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Reason Behind Sunspot Observatory Closure According to Court Documents
A federal search warrant reveals that Sunspot Solar Observatory was shut down as FBI agents conducted computer forensic searches for child pornography.
The source of child pornography was traced to an IP address used at the observatory and a source within the building observed a computer with "not good" images on it, the warrant states.
An investigation by the FBI revealed that a janitor is the main suspect in the search, however he has not been charged with a crime even though his name is on the warrant.
The warrant states the suspect would use the observatory Wifi and a personal laptop to download the child pornography.
A limited number of people have access to the observatory from dusk until dawn, which helped narrow their search.
The observatory in the mountains of southern New Mexico had been closed since Sept. 6 because of an undisclosed security concern, but reopened on Monday.
Reason Behind Sunspot Observatory Closure According to Psychics
Channeled Adronis: There are increasing anomalies taking place upon your sun right now; sun spots, magnetic fluctuation and openings. If these particular observatory labs were not closed down, you would have evidence how spacecrafts can come out of the sun at specific opening points. Scientist don’t understand it, that’s why the observatory closure, and amateours footages are ceased.
[...] Psychic Focus has a bit different story; The Observatory serves for the busy UFO activity in the area, but also for a bigger operation under ground. Large study of ETs going on. There was a breach in security that allowed a Grey to escape and “call” a fellow ship to get him. People were evacuated in fear of a retaliation, until they can be sure they are safe and secure
[...] Hucolo Jim another kind; There are species that are causing some anomalies in the way that is not healthy to the earth, so that is why the observatory was closed, the whole city was affected. I can not give you specifics, but I can tell this, there are also ETs that try to stop the ascension process
https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/beyond-science/2018/2452616.html
[Ed note: Yes, there are several more like these from the same source. Do people really believe this stuff? SMH. --martyb]
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Sunspot Observatory Closed by FBI Due to Security Issue... but We Don't Know Why
AURA Statement about the Status of the Sunspot Solar Observatory
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:03PM
Its not clear if this is an alien craft or lens flare:
http://theearthplan.blogspot.com/2018/09/6-more-solar-observatories-closed-and.html [blogspot.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:04PM
Ferengi are sending transmissions in an attempt to open trade relations with Earth and among their sample merchandise is a rare porno starring Balok and an unnamed Deltan woman.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by nitehawk214 on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:16PM (17 children)
Why are we reporting what a bunch of nutjobs has to say about this as if it matters?
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:30PM
This time the nutjobs are right.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by opinionated_science on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:35PM (2 children)
it's important the media keeps your attention- quality is not a useful metric.
it's important the govt keeps your attention with moral hazards implemented in law and threats of pain- freedom is not measurable by its bounty, only the boundaries.
It's why the very thing that permits "freedom of religion" is used by politicians to divide-and-conquer using dogmatic platitudes.
Who controls the media that moderates your daily thoughts?
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:51PM (1 child)
"Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story." (attributed to Mark Twain)
(Score: 3, Funny) by Absolutely.Geek on Monday September 24 2018, @02:18AM
Mark Twain? I thought that was my Aunt :)
Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:52PM (8 children)
Or maybe the Men in Black / Lizard People have got to martyb and he's now part of the cover up... Trust no one!
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:55PM (2 children)
The "official" story doesnt make much more sense than the crazy conspiracies at this point. Also, these were originally two seperate submissions.
(Score: 5, Informative) by zocalo on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:27PM (1 child)
The use of a Blackhawk helicopter - albeit unclear if this was to get the FBI to site, or just overwatch by local military
The Observatory's closure for 12 days
The closure of the local post office
Most (all?) staff being sent home for the duration
Local law enforcement not having a clue what was going on
Agents climbing on the radio mast
Still no arrest of the named suspect
Others?
Logically that leaves two options, either it's an incredibly robust response and thorough investigation by the FBI that somehow still hasn't managed to produce enough evidence to indict yet (where have I heard that before?), or they're deliberately trying to post bizarre alternative theories to help cast doubt on anyone who comes up with something approximating the actual story. YMMV as to what that might be, of course, or even whether the whole thing is a false flag to distract conspiracy nuts from something else entirely.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:49PM
The wild speculations of the psychics are funny, its literally the lowest quality type of evidence there is. So whats going on when the official explanation makes just as much sense?
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday September 23 2018, @10:17PM (4 children)
I am related (by marriage) to several conspiracy theorists and they will be all over this.
I will find out what's really going on and then let you all know.
brb.
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:10PM (3 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Touché) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:20PM (2 children)
If I do that the CIA will start broadcasting show tunes through my teeth again, but then you'd like that wouldn't you?
(Score: 2) by arulatas on Monday September 24 2018, @01:38PM
Maybe we like show tunes.
----- 10 turns around
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday September 24 2018, @05:26PM
If I do that the CIA will start broadcasting show tunes through my teeth again, but then you'd like that wouldn't you?
Oh god no! I prefer Jazz.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:52PM
Lest you start to suspect that people are, in general, good at heart, rational, and participating in reality with others.
When you start to wonder about this, it might be a good idea to search youtube for "flat earth truth [youtube.com]" and be quickly disabused of the notion.
(Score: 3, Touché) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Sunday September 23 2018, @10:46PM (2 children)
Because each nutjob's vote counts for as much as yours?
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Monday September 24 2018, @05:29PM (1 child)
Because each nutjob's vote counts for as much as yours?
Nah, most of these folks live out in the sticks. Their vote counts more!
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Tuesday September 25 2018, @12:57PM
Now you've depressed me even more.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:31PM (23 children)
I'm all for catching pervs as much as the next guy, but shutting down an observatory costing hundreds of millions of dollars for weeks because you can't be bothered to capture logs and search forensic images offline? Child Porn isn't malware, it doesn't spread around the system and destroy or corrupt data and systems.
It's a long term peeve of mine that the costs law enforcement and investigation creates and imposes on innocents isn't always factored into decision making.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:52PM (8 children)
The original reports mentioned helicopters and crews on antennae and such, so the janitor looking at cp explanation doesnt make much sense.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:47PM (7 children)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by requerdanos on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:56PM (5 children)
Your theory requires a custodial employee to be a child-porn offender who calls in a bomb threat costing millions of dollars, yet who somehow is not even arrested. It's not exactly overwhelming anyone with its credibility, in other words.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Sunday September 23 2018, @07:28PM (4 children)
FWIW, as my other posts should make clear, I think the official story has some huge holes in it and they're probably covering up for something, but I doubt very much that it's aliens or some psychic mumbo-jumbo - I did LOL at some of theories in the linked site though. Occam's Razor also says the truth is far more likely to be mundane, so I'd actually go with either what turned out in hindsight to be a huge over-reaction on their part, avoiding releasing too much detail on an on-going investigation, or something espionage related.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @07:43PM
Even the sheriffs phone went dead when he was talking to the press...
https://www.abqjournal.com/1219922/nm-solar-observatory-closed-authorities-mum.html [abqjournal.com]
(Score: 2) by arslan on Sunday September 23 2018, @10:50PM (2 children)
Uh.. if the custodian was threatening to law officials he/she'd get locked up. Don't even have to be a bomb threat. Also, the place was lock down for how many weeks? Does it really take that long to search the place? If they can call in blackhawks, I'm sure they can spare more staff on ground if it was that serious.
Haven't yet heard anything to reasonably explain the series of events. The closest, and simplest, so far is still they cook up some fake event to lock it down for some unknown reason.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:54PM (1 child)
In the affidavit it says they reported cp coming from the observatories IP address on july 31. The "chief observer" found the laptop Aug 21st (but actually this laptop had been seen by him months earlier in a strange place; stuffed between the "cpu", im guessing tower, of another computer, and wall) that showed an image of a naked adult woman that rapidly changed into a little girl wearing a mask.
The fbi then came to sieze the laptop the same day (aug 21st). The next day the chief observer said the janitor started saying security was lax, he saw wierd people in the parking lot, etc. Then sep 6 the fbi warrent to search the laptop, they already had, was filed.
https://www.scribd.com/document/389157276/Sunspot-Observatory-Affidavit [scribd.com]
So what need for crews and helicopters and shutdown?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @12:05AM
Dont see any mention of the "loose serial killer" in that document either.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:56PM
So someone was making bomb threats to the observatory and post office. Ok, that could work for some of it. But why is it still a secret? When have you ever heard of people being evacuated from multiple bomb threats without being told why? Not even the police were told.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:53PM (5 children)
The FBI claims it wasn't them that made the decision to close the observatory. They say it was the management at, or in charge of the observatory due to the janitor acting like a whack job and talking about serial killers attacking the place.
I don't know if that's the case, but it goes along with what I've seen working for a university whenever there's a security alert, no matter how outlandish. The administrators will err on the side of extreme caution regardless of the budget cost.
I must admit, my theory of a counterintelligence investigation was apparently wrong as well. I doubt the FBI would make a cover story for that as weird as this one (especially involving charges against someone for a different crime and a phony search warrant). They'd just stay silent about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:58PM (4 children)
Source?
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:39PM (3 children)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:46PM (2 children)
I meant the janitor serial killer thing, wasnt that just speculation?
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Monday September 24 2018, @05:28AM (1 child)
No. The suspect in the child pornography was a janitor who lived on site and had keys to the whole place. After the laptop that he was using to serve the files from was taken (without him knowing), he started getting more agitated and ranting about people coming in from outside stealing things. Ultimately it reached the point where he was claiming to the chief observer that there was a serial killer who might attack the place. Like I said: A whack job.
from a Las Cruces NM newspaper: https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/new-mexico/2018/09/20/sunspot-nm-observatory-fbi-investigation-child-pornography/1374860002/ [lcsun-news.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @01:02PM
Well, I couldnt find mention of the serial killer thing in the affidavit (its linked elsewhere in this thread). Also, keep in mind basically the two people with access were the cheif observer and janitor, and all that info is coming from the chief observer.
So they could be considering the possibility of a framing here. Chief observer knows the janitor is going out of town for a week, turns off his laptop, turns it back on when the janitor returns...and it did say the cheif observer knew about the laptop for months but didnt report it.
Regardless, the crews on antennae and blackhawk helicopters and mysterious authorities telling the post office to evacuate, all without telling the local police why, weeks after the laptop was already siezed, still dont fit.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by loonycyborg on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:15PM (6 children)
I find such reaction to mere child porn troubling. They're chasing it like it's some sort of treason. Any sort of ideology control is ripe for abuse, even if that ideology control enforces the idea of not jerking off to underage child photos.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:57PM (5 children)
The story I read (and who knows what the real facts are) is that a "janitor" was leaving a laptop there running as a server.
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Sunday September 23 2018, @06:04PM (4 children)
Still it doesn't justify closure of entire facility. Only radiation leak or other situation like that can justify it.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday September 23 2018, @08:59PM
I agree 100%, and I never said it does justify closing the entire facility. In fact, please read my comment that should appear a few lines below this.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by exaeta on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:15PM (1 child)
The way I see it there are three possibilities:
a) The child porno story is a cover up for something serious which happened. The authorities don't want us to panic and want everyone to go about normally. E.g. attempted terror attack.
b) They really did shut down an entire observatory to seize a laptop. The FBI are protecting the children (tm) by deploying all possible personel by going all out and getting this evil and dangerous laptop that endangered the entire building, requiring tatical teams to seize lest the evil laptop of doom take hostages. Thank god the FBI swarmed the building, and nobody was hurt by this evil laptop of doom*, which faced with the sheer number and volume of FBI agents, decided to surrender without a fight.
c) The FBI is just trying to frame/harass somebody they don't like.
* This laptop was mutated by exposure to nuclear material and that's why it became a super dangerous killer evil laprop of doom requiring SWAT teams to seize.
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @12:17AM
The laptop was already held by the FBI aug 21st...
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 24 2018, @07:43PM
It takes a while to search the basement to make sure there isn't a hidden pizzeria producing the child porn.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:54PM
I agree. The fundamental problem: the personality, motives, and mindset of most of the kinds of people who choose that vocation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @05:16PM (1 child)
I think is a fine post (observatory, porn, etc.) without the psychic bullshit.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by requerdanos on Sunday September 23 2018, @09:28PM
Presenting the official explanation alongside nutty-fringe explanations can help illustrate that the official explanation, like the (other) nutty ones, is lacking in logic and credibility.
The explanation is probably relatively simple, but it almost certainly isn't one of those as put forth and cited in TFS, above.
Heck, there's somebody in this very discussion thread who has offered that perhaps the FBI brought in helecopter teams to examine the observatory's antennae for bombs owing to a bomb threat from the janitor, and then, for weeks, remained so befuddled that they couldn't figure out what violation of the criminal code to charge him with*.
It's like there's a SEP field around the incident.
------
* Why not USC 18, Part I, Ch. 40, Sec. 844e [cornell.edu] to start with?
Not rocket science. Just sayin'.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @07:57PM (1 child)
Why is no one linking to this supposed affidavit? I cant find it.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @08:27PM
https://www.scribd.com/document/389157276/Sunspot-Observatory-Affidavit [scribd.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by exaeta on Sunday September 23 2018, @10:20PM (1 child)
All this fuss over some computer images? They didn't need to shut down the observatory and evacuate the post office to copy some data off a few computers. I think I smell a cover-up. It's clear we wont get to know what really happened.
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @03:30PM
The observatory was busy in shooting images of underage sunspots. And none of those sunspots was wearing clothes. ;-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @10:20PM
Oh come on! Not even Anunnaki technology is that advanced. The ancients [wikia.com] were the only ones capable of building such technology in the entire local group [wikipedia.org], but they ascended long ago.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:59PM
Given the current social climate...
I'd give a 50% odds that the Feds were telling the truth this time, and the other 50% divided among ALL the competing ideas, including "don't know".
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Monday September 24 2018, @02:38AM
I think I liked the space aliens story better. At least it was believable! Shutting down an entire observatory because someone found some very dirty pictures on a computer there? Please!!!
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.