Wall of Fame Assholes – Page 28

Surveillance is For Thee Not For Me

Dianne Feinstein isn’t just an unpleasant congress critter (but I repeat myself) when it comes to guns. The crone is also unpleasant when it comes to the police state. Since she’s part of the oligarchy she’s all for mass surveillance… unless her and her compatriots are the ones being spied on:

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a staunch defender of government surveillance of ordinary citizens, took to the Senate floor Tuesday with the stunning accusation that the Central Intelligence Agency may have violated federal law to spy on Congress.

Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, railed against the CIA for compromising the legislative branch’s oversight role — a theme echoed by many of her Senate colleagues throughout the day. The outrage was palpable among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and some suggested CIA Director John Brennan should resign if the allegations are true. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has stuck up for intelligence agencies in the past, declared a potential war.

“This is Richard Nixon stuff,” Graham told reporters. “This is dangerous to the democracy. Heads should roll, people should go to jail if it’s true. If it is, the legislative branch should declare war on the CIA.”

Her hypocrisy, and the hypocrisy of all those who advocated for government surveillance, is palpable at this point. But I’m not surprised to see this kind of double standard from Feinstein. After all she is the same woman who supports any law that restricts the ability of individuals not employed by the government to own firearms while also enjoying the protection that accompanies her armed body guards. I stopped paying attention to what that dingbat says long ago and I think you should to.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

When you were young did you ever imitate something your parents did only to have them scold you for it? I did and when I called my parents on it they would often say “Do as I say, not as I do.” That’s kind of what this feels like:

US President Barack Obama has once again accused Russia of violating international law and said Moscow was “on the wrong side of history”.

American officials say they are planning to target Russian individuals and organisations with economic sanctions.

They have also once again urged Moscow to withdraw troops from Crimea, and have proposed sending international monitors to Ukraine.

I’m not sure how Obama can, with a straight face, demand Putin stop invading a foreign land when the United States has a long and proud history of doing exactly that. Heck, the entire foreign policy of the United States is based on invading countries for no real reason.

The Mafia Always Wants Its Cut

Most of you have probably heard about the California couple who uncovered a multimillion dollar stash of gold coins. It’s an amazing find but the two performed the cardinal sin of finding treasure; they talked about it. Now that the government has caught wind of the find it wants a cut of the action that it had absolutely no part in:

The Northern California couple that found $10 million worth of rare, mint-condition gold coins buried in the shadow of an old tree on their property will likely owe about half the find’s value whether they sell the gold or not.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the find is a taxable event under a 1969 federal court ruling that held a “treasure trove” is taxable the year it was discovered.

“If you find and keep property that does not belong to you that has been lost or abandoned (treasure-trove), it is taxable to you at its fair market value in the first year it is your undisputed possession,” the report said, citing the IRS tax guide.

What right does the state have in taking half of the “fair market” value (whatever the fuck that means)? The state didn’t bury that treasure, it didn’t dig up the gold that makes up the discovered coins, it doesn’t own the property those coins were found on (even though it would like to claim that it does own that property), and it provided no work in digging up the coins. But somehow it believes it is owed almost half of the trove’s value.

And if the couple that uncovered those coins don’t give the state what it wants it will send armed goons to kidnap and cage the couple while confiscating the entirety of the discovered coins. I’m at a loss on how the state differs from the mafia beyond the mafia actually knowing how to dress.

Answering the Door When Psychopaths Come Knocking is a Bad Idea

Answering the door when psychopaths come knocking is never a good idea. But sometimes it’s unavoidable so I’m going to give a few tips for dealing with such a situation.

The first thing to do is identify whether or not the person knocking is a psychopath. Identifying a psychopath isn’t always easy but some of them make their mental disorder obvious. If the person knocking at the door is wearing a state issued costume that includes a shiny badge that is your first indication that the person is likely a psychopath. Oftentimes these costume-clad individuals will be carrying various weapons. It’s crucial to determine whether or not the weapons being carried are holstered or aimed at the door. In the case of the latter it’s best not to answer.

But you may be forced to answer. In such a case there are some tips you should keep in mind. The very first thing you should do is hide any dogs that you may have in the house. Psychopaths of the badged variety have a propensity to shoot dogs. It’s also a good idea to hide any friends of family members who may be over because the lack of K9 targets may cause the psychopaths at the door to seek human blood instead. After all living creatures have been hidden away make sure you have nothing in your hands. Don’t answer the door with a drink, a sandwich, or a game controller in your hand:

EUHARLEE, Ga. – An attorney representing the family of a 17-year-old Georgia boy who was shot and killed by a police officer says the boy was holding a video game controller when he was shot after opening his door.

Christopher Roupe was fatally shot in the chest Friday, Feb. 14 when Euharlee officers showed up at the door of his mobile home to serve a probation violation warrant for the boy’s father, WSB-TV reports. A female officer reportedly told the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that Roupe pointed a gun at her after he opened the door.

But the family’s attorney, Cole Law, said the boy was holding a Nintendo Wii video game controller, and was about to watch a movie.

What makes these situations worse is that the badged nutcases are considered trusted authority figures by the state. That means several novel-length legal books exist excusing this type of behavior and granting these badged thugs the authority to kick in your door if you don’t answer it (and sometimes they can kick it in if you do try to answer it). Heed the advice given above and you may survive one of these encounters.

You Can’t Own Property, Man

Private property is often held up as one of the founding principles of the United States. But private property doesn’t exist, the state owns all property. This is why armed thugs with badges can order you to evacuate your home and then occupy and ransack it:

Franz said it all started shortly after overhearing a fight at her neighbor’s house across the street Sunday. A short time later, the SWAT team swarmed her neighborhood.

“The cop goes ‘You all need to leave, you can’t be in your house,'” said Franz.

That happened around 1 p.m. About six hours later, deputies cleared the scene and she went back home. But something was off when she walked through the door.

“I stopped, I froze because I realized somebody had messed with my TV,” said Franz.

Franz said her blinds were opened, her Xbox and TV were disconnected, and a drape over her bedroom window was thrown on the floor.

At first she thought it was a burglar but then realized nothing was missing.

[…]

Franz said she called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to complain.

“He did call me back and he said ‘Yeah Ms. Franz my men did come in your house,'” said Franz.

What else could Franz have done? Had she refused to leave the SWAT officers would likely have kidnapped her or executed her on the spot. Legally speaking there probably isn’t much she can do since, as the story points out, there are exceptions to the warrant requirement for officers entering a home. Those exceptions aren’t clear cut and the police typically get off without punishment even when they do something illegal.

This story further reinforces the lesson that the state owns all property and we’re simply allowed to rent some of it. The second we fail to pay our rent, err, property tax or a costume-clad thug with a badge wants it we must either leave or face the state’s violence.

Dropping Bombs on Cellular Signals

There should be a new motto for the ongoing War of Terror: it gets worse. Every day new reports regarding the War of Terror manage to reveal facts that are worse than the facts revealed in previous reports. The fact we have regarding the United State’s use of drones is already pretty damning.

We know that the United States regularly practices double-tapping, the act of dropping a second bomb on a target minutes after the first, which often catches first responders in the blast. Two years ago the United States redefined the term militant to include all military-aged males inside a strike zone, which has done wonders for reducing the number of “civilian” causalities. With the term militant redefined the fact that drone bombings kill more civilians than terrorists is an irrelevant fact. Even with the term militant redefined the number of civilian causalities in the form of children is alarming. Even after all of this the United States still loosened restrictions in regards to who it can and cannot legally bomb.

As hard as it is to imagine it still gets worse. Yesterday it was revealed by Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald that the United States is now using geolocation data from cellular phones as sole criteria for determining where to drop bombs:

The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes – an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people.

According to a former drone operator for the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) who also worked with the NSA, the agency often identifies targets based on controversial metadata analysis and cell-phone tracking technologies. Rather than confirming a target’s identity with operatives or informants on the ground, the CIA or the U.S. military then orders a strike based on the activity and location of the mobile phone a person is believed to be using.

[…]

In one tactic, the NSA “geolocates” the SIM card or handset of a suspected terrorist’s mobile phone, enabling the CIA and U.S. military to conduct night raids and drone strikes to kill or capture the individual in possession of the device.

[…]

As a result, even when the agency correctly identifies and targets a SIM card belonging to a terror suspect, the phone may actually be carried by someone else, who is then killed in a strike. According to the former drone operator, the geolocation cells at the NSA that run the tracking program – known as Geo Cell –sometimes facilitate strikes without knowing whether the individual in possession of a tracked cell phone or SIM card is in fact the intended target of the strike.

This tactic is asinine. As the article points out, the location of a cellular phone doesn’t indicate the location of its owner. Cellular phones can be loaned to friends and family members, left in taxicabs, stolen, or otherwise relocated in a manner that doesn’t indicate the location of its owner. In addition to simply removing the phone from the target’s location there is also the issue of cloning. While cellular phone companies can often identify clones cellular identify information I have my doubts that the United States government takes such precautions when using geolocation information to determine where to drop bombs.

We’ve been told that the utmost care is taken when selecting targets for drone assassination. These claims have been invalidated by information leaked from the military and intelligence agencies. Perhaps the United States once took care when targeting individuals although I have my doubts. But it’s obvious at this point that little care is being taken when determining who to bomb. If things continue in this direction it won’t be long until a random populated location generator is used to determine where to drop bombs.

This war, like all wars, has gotten out of hand. The only purpose left in waging the War of Terror is to fulfill the blood lust of psychopaths and to line the pockets of defense contractors.

Pigs Hate Dogs

It’s a new morning and that means another dog has been shot by a cop. This time an officer decided to take out a man’s service dog — on the man’s son’s birthday:

FILER • A dog is dead, and its owner is alleging trigger-happy police work after a Filer officer shot the animal Saturday outside his home.

Police, however, say the dog was aggressive and had to be put down.

Rick Clubb said Monday that his son’s 9th birthday party was wrapping up about 5:30 p.m. when Officer Tarek Hassani came to his home on Jacklyne Circle on complaints of dogs running at-large.

He shot the 7-year-old black labrador, “Hooch,” Clubb said, though it showed no aggressive behavior.

I’m not surprised that the cops are claiming that the animal was acting aggressively since that’s the excuse they always use. But this time the fiasco was caught on film:

Had a hairless ape been kicking at me I’d be a bit aggressive as well. But the dog must be given a great deal of credit. Even though the officer was kicking at it the dog never actually attacked him. Of course the officer still put a bullet in the poor beast because killing a dog doesn’t end in punishment unlike killing a human (which can end in a lot of paperwork and nobody likes paperwork).

This video leads me to wonder if the officer acted aggressively towards the dog specifically to rile it up and therefore have a justification to shoot it. I’m then left to wonder how often such scenarios play out. Could it be that many of the incidents of “dogs acting aggressively” are due to officers first acting aggressively towards those dogs just to get a desired response?

Going Full Retard

That’s valuable advice. When you go full retard you inevitably make an ass of yourself and nobody ever takes you seriously again. Apparently these individuals never learned that lesson:

HIGHLAND, Utah – Billed as a call for an uprising, opponents of same-sex marriage gathered for a meeting in Highland on Saturday.

Former Graham County, Ariz., Sheriff Richard Mack spoke about issues concerning the U.S. Constitution, including same-sex marriage.

Mack says that since it appears that Herbert and other elected leaders have failed at their jobs, it’s up to law enforcement and everyday citizens to deny same-sex marriage.

And what, exactly, are law enforcement agents and everyday citizens supposed to do to stop same-sex marriages? Are law enforcement agents expected to kick in the doors of same-sex couples and shoot their dog to send a message? Are everyday citizens supposed to show up to same-sex weddings, beat everybody attending, and burn the place to the ground? How far is this holy crusade supposed to go?

“The people of Utah have rights, too, not just the homosexuals. The homosexuals are shoving their agenda down our throats,” Mack said.

What a strange false dichotomy. By saying “the people of Utah” Mr. Mack necessarily included homosexuals because homosexuals are, like Soylent Green, people! But I’m not sure why non-homosexuals have the right to infringe on a voluntary union between two individuals of the same sex. Obviously I’m not the master of all but from my vantage point of a person who likes to leave other people alone it seems as though two individuals should be allowed to enter into any voluntary arrangement they so desire.

Cherilyn Eager, who helped organize the event, says that it’s time for the citizens of Utah to speak up for their rights.

“We need people to stand up and speak out. We need to get noisy. We need some outrage,” Eager said. ”It is about the sheriffs now coming out to protect the people.”

Outrage? The United States is engaged in several unwarranted foreign wars, the homeless are treated like shit in most of the country, and the police are acting like an occupying military force. If you’re not outraged by now you either have a very Discordian view of things that helps you cope with such nonsense in a humorous way or your priorities are a bit strange. I fail to see how two individual entering into a voluntary union should spark more outrage than wars, abuses against the needy, and police brutality. In a voluntary union nobody gets hurt or dies while in the latter three people do get hurt and die.

Here’s my question for everybody up in arms about same-sex marriage: why do you care? Seriously. It seems like an awfully stupid thing to invest time in worrying about. If somebody was trying to force churches to perform same-sex marriages against their will I would understand the outrage. But when the status of same-sex marriage flips from illegal to legal it seems entirely pointless to complain about. Hell, most of the loudest opponents to legalizing same-sex marriages are the organizations ultimately responsible for the legalization. Had the currently complaining religious institutions fought the state’s attempt to define marriage then this entire fiasco could have been avoided. But you had to get the state involved and now you’re upset because the state isn’t doing what you want anymore.

Instead of getting up in arms about legalized same-sex marriage why not get up in arms about something that actually involves people being hurt or killed?

A Slow Death

This a story that’s sure to give the most bloodthirsty fans of law and order a hard on. As many people know there has been a shortage of the chemicals used in lethal injection. The that has been frantically looking for an alternative poison to inject into those it deems worth of death. An initial trial was run using a new concoction on a Ohio man condemned to death. Needless to say, things didn’t go well:

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A condemned man appeared to gasp several times and took an unusually long time to die — more than 20 minutes — in an execution carried out Thursday with a combination of drugs never before tried in the U.S.

Dennis McGuire’s attorney Allen Bohnert called the convicted killer’s death “a failed, agonizing experiment” and added: “The people of the state of Ohio should be appalled at what was done here today in their names.”

An attorney for McGuire’s family said it plans to sue the state over what happened.

McGuire’s lawyers had attempted last week to block his execution, arguing that the untried method could lead to a medical phenomenon known as “air hunger” and could cause him to suffer “agony and terror” while struggling to catch his breath.

McGuire, 53, made loud snorting noises during one of the longest executions since Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999. Nearly 25 minutes passed between the time the lethal drugs began flowing and McGuire was pronounced dead at 10:53 a.m.

I oppose the death penalty but if a state is going to implement it then it should have the decency to offer a quick death. Unfortunately our society has a rather strange belief that death by convoluted method is morally superior than death by sudden violence. That means many of the ways you could quickly kill a man, such as a bullet to the brain, are off of the table. Instead our society demands the use of complex chemicals that most of them cannot even pronounce the names of. It’s beyond me how lethal injection is morally superior to a firing squad but nobody is asking me. If they were there wouldn’t be a death penalty, or prisons for that matter.

Meanwhile In Ukraine

If you pay attention to world affairs then you’ve probably heard about the protests going on in Ukraine. Things aren’t looking good. Take, for example, this picture:

According to the caption on the BBC picture depicts police responding “with stun grenades and rubber bullets to demonstrators hurling petrol bombs.” I’m saddened to hear that the protesters have been hurling petrol bombs at those poor police officers. Don’t the protesters know that the police are just trying to keep everybody safe?

Wait just a bloody minute. What the fuck is this:

Huh. Isn’t that something? It almost looks as if the police are lighting up a petrol bomb. I wonder what they’re doing with that? Obviously they’re not tossing petrol bombs to frame protesters and give themselves an excuse to thump some skulls.

Yes, that last paragraph was dripping with sarcasm. It appears as though the cops in the second picture are, in fact, lighting up petrol bombs with the intention of framing some protesters. Somebody cop apologist will likely point out that the authenticity of this picture is in question. As I’m not in Ukraine at the moment I cannot verify the authenticity of this particular image. But, at the same time, I have every reason to believe that this is something the police in Ukraine would do. After all, these are the same cops that have been using water cannons in the dead of winter.

The important thing to take away from this post is that the news we’re getting from official channels is likely biased towards the Ukrainian rulers. There is another side to this story as there are with most stories.