Monthly Archives: March 2020

You are at level one of crazy dog parent when you throw your pooch a birthday or bark mitzvah. You are at level two when your dog has more clothes than you do. And you are at level 100 when you store your dogs skin samples and spend $50,000 (39,000) to clone it.

David and Alicia Tschirhart are level 100 pet parents. The Californian couple made headlines recently for cloning Marley, their pet Labrador. Marley was an extremely good boy; he once fought off a rattlesnake, possibly saving a pregnant Alicias life. When Marley died from cancer, his owners had a hard time letting him go, so they didnt: they used a pet cloning company to create a genetically identical puppy called Ziggy. They have the same personality, they play the same, they favour the same toys, Alicia told reporters.

I didnt grow up with pets, apart from a short-lived stick insect (regular readers may remember poor Fatima). So there was a time when I would have thought anyone who cloned a dog was barking mad. I would probably have been holier than thou about how irresponsible it was to spend a fortune genetically reproducing an animal. I would have wrung my hands over celebrities such as Barbra Streisand, who cloned her dog Samantha and then had the facsimiles pose at the grave of their mother.

That was in the years BC (before canine). Now that I have a dog, I understand completely. If money were no object I would 100% clone Rascal, my tiny rescue mutt. Rascal has never saved me from a rattlesnake and, to be honest, I doubt he would. He would probably just sniff the snake while it killed me. But he has saved me in other ways and I would do anything to extend my time with him. It would be a doggone shame not to.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Excerpt from:

I would clone my dog and Im not ashamed to admit it - The Guardian

One of the biggest surprises to come out ofStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerwas its controversial revelation that Rey wasnt actually nobody. But less surprising is that theStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization continues to give us information about the movie that we never asked for. The latest is another whopper about Reys identity or rather, her fathers identity.

TheStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization reveals that Reys father is actually a failed Palpatine clone, thus ending the months-long discussion over what woman would actually let a wrinkled, undead Palpatine father her child.

Youve probably heard the revelation that the Palpatine we see inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker isnt the exact same Palpatine we saw in the prequel and original trilogies. Before his demise inReturn of the Jedi, Palpatine transferred his consciousness into a clone body, which led to the decaying form we ultimately meet inThe Rise of Skywalker. When Rey meets her grandfather for the first time, she passes by other unfinished clones, which means he had tried this process before. Little does she know, the last clone attempt was her own father.

During the scene when Rey pretends to take part in the Sith Ritual on Exegol to trick Palpatine, she has visions of her grandfathers past. In this vision, the novelization describes (via ScreenRant) that Palpatine thrust his consciousnessinto a clone body, but the transfer was imperfect and the members of the Sith Eternal worked to engineer a new vessel for Palpatines essence. One of these attempts was labeleda useless, powerless failurewho wasa not-quite-identical clone. That failed clone would still manage to live on, escape Exegol, meet Jodie Comer, and become Reys father.

This isnt the first time that cloning has produced offspring in the galaxy far, far away. When Jango Fett agreed to be cloned for the Republicans army on Kamino, he received as part of his payment an unaltered clone who aged normally and became the iconic Boba Fett. And of course, theres the former Supreme Leader Snoke, who also ended up being a clone. No word yet on whether he is anyones grandfather.

Read this article:

'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' Novelization Reveals Rey's Father is a Failed Palpatine Clone - /FILM

How is it that February had one extraday this year and yet it seems like I still lost a couple of weeks out of themonth?

Honestly, it feels as though I missedout on some things because I felt they were still several days away when inreality, they had already happened.

It was Saturday, Feb. 29 which wasfull of events for me to cover in Escalon when I realized that somehow, theRead Across America event to celebrate Dr. Seusss birthday had been observedthe day before, on Friday. I was driving by Dent Elementary School which hadsent me an invitation to be a guest reader when that fact hit me. Having beena reader in the past it would have been fun to do so again, and I always,always get to at least a couple of the Escalon schools to cover the event. Butnot this year.

So what happened? Just too much elsegoing on and not marking the date on my calendar as soon as I got theinvitation to read. It just quietly slid right past me. We also were wrappingup two other outside publication projects on Friday (yes, we routinely work onmore than just our three weekly newspapers) so there wasnt much time duringthe day for anything else.

It left me feeling sad, though, as Ilook forward to many of these school site events.

Saturday, however, was a day ofcelebration for Escalon, as the high school observed its 100th anniversary andthere was plenty of other good stuff happening as well, including home baseballgames and the fun color run first thing in the morning.

Sunday, as I picked up a few groceries,I ran into a friend who said she was surprised she hadnt seen me covering anevent that occurred Saturday in Oakdale. As I shared that I was already busywith three events in Escalon but I would have gotten to Oakdale if I could have,she simply asked: You mean you havent been cloned yet?

We both chuckled over that and I toldher I would check with my boss to see if that is something we should look into.So far, there has been no cloning; I just keep up a pretty hectic pace.

Also on Sunday, I was able to take acouple of hours out of the day to be entertained by the version of ToyStories put on at the Oakdale High School theater by the Drama Department, asort of compilation of all four movies in the series. Their production kept thoseof us in the matinee audience laughing and there were lots of standoutperformances.

Definitely a whirlwind weekend butpacked with plenty of fun and work that didnt necessarily seem like work.

Now we dive into March and personally,even though it would wreak havoc on spring sports schedules, I really hope weget some rainy weather to make up for what was nearly a precipitation-freemonth of February. There has already been talk of the drought word so Im notsure any of us would mind a few rainy days over the next few months if we couldavoid that situation.

We are also now entering the zone wherethings seem to start happening fast. Once the holidays are over and we get intospringtime, it is almost like time itself goes into overdrive, at least in ourbusiness. One day its early March and the next, we are getting ready for highschool graduation ceremonies and people are putting in time off requests forsummer vacation.

Between now and then, though, there willbe plenty to both keep us busy and to fill the pages of the paper from theOakdale Rodeo to Easter egg hunts to the Chocolate Festival and Relay For Life.

And, I am actually already thinking ofgetting away for a bit of a summer vacation this year myself.

Well, if that cloning thing comesthrough. Stay tuned.

MargJackson is editor of The Escalon Times, The Oakdale Leader and The RiverbankNews. She may be reached at mjackson@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 847-3021.

More here:

Send In The Clones - Escalon Times

Even as banks are bolstering security at multiple levels, they are yet to plug significant loopholes especially in securing deposits and preventing fraud. In a major scam unearthed in Kochi, unidentified fraudsters siphoned off crores of rupees from various nationalised banks using cloned cheques last year.

More than Rs 2.6 crore were siphoned off in five transactions from Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Canara Bank. It is suspected that a racket based out of north India could be behind the fraud. It is suspected that more banks may have fallen prey to fraud in this manner.

Modus operandi

Preliminary assessments revealed the fraud was committed by printing exact copies of the cheque leaves issued to account holders. Their signatures could also have been forged.

The money was withdrawn from the accounts in bank branches in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra by people from these same regions. However, the cheque was given for clearing in Kochi and nearby areas.

When money is withdrawn from the account, the account owner gets a message. However, none of the affected accounts in this case belonged to individuals. These are rather owned by institutions such as colleges, schools and societies, and thus the messages likely went unnoticed. These institutions usually check the account statements periodically.

From Faridabad to Kadavanthra

The fraud happened during August-September 2019.

The cheque issued in the name of a company for Rs 43,10,119 from the account of a consumer forum at the Punjab National Bank's Faridabad branch in Haryana was deposited in the drop box of the Central Bank's Kadavanthra branch.

The cheque was passed by the clearing house in Chennai. The money transferred was withdrawn from the account in the following days. This account owner is yet to be traced.

The consumer forum approached the bank after a month, pointing out that no cheque was issued for Rs 43 lakh. The cheque book was also presented, taking the lid off the cheque leaf cloning fraud.

In a similar manner, three cheques of the Canara Bank were used to withdraw Rs 30 lakh, Rs 40 lakh and Rs 40 lakh on various days.

Rs 1.10 crore was siphoned off from the Central Bank. The scam was unearthed after a cheque of Rs 31 lakh from the Union Bank was detected to be fake at Canara Bank's Aluva branch. Then the Canara Bank general manager sent a circular on the fraud to various branches on December 23.

Whodunnit?

It is not known whether any bank staff had colluded with the fraudsters and given details of the money in the accounts and the signatures of the account holders. Nor is it clear whether the banks have apprised the Reserve Bank of India of the fraud. The role of institutions that print cheque books on outsourcing basis is also under the scanner.

(This story was originally published in onmanorama)

Continue reading here:

Cheque cloning in Kochi: How north Indian racket scammed banks of Rs 2.6 cr - THE WEEK

Minister of State Security Ayanda Dlodlo. (Photo : Moeletsi Mabe / Sunday Times)

So thoroughly have South Africas security and intelligence services been corrupted and repurposed that if they were an ailing person in need of psychological diagnosis, one would immediately offer pathological liar.

And so we must treat information that the cellphones of State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo and her deputy, Zizi Kodwa, as well as those of several other ministry officials, had been cloned, with the prerequisite caution.

So too reports that an undisclosed sum of money, as well as classified documents, had been stolen from the safe of the State Security Offices in Pretoria in January in what is believed to have been an inside job.

That is what unfortunately happens when state institutions are unconstitutionally repurposed, plundered, corrupted and weaponised as political tools in factional battles.

The security needs of the South African Republic play second fiddle to those who have climbed the greasy pole of politics and personal power, and this is especially so in the murky and unaccountable world that passes for South African intelligence.

The phone cloning story first surfaced on 26 February 2020, in Independent Group titles. The incident was later confirmed by department spokesperson Mava Scott who told News24 that the matter had been reported to the Gauteng SAPS, which had allocated high-profile investigators to look into the matter.

On the surface, this would appear to be perfectly reasonable until one pauses to grasp for logic and to ask the question: Why take it to the SAPS? Surely the State Security Agency has its own counter-intelligence capacity?

Until you realise that its own counter-intelligence capacity might not be on the books at all and that the Special Operations Unit (SOU), headed by Zumas spy Thulani Dlomo and its 186 rogue agents have still not been rounded up by law enforcement agencies.

This is despite evidence to the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and the findings of the High-Level Panel Review report on state security which found the SOU was being run as a private, parallel and unconstitutional unit reporting only to Jacob Zuma while paid for by the citizens.

In fact, it was the inspector-general of intelligence himself who revealed, during a conversation with the public protector, that about 186 rogue SSA agents were still out there somewhere, operating merrily, unaccountable to the SSA or anyone else. They had access to safe houses stuffed to the rafters with cash.

So, what do we know about the phone cloning?

The lore so far is that a message appeared to have been sent from Kodwas mobile phone to other staffers in the department. It is an important detail as these are ministry and not SSA staff.

Kodwa has insisted he did not send the message and it was this that led to the discovery that the phones of the ministers and officials had been cloned. Of course, it would shed a tiny shard of light should Deputy Minister Kodwa share the message sent from his phone. It would provide a vital clue as to the intention of the cloners.

When the message was sent and how the cloning of the ministers phones, as well as that of other officials, was discovered would also help to unravel the tight knot of smoke and mirrors.

But perhaps something is being pre-empted here?

Perhaps, in time, some sort of message will surface and when it does Kodwa will be able to respond whether this is/was the message sent from his cloned phone.

The most baffling question is, why hand the matter to the SAPS when the SSA should surely have some sort of relatively reliable counter-intelligence capacity despite the deep rot? Are there no ethical members who can be relied on?

Maybe not.

Experts in the field are in agreement that once suspicions have been raised that a phone or device has been cloned the best and most logical course would be to keep it quiet, set a trap and bust the snooper.

Detective work 101.

One would imagine that the Ministry of State Security and its staff would have sophisticated encryption software on their government-issued phones. Whoever it was that allegedly cloned the phones themselves must have been in possession of sophisticated systems.

Which points to the rogue SOU and Dlomo, with the SOUs immense capacity built up over years.

So, are Dlodlo and Kodwa the targets of a disinformation campaign?

While Dlodlo came out in a full-throated support of ANC SG Ace Magashule in 2018, she is known to be flexible.

Dlodlo has been in reported conflict with SSA domestic branch head Mahlodi Muofhe. The SSA acting head, Loyiso Jafta, too is viewed as being a Thuma Mina acolyte.

There are those who are of the opinion that the High-Level Panel Review report did not go far enough. Sure, it exposed the whole shadow world of Zumas private army of spies who blew billions in taxpayers money, but the institution itself should have been disbanded

It has been a long time coming.

We should not only blame Zuma for the mess which continues to place South Africas national security at risk every day.

As Professor Jane Duncan noted in her 2018 book Stopping the Spies Constructing and resisting the surveillance state in South Africa, the rot is not episodic but systemic. The illegal spying on domestic political groupings as well as anyone else in the republic has virtually been normalised for more than 20 years.

Duncan notes that the downhill trajectory began around 2003 when the Thabo Mbeki presidency required an expansion of the NIAs mandate, resulting in a directive that included political and economic intelligence.

In the case of political intelligence, the NIA was to focus on the strengths and the weaknesses of political formations, their constitutions and plans, political figures and their role in governance, said Duncan.

By 2004, the intelligence service had ballooned in size and personnel and accounted for an unsustainable 74% of the total domestic intelligence budget.

In 2005, signs emerged that intelligence operatives were becoming embroiled in the factional battles in the ANC: a problem that was proved to exist by a commission of inquiry which partly blamed the culture of secrecy in the intelligence services as the problem.

These are dangerous times.

A tipping point will soon be reached as the vast, deep and dangerous network of corrupt officials most of whom belong to the ruling party across all government departments are exposed and their pipelines to unlimited illicit funds are slowly being shut off in an attempt to bring South Africa back from the brink.

In the meantime, always remember, where there is smoke, there are mirrors, and often a raging fire. DM

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Spy vs Spy: cloned phones, break-ins and rogue agents all in a days work at the State Security central - Daily Maverick