Category: Wall of Fame Assholes

It was Bound to Happen

Remember that substandard police training I was talking about? It was finally combined with modern policing’s love of puppycide to its logical conclusion. Via Uncle I learned that Douglas, Georgia shot a 10 year-old kid while trying to gun down the family dog:

Sheriff Wooten said a deputy, who was not named, was on approaching the property when a dog ran up to him. The deputy fired one shot, missing the dog and hitting the child. It was not immediately clear if the gun was accidently fired by the deputy.

It was only a matter of time until this happened. When you combine inadequate weapons training, an almost complete absence of consequences for wrongdoing, and a standard operating procedure to shoot any dog on sight you have a recipe for an innocent bystander getting shot.

If history is any indicator the offending officer will receive a paid vacation while this story blows over. After the weekly news cycle has forgotten about the kid the officer will return to active duty so he can shoot another kid while attempting to gun down another family pet. Because this is America and taking responsibility for your actions is only for the people without badges.

Expensive Porn

Lest somebody believe that the Republican Party has a monopoly on candidates saying really stupid and offensive shit I present you the words of Mike Dickinson, a Democratic candidate for the Virginia House:

Mike Dickinson, the Virginia liberal Democrat seeking the House seat currently held by Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., despite not being on the ballot, offered a $100,000 reward for nude photos and videos of Kendall Jones, the 19-year-old Texas Tech cheerleader who recently made news with a series of hunting photos on her Facebook page.

“I have 100k to anyone who has nude photos or videos of #kendalljones at Texas tech (sic),” Dickinson tweeted. “She deserves to be a target.”

$100,000 for nude pictures of a teenage girl? Is this guy a fucking idiot? Does he not know that you can get all of the nude teenage pictures you want on the Internet for free? Somebody tell this man about Google stat!

OK, I admit that I’ve tried to stay out of this entire debate. My guess is that the outrage over Kendall Jones is mostly manufactured. I’m guessing she wants to do a hunting show or something like that and got ahold of a good marketing agency that started drumming up this controversy. Before all of this is said and done the people who oppose safaris will have the people who support safaris so fired up that they’ll buy whatever Mrs. Jones is selling just to spite their opposition. Is it cynical for me to think this? Absolutely!

However when you have candidates offering $100,000 to get nude pictures of a girl for the expressed purpose of embarrassing her just because he disagrees with what she does shit needs to be called out (at least if your hobby is making politicians look more like idiots than they normally do). Such activities indicate deep seated psychopathy, which was already indicated by the fact that he is running for office.

St. Paul’s Finest

Wednesday the heroes of the St. Paul Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team executed two dogs during a brave no-knock raid:

It was 7 a.m. when police executed what is known as a no-knock search warrant. Arman said he and his two children were sleeping on a mattress when armed members of the SWAT team barged through the front door. The next thing he remembers is seeing the family’s long-time dogs stagger and fall.

Of course the brave men and women of the St. Paul SWAT team claimed that the dogs were coming right for them and they had to gun the vicious beasts down for officer safety. Because knocking on the door and giving the owners a chance to secure their dogs was totally out of the question because, well, reasons. And pepper spray? Why the fuck would they use that? It doesn’t kill anything and being on the SWAT team isn’t fun unless you to get kill things!

This shit pisses me off because it’s entirely avoidable. All the officers have to do is knock on the fucking door and say “Police, we have a warrant to search the premises.” But they didn’t because of their exaggerated fear of people shooting through the door. Such an occurrence is exceedingly rare because most people are as violent as police officers, but logic doesn’t matter when the words “officer safety” are muttered. How about this, if you’re worried that somebody might react violently because you’re a police officer don’t because a fucking police officer. Enforcing the state’s decrees is dangerous work.

Or better yet how about we just end the war on unpatentable drugs and the police can simply leave people who are using drugs and harming nobody else alone.

Mercenaries Threaten Government Official

Mercenaries are an interesting wildcard to study. They play some part in almost every major conflict yet are seldom mentioned in the history books. For example, when the United States declared an end to combat operations in Iraq it decided to leave a bunch of mercenaries behind. This receives little coverage by major media outlets who were simply declaring and end to the Iraqi conflict.

I referred to mercenaries as wildcards because their allegiances are often murky at best. Even if you’re paying them they might turn on you if one of your opponents makes a better offer. They may also turn on you simply because they feel as though you’re meddling in their affairs:

On Aug. 20, 2007, Mr. Richter was called in to the office of the embassy’s regional security officer, Bob Hanni, who said he had received a call asking him to document Mr. Richter’s “inappropriate behavior.” Mr. Richter quickly called his supervisor in Washington, who instructed him to take Mr. Thomas with him to all remaining meetings in Baghdad, his report noted.

The next day, the two men met with Daniel Carroll, Blackwater’s project manager in Iraq, to discuss the investigation, including a complaint over food quality and sanitary conditions at a cafeteria in Blackwater’s compound. Mr. Carroll barked that Mr. Richter could not tell him what to do about his cafeteria, Mr. Richter’s report said. The Blackwater official went on to threaten the agent and say he would not face any consequences, according to Mr. Richter’s later account.

Mr. Carroll said “that he could kill me at that very moment and no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,” Mr. Richter wrote in a memo to senior State Department officials in Washington. He noted that Mr. Carroll had formerly served with Navy SEAL Team 6, an elite unit.

You read that correctly. A member of Blackwater Xe Academi threatened to kill a United States official. Between all of the other shenanigans members of Academi have pulled in Iraq I think it’s safe to say that it basically does whatever the hell it wants do. Considering this happened in 2007 and Academi is still there it appears as though the United States isn’t too concerned about it’s dog biting at its hand. I’m interested in seeing what kind of atrocities committed by Academi we’ll learn about in the coming years. If it felt safe enough to threaten a United States official chances are it felt safe enough to violate Iraqi citizens at will.

Why I Don’t Donate to the Red Cross

The Red Cross is a popular charity but I won’t give a dime to the organization. There are just too many red flags indicating that the Red Cross is a nothing more than a money making scam for the people at the top. But the most recent information to come to light really demonstrates how much of a scam the organization is:

The documents include “internal and proprietary methodology and procedures for fundraising, confidential information about its internal operations, and confidential financial information,” wrote Gabrielle Levin of Gibson Dunn in a letter to the attorney general’s office.

If those details were disclosed, “the American Red Cross would suffer competitive harm because its competitors would be able to mimic the American Red Cross’s business model for an increased competitive advantage,” Levin wrote.

I’m curious who the Red Cross considers its competitors. Supposedly its purpose is to help those in need. That would indicate that its competitors are other organizations whose purpose is to help those in need. In other words the Red Cross doesn’t want other organizations helping those in need. All of this indicates to me that the Red Cross is primarily worried about raking in as much money as possible.

Talk about an organization run by assholes. You have to be a special kind of dick to sucker people into giving you money under the belief you are going to use it to help people.

Another GOP Candidate Lost His Muzzle

Oh, look! The GOP stupid train is pulling into station right on time! Yes, yet another GOP candidate lost his muzzle and said something stupid. This time it’s Jody Hice, a Republican candidate from Georgia who really doesn’t like Muslims. And like most people who irrationally hate entire groups of people he has found a way to justify why the state, under its current laws, can persecute them:

Jody Hice, a Republican candidate for a U.S. House seat from Georgia, does not believe that Islam is truly a religion and doesn’t think it should be protected under the First Amendment.

In his book published in 2012, “It’s Now Or Never,” Hice made some anti-Islamic statements, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Although Islam has a religious component, it is much more than a simple religious ideology,” he wrote. “It is a complete geo-political structure and, as such, does not deserve First Amendment protection.”

That sounds a lot like the Catholic Church back in the day. But it’s always fun to see the mental gymnastics people play to justify persecuting people. It does go to show that if somebody wants to persecute somebody bad enough they can find a way to justify it under whatever ideology they’re operating under.

Is Your Neighbor a Snitch

There are tradeoffs to anywhere you live. Poorer neighborhoods tend to have higher crime rates. But wealthier neighborhoods tend to have a more insidious problem: snitches. You know the type, a nosy neighbor who calls the city if they notice anything they don’t like about a neighbor’s property. Brian Collins decided to put up one of those adorable little free libraries that you see springing up throughout metropolitan areas. They’re little more than cabinets where people can withdraw and deposit books. Usually they’re based on the honor system where for every book you take you leave one in its place. But the city recently caught wind of Mr. Collins’ free library and told him that it had to go:

LEAWOOD, KS (KCTV) – Can a library be illegal? The City of Leawood says yes.

Little Free Libraries are popping up across the metro. They allow book lovers to borrow and share their favorite books whenever they want.

“We came back to find a letter from the code enforcement telling us it was an illegal dwelling or structure,” Brian Collins said.

Whenever city officials move in on little things like this it’s always in response from a neighborhood snitch. Can you spot the snitch in this story? There he is:

Not everyone thinks it’s fun. Another neighbor told KCTV5 off camera he’s glad the city is making Collins remove the library because he believes it’s an eyesore for the neighborhood.

And like any neighborhood snitch he’s too much of a chickenshit to reveal his identity. As the popular saying goes, this is why we can’t have nice thing. These free libraries are a neat idea that I believe promote literacy. They offer a free, convenient way for people in a neighborhood to share books. But every neighborhood has that one asshole who calls the city whenever he sees something he doesn’t expressly approve of, regardless of how petty his complaint is.

War Criminal Calls Gun Rights Activists Terrorists, Irony So Thick You Can Cut It

The one thing I do enjoy about the upcoming presidential race is Hillary Clinton. She’s like a perpetual irony machine. Every time she opens her mouth to criticize somebody she dislikes she ends up saying something hypocritical. One group of people she really hates is us gun owners. So she takes every opportunity afforded to her to insult us. Most recently she called us a bunch of terrorists:

During a CNN “town hall” yesterday, Hillary Clinton said she was disappointed that Congress did not pass new gun control legislation following the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in December 2012. “I believe that we need a more thoughtful conversation,” said the former secretary of state and presumptive presidential candidate. “We cannot let a minority of people—and that’s what it is, it is a minority of people—hold a viewpoint that terrorizes the majority of people.”

I wonder what minority holds more terroristic viewpoints. Gun owners who tend to be very peaceful or officials in the United States government who bomb foreign countries seemingly at random and then laugh about it (seriously, Hillary, that quote is the gift that keeps on giving)? Considering that I’ve never threatened anybody with violence nor wielded violence against another it’s pretty hard to say I’m terrorizing anybody. Hillary, on the other hand, was the head of the State Department for the government that, under the current administration, dropped bombs on civilians in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia (and probably a few other countries that I’ve forgotten about).

I’d say if any minority holds terroristic viewpoints it’s her and her cronies.

The Tor Challenge is Apparently Going Strong

On June 4th the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) kicked off the Tor Challenge, which is its attempt to encourage more people to run Tor Relays. Running a relay is fun and easy to do but I never imagined that the Tor Challenge would be such a rousing success:

However, Adrian Leppard, the guy in charge of the City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit (funded both by taxpayers and legacy entertainment companies) spoke at an IP Enforcement Summit in London and his comments, relayed by Torrentfreak, should raise questions about whether or not this is the right person to have anything to do with stopping “crime” on the internet:

“Whether it’s Bitnet, The Tor – which is 90% of the Internet – peer-to-peer sharing, or the streaming capability worldwide. At what point does civil society say that as well as the benefits that brings, this enables huge risk and threat to our society that we need to take action against?”

The Tor is now 90% of the Internet?* Holy shit, that’s one hell of an increase since June 4th! Congratulations to the EFF for transforming almost the entire Internet into an anonymous network in less than one month!

Seriously, this guy is a fucking tool who shouldn’t be allowed to head anything, let alone a crime unit focused on intellectual “property” violations.

* Just in case it’s unclear 90% of the Internet is not The Tor. The guy is simply an idiot.

Hosting Major Gladiatorial Events is Expensive

Minneapolis will be hosting the Super Bowl in 2018. In order to do this the city had to agree to a long confidential list of demands from the National Football League (NFL):

Free police escorts for team owners, and 35,000 free parking spaces. Presidential suites at no cost in high-end hotels. Free billboards across the Twin Cities. Guarantees to receive all revenue from the game’s ticket sales — even a requirement for NFL-preferred ATMs at the stadium.

Those requirements and many others are detailed in 153 pages of NFL specifications for the game. An official on the host committee that successfully sought the game — Minneapolis beat out Indianapolis and New Orleans — said the panel had agreed to a majority of the conditions but would not elaborate.

The document, which the Star Tribune obtained through sources, has not been released publicly but shows how the NFL will control the event and many of its public aspects. The NFL declined to comment on the document and host committee officials are declining to make it public, citing state data privacy laws.

It doesn’t appear as though the Star Tribune posted the document so I can only assume that making the lives of the homeless miserable was also stipulated somewhere in that contract.

It’s amazing what a bunch of wealthy NFL officials demand from a city in order for it to be allowed the “privilege” of hosting one year’s major game. City officials will justify paying for all of this with tax money by claiming the game will bring major economic activity. Of course there is no way for them to know that before, during, or after the event because such things are unknowable (sorry Keynesians but you can’t accurately predict such things as the continued failure of you school to accurately predict economic matters has demonstrated). And we also know that hosting these games has nothing to do with economic activity. They’re just ways for city officials to make their dicks look bigger to other cities that wanted to host the game.