Month: March 2012

Nothing is Sacred Anymore

My childhood consisted of more SimCity and SimCity 2000 than I care to admit so I was excited when a new SimCity game was announced. That hope has now been entirely dashed:

“We’re talking about a SimCity where the resources are finite,” Bradshaw said, “where you’re going to be struggling with some of the decisions that people are faced with today, where technology and advances can ultimately have global impact.”

To emphasize that point, publisher EA had An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim speak at the announcement event. Aside from the scientific and political barriers to slowing and reversing global climate change trends, Guggenheim said, there is also a psychological barrier that leads people to disconnect from awareness of the problem and continue to simply live their life as they did before they knew about it.

So politics is being injected into my beloved series. Is nothing sacred anymore? Can’t I just load up a game and play it without some political bullshit message being force fed down my throat? Isn’t the constant propaganda we’re exposed to through the public school system, television, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet enough? No? Find, fuck you guys then, I won’t both with your shitty little propaganda title.

I wonder how far the global warming message will go? Will I be able to build concentration camps and send Sims there when they refuse to pull the party line? Can I start wars with my neighboring cities under false pretenses to acquire more resources? Is one of the goals of being mayor of you city to incite a workers revolution and overthrow the bourgeoisie and establish Marx’s utopia? If you’re going to shot propaganda in my face you might as well go the full monty and turn it into Collectivist’s SimCity.

Seriously, I just want to build a fucking city and, perhaps, call down Godzilla to smash a portion of it when things start getting a little slow. How can anybody fuck up a formula that is so easy to get right?

Taking Back What is Rightfully Theirs

Utah is looking to take back what is rightfully theirs:

Lawmakers who want to seize control of federal lands are pushing a legal battle they insist is winnable despite multiple warnings their effort is highly unconstitutional and almost sure to fail in court.

Utah is poised to become the first state to pass a package of bills that demand the federal government relinquish claims to huge sections of public land. A proposal that advanced Wednesday demands that by 2014 the federal government cede control of nearly 30 million acres — nearly 50 percent of the entire state.

It’s surprising how much land the federal government claims ownership over when you get into the western states. The federal government claims ownership over 70.2% of all land in Utah and they want it back.

The article made a good point that the passage of this bill will likely fail to be recognized by federal courts. Such a ruling is almost guaranteed because of the conflict of interest involved in allowing a court controlled by the federal government to rule on matters directly benefitting the federal government. I don’t see this succeeding but I believe it’s important because it brings to light a problem, the amount of land and natural resources the federal government claims to own.

TSA Body Scanners Rendered Useless

You guys can thank Zerg539 for this wonderfully hilarious news. It appears that somebody found a vulnerability in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) naked body scanner:

For those who don’t or can’t watch the video a transcript has been made available:

Here are several images produced by TSA nude body scanners. You’ll see that the search victim is drawn with light colors and placed on a black background in both images. In these samples, the individuals are concealing metallic objects that you can see as a black shape on their light figure. Again that’s light figure, black background, and BLACK threat items. Yes that’s right, if you have a metallic object on your side, it will be the same color as the background and therefore completely invisible to both visual and automated inspection.

It can’t possibly be that easy to beat the TSA’s billion dollar fleet of nude body scanners, right? The TSA can’t be that stupid, can they?

Unfortunately, they can, and they are. To put it to the test, I bought a sewing kit from the dollar store, broke out my 8th grade home ec skills, and sewed a pocket directly on the side of a shirt. Then I took a random metallic object, in this case a heavy metal carrying case that would easily alarm any of the “old” metal detectors, and walked through a backscatter x-ray at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. On video, of course. While I’m not about to win any videography awards for my hidden camera footage, you can watch as I walk through the security line with the metal object in my new side pocket. My camera gets placed on the conveyer belt and goes through its own x-ray, and when it comes out, I’m through, and the object never left my pocket.

If you want to get something through one of these body scanners just make sure it’s made of metal. I’m guessing the polymer frames of Glock and M&P pistols will set off the scanners so make sure you’re smuggling a metal framed gun, like a 1911.

Does this mean the TSA will admit failure and ditch these scanners? Fuck no! I’ll be money that they’ll now force their victims passengers to submit to a naked body scan and a trip through the metal detectors from here on out. Whatever they decide it’s good to see ingenuity will render their tactics pointless.

Important Stuff to Know

There is some information that’s very important to know such as instructions for making gunpowder using household products:

The best chemistry experiments are those you can perform with items already laying around your house. With only some sugar, salt substitute and an instant cold pack, you can make your very own gunpowder! Being able to make homemade gunpowder without a trip to the store can be a lifesaver, no matter if it’s just for testing out a Civil War-era musket, blowing up stubborn tree stumps, or preparing for battle when imperialists overrun your country.

Materials

  • Instant cold pack
  • Salt substitute
  • Water
  • Glass jars
  • Coffee filters
  • Scale that can measure grams
  • Stove or hotplate

Obviously this isn’t going to make high quality smokeless powder, or anything that can likely be reliably fired out of a modern rifle, but it’s a start. Knowledge like this and the ability to manufacture firearm parts at home is making the desires of gun control advocates more and more impossible.

A tip of the old hat goes to Uncle for this information.

You’re All a Bunch of Socialists


Meme obtained from Facebook

Ludwig von Mises was the man when it came to economics. At a time everybody was preaching the great new planned economy Mises stood, at time, entirely alone in his advocacy of the free market. The Austrian tradition of economics is named so because Mises and his cohorts met at a bar in Austria called The Green Anchor to discuss topics related to economics.

Mises was a total bad ass who wrote large volumes about his theories in his spare time. He also didn’t take shit from anybody and the meme at the start of this post relates to an event where he got fed up talking about distributing income and stormed out of the meeting while calling the other attendees, “a bunch of socialists.” Here’s a short clip explaining Mises’s hijinks:

The man was right, knew he was right, and refused to submit to argumentum ad populum . Refusing to submit to ideas simply because a majority believe them to be true is something we can all learn from the late great Mises.

Hello Mr. or Mrs. DHS Agent

Hello Mr. or Mrs. Department of Motherland Homeland Security Agent,

I see that you’ve come to my site due to one or more of the keywords I’ve printed in the following list:

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Coast Guard (USCG)
Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Border Patrol
Secret Service (USSS)
National Operations Center (NOC)
Homeland Defense
Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Agent
Task Force
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Fusion Center
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
Secure Border Initiative (SBI)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS)
Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS)
Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
Air Marshal
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
National Guard
Red Cross
United Nations (UN)
Assassination
Attack
Domestic security
Drill
Exercise
Cops
Law enforcement
Authorities
Disaster assistance
Disaster management
DNDO (Domestic Nuclear Detection Office)
National preparedness
Mitigation
Prevention
Response
Recovery
Dirty bomb
Domestic nuclear detection
Emergency management
Emergency response
First responder
Homeland security
Maritime domain awareness (MDA)
National preparedness
initiative
Militia
Shooting
Shots fired
Evacuation
Deaths
Hostage
Explosion (explosive)
Police
Disaster medical assistance
team (DMAT)
Organized crime
Gangs
National security
State of emergency
Security
Breach
Threat
Standoff
SWAT
Screening
Lockdown
Bomb (squad or threat)
Crash
Looting
Riot
Emergency Landing
Pipe bomb
Incident
Facility
Hazmat
Nuclear
Chemical spill
Suspicious package/device
Toxic
National laboratory
Nuclear facility
Nuclear threat
Cloud
Plume
Radiation
Radioactive
Leak
Biological infection (or event)
Chemical
Chemical burn
Biological
Epidemic
Hazardous
Hazardous material incident
Industrial spill
Infection
Powder (white)
Gas
Spillover
Anthrax
Blister agent
Chemical agent
Exposure
Burn
Nerve agent
Ricin
Sarin
North Korea
Outbreak
Contamination
Exposure
Virus
Evacuation
Bacteria
Recall
Ebola
Food Poisoning
Foot and Mouth (FMD)
H5N1
Avian
Flu
Salmonella
Small Pox
Plague
Human to human
Human to Animal
Influenza
Center for Disease Control
(CDC)
Drug Administration (FDA)
Public Health
Toxic
Agro Terror
Tuberculosis (TB)
Agriculture
Listeria
Symptoms
Mutation
Resistant
Antiviral
Wave
Pandemic
Infection
Water/air borne
Sick
Swine
Pork
Strain
Quarantine
H1N1
Vaccine
Tamiflu
Norvo Virus
Epidemic
World Health Organization
(WHO) (and components)
Viral Hemorrhagic Fever
E. Coli
Infrastructure security
Airport
Airplane (and derivatives)
Chemical fire
CIKR (Critical Infrastructure & Key Resources)
AMTRAK
Collapse
Computer infrastructure
Communications
infrastructure
Telecommunications
Critical infrastructure
National infrastructure
Metro
WMATA
Subway
BART
MARTA
Port Authority
NBIC (National Biosurveillance Integration Center)
Transportation security
Grid
Power
Smart
Body scanner
Electric
Failure or outage
Black out
Brown out
Port
Dock
Bridge
Cancelled
Delays
Service disruption
Power lines
Drug cartel
Violence
Gang
Drug
Narcotics
Cocaine
Marijuana
Heroin
Border
Mexico
Cartel
Southwest
Juarez
Sinaloa
Tijuana
Torreon
Yuma
Tucson
Decapitated
U.S. Consulate
Consular
El Paso
Fort Hancock
San Diego
Ciudad Juarez
Nogales
Sonora
Colombia
Mara salvatrucha
MS13 or MS-13
Drug war
Mexican army
Methamphetamine
Cartel de Golfo
Gulf Cartel
La Familia
Reynosa
Nuevo Leon
Narcos
Narco banners (Spanish equivalents)
Los Zetas
Shootout
Execution
Gunfight
Trafficking
Kidnap
Calderon
Reyosa
Bust
Tamaulipas
Meth Lab
Drug trade
Illegal immigrants
Smuggling (smugglers)
Matamoros
Michoacana
Guzman
Arellano-Felix
Beltran-Leyva
Barrio Azteca
Artistic Assassins
Mexicles
New Federation
Terrorism
Al Qaeda (all spellings)
Terror
Attack
Iraq
Afghanistan
Iran
Pakistan
Agro
Environmental terrorist
Eco terrorism
Conventional weapon
Target
Weapons grade
Dirty bomb
Enriched
Nuclear
Chemical weapon
Biological weapon
Ammonium nitrate
Improvised explosive device
IED (Improvised Explosive Device)
Abu Sayyaf
Hamas
FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces Colombia)
IRA (Irish Republican Army)
ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna)
Basque Separatists
Hezbollah
Tamil Tigers
PLF (Palestine Liberation Front)
PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization
Car bomb
Jihad
Taliban
Weapons cache
Suicide bomber
Suicide attack
Suspicious substance
AQAP (AL Qaeda Arabian
Peninsula)
AQIM (Al Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb)
TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan)
Yemen
Pirates
Extremism
Somalia
Nigeria
Radicals
Al-Shabaab
Home grown
Plot
Nationalist
Recruitment
Fundamentalism
Islamist
Emergency
Hurricane
Tornado
Twister
Tsunami
Earthquake
Tremor
Flood
Storm
Crest
Temblor
Extreme weather
Forest fire
Brush fire
Ice
Stranded/Stuck
Help
Hail
Wildfire
Tsunami Warning Center
Magnitude
Avalanche
Typhoon
Shelter-in-place
Disaster
Snow
Blizzard
Sleet
Mud slide or Mudslide
Erosion
Power outage
Brown out
Warning
Watch
Lightening
Aid
Relief
Closure
Interstate
Burst
Emergency Broadcast System
Cyber security
Botnet
DDOS (dedicated denial of
service)
Denial of service
Malware
Virus
Trojan
Keylogger
Cyber Command
2600
Spammer
Phishing
Rootkit
Phreaking
Cain and abel
Brute forcing
Mysql injection
Cyber attack
Cyber terror
Hacker
China
Conficker
Worm
Scammers
Social media

Judging by the extremely long list [PDF] of keywords DHS uses to monitor social networking sites you have your work cut out for you. In fact judging by the frequently used words like spammer, China, storm, flood, and pirates you’re forced to scour almost the entire Internet. Hell being the agency you work for is one of the listed keywords you’re likely also forced to scour your entire intranet as well.

I would like to thank Bruce Schneier for bringing this list to my attention so that I could get your attention. Now that I have your attention I have a message for you and your fellow government agents: fuck you. Feel free to forward my message to your boss.

Even though your list is quite extensive I’ve noticed several words missing that you may wish to add: sovereign, anarchist, freedom, liberty, founding fathers, rights, and ponies. Why ponies? Because of this guy.

Anyways you should get back to work. Feel free to nose around my sight for a bit, I’m sure you’ll find something in need of additional DHS attention. If you have any questions feel free to submit them to the e-mail address listed on the right-hand side of this page, I’ll get back to you at my earliest convenience (do be warned though that any reply sent from my will contain an attached image of some pornographic image so vulgar that the strongest eye bleach won’t be capable of removing it).

Sincerely,

Christopher Burg

You Can’t Trust Anybody Anymore

Remember Lulz Security? They were the hacker group that was traveling around the Internet and breaking into site for shits and giggles? While they were in full swing I mentioned that they, along with Anonymous, were good testers of Internet anonymity:

I often talk about the importance of anonymity and groups like Lulz Security and Anonymous make great testers of the ability to remain anonymous on the Internet. People likely to be prosecuted by law enforcement would do well to watch the actions of these groups and determine how they are able to avoid law enforcement. If the tactics used by these groups allows them to avoid those who are seeking them out then the same tactics can be used by political dissidents in oppressive countries. Those wishing to release dirt on private or government entities would also be well served by such information.

It appears as though some work is still needed in the field of Internet anonymity:

Law enforcement agents on two continents swooped in on top members of the infamous computer hacking group LulzSec early this morning, and acting largely on evidence gathered by the organization’s brazen leader — who sources say has been secretly working for the government for months — arrested three and charged two more with conspiracy.

Law enforcement was finally able to close in on several members of Lulz Security by gleaming information from the group’s leader, who provided evidence in, what I’m guessing was, exchange for either a reduced sentence or no sentence at all:

The offshoot of the loose network of hackers, Anonymous, believed to have caused billions of dollars in damage to governments, international banks and corporations, was allegedly led by a shadowy figure FoxNews.com has identified as Hector Xavier Monsegur. Working under the Internet alias “Sabu,” the unemployed, 28-year-old father of two allegedly commanded a loosely organized, international team of perhaps thousands of hackers from his nerve center in a public housing project on New York’s Lower East Side. After the FBI unmasked Monsegur last June, he became a cooperating witness, sources told FoxNews.com.

Obviously Monsegur failed to anonymize himself property as did his cohorts. This failure could have been through bragging about his capers, having his machine compromised, or by failing to properly anonymize his traffic during the attacks. His cohorts failed to keep themselves anonymous from Monsegur. If you’re going to be committing illegal acts it is best that you divulge no information about yourself to you coconspirators as such information could lead to your arrest if any other member is arrested.

The State’s Citizen Hit List

Attorney General Eric “Arm the Mexican Drug Cartels to Make an Excuse for Gun Control” Holder has finally let us mere peasants in on the criteria used by the United States government to decide when it will kill its own citizens:

Much has been made of the distinction between our federal civilian courts and revised military commissions. The reality is that both incorporate fundamental due process and other protections that are essential to the effective administration of justice – and we should not deprive ourselves of any tool in our fight against al Qaeda.

[…]

I have faith in the framework and promise of our military commissions, which is why I’ve sent several cases to the reformed commissions for prosecution. There is, quite simply, no inherent contradiction between using military commissions in appropriate cases while still prosecuting other terrorists in civilian courts. Without question, there are differences between these systems that must be – and will continue to be – weighed carefully. Such decisions about how to prosecute suspected terrorists are core Executive Branch functions. In each case, prosecutors and counterterrorism professionals across the government conduct an intensive review of case-specific facts designed to determine which avenue of prosecution to pursue.

Several practical considerations affect the choice of forum.

First of all, the commissions only have jurisdiction to prosecute individuals who are a part of al Qaeda, have engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, or who have purposefully and materially supported such hostilities. This means that there may be members of certain terrorist groups who fall outside the jurisdiction of military commissions because, for example, they lack ties to al Qaeda and their conduct does not otherwise make them subject to prosecution in this forum. Additionally, by statute, military commissions cannot be used to try U.S. citizens.

Second, our civilian courts cover a much broader set of offenses than the military commissions, which can only prosecute specified offenses, including violations of the laws of war and other offenses traditionally triable by military commission. This means federal prosecutors have a wider range of tools that can be used to incapacitate suspected terrorists. Those charges, and the sentences they carry upon successful conviction, can provide important incentives to reach plea agreements and convince defendants to cooperate with federal authorities.

Third, there is the issue of international cooperation. A number of countries have indicated that they will not cooperate with the United States in certain counterterrorism efforts — for instance, in providing evidence or extraditing suspects – if we intend to use that cooperation in pursuit of a military commission prosecution. Although the use of military commissions in the United States can be traced back to the early days of our nation, in their present form they are less familiar to the international community than our time-tested criminal justice system and Article III courts. However, it is my hope that, with time and experience, the reformed commissions will attain similar respect in the eyes of the world.

Basically whenever a military commission decides that you’re a member of Al Qaeda and it is otherwise inconvenient to deal with you that commission can order your executed. Reading through the speech I’m convinced that Holder gets off on his power to kill American people, the speech is him basically masturbating to how awesome he believes the state to be. What a power hungry prick.

I wonder why this justification will start being applied to other supposed terrorists? Perhaps the state will justify murdering sovereign individuals. Who knows? The state isn’t accountable to anybody and that’s what the founders of this country warned us about. It’s too bad we didn’t listen to them.

It’s Not a Lack of Intelligence

A recent study showing that people are “too stupid” for democracy to flourish has been circulating:

The democratic process relies on the assumption that citizens (the majority of them, at least) can recognize the best political candidate, or best policy idea, when they see it. But a growing body of research has revealed an unfortunate aspect of the human psyche that would seem to disprove this notion, and imply instead that democratic elections produce mediocre leadership and policies.

The research, led by David Dunning, a psychologist at Cornell University, shows that incompetent people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people, or the quality of those people’s ideas. For example, if people lack expertise on tax reform, it is very difficult for them to identify the candidates who are actual experts. They simply lack the mental tools needed to make meaningful judgments.

Where do I even begin to start with this? First let’s begin with the assumption that people are generally unable to recognize the “best political candidate” or “best policy idea.” This beginning premises is flawed because what constitutes the “best political candidate” or the “best policy idea” is entirely subjective to the individual making the decision. This is an idea collectivists have a very hard time understanding.

Case in point, some people believe that the best policy with regards to taxes is to entirely abolish taxation, which others believe we need to tax more. These two groups oppose one another because the former believes services currently provided by the government should be voluntarily provided by individuals while the second group believes it is just to forcefully take the produce of each person’s labor in order to distribute it for the “greater good” (can you guess which camp I’m in). Another example is that some people believe the best method of preventing violent crime is to make the tools used by violent criminals illegal while other people believe individuals should have access to those tools to counter the violent criminals. The former believes that criminals will actually obey prohibitions while the latter holds no such delusions.

Democracy fails not because people are too stupid but because people have different desires, beliefs, and goals. What is good for one person isn’t necessary good for another. I’ve gone into detail about why democracy isn’t legitimate, nor should it be seen as a desired societal goal. Individuals must be allowed to pursue their own goals and not be beholden to the whims and desires of others. If my goals align with the goals of another then we can certainly work together but nobody should force such cooperation. Democracy is an attempt to force cooperation but claiming a majority agreement justifies an action. Such a belief is a type of logical fallacy known as argumentum ad populum and its falsehood can be easily proven by the following fact: early in human history the common belief was that Earth was flat and through scientific research we learned that Earth is actually spherical. Even though the majority of people believed Earth was flat it wasn’t true.

When a group democratically agrees on something it means some majority agreed to that thing. That majority will almost always use the threat or application of force to make others comply with the demands of the majority. People are too stupid for democracy, democracy is incompatible with species composed of individual creatures capable of reasoning.

The primary failure of this study can be found in the statement that there are best politicians and policy ideas. Such a statement is a gross display of the self-centered nature of those conducting the study. They assume that they know what is best for everybody and based on that false assumption have arrived at an equally false conclusion. Their conclusion is based on other individuals failing to agree with the study conductor’s definition of what is best. It is the epitome of arrogance to believe that you know what is best for another person and any study based on such a premises is doomed to failure. A more accurate title for this story would have been Arrogant Scientists Demonstrate their Arrogance .

Maryland’s May Issue Carry Permit Process Ruled Unconstitutional

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Alan Gura won another court victory, this time in Maryland:

BELLEVUE, WA – A federal court ruling in Maryland, that the Second Amendment right to bear arms extends beyond the home and that citizens may not be required to offer a “good and substantial reason” for obtaining a concealed carry permit, is a huge victory, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

Ruling in the case of Woollard v. Sheridan – a case brought by SAF in July 2010 on behalf of Maryland resident Raymond Woollard, who was denied his carry permit renewal – the U.S. District Court for Maryland ruled that “The Court finds that the right to bear arms is not limited to the home.”

The ruling can be found here [PDF]:

IV. CONCLUSION

The Court finds that Maryland‘s requirement of a “good and substantial reason” for issuance of a handgun permit is insufficiently tailored to the State‘s interest in public safety and crime prevention. The law impermissibly infringes the right to keep and bear arms, guaranteed by the Second Amendment. The Court will, by separate Order of even date, GRANT Woollard‘s Motion for Summary Judgment and DENY Defendants‘ Motion for Summary Judgment.

You know who’s a sad panda? The Brady Campaign [PDF] (I grabbed a copy of their case docket just in case they decide to toss this one down the memory hole). Apparently they had a vested interest in this case (page 70):

Woollard v. Sheridan (U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland)

The Brady Center is assisting the State of Maryland in this case, brought by the Second Amendment Foundation and Raymond Woollard, challenging the validity of Maryland’s handgun permit process. The named defendants include the Secretary and Superintendent of the Maryland State Police, Terrence Sheridan, and three members of Maryland’s Handgun Permit Review Board.

To qualify for a handgun carry permit in Maryland, an applicant must establish that he or she is an adult; has not been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor for which a term of over 1 year imprisonment has been imposed; has not been convicted of drug crimes; is not an alcoholic or drug addict; and has not exhibited a propensity for violence or instability that may render the applicant’s possession of a handgun dangerous. Additionally, the Superintendent of the State must determine that the applicant “has good and substantial reason to wear, carry, or transport a handgun, such as a finding that the permit is necessary as a reasonable precaution against apprehended danger.”

Plaintiffs contend that the State cannot require handgun permit applicants to prove the above, as it deals with “the exercise of fundamental constitutional rights, including the right to keep and bear arms.” They allege this violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs are asking for permanent injunctive relief against the enforcement of the provisions regulating handgun permits.

On March 22, 2011, the Brady Center filed an amicus brief in the case arguing for dismissal of the lawsuit.

Too bad, so sad. SAF is proving to be the unstoppable behemoth of the litigation world and Alan Gura is their super weapon. I wonder how the Brady Campaign feels right now knowing they have been entirely ineffective at stopping those of us who believe in the right to keep and bear arms from advancing.

Either way this ruling is big. It not only abolishes Maryland’s ability to issue permits on a willy nilly basis but also sets a precedence, which will allow people in other “may issue” states to challenge such barriers between their right to carry a means of self-defense. I wonder who the next violator of the Second Amendment will be to fall before the might of SAF.