Category: News You Need to Know

Just Because I’m Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They’re not Out to Get Me

Last year I decided to abandon third-party Internet services such as GMail, Google Calendar, and even WordPress.com. Everything now sits securely on a server in my apartment where I maintain the exclusive right to access it. Why would I go through the trouble of maintaining my own server when there are many great free service providers out there? Because things have gotten to the point that you can’t trust anybody to maintain your secrecy:

he FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.

In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET has learned.

The FBI general counsel’s office has drafted a proposed law that the bureau claims is the best solution: requiring that social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail alter their code to ensure their products are wiretap-friendly.

As the police state ramps up it’s going to be harder and harder to know your data is secure on servers you don’t directly control. Most people probably don’t care because they feel as though they have nothing to hide but the golden rule of backdoors is that anybody can use them. If there is a backdoor one need only discover how to access it, which is why most manufacturers don’t like putting backdoors into their software. There is also the fact that the state doesn’t need to know what I’m doing, if they want to know they can get a fucking warrant.

If you don’t believe the United States is a police state you’re not paying attention.

The War on Climate Change

The United States likes to declare war on everything. We have the War on Poverty, the War on Drugs, and the War on Terrorism. Now Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is working hard on declaring a war on climate change:

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declared global warming a national security threat yesterday during a speech before an environmentalist group in Washington, D.C.

“The area of climate change has a dramatic impact on national security,” Panetta told the Environmental Defense Fund last night. “Rising sea levels, severe droughts, the melting of the polar caps, the more frequent and devastating natural disasters all raise demand for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.”

I’m sure a Global Warming Enforcement Agency is being created and drones are being deployed to bomb those who working to forward global warming. Those who deny global warming or release research demonstrating global warming as a fallacy will likely be arrested and tossed into federal prisons.

Cops Handing Out Drugs

Last year a story on local CBS site brought my attention to the Drug Recognition Expert program being run by the federal government. It’s an interesting program that involves police officers actually giving illicit drugs to volunteers and studying their reactions:

Police can easily pull over and pick up drunk drivers. But pinpointing drivers on drugs is another story.

When an erratic driver doesn’t show any trace of alcohol on a breathalyzer, police need expert training to tell if they are high on something else. That’s why police recently requested a whole new set of recruits — drug users.

[…]

Officers from all over the state have come to Minneapolis’ Fifth Precinct for two weeks of intense training that will certify them as one of Minnesota’s Drug Recognition Experts.

“It’s not your typical police-subject interaction,” said Sgt. Don Marose of the Minnesota State Patrol, who trains officers for the state’s DRE program.

He said the program is nationally recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and has been in Minnesota since 1991. Marose said since then, 190 officers at 85 Minnesota agencies are drug-recognition trained officers at their departments.

Marose said when the State Patrol needed a real-life laboratory, the Minnesota Aids Project, Needle Exchange program, helped out.

The organization put out an ad to its clients, many who use drugs. It asked them to show up under the influence — and get rewards and incentives in return.

I didn’t look too much into it as I couldn’t really find much about it. Am I surprised the police are giving drugs to people? No. So why did I bother writing this post? Because it seems members of Minnesota’s finest are now recruiting OccupyMN potesters for this study:

A video report put together by local independent media activists and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality finds that police officers and county deputies have been giving drugs to young people hanging out near Peavey Plaza as part of an impairment study.

One officer who spoke to journalists said he never gave subjects drugs, but numerous young people who spoke on the record said police gave them marijuana, cigarettes, food, and other incentives as compensation for participating.

The report indicates that police patrol downtown Minneapolis looking for impaired people, then drive them to a testing facility in Richfield for examination of their capabilities while intoxicated. But in some cases where no previously impaired people could be found, police seduced prospective participants with drugs. The study has been ongoing since early last month.

Granted City Pages isn’t exactly a reputable source so I’m guessing much of this story is conjecture. With that said it’s interesting that police are patrolling OccupyMN looking for people who appear to be high on drugs. I also wouldn’t put it past the police to peddle drugs to individuals who already look under the influence but it’s pretty brazen. A few members of OccupyMN appear to believe the police are doing this to discredit the movement but I don’t think the police have to go to such lengths to discret the Occupy movement. Has anybody else heard of police going around recruiting apparently high individuals? I am under the assumption that police departments seek out volunteers for the Drug Recognition Expert program through advertising, not cruising around looking for people who are already under the influence.

Anyhow I don’t have anything substantial to report but if anybody has any information about this program I’d love to hear it. This has been a little back burner project of mine for a while but nothing really interesting ever crops up regarding the program.

Not Something I’d Expect to Encounter in Minnesota

There are a lot of different animals that I would expect to encounter here in Minnesota but alligators aren’t one of them:

A man walking his dog in Bloomington came across a 3.5 foot alligator.

According to Bloomington Police, the man says the reptile hissed at his dog as they were walking in an area known as Bass Ponds near 86th Street.

Wildlife officials aren’t sure how the animal got here and neither am I. I wonder what caliber would be best for taking on an angry reptile?

Obedience Day

On top of being a pagan holiday and International Workers’ Day May 1st is also Loyalty Day:

On Loyalty Day, we rededicate ourselves to the common good, to the cornerstones of liberty, equality, and justice, and to the unending pursuit of a more perfect Union.

Wow, talk about doublespeak. It’s actually an official holiday that enjoys its own entry in United States code:

(a) Designation.— May 1 is Loyalty Day.

(b) Purpose.— Loyalty Day is a special day for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom.

(c) Proclamation.— The President is requested to issue a proclamation—

(1) calling on United States Government officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on Loyalty Day; and

(2) inviting the people of the United States to observe Loyalty Day with appropriate ceremonies in schools and other suitable places.

A special day for reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States? If that doesn’t scream nationalism I don’t know what does. Why don’t they just call it Obedience Day and designate its purpose to dedicate one’s self to being an obedient slave of the state? How the hell did we go from a country founded by individuals who espoused rebellion and seemed to hold no desire of mindless loyalty to the state to a country populated by people who believe it’s a good idea to reaffirm their loyalty to the state on an annual basis?

Nationalism is a plank of fascism so I guess having Loyalty Day in the United States makes nothing but sense.

Did You Enjoy Your Pagan Holiday

Yesterday was May Day, a day celebrated by socialists as International Worker’s Day. Long before the socialists hijacked the holiday May Day was one of the most important holidays for European pagan. The Celts celebrated Beltane while Germanic pagans celebrated Walpurgis Night, both on the day we no refer to as May 1st (OK, technically Walpurgis Night is celebrated on May Day eve). With the Christian’s success of hijacking pagan holidays (Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc.) I guess the socialists decided to it a whirl and International Worker’s Day was born. I find this kind of ironic being Marx advocated atheism and even went so far to refer to religion as the “opium of the people.” Why would followers of an atheist philosophy feel the need to hijack a pagan holiday? Most socialists will tell me that International Worker’s Day commemorates the Haymarket Riots but that happened on May 4th so I find such a claim a little dubious.

Either way I hope you had a great pagan holiday. Spending the day lighting bon fires and dancing around maypoles is far more fun and productive than doing single day boycotts that accomplish nothing because everybody you’re boycotting knows you’ll be back tomorrow. Also, pagan mythology is far more interesting than the history of socialism. You really can’t compare stories about great gods doing battle with text books talking about the exploitive nature of capitalism.

May Day

Today is May Day, or as it’s also commonly known, International Workers’ Day. Supposedly it’s a day to celebrate the proletariat and help build their dictatorship commonly referred to as socialism. There are protests occurring all over Europe (ironically many of these protests are occurring in more socialist countries such as Greece, Spain, and France) and some are even happening here in the United States. Along with protests, marches, and other forms of rabble rousing there are also calls for a general strike. What’s a general strike you ask? It’s basically a day when everybody refuses to go to work, do any banking, or shop. It’s the most meaningless form of mass protests I can think of.

I’m sure some advocate of socialism is probably demanding I explain my last sentence so I will (never let it be said that I don’t fulfill reader requests). Let’s say you decided not to go to work, perform any banking, or shop today, what’s the result? In the case of work you may have a vacation or sick day docked. In the case of the banks and shops they will just wait idly for you to do your banking and shopping tomorrow. Many Occupiers are calling today a “day without the 99%.” What they fail to see is that it’s only one day, everybody knows they will return to business as usually tomorrow.

When you see workers striking they don’t do it for a single day and the reason for this is obvious, if they just walked out for one day only to return the next they won’t have much of an impact. Protests don’t work when they last a single day, especially when that day is well known. If businesses know a large chunk of the population isn’t going to be shopping tomorrow than business will likely have fewer staff come in that day (ironically this causes the staff who aren’t there to receive no pay in most cases). The banks? They’ll only have one teller working instead of four. Basically they will treat it like any other holiday.

Things suck right now but taking a single day off of work and refusing to bank or shop isn’t going to change anything. In order for things to change you must sustain any boycotts. Do you know why those “don’t buy gas today” events never work? Because gas companies aren’t stupid, they know you’ll be filling your tank tomorrow. I don’t oppose those who protest or strike, that’s your right as an individual (likewise I don’t oppose those who fire employees who go on strike, that’s their right as employers) but doing it for a single day accomplishing nothing more than making yourself feel good about fighting for a cause. It’s not different than the people who texted $10.00 to help the people of Haiti without actually looking into the organization they were sending money to (here’s a hint, that money didn’t reach Haiti). They feel good about themselves and can brag to their friends about how altruistic they are but nothing of value is actually accomplished.

If you want to celebrate workers go ahead. As a worker I feel I’m pretty awesome and deserve to be celebrated by the masses, but don’t delude yourself with the idea that a single day action is going to change anything.

Also, if the change you’re seeking involves increasing the size or power of the state you’re doing it wrong.

Oops

It seems the Richmond Police Department should be more careful when fulfilling Freedom of Information Act requests:

After filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the Richmond Police Department for police training documents, Mo Karn received much more than expected in return: homeland security and crowd control guides that show how the police target protests.

The police filed for an emergency court order yesterday to prohibit Karn from publicizing any of the documents, which should never have been released. The cops’ reasoning? “Defendant Mo Karn is a known and admitted anarchist.”

The documents, however, have already been published online. And buried in the training guides are insights into three trends in law enforcement that have been occurring not just in Virginia, but nationally: the demonization of protest, the militarization of police, and turning local cops into “terrorism” officials.

Hilarious is the only word for this. It’s always good to see the bad guys screw up once in a while. The documents themselves are interesting reads. Since this information is so secret that the Richmond Police Department attempted to prevent them from being published I decided to upload some local copies here:

Richmond Police Department Emergency Operations Plan [PDF]

Richmond Police Department Crowd Management Team Operating Manual [PDF]

Richmond Police Department Homeland Security/Criminal Intelligence Unit Operating Manual [PDF]

2009 Virginia Terrorist Threat Assessment [PDF]

I haven’t had time to actually read through all of these documents so please refer to the linked story for the highlights or read through the documents at your liesure (eventually I’ll get around to read them and if I find anything interesting I’ll probably post about it). With that said the 2009 Virginia Terrorist Threat Assessment manual has some interesting things to say about anarchists:

Anarchist extremists adhere to the anti-government movement which rejects governmental rule and police authority and advocates violent means to overthrow social, political, and economic hierarchies. The most current reporting includes known individuals, meetings and activities, internet reference, and law enforcement encounters in Chesterfield, Henrico, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Strasburg, Williamsburg, Arlington County, Nelson, Smyth, Wythe, and Montgomery counties, as well as around Virginia Military Institute and William and Mary. Past anarchist activity or presence has been reported in Chesterfield, Christiansburg, Harrisonburg, Henrico, Norfolk, Prince Edward, and Prince William County, as well as by the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority. Reported activities have included public disturbances, conferences, and protests. In the past, Virginia’s primary anarchist figure of note was Peter Gelderloos, who is currently awaiting trial in Spain.

Many of the individuals who comprise this movement in Virginia are college age youth or college students, mostly located in the Richmond and Harrisonburg areas. These extremists have created their own training manuals and use list-serves and blogs to communicate, although the Virginia Anarchist Federation (VAF) webpage shows that attempts to organize on a large scale have been unsuccessful. Anarchists have been known to cooperate with environmental and animal rights groups and have engaged in hostile confrontations with white supremacist groups. Although the anarchist threat to Virginia is assessed as low, these individuals view the government as unnecessary, which could lead to threats or attacks against government figures or establishments.

I emphasized the most interesting pieces. First let me address the claim that anarchists “advocate violent means to overthrow social, political, and economic hierarchies.” Most of the comments made by the media and police regarding anarchists assume that anarchism is a single unified philosophy, as I explained some time ago it’s not. Some anarchists do believe in violent tactics, others oppose violent tactics entirely. To write a blanket statement like the one above demonstrates who ignorant of anarchism the state really is, which is probably why they fear it so much.

The whole “These extremists have created their own training manuals and use list-serves and blogs to communicate” line was just too funny. Watch out! The anarchists known how to read and post on list-serves (although I don’t believe anybody uses list serves to communicate today, everybody has moved on to web-based forums). Apparently anarchists also use blogs to communicate… interesting. I would have never guessed that.

I’m surprised they said anarchists have “engaged in hostile confrontations with white supremacist groups” like it’s a bad thing. Fuck neo-Nazis, seriously. The Ku Klux Klan? They can go to Hell. I’ll also point out that it was very likely the white supremacist groups were the ones who most often initiated hostilities. Any philosophy founded on mass extermination of entire ethnic groups or lynching of black individuals in the South isn’t exactly on pacifist grounds.

Finally the last line was nothing but pure fear mongering. First, anarchist usually don’t view government as unnecessary, they view it as violent and thus undesirable. In essence anarchists oppose violence, which is why it’s unlikely they will attack any government agents (and before anybody brings up Alexander Berkman, I said such an act is unlikely not impossible).

The state’s fear of anarchists has always amused me and it’s always entertaining to read their manuals that mention anarchism. I’m sure the other manuals will turn up some gold as well but now that their secrets are in the hands of anarchists the state will have to change their tactics.

Even Israel Doesn’t Think Iran is Developing Nuclear Weaponry

When I argue that Iran developing a nuclear weapon is inconsequential to the United States somebody usually brings up that it’s still consequential to Israel. Why should we threatening to kill people for the sake of Israel is beyond me but if Israel isn’t concerned about Iran developing nuclear weapons why should anybody else be concerned:

The head of the Israeli military has said he does not think Iran will develop nuclear weapons.

Chief of Staff Lt Gen Benny Gantz made the statement in an interview with the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.

[…]

Gen Gantz says this pressure is beginning to bear fruit.

He added that Iran “is going step by step to the place where it will be able to decide whether to manufacture a nuclear bomb. It hasn’t yet decided to go the extra mile”.

And speaking of the supreme leader he continued: “I don’t think he will want to go the extra mile. I think the Iranian leadership is composed of very rational people.”

The story points out that the Israeli Prime Minister disagrees with the General’s assertion but I would be more apt to believe a military general about military matters than a prime minister. Either way I plan to shove this in the face of every person who tells me we need to start killing Iranians to stop their government from developing nuclear weapons. If the head of the Israeli military isn’t concerned I sure as the hell am not going to be.

Heicklen Ruled Innocent of Jury Tampering for Advocating Nullification

Reader plblark was good enough to send me this story from Say Uncle about a judge who ruled advocating jury nullification isn’t a crime:

Yeterday a federal judge ruled that distributing pamphlets about jury nullification—even in front of a courthouse—is not jury tampering. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood dismissed a 2010 indictment against Julian P. Heicklen, a retired chemistry professor who was accused of violating Title 18, Section 1504, of the U.S. Code, which authorizes a jail sentence of up to six months for anyone who “attempts to influence the action or decision of any grand or petit juror of any court of the United States upon any issue or matter pending before such juror, or before the jury of which he is a member, or pertaining to his duties, by writing or sending to him any written communication, in relation to such issue or matter.”

I wrote about Julian P. Heicklen’s situation last year. He was passing out pamphlets in front of a courthouse informing potential jurors about their right of nullification.

For those of you unaware jury nullification is a side effect of jury trials. Namely juries aren’t punished for their decision or asked to justify their ruling so they can find a defendant innocent based solely on the ground that the law he’s being tried for is unjust. Unfortunately this right of jurors is no longer covered in school and judges outright lie to jurors by telling them that they must rule based on the letter of the law, not what they think the law should be. Thankfully there are organizations like the Fully Informed Jury Association and individuals like Heicklen working to raise awareness of nullification rights.

Good on you Julian P. Heicklen for being an advocate of liberty and not backing down when the state threatened to throw you in a cage.