Month: November 2016

Without Government Who Would Kill the Dogs

Police perpetrated puppycide (PPP) is a significant problem in the United States. The problem is so widespread that the term puppycide was coined to describe it:

Stories like Smith’s happen all the time. They’re so common that they’ve become known by the grim moniker puppycide. There’s a whole category on Reason’s website for such events, a 16,000-person-strong Facebook group that tracks local media reports of them, and even a database that attempts to collect information on dog shootings nationwide. But no one knows how many dogs are in fact killed by police every year.

A Justice Department official speculated in a 2012 interview with Police magazine that the number could be as high as 10,000 a year, calling it “an epidemic.”

Why are so many dogs being killed by police? Many of these incidents involve dogs that were leashed or kenneled, which leads one to think that many law enforcers simply enjoy killing dogs. The usual schtick we’re fed when these PPPs occur is the time honored “officer safety.” Officer safety are two magical words that when combined are supposed to absolve an officer of any excessive use of force.

At some point people need to ask why the magical words “officer safety” needs to be thrown around so often, especially when we consider the fact that being a police officer isn’t all that dangerous.

Propagandizing Against Secure Communications

It’s no secret that the State is at odds with effective cryptography. The State prefers to keep tabs on all of its subjects and that’s harder to do when they can talk confidentially amongst themselves. What makes matters worse is that the subjects like their confidentiality and seek out tools that provide that to them. So the State has to first convince its subjects that confidentiality is bad, which means it needs to put out propaganda. Fortunately, many journalists are more than happy to produce propaganda for the State:

The RCMP gave the CBC’s David Seglins and the Toronto Star’s Robert Cribb security clearance to review the details of 10 “high priority” investigations—some of which are ongoing—that show how the police is running into investigative roadblocks on everything from locked devices to encrypted chat rooms to long waits for information. The Toronto Star’s headline describes the documents as “top-secret RCMP files.”

The information sharing was stage-managed, however. Instead of handing over case files directly to the journalists, the federal police provided vetted “detailed written case summaries,” according to a statement from Seglins and Cribb. These summaries “[formed] the basis of our reporting,” they said. The journalists were given additional information on background, and allowed to ask questions, according to the statement, but “many details were withheld.”

The stories extensively quote RCMP officials, but also include comment from privacy experts who are critical of the police agency’s approach.

“On the one hand, the [RCMP] do have a serious problem,” said Jeffrey Dvorkin, former vice president of news for NPR and director of the University of Toronto Scarborough’s journalism program. “But to give information in this way to two respected media organizations does two things: it uses the media to create moral panic, and it makes the media look like police agents.”

The line between journalism and propaganda is almost nonexistent anymore. This story is an example of a more subtle form of journalist created propaganda. It’s not so much a case of a journalist writing outright propaganda as it is a journalist not questioning the information being provided by the police.

Journalists, like product reviewers, don’t like to rock the boat because it might jeopardize their access. The police, like product manufacturers, are more than happy to provide product (which is information in the case of police) to writers who show them in a good light. They are much less apt to provide product to somebody who criticizes them (which is why critics have to rely on the Freedom of Information Act). If a journalist wants to keep getting the inside scoop from the police they need to show the police in a good light, which means that they must not question the information they’re being fed too much.

Be wary of what you read in news sources. The information being printed is not always as it appears, especially when the writer wants to maintain their contacts within the State to get the inside scoop.

Too Good to be True

If something sounds like it’s too good to be true it probably is. For example, if you come across a decently specced Android phone that costs $50 chances are the manufacturer is making money on it in some other way, such as surveilling the user to sell their information:

WASHINGTON — For about $50, you can get a smartphone with a high-definition display, fast data service and, according to security contractors, a secret feature: a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours.

Security contractors recently discovered preinstalled software in some Android phones that monitors where users go, whom they talk to and what they write in text messages. The American authorities say it is not clear whether this represents secretive data mining for advertising purposes or a Chinese government effort to collect intelligence.

Is the data being used for advertising or for the Chinese government? Why not both? If the Chinese government is anything like the United States government it’s willing to pay a pretty penny to coax companies into spying on users. I doubt this scam is solely for intelligence gathering since it’s a high cost (manufacturing lots of handsets) strategy with no guarantee of return (how do you convince people with intelligence worth harvesting to use one of these unknown Android phones over an iPhone) but the collected data very well may be sent off to the Chinese government.

This story goes along with the There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL) principle. If you’re using a product or service for free then chances are that you’re the product. Likewise, if you’re using a product or service that appears to be subsidized then the provider is making money back some other way. In the case of cellular network providers subsidized phones were a convenient way to lock customers into two year contracts. In the case of handset manufacturers phones can be subsidized by collecting user data to sell to advertisers.

Without Government Who Would Distribute Child Pornography

I’m sure a few eyebrows were raised when the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) took over, upgraded, operated a major child pornography distribution site. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The FBI wasn’t running just one child pornography site, it was running 23:

The FBI has a controversial new method of fighting child pornography: distributing child pornography. As part of “Operation Pacifier,” the federal law-enforcement agency ran a dark-web child porn clearinghouse called The Playpen for two weeks, delivering malware to any site visitors, in a scheme that was revealed last summer. But it turns out that site may not have been the only dark-web site that the FBI maintained. According to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the agency was actually authorized to takeover 23 child-pornography websites in addition to The Playpen.

According to a recently unsealed FBI affidavit, the 23 Tor-hidden sites were run on one computer server and the FBI requested authority to seize this server and deploy its “network investigative technique” on these sites.

Generally people view distributing child pornography as an especially heinous crime and are very supportive of laws that prohibit it. But like so many other laws, having a badge seems to make it acceptable for a government agent to ignore the prohibition against distributing child pornography. As what point do people decide that this apparent exception to the law is acceptable? And can you really claim to be fighting crime when you’re perpetrating it?

One may also wonder where the FBI finds people that are willing to operate 23 child pornography sites. Anybody operating these sites knows that they are directly involved in both providing a venue for child pornography producers and distributing their content. I can’t think of anybody I know who would be willing to involve themselves in such a thing and I’m guessing many of you can’t either.

The United States has reached the point where the government can no longer pretend that there’s a difference between its law enforcers and the criminals it has tasked them with hunting.

Another Good Mayor

Speaking of townships that have their heads screwed on right, a town in Kentucky also elected a dog as mayor:

On Nov. 8, the small town of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, elected a leader everybody can get behind: a dog named, wait for it, Brynneth Pawltro.

The pit bull was declared mayor in a landslide victory, receiving 3,367 total votes and beating out a unique group of furry and feathery candidates, including a cat, a chicken and a jackass.

And this isn’t the first time the town has elected a dog for mayor:

This is the town’s fourth canine mayor, with the first, a mutt named Goofy, taking office in 1998. A black Lab named Junior followed a few years later. In 2008, the same year Obama was elected, a border collie named Lucy Lou, belonging to Kayser, earned the title.

Many people claim political offices, such as mayorships, should be respected. But the position of mayor, like all political positions, is a joke and should be treated accordingly.

There are also benefits to having dogs, cats, and other nonhuman animals in political office. While human schemes tend to be very grand animal schemes tend to be very peaceable. Their schemes tend to be sneaking some of the food from your table when you’re not looking, getting a treat, and convincing you to play with them. Those schemes are benign compared to human schemes such as forcefully transferring other people’s wealth to themselves, coercing everybody else to follow whatever plan they deem best, and either kidnapping or killing everybody who doesn’t do as they’re told.

How Every Election Should End

I’m seldom pleased with the outcome of an election. Once in a while a township has its head screwed on right and elects a dog to fill a political office and sometimes a human is elected and then immediately jailed:

A state representative from Hooksett, Dick Marple, was arrested and re-elected on the same day.

Republican State Rep Dick Marple was sitting outside the Hooksett polling place with his own campaign signs Tuesday morning when a Hooksett police officer recognized him. Marple had an outstanding bench warrant for his arrest because he had not shown up at an October court date.

When a politician runs for office they’re actively trying to become a member in a criminal gang. That being the case, it’s only fitting that politicians who win should be arrested.

Making Enemies with the UPS Man

One thing I don’t talk about much here is working out. Part of the reason behind this is because I only started regularly working out at the beginning of this year and don’t feel as though I have enough knowledge to say a whole lot on the subject. But at the beginning of this year I decided it was time to take some action of the healthcare front.

I had two primary motivations when I started my training regimen. My first motivation was enjoying the benefits of being physically fit. People who are physically fit can do more for longer and are harder to kill. My second motivation was to further divorce myself from the State. As an agorist I’m used to discussing ideas behind divorcing one’s self from the State. Most of these ideas involve avoiding paying taxes, buying permits, and otherwise providing money to the State. But there are other ways you can increase your independence from the State. Healthcare in this country has become almost inseparable from the State. Being healthy makes you less reliant on the healthcare system and therefore increases your independence from the State. As a slight aside, I did have an additional minor motivation, which was to simply not become the stereotypical fat white guy at the gun range.

At the beginning of the year my workout regimen wasn’t set in stone. I played with things until I found what I liked. One of the things I played with were kettlebells. I don’t like going to gyms so working out at home is a far more preferable option. Kettlebells are nice in that they’re relatively affordable and you can perform a full workout with them in even a small room. They’re also good for building both strength and stamina since many of the lifts are explosive in nature, which puts stress both on your muscles and your cardiovascular system. So I started with a 25 pound kettlebell (upper body strength has never been a strong suit of mine and was the primary limitation to the weight I could workout with) and slowly moved my way up with the goal of using a 50 pound kettlebell by the end of the year.

At the beginning of June my workout regimen started to stabalize. I alternated days between body weight exercises and the Simple and Sinister kettlebell program, which is built around swings and Turkish get ups.

Although a shoulder injury knocked my progress back I’m happy to say that last night I finally achieved the goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year:

53-pound-kettlebell

Until now I’ve been using enamel coated CAP kettlebells. They’ve served their purpose and I feel that they offer good bang for your buck but the handles are just a hair smaller than I’d like and the enamel coating is pretty brittle. This time around I decided to spend a bit more and was happy to receive quite a bit more.

My new kettlebell is a powder coated piece of iron made by Kettlebell Kings. So far I’m impressed. The powder coating is grippier than CAP’s enamel coating, the handle is wide enough where I can get the entirety of both of my hands in it, and there are no rough edges inside of the handle (the CAP kettlebells sometimes have a seem inside the handle but it’s tolerable because the enamel coating smooths it out mostly). I did my first workout with it last night and really enjoyed it.

However, I don’t think the UPS driver enjoyed it. I’ve unintentionally been a dick to him because I’ve ordered all of my kettlebells online (Amazon Prime is wonderfully abusable for this) and he’s had to deliver ever increasingly heavy boxes to my apartment and I’m not planning on letting up on him anytime soon.

Secession is Good for the Soul

One of the most amazing things to happen because of this election is the significant shift in paradigm. Suddenly a great many of the people who were once advocates of big government are seeing the dangers of a big government. Many of the people who were against guns now want to purchase a gun and learn how to use it (I’ve even had a few formerly anti-gun friends contact me for lessons, which I’m happily willing to provide). And many of the people who were angry at Texans who wanted to secede are now advocating for California to secede.

Personally, I’m pleased as can be with this paradigm shift. I’ve often said that if a state ever became serious about secession I’d probably move there to help. California is an exception to that though. California represents everything I hate about government, which is also why I still fully support its secession even if I’m not willing to help directly.

Perhaps some good will come of this election. If Trump’s opposition suddenly find wisdom in learning both online and offline self-defense, opposing government power grabs, and supporting secession the entire nation could become a better place.

Abolishing the Electoral College

Hillary’s supporters, like Al Gore’s supporters before them, have learned the hard lesson that the popular vote doesn’t determine who the president is. Now many of them are demanding that the electoral college be abolished.

Personally, I think eliminating the electoral college and allowing California and New York to select the president is foolish. I also think any system that tries to make 320 million people agree on a single figurehead is futile. Were it up to me, and eliminating the office of the president wasn’t on the table, I’d opt for a presidential selection system based off of Thunderdome.

But I’m always willing to make a deal. I will agree to supporting the abolition of the electoral college if its supporters will agree to a policy that states that if a plurality of voters don’t vote we won’t have a president for four years.

Deal?