Tag: Shut Up Slave

Papers Please

Remember when our “representatives” established the Transportation Sexual Assaulter Security Administration (TSA) and claimed they would only be used for airports? Remember when TSA agents were caught harassing Amtrak passengers and later truck drivers in Tennessee? That’s what we call mission creep and anytime the government establishes a new agency with limited powers you can guarantee mission creep will follow. In fact I would say this law of mission creep is more stable and provable than the law of gravity. Well fellows denizens of the United States, the TSA’s mission creep shows no signs of stopping:

Rick Vetter was rushing to board the Amtrak train in Charlotte, N.C., on a recent Sunday afternoon when a canine officer suddenly blocked the way.

Three federal air marshals in bulletproof vests and two officers trained to spot suspicious behavior watched closely as Seiko, a German shepherd, nosed Vetter’s trousers for chemical traces of a bomb. Radiation detectors carried by the marshals scanned the 57-year-old lawyer for concealed nuclear materials.

When Seiko indicated a scent, his handler, Julian Swaringen, asked Vetter whether he had pets at home in Garner, N.C. Two mutts, Vetter replied. “You can go ahead,” Swaringen said.

Let me just say I’m getting sick of state agents using dogs to do whatever the fuck they want. The only person who knows if a dog “alerts” or “indicates a scent” is the handler and they can claim any reaction made by the dog is an “alert” or “indicator.” Thus dogs are incredibly brought in to create phony probably cause as nobody can really argue against the handler’s word, especially since dogs can’t speak. I would bet money the case mentioned above was merely a case of profiling, put the target in a situation where he would feel nervous and watch for his physical reactions. If the target doesn’t break out into a sweat or studded his speech you let him go, otherwise you harass him without cause some more.

The Transportation Security Administration isn’t just in airports anymore. TSA teams are increasingly conducting searches and screenings at train stations, subways, ferry terminals and other mass transit locations around the country.

“We are not the Airport Security Administration,” said Ray Dineen, the air marshal in charge of the TSA office in Charlotte. “We take that transportation part seriously.”

The TSA’s 25 “viper” teams — for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response — have run more than 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in the last year. Department of Homeland Security officials have asked Congress for funding to add 12 more teams next year.

How much money to you think somebody got paid to come up with the tacticool acronym VIPR? Still this excuse by the TSA to expand its powers shows why you need to give agencies very narrow names. Instead of calling the agency the Transportation Security Administration they should have been given the name Airport Restricted Security Agency Guarding the Gateway Between the Secure Area of the Airport and the Insecure Area of the Airport using Metal Detectors (ARSAGGBSAAIAAMD). Sure it’s a mouthful but they at least have to perform an agency name change before expanding their powers a terrible amount.

Let the TSA be a lesson to you, if the government asks for powers in one market they will always use that new power to justify the expansion of their power. At the rate we’re going there will be TSA checkpoints on the border of individual states and we’ll be required to provide our papers in order to traverse from one state to another.

Obama Was Just Kidding About Vetoing the National Defense Authorization Act

Remember when Obama said he was going to veto the National Defense Authorization Act? Well he was just kidding:

President Obama has dropped his threat to veto the 2012 defense authorization bill after his advisers concluded that revised provisions about detainees would not harm national security.

The new “language does not challenge or constrain the president’s ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists, and protect the American people,” Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

Emphasis mine. I wanted to bring emphasis to his reasoning for threatening a veto. Yesterday I said he had less than noble intentions when he threatened to veto but now we see what those intentions are. Obama was simply pissed because he thought the new language was going to strip him of some precious tyrannical power. Now that he’s sure his ability do whatever the fuck he wants to American citizens is secured he’s more than happy to pass the bill.

The Real Reason Obama is Threatening to Veto the National Defense Authorization Act

Obama has been threatening to veto the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a section that will authorize indefinite detention of anybody accused of being linked to terrorism in any way. His supporters are pointing to this threat as proof of Obama’s willingness to defend the rights of American citizens. Unfortunately, for all of us, that’s not true. How can I make this claim? Easy, his administration were the ones that asked language in section 1031, the section authorizing indefinite detention, exempting American citizens be removed. Don’t take my word for it, let Senator Carl Levin explain [MP3].

If Obama gave a crap about civil rights he would have been demanding the language remain in the bill. Knowing he demanded the language be removed it’s obvious there is an ulterior motive for threatening a veto and it most likely isn’t benevolent.

Even though there were videos of this speech floating around they have apparently been removed from YouTube (I found four instances of the video, all were said to be removed by the user when I tried to view them). Thankfully I was able to find a copy of the speech on No Agenda Show Notes. The copy I linked to is from there but uploaded to my server so as not to waster their bandwidth unnecessarily.

Agents of the State Find Time to Harass Teenagers

With all the ills going on in the world it’s good to see members of the Kansas governor’s staff are finding time to tackle the really important issues:

“Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot,” she wrote to her 60 followers who tuned in to her sporadic updates about the Twilight films and Justin Bieber. In fact, Sullivan hadn’t said a word to the governor during his brief speech, and she now says the Twitter comment was just an “inside joke” among her high schol friends who were also on the Youth in Government field trip and disagreed with Brownback’s politics.

But the humor was lost on members of Brownback’s staff, who found the tweet while scouring social media sites for his name and alerted Sullivan’s high school principal. The principal reprimanded Sullivan and demanded she write an apology to the governor.

There’s so much stupid in the second paragraph that it almost physically hurts. First of all how the hell are members of Brownback’s staff finding the time to browse through social media sites looking for the governor’s name? If staff members have enough time to do that they either need more work or the size of the staff needs to be reduced. Remember that the people of Kansas are footing Brownback’s bill to pay his staff so if he has any decency (which he probably doesn’t being he’s a politician) he’d ensure his staff was as efficiently sized as possible.

Next we have the concern of staff members contacting the kid’s principle. Her tweet said she made mean comments at the governor, not that she was planning on committing any act of violence upon the man. Just for fun and in case anybody from Brownback’s staff is reading this site I’d like to say that Governor Brownback is a huge steaming pile of shit. Granted I don’t know the man but if he feels sending staff members out to browse social media sites for mentions of his name is a good use of taxpayer dollars then he is a piece of shit in my book.

The third point of stupid is the audacity of the principle to demand the kid write a letter of apology. Nobody should be made to apologize for their opinion, especially when that opinion is about a public official. There is a pesky amendment in the Constitution that says something about people have the freedom of speech. While I understand schools are actually more akin to prisons it is still disgusting to see students having their supposedly Constitutionally guaranteed rights stripped without actually doing any wrong. Don’t even both giving me that line of bullshit about the Bill of Rights only applying to adults, nowhere in the Bill of Rights does it contain any disclaimer that it is meant to apply only to adults. It appears as though the kid is pretty smart I must say:

And while Sullivan’s tweet is still rude, Brownback’s staff response makes him look thin-skinned and unable to take a joke. “I can’t believe they would prioritize that over other issues they have going on now,” Sullivan says. “I can’t believe they take time out of their day to look at social media and Twitter for his name.”

Exactly. The people of Kansas should be up in arms just for the fact that they’re paying idiots to sit around and browse Twitter all day. Let me also commend the kid for sticking to her guns and ultimately deciding not to write an apology letter:

Sullivan, who now has more than 9,000 Twitter followers and has begun quoting Gandhi, says she hopes the principal will accept her decision not write an apology letter. She says the incident has been a “reality check” to her and her friends that their comments on social media sites are not anonymous nor consequence-free.

You should only apologize when it’s sincere, which means you should never write a letter of apology for speaking the truth or your opinion. Too many people believe that apologies must be issued whenever you hurt somebody’s feelings but truth be told this simply creates a society that ends up giving a bunch of insincere apologies for everything and also ingrains people with the idea that they can get away with anything so long as they issue a phony apology afterwards.

Since the heat was turned up Governor Brownback did finally issue an apology of his own:

“My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms. I enjoyed speaking to the more than 100 students who participated in the Youth in Government Program at the Kansas Capitol. They are our future. I also want to thank the thousands of Kansas educators who remind us daily of our liberties, as well as the values of civility and decorum. Again, I apologize for our over-reaction”

How about you apologize to the people of Kansas for wasting their money by paying people to sit and browse the Internet?

Obama Administration Moving to Coverup Government Gun Smuggling Case

After the slaying of United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry it was discovered that weapons were being smuggled from the United States into Mexico by our own government. This culminated into the discovery of Operation Fast and Furious, which has been a rather undesired blemish on the current administration’s already heavily blemished record. It appears as though the coverup is now in full swing though:

The case against Osorio-Arellanes and others involved in the shooting has since been sealed, meaning that neither the public nor the media has access to any evidence, filings, rulings or arguments.

The U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, which is prosecuting the case, would confirm only that it was sealed. Also sealed was the judge’s reason for sealing the case.

The indictment lists the names of other suspects in the shooting, but they are redacted.

In the Terry killing, two Romanian-built AK-47 assault rifles found at the scene were identified as having been purchased in a Glendale, Ariz., gun shop as part of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) failed Fast and Furious investigation.

A number of rank-and-file Border Patrol agents have questioned why the case has not gone to trial, nearly a year after Terry’s killing. Several also have concerns about the lack of transparency in the investigation, compounded now by the fact that the court case has been sealed.

Nothing to see here, move along citizen. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody considering how big of a deal this entire case is. The government was caught doing something naughty, arming Mexican drug cartels, and they want the entire mess to go away. You’re not suppose to inquire about it, records are now sealed, and everybody is supposed to pretend this entire situation was caused by American’s “loose” gun laws.

Only one word comes to mind after reading this, disgusting. On the other hand this should demonstrated without a doubt that our government doesn’t feel as though they need to answer to us, if we ask a question they can just classify all related documents and tell us to buzz off.

Lieberman Pushing to Further Censor Free Speech

I hate Joe Lieberman. He’s one of the dumbest fuckwits in Washington DC who seems to have a loud opinion about every single thing he doesn’t understand. Now he’s demanding that Google place a button on Blogger to flag terrorist content:

Joseph Lieberman, the independent senator from Connecticut, sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page this week expressing his opinion that Google-owned blogging platform Blogger should provide a button that would let readers of Blogger-powered blogs flag “terrorist content,” according to a report.

[…]

“As demonstrated by this recent case, Google’s webhosting site, Blogger, is being used by violent Islamist extremists to broadcast terrorist content,” reads the reported Lieberman letter, which was posted online by blog TPM.

Where do I begin? First of all what qualifies as terrorist content is entirely subjective. If you ask a government agent any anti-government content would likely be considered terrorist content while people asking me what qualifies as terrorist content will get a quick response noting basically everything government agents have ever written.

Are people advocating terrorism using popular blogging software to get their message out? Yes. Is such content protected under free speech? You’re damned right it is. How can I say that? Easy, unless somebody is acting upon their advocacy of violence no crime has taken place because no victim exists. There is a day and night difference between saying something and doing something. Many people say things that they would never act upon, often times just to let off steam.

What Lieberman wants is really the censorship of speech. How do I derive that? What do you think that “terrorist flag” button is supposed to do? I’m sure if jack-booted thug Lieberman had his way it would send all available personal information about the post author to the Department of Motherland Homeland Security and dispatch a Reaper drone to blow the author straight to Hell. Since that isn’t really possible due to pesky laws (not that they’re stopping the government from doing anything) the next best thing will be to have the button remove the content from Blogger, at least for review.

Instead of trying to further stifle our rights how about you work on real problems Lieberman? Perhaps you can use your large and idiotic opinion to demand stupid changes that you believe will fix our country’s major debt problem. At least you could claim you’re working on a pressing issue in an attempt to justify that fat paycheck and great benefits package you earn for doing nothing besides being a dick.

Man Killed with Taser for Being Hard of Hearing

Many police officers in the United States seem to think Tasers are a non-lethal weapon system that can be deployed whenever the desire to teach a suspect a lesson about respecting authoritah is desired. In North Carolina a police officer decided it would be a jolly good time to Taser a person riding down the street on his bike when he didn’t stop upon the officer’s command. That man is now dead and the officer is on paid leave and, as is common for these of cases, will likely be allowed to return to work once this entire mess blows over:

Scotland Neck Police Chief Joe Williams said they received a call Monday night about a man who fell off of his bicycle and injured himself in the parking lot of the BB&T bank, 1001 Main St. The caller was concerned that the man was drunk.

When Officer John Turner arrived, he saw Roger Anthony pedaling away along 10th Street. He followed Anthony in his patrol car, briefly put on his sirens and lights and yelled out of the window for him to stop, but Anthony continued to ride away, police said.

Williams said Turner then saw Anthony take something out his pocket and put it into his mouth. At that time, Turner got out of the car and yelled for Anthony to stop. When Anthony didn’t stop, the officer used a stun gun on him, causing him to fall off of his bike.

I forgot to mention the most important detail of this case, the man was hard of hearing:

Freeman said her brother was disabled, suffered from seizures and had trouble hearing. She said he was riding his bike home from her house on Sunday night. Anthony lived alone in an independent living community.

The reason the man didn’t stop upon command is probably due to the fact he didn’t hear the command. I believe Tasers should be treated the same as firearms (with the acknowledgement that they’re less effective) and thus only be deployed in self-defense situations. When a person is riding his bike and refusing to stop because some asshole with a badge demands it there is no need for the deployment of weapons.

Instead of being intelligent about the situation and attempting non-lethal intervention the officer instantly went for a weapon and initiated an attack. The man is dead because, through hearsay, the officer suspected the biker may have been drunk while riding a bicycle. Police officers should be taught that Tasers are lethal weapons and thus should only be deployed in response to violant acts because the consequences of using one is often deadly.

Police Working to Shut Public Out of Radio Communications

It appears as thought the police are becoming more militarized every day. First every department started establishing Special Weapons and Tactic (SWAT) teams, then they started arming themselves with armored personel carriers, and now they’re starting to classify everything:

Police departments around the country are moving to shield their radio communications from the public as cheap, user-friendly technology has made it easy for anyone to use handheld devices to keep tabs on officers responding to crimes.

The practice of encryption has become increasingly common from Florida to New York and west to California, with law enforcement officials saying they want to keep criminals from using officers’ internal chatter to evade them.

I find it funny that the police agencies moving to encrypt their communications, according to the article, are located in such havens of freedom such as New York and California. What is funny is their excuse, they’re claim of wanting to prevent criminals from listening into radio transmissions is dubious. Usually the police respond to crimes that have already happened meaning it’s unlikely a criminal is going to gain much advantage by having a police scanner on hand. While many criminals are idiots some are smart enough to realize the police will be soon to arrive after a call is made to 911.

Perhaps the police are getting sick of the public listening into their misdeeds. Then again I think the most likely reason they’re moving to encrypt their radio communications is because they’re getting a case of over classification from the military.

A Disgusting Use of Force

I’m sure most of you have seen the video of the police officer pepper spraying a group of peaceful protesters at the University of California Davis:

As is usual when an officer is caught doing something naughty this officer has been put on leave and will likely resume his duties after this entire mess has blown over.

The divide between those who support and oppose the occupy movement is great and I’ve seen many of those in opposition saying the protesters got what was coming to them. To that I say bullshit. Whether you agree, disagree, or simply don’t care about the occupy movement it should be appalling to you that police officers would use force on non-violent protesters. These protesters were literally sitting with arms linked while the police decided it would be justified to first induce pain and then remove the offending individuals. Such gross displays of power make me sick.

The Constitution of the United States specifically declares the right of the people to peaceably assemble. Much of the time I spent writing has been directed at the Second Amendment but I believe all rights ascribed in the Bill of Rights must be equally defended. The University of California Davis is public property and the students were exercising their right to peaceably assemble. There is no excuse for the use of pepper spray in this instance yet here it is, and what makes me even more sick is that people are laughing about it. Somebody made an picture that perfectly described this scene:

That picture perfectly demonstrates the fact that pepper spraying non-violent individuals violates everything this country was founded on. It shouldn’t matter if you disagree with the occupiers, I disagree with a huge number of them myself, the actions taken by the officer should be appalling to any decent human being. Had the police simply arrested the protesters that would have been one thing but to actively enact pain upon them while the protesters themselves were enacting no pain on others is an escalation of force. Were I to do something similar to protesters on my property I’d likely be prosecuted.

When members of the occupy movement say something you disagree with then by all means speak out and explain why their statement is wrong. Many members of the occupy movement have advocating violence with such statements as expressing a desire to bring back the guillotine and those people should certainly be shouted down. Yet we must also realize that the First Amendment was put into place to protect unpopular speech as popular speech is in no need of protection.

Those who express a desire to protect the rights supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution should put aside their philosophical difference in this regard and contest the actions of police officers using force against those exercising their rights. Large number of occupiers are misguided but they still deserve equal rights under the law.

It Must be Hard to Fit this Much Corruption into a Single Issue

I’m not sure how the politicians that make up our government manage to fit so much corruption into apparently cut and dry issues. When one arm of the government is declaring the need for more vegetables and less potatoes in school lunches another arm of the government is declaring pizza a vegetable and axing the recommendation that children eat less potatoes. It must be difficult working inside an entity so massive and so full of corruption that one arm is actively working against another arm because different lobbyist target different politicians. Just look at the recent mess involving federally subsidized school lunches and weep at the mess we call government:

The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year. These include limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line, putting new restrictions on sodium and boosting the use of whole grains. The legislation would block or delay all of those efforts.

The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. USDA had wanted to only count a half-cup of tomato paste or more as a vegetable, and a serving of pizza has less than that.

Nutritionists say the whole effort is reminiscent of the Reagan administration’s much-ridiculed attempt 30 years ago to classify ketchup as a vegetable to cut costs. This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied Congress.

The only way so many special interests can be involved in a single issue is if the government is meddling. I’m sure vegetable growers were the ones who petitioned the Agriculture Department to first enact it’s recommendations and then companies that produce frozen pizza, seeing their business may be in jeopardy, petitioned government to overrule those recommendations through legislation. While everybody scoffs at Congress’s attempt to redefine what a vegetable is the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is busy making themselves out to be hypocrites:

“While it’s unfortunate that some members of Congress continue to put special interests ahead of the health of America’s children, USDA remains committed to practical, science-based standards for school meals,” she said in a statement.

Emphasis mine. Let’s look back at a the previous quote, specifically the part that states, “USDA had wanted to only count a half-cup of tomato paste or more as a vegetable, and a serving of pizza has less than that.” How does the amount of tomato paste scientifically define whether or not it is a vegetable? Last I hear tomatoes were scientifically classified as fruit. What a bunch of hypocritical assholes.

Not only is Congress and USDA involved in this but even the military has a pony in this race:

A group of retired generals advocating for healthier school lunches also criticized the spending bill. The group, called Mission: Readiness, has called poor nutrition in school lunches a national security issue because obesity is the leading medical disqualifier for military service.

Obviously the biggest problem with increased obesity in the United States is that it reduce the number of people available to send overseas to kill foreigners! We need to stop this before we don’t have enough troops to occupy the ~140 countries we currently have bases in!

Let’s recap on everybody involved in this issue. We have USDA, Congress, lobbyists for numerous agriculture organizations, scientific organizations, healthcare organization, retired military personell, and school children. The last group is the one who has no say but are getting fucked over regardless of the outcome.

All of these groups are involved in what is essentially a simple problem: determining what food will be served at public schools. People across the nation solved this problem on a daily fucking basis when they decide what they’re going to make for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That’s right, those idiots in government can’t solve a problem that is essentially figuring out what one is going to eat for a meal and we trust them with market regulations, foreign relations, and nuclear weaponry. Think about that last sentence for a while and then ask yourself why the hell we trust these morons to decide anything of importance.