Tag: Your Government Doesn’t Love You

Bloomington Police Department’s Desperate Attempt to Punish the Mall of American Protesters

Just before Christmas a group held a protest at the Mall of America. The police overreacted to say the least and had a ton of officers on site in riot gear hoping the opportunity would present itself for them to thumb some skulls. Since the protesters could be goaded into a fight the officers didn’t get to play their violent game. All in all the protesters really made the Bloomington Police Department look silly and, in my opinion, completely pathetic. Not surprisingly the police want revenge and they’re seeking it by charging some of the protesters with ridiculous offenses. Just read some of these charges:

— Aiding and abetting trespassing

[…]

— Aiding and abetting unlawful assembly

[…]

— Aiding and abetting disorderly conduct

[…]

— Aiding and abetting public nuisance

How can aiding and abetting public nuisance be an offense? Seriously. Public nuisance is already such a minor offense that it’s hardly worth noting so aiding and abetting somebody who is a public nuisance is even less noteworthy. At most the protesters could be charged with trespassing, although the Mall is a receiver of stolen tax money so I would actually argue that every Minnesotan is a partial owner and therefore the Mall is a public space. The rest of these charges, no matter how you look at them, are trite bullshit.

CIA Investigates CIA, Finds CIA Did Nothing Wrong

One of the fascinating things about government agencies is their ability to investigate themselves when they’re accused of wrongdoing. When a police officer kills it’s usually somebody from their department that investigates the incident and, not surprisingly, usually finds the officer innocent. Some time ago the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was caught spying on the congressional subcommittee tasked with overseeing it. In response the CIA put together a board to investigate the matter. Can you guess what the board’s findings were?

A CIA accountability board has cleared the spy agency of wrongdoing after CIA officials were found to have searched the files of congressional investigators tasked with reviewing the possible use of torture tactics during the Bush presidency. The board, set up by the CIA itself, published a report today that said that five agency officials made a “mistake” by searching for files used by the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating the CIA, but said that their actions “did not reflect malfeasance, bad faith, or the intention to gain improper access to SSCI [Senate Select Committee on Intelligence] confidential, deliberative material.”

The accountability board stressed that there were no clear rules for using the “unprecedented” RDINet, the secure network set up to allow congressional investigators to review the CIA’s files on rendition, detention, and interrogation techniques, and said that the five individuals had “acted reasonably to investigate a potential security breach.” The accountability board report overturns the conclusions of the current inspector general of the CIA, David Buckley, who said in a report last July that the five CIA officials had acted improperly by accessing the network. Buckley also found at the time that the CIA had inaccurately filed criminal referrals against congressional investigators that accused them of mishandling classified information.

That’s right, the CIA’s investigation of itself found the CIA innocent of any wrongdoing. This is why the concept of an accountable government is laughable. Since government maintains a monopoly on creating and enforcing law it can, and always does, put itself in charge of overseeing itself. Once that happens it finds itself innocent of any accusations. The only remarkable part about this is that so many people are stupid enough to agree that it’s how things should be handled.

Without Police Who Would Harass the Homeless

Can you imagine a world without heavily armed goons with no accountability? Without the men and women in uniform we wouldn’t have no-knock drug raids leaving trails of dead family pets in their wake. And we all know that the police are a critical component of most city’s attempt to “fix” their homeless problem by making the lives of homeless people so miserable they migrate elsewhere. Proving once again that police are not held accountable and you can beat the charges but you can’t beat the ride a homeless man got to enjoy a night in jail because he had the audacity to charge his phone in a park electrical outlet:

SARASOTA – A homeless man spent the night in jail Sunday after police arrested him for charging his cellphone in a public picnic shelter at Gillespie Park.

Darren Kersey, 28, was charged with theft of utilities after Sarasota Police Sgt. Anthony Frangioni spotted him charging his phone at about 9:20 p.m. Sunday. Unable to come up with the $500 bail for the misdemeanor, Kersey had no choice but to stay in jail.

In his arrest report, Frangioni wrote that he told Kersey that the “theft of city utilities will not be tolerated during this bad economy.” Frangioni also told Kersey that he should charge his phone at local shelters, according to the report.

But Monday morning Circuit Judge Charles Williams threw the case out, saying Frangioni lacked the legal justification to make the arrest.

Some would point to the fact that the charges were dismissed as an example of the system working. But the system still allowed a police officer to kidnap a man and hold him in a cage without any consequences. That is a major issue with our “justice” system. The officer, in my seldom humble opinion, should be fired immediately at the very least and realistically charged with kidnapping and unlawful detainment or whatever crimes you and I would be charged with for this kind of behavior.

But he won’t because he wears a magical liability shield and the person he wronged was homeless and therefore somebody hated by the state.

Y’all Need More Jesus

One of the things I love to watch is a politician’s transition from whatever they were when elected to a party zealot when they get aspirations of becoming president. Governor Bobby Jindal has been, as far as I know, liked by many self proclaimed liberty advocates. For Louisiana is seems to be not as much of a dick as the state’s other politicians but that’s not a high bar to jump over. But now he seems to want a chance at the presidency. In order to do that as a member of the Republican Party you need to provide that you’re a religious zealot, which Mr. Jindal has demonstrated a willingness to be:

But as his presidential aspirations grow, so is his desire to mix religion and politics. Speaking to a group of Christian and Jewish leaders in Iowa, Jindal averred:

“The reality is I’m here today because I genuinely, sincerely, passionately believe that America’s in desperate need of a spiritual revival,” Jindal, who is weighing a presidential bid, said during a 37-minute-long speech followed by a 20-minute question-and-answer session.

“I love to quote Winston Churchill. … ‘You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they’ve exhausted every alternative,’ ” Jindal said.

“That’s where we are as a country,” he continued. “We have tried everything and now it is time to turn back to God.”

As you can guess I don’t give two shits about this man. He’s a politicians, which makes him scum in my book. The reason I’m bringing this up is to discuss one of the Republican Party’s biggest shortcomings, it’s religious zealotry. You would think a party that claims to love Jesus so much would be something other than a social group for bigots, tyrants, and blood thirsty war mongers. After all, Jesus hung out with a motley crew, never involved himself with politics, and preached about loving thy neighbor and such.

Instead of focusing on the actions of the man they claim to worship they focus on very strange parts of the Bible that, when interpreted liberally, say that all of the gays need to pray away their sexual orientation, imaginary lines determine who is great and who sucks, and people with a skin tone darker than luminescent need to be bombed. More importantly these things that the Republican Party focuses on are the very things that prevent it from gaining political power for more than a few short bursts of time.

Wouldn’t you think that a political party that wants to stay relevant would try changing what hasn’t been working? I would think that. But Republicans don’t think that, which is why they’re the laughing stock of politics. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good that they haven’t been able to grab more power otherwise there probably wouldn’t be a Middle East left. But I find it amusing that one of the two political parties in this country manages to stay a big political party while also being so incredibly incompetent.

David Cameron Joins the Legion of Naive People Who Think They Can Stop the Progress of Technology

David Cameron, the fascist prime minister of the United Kingdom, has decided that us serfs have no need for secure communications. He has expressed a desire to make the use of end-to-end encrypted communications illegal:

The prime minister has pledged anti-terror laws to give the security services the ability to read encrypted communications in extreme circumstances. But experts say such access would mean changing the way internet-based messaging services such as Apple’s iMessage or Facebook’s WhatsApp work.

This is just another battle in the crypto wars that have been waged between the state and the people. Needless to say the state hasn’t been faring so well. Nobody should be surprised by this though. History is littered with examples of power hungry despots trying to control commonly available technology and failing miserably. For example, the Inquisition was very interested in controlling access to printing presses in order to prevent the spread of anti-Church literature. It didn’t end well for them.

Today states are interested in restricting our access to secure communications. We’re told that these restrictions are necessary for the state to keep us safe but history has shown that such restrictions are put into place to bolster the state’s power. History has also shown us that any restrictions unpopular with the people fail in time.

Secure communication tools are now so pervasive that they cannot help but hold popular support. Nobody wants to transmit their authentication credentials in a way that anybody can intercept them (and if the state can intercept them then anybody can). People suffering from embarrassing medical conditions don’t want the world to know about it when they’re searching for related material online. And few people want others to know what kind of porn they watch.

We have need for secure communications and the tools to enable it are widely available. That means Cameron’s desires cannot be realized. Even if he passes a law making end-to-end encryption illegal people will use it coupled with anonymity tools to protect themselves from prosecution. You can’t put the djinn back in the bottle once it’s out no matter how many laws you pass. The fact that Cameron doesn’t realize this shows how delusional of his power he truly is.

The Government is Quite a Trickster

The United States government is pretty famous for its ability to trick the populace into believing lies. But bullshit unemployment numbers aren’t its best trick. That honor would go to its ability to convince people that the United States is no longer at war:

The holiday headlines blared without a hint of distrust: “End of War” and “Mission Ends” and “U.S. formally ends the war in Afghanistan”, as the US government and Nato celebrated the alleged end of the longest war in American history. Great news! Except, that is, when you read past the first paragraph: “the fighting is as intense as it has ever been since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001,” according to the Wall Street Journal. And about 10,000 troops will remain there for the foreseeable future (more than we had a year after the Afghan war started). Oh, and they’ll continue to engage in combat regularly. But other than that, yeah, the war is definitely over.

This is the new reality of war: As long as the White House doesn’t admit the United States is at war, we’re all supposed to pretend as if that’s true. This ruse is not just the work of the president. Members of Congress, who return to work this week, are just as guilty as Barack Obama in letting the public think we’re Definitely Not at War, from Afghanistan and Somalia to the new war with Isis in Iraq and Syria and beyond.

What’s sad is that I know people who buy into this fairytale. I’ve heard from several friends that Obama ended Bush’s wars. When I point out that we’re still bombing people in the Middle East they either cover their ears, stick their heads in the sand, of call me a neocon. More and more I realize that people don’t care about the truth but only choose to believe what they want. And you know what? I don’t blame them. Because the truth is fucking horrible.

Breathe Easy

Eric Garner died when an officer put him in a choke hold. Even though choke holds are against New York Police Department (NYPD) policy the officer was not fired or even disciplined. To make matters worse NYPD officers are still using choke holds despite all of this:

Back in 1994, just over a year after the police commissioner at the time, Raymond W. Kelly, categorically banned officers from using the maneuver, a Bronx man named Anthony Baez Jr. died when an officer, enraged that a football had hit his patrol car, put Mr. Baez in a chokehold.

Two decades later, complaints about officers using chokeholds continue to flow into the independent city agency responsible for investigating police abuse. From 2009 to June 2014, the agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, found enough evidence to substantiate complaints against 10 officers accused of using the move on duty.

In July, the use of a chokehold emerged again, this time in the fatal encounter on Staten Island between Mr. Garner and Officer Daniel Pantaleo. The confrontation, much of it captured on video, provided a direct look at the potential effect of an officer’s arm being wrapped around a person’s neck.

The tough on crime crowd will tell you that you’re safe so long as you don’t break the law. What these authority apologists won’t tell you is that the average American unknowingly commits an average of three felonies a day. Good luck with that whole not breaking the law strategy.

Welcome Back CISPA

While some politicians are exploiting the shooting in Paris to justify the National Security Agency’s (NSA) illegal actions others are exploiting the Sony hack to build on the already sizable police state. Remember the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA)? It’s back:

A senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Friday will reintroduce a controversial bill that would help the public and private sectors share information about cybersecurity threats.

“The reason I’m putting bill in now is I want to keep the momentum going on what’s happening out there in the world,” Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), told The Hill in an interview, referring to the recent Sony hack, which the FBI blamed on North Korea.

The question is not whether or not the bill can be passed; It’s when will a tragedy scary enough make the people beg Congress to pass it. What the politicians aren’t saying is that CISPA wouldn’t have prevented the Sony hack. First of all Sony is a Japanese company. Second of all words on a piece of paper don’t stop malicious people form being malicious. But none of that matters when the goal isn’t to stop crime but to increase control over the populace.

The NSA is Probably Celebrating the Shooting in Paris

Most of the world mourned the deaths of those shot in Paris. But some have been celebrating those deaths. Neocons have been enjoying their raging anti-Muslim erections and the National Security Agency (NSA) has probably been celebrating because the scrutiny of their illegal surveillance program is being silenced:

The push to reform the National Security Agency isn’t getting any easier.

After a reform bill was narrowly blocked on the Senate floor late last year, civil libertarians hoped that an upcoming deadline to reauthorize some of the spy agency’s controversial powers would give them another opportunity to force changes.

But the attacks in Paris last week, where gunmen killed 12 at a satirical newspaper and 4 at a kosher market, is making that job harder, and strengthening the resolve of the NSA’s backers.

“I hope the effect of that is that people realize … the pendulum has swung way too far after [leaker Edward Snowden],” Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told reporters on Thursday.

“Hopefully people realize that the NSA plays a very, very important role in keeping Americans safe, and my guess there will be less of a desire to hamstring them unnecessarily,” he added.

You almost have to admire these NSA apologists. Even though the current surveillance apparatus failed to detect the Paris shooters’ plans beforehand its apologists are claiming it’s necessary to thwart the next one. And people are going to lap up this bullshit because they trust people in authority.

There should be a new rule in politics. If an agency’s illegal actions failed to stop a tragedy then nobody should be able to use that tragedy to justify the agency’s illegal actions. But then there wouldn’t be any justification for the state and I would be enjoying a world where a handful of people aren’t dictating what the rest of us can and cannot do.

North Korea Facing New Sanctions Because of Something It Didn’t Do

In the infinite wisdom of our government the country of North Korea, which probably already has the status as most sanctioned country on hear, must be punished for something it wasn’t involved in. Last week Mr. Obama signed more sanctions against North Korea because of the latest Sony hack:

The US has imposed new sanctions on North Korea in response to a cyber-attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Friday allowing sanctions on three North Korean organisations and 10 individuals.

The White House said the move was a response to North Korea’s “provocative, destabilising, and repressive actions”.

US sanctions are already in place over North Korea’s nuclear programme.

But Friday’s actions are believed to be the first time the US has moved to punish any country for cyber-attacks on a US company.

Of course the only entity in the world that is seriously claiming that North Korea was involved is the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). Nobody else is buying that claim.