Month: October 2011

Pain is Temporary

A police officer decided to demonstrate his basic knowledge of firearm operations, his testicular fortitude, and his desire to live all at the same time:

A quick-handed NYPD sergeant stopped a violent felon from shooting him in the gut by jamming his ring finger under the hammer of the felon’s .38 revolver, cops said today.
Sgt. Michael Miller and Officer William Reddin were on patrol when they noticed a livery cab speeding eastbound on Quincy Street near Malcolm X Boulevard at about 4 a.m. today. The plainclothes cops pulled the beige Lincoln Towncar over, but when they walked up displaying their shields they noticed that one of the passengers in the back seat, Eugene Graves, was making suspicious movements near his waistband.

[…]

Graves managed to press his Taurus .38 revolver into Miller’s stomach, but Miller grabbed hold of the gun, wedging his right ring finger between the gun’s hammer and cylinder, before the murderous Graves could fire a shot.

As Uncle pointed out that probably hurt but pain is temporary, death is forever. It commend officer Miller for having an impecable ability to think quickly enough to see the situation, concoct a plan, and execute that plan in the span of time it took another person to simply pull on a trigger. That’s a true display of badassery.

Working With the Enemy

It appears as though things aren’t going so well for Obama’s lastest stimulus plan and he’s looking to Harry Reid for some much needed assistance:

Adopting a defiant tone after the vote, Mr Obama said he would work with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to see that individual proposals in the bill gained a vote as soon as possible.

Obama better check who his friends are because Reid wasn’t very helpful with this bill last week.

Wait People are Taking Free Stuff, Next You’ll Tell Me Water is Wet

The recent occupy movements have been fueled mostly by donated goods. I know the local Minneapolis occupiers are constantly asking for needed items like food, toilet paper, mouthwash, coats, shirts, socks, etc. There’s an obvious problem when you have a gathering fueled entirely by charitable donations, as Miguel at Gun Free Zone points out, people outside of the movement are likely to come and take your shit:

Meanwhile, the protesters are starting to notice folks taking advantage of the demonstration by grabbing some of the free food and clothes that have been made available in Zuccotti Park.

“The tourists take all the food, and the hipsters take all the clothes,” said one demonstrator.

Yup, this happens when you no longer have a system of strict property rights. If everything is up for grabs don’t be surprised if everybody grabs things. This is a major problem that develops in any setting where property rights aren’t strictly defined or enforced. If you’re providing free for for everybody then need to understand people are going to be showing up regardless of whether or not they are part of your movement because they want free shit.

Behavior like this is also what dictates the end of societies build around the idea of, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” While the people of ability will produce for the needs of society at first they will eventually realize that they’re working their asses off while those providing nothing towards the betterment of society reap all of the reward. Once the people of ability realize this they will cease producing and become one of the leeches. Why work your ass off if you’re not going to receive anything for your efforts when you can kick back, relax, and receive everything you need without having to work? When you have a society composed entirely of leeches the blood eventually runs out and all perish.

Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, I’m not saying voluntary donations are bad. I give money to quite a few organizations. But those who support the abolition of property rights and freely giving anything to anybody who asks need to realize that the system will attract leeches. If you’re OK with this then by all means provide goods freely to those who ask but don’t complain when the leeches show up and start taking everything.

Last Night’s Republican Presidential Candidate Debate

It’s a new week which means a new Republican presidential candidate debate. There isn’t much to say about this debate that I haven’t said in posts about previous debates. Basically the entire debate can be summed up as follows: Everybody there besides Ron Paul is a fucking idiot and our country is boned if any of them obtain power of if Obama keeps his.

With that said there were some highlights. First of all Herman Cain really fucked up because when the moderator asked him who he thought was a good Federal Reserve chairman the answer that came out of his mouth was Alan Greenspan. While the answer was idiotic Ron Paul wasted not time jumping on that and pointing out the fact that Bernanke is just a continuation of Greenspan which is lead to more continuous bubbles.

A couple people at the debate watching party (yes, we have those) were playing the Herman Cain drinking game. The Herman Cain drinking game is very easy and consists of taking a drink every time he says the phrase, “nine nine nine.” The downside to this game is that you can get completely obliterated in a very short span of time so you may pass out and miss the tailing half of the debate (although the brain damage caused by the alcohol will be negligible compared to the brain damage caused by watching the rest of the debate). I still don’t understand how Cain thinks giving the federal government another source of revenue in the form of a federal sales tax is a good idea. While I detest Bachmann she pointed out the fact that governments aren’t very willing to voluntarily give up revenue streams but are more than willing to increase the size of those streams.

Bachmann has been fun to watch because she’s acting like an injured animal and striking at anything that gets close to her. She made a great quip about 999 turned upside down becomes 666. Being a religious zealot I kind of expected hearing her say that but damn it was still fun even though I saw it coming.

That’s about all I can say about this debate that I haven’t said about previous debates.

This is Why I Run My Own Cloud

With all the talk about cloud computing I finally decided to build my own cloud. I’m rocking in the cloud without relying on third-party solutions and absolutely loving it. What finally coaxed me into moving everything onto my own infrastructure was the ever increasing powers government officials have been claiming in the realm of data acquisition. The federal government can send a letter out to a company and demand information about a customer be turned over. While the government has been able to exercise similar powers in the past through acquisition of a warrant they weren’t able to force the target company to keep the request for information secret like they can today. Well it seems Google and Sonic were targets of a recent federal fishing expedition:

The U.S. government has obtained a controversial type of secret court order to force Google Inc. and small Internet provider Sonic.net Inc. to turn over information from the email accounts of WikiLeaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

[…]

Both Google and Sonic pressed for the right to inform Mr. Appelbaum of the secret court orders, according to people familiar with the investigation. Google declined to comment. Mr. Appelbaum, 28 years old, hasn’t been charged with wrongdoing.

As we’re hearing about this story it seems that Google and Sonic were successful in fighting the government demand of secrecy, this isn’t always the case though. The government very well could have obtained information about you from a company and you’ll never know unless they decided to move in and arrest you. If the government wants my data they’re going to have to send me one of those secret letters thus ensuring I know they’re spying on me.

The only way you can guarantee your data remains under your control is if you exercise complete control over it. If you store your data on a third-party service there is no way you can know other people don’t have access to it.

Chaos Computer Club Claims to have Cracked Spying Software Used by the German Government

It seems the American government doesn’t have a monopoly on illegally spying on its citizens. The Chaos Computer Club claims to have crack malicious software used by the German government to illegally spy on its citizens:

It sounds like something out of George Orwell’s novel “1984” — a computer program that can remotely control someone’s computer without their knowledge, search its complete contents and use it to conduct audio-visual surveillance via the microphone or webcam.

But the spy software that the famous German hacker organization Chaos Computer Club has obtained is not used by criminals looking to steal credit-card data or send spam e-mails. If the CCC is to be believed, the so-called “Trojan horse” software was used by German authorities. The case has already triggered a political shockwave in the country and could have far-reaching consequences.

On Saturday, the CCC announced that it had been given hard drives containing a “state spying software” which had allegedly been used by German investigators to carry out surveillance of Internet communication.

As you can guess this news didn’t surprise me (just once I’d like a government to surprise me by not actually being up to anything nefarious) but I do find it interesting that the software allows the controller to remotely control the target’s computer. Such a feature seems like a potential court defense since somebody whose machine was infected with the software could claim that the police are framing him. Then again the state runs the courts and the police so it’s unlikely any judge would be willing to throw a case out because his fellow state agents were doing something naughty. That isn’t even the worst part though, the software also demonstrates that a state can’t actually do anything with any measurable amount of competency:

The organization had analyzed the software and found it to be full of defects. They also found that it transmitted information via a server located in the US. As well as its surveillance functions, it could be used to plant files on an individual’s computer. It was also not sufficiently protected, so that third parties with the necessary technical skills could hijack the Trojan horse’s functions for their own ends. The software possibly violated German law, the organization said.

Nice, not only does the software allow a third-party to remotely control the system but it’s also full of security holes so any jackass on the Internet could waltz right in. Security flaws is ultimately the reason I don’t believe any evidence gathered from software of this nature should be admissible in court. Anytime you install a new piece of software you face possible security issues that could allow a third-party to gain remote access to your system. If state agents infect your machine with this software and a third-party uses a security flaw in the software to access your machine and perform illegal acts it’s most likely the state is going to target you because they already suspect you’re up to something they don’t approve of.

I also find the fact that the software transmits data to server in the United States interesting. This could be a barrier put into place so the gathered evidence lies outside of German jurisdiction (for instance if the software is discovered and the state decides to perform an investigation into what was gathered). Another possible reason for sending data to the United States could be due to some secret agreement between the two country’s governments regarding intelligence sharing. Of course it could just be due to the software manufacturer being a United States company and the software is transmitting quality assurance data.

Either way this story should demonstrate the fact that agents of the state can never be trusted. Software such as this is supposed to be illegal according to German law:

If the CCC’s claims are true, then the software has functions which were expressly forbidden by Germany’s highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court, in a landmark 2008 ruling which significantly restricted what was allowed in terms of online surveillance. The court also specified that online spying was only permissible if there was concrete evidence of danger to individuals or society.

When has a state complied with its own ruling though? While I hope the information being presented by the Chaos Computer Club is incorrect I honestly trust a group of hackers far more than any government.

Some Common Sense from Wisconsin’s Attorney General

While I’m not keen on Wisconsin’s rule requiring four hours of training before a person can exercise their Constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms, it’s still not as bad of a system as it could have been. It’s also good to hear some common sense come from Attorney General Van Hollen:

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Thursday he would be comfortable with allowing people to carry guns in the Capitol and other state buildings.

“I don’t have a problem with it, but I’m not going to have a say in that,” the Republican attorney general said in an interview.

“One of the oldest arguments out there is that the criminals – the ones who aren’t entitled to have firearms – are carrying concealed already,” he added. “They’re the ones we’re worried about, not the ones who are going to be abiding by the law.”

There is no danger in a person like myself carrying a firearm into any building. I’m a peaceful person who will only use violence in response to somebody initiating violence against myself. Regardless of what the anti-gunners think the majority of people are in the same boat as me, if it were otherwise we wouldn’t have a functioning society. Sadly there are violent individuals in our society and the best way for us peaceful citizens to defend ourselves against such scourge is by having a proper self-defense tool available to us.

We’re not the ones who law enforcement officers should be concerning themselves with. If law enforcement are concerned with criminals carrying firearms into the Capitol building they can do what Texas does and install metal detectors but allowing those with permit to bypass the security as they’ve already been checked out through a background check and are known to be free of violent crime.

This year saw massive protests at the Capitol as Republicans who run the Legislature debated and passed a new law that eliminated most collective bargaining for most public workers. Van Hollen said those demonstrations did not change his opinion on whether people should be allowed to carry guns in the Capitol.

“Any one of them could have been carrying a firearm without our knowledge already had they wanted to do so,” Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen seems to understand a fact most anti-gunners fail to grasp, bad people will do bad things regardless of the laws put into place telling them they can’t. A statute passed by some politicians isn’t going to stop a violent criminal from performing a violent act.

“I’m a proponent of concealed carry for law-abiding citizens because I don’t believe there has been a redeeming argument or evidence of the government (needing) to interfere in our lives in that category because there’s just not this pile of anecdotal cases where law-abiding citizens are abusing firearms to the detriment of the public,” Van Hollen said. “So I don’t know that there’s a problem to protect ourselves from.”

This is where the anti-gunners have failed to make a case; they’ve been crying that there will be blood in the streets if carry laws are loosened but so far there hasn’t been any evidence supporting their claim.

Who Needs Crime When You’ve Got Pre-Crime

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) obtained some rather chilling documents through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The documents cover the Department of Motherland Homeland Security’s new Fast Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), or as I like to call it pre-crime:

EPIC filed two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) to obtain information about the agency’s public testing of a new sensor array used to conduct covert surveillance of individuals who are not suspected of any crime. The sensors secretly collect and record information concerning individuals, including video images, audio recordings, cardiovascular signals, pheromones, electrodermal activity, and respiratory measurements.

[…]

According to documents published by the Department of Homeland Security, FAST is a Minority Report style initiative that seeks to determining the probability that an individual, who is not suspected of any crime, might commit a future criminal act. Under the FAST program, the DHS will collect and retain of a mix of “physiological and behavioral signals” from individuals as they engage in daily activities.

Not only do we have our government secretly collecting information on citizens but that information is being used to determine whether or not the target has committed a crime without already existing evidence. I would make an argument that any such “evidence” would never hold up in court but, sadly, our “justice” system has demonstrated a willingness to bypass due process in the name of stopping supposed terrorism.

As I’ve said before this country isn’t becoming a police state, it already is a police state. In fact we have a police state to efficient and with such amazing technology at the state’s fingertips that all previous police states would be insanely jealous.

I would like to know how much money has been sunk into these initiatives. I’m sure trillions of dollars have gone into the so-called “war on terror” and we have nothing to show for it other than ever more draconian legislation and technology used to specifically target American citizens.

Mexican Police Caught Holding Kidnap Victims for Drug Cartels

With friends like this who needs enemies? It’s pretty well known by now that the Mexican drug cartels wield an immense amount of power. Knowing this it shouldn’t be too surprising to hear that some police stations have been holding kidnap victims for the drug cartels:

Several police officers in northern Mexico allowed a violent drug gang to hold kidnap victims in the local jail while ransom payments were being negotiated, an official has said.

Four police officers from Juárez, a suburb of the city of Monterrey, are being held pending further investigation, said Jorge Domene, the security spokesman for Nuevo León state.

The scandal came to light this week when state and federal police freed two kidnapping victims from jail cells in Juárez. Investigators believe that the victims were abducted by the extremely violent Zetas cartel and that the officers were working for the Zetas, Domene said.

So riddle me this. The police are given a monopoly on the initiation of force with the supposed goal being the protection of the citizenry. As the police have a monopoly on this “service” who is supposed to protect the people from the police when they switch sides? Another frightening thought to consider is the high likelihood that other police officers in Mexico are doing the same thing.

Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter California

Not surprisingly Governor Jerry Brown of California has signed into law the ban on openly carrying unloaded firearms in his state:

Gov. Jerry Brown announced early Monday that he had outlawed the open carrying of handguns in public in California, a controversial practice that top law enforcement officials had denounced as dangerous.

Clearing his desk of final bills sent to him by the Legislature, Brown signed the ban into law after it was backed by Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and other law enforcement officials throughout the state.

“I listened to the California police chiefs,” Brown said in a statement.

He listened to the police chiefs by forsaking the people he supposedly represents. So there you have it, your Constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms no longer applies on the People’s Republic of California. This supposed right wasn’t eliminated due to intolerably high gun crimes being committed by those legally carrying but because some police chiefs don’t like the idea that mere serfs could carry an unloaded firearm openly. Although it’s been known for quite some time that police officers, as agents of the state, receive priority over the serfs it’s still sad to watch actual demonstrations of this fact move through the legislative process. Here’s a gem of a quote from one “representative” of California’s serfs:

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge), author of the ban, and his supporters said California is no longer the wild west, where citizens had to carry six-shooters on their hips for protection.

“The bottom line is the streets will be safer for law enforcement and families,” Portantino said.

I’m sure the streets are going to be much safer without those horribly law-abiding people walking around with openly displayed and completely unloaded firearms. Those unloaded guns certainly are known for jumping out of the holsters of the law-abiding and gunning down random people on the street, which is why states that have looser restrictions on carry permits have much higher rates of violent crime… oh wait, that’s not true at all.

Those of you living in California may want to consider either fleeing to the United States or performing mass acts of civil disobedience. Personally I’d take the first option and run to Arizona where your right to keep and bear arms is fully recognized.