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Lasers Can “Hack” Self-Driving LiDAR Sensors, Creating False “Blind Spots”, New Study Reveals

In what is likely going to be another thorn in the side of Elon Musk, Tesla and Autopilot, it was revealed in a report last week that many self-driving features in vehicles can be “messed with” using lasers. 

A brand new study that was put together and uploaded in late October, called “You Can’t See Me: Physical Removal Attacks on LiDAR-based Autonomous Vehicles Driving Frameworks” made the revelation, which was also reported on by Cosmos Magazine. 

Researchers in the U.S. and Japan found that vehicles could be tricked into not seeing pedestrians (or other objects in their way) using lasers. These cars, which use LiDAR to sense objects around them, send out laser lights and then use the reflection back to judge how far away objects are. 

The study revealed that a perfectly timed laser shone back into a LiDAR system can create “a blind spot large enough to hide an object like a pedestrian,” according to Cosmos. 

The study’s abstract says: “While existing attacks on LiDAR-based autonomous driving architectures focus on lowering the confidence score of AV object detection models to induce obstacle misdetection, our research discovers how to leverage laser-based spoofing techniques to selectively remove the LiDAR point cloud data of genuine obstacles at the sensor level before being used as input to the AV perception. The ablation of this critical LiDAR information causes autonomous driving obstacle detectors to fail to identify and locate obstacles and, consequently, induces AVs to make dangerous automatic driving decisions”

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Why Society Needs Conspiracy Theories & Conspiracy Theorists

It seems like you can’t catch a news headline or social media post these days without coming across the terms conspiracy theory and conspiracy theorist, or phrases like ‘spreading conspiracies’. One has to wonder: why are they so frequently employed?

In my most recent published work, I referenced an article from Canada’s National Post which ran with the headline ‘CBSA says it’s investigating border officer spreading COVID conspiracies online.’

The problem with these kinds of articles is that they are too often merely used as hit pieces to ridicule, degrade, and discredit any individual or group that goes against a certain narrative or disagrees with an author’s (or their publication’s partisanship or funders’) views.

Moreover, their authors very seldom make specific references or claims as to why they label their targets when using such over-used and over-abused disparaging rhetoric. When this is the case, it leads me to believe that the overall purpose of their pieces is to disparage their targets more than anything else.

Another recent example of this involves that from the article entitled ‘Network of Syria conspiracy theorists identified – study’ written by Mark Townsend from The Guardian (UK). In the article, the author claimed “journalist Aaron Maté at the Grayzone is said by the report to have overtaken Beeley as the most prolific spreader of disinformation among the 28 conspiracy theorists identified.” Maté had to refute the claim made against him which also involved contacting Townsend by phone. His counter article and the phone conversation appear on his Substack page (see ‘NATO-backed network of Syria dirty war propagandists identified)’ and is definitely an interesting case on how these ploys take place.

Countless other instances could be cited, but suffice it to say that there is no shortage of them.

But what is perhaps even more laughable with this phenomenon is the fact that these authors wantonly use these terms without even knowing their true meanings and where they actually originate from.

Before looking into these, though, we must first and foremost examine the meaning of the word ‘conspiracy’ itself. Oxford defines it as:

a secret plan by a group of people to do something harmful or illegal

Conspiracies have been an integral part of humanity ever since people have bonded together in groups for a better chance at survival.

Lord knows that history is riddled with an abundant supply of conspiracies and we will look at some notable examples later on.

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Nebraska Physicians Are Playing ‘Fast And Loose’ With ‘Dead Donor’ Organ Harvesting Laws

The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha may be skirting laws governing the procurement of human organs for transplant by harvesting organs from individuals who may not yet be dead.

UNMC surgeons have developed a protocol for “normothermic regional perfusion with controlled donation after circulatory death,” a practice fraught with ethical concerns.

Under UNMC’s protocol, published at clinicaltrials.gov, the donor is removed from life support, and once the heart has stopped (circulatory death) the surgeons wait five minutes – as required by Nebraska law – to see if the heart restarts on its own.

If it does not, surgeons cut open the chest cavity to begin organ harvest, then sever blood flow to the brain – ensuring brain death – before artificially reanimating the circulatory system with an external pump. The resumption of blood circulation restarts the beating of the heart, keeping the organs functioning and viable for harvest.

In 1981, the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) became law, establishing the parameters by which an individual may be considered “dead.” As per the law, a person may be declared legally dead after the “irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or the irreversible cessation of all functions of the brain, including the brainstem.”

UNMC’s restarting of the circulatory process within minutes of declared death proves the circulatory and respiratory functions have not “irreversibly” ceased. Proponents of UNMC’s organ harvest protocol dismiss this apparent contravention of the UDDA by claiming the donor is “brain-dead” by the time circulation is resumed.

What isn’t acknowledged is the harvester’s role in bringing about that brain death, caused by their own interruption of the brain’s blood supply, as described in the second step of UNMC’s protocol:

2) Ligation of all the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain to ensure that blood flow to the brain is not reestablished once circulation is restarted as described below.

If the brain is already “dead” as claimed, resuming blood flow would not bring it back, making this step unnecessary. The fact the step is included reveals the brain may indeed still be functioning at some level, and the organ harvesting surgeons know it.

The intent of this macabre procedure is to preserve the body’s organs as close to living form as possible.

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Meet the ‘Black Robe Regiment’ of Extremist Pastors Spreading Christian Nationalism

Days before the midterm elections, Pastor David MacLellan was ready to preach far-right politics through Bible verses to his small congregation. MacLellan, a hulking man with a long, grizzled black beard, isn’t an ordinary pastor. He proudly identifies himself as a far-right, extremist pastor and a Christian nationalist, someone who believes American politics should reflect fundamentalist Christian values. 

And he’s part of a growing national religious political movement called the Black Robe Regiment, a modern-day group inspired by a myth of a group of militant pastors during the American Revolution who took up arms to lead their flock into battle against the British. The movement, imbued with support from far-right political activists like Michael Flynn, wants pastors to play a central role in not only preaching politics from the pulpit but also actively getting their congregations to rise up and claim election fraud by weaving myths about the American Revolution together with modern-day conspiracy theories and hard-line Christianity. These pastors believe they’re saving democracy, though what they’re really doing is encouraging supporters to undermine the democratic process.

And MacLellan plans to take an active role: He’s convinced that the 2020 election was stolen and that fraud has already been committed in the 2022 midterms. He wants his congregants to fight back. 

“This Tuesday, I’ll be taking some of our seniors to the polling station,” MacLellan announced at the beginning of his service, held in the living room of his home in Mesa, Arizona. That day, he wore a tweed jacket over a black shirt, and a bolo tie. His hands are gnarled with faded tattoos—a nod, he says, to his Scottish heritage and a holdover from a past life when he played in punk bands in New York and was a “heathen biker.”

His sermon mixed Bible verses with remarks about evolution, made claims of violence against anti-abortion groups, and described Jewish people as a “wealthy group of people who didn’t believe in heaven or hell, didn’t believe in angels, and they had political control over everything.”

“Interesting, huh?” he said, as an aside to the congregation crowded into his living room, who responded with knowing sounds.

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Certain gun purchases to be ‘delayed’ starting next week

The FBI posted a notice on its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), notifying gun dealers to expect delays in background checks for purchasers under the age of 21, starting on Nov. 14.

Bearing Arms first reported on the upcoming NICS processing delays, after a federal firearms license (FFL) dealer contact shared with the publication a letter sent by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The ATF letter let the FFL dealer know that it has been revising it’s process for gun purchasers between the age of 18 and 20 since the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) of 2022 passed in June.

A message also now appears on the FBI’s NICS E-check site which states:

As a result of the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) of 2022, signed into law on June 25, 2022, the NICS Section has been working towards the implementation of an enhanced background check process for persons between the ages of 18-20. The enhancement provides the opportunity for additional outreach and research to be conducted regarding the existence of any juvenile adjudication information and/or mental health prohibition. As a result, transactions on persons between the ages of 18-20 will initially be delayed and the address of the individual will be collected so that the appropriate local and state entities may be contacted. The enhanced process will begin on November 14, 2022, for all transactions on persons under the age of 21 as previously described. Checks on persons under the age of 21 could be extended for a period up to ten business days. Therefore, it is possible for an FFL to be contacted with an updated Brady Transfer Date. As a temporary measure and until the NICS can be updated to provide this information electronically, NICS staff will be calling FFLs to advise of any change in the transfer date. In preparation for calls from NICS, you will be asked to verify your license number and code word. You may wish to have this information readily available for you and your staff.

All descriptive information, including address, will follow normal purge requirements (i.e., deleted from NICS within 24 hours of the FFL receiving a proceed status.) Please note, if no potentially prohibiting information is located, the transaction will be proceeded as soon as possible.

The BSCA is the largest federal gun control bill to be signed into law in the past 30 years. Among its provisions are requirements for a more extensive background check process for purchasers between 18 and 20 years old. The expanded process would entail searches for state and local-level juvenile and mental health records for potential gun buyers under the age of 21. This expanded background check process could delay gun purchases for those under 21 by up to 10 days.

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2020 Redux: White House Telling Americans to ‘Be Patient For a Few Days’ Before Declaring 2022 Midterm Winners

It’s déjà vu all over again. Remember the debacle in 2020, when a flood of Biden ballots suddenly arrived in the middle of the night, prompting days and days of delay in counting the votes? Remember the mayhem and chaos that followed.

Well, buckle up, because they are planning to do it all again in 2022.

Get ready for that 3am blue wave…

The White House on Monday cautioned that the winners of the midterm elections would not be immediately apparent, estimating that it would take several days to count all the ballots.

“We may not know all the winners of elections for a few days. It takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

She spoke about Tuesday’s elections during the daily White House press briefing, warning that “modern” elections required more time to count votes.

“In modern elections more and more ballots are cast in early voting and also by mail,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that many states did not even start counting ballots until after the polls closed.

She said that state and local election results would take longer to count than in previous elections because of the different ways that people were voting.

“We’re in a different time … we’re just trying to communicate with the American people, let them know this process certainly has changed again in modern elections,” Jean-Pierre said.

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Fetterman Predicts ‘Dramatic’ Overnight Comeback, Taps Clinton Lawyer To Fight PA Election Law

Pennsylvania lieutenant governor and Democratic US Senate candidate John Fetterman predicted on Monday that his Republican challenger, Dr. Mehmet Oz, will take an early lead on election day, only for a “dramatic” change to happen overnight as more ballots are counted, according to the Western Journal.

“Counting for ballots cast by mail and early in-person cannot begin until Election Day, thanks to the GOP-controlled legislature — an intentional move to help Republicans baselessly sow doubt about the election results when it suits them,” Fetterman wrote in a memo to “interested parties,” reads a memo from Fetterman, according to the Washington Post.

“Pennsylvania is one of only eight states that bans pre-processing of early mail-in ballots, forcing county officials to wait until 7 a.m. on Tuesday to begin opening returned ballots and scanning them into the system,” he added.

Fetterman pointed to the 1.4 million mail-in ballots requested, saying they will skew heavily Democratic when counted.

The journalistic consortium Spotlight PA reported that roughly 70 percent of the mail-in ballot requests came from registered Democrats. -Western Journal

“The biggest share of absentee and mail ballot requests came from Allegheny County [which includes Pittsburgh] and Philadelphia — nearly a quarter of the total,” Spotlight reports.

“Because Pennsylvania is one of the only states that reports Election Day totals first before ballots cast by mail, and because more populated counties around Philadelphia can take longer to report, we should expect one of the most dramatic shifts in the country from initial GOP support in early results to stronger Democratic gains as more votes are processed,” said Fetterman.

Meanwhile, Fetterman has tapped controversial Clinton lawyer Marc Elias’ firm to challenge Pennsylvania election provisions.

As Jonathan Turley writes;

Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman and other Democrats have filed a federal lawsuit to strike down parts of Pennsylvania’s election law after the state Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots with incorrect dates or no dates should not be counted.Fetterman is challenging the state law on constitutional and federal statutes. He has turned to a controversial former lawyer for Hillary Clinton to seek to strike down the provision.

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Tiffany’s jewelry tycoon, 71, plunges to her death from Norwegian Spirit cruise ship at 3am off Tahiti coast as it’s revealed gems were stolen from her cabin – and boyfriend took TWENTY HOURS to report her missing

A tycoon who owns Tiffany jewelry empire in Turkey has died after plunging to her death from a cruise ship during a South Sea Islands holiday.

Dilek Ertek, 71 – the distributor of Tiffany in Turkey for more than 20 years – fell into the South Pacific off the coast of Tahiti from the Norwegian Spirit ship on October 26.

Respected Turkish newspaper Sabah reported that her family have urged police to investigate Miss Ertek’s Swiss national lover, who was with her on the trip.

Her son Gokce Atuk says jewelry had gone missing from the safe in his mother’s cabin.

And despite ship CCTV footage showing she probably fell at 3am, her unnamed lover only reported her missing some 20 hours later, according to local media.

Experts seem baffled over how Miss Ertek – who was just 5ft2 and tee-total – was able to fall over the 3ft-high guard rail to her cabin. 

The 74-year-old partner was kept under observation by the ship’s crew in a separate cabin before they then docked in Tahiti three days later.

He was reportedly questioned by police in Tahiti before being released due to a lack of evidence. He has since returned to Switzerland.

A search at sea for Miss Ertek’s body has been discontinued.

Miss Ertek had boarded the vessel on October 24 in Papeete Island, French Polynesia, to celebrate her birthday in Bora Bora, a small South Pacific island on November 5.

The cruise was set to end in Honolulu, in Hawaii.

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