Category: News You Need to Know

How the State Treats Its Employees

Obama unleashed a shit storm yesterday when he used executive privilege in an attempt to coverup Operation Fast and Furious. Fast and Furious blew up when border patrol agent Brian Terry was killed by one of the guns given to Mexican drug cartels by the United States government. This story demonstrates so much that is wrong with the state, but I want to focus on one party in particular, the way they treat their employees.

Throughout our lives we’re told how public servants and members of the military are the real heroes in America. We are asked to thank every soldier that has served, every fireman that has rushed into a burning building to save the life of another, and every teacher who has taken upon themselves to educate children. Those who take up the task of becoming soldiers or public servants are promised great things including favorable pay, health care, pensions, and even college educations in some cases. Unfortunately, when it comes time to actually deliver on the promises the state does everything it can to duck out.

Brian Terry was a board patrol agent, a member of the group we’re told keeps our boarders safe. We’re told that they’re heroes who courageously put their selfishness aside for the good of the country and that we owe them a great deal of thanks. This sentiment ceases the second it becomes politically inconvenient though. The second Brian Terry was killed by a weapon smuggled into Mexico by the government he worked for, the government that called him a hero, he became an inconvenience and every effort was made to sweep him under the rug. Shouldn’t every effort have been made to find those responsible for his death and hold them accountable? Shouldn’t the state take care of its own? We were told this man was a hero, shouldn’t we be told about his death? Shouldn’t we be outraged?

No. That’s now how the state works. It doesn’t take care of its own. It doesn’t actually believe all that talk it gives about soldiers and public employees being heroes. Soldiers and public employees, just like every other person, are seen as mere pawns. We are all useful idiots according to the state.

Brian Terry’s death would have been treated as a national tragedy had the weapon used to murder him not been sourced by the United States government. Had the weapon sourced by a private gun shop there would have been called for stricter gun control. If the weapon had been sourced from one of America’s enemies it would have been exploited to bring more sanctions against that country.

The state needs to rephrase its propaganda. They need a small asterisk next to every statement they make about soldiers and public employees being heroes. That asterisk must note that the terms and conditions of hero status are dependent on whether a person is politically convenient or inconvenient. Those who are politically convenient will receive a hero’s treatment, those who are politically inconvenient will be covered up by the use of executive privilege.

Those Canadians Sure Learn Fast

I have to hand it to the Canadian government, they are picking up the whole police state thing very quickly:

OTTAWA – Airports and border crossings across Canada are being wired with high-definition cameras and microphones that can eavesdrop on travellers’ conversations, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

A CBSA statement said that audio-video monitoring and recording is already in place at unidentified CBSA sites at airports and border points of entry as part of an effort to enhance “border integrity, infrastructure and asset security and health and safety.”

As part of the work, the agency is introducing audio-monitoring equipment as well.

“It is important to note that even though audio technology is installed, no audio is recorded at this time. It will become functional at a later date,” CBSA spokesman Chris Kealey said in a written statement.

But whenever that occurs, the technology, “will record conversations,” the agency said in a separate statement in response to questions from the Ottawa Citizen.

At one point in time it appeared as if Canada were our polite neighbors to the north. As time rolls by it is become more apparent that the Canadian government has become jealous of the American police state and are trying to catch up as soon as possible. Perhaps we’ll soon have a police state race between the United States and Canada.

To my Canadian readers, pay attention to the draconian measures being implemented by the United States. While it may seem impossible that your government could ever sink to the level of assassinating Canadian citizens, spying on the citizenry with unmanned drones, and creating false flag operations like Fast and Furious to implement stricter gun control it’ll come in due time. What’s happening in the United States now is what you have to look forward to in a few years.

The Karl Marx Credit Card

No, the title of this post isn’t some clever snarky jab at the credit card industry, there actually is a Karl Marx credit card:

The German bank Sparkasse Chemnitz recently launched a Karl Marx credit card. The bank let people vote online for 10 different images, and Marx was the “very clear winner,” beating out a palace, a castle and a racetrack, among others. Reuters has more on the story.

A more fitting image could not have been found. Karl Marx advocated central banks that could control currencies, he opposed money, and one of his tag lines was “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

What is a credit card? It’s basically a plastic card that allows you to use non-existent money to purchase things you can’t normally afford. It’s certainly not money, even by fiat standards, because no assumption is made that the person using the card will actually be able to pay off the bill at the end of the month. Truly credit cards embody the concept of “each according to his need” since need really is a subjective term when discussing economics that is more accurately referred to as want. Those unable to afford an expensive plasma television need to worry, they can merely put it on the credit card and later file bankruptcy against the debt. Each can have want they want.

I’m glad to see Karl Marx has finally been honored in a way befitting of his philosophy. The credit card is the perfect example of socialist economics and there is no better way to honor one of the best known socialist philosophers than putting his image it.

The Violence Inherent in the System

Via Twitter, reader and commenter Zerg539, linked me to a story that demonstrates how violent the statist system is:

The North Carolina man visited by armed EPA agents after sending an email to a controversial agency official says he’s not satisfied with the explanations about what he considers an excessive response and that he wants changes to agency policies and procedures.

“This isn’t over,” Keller said.

He told Fox News.com that Environmental Protection Agency officials have said the agency followed procedures and that the agents acted appropriately during their visit last month. However, Keller is still invited to come to EPA headquarters to discuss the situation.

Keller said he’s not willing to come to Washington without knowing what will be discussed.

The incident unfolded after Keller sent an email April 27 to the EPA to try to reach Al Armendariz — a regional administrator who was under fire for a YouTube video post days earlier in which he said his enforcement strategy was to “crucify” executives from big oil and gas companies.

The letter to an EPA external affairs director read “Do you have Mr. Armendariz’s contact information so we can say hello? – Regards- Larry Keller.”

An agent of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a comment about crucifying oil company executives and the guy asking for his contact information is the one that warrants armed thuggery? I understand the comment about crucifying oil company executive was figurative but it’s certainly worse then asking for contact information.

Sending armed agents to the home of somebody asking for your contact information is nothing but pure intimidation. Nobody should be surprised though, intimidation is what the state does. The costumes, riot gear, weapons, armored personnel carriers provided by the Department of Homeland Security, and domestic use of surveillance drones are all about intimidation. It’s meant to make you kowtow to the state. In fact it’s no different than the Russian military parades that were put on to intimidate both the people in Russian and foreign countries.

Now We See What the Megaupload Case was About

Early this year the United States government moved to shutdown Megaupload. As I mentioned, the move basically rendered the whole Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) debate irrelevant since the state was acting as if the legislation passed anyways. The state went so far as to confiscate all of Megaupload’s servers, which meant anybody with data on Megaupload were unable to access it even if it wasn’t data that violated copyright. The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a suit to allow users to retrieve their data and that suit has shown what the Megaupload case was about all along:

U.S. federal prosecutors are fine with Megaupload users recovering their data — as long as they pay for it.

The government’s position was explained in a court filing on Friday concerning one of the many interesting side issues that has emerged from the shutdown of Megaupload, formerly one of the most highly trafficked file-sharing sites.

[…]

U.S. law allows for third parties who have an interest in forfeited property to make a claim. But the government argues that it only copied part of the Megaupload data and the physical servers were never seized.

Megaupload’s 1,103 servers — which hold upwards of 28 petabytes of data — are still held by Carpathia Hosting, the government said.

This case, like all government cases, was about taking your shit. The state moved in, confiscated data from Carpathia, then demanded they preserve the servers while receiving nothing in compensation for having legally untouchable servers that aren’t being paid for. Now the state has told users they can get their data from the Megaupload servers so long as they pay.

In other words the state moved in, took peoples’ data, refused to compensate those it stole from for any losses, and then turned around and said the burden of paying for recovery costs falls on the shoulders of the users the state stole from. This is how the state operates, they take your shit then demand you pay to get it back.

Pew Research Survey Discovered People Don’t Like Murderous Psychopaths

Apparently blowing up people overseas isn’t looked upon as highly as it once was:

International approval of US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy has dropped sharply during his term in office, a Pew Research survey suggests.

Among the 21 countries surveyed, the largest drop in approval – from 57% to 27% – was seen in China, the Global Attitudes Project reveals.

Most respondents in almost all countries opposed US drone strikes.

Who would have guessed that people don’t like murderous psychopaths who get their jollies off of blowing up people in foreign lands? Perhaps Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize will be revoked; I imagine ordering assassinations is a disqualifies for a peace prize.

It’s reassuring to see the hero worship Obama first enjoyed fading quickly. Even though many of Obama’s most zealous supporters still worship the ground he walks on it appears the general populations’ disillusion is finally breaking. Unfortunately the United States isn’t poised to offer any change, we have the option of a murderous psychopath or a person who wants to be a murderous psychopath.

Rovio Looking to Abandon Finland over High Taxes

Rovio is the latest successful company that is looking to flee the country it started in over high taxation:

THE FINNISH company that created the hugely successful Angry Birds mobile phone game is considering moving its headquarters to Ireland, chief executive Mikael Hed has said.

[…]

The corporation tax rate in Finland is 24.5 per cent, while Ireland’s rate is 12.5 per cent. Most of the world’s fast-growing technology companies, such as Google and Facebook, have set up European headquarter operations in Dublin so as to benefit from Ireland’s low corporation tax rate.

When victims of theft get sick of being stolen from they have a habit of leaving. Why suffer the loss of 24.5% of your wealth when you can simply move to Ireland and only suffer the loss of 12.5% of your wealth? This is why a state can’t tax itself out of debt or into prosperity. Eventually the state runs out of stuff to steal and that ends the party.

Can Magical Computers Solve Crimes Before They Happen

That should be the title of this headline:

At around 3:45 a.m. on March 24, someone in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., used a mobile phone to Google “chemicals to passout a person.” Then the person searched Ask.com for “making people faint.” Then Google again, for “ways to kill people in their sleep,” “how to suffocate someone,” and “how to poison someone.”

The phone belonged to 23-year-old Nicole Okrzesik. Later that morning, police allege, she and her boyfriend strangled 19-year-old Juliana Mensch as she slept on the floor of their apartment. The Google searches, along with incriminating text messages between Okrzesik and her boyfriend, came to light as authorities investigated Mensch’s death. But what if they could have been alerted to the suspicious-sounding searches immediately? Could they have rushed to the apartment and saved the girl’s life?

Can you guess where this is going? Yup, Slate is hypothesizing the use of search data to effectively go pre-crime on peoples’ asses:

Web search data, by contrast, contains information about specific individuals’ thoughts and plans. In theory, Google or Ask.com could have flagged Okrzesik’s search queries as suspicious and sent the cops her device’s IP address. In the Hollywood script, a vigilant officer would notice the alert, rush to the scene, and knock on the door just as Mensch’s assailants were about to do her in.

In reality, there are a few obstacles that scenario. For starters, police would need instant access to the search data and a way to connect it to a physical address. These days they usually get electronic records only after a crime has been committed and they’ve built up enough evidence to obtain a warrant. They use the data not to prevent crime but to build their case for arrest and conviction.

There is also another obstacle to Slate’s scenario, people search for shit they have no intention of doing all the time. While I’ve never smoked marijuana before yet I often search of marijuana related topics for blog posts, historical information, and genuine curiosity. I’ve searched for terms like “can X kill somebody” where X is a random chemical because I’m simply curious. If somebody went through my search history they would probably think I’m quite the suspicious individual. I’m sure the search string “how long can a person survive without oxygen” would raise a few red flags in a law enforcement database (for those of you who are curious the answer appears to be somewhere between three to five minutes).

Yet the next three Google searches on Okrzesik’s phone—“ways to kill people in their sleep,” “how to suffocate someone,” and “how to poison someone”—seem to clearly indicate that someone has a strong curiosity about how to kill someone. One can also imagine other searches—say, a series of queries about the ingredients used to make anthrax—that law enforcement agents might like to know about.

Yeah, because law enforcement’s time should be wasted looking into a kid who was just wondering what antrax is and how it’s made.

Computers aren’t magic, they can’t predict crime. Using search terms to predict crime is absurd. People search for strings that appear criminal in nature all the time. Sometimes the people are looking for a recent story related to a crime, sometimes they’re interested in case histories surrounding such crimes, and sometimes they’re just curious if such a crime could be perpetrated.

It’s unfortunate that people who don’t understand computers have bestowed these wonderful electronic devices with mythical powers. Articles like this remind me of those yahoos who think the Venus Project is a good idea. If you’re not familiar with the Venus Project count your blessings, it’s an idiotic idea to centrally control economics with a super computer in order to bring forth utopia. How we’re suppose to build a computer that can control an entire economy when we can’t even build one that can accurately predict the stock market still remains unanswered.

Computers, like any other tool, is very good at performing the task they were build for. If you need to crunch numbers a computer is the right tool for the job. If you need to predict human behavior computers are all but entirely worthless. In order to build a computer that can do something we must first know how to do it. Since we can’t predict human behavior there is no way we can build a computer to do it. These people who talk seriously about using computers to solve crimes before they happy are living in a fantasy land made possible by a complete ignorance of computer technology.

Unfortunately other people who are ignorant of computer technology will latch onto this and think it’s a good idea. Thus this idiocy will continue to perpetuate.

Benefits by Force

A little chart produced by Think Progress has been making a second set of rounds on my social media feeds so I thought I’d address it. The charge describes the number of weeks of paid maternity leave several countries mandate by state decree (click to embiggen):

To many of my friends this chart demonstrates the horrible working conditions modern women in the United States are subjected to. Why, Canada gives women 50 weeks of paid maternity leave! They don’t seem to consider the fact that this paid maternity leave is only provided at the point of a gun. In order to provide such a benefit either the state must pay the women on maternity leave or the employer. If the state does it then it can only be done through theft, and if a business is forced to do it then it can only be done through the threat of violence.

People who are demanding the United States provide paid maternity leave should stop asking for it and start taking it. Do you want paid maternity leave? Is your employer unwilling to take it? Are you petitioning the state to provide it? Why not cut ou the middle man? Walk over to your neighbors’ homes, put a gun to their heads, and take what money you feel you’re owed. That’s what you’re demanding the state do for you after all.

This is the thing that irks me about the progressive movement. They aren’t trying to get social changes through voluntary cooperation, they’re trying to get it through force. Instead of advocating companies provide paid maternity leave or setting up mutual aid societies to help women on maternity leave they’re asking the state to use its gun to force the issue.

People want fre shit. If getting that free shit means forcefully taking it from others so be it, so long as somebody else performs the theft. It’s no different than the gun control advocates who demand the police rush to their house and kill the intruder; they’re against violence unless it’s done by proxy.

Before some member of the progressive movement accuses me of being misogynistic, waging a war on women, or simply being an asshole let me clarify this: I’m not against people voluntarily creating a mechanism to help people with newborn children. I would love to see a mutual aid society that focuses on helping families with newborns, in fact I would love to be a member of such a society because I know those services will likely be important to me when I decide to have children. You will get no argument from me if an employer decides to voluntarily offer paid maternity leave. If neighbors want to band together to help new mothers I’m all for it. I encourage helping one another but I can’t, in good conscious, support the initiation of violence.