published in the past by news media and various law enforcement agencies around the country. We have compiled this collection from a number of online sources.
To view the documents, click on a threat area in the menu to the left and the PDF will appear on the right side of the page.

You can also download the complete collection of files
(ZIP Archive, 6.27 MB)

Public Intelligence

A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity. The document, part of a program called “Communities Against Terrorism”, lists the use of “anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address” as a sign that a person could be engaged in or supporting terrorist activity.

The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using “software to hide encrypted data in digital photos” or other media. In fact, the flyer recommends that anyone “overly concerned about privacy” or attempting to “shield the screen from view of others” should be considered suspicious and potentially engaged in terrorist activities.

Logging into an account associated with a residential internet service provider (such as Comcast or AOL), an activity that could simply indicate that you are on a trip, is also considered a suspicious activity. Viewing any content related to “military tactics” including manuals or “revolutionary literature” is also considered a potential indicator of terrorist activity. This would mean that viewing a number of websites, including the one you are on right now, could be construed by a hapless employee as an highly suspicious activity potentially linking you to terrorism.

The “Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities” contained in the flyer are not to be construed alone as a sign of terrorist activity and the document notes that “just because someone’s speech, actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different; it does not mean that he or she is suspicious.” However, many of the activities described in the document are basic practices of any individual concerned with security or privacy online. The use of PGP, VPNs, Tor or any of the many other technologies for anonymity and privacy online are directly targeted by the flyer, which is distributed to businesses in an effort to promote the reporting of these activities.

Le Snitch App

The company utilizes Smartphone technology to put crime reporting, literally, in the hands of users. After downloading the free iPhone or Android application, users can report an ongoing crime with the push of a button. A package of information including the location of the crime, photo, video, audio, and text description of the crime are sent to authorities immediately. The application also allows for users to report crime anonymously so that they may continue with their busy lives knowing that with a push of a button, police will know and have everything to pursue the criminal. Ordinary users become the eyes and ears of authorities

Paradise Lost

Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you
have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.
~ Isaiah 37

Milton: Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost: Illustrations by Gustave Doré

Into The Lens

So...

GOD created mankind in his own image,
in the image of GOD he created them;
male and female he created them.
~ Genesis 1



PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT A CRIME

"I was arrested today for exercising my First Amendment rights to freedom of the press on Capitol Hill," Fox said in the statement. "I was not expecting to be arrested for practicing journalism."

Fox, who's currently working on his sequel to the HBO documentary, characterized his refusal to stop filming the hearing as "an act of civil disobedience" and claimed the Constitutional high ground over the legislators that had shut him out.

"It is my understanding that public speech is allowed to be filmed. Congress should be no exception," Fox asserted. "No one on Capitol Hill should regard themselves exempt from the Constitution. The First Amendment to the Constitution states explicitly 'Congress shall make no law...that infringes on the Freedom of the Press.' Which means that no subcommittee rule or regulation should prohibit a respectful journalist or citizen from recording a public hearing."

Art For Art's Sake

Your builders
brought your beauty
to perfection
~ Ezekiel 27



Wassily Kandinsky biography

Kandinsky Paintings

Phalanx was an association of artists formed in Munich in 1901 who were opposed to old fashioned and conservative viewpoints in art. Founding members were Wassily Kandinsky, Rolf Niczky, Waldemar Hecker, and Wilhelm Hüsgen. Kandinsky was elected president of the association and also became the director of the Phalanx School of Painting. The association organized twelve exhibitions between 1901 and 1904 which in addition to those of its members, featured works by Claude Monet, Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) artists, Symbolists and Post-Impressionist artists Paul Signac, Felix Vallotton and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Phalanx was where Kandinsky met Gabriele Münter, an art student at the school. She was to become his pupil, intimate companion, and critic until they separated in 1914.

see also: Der Blaue Reiter

click me

The Word

O land, land, land,
hear the word of the LORD!
~ Jeremiah 22

Say the word and you'll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It's so fine, It's sunshine
It's the word, love
In the beginning I misunderstood
But now I've got it, the word is good

Spread the word and you'll be free
Spread the word and be like me
Spread the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It's so fine, It's sunshine
It's the word, love
Everywhere I go I hear it said
In the good and the bad books
that I have read

Say the word and you'll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It's so fine, It's sunshine
It's the word, love

Now that I know what I feel must be right
I'm here to show everybody the light

Give the word a chance to say
That the word is just the way
It's the word I'm thinking of
And the only word is love
It's so fine, It's sunshine
It's the word, love

Say the word, love

iAm The Slime

The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
~ Psalm 118

Still Smokin'

Mount Sinai
was covered with smoke,
because the LORD
descended on it in fire.
The smoke billowed up from it
like smoke from a furnace,
and the whole mountain
trembled violently.
~ Exodus 19

Love Is The Law

Original Photo by Tina Agnus

This is my command:
Love each other.
~ John 15

Like A Rolling Stone

Joshua set up at Gilgal

the twelve stones they had taken
out of the Jordan.
He said to the Israelites:

“In the future
when your descendants ask their parents,
‘What do these stones mean?’

Tell them:

‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’
~ Joshua 4

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around
to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel?
~ Robert Zimmerman

I don't believe you. You're a LIAR!

Yes It Is

My face is red with weeping,
dark shadows ring my eyes...
yet my hands are free of violence
and my prayer is pure.
~ Job 16

Black Coffee

The LORD your GOD
is a consuming fire...
~ Deuteronomy 4

Bless the name of Steve Marriott

Woody Allen Jesus

HAT TIP: ROBOMONKEY

Many will say to me in that day:

LORD! LORD! Have we not in prophesied in your name? And in your name cast out demons? And in your name done many mighty things?

And I will acknowledge to them, this:

I never knew you.
Depart from me, you who work lawlessness.
~ Matthew 7

This song was meant to air on the Jonathan Ross Show tomorrow night (23rd December 2011), but at the last minute ITV cut it

I really like Jonathan Ross. I think he's a funny, interesting, kind person, and an excellent interviewer. I also really like his wife... But let's not get back into that.

Jonathan and his wonderful producer, Suzi, have been incredibly supportive of me and so when they asked me to write a song for their pre-Christmas show, I didn't hesitate. It was the worst possible time to be writing a new song -- I've been overworked and ill, was on tour, and was really feeling the stress. But I wasn't going to say no... it's Jonathan Ross! And my fellow guests were to be Tom Cruise, the divine actors from Downton Abbey, and the ace In-Betweeners boys.

So I got to writing. Being Christmas, I thought it would be fun to do a song about Jesus, but being TV, I knew it would have to be gentle. The idea was to compare him to Woody Allen (short, Jewish, philosophical, a bit hesitant), and expand into redefining his other alleged attributes using modern, popular-culture terminology.

It's not a particularly original idea, I admit, but it's quite cute. It's certainly not very contentious, but even so, compliance people and producers and lawyers all checked my lyrics long before the cameras rolled. As always with these bespoke writing jobs, I was really stressed for about 3 days, and almost chucked it in the bin 5 times, and freaked out that it wasn't funny and all that boring shit that people like me go through when we're lucky enough to have with a big audience with high expectations. And if I'm honest, it ain't a world-changing bit of comedy. Regardless...

On Tuesday night last week, we taped the show. I met Tom (he's nice and quite laid-back off camera, and not very short) and the divine Downton ladies (swoon) and the lovely In-Betweeners chaps (yay) and I did my song and everyone laughed and Tom said it was great and when it was done I ran off set onto the back of a waiting motorbike, got from South Bank to the Hammersmith Apollo in 13 minutes, walked into the building, straight on to stage to sing White Wine in the Sun with Professor Brian Cox. Rock n roll.

Subsequently, Suzi and her team edited the show and everybody was happy. Suzi felt it had a nice balance of big-ticket celeb action, local talent, and a nice bit of that cheeky, iconoclastic spirit for which Jonathan is known and widely loved.

And then someone got nervous and sent the tape to ITV's director of television, Peter Fincham.

And Peter Fincham demanded that I be cut from the show.

He did this because he's scared of the ranty, shit-stirring, right-wing press, and of the small minority of Brits who believe they have a right to go through life protected from anything that challenges them in any way.

Yesterday I wrote a big rant about comedy and risk and conservatism; about the fact that my joke has no victim; about sacredness (oh God, not again!) and about the importance of laughing at dumb but pervasive ideas. But I trashed it because it's boring and takes it all too seriously. It's hardly the end of the world.

But I have to admit I'm really fucking disappointed.

It's 2011. The appropriate reaction to people who think Jesus is a supernatural being is mild embarrassment, sighing tolerance and patient education.

And anger when they're being bigots.

Oh, and satire. There's always satire.

Anywaaaaaaaaaay... the fun news is that I already had the footage of the song when they cut it. Yay. And so you can decide for yourself how offensive it is! Yippee.

I hope you enjoy my silly, harmless, accurate song of praise, "Woody Allen Jesus".

And I hope you all have wonderful Christmases.

~ Tim Minchin

Naturally I do not share his opinion here and probably elsewhere too:

It's 2011. The appropriate reaction to people who think Jesus is a supernatural being is mild embarrassment, sighing tolerance and patient education.

This for me does not preclude the thing or him from their absolute greatness. Those Christians who are made angry by this song should convert to Islam - they will fit right in - give them an outlet... HEY you can take it all the way if you like, go have a riot. And Tim Minchin's relationship with GOD or perceived lack thereof is between him and GOD, not him and YOU. None of your business.

iThink Jesus loves this clip.
And Tim Minchin.
iKnow iDo!

We Didn't Start The Fire

When the people
cried out to Moses,
he prayed to the LORD
and the fire died down.
~ Numbers 11

... we didn't light it
but we have to fight it ...

Life On Mars

From the heavens
the stars fought,
from their courses
they fought against Sisera.
~ Judges 5

Sweet Leaf

Then the LORD GOD
provided a leafy plant
and made it grow up over Jonah
to give shade for his head
to ease his discomfort,
and Jonah was very happy
about the plant.
~ Jonah 4

Pearly Queen

The twelve gates were twelve pearls,
each gate made of a single pearl.
~ Revelation 21

A Man Of Great Promise

My comfort in my suffering is this:
Your promise preserves my life.
~ Psalm 119

I bought the paper yesterday
and I saw the obituary
And I read of how you died in pain -
Well I just couldn't understand it
If I could of changed that,
then Lord knows I'd do it now
But there is no going back -
And what's done is done forever

But you were always
chained and shackled by the dirt -
Of every small town institution
and every big town flirt

And I think of what you might have been,
a man of such great promise
Oh but, you seem to forget the dream -
And the more you saw you hated

But let's not talk of blame,
for what is only natural
Like a moth going to a flame -
You had a dangerous passion

But you were always
chained and shackled by the dirt -
Of every small town institution
and every big town flirt

All the things that you might have been -
but who am I to say?
Still I wonder -
If it's the cold earth you prefer to lay -
If it's the cold earth - you prefer to stay

Earth Angel

Now go,
lead the people
to the place I spoke of,
and my angel
will go before you.
However,
when the time comes
for me to punish,
I will punish them for their sin..
~ Exodus 32

How Strange

We are foreigners
and strangers in your sight,
as were all our ancestors.
~ 1 Chronicles 29

"How Strange"
From the MGM movie
"Idiot's Delight"
Music based on
"Kak Stranno" by B.A. Prozorovsky

It's Only Love

Love the LORD
your GOD
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your strength.
~ Deuteronomy 6

and that is all.

How Blue Can You Get?

My tears
have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me
all day long,
“Where is your GOD?”
~ Psalm 42


Live from the Cook County Jail