1984 was a Warning not a Blueprint – Page 29

Another Grand Jury Continues the Trend of Not Indicting a Cop

What happens when a group of law enforcement officers murder a man with down syndrome? A grand jury decides against indicting them!

Less than five miles from the theater where a man with Down syndrome died at the hands of the law enforcement officials he idolized, a grand jury on Friday heard the details of the case and decided that no crime had been committed.

“They felt no further investigation was necessary,” Frederick County State’s Attorney J. Charles Smith said at a news conference outside the county’s courthouse.

Grand jury proceedings are secretive in Maryland, but Smith said that his office presented the jury with 17 witness statements and that three deputies involved in the death — Lt. Scott Jewell, Sgt. Rich Rochford and Deputy First Class James Harris — all testified.

[…]

In February, the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Baltimore ruled Saylor’s death a homicide as a result of asphyxia. On Friday, Smith said that the report indicated that Down syndrome and obesity made Saylor more susceptible to breathing problems.

And thus continues the trend of grand juries indicted almost everybody under the sun unless they have a magical liability shield.

Back in the day the state encouraged people to stay fit because they may some day be called to defend the country (which is a euphemism for being send to the Middle East on a holy crusade against Islam). Now the narrative is changing. We must all be in peak physical condition to better improve our chances of survival when interacting with police. If you fail to keep yourself in shape you may very well be more susceptible to asphyxiating when the cop throws your ass to the ground, money piles you, and wraps a few set of handcuffs around your neck.

But in all seriousness never call the police unless you want somebody murdered because that’s what will happen in all likelihood.

How Not to Get Killed By a Cop

So many people have been getting killed by police that I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to survive an encounter with one of those costume clad thugs with a shiny liability shield. I searched through several police department websites seeing if they had any tips or tricks but came up empty handed. It was then that I decided to consult with experts on modern policing, neocons and other petty authoritarians.

After some discussions I finally learned the trick to avoid getting killed by a cop and it’s really simple. If you encounter a cop you just need to be a good little slave, kowtow to the costume clad master, and beg the courts for freedom after you’ve had the shit kicked out of you because the cop didn’t want you to beat the ride even if you could beat the charge.

By simply allowing the petty man with a badge to scream at you, rough you up, and kill your family pets you can survive! At least some of the times. Really it’s up to the office and their decision will likely depend on whether or not they had the opportunity to beat somebody up recently or not.

Everybody is In On the Surveillance Game

This has been a bad week for my laptop. Last week my battery gave up the ghost. On Sunday the hard drive died. Finally on Monday the spare hard drive I swapped into the laptop committed seppuku. Since the hard drive I dropped in on Sunday night was my last spare drive I had to make a trip to the local computer parts emporium to acquire another one. While searching through the hard drives I came across something rather funny:

That must be Western Digital’s National Security Agency (NSA) edition hard drive.

Also, as a side note, when it comes time to choose a name for your laptop don’t choose Loki. Just throwing that out there.

My Definition of Journalist

Politicians are again throwing hissy fits because they have so far been unsuccessful at definition what a journalist is. The definition of a journalist is a big deal for the freedom of speech because if the politicians are able to define journalist narrow enough they can squash all sort of the legal protections. This time around, just like all of the time prior, the politicians are trying to justify their attempts at stripping people of the coveted journalist title through fear:

Freedom of the press is essential. Freedom of the press is important to me. Freedom of the press is not going anywhere in Alabama.

With the national explosion of partisan political blogs and shady, fly-by-night websites offering purposely skewed and inaccurate interpretations of hard news events, I recently asked the Secretary of the Senate to put together a definition of what qualifies as a legitimate journalist.

My concern focused on the confusion that could result if a number of partisan bloggers requested official credentials to cover legislative happenings from the press rooms located in the rear of each chamber at the State House.

If they don’t define what a journalist is then anybody could potentially go into marble building in which our overlords dictate degrees and report on what’s going on. The need to squash such a possibility is obvious.

As I enjoy being helpful I have decided to put forth a definition of journalist that I believe will work for everybody. So here it is, a journalist is anybody or anything (because someday artificial intelligences may do journalism) that reports on events. Simple enough?

I’m sure my definition isn’t what the politicians are looking for as their interest is restricting who can cover their actions by ensuring reporters are sympathetic to the state. But journalism is only effective if the reporters are cynical assholes who are willing to dig deep to find dirt. In other words to be a good journalist you have to be a bastard:

And that’s exactly what the politicians are trying to censor.

Fear Mongering at Its Worst

One of my friends sent me some quality fear mongering. We’re not the usual namby pamby bullshit that gets tossed around during political debates but straight up claims that sexual predators will get your children if said vote passes:

Michelle Duggar of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting is warning Fayetteville residents that transgender people are child predators and that the law will somehow protect that predatory behavior.

Her recorded robocall says:

“Hello, this is Michelle Duggar. I’m calling to inform you of some shocking news that would affect the safety of Northwest Arkansas women and children.”

“The Fayetteville City Council is voting on an ordinance this Tuesday night that would allow men – yes I said men – to use womens and girls restrooms, locker rooms, showers, sleeping areas and other areas that are designated for females only. I don’t believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls. “

File this under government so small that it fits in your bathroom. Last year Arizona was looking to dictate who could use what bathroom backed with the threat of honest to goodness prison time. But I don’t think the fear mongering, at least that I found, reached this absurd of a level.

First of all, with all due respect (which is none) to Duggar, a transwoman is not a man. You have to be a pretty ignorant fuckstick to think that (to all those who I just offended please feel free to file a complaint in the comments below and I will explain why you’re an ignorant fuckstick when time is available).

Second, does Duggar even have a single example of a male child predator attempting to pass as transgender for the explicit purpose of preying on young girls? I didn’t think so.

This is another example of collectivist bigotry that can’t help but resort to fear mongering in a sad attempt to get others to hate a group of people. It wouldn’t be so bad if everybody recognized fear mongering for what it is but many don’t and that leads to good people getting hurt.

Face Jail Time for Teaching People to Pass a Bull Crap Test

File this post under everything is illegal. A man has been indicted for running a business that claims to teach people how to pass polygraph tests. Initially I thought he was being charged with fraud for false advertising but he’s actually being charged for attempting to defraud the government:

A former Oklahoma City police officer was indicted Thursday on accusations of teaching people to cheat on lie detector tests, the government announced Friday.

The 69-year-old Norman, Oklahoma, man is the owner of Polygraph.com and charged customers thousands of dollars for instructions on how to beat lie detector tests administered for federal employment suitability assessments, federal security background investigations, and internal federal agency investigations, court documents show.

According to the five-count indictment [PDF] lodged against Douglas Williams:

The purpose of the scheme was to defraud the United States and to obtain and maintain positions of Federal employment for Williams’ customers for which they did not qualify, and the salary attendant to such positions, through materially false and fraudulent statements and representations. A further purpose of the scheme was for Williams to enrich himself by assisting his customers—including, among others, Federal job applicants, applicants for Federal security clearances, and individuals under investigation by Federal law enforcement agencies—in deceiving the Federal government in order to obtain or maintain positions of Federal employment for which Williams’ customers did not qualify.

If I understand the state’s “logic” it’s claiming that since it uses polygraphs on employees anybody teaching individuals how to pass a polygraph is defrauding the state. Such a case may have some kind of merit if polygraphs actually worked. But they’re bullshit. People, as a group, have no consistent response to lying. The only reason polygraphs are at all effective is because people subjected to polygraph tests believe they’re effective. A skilled operator can convince a person being tested that the machine is telling him something and that’s often enough to get the person to divulge whatever it is they were lying about.

If government agencies are still using polygraphs to test employees then it is entirely at fault for using voodoo to verify the integrity of employees. Anybody teaching people how to pass a polygraph, as opposed to telling people that polygraphs are bullshit, are only guilty of lying by claiming that polygraphs are somehow effective.

Also, as an aside, you cannot defraud a thief and the state is the greatest thief of them all.

The Skies Have Eyes

We know that the government, primarily through its official surveillance department known as the National Security Agency (NSA), has been spying on Americans for years. When thinking about government surveillance I would bet things like wiretaps in data centers are the first things to come to mind. What about small aircraft? As it turns out the government has been using them to spy on you as well:

The US Department of Justice has been using airplanes to collect Americans’ cell phone data, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Devlin Barrett.

The surveillance program, which is run by the US Marshals Service under the DOJ, has reportedly been in effect since 2007.

Officials have been using portable cell towers, known as “dirtboxes,” on small planes to collect identity and location information on cell phone users.

Those Cessna aircrafts fly from at least five airports near major cities, effectively allowing them to surveil most Americans.

Considering what we know thanks to Edward Snowden this isn’t surprising. Really this is just a Stringray with wings, which means it has a lot of range. What this story really shows is just how much time, effort, and money the state is dumping into its various programs to spy on each and every one of us.

The President of Peace Needs More Freedom to Bomb People

I’m just going to start calling Obama the President of Peace. After all, he’s the only Nobel Peace Prize winner that I know who has bombed numerous countries. Congress, which is supposed to curtail the president’s powers, has done nothing to stand in his way and everything possible to support his murderous actions. That being the case I’m certain the President of Peace will receive the new freedoms he’s asking for to bomb foreign nations:

When he approved U.S. airstrikes in late September against extremists who have captured territory across Syria and Iraq, Obama used legal grounds of congressional authorizations that President George W. Bush relied on more than a decade ago. The White House maintained then that the Bush-era congressional authorizations for the war on al-Qaida and the Iraq invasion gave Obama authority to act without new approval by Congress under the 1973 War Powers Act.

That law, passed during the Vietnam War, serves as a constitutional check on presidential power to declare war without congressional consent. It requires presidents to notify Congress within 48 hours of military action, and limits the use of military forces to no more than 60 days unless Congress authorizes force or declares war.

Now, however, Obama said a new military authorization is one of a few areas where he will seek to work with lawmakers during the lame-duck session before a new Congress is seated in January.

You have to give the man credit, when it comes to murdering people he doesn’t pursue it half-assed. And he still seems to have a ton of people willing to either act as apologists for hist reneging on his promises to end the wars or sweep his entire war mongering under the rug so they can continue to pretend that they’re anti-war while still claiming their guy is the best guy ever.

Controlling the Message

When the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared Ferguson, Missouri a no-fly zone I immediately thought it did so to suppress media coverage of police brutality. I’m cynical by nature so it’s nice to be surprised once in a while. But this isn’t one of those cases:

The FAA records official phone conversations at its air traffic facilities, a policy that is known to employees. The initial flight restrictions hindered planes from landing at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport unless they violated the no-fly order. The recordings show FAA officials seeking police agreement the next morning to change the designation of the restricted area to allow air traffic into Lambert and then struggling with the wording of the no-fly order in an effort to prevent media from entering of the restricted area.

[…]

Second Kansas City manager: “I went into the system and picked law enforcement … and of course it puts the one in that says nobody can be in there except the relief aircraft. …

Unidentified FAA employee: “Now what’s relief aircraft? …”

Manager: “It’s whoever the police want in there at that point when it’s a law enforcement one. The problem is, this is a very unusual situation … because normally these are, you know, a mile (radius) and 1,000 feet (in altitude), you know, to keep media out …”

FAA employee: “Hang on. Why are we even having that? Because, I mean, if it’s just for media, like you said, then why is it so big? And, otherwise, we thought that it might’ve been for them trying to take pot shots at somebody. You know anything about that or anything?”

Manager: “I was talking to Jim, the FLM (front-line manager) in the tower, and I was talking to Chris at St. Louis County Police. The commander at St. Louis County wanted 3 (nautical) miles and 8,000 feet and I talked him down to 3 and 5. They finally admitted it really was to keep the media out … but they were a little concerned of, obviously, anything else that could be going on.”

Manager, later in the same conversation: “I’d like you to talk to the tower and get the coordination going again with the police department. They did not care if you ran commercial traffic through this TFR (temporary flight restriction) all day long. They didn’t want media in there. … There’s no option for a TFR that says, you know, ‘OK, everybody but the media is OK.'”

This shouldn’t surprise anybody considering all of the other ways police in Ferguson were abusing reporters. It should, however, make you upset because it shows yet again how corrupt modern policing is and how little the so-called freedom of the press matters. As with most cases of police corruption the likely outcome of this mess will go without consequences for the police who were suppressing news coverage.

Fighting Drugs is Patriotic

The USA PATRIOT Act is one of the most blatant examples of police state legislation. When it was passed we were told it was necessary to protect us from the terrorists. Not surprisingly, since terrorism isn’t really a big threat to those of us living in the United States, it has been used far more to fight the war on unpatentable drugs:

Out of the 3,970 total requests from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010, 3,034 were for narcotics cases and only 37 for terrorism cases (about .9%). Since then, the numbers get worse. The 2011 report reveals a total of 6,775 requests. 5,093 were used for drugs, while only 31 (or .5%) were used for terrorism cases. The 2012 report follows a similar pattern: Only .6%, or 58 requests, dealt with terrorism cases. The 2013 report confirms the incredibly low numbers. Out of 11,129 reports only 51, or .5%, of requests were used for terrorism. The majority of requests were overwhelmingly for narcotics cases, which tapped out at 9,401 requests.

Advocates of legislation like the USA PATRIOT Act tell us that law enforcement needs some exceptions to the rules in order to fight whatever boogeyman is being used to justify those expanded powers. Then law enforcers turn around and use those powers indiscriminately to fight everything with the possible exceptions of that boogeyman.

I think the USA PATRIOT Act is the best example of what police should never be given additional powers.