Say goodbye to online service providers protecting the identities of their users. With just a bit of begging, a Texas-based intelligence firm succeeded in convincing Skype to send over sensitive account data pertaining to a teenage WikiLeaks fan. - Reports out of Amsterdam this week suggest that Microsoft-owned Skype didn’t wait for a court order or warrant with a judge’s signature before it handed over the personal info of a 16-year-old Dutch boy. The youngster was suspected of being involved in Operation Payback, an Anonymous-endorsed initiative that targeted the servers of PayPal, Visa, Mastercard and others after those companies blocked WikiLeaks from receiving online payment backs in December 2010. When hacktivists responded to the blockade by overflowing the servers of those sites with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, PayPal asked Dallas, Texas’ iSIGHT Partners Inc., a self-described“global cyber intelligence firm,” to investigate.

To date, citizens of 24 states have petitioned the White House for consideration of a peaceful withdrawal from the United States. That’s right, thousands of Americans have already signed petitions at whitehouse.gov asking President Obama to allow them to peacefully secede from the union.

The states and their updated totals are: Louisiana, 10,296; Texas, 9196; Florida, 2392; Alabama, 2492; North Carolina, 2434; Kentucky, 1934; Mississippi, 1935; Indiana, 1951; North Dakota, 881; Montana, 1538; Colorado, 1805Oregon, 1594; New Jersey, 1492; New York, 1727; South Carolina, 117; Arkansas, 86; Georgia, 131; Missouri, 149. Any petition requires 25,000 signatures for consideration. As you can see, in just a few days, Louisiana is halfway to the necessary total. In order to sign the petition, users simply need to create a whitehouse.gov account and click “sign the petition.”

“The right to petition your government is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. We the People provides a new way to petition the Obama Administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country.”

No one is threatening to secede or to wage war against the United States of America. It is a petition, plain and simple. But as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, and clearly some Americans are feeling the need to make a dramatic noise.

Russia Today: White House to respond after 70,000 demand secession of Texas from US

Antivirus pioneer John McAfee is on the run from murder charges, Belize police say. According to Marco Vidal, head of the national police force's Gang Suppression Unit, McAfee is a prime suspect in the murder of American expatriate Gregory Faull, who was gunned down Saturday night at his home in San Pedro Town on the island of Ambergris Caye. Details remain sketchy so far, but residents say that Faull was a well-liked builder who hailed originally from California Florida. The two men had been at odds for some time. Last Wednesday, Faull filed a formal complaint against McAfee with the mayor's office, asserting that McAfee had fired off guns and exhibited "roguish behavior." Their final disagreement apparently involved dogs.

A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any pain. - It's the first time an uncommunicative, severely brain-injured patient has been able to give answers clinically relevant to their care. Scott Routley, 39, was asked questions while having his brain activity scanned in an fMRI machine. His doctor says the discovery means medical textbooks will need rewriting. Vegetative patients emerge from a coma into a condition where they have periods awake, with their eyes open, but have no perception of themselves or the outside world. Mr Routley suffered a severe brain injury in a car accident 12 years ago.

Israel is considering resuming its contentious practice of assassinating militant leaders in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in an effort to halt intensified rocket attacks on Israel's south, according to defense officials. - That Israel might renew a practice that brought it harsh international censure is evidence of the tight spot Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in. With Israeli elections two months away, rocket barrages from Gaza are disrupting the lives of 1 million residents of southern Israel, pressuring the government to come up with an effective response. In the latest flare-up, Gaza militants have fired more than 100 rockets at Israel in recent days, triggering retaliatory Israeli airstrikes that have killed six people in Gaza. Some Israelis are demanding a harsh military move, perhaps a repeat of Israel's "bruising incursion" into Gaza four years ago. Others believe Israel should target Hamas leaders, a method it used to kill dozens of militants nearly a decade ago.

Uprooted Palestinians: Is Israel planning more mass genocide in Gaza?

Israeli tanks struck a Syrian artillery launcher Monday after a stray mortar shell flew into Israel-held territory, the first direct clash between the neighbors since the Syrian uprising began nearly two years ago. The development came as the head of the newly formed opposition group the Syrian National Coalition visited Egypt’s capital, securing recognition of the alliance from the Gulf Cooperation Council. The confrontation on the occupied Golan fueled new fears that the Syrian war could drag Israel into the violence, a scenario with grave consequences for the region. “We are closely monitoring what is happening and will respond appropriately. We will not allow our borders to be violated or our citizens to be fired upon,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech to foreign ambassadors. Israeli political scientist Dore Gold, an informal adviser to Netanyahu, said neither Israel nor Syria has any interest in escalation. “I see no indication of Assad wanting to draw Israel in. But if violence comes from the Syrian army, or even forces operating in Syria that are affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Israel has to do what is necessary to make sure there’s no spillover into Israeli territory,” he said. He described Israel’s reaction Monday as a “carefully calibrated response.”

John Glaser: Israel’s Latest Assault on Gaza: The Lie of Who Started It - Israel has again attacked Gaza. In its aerial and ground assault that began on Saturday, November 10th, at least 7 Palestinians have been killed, 5 of them civilians, 3 of whom were children. Up to 52 others, including 6 women and 12 children, have been wounded. As in every vicious military offensive Israel carries out in Gaza, the dominant narrative is that it is a response to rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel. This is how it’s being reported in the US, and this is how virtually every American understands it. And it’s a lie.

The Petraeus Affair has a potential Benghazi link now, with the discovery that Petraeus’s girlfriend Paula Broadwell recently made a claim that the Benghazi attack was centered not on the consulate but on the CIA safehouse, which she insists was housing detainees. - Broadwell’s classified data access is also having fallout beyond Petraeus now, with eyes turning on Attorney General Eric Holder, who knew about the investigation for months but reportedly kept it a secret until the end of the November 6 election, at which time he told DNI James Clapper, who advised Petraeus to resign. There was already a lot of anger about the FBI not coming forward with information to Congress about the investigation as soon as it was apparent that there was a national security component, but if it turns out the Justice Department deliberately kept it under wraps to avoid any political fallout before the election, the scandal is even bigger.

Reuters: Timeline of events surrounding CIA Director Petraeus' resignation

Jill Kelley is a Liaison to a Mysterious Counterterrorism Unit - She's a "person of influence" [Israel's eyes & ears] in the Tampa community, according to a New York Times source, active in many charities and organizations. She's also an unpaid "social liaison" to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) [i.e. spying for Israel], one of the most mysterious components of the U.S. military. Based in Fort Bragg, N.C., the 30-year-old JSOC officially works to study and conduct “special operations requirements and techniques, ensure interoperability and equipment standardization, plan and conduct special operations exercises and training, and develop joint special operations tactics.” But it’s widely known that the JSOC conducts top-secret counterterrorism missions, and encompasses such elite units as the Navy SEALs. The JSOC was integral in helping the CIA and Pentagon in the investigation on the attack of the Benghazi compound, which means Kelley and Petraeus likely crossed paths in their work.

NY Daily News: David Petraeus "sex scandal"
Justin Raimondo: A Covert Affair: Petraeus Caught in the Honeypot?

[Editor's Comment:] "What's [Sex] Got to do With It?" There's a lot of stuff going on here in this affair. The ladies messed it up (beyond all recognition) this time, both Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley. That's for sure. Covers blown and everything...The two femmes fatales had come close to a top U.S. general, who also happened to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ms. Broadwell had a long track record in the intelligence business, for the U.S. mostly (as far as we can tell), and was tasked with writing his biography. - But Ms. Kelley is harder to get a handle on. She had done exceedingly well, for a modest daughter of Maronite Catholics and restaurant owners, who had immigrated from Lebanon in the mid-1970s. Perhaps it was an American dream come true? - Or was it rather something entirely different? Was it in Northeast Philadelphia that Mossad's agents enlisted her and her identical twin sister to work for Israel in the U.S. or was it in Florida, where she frequently hosted parties for the area's military brass? Israel has used honey traps a number of times before. This would mean that Israel controlled Petraeus, a top U.S. general and Director of the CIA, via his secret lover, Ms. Kelley. Her handlers in Tel Aviv probably tasked her with talking to the FBI so that things would start rolling. So, what was Israel's problem? - Petraeus had been "unfaithful" to the shitty little state by saying (in 2010) that that "US interests and Israeli interests are not identical," and that "Israel might be a strategic burden, rather than an asset to the United States." - Wow! Such thoughts are absolutely verboten in Zionized America. The general was in trouble. He had to be replaced. A political coup (of sorts) was in short order, and the Director of the CIA would have to be replaced by someone more faithful to Israel. Petraeus, the honcho hunter, now was the one being hunted. He suddenly found himself in the crosshairs of no less than two, (maybe three) attempts at toppling him. -What irony! Ms. Broadwell had sent aggressive emails to Ms. Kelley, a longtime “friend” of the Petraeus family ("I know what you did" and "Keep off my man!"). So ordered by her handlers, Ms. Kelley then contacted the FBI. Obama would have been informed about this by the FBI because the tracks were leading towards the top echelons of the military establishment. Petraeus and Obama would have had to have come to the conclusion that it would have been impossible to keep it all under lids for much longer. At any rate, the re-selection was over - that was the important thing. Anyway, Rep. Eric Cantor, this great & devoted friend of Israel, now got an opportunity to please his masters in Tel Aviv. This was just one traitor too many however, and the whole thing went from bad to worse. The General was done for and fell with a sickening thud. Bibi Netanyahu is clearing forest and he's not finished yet. - Far from it.

The US head of NATO forces in Afghanistan is under investigation in connection with the sex scandal that saw CIA director David Petraeus resign. Gen. Allen exchanged “inappropriate” emails with a woman linked to Petraeus. - The FBI has found 20,000 to 30,000 pages of potentially inappropriate emails and documents between General John Allen and Jill Kelley, says the Pentagon. Investigators are now searching through the documents for any compromising information. Mrs. Kelley was implicated in the Petraeus affair after telling the FBI she received threatening emails from the former CIA chief’s mistress, Paula Broadwell. Jill Kelley is a long-term friend of the Petraeus family and works as a “social liaison” at an air force base in Tampa, Florida. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered an investigation be opened into the matter on Sunday. He also called for Allen’s nomination to be made Commander of US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe to be frozen for the time being. He was due to face a Senate hearing to assess his nomination on Thursday. General Allen has denied any wrongdoing and will remain at his post until further notice.

The Daily Beast: Petraeus Mistress Suggested She Was Privy to State Secrets
AWIP: Congress to investigate whether Petraeus scandal was a political cover-up

In a public talk in October, Paula Broadwell—the biographer and alleged mistress of David Petraeus—claimed that the Benghazi consulate was attacked to free CIA-held prisoners. Eli Lake reports.

The woman at the center of the alleged adultery scandal that led CIA Director David Petraeus to resign on Friday gave a speech last month asserting otherwise unreported information about the Benghazi attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Speaking on Oct. 26 at the University of Denver, Paula Broadwell—the married author of the highly favorable biography of Petraeus All In—was asked about the 9/11 anniversary attack. “Now I don’t know if a lot of you heard this,” she replied, “but the CIA annex had actually—had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back. So that’s still being vetted.” (It’s possible Broadwell was confusing details broadcast ealier that day by Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffen, who’d reported that three of the Libyan attackers were briefly held at the annex—not the consulate—before being turned over to a local militia.)